The Red Dragon Martial Emperor - Chapter 113

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

The Red Dragon Dances — Episode 113

Chapter 113 — Victory

“Huzzah!”
The Gold Guard soldiers roared in triumph.
It was less the joy of victory than the exultation of the living. Not a single warrior present had failed to contemplate death in those moments.
The enemy had been so vastly outnumbered. And their initial assault had been formidable indeed.
Go-mi and Deputy Commander Son Young hurried to Yi Hwan’s side.
“Grand Prince! Are you hurt?!”
Yi Hwan said nothing, instead examining first Son Young, then Go-mi for injuries.
“The Deputy Commander is unharmed!”
“Neither am I.”
“See to the wounded first.”
“Yes, Grand Prince!”
Cheol Mu-ok and Ju-tae arrived, along with the soldiers under Yi Hwan’s direct command. Mercifully, all had survived. Yet two bore sword wounds, blood seeping from their chests and sides.
“Treat them at once.”
“We can endure it!”
“Listen to me.”
Yi Hwan turned to look back.
Cho Gwang and Papa were approaching. Yi Hwan regarded Cho Gwang’s ashen face and spoke in a measured tone.
“Are you well?”
“Well enough.”
Yi Hwan’s gaze settled at last on Papa, and his eyes were distinctly cold.
“You should not have stepped a single pace from the Crown Prince’s side.”
“……!”
Papa was genuinely startled.
She had never imagined Yi Hwan was watching. How could he have spared even a glance during such desperate combat?
“I have caused you concern, Grand Prince. I am sorry.”
Papa bowed her head.
Yi Hwan addressed Cho Gwang.
“Rest at Gwan Je Myo until we’ve gathered the wounded.”
Yi Hwan proceeded toward Gwan Je Myo first.
Shortly after entering the temple, Go-mi produced a flask of liquor and offered it.
“Will you drink?”
“Thank you.”
Gulp, gulp!
Yi Hwan drained half the flask and extended the remainder to Cho Gwang.
“My stomach is unsettled. I must decline.”
Yi Hwan finished the rest and leaned against the wall. Cho Gwang hesitated a moment, then spoke.
“You have saved my life. I shall never forget such a debt.”
“There is no need for such gratitude. If you died, the Crown Prince and I would be in dire straits. I did my best for our own sakes, nothing more.”
Papa lowered her head.
“Thanks to your counsel, I was able to focus beforehand. I have received a kindness I can never repay.”
“I know the Ami School Martial Arts include many techniques that excel in close combat. Use those next time.”
“……!”
[He already knew I am Mujeong Geomni.]
Papa nearly gasped aloud.
Yi Hwan turned his gaze from her, leaned his head back against the wall, and closed his eyes. Go-mi settled beside him.
The light in her eyes as she gazed at him was utterly different from before.
‘That was the finest I have ever seen him.’
Her heart raced.
In all her years, she had never witnessed Yi Hwan as he was today. He had seemed like a divine general fallen straight from heaven.
That image was so intensely brilliant it transcended even wonder at his martial skill.
Then, eyes still closed, Yi Hwan asked her:
“Are you injured?”
“No, not at all.”
“Your heart is racing far too fast. If you’ve sustained internal injury, we must treat it at once.”
“No, I’m fine.”
Go-mi pressed her hand to her chest without thinking, even as she marveled silently at Yi Hwan’s focus.
‘He can sense my heartbeat.’
“I’ll rest awhile. Wake me when the cleanup is done.”
“Yes, Grand Prince.”
Yi Hwan closed his eyes.
Not sleep—but the image of an old man he’d glimpsed during the fighting wouldn’t leave him.
‘That elder seemed to be their commander.’
He’d seen him directing the troops clearly enough. Yet he hadn’t moved to strike him down.
Leaving his post would have meant heavier casualties among the Gold Guard. At least the old man hadn’t pressed forward either.
Had he joined the fight directly, it might have been far more costly.
‘Who sent them?’
Though he’d averted the immediate danger, confusion only deepened in Yi Hwan’s mind.

* * *

Captain Son Young kept stealing glances toward Gwan Je Myo, where Yi Hwan rested, even as he oversaw the cleanup. The casualties demanded urgent attention, yet his eyes wandered of their own accord.
The fallen soldiers weighed on his heart, but thinking of Yi Hwan in battle made it race.
‘The Grand Prince met the enemy first.’
In all his years serving under various commanders, he’d never witnessed such a thing. Every superior he’d known had been far quicker to retreat and preserve himself than to meet the foe head-on.
More so—Yi Hwan, a Grand Prince of the imperial house before he was even Guard Commander, should have been the first to step back.
‘At last, the Gold Guard has found someone worthy of respect.’
For a veteran like Son Young, nothing could compare to that joy. The contrast with his predecessor—a man whose politics had been suffocating—only made his heart soar the higher.
“Hah!”
Son Young threw himself back into the work.

* * *

“Grand Prince, the cleanup is complete.”
Son Young entered Gwan Je Myo and reported at once.
“Twelve dead, three critical wounds, six light injuries.”
“Did we recover the swords and armor from the fallen?”
“Yes. Nothing was left behind.”
Yi Hwan straightened from where he’d been leaning against the wall.
Across the chamber, Cho Gwang was receiving treatment for internal injuries with Papa’s help. His complexion remained pallid, but it had improved notably after Papa channeled her True Qi into him.
Yi Hwan asked calmly.
“Can you travel?”
“I can.”
Cho Gwang shrugged off Papa’s hands and rose to his feet.
Metal clinked.
Yi Hwan retrieved his sword and stood.
“Then we depart at once.”
Stepping outside, the Gold Guard stood ready, already prepared for departure.
Yi Hwan mounted a war horse a soldier brought forward.
“Move out.”
“Move out!”

* * *

Tremor, tremor…
Hoe-ju’s eyes narrowed as he watched Yi Hwan’s retreating figure, the pupils quivering faintly.
Deep within that tremor lay a mixture of shock and fury.
‘How is this possible? A Grand Prince with merely Imperial Palace Martial Arts shouldn’t be this strong.’
On the battlefield, Yi Hwan had been frighteningly formidable—brutal and merciless.
So overwhelming was his presence that Hoe-ju hadn’t dared to engage him directly.
His gaze turned to Cheol Mu-ok and Ju-tae following behind Yi Hwan, and to the warriors of Yi Wang’s retinue.
‘Something went wrong from the very start.’
He’d known Yi Hwan’s guard was strong.
But they were far stronger than he’d anticipated. His men had suffered too many casualties in the initial assault, and the entire operation had unraveled. The retreat was nothing short of ignominious.
‘How could this have happened…’
An attendant approached him then.
“Should we pursue them?”
Hoe-ju fell silent for a moment. The answer that came was entirely at odds with what his attendant expected.
“We return to headquarters.”
“……Pardon?”
“I cannot kill everyone here simply to kill that one man. We’ll return to headquarters and wait for a more perfect opportunity.”
“Understood.”
“First, tend to the wounded.”
“Yes, Hoe-ju.”
The attendant turned back toward where the Yeok Cheon Hoe members had gathered, tilting his head in puzzlement.
Hoe-ju had never before abandoned an assault so easily. And they still held a numerical advantage over their opponent, did they not?
One of the men spoke in a hollow voice.
“Our information was badly flawed. The Grand Prince’s bodyguard is formidable, but I never dreamed the Grand Prince himself would be this strong.”
“Do you think those who spread word of their movements through the Marketplace knew he was this powerful? Or did they deliberately plant the rumors to use us as pawns?”
“Perhaps.”
They all thought of Yi Hwan as they walked.
‘If demons existed, they would wear his face.’
To their eyes, Yi Hwan was a demon incarnate. He severed limbs without mercy rather than necks, as if to make a display of his power before his subordinates.
Many of his men, unnerved by such cruelty, redirected their attacks away from Yi Hwan toward others—and were cut down for their hesitation.
One of the attendants glanced back at Hoe-ju.
Hoe-ju stood motionless in the rain.
‘A failure of this magnitude must have dealt him a terrible blow.’
In this single engagement, they had lost several times the number of subordinates they’d sacrificed throughout their campaign against the royal family and high officials.
What stung even more was that several of the Yeok Cheon Hoe’s upper-ranked masters had fallen as well.
‘Damn it…….’

* * *

Shortly after the Yeok Cheon Hoe departed.
A solitary figure emerged onto the ravaged battlefield.
It was an assassin from Hong Wol who had attempted Cho Gwang’s assassination and barely escaped.
He crossed the blood-soaked ground toward where his comrade’s corpse lay. Finding his fellow assassin dead with his head half severed, Cheong Po-in knelt and cradled the face in his hands.
‘We swore like stone that we would return together. Yet here you lie cold and still while I remain. Forgive me.’
Cheong Po-in’s eyes grew red.
But he shed no tears. To weep felt like a greater betrayal of the dead.
‘That old woman…….’
Cheong Po-in recalled Papa, and a chill filled his gaze.
He’d suspected from the start that she was a Martial Artist, and guessed that Cho Gwang’s bodyguard would be no ordinary person—but he’d never imagined she would be that formidable.
Had his comrade not fallen so swiftly to Papa’s hand, he could have killed Cho Gwang.
‘Damn it…….’
The assassin closed his eyes tightly.
Failure in Hong Wol meant death. He might face something worse than death.
And so he had no heart to return. Yet return he must.
‘Everyone was deceived about the Grand Prince. I must report his true power.’
This intelligence had to reach those above him—even if it cost him his life as punishment for failure.
The assassin lingered a moment longer over his comrade’s corpse, then rose to his feet. In that instant, he sensed something and spun around as if struck by lightning.
“……!”
A man stood before him.
It was Ju-tae.
Ring!
Cheong Po-in drew his blade swiftly.
‘But I saw him leave with the Grand Prince…….’

* * *

Ju-tae regarded Cheong Po-in in silence.

Slip away and hide at Gwan Je Myo. Someone will come.

It was Yi Hwan’s command.
‘Truly a ghostly sort of figure.’
Ju-tae watched the assassin with a thin smile.
“You seem rather startled.”
“……!”
“Bungling your work so badly. Can you even call yourself an assassin after this?”
Ju-tae moved slowly toward Cheong Po-in.
The assassin’s blade erupted with fierce qi. Yet Ju-tae paid it no mind whatsoever.
“Did Yi Hwang-ja send you?”
The assassin didn’t answer, pouring all his Martial Power into his sword.
But despair already consumed him. The Ju-tae he’d glimpsed on the battlefield was beyond his reach entirely.
And he was wounded besides.
“Confess willingly, and I’ll grant you a painless death.”
“Shut your mouth!”
“I thought not.”
Slice.
“Then I’ll simply kill you.”

* * *

Thud-thud-thud!
Ju-tae galloped back and reported directly to Yi Hwan.
“Just as you said, someone appeared. I eliminated him. However, I couldn’t confirm his identity.”
“Well done.”
“But how did you know he would show up there?”
“I happened to see him watching the battle from the forest.”
“That’s all?”
“Should there be more?”
“……No, sir.”
Ju-tae scratched his head and approached Cheol Mu-ok, who ran his gaze over Ju-tae’s entire frame.
“You’re perfectly intact. No need to worry.”
“Was your opponent strong?”
“Oh, middling at best.”
“Didn’t you think of capturing him to question his identity?”
“He wasn’t weak enough for that.”
“Is that so?”
“What’s with that look in your eye?”
“What about my eyes?”
“You were staring at me oddly just now.”
“Was I?”
“Yes, just now—that strange gaze.”
That’s when it happened.
“Be quiet.”
At Yi Hwan’s single word, both men fell silent.
Go-mi gazed at the two of them with a faint smile, then turned her attention to Yi Hwan’s back.
The voice of Crown Prince Yi So echoed in her mind.

You must serve the youngest as your lord.

At that moment, her only thought had been: ‘Why me?’
But through their time together, her thoughts had slowly shifted, and by now she had accepted Yi Hwan into her heart.
Of course, not as a man, but as the lord she must serve.
‘It hasn’t been so bad, after all.’

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————