Chapter 132: Taimun Marius (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 132: Taimun Marius (5)
As a nanny of the Runcandels, Taimun possessed skills comparable to a 7-star knight. However, even she was helpless against a sudden ambush by those she believed to be allies, especially with her guard down.
Thuck!
The dagger Jin threw buried itself in an assassin’s shoulder. The blow threw off the assassin’s aim, allowing Taimun—who had reacted a split second too late—to avoid a fatal wound.
Slash. The blade merely grazed her shoulder. Nevertheless, Taimun stood with her eyes wide, as if unable to process the situation.
‘That was close. If I had been even a moment slower, Taimun would have been finished.’
He had a mountain of information to extract from her.
Jin hadn't saved her out of any lingering affection. He simply couldn't allow the culprit behind the curse—the one he hadn't found a single clue about for fifteen years—to die so easily. Furthermore, he was determined that he, and no one else, would be the one to pass judgment on her.
He would find Taimun, and then the sibling backing her, to settle the grudge from his past life. Jin gritted his teeth, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief.
“How dare you! On my land!”
Luna swung Krantel. With a single flash of her blade, the heads of two assassins were sent flying.
Had they been real Runcandel Enforcement Knights, they would have withstood at least one blow. Luna’s eyes burned with fury as she instantly realized they were imposters.
Before the assassins' heads even hit the ground, Jin closed the distance to Taimun in a single bound.
“Who sent you?! Who dares defile the name of Runcandel?!”
As Luna’s thunderous voice echoed, the remaining assassins momentarily faltered and stepped back.
It wasn't just fear of her strength that made them recoil. It was a reflexive reaction to an aura they simply couldn't withstand.
If the mere pressure in her voice was enough to sap the strength from their bodies, these assassins were 6-star or lower. Moreover, there were only five of them. The moment their initial assassination attempt failed, they had effectively lost all hope.
However, they were not mere warriors; they were highly trained assassins.
Despite seeing two of their comrades die in an instant, their gazes didn't waver as they remained fixated solely on Taimun.
“Jin!”
“Don't worry!”
Jin thrust Bradamante toward the assassin who had first targeted Taimun. Simultaneously, he pulled Taimun back and threw her behind him. The assassin, having regained his balance, swung his dagger again in response.
Squelch!
Jin severed the arm holding the dagger. Then, spinning around, he took the man’s back and slit his throat.
As blood sprayed, a grim realization struck Jin: these men had come prepared to die. Just as he suspected, the assassins had intended to take Taimun down with them from the very beginning.
“I was right, Taimun Marius. Your master has no intention of letting you live,” Jin spoke calmly as he flicked the blood from his blade.
By then, Luna had finished subduing the remaining two assassins by breaking their limbs. She hadn't killed them, as there were countless things they needed to be interrogated about.
Crr-ack!
Luna promptly crushed and tore away the assassins' faceguards. The thick steel visors, perfect replicas of Enforcement Knight gear, ripped like paper in her grip.
“If you confess in detail, those who have nothing to do with this matter will be spared—”
Luna froze.
Upon seeing the assassins' bare faces, she stopped moving. Jin, approaching her side, let out a sharp intake of breath.
Their faces were hideous, looking as if they had been stitched together from rags. From their foreheads to their jaws, they were covered in scars, and their ears were half-severed.
Judging by how prominent the scars were and the lingering swelling, it was clear they had been mutilated recently. Their faces had been intentionally destroyed to prevent identification.
Furthermore, they were no longer breathing. Their eyes had rolled back, showing only the whites, and they were foaming at the mouth.
“What in the…!”
“Wait, Sister.”
Jin forced his fingers into the dead assassins' mouths. He couldn't feel their tongues, but he felt small granules packed near their molars.
“They had poison hidden between their teeth. It looks like they bit down on it either right before or right after you subdued them.”
“Dammit, to go this far…”
Luna pressed a hand to her forehead, looking distraught. Her mind had been in turmoil even before the assassins arrived, but this situation forced her to a certain conclusion.
Her nanny had tried to harm Jin, and one of her siblings was undoubtedly behind it.
And that sibling had planned to erase all traces by eliminating Taimun in advance.
A sense of futility rose alongside her rage.
“How… how could my nanny do this to me? How! Who ordered this? Even when I asked her to investigate who was trying to harm Jin, she stood there so shamelessly, pretending not to know…?”
Luna couldn't bring herself to look at Taimun.
She couldn't control the chaos in her heart. Until just a few hours ago, Taimun had been the person Luna trusted most in the world.
Even until the very last moment.
Luna wanted to believe there was some misunderstanding. Cutting down Taimun, who was like a mother to her, would be harder than cutting down any of her siblings.
‘She must be devastated. Just as Gilly is to me, Taimun must have been more of a mother to her than her own.’
Jin didn't feel good about this either. However, he had been prepared for this bitterness from the moment he placed Taimun under suspicion.
If he had intended to let things slide just because this life was going well, he wouldn't have sought out Luna in the first place.
‘The Delusion of the Blade. Because of that curse, I spent twenty-five miserable years before being kicked out of the family. Taimun Marius, you will tell me everything about it.’
Jin walked slowly toward Taimun. At the sound of those unwavering footsteps, Luna could only squeeze her eyes shut.
“Brother.”
“Yes, Sister.”
“I must steel my heart now. I will take responsibility for the fact that Taimun Marius, my nanny, tried to harm you. I will not interfere until all her crimes are brought to light.”
Luna spoke in a low voice, as if her heart were weeping blood.
“There is nothing for you to take responsibility for, Sister.”
In fact, after everything is revealed, I should be the one comforting you. Though I doubt any words could soothe your sense of betrayal and sorrow…
Jin swallowed his remaining thoughts and looked down at Taimun, who was leaning against the wall.
“Heh, hehe… I didn't expect it to end like this, Young Master Jin.”
Her voice trembled.
But it wasn't a tremor born of fear or confusion. It was a thin, fading voice, like that of a dying person. Her breathing was ragged.
‘Wait!’
Jin hurriedly leaned down to check Taimun’s complexion. Her face was drenched in cold sweat, and dark red blood was trickling from her slightly parted lips.
“Did you also have poison hidden in your mouth? Taimun Marius, do you really intend to show my sister nothing but cowardice until the very end?”
“No… Young Master, cough! No, I suppose this is cowardly in its own way…”
Urgh! Taimun shook her head and vomited blood, her body trembling.
Sensing something was wrong, Luna rushed to her side and covered her mouth in shock. Jin noticed that the shoulder of Taimun’s coat was stained black.
It was the spot where the first assassin’s dagger had struck. That wound, which had only grazed the skin.
The blade had been coated in poison.
A toxin among toxins.
Kuzan Marius—it was his poison. It was of a far higher purity than the one that had threatened Jin not long ago.
“Cough, I suppose I really have grown old. To think I couldn't dodge that, even in an ambush…”
“Stop talking, Taimun. The poison is spreading! I’ll bring a healer.”
“There is… no need for that, Young Master.”
“Nanny! Just wait a moment. This is my land. I’ll—I’ll call a healer right now!”
But even as she shouted frantically, Luna knew instinctively. Taimun’s poison was not the kind that could be treated, even if a healer arrived immediately.
“My Lady. Urgh!”
“Nanny, Nanny! You can't end like this. Don't do this, you really can't.”
“I know this poison well, My Lady… It is Kuzan’s… his masterpiece.”
Gush, gush… Taimun spat out mouthfuls of clotted, blackened blood.
Not only that, but blood began to spurt from her wound as the poison she had been barely suppressing began to ravage her veins.
From the moment the dagger grazed her, Taimun had accepted that her life was over. She knew better than anyone that unless one possessed the blessed physique of a Runcandel, this was a poison from which even a scratch meant certain death.
‘I see. Is this what they call karma?’
Her eyelids grew heavy, and the dark scent of death loomed before her.
A human buried in sin always fears death.
‘I don't want to die. If I could, I would beg for forgiveness from My Lady and Young Master Jin right now to survive. I want to stay by My Lady’s side.’
Instead of her life flashing before her eyes, such pathetic desires consumed Taimun’s mind. She wanted to prostrate herself and plead for them to find the Tears of Numerus, which were said to bring even the dead back to life.
She knew Luna wouldn't ignore such a request.
But soon, Taimun managed a faint smile.
‘I shouldn't show My Lady nothing but my ugly, filthy side at the very end. To my lovely, precious Lady.’
Though she had deceived Luna until now, tried to kill Jin without her knowledge, and committed all sorts of atrocities while siding with another Runcandel sibling…
Taimun’s affection for Luna was not a lie. Even if that affection had been infinitely twisted.
“My Lady… and Young Master Jin. Listen carefully to what I am about to say.”
“Nanny, why are you acting so scary? As if it’s the end. Are you really going to be like this…?”
Thick, warm tears fell from Luna’s eyes, wetting Taimun’s forehead.
“Even if I confess now… it won't wash away my sins. I won't even say I’m sorry for deceiving you, My Lady.”
“Stop, be quiet, Nanny. More blood is coming out.”
“…Fifteen years ago, the name of the mage who placed the curse on the youngest master… was Kidad Hall.”
With every word she uttered, Taimun’s voice became more slurred. The poison had reached her tongue.
“The person… who ordered me… to harm the Young Master… was Jo… shua. It was Master Joshua.”
Wheeze, wheeze. Taimun’s pupils turned black with poison as she let out breaths that sounded like scraping metal.
“And… he… knows about the youngest master’s… power. That contract.”
“Nanny, ah, Mother…”
Luna grasped Taimun’s cold hands, rubbing them against her cheek, pressing her forehead against hers, and pulling her to her chest. She was like a young animal huddling into the embrace of its dying mother.
Exerting the last of her strength, Taimun looked at Luna with eyes that had already gone blind.
“I’m sorry for hurting you, My Lady. Please… do not remember this ugly person for too long. I beg of you.”