The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman - Chapter 88

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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 88

The Jinmu Hall, where Valter Zigheart—the fourth son of Glen Zigheart—resided, was saturated with a biting cold as if the frozen north had been transplanted wholesale into its chambers.

The reason was simple.

Rayden Zigheart, the son of Valter Zigheart who had recently returned to the family, had been radiating a suffocating gloom ever since his arrival.

Boom!

Rayden Zigheart gnashed his teeth and hurled his fist against the wall with savage force.

“Damn it!”

The curse escaped unbidden.

I had returned after destroying one branch of the White Blood Cult, one of the Oma organizations, a feat worthy of acclaim—yet my name echoed nowhere. In truth, it felt as though I had been utterly forgotten.

The reason my name went unheard was because of that wretch. The garbage dwelling in the Annex Building. The name Raon Zigheart had saturated the entire family.

In the Banquet Hall, in the training grounds, even in the Dining Hall—only one name resounded: Raon. Raon! The name of Raon Zigheart, who had slain the Green Warrior.

“Insignificant insect.”

The thought that my accomplishments had been eclipsed by a trivial pest I’d never even considered ignited a fury I could no longer contain.

Rayden Zigheart left the room with a twisted expression dripping with irritation.

“Are you going out, sir?”

The butler standing before the door bowed his head as he asked.

“Can’t you see?”

Rayden shut the door with a loud bang, his brow furrowing deeply.

“I shall prepare at once. Where are you headed to….”

“The Annex Building.”

“Pardon? Why there all of a sudden….”

At the mention of the Annex Building, the butler’s eyes widened like lanterns.

“I want to see what kind of face the bastard has who dared bury my name.”

Rayden’s crimson eyes burned with a searing intensity.

*

*

*

Judith tended to the Garden while casting furtive glances to her right, where Sylvia was personally trimming the ornamental trees.

‘This place is truly strange….’

Despite having attendants at her disposal, Sylvia, the mistress of the Annex Building, personally tended to the Garden.

It wasn’t merely the Garden’s upkeep. She frequently prepared meals for Raon and cleaned his chambers with her own hands.

‘Yet Sylvia isn’t the only peculiar one here.’

The attendants encountered elsewhere could conceal their expressions, but their eyes betrayed them—most bore the gaze of those laboring merely to survive. Not here, though.

Everyone performed their duties with genuine joy and mutual trust, and all regarded Raon as a beloved son or cherished sibling.

Even Judith, who had traversed countless estates as a spy, found the Annex Building peculiar and wondrous.

“Sigh.”

Judith exhaled as she gazed upon the Annex Building.

‘Yet the most extraordinary aspect remains that person.’

The monster dwelling within the Annex Building. The day she witnessed Raon Zigheart’s true face remained unforgettable—she suffered nightmares from that night at least once every week.

“Hah….”

A cold breath escaped Judith’s lips.

‘How can such a being exist?’

In his early teens—an age when children whine to their parents and complain about side dishes—Raon possessed eyes that could kill everything in the world.

Even now, remembering those crimson eyes floating above the Lake sent shivers down my spine.

‘And yet….’

The Raon I witnessed afterward was entirely different from that image. To the people of this Annex Building, he displayed a childlike innocence, treating each maidservant like family.

I was no exception to this.

Except when inquiring about news from the Central Intelligence Agency or Karun, Raon treated me identically to the other maids in the Annex Building. Recently, he’d even saved me from a situation where I’d been deemed useless and ordered to return.

Sometimes I questioned whether I was truly a double agent, whether I actually harbored a Rage Worm within my body.

‘His vessel is simply too vast….’

His capacity seemed fundamentally different from that of an ordinary person like myself. In truth, the fear he inspired made rebellion or betrayal impossible.

“Sigh… hm?”

As Judith exhaled softly and reached to trim the next patch of foliage, a black shoe came into view on the ground.

Looking up, a middle-aged man stood before her, his hair swept back neatly.

‘This person….’

I recognized him from the Zigheart roster. He was Merkin, a butler from Jinmu Hall who served Rayden Zigheart.

“I am Merkin, a butler of Jinmu Hall.”

He bowed not to Judith, but to Sylvia standing behind her.

“What brings you here?”

Sylvia set down the gardening knife she’d been holding and stepped forward.

“I’ve come to confirm that preparations have been made according to the letter sent yesterday.”

“A letter? What letter are you talking about?”

“Lord Rayden Zigheart sent word this morning that he wishes to tour the Annex Building.”

“I received no such letter.”

Sylvia frowned and waved her hand dismissively.

“I was told it had been delivered to the maids of the Annex Building.”

Rayden’s butler Merkin tilted his head in confusion. His expression showed bewilderment, but his eyes remained calm—a clear sign he was lying.

“Hmm….”

Sylvia turned to look at the maids behind her. Naturally, none of them knew anything about such a letter.

“When will he arrive?”

“In thirty minutes.”

“Thirty minutes?!”

Helen, standing behind Sylvia, widened her eyes and stepped forward.

“How are we supposed to prepare in such a short time!”

“We sent word yesterday.”

Merkin, Rayden’s butler, offered a teasing smile to Sylvia.

“We never received any such—”

“Even if by chance you didn’t, my young master is not the sort to concern himself with such details. It would be wise to prepare as quickly as possible.”

Merkin’s expression overflowed with leisure—the unmistakable look of someone from the main line dismissing the Branch Family’s concerns.

Those who obtained the qualifications of an examiner held status equivalent to a vice-patriarch. With them already using the pretext of sending advance notice, there seemed no way to refuse.

Tsk.

Judith clicked her tongue silently at Merkin. The reason Rayden was acting so arrogantly was painfully obvious.

‘It’s because of Raon.’

Recently, Rayden Zigheart had earned merit by toppling a branch of the White Blood Cult, but his achievements had been overshadowed and half-forgotten in the wake of Raon’s exploits. He had clearly come here to vent that frustration.

‘What pathetic fools.’

Glen’s fourth son, Valter Zigheart, and his children all possessed brutish temperaments.

Karun and the swordsmen of the Central Intelligence Agency were violent, but they weren’t foolish enough to act openly and recklessly.

But the Jinmu Hall was different. They provoked openly, constantly crossing lines they should never breach. They were no different from bulls enraged by a red cloth.

‘This is going to be troublesome.’

Rayden Zigheart was notorious among Valter’s children for his lack of restraint. Since Sylvia wasn’t the type to back down just because he was her cousin, the situation seemed likely to become quite complicated.

‘And besides….’

Raon was currently in the Annex Building. If Rayden so much as laid a hand on Sylvia or the servants, it would become a serious problem.

“Helen. What’s done is done. Prepare yourself. And tell Raon absolutely not to come out.”

Sylvia showed no panic upon hearing the thirty-minute warning. She stopped tending the Garden, brushed off her clothes, and issued instructions to Helen and the servants.

From the way Raon spoke, she too understood why Rayden Zigheart was coming.

“…Understood.”

Helen bit her lip and walked toward the Annex Building. As Judith attempted to follow her with the other servants, footsteps echoed from behind.

I turned my head slowly.

A blond man in an elegant uniform walked toward me. His shoulders were narrow, his frame lean and angular, with a long face and nose. With his hands shoved in his pockets and his feet dragging across the ground, he looked no different from a thug lurking in a back alley.

‘Already….’

Judith swallowed hard. That ruffian was none other than Rayden Zigheart. He had arrived at the Annex Building in less than five minutes, let alone the thirty that Merkin had mentioned.

The thirty-minute estimate had clearly been another one of their schemes.

“My, my! Young Master arrived far sooner than I anticipated.”

Merkin winked and smiled with irritating smugness. It was the kind of behavior that perfectly embodied the saying “like master, like servant.”

Ptui!

Rayden Zigheart spat over the flowers in the Garden and stepped in front of Sylvia.

“Should I address you as Aunt?”

“Young Master. Sylvia holds the lowest rank in the Branch Family. There is no need for such a title.”

“Ah, that’s right. No need for that then.”

Rayden chuckled and tapped the sword at his waist.

“You said you’d be ready yesterday, yet it’s still filthy. I suppose this is what happens when incompetent people live here?”

He had trampled the flowers that Sylvia and her attendants had carefully cultivated in the Garden with his mud-caked shoes. As if it were a habit, he spat a thick glob of saliva onto the central pathway.

“I apologize. We’re still organizing things.”

Sylvia smiled at her nephew, whose lack of manners transcended mere rudeness. She regarded Rayden with calm, unwavering eyes.

“Hmph.”

Rayden’s expression darkened with displeasure as he spat once more, then kicked at the flowers on his right before advancing further.

“You expect me to walk through this filthy mess?”

He spat onto the soil scattered across the pathway and contorted his face in disgust.

“Hey, clean this up quickly.”

“Of course. Please wait just a moment.”

Sylvia maintained her smile as she bent at the waist and began sweeping up the soil with her own hands.

“I…”

“Hmm…”

Both Rayden and his butler, Merkin, widened their eyes at the sight. Neither had expected her to endure even this provocation.

‘She’s far more formidable than I thought…’

Judith’s eyes narrowed. Even she, a spy who hadn’t been here long, felt anger rising—yet watching Sylvia endure it all with that composed smile filled her with admiration. Sylvia embodied grace under pressure itself.

The handmaidens assisting Sylvia in clearing the dirt maintained composed expressions, though their trembling hands betrayed their barely suppressed rage.

They all persevered for Raon’s sake. They endured these provocations because he wished to avoid conflict with Rayden here.

“How much longer are you going to make me wait!”

Rayden Zigheart wrinkled his nose and spat onto the dirt Sylvia was clearing once more. The saliva dripped onto her hand.

“Young master!”

Helen, who had been heading toward the Annex Building, stopped and turned back. Her eyes darkened with fury.

“This is outrageous! Regardless of your direct lineage, if you provoke us so openly, the Main Mansion will not remain silent!”

Helen, who had been with Sylvia since birth, carried years of emotion rather than reason in her thoughts.

“W-wait, Helen!”

“Hah.”

Rayden shoved Sylvia aside as she tried to block his path and stepped before Helen.

“That’s right. You’re absolutely correct. There will definitely be trouble.”

Rayden leaned his face close to Helen’s. With a sneer, he struck her cheek.

Crack!

Despite the seemingly gentle force behind it, Helen was shoved backward hard enough to slam against a tree.

“Ugh….”

Helen trembled violently, clutching her cheek.

“But I’m a direct descendant of this household. That means I’m the master. Even if I do something like this, even if I kill you, all I have to do is lock myself in my room for a couple of days.”

Rayden’s momentum surged exponentially. A chill ran down my spine as I watched him like a beast with its jaws wide open.

“Stop!”

Just as he was about to trample Helen, Sylvia and her attendants stepped in front of him.

‘Tsk.’

Judith bit her lip and moved to Sylvia’s side, ready to throw herself in front of her if a blow came her way.

“It’s not ‘stop’—it’s ‘please stop,’ if you would.”

“Ugh….”

Sylvia clenched her teeth. She did not yield even before Rayden’s ferocious aura.

Crunch.

Judith clenched her fists. Even I, a spy, felt anger rising within me. I was contemplating how to stop this reckless fool.

“Ah….”

A chilling killing intent erupted from the Annex Building, so thick it made my hair stand on end. I knew who it was, but fear made it difficult to turn around.

“Ah, finally a face worth seeing appears.”

Rayden spat and laughed with a twisted grin.

“Ugh….”

I forced myself to turn my head. Eyes burning crimson red. As expected, the figure approaching was Raon. His expressionless face drew closer with each step.

Whoosh.

Gulp.

I swallowed involuntarily, my throat dry.

‘His killing intent isn’t weak….’

Raon’s aura was faint. Not because his power was diminished. He had compressed and concentrated his killing intent, which was why his presence appeared so restrained.

“Raon Zigheart. I’ve been wanting to see that smug face of yours.”

Rayden either didn’t know or didn’t care about that fact—he smirked and shoved Sylvia and the attendants aside.

“….”

My expression remained composed. Like a puppet with lips pressed firmly shut, I walked forward slowly.

Shing.

When I was no more than ten paces from Rayden, I drew my blade. A crystalline note rang out, strangely at odds with the moment.

“You’re not actually going to swing that terrifying thing, are you? I’m direct lineage.”

Rayden laughed smugly, clearly convinced I wouldn’t dare raise my blade against him.

“Direct lineage.”

I stopped walking and furrowed my brow.

“Kahahaha!”

Rayden burst into laughter, convinced his words had struck home, and approached me.

“I am Rayden Zigheart. As the son of Valter Zigheart, the master of Jinmu Hall….”

“So what.”

My sword descended toward Rayden like a crimson thunderbolt.

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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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