The Red Dragon Martial Emperor - Chapter 187

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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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Red Dragon Unbound Episode 187

Chapter 187 — A Suspicious Affair

Whooosh!
It was one of those days when the wind blew with unusual ferocity.
A carriage raced along the Official Road, flanked by several bodyguards.
Thud-thud-thud!
The savage weather had cleared most travelers from the road, yet the carriage tore forward at a reckless pace. Pedestrians scrambled desperately to avoid it, some tumbling into the roadside ditch.
No one dared voice complaint, however. The carriage bore the royal insignia.
Thud-thud-thud!
The dangerous flight continued. Then, after some time had passed—
While everyone else fled in panic, a young man walked down the center of the road. A carriage bore down on him at tremendous speed, yet he seemed not the least inclined to move.
“You there! Step aside—it’s dangerous!”
A passing stranger cried out in alarm.
The driver’s escort barked sharply as well.
“Get out of the way!”
Thud-thud-thud!
The young man finally stopped and turned. His eyes were dull, his bearing cynical—it was Yang Chan.
Had he drunk himself senseless?
It was only when his dulled gaze fixed on the banner fluttering atop the carriage that a glimmer returned to Yang Chan’s eyes.
He had seen this carriage before.
Days ago, when he’d stolen a horse to pursue Yi Hwan, that same carriage had been in the stable. He remembered clearly that it belonged to attendants of Yi Tae-ji, the second prince.
“You fool! Move unless you wish to die!”
The driver’s escort shouted again. Still, the carriage did not slow.
Was the man enraged?
The escort’s whip lashed out at an innocent farmer standing at the roadside.
Crack!
“Agh!”
The farmer cried out and fell, blood streaming from his back. Yang Chan’s eyes, which had been fixed on the farmer, snapped toward the carriage.
The distance between them was now mere paces. A few more blinks, and collision would be inevitable.
At that critical moment, Yang Chan sidled quietly toward the roadside. The carriage swept past him in a whisper, and a sinister aura washed over him as it did.
Yang Chan reached out toward the whip that flew at him.
Whiiiip!
“Hm!”
The whip coiled around his wrist, and with a cry of shock, the driver’s escort sailed through the air. Yet the man executed a graceful tumble and landed lightly before Yang Chan, already drawing his blade.
Ching!
The unsheathed sword was already radiating its lethal edge.
“So you are one of those with treacherous designs against the royal house.”
Yang Chan said nothing, slowly unwinding the whip from his wrist. The carriage lurched to a halt, and its escort warriors wheeled about.
The sword-wielding escort shouted to his companions.
“A demon beast! There may be more of them nearby—be vigilant!”
Ching-ching-ching!
The guards drew their blades in unison.
They had taken Yang Chan for an agent of the Yeokcheon Society. And understandably so—only an exceptional fighter could seize a whip one-handed and drag a man from his mount.
For such a thing to happen while the carriage bore the royal banner made their suspicion all but certain.
The atmosphere grew murderous, and the onlookers who had paused to watch scattered in alarm, retreating to safer distance.
The guards hesitated to attack. The aura of weary indifference that radiated from Yang Chan’s frame was deeply unsettling.
Yang Chan’s eyes fixed not on the guards, but on the carriage—specifically at Baek Po-in, who now stepped down from within.
He was a close retainer of Yi Tae-ji, the one who had savagely murdered the stable hands days before.
He shouted toward them.
“Dispatch him! What are you waiting for!”
Yang Chan began walking toward him. The guards rushed to meet him.
They managed nothing. They fell limply, each clutching at their throat, foam frothing at their lips as their bodies convulsed like fish torn from the water.
At this sudden turn, Baek Po-in’s eyes widened in horror and he staggered backward.
The guard on the platform stepped in front of Baek Po-in, raising his blade toward Yang Chan.
“S-stop right there!”
Yang Chan continued walking. From his body, a faint tendril of green poison gas rose and drifted toward the guard and the middle-aged man.
“Hack!”
The swordsman clutched at his throat, staggering. Baek Po-in leapt skyward, dodging the descending Green Poison Gas, and bolted forward without so much as a glance behind him.
Only when the Official Road curved out of sight did he finally risk a look back.
Yang Chan had vanished. Baek Po-in steadied himself and exhaled in relief.
Then it happened.
“I apologize for what happened back then.”
“…!”
Baek Po-in spun on his heel as though struck by lightning, his eyes flying wide. Yang Chan stood directly ahead of him.
‘When in blazes did he overtake me?’
“I had my reasons for borrowing your manner of speech for a moment.”
At Yang Chan’s words, Baek Po-in’s mind returned to the incident in the Stable.
“It, it’s all in the past now. No, no need to worry about it!”
“Do you truly forgive me?”
“For, forgive you? What’s done is done. I’ve forgotten all of it—don’t give it another thought!”
“Thank you.”
The moment Yang Chan turned to leave, all strength drained from Baek Po-in’s legs and he staggered violently.
‘That, that absolute madman. I’ve never seen anything like it.’
Then it began.
Prickling.
His face burned all over. Baek Po-in clawed at his skin with both hands.
But it was only the beginning. Soon he was screaming.
“Ah, ahhh! Ahhhhh!”
Baek Po-in’s head was dissolving. Very, very slowly.
“Nooooo!”
Yang Chan walked on methodically, leaving the anguished shrieks behind him. The cries fell silent only when Baek Po-in had become nothing but a black speck.
Thud.

* * *

A cottage on the Urban Outskirts.
A woman emerged from her home carrying a child who’d only recently been weaned. Her gaunt face and hollow eyes belonged to someone who’d lost everything, and her gait held no trace of vitality.
She was headed for a shop that sold rice and countless other necessities.
“Welcome.”
The shopkeeper greeted her.
Without a word, the woman produced a handful of copper coins and a small basket. She wanted rice.
Moments later, she left carrying rice so meager that a laborer would go hungry after eating it for a day. But the moment she stepped inside her home, she collapsed right there on the floor. Through the open kitchen doorway, she could see three sacks of rice.
“Mother!”
A child pushed open the door and poked his head out.
“A man gave me this! He said he was Father’s friend!”
The child held up a Money Pouch with both small hands. The pouch burst open, and Silver Currency cascaded out in a glittering torrent.
Clink-clink-clink!

* * *

Yang Chan stood watching the woman crumpled in the yard, weeping bitterly.
She was the widow of a man who had died in the Stable—cast now into a harsh life of raising two children alone. All because of him.
‘Forgive me.’
That day, Yang Chan visited every home of those who had died so unjustly in the Stable. He left equivalent amounts of Silver Currency and rice at each, then departed unseen.
He’d hoped that by doing at least this much, he might lighten the weight of his guilt. It did nothing. If anything, seeing the surviving families cast into such merciless circumstances, bereft of their breadwinner, only deepened his despair.
A cold wind whistled past.

* * *

When word reached Yi Tae-ji that one of his confidants had been murdered, he reacted in a way most uncharacteristic.
“His face was reduced to bone, you say?”
“Yes. Investigation suggests he fell victim to poison. And the night before, his home was robbed—Silver Currency and all valuables were taken in their entirety.”
The rest of the report scarcely registered.
“Demon Beasts have never employed poison to harm people until now….”
“Robbery is also a first for them, sire. It seems they’ve grown far more vicious than before.”
Yi Tae-ji sank deep into his chair, his gaze growing grave and distant.
‘Perhaps it wasn’t the work of demon beasts after all. Until now, they’ve only targeted imperial clansmen or high officials. So if that’s the case…….’
Yi Tae-ji’s eyes narrowed. He had begun to suspect someone.
‘The Crown Prince is too rigid for such things. If anyone did it, it would be the Third or Fourth Prince—one of those two.’
Suspicion hardened into certainty.
Tap!
“Go fetch the Grand Chamberlain.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
As Yi Tae-ji watched his aide hurry out, venom kindled in his gaze.
‘So you dare try this, do you?’

* * *

The past few days had been a sequence of peaceful hours.
Yi Hwan had thrown himself into devising a new martial technique to pass on to Go-mi and his other trusted associates.
‘Is it too much?’
He’d completed hers first. Once finished, doubt crept in—could she truly rise to meet it? The desire to give her something stronger had gotten the better of him.
‘I’ll just have to trust her talent one more time.’
Yi Hwan set down his brush and straightened his spine.
Crack!
Hours bent over his work had left every muscle sore. He stretched deeply, rose from his desk, and headed outside. Ju-tae, who’d been nodding off in his seat, jolted awake.
“Are you going out, my lord?”
“Lunch.”
“Ah, yes. Go ahead, sir.”
Yi Hwan made straight for a restaurant where only masters gathered.
But he stopped after only a few paces. He’d spotted Go-mi running toward him in the distance, and her expression seemed genuinely alarmed.
“Grand Prince.”
“Has something happened?”
“Should I speak of it here?”
“Come to my study.”
In the study moments later, Go-mi delivered startling news.
“Yesterday, one of the Second Prince’s retainers was killed on the Official Road. His face had been completely melted away by poison, leaving only bones.”
“……!”
In that instant, Yi Hwan recalled the death of someone called the Black Dragon Master of the Zhao Kingdom.
“It’s identical to the incident that occurred in Zhao.”
“It is, indeed.”
“Is there any other information related to the case?”
“Several days before the Second Prince’s retainer died, horses were stolen from the Stable. During that theft, the Second Prince’s retainer brutally murdered those who managed the Stable. We need to investigate whether that incident is connected to this one.”
“Hmm…….”
Yi Hwan leaned back in his chair, his gaze growing distant.
‘Murdering someone by dissolving their face with poison is rare. Yet it happened in Zhao, and now in Yen, with only a brief interval between them?’
Yang Chan came naturally to mind.
Yi Hwan had long suspected him as the mastermind behind the poison assassination in Zhao. To unsettle Seo Nam Wang, he’d disguised Yang Chan as an heir of the Poison King.
‘Would he have reason to cross into Yen? If it wasn’t him, then Yen has finally produced a master of the Poison Technique.’
Yen hadn’t seen a master of poison technique in decades. Compared to the other two kingdoms, Yen controlled poisons, explosives, and rare medicines most strictly.
“What are you thinking, my lord?”
Yi Hwan gathered his thoughts and fixed his gaze on Go-mi.
“Who did you assign to investigate the case?”
“I intend to look into it myself.”
“Whether or not it’s connected to Zhao, if a master of the Poison Technique has emerged, this is a grave matter. We cannot assume he’s our ally simply because he killed the Second Prince’s retainer. Dig deeply—very deeply.”
“Understood.”
“It would be easier if there were witnesses.”
“Unfortunately, no witnesses have been found so far. The Gold Robed Guard is conducting an extensive investigation, so for now we should observe.”
“The Second Prince may get foolish ideas. He’s suspicious by nature—I’d wager he’s already blaming the Crown Prince Palace and me.”
“That’s quite possible.”
“In any case, you’ll have to carry the burden of this, Go-mi. If you need people, I can assign them.”
“I’m sufficient alone.”
Yi Hwan rose from his seat.
“Have you eaten?”
“Not yet.”
“Then let’s go together.”
“Yes.”

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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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