Chapter 81
Chapter 81
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 81
Chapter Title: Luyan Joins VER.C.PRIM
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Luyan Puegor, with his striking red hair and dark crimson eyes.
He liked meditating, so he often sat still with his eyes closed, passing the time that way.
The silence made even the smallest sounds seem loud. From far off, he faintly heard two voices.
"Is this the right room?"
"Yeah. But suddenly I'm worried—what if we walk in on something embarrassing? Like if he's changing clothes."
"Poke your eyes out."
Clank, clank.
The voices grew louder, followed by the sound of metal window frames scraping against each other.
Luyan opened his eyes and picked up the sword beside him. Two intruders in his room. They had some serious guts.
Already shifting into combat stance, Luyan waited for the window to open and the intruders to come in.
"Luyan, hello."
In came a familiar golden-haired girl and a somewhat younger-looking girl with brown hair.
"Pr-Princess???"
Luyan's mind blanked for a moment. He narrowed his eyes to take in the situation, then widened them in shock.
"Nice to see you again?"
"Y-Yes, uh, no. What brings you here in the middle of the night? And more importantly, why......"
Luyan was thrown off by Prim's sudden appearance. He'd expected shady types—assassins, thieves, that sort—but these were the last people he could've imagined.
The princess made sense, maybe, but what was the academy delivery girl doing here?
"Actually, I have something to ask you."
"If you have questions, couldn't you ask at the academy tomorrow?"
Prim shook her head.
"Too many eyes at the academy."
The academy was a place where the emperor could monitor her freely. Short of going straight to the ducal house, there weren't many good spots to talk.
From that one line, Luyan seemed to grasp the situation and nodded.
"I see. No prying eyes in my room, so please, make yourself comfortable."
Luyan sheathed his sword with a fully relaxed expression and sat back in his chair.
"The mysterious growth item package, the unidentified magic swordsmen volunteering their forces, and so on. It felt like you were helping me from the shadows."
"Ah...... I remember you ultimately refused them all."
Luyan's face fell a bit. He fiddled with the hem of his nightshirt, subtly showing his disappointment.
"I don't accept help from unclear sources. That's why I came to you myself. What's a scion of an emperor-loyal house like yours get out of reaching out to me? Everything else I could guess, but your intentions were hard to pin down."
"My intentions?"
Luyan's eyes went wide, then he blinked rapidly, as if he'd never even considered it.
"Just...... you looked like you were struggling, so I wanted to help however I could......"
"So why?"
Prim leaned in with a suspicious glare, and Luyan averted his gaze as his face flushed bright red.
"Why, why do you ask? I, uh...... well...... I also wanted to get closer to you......"
"Even if it means defying your father?"
"That's why I couldn't help openly."
Prim scowled and leaned against the window frame.
"Something feels off. The justification doesn't sit right. What do you think, Dun?"
Dun, who'd been quietly watching with keen interest, shrugged.
"If it's love as the justification, I get it."
"Wha—what?! That's ridiculous, no!!"
"Oho, so that's it? Explains why your face keeps turning red. Little Duke Luyan is pretty cute."
"Nooooo!!"
Luyan shot to his feet, stammering, flailing his arms, and sweating bullets.
"There's another justification! I was too flustered to mention it earlier."
"You should've led with that. What is it?"
Luyan let out a long sigh, cooling his flushed cheeks with his palms while shooting Dun a resentful look.
"I know you're the Sacrifice, Princess. With monsters overrunning the territory and the people suffering, how could I not help the Sacrifice? No personal motives."
"None at all?"
"......Probably not."
Luyan trailed off, dodging Prim's piercing gaze.
"Since we've opened up like this, I'll speak freely. I want to support you, Princess Primaverra. The Puegor Ducal House might not be able to, but this little duke wants to stand with you."
"Hmm......"
Prim toyed idly with her flower-etched staff, then turned to Dun.
"Dun, what do you think?"
"Why keep asking me? You're the leader; you make the call."
"Am I the leader?"
"Who else is staging the rebellion—you or me? You're just embarrassed for no reason."
"No."
Prim shook her head, dead serious in denial.
Should she trust Luyan or not? Having been burned once by Emperor Luisa, Prim couldn't easily assume good intentions from offers of help anymore.
After sorting through her thoughts on whether to trust him, Prim spoke with a resolved expression.
"For now, I get your intentions, Luyan."
"So you'll include me in your plans, Sacrifice?"
"For now, we'll keep you close."
Dun, watching the two, let out a big yawn. As eyes turned to the yawning Dun, Prim's tense face fully relaxed.
"Let's go, Dun. Sorry to keep you up for something so minor."
"Sleepy."
"Got it. I'll take you home now."
Prim reached out and ruffled Dun's tousled light-brown hair.
"By the way, Sacrifice, why'd you bring the delivery girl?"
"Our Dun came up with over a hundred ways to blackmail you, given your unclear motives."
"Blackmail...... me?"
Luyan's shoulders slumped a little, looking deflated.
They'd spent plenty of time together at the academy, yet she still didn't trust him that much?
"But she prepared all those blackmail methods—why not use them?"
A sudden question popped into Luyan's head, and he looked up.
"We already did the verification step."
Dun answered.
"Verification step? When?"
"While you two were filming your melodrama, I snuck it in."
"Me-melodrama!!!"
Luyan's face reddened again as he denied it.
"So, Dun, did I pass the verification?"
Luyan asked Dun more casually than he did Prim, his expression a touch tense.
"You know your own sincerity; you tell me how it went."
"Does that mean I passed?"
Dun spoke vaguely on purpose, then hopped out the window first.
* * *
After that, Luyan sent the magic swordsmen he'd trained to Prim once a week.
Worried about other ducal house members finding out, he could only send small numbers, but over time, the forces steadily built up.
In return for his ongoing support, Prim and Dun decided to reveal part of the forces they were building.
Having once commanded the Puegor Ducal House's magic swordsmen knights, he'd offer a valuable outside perspective.
Arriving at one of Prim's secret bases, Luyan took in the sight of the magic swordsmen he'd secretly diverted and the soldiers Prim had been raising.
"Is this the second army?"
"Yeah. Second unit. What do you think?"
"......For an army you've gathered alone, it's impressive."
Had he expected too much because she was building forces? Compared to the imperial army, the numbers and scale were disappointingly small, leaving Luyan a bit let down.
"Got more to say?"
"It does seem short on numbers. Compared to the emperor's forces, including their secret army, it's still very small."
"How much more? Your father's basically the head of the emperor's faction, so as his son, you must've picked up some intel. Details on the secret army's size would help."
"The emperor's secret army size......"
At Prim's words, Luyan closed his eyes as if recalling, sinking into thought. After a moment, he spoke.
"Being a secret army, Emperor Luisa doesn't share much info even with my father."
"I see."
Prim's face fell visibly. Not wanting to disappoint her, Luyan hurriedly added,
"B-But I'll do my utmost to help! From now on, I'll sneak more elite magic swordsmen to you, Princess. I'll build you an army so massive even the emperor's secret forces won't faze it!"
Desperate for Prim's favor and attention, Luyan's response was fiercely determined. The sole scion of the Puegor Ducal House volunteering to lead a secret army.
Prim stroked her chin once and nodded.
"My position's precarious. What if Duke Puegor of the emperor's faction catches on to your actions?"
"I'll turn the crisis into opportunity and convince Father to side with you, Princess."
To earn her trust, he'd anticipated her concerns and prepared counters. That's why the answers flowed smoothly.
"Naive talk. What if persuasion fails? What if your father abandons you and offers you up to the emperor too? Then what?"
"Princess, do you know how I've been diverting magic swordsmen from Father's army all this time?"
"How?"
Luyan straightened his shoulders and grinned.
"The current Puegor Red Knights under my command are sixty percent of the total. They've all sworn knightly oaths to me. Family ties aside, Father can't abandon me."
Sixty percent under his command. Prim murmured in quiet admiration.
Beyond talent in army management, he clearly had the duke's full trust.
While Prim silently marveled at him in various ways, Luyan kept watching her face. Sensing she still didn't fully trust him, he spoke up hastily.
"I've heard the rough situation. It's fine to suspect me. Until your doubts clear, I'll just quietly give my all for you, Princess."
Prim was momentarily speechless at his words, awkwardly rubbing her neck.
"......What do you want from me? Feels fishy just taking your help."
Seeing Prim start to open up, Luyan gave a small, proud smile.
"Ah, I forgot to mention. In exchange for aiding your rebellion, Princess, I have one request. If the rebellion succeeds, please show mercy to the emperor-aligned Puegor Ducal House."
"Ah. So you want an out in case things go south. That makes a bit of sense."
Luyan gazed at the nodding Prim with affectionate eyes, then continued.
"And I want your heart, Princess."
"Pffft! Ah. Hmff."
The light-brown-haired person reading a book called 'Sacrifice Intel' off to the side burst into laughter. Knowing it wasn't the time, they clamped it down with their hand over their mouth.
A nameplate reading 'NPC Noah' floated above their head.
Catching Luyan's eye, Noah—that is, Dun in disguise—raised a hand in brief apology. Sorry.
Noah waved for them to continue, and Prim, chuckling softly, spoke again.
"Got it for now. Before assigning roles trusting you, let me think a bit more."
"I'm just grateful and honored for the chance. By the way, who is that one......?"
Luyan extended his hand politely, pointing toward Dun.
"The overall vice commander of the third, fourth, and fifth armies—Noah. They drop by sometimes to enforce discipline."
Overall vice commander? Luyan tilted his head.
What an oddly vague position.
Not even the commander of the ragtag third army, but vice commander. And they didn't seem to come often. What did they even do? Luyan eyed the rough-looking Noah up and down.
Leg crossed over the chair, flipping through a book without really reading—hilarious. And those sunglasses?
Noah lowered the book slightly below their eyes and alternated glances at Luyan and Prim with their long, red eyes. Then they closed the book and spoke.
"Princess Prim, how about making him responsible for the first and second units? Seems like a hot-blooded, passionate guy."
Knowing it was an act, Prim barely suppressed her twitching lips at Dun's formal speech—it felt awkward yet thrilling—and cleared her throat.
"Ahem. Sure."
With Noah's words, Luyan's role in the army was assigned on the spot.