Chapter 169
Chapter: 169
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 169
>Chapter Title: Warning (2)
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>Isabella had awakened.
Upon hearing the news, Seongjin set aside his busy schedule and rushed to the townhouse first thing in the morning. He had planned to leave the capital for a while, so he didn’t want to leave even the slightest risk behind.
But when he finally met Isabella in the drawing room, Seongjin was a bit taken aback by the unexpected situation.
‘This is surprising.’
He had thought she would lose her sense of self and completely collapse, but Isabella appeared far more intact than he’d imagined.
Of course, that was only on the surface.
[Her soul is incredibly faint. It’s definitely not a normal state.]
According to the Demon King, she was so unstable that she could drop dead at any moment without it being strange.
However, unlike Ricardo, who had shown only utter despair with his hollow eyes, a faint glimmer of hope could be seen in her.
‘Could she still believe she has a chance to make a comeback?’
On the other hand, the way she rubbed the hem of her skirt with her left hand and tugged at it tightly was clearly the habit Isabella had shown countless times in Salon de Mers when she was tense.
Seongjin carefully examined her presence.
She wasn’t the Isabella he’d first met, but she felt completely different from Sigurd Sigurson, whom he’d encountered sneaking into the mansion not long ago.
‘…Father did it!’
Seongjin couldn’t help but admit that leaving her alive had been the right choice.
He still didn’t know what the crown smack meant exactly, but in any case, the Holy Emperor had cleanly excised the Puppeteer from her.
“Hey, Sigurd Sigurson. You look healthier than I expected?”
At his casual greeting, she broke into a cold sweat and averted her gaze. Oh, really?
“He has left me, Your Highness Mores. I am now Isabella…….”
[A lie.]
Even without the Demon King’s words, the moment Seongjin saw her eyes darting around sneakily, rolling in their sockets, he realized it.
‘She’s maintaining her sanity precisely because she thinks she’s Sigurd Sigurson!’
Unlike Ricardo, whose patched-together sense of self had instantly crumbled when the supporting personality vanished, Isabella’s very recognition of herself as Isabella was extremely faint.
In that case, Seongjin’s task was clear.
[What are you planning?]
At the Demon King’s puzzled question, Seongjin flashed a wicked grin. Then, lowering his voice menacingly, he began berating her.
“Don’t make me laugh.”
What Seongjin did afterward could be roughly summarized as follows.
First, hammering in the idea that she was Sigurd Sigurson.
Second, properly convincing and reining her in so she wouldn’t dare pull any reckless stunts despite that.
[Convincing? After threatening to kill her?]
‘Shut up!’
Of course, he admitted the process wasn’t all peaceful, beautiful communication.
In any case, just giving her a slight hint was enough to make the timid Isabella tremble.
Confirming the light of hope slowly fading from her eyes, Seongjin thought.
Whether by her own will or not, if she had spent so long striving to become Isabella Scarchafino.
Surely, one day, even if she partially recovered her incomplete sense of self, she wouldn’t collapse.
Then, Seongjin suddenly realized he felt relieved about that and was seized by a strange mood for a moment.
* * *
Preparations for the trip north proceeded smoothly.
He decided to bring only Edith as his dedicated maid. She was a fairly strong aura user, so she wouldn’t struggle much even in the cold regions.
The only concern was the “gallbladder-flavored tea” she might serve during the journey. Well, Bruno the knight captain would handle managing that.
‘By the way, haven’t my tastes gotten subtly pickier lately?’
The tea from the Scarchafino household didn’t quite satisfy him anymore.
It was probably the fault of steward Louis and Knight Captain Bruno. Experiencing the pinnacle of tea flavors every day had turned his palate into something sommelier-level delicate, at least when it came to tea. What if he ended up unable to drink tea anywhere else?
He glared at Knight Captain Bruno, who was standing nearby, for no reason, and the man puzzledly stroked his mustache.
From the monster response team, Knight Valeri and Knight Sharon would accompany him.
Of course, both would disguise themselves as resident knights to hide their identities as inquisitors and exorcists.
“I’m thinking of bringing a forbidden book for some light reading. No one would suspect I’m an inquisitor if they saw that, right?”
Seongjin looked at the chattering Knight Valeri with a somewhat pitying gaze.
“They might not suspect you, but they’d report you to the Heresy Tribunal on the spot.”
“Haha! You think so?”
It was ridiculous how, ever since Seongjin had caught him with his forbidden book hobby, he acted like there was nothing left to hide. Was this something to say in front of a Holy Empire prince, you reckless inquisitor!
Only Physician Jibril from the response team would stay in the capital. The entire department couldn’t just up and leave.
And above all.
“Starting next week, it’s the Liora Plague Society conference week, Your Highness!”
Jibril proudly said, shoving a small booklet at Seongjin.
“Renowned masters from the Liora School gather from all over the continent for the Nativity Festival. They also present a year’s worth of research results and discuss rare cases. It’s an important conference I must attend!”
This year’s hot topic was “Latest Insights on the Impact of Bulb-Derived Perfumes on Fever Prevention.”
“A recent paper from Anatolia has caused a huge stir. Traditionally, bulb plants grow close to the earth, absorbing geothermal energy, which was thought to be bad for fever patients. That’s why rose family perfumes are always used for fevers—they’re said to be 1.5 times more effective. But recent research shows that bulb perfumes and rose family perfumes…….”
“Ah, I get it. There’s no real difference in their effects, right?”
At Seongjin’s words, Jibril’s eyes widened as she asked.
“How do you know about a paper that was just published, Your Highness?”
Because both effects were zero. Zero times anything is still zero!
Why were these quacks wasting time on useless research, churning out garbage data!
Masain and Knight Captain Bruno—of course, they balked at Knight Sharon coming along—would naturally follow Seongjin.
The other resident knights would be Knight Maria, Knight Claudia, and Carmen.
‘And unofficially, Dasha will come too…….’
Perfect! A modest but solid group!
Having finalized the roster, Seongjin smiled proudly.
Come to think of it, this would be his first time leaving the capital since coming to this world. Not like it was a picnic, but he felt a bit excited.
-There are many places worth visiting with interest, even outside Delcross.
The Holy Emperor had said that once.
Seongjin reflected anew on his recent life.
His interactions with his siblings were increasing, and though it was for an investigation, he was even planning a long trip, just as the old man wanted. At this point, could he say he was faithfully living as Mores, as desired?
‘But actually leaving feels a bit bittersweet.’
Struck by a strange sentiment, Seongjin scratched his cheek for no reason. It seemed he’d grown too accustomed to life in the capital without realizing it.
* * *
Assassin Guild branch.
In a small training ground next to the priest dorms, a boy was diligently swinging a wooden sword. It was Aslan, who had been staying with the guild for a while now.
“Phew. 200 thrusts done, Miss Pola.”
The boy, who had grown taller, wiped the sweat from his forehead and said.
With ample food from guild life, he’d suddenly shot up, now looking like a sturdy young man.
“Good work. Come rest in the shade here.”
At Pola’s mumbled words around her pipe, Aslan sheathed his wooden sword and approached her shady spot.
“By the way, the Nativity Festival just passed like that. I really wanted to go to the capital and see His Majesty.”
As the boy wiped sweat with his shirt hem, Pola waved her pipe.
“Forget it. How long ago did you start aura training, and you’re already talking about the capital? You’re barely aiming for next year’s enlistment.”
“Euu…….”
A sigh escaped him naturally, along with fresh resentment toward the branch chief.
The Assassin Guild branch chief, Justin Astros, was a man of many secrets. He was hardly ever seen during the day.
Even on rare days he showed up at the guild, he’d give a perfunctory check on form and vanish again. For someone claiming to be Aslan’s swordsmanship teacher, wasn’t his attitude too half-hearted?
Aslan had soon given up learning from him and quietly accepted help from the guild members. They were mostly skilled and generous with instruction.
Everyone was good—except the branch chief.
Especially Pola, a recent mercenary retiree, was an excellent teacher with plenty of experience training juniors.
While diligently training alone with their help, Aslan heard something astonishing from Pola. One day, the branch chief, thoroughly drunk, had told her this:
-Aslan’s got real innate talent. Just hand him a sword, and he’ll figure it out to squire level eventually. Then we’ll send him to the palace.
It was outrageous—teasing him like he’d personally get him through the enlistment exam!
“At this rate, when will I ever join the palace knight order?”
As Aslan muttered dejectedly, Pola turned to him pityingly and patted his shoulder.
“The chief’s a lousy guy, but give him credit for his eye. If he says you will, you will. You’ve got talent and you’re diligent. You’ll be a knight in no time.”
“Yess…….”
“Stop worrying and let’s go eat lunch. Put the wooden sword away.”
Aslan nodded and stood.
As he trudged alone toward the warehouse, voices came from inside the half-open door.
“This is totally different from what we agreed on at first, isn’t it?”
‘…Branch chief?’
For some reason, Justin had been sticking around the guild lately instead of vanishing, meeting various people.
Looked like another guest? But why in the warehouse instead of the branch chief’s office?
“What the hell happened? It was supposed to be a soul-binding barrier, right? You guaranteed it would work perfectly this time.”
Aslan flinched at the branch chief’s rare agitated voice. It didn’t match his usual languid drawl.
And what was that? Soul-binding?
Feeling an ominous premonition, Aslan held his breath and listened quietly.
“The thing I gave you first was clearly a collar. So what the hell is this?”
Next came a rare low voice.
“We cut one collar in half and re-heat-treated it. The circuits completely misaligned and tangled. No wonder it didn’t work properly.”
“I had no choice. What you gave me looked like some fancy necklace. How was I supposed to disguise it on a prisoner?!”
The two were arguing over something on a table.
He couldn’t see them well through the door crack, but the object between them was clearly visible.
‘That’s……!’
Aslan recognized the familiar item at once.
Even though it was completely smashed.
‘Bart’s handcuffs!’
“We hid it in molten metal and covered it with thick iron plating. Otherwise, he’d have spotted it as a normal-world artifact instantly.”
“You did unnecessary work. If you’d used it in its original form as I said, we could’ve simply sealed the guardian in the homunculus.”
“But we had to be careful. Everything ends the moment he notices!”
“I told you repeatedly: normal-world circuits aren’t hidden just by covering them. He didn’t recognize it this time not because you plated it with iron, but because the circuit was already broken.”
A low sigh followed.
“How often does he stay in a doll’s body for so long, so far away? Because of your excessive caution, we missed a golden opportunity that won’t come again.”
“Hmm…….”
Pale-faced, Aslan slowly backed away.
He didn’t understand everything, but it was clearly bad news for Bart.
‘I have to warn Bart… His Majesty!’
Then, creak. The warehouse door suddenly swung wide open without warning.
“But hold on. What have you been eavesdropping on so eagerly, little Aslan?”
“……!”
The chilling aura pouring from the warehouse froze Aslan’s feet.
With his ever-light demeanor, Branch Chief Justin was a sword master. He’d known the boy was approaching from the start!
“Br… Branch chief. Why on earth……?”
Didn’t you say you were His Majesty’s old friend?
Under the intense pressure of the aura, the boy barely moved his stiffened lips. Justin watched him with an amused, spinning grin.
A man approached from behind him and asked.
“Shall we just eliminate him?”
Aslan finally got a good look at the guest.
He was a man as tall as Justin, wearing an ornate robe embroidered with delicate patterns and a flashy half-mask like one from a festival.
“No. Bart knows about this kid. He sometimes checks on him through informants. If he just disappears, it’ll cause problems.”
Then Justin turned back to the guest and asked.
“There’s a simpler way. You can erase this kid’s memories, right?”
“Of course.”
From behind the nodding half-mask, icy blue eyes gleamed coldly.