Chapter 205
Chapter: 205
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 205
>Chapter Title: Louise (8)
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>"I'm glad you're safe, Dasha."
After sending Masain and Bruno the knight captain back to their rooms, Seongjin spoke to her with abundant delight.
"I know your skills well enough, Dasha, but it was such a sudden disaster. I was worried you might have gotten caught up in the demon world tree along with the merchant caravan."
It was true that he had been worried. One of the first things he had asked the Holy Emperor upon arriving in the image dimension was about her well-being.
Dasha, who had been diligently copying documents, turned to look at Seongjin and raised an eyebrow.
"I appreciate the kind words, Your Highness. But surely you firmly believed I would return safely and handle all this? Otherwise, you wouldn't have pulled off such a reckless stunt."
Uh.
"How could you even think of stealing the frontier count's documents from Sigismund's domain? The security couldn't have been lax."
Well, he had gotten impatient all of a sudden. And compared to the imperial palace, the defenses had seemed surprisingly lax.
The guards patrolled rigidly at fixed intervals, and the doors, vaults, and locks were all outdated.
When he explained that, Dasha's face twisted into a scowl, and she sighed toward the empty air.
"Good grief! I've dug my own grave. Who can I blame for this?"
It couldn't be helped.
Lockpicking was a skill he had purely learned from Dasha since coming here, after all.
"You should count yourself lucky. If Sir Vincent the Decaron Knight had been here, you wouldn't have even dreamed of it."
"Really?"
"Yes. If I had to compare, it's like sneaking into His Majesty's office and stealing documents right under the Holy Emperor's nose."
"......"
His forehead suddenly began to throb, so Seongjin quietly rubbed it.
After that, Dasha continued her rapid transcription while giving a brief rundown of what had happened so far.
After hiding in the forest to evade the demon world tree and confirming Seongjin was safe, she had briefly pursued the remnants of the Order of Repentance who were fleeing.
"Remnants of the Order of Repentance?"
"Yes, Your Highness. They had disguised themselves as laborers and infiltrated the caravan."
Dasha had slipped in when Milo Caravan had massively recruited new hires.
But it turned out all those hired alongside her were spies with ulterior motives. She even suspected the initial commotion that injured the caravan workers might have been stirred up by the Order of Repentance.
"They had received assassination training, but it didn't feel professional. Probably ones the Dark Church raised internally for external operations."
They had maintained clumsy contact with the Order of Repentance throughout the journey and had all pulled out and fled to their stronghold just before the demon world tree was summoned.
Some headed toward the Black Forest, and the rest all toward Ortona.
"...Ortona?"
"Yes. They've been covertly gaining power there for a while. With no controlling force after the fall of the kingdom, there are areas where they operate openly, I've heard."
When the pursuit seemed likely to drag on longer than expected, she had entrusted it to a reliable colleague and rushed to Sigismund's domain.
Then came the story of the eyebrow-less assassin Olivier.
"Olivier? That name rings a bell somewhere."
When Seongjin tilted his head, Dasha shrugged nonchalantly.
"Why wouldn't it? Olivier is the most common girl's name in Delcross. It's the name of the moon spirit said to have blessed the first Holy Emperor out of love for him. Back when that romantic tale was all the rage, they say every other house had a girl named Olivier."
"Oh?"
"Yes. That's why she brazenly used it. She might as well have announced it was a fake name. No idea who she's with, but next time we meet, I won't let her escape so easily."
Dasha grumbled bitterly for a moment, but Seongjin had a strange premonition that it wasn't for such a simple reason.
"Oh, and about the Wolf Knights we left behind. They'll probably arrive here by tomorrow evening."
Tap tap.
Dasha neatly organized the documents as she spoke. With her characteristically swift hands, she had already copied all the necessary parts.
And that was just the start. She had tracked the remnants all the way near the Black Forest while keeping full tabs on the Wolf Knights moving in the opposite direction.
Man, the more he saw, the more capable she seemed.
"Your hands are incredibly fast. Impressive."
"Oh, it's nothing. Then I'll hurry and put these back. Did you take them from the study safe?"
"Huh? No. I just grabbed them from here and there."
"Really? Important documents are usually kept together in one place. How unusual."
Indeed.
Seongjin had briefly examined the frontier count's study and gotten a strong sense that the man wasn't the easygoing type.
From the books on the shelves to the seemingly ordinary paperweight on the desk—everything appeared randomly placed, but there was a consistent flow and a complex pattern of its own.
Somehow, it felt like disrupting that would cause trouble.
"Maybe I should go with you after all?"
"Is that necessary? Just tell me where, and I'll put them back properly."
"Hmm, it's a bit tricky to explain......"
After a moment's hesitation, Seongjin began describing it in detail.
"Alright, listen carefully, Dasha. Famifasol, Dorare, Solmira. That's the order: desk, bookshelf, safe."
"......?"
"The order where the documents were. The bookshelf is 3 to 7, 'doong ttatda doong teureureuk doong,' the desk is 1 to 2 all together. Tied with a neat butterfly knot in red string. And the safe is a bit more complicated: 'didak doong ttak doong ttadak......'"
"......!?"
After listening to Seongjin's 'doong ttadak' explanations for a while, Dasha finally threw up her hands in surrender.
And so, they infiltrated the frontier count's study together.
In the darkness, Seongjin slotted the documents back without a moment's hesitation.
"Is that the spot?"
"Yeah, like I said earlier? Famifasol order, doong ttatda doong teureureuk doong."
"......"
Watching Seongjin as if entranced, Dasha soon bowed her head and muttered softly.
"No matter how I look at it, you were born in the wrong place. A natural-born assassin......"
"What?"
"No, nothing."
* * *
The next morning.
"Please convey my regrets to the countess. I need to do some sword training in the garden today. The journey here was so exhausting that I haven't had a chance to train lately."
The head butler, who had come personally to announce breakfast, looked troubled at Seongjin's response.
Lately, a tense atmosphere had hung over the count's estate.
The prince who had visited the territory hadn't shown his face in the dining hall since the first day's lunch banquet—now entering the third day.
At this point, anyone could tell the prince was indirectly expressing dissatisfaction with the count's hospitality.
As a result, the countess's mood grew pricklier by the day, and the servants attending her had to tread as carefully as walking on thin ice.
"Then, Your Highness, what about lunch......?"
"Ah, I'll have something simple in my room and head to the kennels. I've recently made a good wolfhound friend named Max, and I want to visit him. Please explain nicely to the lady."
Depending on how one heard it, it sounded rude—like prioritizing a dog over the countess. No way could he relay it verbatim.
In the end, the butler could only plead, sweating profusely.
"Your Highness Morres, if there's anything unsatisfactory about the count's hospitality, please tell us......"
Seongjin gazed steadily at the gray-haired butler for a moment.
"You're not really asking because you don't know, are you?"
To dare test the Sacred Empire's prince like that.
Well, he had generously saved face for both out of regard for Orden back then. At the very least, shouldn't gratitude or an apology follow for that?
But if they pretended ignorance and clammed up, why should he let it slide nicely for anyone's sake? Huh?
"No wrongdoing means no apology."
"......"
The prince had more of a lingering grudge than expected.
And the countess wasn't likely to apologize meekly to a prince younger than her own children.
Feeling the world darken before his eyes, the butler squeezed them shut.
[Be honest, Yi Seongjin. You actually have some other scheme, don't you?]
Then the Demon King slyly spoke up.
'What scheme?'
[Didn't you get all excited at first about discovering the herbal tea's new effect?]
'It was just a lucky byproduct. Their rudeness is a fact, though.'
[That's not like you to bother with petty mind games over it. Why refuse good food? Ah, don't tell me you're planning to use this to pick a fight with the frontier count?]
Well, the more cards you had, the better.
By the way, after eating simply for a few days, the Demon King's complaints seemed to be piling up.
Rising from his seat, Seongjin added one more thing to the thoroughly dejected butler.
"Anyway, tell them not to worry about me. Oh, and if possible, could lunch include some bear meat steak?"
At that, the Demon King in his head cheered and rampaged.
[Bear meat! Bear meat! Bear meat with that smoky char!]
Fine, bear meat for you—just shut up.
You know-too-much Demon King!
Seongjin headed to the kennels with Louise and Lady Claudia.
It wasn't an empty excuse about visiting Max. He had a strange conviction that this was the massive wolfhound 'Max' from back then.
'If only I'd asked Father while he was here.'
The regret came late, but oh well.
He had learned plenty of other important things, so he should be satisfied.
'Come to think of it, the oracle is basically a cheat key.'
He could even understand Head Steward Louis unconsciously viewing his father as omnipotent. Apparently, no matter how long it took, he could eventually uncover the answers to anything he wanted to know.
It was tempting enough to consider carrying the herbal tea around and sipping it occasionally from now on.
The sole reason Seongjin refrained was this:
The moment he drank the herbal tea and opened the channel, his Holy Emperor father would come rushing here as plain as day. What a nuisance for the already busy man.
"We've arrived, Your Highness."
Then Louise, leading the way, opened the kennel entrance.
Woof woof!
Spotting Seongjin, Max came bounding over excitedly to greet him.
Pant pant pant pant.
Forgetting all dignity as a wolfhound, it ran around with its tongue lolling out like any mutt.
"Yeah, yeah, Max. Been well?"
Seongjin petted the charging dog this way and that while scanning the surroundings.
That's when he noticed the odd atmosphere in the kennel: despite the spacious pens, all the dogs were huddled in the corners, cowering.
Whine whine.
They seemed frightened, tails tucked between their legs—a truly pitiful sight.
They were all impressively large, stately wolfhounds, so why were they acting like this?
"Why are they like that? Are they sick?"
Louise replied in a flat tone.
"They seem tired from this morning's training."
"Oh?"
"Yes."
"Hmm......"
He glanced at Louise's face, but her deep black eyes showed no hint of agitation.
Whatever. He was just here for Max anyway.
"Alright. Since we're here, want to play, Max?"
With that, Seongjin removed one glove and flung it with a whoosh, shouting.
"Go on, Max! Fetch!"
Then.
Woof!
Max barked loudly in response and stared at the glove arcing through the air toward Seongjin, eyes full of expectation.
Plop.
It fell flatly into the corner.
"Max?"
Woof!
Max's innocent eyes gazing at Seongjin seemed to say:
Yeah, I saw it like you wanted.
Flies nicely. So, that's it?
"...What an idiot."
Lady Claudia whispered from behind.
No, he had heard wolfhounds were hard to train, but surely they could handle this basic game.
"Wolfhounds don't really sync with humans in that way."
"They don't?"
"No. They're fundamentally different from dogs that instinctively crave human interaction. That's why they're said to be hard to train."
Lady Claudia tilted her head at Louise's dry explanation.
"Isn't that just calling them dumb?"
"Entirely different."
"Uhmm?"
Oblivious to the humans' assessment, the excited Max wagged his tail and pressed his nose to Seongjin's bare hand.
Seemingly pleased the leather scent was gone, he nuzzled playfully and sniffed around.
Then—nip—for a brief playful bite?
"Max!"
Smack!
Before anyone knew it, Louise had closed in and struck the dog with lightning speed.
Yelp!
Max, smacked hard on the nose, whimpered and backed away quickly.
Amid the sudden chaos, Louise had already grabbed Seongjin's hand. Her face pale as a sheet, she examined it closely.
"...Louise?"
"My apologies, Your Highness. Just let me check for a moment."
She meticulously inspected his hand.
Soon, confirming no injury, she sighed in relief.
"Fortunately, no external wounds."
"Of course not. It didn't hurt. Max was just playing, I think."
Louise then looked straight at Seongjin. Her eyes, dark and unreadable, held steady.
"Your Highness, the wolves of Sigismund's domain brave the demonic realm. You must never allow their bloodline—even in these wolfhounds—to nip at you casually."
"......"
"Even if they roll over belly-up in submission, or no matter how friendly they act."
Her voice was firm to an almost eerie degree.