SSS-Class Sui**de Hunter - Chapter 94

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 94. The Villain (1)
1
Is there anyone who cherishes you as dearly as I do?
Is there anyone who has caressed you with such care?
Have you ever seen eyes more urgent than mine?
Have you ever felt a touch softer than my hand?
There is none. There has been none.
There shall be none.
2
“Oho—hohoho!”
A romantic laugh rang out through the garden.
The Crown Prince, struck full-on by that laughter, wore his distress plainly on his face.
“S—Silvia…?”
“Ohoho! Do tell, Your Highness!”
“Your laughter seems a touch frivolous, doesn’t it? N—not that your voice isn’t like a songbird. Whatever you chirp, it sounds like music to my ears. Still, one ought to think of aristocratic dignity…”
“O—hohoho! I am perfectly delighted with this laugh!”
“You… are?”
The Crown Prince mumbled uncertainly.
“I… I suppose… yes, perhaps. No, wait—listening more carefully, it doesn’t sound so bad. Hmm… mm. Yes! It’s quite good. Excellent, even! How beautiful. Today I’ve discovered a new charm in you.”
What is this—noodle strands again?
Even so, his love for that noble lady hasn’t cooled? Yet all the students watching nearby have faces as sour as spoiled salt?
—Zombie.
The Backhoe Spirit, who had been quiet for some time since entering the Apocalypse, finally spoke up.
—I’ve been watching your little performance here, and I was trying to stay out of it, but I can’t hold back anymore. This is frustrating. Listen—aren’t you misunderstanding something?
‘Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding, exactly?’
—You think breaking love is easier than building it, don’t you?
‘Yes.’
—Well, here’s the thing. It depends.
The Backhoe Spirit spoke with the expression of a mountain gorilla who once reigned as king in the jungle, now suddenly caged in a zoo.
‘It depends?’
—Yeah. You’re putting off that hardcore loner energy, sure enough, but love takes different forms for different people, kid. There are kinds of love that no matter how much you try to cut away, they won’t sever. From what I can see, that Crown Prince fellow might be one of those types, and—
Before the Backhoe Spirit could finish, the Crown Prince spoke again.
“Silvia! You shine with the brilliance of a kaleidoscope—ever-changing. Yesterday you fell as snow flowers, today you bloom as plum blossoms. Tell me, is a person’s laughter fixed from birth? Is a noble’s laugh written into law? I shall change my own laugh as well. Hmm-haha-haha!”
Is this maniac serious?
And through the garden rose a remarkable duet, climbing toward the heavens.
“Ohoho!”
“Hmm-haha!”
“O—hohoho!”
“Hmm-haha-haha!”
A couple for the ages was born in that moment.
I was at a loss for words.
‘What… what is love, after all…?’
It’s shocking.
—You’re a loner, remember? You don’t understand romance, and yet here you are trying to untangle these kids’ twisted relationship.
The Backhoe Spirit clicked its tongue disapprovingly.
—I’ve seen humans ruin entire nations trying to look good to the people they love. Your idea to go delinquent and block the Immersion Rate was clever enough, but it’s not quite enough to destroy their love. No. It might not be enough.
Strange—suddenly the Backhoe Spirit seems so mature. Could it be that I’m developing an inferiority complex because I’m a loner? Toward this mountain gorilla?
Wouldn’t that be humiliating?
“……”
Thud.
I stepped between the Crown Prince and Silvia, making my presence known. The Crown Prince, witnessing this, naturally twisted his face in fury.
“You……”
“The noble lady has said that she trusts me most of all.”
Let’s see if your love survives this.
“Your Highness is exalted. I am lowborn. Yet while you stand at a distance, I remain always at my master’s side. Her household is my home, her life is the life I have sworn to serve, Your Highness.”
A shriek of “Kyaaaaa!” erupted from the garden. The noble ladies watching us cried out.
—No. Hey, this is crazy. Hey, hey!
The Backhoe Spirit cried out urgently.
—You idiot! Ah, you loveless wretch! You truly don’t know the equation of love! He’s the Crown Prince of the Empire—how prideful must he be! If you do that, he’ll only grow more jealous…!
“Hmph!”
The Crown Prince ground his teeth.
“You’ve been hovering around the young lady under the guise of being her butler, growing far too pleased with yourself. Fine, then I shall attend to Silvia as well! While you’re at the Academy, I’ll see to her needs personally, so you might as well return to the countryside.”
No.
You’re the Crown Prince of an entire nation!
Just because you’re lovesick doesn’t mean you’ve actually lost your mind!
“Oh ho ho ho ho!”
Heresy Inquisitor. You’re getting too worked up. Let’s stop laughing now, shall we?
“…What on earth is all this commotion about?”
That was when the murmur of students abruptly ceased.
Just for a moment—barely a second—the noise fell away. The silence lasted only that instant, but it was enough.
The young nobles and heirs of aristocratic houses bowed their heads and parted to clear a path.
“…Silver Lily, young lady of the Duke’s House.”
Only the Crown Prince remained with furrowed brow, watching.
There, walking forward, came a young lady with moonlight gathered in her hair.
3
“I heard you submitted a medical leave this morning.”
The Crown Prince spoke.
“So I thought you’d be absent from the Academy today, but it seems your condition has improved. How curious—your heart truly is a troublemaker, my lady.”
……
Silver Lily did not answer at once. Instead, she swept her gaze across the assembled students.
A flinch.
When their eyes met hers, the students bowed their heads low. These same students who had been chattering away about the imperial scandal moments before now froze. Only after they had fallen silent did Silver Lily open her lips.
“I am well, Your Highness. Thanks to your concern, I passed a peaceful night.”
“Is that so? I’m relieved. You spend half the year confined to your bed with illness, so days like this must be precious to you. The spring sunlight is pleasant today—I suggest you enjoy a leisurely walk.”
Her face was cold.
[Enjoy a walk] carried the same meaning as [Leave this place]. The Crown Prince had clung to the young lady of Geumsa with such desperate intensity, yet his treatment of Silver Lily was harsh.
Perhaps even strangely so.
‘No matter how royal, it would be difficult to treat the Duke’s House so coldly…?’
Yet Silver Lily remained unruffled.
“A walk, how lovely. If the spring breeze grew just a little harsher here, the magnolia leaves would fall. I worry the flowers might feel lonely if I enjoyed it alone.”
Unlike her strained demeanor at last night’s ball, Silver Lily now rolled her tongue with fluid ease.
“Your Highness, let us not gather dust in this noisy place. Would it not be pleasant to take a walk with me and console the spring?”
“Hm. Why would I—”
“Young lady of the Geumsa House.”
Silver Lily turned to look at the Heresy Inquisitor.
“Come walk with us as well.”
The Crown Prince fell silent.
All eyes around us turned toward the Heresy Inquisitor.
“Mm.”
The Heresy Inquisitor fanned herself with her fan and glanced back at me.
‘What shall we do, Four Kings?’ her eyes were asking. ‘Would it be wise to follow?’ Eyes that said she would submit entirely to my judgment.
Was it safe?
The young lady of the Geumsa House and the Crown Prince—both were dangerous. Simply being with them would deepen our Immersion Rate. The Heresy Inquisitor would grow closer to the young lady of Geumsa, and I would grow closer to butler. Each step tightened the snare.
Risky as it was, staying still would solve nothing.
“…What’s our Immersion Rate at right now?”
I whispered so only the Heresy Inquisitor could hear.
“Has it gone up?”
“Yes, it has risen slightly.”
The Heresy Inquisitor answered in a hushed voice.
“My current Immersion Rate is seventeen percent. Ah, it climbed one percent while listening to the Crown Prince speak to me. And another one percent when I saw Silver Lily. Overall, two percent higher than yesterday.”
Two percent.
Compared to last night’s frenzied spike, the rate of increase had definitely slowed. Should we take the risk now and walk into the tiger’s den? If not now, when would be the right moment?
I met the Heresy Inquisitor’s eyes.
“When spring comes?”
The Heresy Inquisitor smiled softly.
“The magnolias will fall, Four Kings.”
Okay.
My mind was made.
“Very well. We shall accompany you, Miss.”
“I trust your judgment, butler.”
The Heresy Inquisitor snapped her fan shut with a soft click.
“Oh—ho ho ho! For Miss Silver Lily herself to extend an invitation for a stroll, I could hardly refuse. I accept with the greatest pleasure!”
Silver Lily’s expression tightened. She turned lightly on her heel.
“Follow quietly.”
4
She led us to her residence. The Duke’s House commanded such considerable prestige that Silver Lily did not board in the academy dormitories. She lived alone in a villa set apart from the grounds—as if residing in a private estate.
“This is what you meant by taking a stroll?”
The Crown Prince, dragged along half-reluctantly, grumbled.
Silver Lily’s residence was lavish for a student’s quarters, but that was all. The Crown Prince had grown up in the Imperial Palace. Such luxury held no new fascination for him.
“That could hardly be the case.”
Silver Lily spoke with casual indifference as she walked. Tap. Tap. Her heels struck the corridor with each step.
“The stroll was merely a pretext.”
“What?”
“The Garden has too many eyes. I could not speak the truth plainly there. This matter demands secrecy.”
“…Secrecy?”
“Yes.”
Tap.
“It concerns assassins bold enough to strike at the very cradle of nobility, Your Highness. We dare not let word spread and trouble the people’s minds.”
…….
The Crown Prince fell silent.
By my reasoning, the Crown Prince himself hired those assassins. Whether it was mere impression or not, Silver Lily’s measured tone seemed to say one thing: I already know what you’ve done.
“…Are you saying you’ve caught the perpetrators? I’ve barely begun my own investigation, yet you claim to have solved it. How?”
“Gold Camellia’s attendant gave me the clues.”
Tap.
“I expelled Gold Camellia and her servant from the ball last night—an overzealous response, I confess. But I merely ordered them removed from the hall; I gave no command to confine them anywhere. It seems some of my subordinates harbored ill intentions of their own.”
The Duke’s noble residence had a staircase leading down to a basement. Standing before it, Silver Lily turned to face us.
Her face was expressionless.
“Shall we descend, Your Highness?”
“…The servants have vanished. Strange. Where have the Duke’s House servants withdrawn to?”
“Your concern is understandable. Allow me to lead the way.”
Silver Lily descended without waiting for a response. Tap—her footsteps echoed down into the darkness. Tap. Tap……. She vanished into the shadow of the basement stairwell.
The Crown Prince swallowed hard and followed her down.
We trailed after him.
As we descended, something grew stronger—something my nose, my life, had learned all too well. The scent of blood. The Heresy Inquisitor and I showed no alarm, but the Crown Prince ahead of us tensed, his shoulders stiffening.
“…Forgive me for receiving you in such squalid quarters, Crown Prince.”
In the basement, three humans sat bound to chairs.
All three were servants of the Duke’s House—I’d glimpsed them the previous night.
“These are the true architects behind the assassins who attacked Gold Camellia.”
All three were drenched in blood.
…….
The Crown Prince’s hands trembled.
Even I narrowed my eyes slightly. Of all present, only two had not changed expression between descending the stairs and arriving below: the Heresy Inquisitor and Silver Lily.
The Heresy Inquisitor’s composure was understandable—she was the guild master of the Pantheon Guild, who had overseen countless tortures and interrogations in the Tower.
But the other was a noblewoman of the Duke’s House. She looked fragile as moonlight, as if she might stumble and collapse at any moment. Yet she stood in this place with the ease of familiarity.
“Based on my investigation through the night,”
And I recalled something.
“it appears they acted out of personal vengeance alone.”
The woman before my eyes was the one destined to bring Annihilation to this world.
“Personal…vengeance?”
“Yes. Shall I explain?”
Silver Lily seized one servant by the hair and lifted. “Ahhh!” the servant cried out in agony, eyes opening. His right eye remained shut. He could only stare at us with his left.
“The Crown Prince has honored us with his presence. Show proper courtesy.”
“M-Miss… M-Miss…”
“You conspired with your fellows to hire assassins. You targeted Gold Camellia. Tell His Highness truthfully—why did you seek her life?”
“M-Miss… M-Miss…”
“Speak truth, and your family shall not suffer for your crime.”
This person.
“That… Gold Camellia, that lowborn girl from some backwater baron’s house, dared to forget her station and wag her tail at the Crown Prince… when you, Miss, are his rightful… yes, his betrothed, as was decided long ago. And she… she ruined it all… we grew angry, we burned with shame… and we… we committed this foolish act. Forgive us. Forgive us, Miss. Forgive us, Your Highness……”
Dangerous.
“She spoiled everything… our anger kindled, our rage erupted… and we… we did this foolish thing. I beg your pardon. I beg your pardon, Miss. I beg your pardon, Your Highness……”
“Is there someone else behind you who ordered you to hire the assassins?”
“No, there isn’t. No, miss, there’s no such person…….”
A lie.
“You’re saying the three of you acted alone?”
False testimony.
“Yes… that’s right, miss… that’s how it was…….”
To protect the Crown Prince.
“Is that truly what happened?”
“There is no doubt about it…….”
“Very well, then.”
To protect this nation’s heir, Silver Lily had deliberately fabricated false testimony.
I could see that she had aligned the three men’s stories, manufactured alibis, and orchestrated every piece of evidence with perfect precision.
The fact that they were the Crown Prince’s puppets would never be revealed.
That the Crown Prince was the one behind orchestrating us into the warehouse.
That when we found ourselves in danger, he meant to appear and play the hero.
All of this truth, Silver Lily was burying deep in the basement.
None other than the Crown Prince himself.
For the man who would suffer the greatest blow if the truth came to light.
“Your Highness.”
Silver Lily raised her head and looked at the Crown Prince.
“Execute them.”
The Crown Prince flinched.
“Execute them, you say…….”
“Your Highness holds Miss Golden Blossom dear, and these men sought to kill her. They are lawbreakers who violated the sanctum of the nobility. It is just and within your power to execute them. Your Highness is currently the Successor to the Throne of this realm.”
“…….”
“What gives you pause?”
Perhaps, Silver Lily opened her lips and spoke.
“Is there some truth hidden in this affair that differs from what I have uncovered?”
“…….”
“I speak now not as a student of this Academy, but as one who shall become Your Highness’s subject. Successor to the Throne. If my investigation has fallen short, I accept postponement of judgment. Given the gravity of this matter, I shall inform the Emperor’s Special Intelligence Unit.”
The Emperor’s Special Intelligence Unit.
The moment those words were spoken, the memories of the “butler” stirred awake.
They were the hounds operating below the throne itself and yielding to no alias—the Empire’s finest swordsmen and mages, invested with absolute and independent investigative authority.
The current Crown Prince had been able to assume his position precisely because they had disposed of his predecessor, who had committed grave misconduct.
“Yet if Your Highness finds my investigation satisfactory, there would be no need to complicate matters further.”
Silver Lily bowed deeply.
A sword lay on the basement floor, as if prepared beforehand.
“Execute them here and now,”
Silver Lily rolled up her sleeves with practiced ease.
The arms thus revealed were covered in countless scars.
“As punishment for my failure to properly govern the household servants.”
Punctured, sliced, clawed, gnawed, whipped, and burned—scars ravaged the arms of the Duke’s daughter, which should have been as pale as lilies, in endless profusion.
No, not just her arms. Judging by the long furrows gouged across her shoulders as if someone had torn out burrowing worms, I could somehow tell that her entire body must have been a ruin.
Silver Lily, her head bowed, whispered.
“Please impose this punishment.”
Silver Lily.
This world’s Villainess Noble Lady.
“As always, I shall bear the guilt myself.”
The Crown Prince trembled.
S-Rank Hunter Who Must Die to Live (Serial Publication)
Author | Shin Noah
Publisher | Kim Ju-hyung
Published by | J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing | Han Jae-hyuk
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ⓒ Shin Noah 2019
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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