Chapter 395: Court Intrigue (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 395: Court Intrigue (4)
“Uggghhh!!!”
The man tried to draw his sword with all his might.
His aura, having reached the high level of an Aura Expert, blazed fiercely like a flame, but Kang Hyun-woo didn’t even flinch.
What is this nonsense…!!
The man, who had risen to the position of Knight Commander for Count Klude’s family on talent alone despite his commoner origins, simply couldn’t comprehend the situation before him.
Even after mustering his aura, he couldn’t draw his sword. In fact, it felt like his wrist would break if he didn’t let go.
The pressure was immense, as if a great mountain were crushing him.
Impossible…!!!
According to the information he’d received beforehand, his opponent was a mage, not a knight.
He’d heard the man was a 5th Circle mage or higher, but even if that were true, it was unthinkable for him, a knight, to be overpowered by a mage who wasn’t even using magic.
“This is impossible!”
“Is it?”
Crack!
Kang Hyun-woo sneered at the man glaring at him and sent a kick flying.
The man, struck squarely in the jaw, collapsed limply and passed out.
Kang Hyun-woo stepped over the man sprawled on the floor and returned to his seat as if nothing had happened.
Thud.
“Did you say you were Young Master Eden?”
At the voice from his side, Eden nodded his head frantically.
A cold sweat trickled down his cheek.
Though Eden was known in high society as an arrogant and insolent brat, he at least knew how to read a room.
Their eyes had only met for an instant, but that brief moment was enough for Eden to be certain.
If he ran his mouth here, he might actually die.
“Young Master, have you heard this saying? ‘You live by the tongue, and you die by the tongue.’”
“I-It’s my first time hearing it.”
“Then what do you think it means?”
“…T-to watch your mouth?”
“Correct.”
Kang Hyun-woo smiled faintly.
In that instant, a violent killing intent flickered in his jet-black eyes.
The oppressive, violent energy felt like it was crushing his heart, and Eden forgot how to breathe.
Looking at him, Kang Hyun-woo murmured softly.
“There won’t be a second time.”
Before he even finished speaking, Eden nodded so hard it looked like his neck would break.
Then, without a single glance at his collapsed guard, he fled the room.
Elisabeth stared blankly at Eden’s retreating back.
She had never imagined that the notoriously vicious brat of the Klude family would tuck his tail between his legs and run like a frightened mutt.
“Lady Elisabeth, are you alright?”
Just then, Kang Hyun-woo leaned in close to Elisabeth’s face.
Startled, Elisabeth whipped her head away.
“I-I’m fine, so you don’t have to worry about me.”
The blunt words slipped out before she could stop them, and Elisabeth fiddled with her bangs in embarrassment.
Kang Hyun-woo glanced at her and picked up his teacup.
Must be that time of the month, he thought, letting it go.
“Excuse me.”
Trickle.
At that moment, Tina approached and poured black tea into his empty cup.
“Thanks. The maid outfit suits you well.”
“Thank you.”
Kang Hyun-woo looked on with satisfaction at Tina, who was dressed in a classic Victorian-style maid uniform.
Maids were a man’s fantasy.
While Tina’s main job was to be Elisabeth’s guard, she usually stayed by her side as a maid.
Come to think of it, didn’t she say she was a former assassin?
Kang Hyun-woo recalled a manga he’d once read about an ex-assassin maid who had sex with her master.
The heroine had looked vaguely like Tina.
“…”
While Kang Hyun-woo was lost in thought, recalling the manga, Tina watched him with a meaningful gaze.
She rarely showed her emotions, but right now, her pale cheeks were faintly flushed.
Of course, that emotion wasn't affection.
If anything, it was closer to lust.
Tina recalled the crude hands that had roughly grabbed her breasts and pinched her nipples.
The memory of that day was so intense that even she, who had been raised as an assassin with dulled emotions and senses, found it difficult to remain still.
“Um, Hyun-woo…?”
“Yes? What is it?”
Elisabeth, who had been meticulously arranging her bangs while looking in a hand mirror, cautiously spoke to Kang Hyun-woo.
Her face was an even deeper crimson than Tina’s.
“…What were you doing?”
She already knew he had gone to meet his party.
What Elisabeth really wanted to know was about that party.
Were there any women among them? If so, what was his relationship with them?
But Elisabeth, whose ability to converse with others was severely lacking, had no courage to ask such things.
Moreover, there was another problem that was confusing her.
…Why does he seem even more handsome?
Kang Hyun-woo had always been neat and tall, but he wasn’t what one would objectively call handsome.
But the man sitting before her now was, by anyone’s standards, a perfectly handsome man.
Even the young lords famous in high society for their beauty would have to concede defeat before him.
Of course, Elisabeth wasn’t the type to be easily swayed by a handsome face.
In fact, there wasn’t a single one of those so-called handsome young lords who hadn’t tried to flirt with her.
But she had never given them the time of day.
She had always thought a man’s looks were just a shell to hide his ugly intentions.
But now, she was keenly realizing that such thoughts could change depending on the person.
In that instant, the scene of the old bookstore flashed through Elisabeth’s mind, along with the memory of the moment she had kissed Kang Hyun-woo.
It was her first.
And it was also the most ecstatic moment of her twenty years of life.
As she recalled that memory, Elisabeth’s eyes slowly grew hazy.
“The Second Queen invited me, so I went for a cup of tea.”
“…What?”
But the moment she heard Kang Hyun-woo’s words, her reverie shattered.
Tina, too, couldn’t hide her rare look of surprise.
“She was just a wrinkly old lady, but she had enough sense not to poison me—”
Clatter!
Before he could finish, Elisabeth shot up from her seat and rushed over to him.
“Are you okay?! That woman didn’t do anything strange to you, did she?!”
“…Huh?”
The moment she heard that Kang Hyun-woo had met with the Second Queen, Elisabeth couldn’t just let it go.
Especially since she had been tormented by that woman for the past ten years.
The Second Queen was a natural-born villainess.
She would deliberately invite a young Elisabeth, who didn’t even have a decent dress, to tea parties just to humiliate her in front of her peers. Citing etiquette, she had even prevented Elisabeth from using the restroom for hours on end.
“Well… it seemed like she was trying to win me over, but other than that, nothing much happened.”
“Win you over…?”
At that, Elisabeth’s eyes began to tremble.
Having had so much taken from her by the Second Queen, those words did not sound trivial.
Elisabeth urgently grabbed Kang Hyun-woo’s lapels and looked at him with desperate, pleading eyes.
“Y-you won’t be won over, right? Right…?”
Seeing Elisabeth looking as dejected as a rain-soaked cat, Kang Hyun-woo couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
“Wh-why are you laughing?! I’m being completely serious right now!”
“Haha, I’m sorry.”
At Elisabeth’s passionate display, Kang Hyun-woo wiped the corners of his eyes and raised the corners of his mouth.
“To make up for it, I went and picked a fight with that old lady, the Second Queen. I hope that’s enough to earn your forgiveness.”
“…Picked a fight?”
Kang Hyun-woo told Elisabeth and Tina everything that had happened during his meeting with the Second Queen, from beginning to end.
Hearing that he had mocked and insulted the Second Queen to her face, the two were speechless for a long time.
“Wh-what in the world…”
Elisabeth might have felt a moment of satisfaction, but it was quickly overshadowed by worry and anxiety for Kang Hyun-woo.
Although they had overcome the immediate crisis with his help, she honestly wished he would cross the border and leave the kingdom, even now.
But if Kang Hyun-woo had already wounded the Second Queen’s pride, it was as clear as day that a pursuit team would be on his tail the moment he tried to leave the capital.
“You’ll get wrinkles if you keep frowning like that.”
“…And whose fault is that?”
As if he knew exactly what she was thinking, Kang Hyun-woo gently pressed her brow and smiled.
“Don’t worry. I’ll end this quickly.”
“…”
Thump.
In that moment, Elisabeth collapsed into Kang Hyun-woo’s arms.
With her forehead pressed against his chest, her face, hidden behind her cherry-blossom-colored hair, became a rose.
“…A mage who doesn’t even value his own life.”
“Some things in this world are more important than life.”
“Is that me?”
“Who knows?”
At the meaningful smile on Kang Hyun-woo’s lips, Elisabeth scowled in displeasure.
Seeing her expression, Kang Hyun-woo reached out and gently caressed her cheek.
“I don’t plan on asking for any payment, but could you at least give me some encouragement for all the trouble I’m about to go through?”
At his words, Elisabeth glared at him.
But only for a moment. She shyly closed her eyes and offered her face.
Kang Hyun-woo held her chin and slowly pressed his lips to hers.
Their tongues, saliva, and heat intertwined and mixed.
Though it was their second kiss, Elisabeth was still not used to it, her body trembling slightly each time their tongues touched.
At her reaction, Kang Hyun-woo reached out and gently pulled her in by the waist.
Elisabeth didn’t resist his touch and was quietly drawn into his embrace.
Kang Hyun-woo then went a step further, sliding his hand under the hem of her dress.
“Heup?!”
Elisabeth’s shoulders flinched in surprise, but she didn’t stop him or pull away.
As he caressed her pale white thigh, Kang Hyun-woo opened his eyes slightly and glanced at Tina, who was watching him.
“…”
Receiving his gaze, Tina’s dark, ink-colored eyes began to tremble.
But the trembling was fleeting.
She slowly lowered her shoulder straps and approached Kang Hyun-woo.
Soon, her pale white flesh and large breasts were revealed.
Kang Hyun-woo reached out and grabbed her breast.
Tina’s body flinched at the incredibly crude and rough touch.
Her face was flushed bright red.
Especially when Kang Hyun-woo pinched or twisted her nipple, Tina would cross her thighs, cover her mouth, and swallow her aroused breaths.
All to prevent her master from hearing.
And so, for a while, Kang Hyun-woo teased both women at once, satisfying his selfish desires to his heart’s content.
*
After the ‘encouragement’ was over, a strange silence settled over the drawing room.
Unlike Kang Hyun-woo, who seemed perfectly fine, Elisabeth looked slightly drunk.
Her hair was disheveled, her dress was wrinkled, and her lips glistened with saliva.
Tina, too, was uncharacteristically dazed.
Clink.
Putting down his teacup, Kang Hyun-woo looked at Elisabeth sitting beside him.
As if sensing his gaze, Elisabeth flinched.
“I-is it still not enough…?”
She fidgeted with the hem of her dress, unable to sit still.
His hand had only touched her thigh, but her underwear was already soaked beyond use.
Afraid he would find out, Elisabeth watched Kang Hyun-woo nervously.
“Well… it’s not enough, is it? But now’s not the time, so I’ll have to put it off for later.”
If he had his way, he would have laid them both down on the sofa, but there wasn’t enough time.
Given the Second Queen’s personality, it wouldn’t be strange if she sent assassins as soon as tonight.
“On that note, would you mind writing an invitation for me?”
“An invitation…? To whom?”
Kang Hyun-woo smiled and said.
“To Count Hevaron.”
It was time to meet the Chancellor of the Nivia Kingdom, the leader of the neutral faction.