Chapter 87
Chapter 87
Saint, You’re So Vulgar! – Chapter 87
They had to move under cover of night.
Naturally, moving as a group carried a high risk of detection, so the plan was to act individually.
The strategy was already set.
Contingencies for emergencies had been prepared.
Above all, the paths for cautious movement had all been secured.
"The palace has seven secret passages in total. One long tunnel from the king's residence to outside the castle walls. Two other passages leading to that one. And four more secret passages connecting the inner and outer castles."
Gester, who had been fascinated by exploration since childhood, loved playing hide-and-seek using the castle's secret passages.
To be precise, only his direct-line royal parents knew of those passages' existence, so he'd hidden there to draw the attention of his busy parents.
It was an embarrassing childhood memory, but that experience allowed Gester to map out the palace's secret passages as clearly as if they were etched in his mind.
And this was the result.
"Diego, you guard the passage leading outside the castle."
"Should I block it off?"
"Yes."
For handling emergencies, positioning Diego where he could access all passages made sense.
With his transcendent sensing abilities, he could immediately detect if allies were in trouble and provide support.
Plus, the two passages connected to it led to the guards' barracks.
In a pinch, no one was better suited to neutralize them than Diego.
Halia continued.
"The four of us will head to the inner palace and search the annexes. Perfectly four passages for four of us."
Asher and Versia, Gester and Halia would each take their own passage to the inner palace.
Their target was the palace within the inner grounds known as the "Flower Garden," where the king's concubines resided.
Gester grimaced.
"Building a separate palace for concubines... It's absurd no matter how I think about it."
At the previous banquet, Halia had exchanged information with the mercenary captains.
Among the stories she'd coaxed out while pretending to be naive were several intriguing pieces of intel.
The one that caught the group's attention was about this palace.
"Eleven concubines, each given their own annex called a palacethe Flower Garden. The annexes are spread out, so the search area is wide, but doesn't it look promising?"
No witches among the castle servants who attended the major events.
Combining that fact with the intel they'd gathered, it pointed to positions inside the castle that allowed free movement, ready access to the king, and avoidance of unnecessary events.
To hide a witch, making her one of the king's concubines was the way.
"Leave it to us."
Asher replied on behalf of the group.
With that, the party dispersed and infiltrated.
Asher, left alone, fiddled with the dagger in his pocket as he entered the northwest secret passage.
He first checked for signs of recent passage.
'None. This tunnel hasn't been used in years.'
Only then could Asher breathe a little easier.
No need to worry about ambushes immediately inside here.
He'd been on high alert just to reach the entrance, draining his focus.
He slowed his steps to conserve energy, one hand on his dagger, the other stroking his neck.
It wasn't meaningless.
At the passage's end, sensing presences beyond the wall, Asher held his breath.
He gauged the footsteps and breathing. A woman, likely a passing maid.
The perfect target.
Whoosh!
"Mmph...!"
Asher sprang from behind the wall, subduing the maid in an instant and pressing the knife to her throat.
He lowered his voice and said,
"Shh. Stay quiet, and nothing will happen."
A gloomy, raspy middle-aged man's voice emerged from Asher.
It was a voice modulation technique learned from Windrider, a master thief among Trevion's mercenaries.
The maid's body trembled.
Tears wet the hand covering her mouth, followed by a nod.
Asher felt guilty. He planned to just knock her out gently after getting the answers he needed.
Just slip away quietly without detection, right?
He could have asked nicely, but Asher had his reasons for this approach.
"Among the king's concubines, who joined in the last two years?"
He needed to narrow the search.
Gester didn't know the internal palace details like which concubine joined when.
External rumors had limits, so they needed precise info from an insider.
Asher set the timeframe slightly before the first artificial witch was discovered.
The maid, still shaking, eyed the blade at her throat.
She whispered in a trembling voice,
"Th-three. Each..."
She answered diligently.
Terror made her voice choke with sobs, but survival instinct ensured clear responses.
'Three, and only one suspicious.'
The other two had clear backgrounds: one a favored maid, the other sold for political reasons.
The suspicious one was a woman the king suddenly brought in one day.
The maid didn't know details. Timing: about ten months ago, around when they first hunted a witch.
'Northwest, room with door adorned in blue gems.'
Even the location was confirmed.
"Pl-please spare me..."
The maid pleaded desperately, trembling.
The floor grew wet. She'd lost control.
Guilt stabbed at Asher's chest.
In that moment, he struck the back of her neck.
She collapsed unconscious. Asher moved her to a spot hidden from the corridor, then muttered alone,
"Sorry...!"
It couldn't be helped!
Asher steeled himself and turned back.
He didn't forget to creep stealthily.
* * *
Finding the annex was easy.
Among the many buildings in the inner palace, only one had a blue gem embedded at the entrance in the shape of a flower.
Of course, the annex door was firmly shut.
But it wasn't a big problem for Asher.
It was the hour when everyone except minimal guards was asleep.
The patrolling guards were conveniently on the opposite side of the building.
'Never thought I'd use this like this.'
Asher chuckled softly as he picked the lock.
Another skill from master thief Windrider.
Click. The door opened with a crisp sound.
Asher slipped through the shadows to the building, entering through a window.
Only one presence inside.
Time to be even more cautious.
He concealed his divine power. His breath. The weight of his steps.
Asher moved to the bedroom like a ghost.
The bedroom was lavish. Silk curtains draped around the bed, lantern light casting the shadow of a woman lying there.
'Asleep.'
Her vital signs confirmed it.
Asher's gaze turned cold.
No sound, no presence.
The room remained utterly still until he reached the bed and pressed the dagger to the concubine's throat.
Asher invoked his divine power, channeling it into her body.
Whether to withdraw the blade or thrust it in depended on the result.
It wouldn't take long.
Time for two breathsthat was the allowance,
Slash!
With a gasp, Asher severed her throat.
A witch.
No reason not to kill her now.
Splurt!
Blood sprayed like a fountain.
The witch's eyes snapped open, staring at Asher.
Her mouth twitched, but Asher was faster.
Stab! Stab! Stab!
Nearly simultaneous thrusts pierced her brow, heart, and lungs.
The witch convulsed once, life fading rapidly from her eyes.
Asher exhaled, "Hoo."
Cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
'Success.'
The witch, once pure white from head to toe, was now drenched in red and dead.
It was over.
...Or so it should have been, but Asher's expression was grim.
'Too easy.'
He recalled Hwaran's advice from long ago about assassination.
-When you actually cut the throat and think 'this easily?', be cautious.
She'd spoken of vigilance.
-It could be bait. After killing the target, the real crisis begins.
Why did that come to mind now?
What was this eerie sense of dj vu?
He'd definitely killed the witch, yet no relief came.
Asher's senses sharpened further.
Guards still patrolled obliviously.
No maids. All absent.
The moment he realized that,
'...Wait. All of them?'
Asher grasped the source of the unease.
'Gone.'
Nothing. Aside from distant patrolling guards around the annex, the entire building was devoid of any human presence.
Even for a concubine, she was the king's woman.
Does that make sense for her residence?
A chill ran down his spine.
At the same time, the metallic tang of blood filled his lungs.
That's when the anomaly struck.
"Gh...!"
Asher staggered.
His head spun.
His eyes widened in shock.
'Poison!'
He clamped his mouth shut, but too late.
The witch's blood was poisonnot lethal, but a sedative, a sleep agent.
He tried expelling it with divine power, but it resisted.
His vision blurred.
'Damn...'
Stumbling, Asher finally collapsed with a thud.
He flailed his fingers desperately, but it was futile.
Darkness closed in, thoughts drifting.
When Asher opened his eyes again, before him was this:
"Mm, you're awake. Ouch."
A black-haired witch.
She smiled leisurely, greeting him.
Asher was bound.
In other words,
'...Not just one?'
Baern's witches numbered more than one.
Asher's blood ran cold.