16. Red Evil Mercenaries
While Ian was speaking with Bella and Karlson in the lord's castle, Ju Cheong-ah had already drawn her sword a step ahead, facing the soldiers encircling them.
'Not a bad number.' As she thought, a considerable force of soldiers had them surrounded. Spears and shields packed tightly front, back, left, and right. Behind them, bows and arrows nocked and aimed, ready to loose at any moment.
When they'd triggered the trap to reveal their position, she'd wondered if it might lure a significant number of soldiers their way. Even as she'd listened to the meeting's discussions and the plan, Cheong-ah hadn't been able to make sense of it. No matter how greedy and dim the count was, would he really send Regina alone to kidnap Behena? Surely he'd send at least some other soldiers along. That would be normal.
But Cheong-ah's assumptions had been dead wrong. The count was even stupider than she'd imagined. He'd sent one of Behena's own retainers—who'd originally planned to betray her—to fake a surrender, and he'd bought it hook, line, and sinker, proudly explaining that he'd dispatch Regina alone for the kidnapping. Without a shred of doubt toward the retainer.
Even so, Cheong-ah had considered the possibility that it was another of the count's traps. But that, too, was a miscalculation. The count was just a moron, plain and simple.
'Come to think of it, ever since coming west, none of my instincts have panned out.' It made her wonder what the hell was wrong with the heads of the fools who followed a guy like that. Weren't usurpers of heir positions supposed to be ambitious, clever, and at least a bit smart?
As Cheong-ah idly pondered this, a knight in heavy plate armor emerged from the ranks of soldiers and stepped forward. He stared openly at her face, stroking his chin with evident interest.
She was quite the beauty. Intruders had breached the premises and reached the count's bedroom. Fortunately, the count hadn't been killed yet. His voice still echoed faintly from the room upstairs, beyond the shattered window.
"Damn it all…! Regina, you fucking bitch! Where the hell have you been?!"
He was screaming and raging like a madman. If they let these intruders escape now, the punishment would be severe. Not some minor pay dock—full responsibility, straight to the dungeons.
But if he captured the woman intact and handed her over to the count? The lecherous lord would be pleased, and he'd surely be forgiven.
Having made his judgment, the knight bellowed at Cheong-ah.
"Hey, you there, pretty little thing? If we present you to the count, he might go easy on us. How about it? Surrender now, and I'll specially spare your life. Your body might take a bit of a beating, though."
Confident in his sturdy armor, he shouted boldly, then leered openly over her body.
Cheong-ah's eyebrow twitched—bending like a figure eight in fury.
Strangely, since regaining her sight, she felt these lust-filled, greedy stares more often than when she'd been blind. Of course, they hadn't been absent before, but not this intense.
The truth was, it wasn't her opened eyes—it was her deepening immersion in womanly pleasures through her ongoing intimacy with Ian, blending with her innate beauty to create an increasingly sultry aura and natural sensuality. But Cheong-ah didn't care about that, nor did the thought cross her mind. Blaming that on her husband, her sky-like lord, was unthinkable.
She just hated being eyed with such filthy, vulgar gazes. She wanted to gouge out that bastard's eyes right now. If she didn't, it felt like her pure, chaste virtue might somehow be sullied.
Only one person in this world was allowed to look at her with eyes brimming with desire and lust: her dearly beloved husband.
With that, Cheong-ah leveled her sword forward and flashed a slight smile in response. Her words, however, were the polar opposite of that beautiful expression.
"Lower your eyes right now, or I'll gouge out those filthy orbs."
"What a bitch who can't read the room."
Despite her warning, thick with murderous intent, the knight sneered, secure in his superior numbers.
"Prepare to attack! Archers, hold fire! We need to capture the bitch intact—the count will like that best!"
At his command, the bowmen lowered their weapons and waited, while the spearmen and shield-bearers advanced slowly toward Cheong-ah.
By then, Bella had waddled up beside her.
"What're you doing, Ju Cheong-ah? Having fun all by yourself?"
"……You came, Bella?"
Bella replied as if it were the most obvious thing.
"Of course I did. Whoa… that's a decent number."
"Scared?"
"You nuts? Think I'd flinch at this rabble?"
The two women drew their weapons in perfect unison. Moments later, the lord's castle courtyard was painted red with the corpses of countless soldiers—and the knight's pathetic, headless body, both eyes gouged out.
After rescuing Karlson from the lord's castle and escaping, they returned straight to the Red Evil Mercenaries' encampment. Thanks to patching him up en route with potions from the dimensional bag, his battered body had been stabilized, at least.
"Karlson…!"
Behena rushed to him the moment she saw him, grasping his hand in both of hers.
"Thank goodness. Truly."
"Lady Behena, it's been too long."
"Your wounds… they must hurt terribly. I'm so sorry."
"No need. They treated me on the way—I'm fine now."
"What's this, fawning over Karlson like that?"
Bella wedged herself between them with a teasing lilt. Karlson hurriedly released Behena's hand and waved his off in denial.
"No, my liege. Nothing like what you're thinking."
"Nothing? What do you think I'm thinking?"
"I am your loyal servant, my liege. Lady Behena is merely our client—nothing more!"
"Hah, what? For real? You're just… ugh, never mind."
It couldn't be that simple… Bella snorted in exasperation at Karlson's oath of fealty.
"S-sorry, Lady Bella. And everyone else came back safe—I'm relieved."
"Yeah, yeah. Not bowing and scraping, are we? You two chat. We'll debrief later."
"……Thank you."
Behena flushed, embarrassed. Bella chuckled at her innocence and turned to the group.
"Hey, pipsqueak. Ian told me? You let her slip?"
"Guh…! 'Twas not this body's desire to lose her!"
"Then what? You let her go on purpose? To sabotage our plan?"
"……Th-that's. Ngh."
"Why can't you speak up, pipsqueak? Huh?"
"U-uuu… Yeonja…!"
Unable to retort to Bella's teasing, Dina clung to Ian.
"That beast keeps tormenting this body!"
"It's fine. Our Dina did great."
"Truly?"
"Yeah. Protecting Lady Behena was the goal, right? You did good."
Ian stroked Dina's head as she hugged him, chiding Bella playfully.
"Hey, why're you bullying the kid?"
"Bullying? Just asking."
That's bullying, what're you… Ian eyed Bella in disbelief. She shrugged nonchalantly.
Her subordinate was all lovey-dovey with the girl he liked, damn it. Though he seemed oblivious to it, whatever. She could tease a little too, right? Ian's scolding felt oddly unfair. No—deeply unfair.
Just recently, in the carriage too. He'd had a blast with that Ju Cheong-ah bitch, ignoring her completely. Even when she'd signaled so obviously, he'd either pretended not to notice or truly hadn't. No reaction either way.
The thought soured her mood, and she grumbled peevishly without realizing.
"Fine, got it. All my fault, huh? So unfair. No one's on my side. 'Husband sides with others' or whatever."
"What're you saying? Who's not on your side? You started it with Dina—"
"Ugh, shut up. I'm going to bed. Don't follow."
"Bella, wait—"
"I said drop it."
Bella slapped away Ian's hand and reached the tent. Cheong-ah was already laying out the bedding.
"Oh? Bella, you're here?"
"……Yeah, whatever."
"Ian and Dina are… Bella?"
"Dunno. I'm sleeping."
She flopped onto the bedding Cheong-ah had prepared. Cheong-ah tilted her head at Bella's mood, then shrugged it off.
"Fine, whatever."
Bella being Bella wasn't new. Cheong-ah headed out.
Left alone, Bella slowly closed her eyes and drifted into sleep.
……
……
……
"Bella. Wake up."
"……Nngh?"