The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman - Chapter 23

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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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Chapter 23

Gulp.

Judith swallowed hard.

‘W-why is he here…?’

Raon Zigheart, who should have been sleeping in his bed, had appeared behind her with a blade pointed at her back. She couldn’t comprehend it.

‘Ugh…’

She wanted to understand the situation, but the moment she saw the crimson eyes reflected in the Lake, she couldn’t even think, let alone breathe.

It wasn’t a child staring back at her—it was a murderer who had slain hundreds, thousands of lives. Her heart constricted violently.

“I felt watchful eyes on me from the very first day I returned to the Annex Building.”

“Hah…”

From the first day meant he had noticed her gaze from the beginning.

‘This… this can’t be real.’

She had trained as a spy since childhood, mastering the art of concealing her presence and killing her aura. She was more confident in this than anyone.

I never dreamed my identity would be exposed to a mere child, let alone that I’d be caught red-handed.

“Open your mouth.”

“Ah….”

Raon Zigheart’s words were not a request, but a command. Judith’s shoulders trembled as she obeyed, her jaw falling open.

“Gack….”

Raon Zigheart’s fingers slipped past her parted lips. Something suspended from his fingertips slid down her throat and into her esophagus.

“Kyaaah!”

A scream tore from her lips unbidden as agony—like an awl piercing through her esophagus and stomach—consumed her.

“Guh….”

The searing heat in her belly refused to subside, as if she’d swallowed living flame. The pain was so intense she wanted to claw her abdomen to shreds.

Splash.

Raon Zigheart left her writhing and clutching her stomach, wading into the Lake to retrieve a dark-colored sheet of paper.

Rustle.

As he unfolded the paper, his eyes grew heavy and dark, as though they held the very depths of shadow.

“This is no ordinary paper.”

“Ugh….”

Judith clamped her mouth shut. The pain was excruciating, but as a spy, she had her pride. She couldn’t surrender like this.

“….”

Raon Zigheart stared intently into her eyes before nodding to himself.

“Water, earth, fire, wind.”

He suddenly began listing elements. It seemed he was searching for a way to discern the paper’s contents. Though why he was voicing them aloud remained a mystery.

“…Sunlight, moonlight.”

“….”

The answer was moonlight, but Judith gave no response. She bit her tongue and endured the searing pain that twisted through her abdomen.

“It was moonlight.”

“Wh…?”

For a moment, her heart nearly leaped from her throat. The instant Raon Zigheart’s eyes met hers, he spoke the correct answer.

‘What—how is this possible?’

He showed no reaction whatsoever. He merely endured the pain in silence. How had he discovered the secret of the paper?

He turned his body and shone moonlight on the paper for a long moment before confirming its contents.

“You’ve done quite the thorough investigation. Where is this supposed to go?”

“Ugh….”

Raon remained expressionless. Now fear eclipsed the pain. A suffocating dread gripped his neck, making his lower back ache.

“Aris Zigheart.”

He didn’t press further. He simply called out the name of Glen Zigheart’s eldest daughter.

“Karun Zigheart, Denier…. So it was Karun Zigheart.”

“Ahhh!”

Judith could no longer contain herself and let out a scream.

“W-what are you!”

Her jaw trembled as fear of the unknown seized her.

‘What… what is this child!’

Emotional control and endurance were the first things one learned when becoming a spy.

That a mere child could read my trained eyes and extract information—it was absurd.

“….”

Raon Zigheart continued to gaze down at me in silence. I lowered my head to escape those piercing eyes, but another thought struck me.

‘Wait! What if he’s not reading my expression?’

His eyes weren’t studying my face at all. He was simply observing my suffering with unwavering focus.

‘Could it be….’

As the searing pain tore through my abdomen and Raon’s gaze seemed to pierce my very thoughts, a curse flashed through my mind.

“Did you… did you feed me a Rage Worm?”

“You knew about Rage Worms?”

Raon Zigheart’s expression changed for the first time. His eyes held a look of contempt—as if asking how someone like me could possibly know of such a thing—but that was enough.

“Gaahhh!”

Nausea surged through me.

‘A Rage Worm… of all things!’

The Rage Worm was among the most dreaded curses. Once the caster’s creature enters the body, it reveals not only location but also the emotions one harbors.

The most insidious aspect was that no matter how far away the caster was, they could inflict excruciating pain and kill at will.

‘That’s the only possibility. It has to be Rage Worm!’

This unbearable agony, combined with how Raon Zigheart seemed to read my thoughts, made it certain that what entered my mouth was Rage Worm.

“H-how did you even obtain Rage Worm….”

A child who had just turned thirteen. A child who had suffered from illness his entire life using Rage Worm—it seemed suspicious, but no matter how I thought about it, there was no other explanation.

“That’s hardly the pressing concern right now, is it?”

Raon Zigheart waved the letter and stepped closer to me.

“Ugh….”

He was right. Once Rage Worm took hold in my body, resistance and escape were impossible.

“Sending such a letter to Karun Zigheart means you’re a spy for the Central Intelligence Agency. The plan must have started seven months ago during the aptitude test.”

“…!”

Judith’s eyes widened. That was correct too. My arrival here had begun seven months ago at the aptitude test. Once again, the certainty of Rage Worm was confirmed.

“You investigated quite thoroughly. Not just me, but my mother, Helen, and the other servants as well.”

Raon Zigheart smiled as he gazed at the characters glimmering in the moonlight. That smile sent a chill down the young assassin’s spine, drenching it in cold sweat.

‘I’ve touched someone I shouldn’t have.’

I thought this would be an easy assignment.

The Annex Building had no martial masters, and the people there were virtuous. Gathering information on the young Raon and the crippled Sylvia seemed like child’s play.

But I was wrong.

A monster lived in the Annex Building—one with a vicious, suffocating killing intent. Whenever I met his crimson eyes, I wanted to hang myself on the spot.

“Ugh….”

I clawed at the flesh of my arm.

The pale killing intent radiating from Raon Zigheart made my facial skin feel like it was tearing apart, and the organs housing the Rage Worm felt ready to burst.

“I-I’ll change the contents. It’s not true….”

“There’s no need.”

Raon Zigheart lowered the paper, erasing the characters illuminated by moonlight. He folded the paper again and set it floating on the Lake.

“W-why….”

“Even if you correct the information now, my intelligence will eventually reach Karun. That would only reveal your incompetence.”

“Gasp!”

He knelt down, meeting my gaze directly. Eyes blood-red as crimson. His hands and feet trembled uncontrollably.

“How often do you report?”

“Th-the regular reports are every two weeks, sir.”

“Since I defeated Buren today, the regular reports will accelerate. It’ll probably change to weekly.”

“Ah, yes….”

Judith nodded. She had arrived at the same conclusion as I had.

“From now on, you’re a double agent. Feed them information they’ll discover anyway, but hide the truly important details. In exchange, bring me their critical intelligence.”

“Y-yes, I understand.”

If only he could escape this terror, he would do anything. He nodded without hesitation.

“When you return next time, I expect you’ll have brought something useful.”

With those words, I vanished into the darkness.

“Ugh….”

Yet still, those crimson eyes seemed to be fixed on his heart, piercing through the shadows.

Thud.

Judith’s trembling legs gave out, and she collapsed where she stood.

“The… the pain…”

The agony had vanished as suddenly as it came. It seemed Raon Zigheart had brought Wrath under control.

‘A monster…’

Resistance never crossed her mind. A being more terrifying than death itself lurked in the shadows of the Annex Building.

“Ugh!”

Judith bit her lip and bolted toward the Dormitory. The terror Raon left behind clung to her like goosebumps on her neck, burrowing deep into her heart.

*

*

*

-When did you summon Wrath?

“That wasn’t Wrath.”

Back in my room, I shook my head.

-What?

“I merely administered a poison that temporarily induces excruciating pain.”

I had experienced Rage Worm in my previous life, but I had no memory of it, so I didn’t know how to summon it. What I had fed Judith was merely a poison used for torture.

“I won’t use something like Rage Worm even if I have it.”

I had no intention whatsoever of using such a vicious curse. If that worm had been right in front of me, I would have crushed it under my heel.

-Then where did that poison come from?

“I made it.”

-So when you went to the kitchen and storage earlier….

“Exactly.”

I had memorized the formula for poison composition, so I created a modified poison using the materials available here.

-Wait. Didn’t you read all of his thoughts?

“I did.”

-How did you know that without Rage Worm?

“Some of it was deduction, some of it came from observing her condition.”

-Observing her condition? But he maintained the same expression the entire time?

Wrath’s blue flames flickered. He seemed unable to comprehend how I could have gleaned information simply by observing her state.

“I can tell.”

I had lived as an assassin for over twenty years in my previous life. Since I had even tortured people before, reading Judith’s thoughts was not particularly difficult.

-A thirteen-year-old knowing how to instill fear in humans? Even when I ruled the Demon Realm, I never witnessed such a thing.

Wrath was right.

If I hadn’t lived as an assassin in my previous life, I wouldn’t have noticed Judith gathering information, nor could I have employed such methods.

Now that I thought about it, my past life was proving quite useful.

“In any case, it was Karun Zigheart.”

I sat on the bed and repeated Karun’s name. I could roughly guess why he had sent Judith. He probably wanted to gather information about me based on what I showed during the aptitude test.

But he had made a poor choice.

If he had only observed me, it would have been fine, but including Sylvia and Helen in the Annex Building along with the other attendants in his observation range was the worst mistake he could have made.

-But why didn’t you alter the information?

Wrath tilted his head and approached me.

-The information that woman wrote down contained details about how well you withstood the cold and that you had obtained an excellent aura cultivation method. Shouldn’t you have erased that?

“That’s just surface-level information anyway. To backstab him properly, I need to give him at least that much.”

I ran my fingers across the bedsheet as I continued speaking.

“If she keeps sending me real information to the Central Intelligence Agency, trust in her intelligence will build up. Then, after sending useless information for a while, I can create an opportunity to devour Karun Zigheart by feeding false information at the most critical moment.”

-Heh….

Wrath exhaled sharply. To conceive such a scheme in that brief moment—this boy was certainly no ordinary human.

-You are definitely not thirteen years old. Your belly is stuffed full of cunning that’s aged a hundred years.

“Merely cunning?”

I smiled mockingly at Wrath and wagged my finger.

‘It’s not cunning—it’s assassination.’

The art of the supreme assassin.

*

*

*

Even after returning to the main house, Lunan Slion did not cease her training.

The movements Raon Zigheart had displayed on the day of the examination continued to haunt her mind, leaving her unable to rest.

But.

“It’s not working.”

I attempted to train with the equipment at home, but the weight I could lift was noticeably less than when I was in the Training Ground.

It wasn’t just the equipment. Long-distance running and other physical conditioning also didn’t go as well as usual.

“Hmm….”

I pondered deeply, but the answer was clear.

“Raon Zigheart.”

Raon wasn’t here. Without him constantly by my side, I couldn’t muster my usual strength.

Lately, I’d grown fond of the refreshing scent that emanated from Raon, and I found myself inhaling it unconsciously—that was likely a factor as well.

‘I need him.’

Lunan Slion nodded to herself and left the Training Chamber.

“Lunan?”

Rokan Slion, the patriarch of the Slion Family, narrowed his eyes as he watched Lunan leave the family’s Training Ground.

“You promised to train with me. Where are you going?”

“To Raon.”

“Raon? Wait—you don’t mean Raon Zigheart?”

“Yes.”

“W-why are you going to that guy? And right now, when you promised to train with Dad?”

Rokan Slion had lost his usual composure, his words stumbling. He’d barely managed to carve out time to spend with his youngest daughter, and now she was suddenly saying she’d go to Raon—his hands trembled.

“There’s a scent to chase, and training to do.”

“Huh?”

He couldn’t make sense of what she was saying.

“I’m going.”

Lunan brushed the dust from her clothes and left the Training Chamber.

“Wait, just a moment! You can do your training here with Dad!”

“I need to do it there.”

Lunan shook her head firmly.

“You keep saying you’re going… D-don’t tell me Raon did something to you?”

“Did something?”

She tilted her head blankly, her thoughts drifting to what had happened with Raon.

‘He helped me.’

Though Raon hadn’t directly assisted me, simply standing beside him had made my training so effective that I’d undoubtedly benefited from his presence.

“Yeah. I did.”

“Ugh! Raon. You bastard!”

Rokan Slion ground his teeth audibly.

‘How dare you threaten my daughter?’

Lunan’s brief response had painted a vivid picture in Rokan’s mind—his poor daughter trembling in fear, cowering under Raon’s threats. The image consumed his thoughts entirely.

“Good heavens! Lord Rokan! If you’re here, what about today’s duties! The matters that absolutely cannot be postponed….”

“Bring me my sword at once!”

Rokan barked at the butler who had come searching for him.

“Eh? Your… sword?”

“Lunan. Come with me! I won’t let that bastard off the hook!”

Rokan’s eyes blazed with fury. He looked ready to demolish the Zigheart Annex Building on the spot.

“Huh? What?”

The butler’s jaw dropped open. He already felt a headache coming on—what kind of trouble was that foolish daughter causing today?

“What are you doing?! Did I not tell you to bring me my sword?!”

“Please, wait a moment, Lord! If you would just hear me out—”

“There is no need for words! Only the blade and punishment exist!”

“Sigh…”

The butler turned his gaze toward Lunan Slion. She merely stared at Rokan Slion with blank, unreadable eyes. That taciturn young lady would be of no help in resolving this matter.

‘There is only one person who can settle this.’

He shook his head in resignation and turned back toward the manor, abandoning his search for the sword in favor of finding the mistress.

*

*

*

“So you’re saying that Young Master Raon helped with your training? Not coercion.”

“Yes.”

Lunan Slion nodded at her mother Clara’s words.

“Dear.”

Clara’s violet eyes gleamed with a chilling light as she turned to her left.

“Ah, no, I naturally thought you were being coerced or threatened. You just said you were leaving without explanation. Anyone would have misunderstood! Yes, that’s right!”

Rokan Slion, who looked ready to charge at the Zigheart estate at any moment, was now crouched in the corner with his shoulders hunched.

“Be quiet. Go do your work.”

“But I promised to play with Lunan today….”

“Tsk.”

“Ah, understood.”

“I’ll check on it later. If the work isn’t done properly, be prepared.”

“Y-yes. Don’t worry.”

Rokan Slion dragged his massive frame away and returned to the mansion.

“Lunan.”

“Hmm?”

“Did you thank Young Master Raon?”

“I did when I got the sweets.”

“What about when he helped with your training?”

“I didn’t.”

“Hehe.”

Clara smiled while stroking the head of Lunan, who shook it in denial.

“Then thank me the next time we meet.”

“But Father…”

“Hmm?”

“Father told me never to speak first to boys.”

“Ah!”

Clara smiled brightly. The butler was certain that Rokan Slion would endure a night of nagging because of that smile.

“Forget what your father said. Boys or girls—it doesn’t matter. When you receive help, it’s only proper courtesy to express your gratitude. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Then shall we train with Mother today instead of Father?”

“Yes.”

Lunan Slion entered the Training Ground with Clara, her thoughts lingering on Raon’s composed expression.

‘I should thank him.’

The moment she considered speaking to him first, her heart fluttered ever so slightly.

—————
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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