Chapter 187
Chapter 187
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 187
Chapter Title: Suspicious Incident
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Whoooosh!
It was a day when the wind howled fiercer than usual.
A single carriage raced along the official road, escorted by several guards.
Thud thud thud!
Due to the harsh weather, there were almost no travelers on the road, but even so, the carriage barreled forward at an excessively reckless speed. People hurriedly dodged out of its way, some tumbling off the road in the process.
Yet no one dared voice any complaints toward the carriage. It belonged to the imperial family.
Thud thud thud!
The carriage's perilous dash continued unabated. It was after they had been racing like this for some time.
Amid the chaos where everyone scrambled to get out of the way, a young man strolled right down the middle of the road. Even as the carriage thundered toward him from behind at tremendous speed, he showed no sign of intending to move aside.
"Hey! It's dangerous—get off to the side!"
A passerby shouted urgently.
The warrior on the driver's seat barked sharply as well.
"Get out of the way!"
Thud thud thud!
Only then did the young man finally stop and turn around. His hazy gaze and cynical air marked him as Yang Chan.
Had he drunk himself into a stupor?
Yang Chan's eyes, devoid of any spark, suddenly flashed the moment they caught sight of the flag fluttering atop the carriage.
He had seen that carriage before.
A few days earlier, when he had stolen a horse to pursue Yi Hwan, that very carriage had been in the stables. And Yang Chan clearly remembered that it belonged to one of Second Prince Yi Tae-ji's close aides.
"You bastard! If you don't want to die, move aside now!"
The warrior on the driver's seat yelled again. Yet he didn't slow down.
Out of anger, perhaps?
The warrior's whip lashed out at an innocent village man standing by the roadside.
Crack!
"Ow!"
Blood trickled down the village man's back as he collapsed with a cry. Yang Chan's eyes, which had turned toward the village man, now fixed back on the carriage.
The distance between them was now a mere ten-odd zhang. A few blinks, and they would collide head-on.
Just as the onlookers held their breaths in dread, Yang Chan quietly stepped aside to the roadside. A chilling energy shot toward him from the carriage as it grazed past by a hair's breadth.
Yang Chan reached out toward the whip flying at him.
Whip!
"Urk!"
The whip coiled around Yang Chan's wrist, and the warrior on the driver's seat let out a sharp cry of alarm as he was yanked into the air. But the warrior flipped gracefully in midair and landed lightly in front of Yang Chan.
Shing!
The drawn sword already hummed with sword energy.
"So you're one of those harboring disloyal thoughts against the imperial family."
Yang Chan silently unwound the whip from his wrist, slowly. At that moment, the carriage halted, and the escorting warriors swiftly wheeled back around.
The warrior aiming his sword at Yang Chan shouted.
"It's a fiend! There might be more of his gang nearby—stay sharp!"
Clang clang shing!
The warriors drew their swords in unison.
They took Yang Chan for a member of the Reverse Heaven Society. And rightly so—yanking a warrior down from his seat with one hand on the whip was no feat for an ordinary man.
Especially while bearing the imperial family's flag, his brazen actions left no doubt he was one of them.
As the atmosphere turned murderous, the people who had paused to avoid the carriage hurriedly fled farther away.
The warriors hesitated to charge in. The cynical aura emanating from Yang Chan's entire body felt deeply unsettling.
Yang Chan stared not at the warriors, but at the carriage. A white-robed man stepped out, opening the door.
It was the subordinate of Yi Tae-ji who had brutally slaughtered the stable hands a few days prior.
He bellowed toward this side.
"What are you lot doing? Kill him already!"
Yang Chan began walking toward him. At the same time, the warriors lunged.
But they collapsed limply, unable to do a thing. Clutching their throats, foam bubbled from their mouths as they convulsed like fish thrashed on a spear.
At the sudden spectacle, the white-robed man bulged his eyes and staggered back.
The warrior who had been on the assistant's seat blocked the white-robed man's path, sword trained on Yang Chan.
"St-stop!"
Yang Chan kept walking. A faint wisp of green smoke rose from his body, drifting toward the warrior and the middle-aged man.
"Gah!"
The warrior clutched his throat and reeled. The white-robed man dodged the oncoming green smoke, kicking off the ground in frantic flight. He ran like a madman without looking back.
Only after racing to where the road curved did he finally glance over his shoulder.
Relieved to see no sign of Yang Chan, the white-robed man steadied himself with a sigh.
It was then.
"I'm sorry about that time."
"......!"
The white-robed man whipped around like lightning, his eyes nearly popping out. Yang Chan stood right before him.
'Wh-when did he overtake me?!'
"I had to borrow your horse for a bit due to circumstances."
At Yang Chan's words, the white-robed man recalled the stable incident.
"Th-that's all in the past, so it's f-fine!"
"You're forgiving me?"
"Wh-who am I to forgive or not? I-I've forgotten it all, so don't worry!"
"Thank you."
As Yang Chan turned away, the white-robed man's legs gave out, and he staggered violently.
'Wh-what a crazy bastard.'
It was then.
Sting!
His face began to sting all over. The white-robed man frantically rubbed it with both hands.
But only for a moment—soon he began screaming.
"Argh! Gaaah!"
The white-robed man's face was melting. Very slowly.
"Kaaaaah!"
Yang Chan trudged on, leaving the agonized screams behind. They finally ceased when he became a tiny black speck.
Thud!
* * *
A private home on the outskirts of the city.
A woman with a child just weaned from the breast strapped to her back stepped out of the house. Her haggard complexion and hollow gaze made her look like someone who had lost everything in the world, and her steps lacked any vitality.
The woman headed to a shop selling rice and all manner of goods.
"You're here?"
The shopkeeper greeted her.
The woman silently proffered a few copper coins and a small basket. She wanted to buy rice.
Moments later, the woman trudged home with an amount of rice that wouldn't even suffice for a grown man for a day. Upon entering the house, she suddenly collapsed right there. Through the open kitchen door, three sacks of rice were visible.
"Mom!"
A child poked his head out from the room.
"Some uncle gave me this! Said he was Dad's friend!"
The child held up a money pouch with both hands. It burst open, spilling silver coins everywhere.
Clink clink!
* * *
Song Yeong gazed at the woman weeping bitterly, slumped in the courtyard.
She was the wife of one of the men killed at the stables, now cast into a harsh life raising two children alone. All because of him.
'I'm sorry.'
That day, Song Yeong visited the homes of everyone unjustly slain at the stables. He secretly left the same amount of silver and rice at each before departing.
He wondered if this would ease his guilt even a little, but it did nothing of the sort. If anything, seeing the bereaved families thrust into destitution without their breadwinners only deepened his gloom.
Whoooosh!
* * *
Upon hearing the report that his close aide had been murdered, Yi Tae-ji showed an uncharacteristic reaction.
"His face melted away, leaving only bones?"
"Yes. It was confirmed he died from poison. And the night before, thieves broke into his home and stole all his silver and gold."
The latter part fell on deaf ears.
"Those fiends have never used poison to kill before..."
"This is their first theft too. It seems they've grown even more savage than before."
Yi Tae-ji sank deep into his chair, his gaze turning grave.
'This might not be the fiends' doing. Until now, they've only targeted royals or high officials. In that case...'
Yi Tae-ji's eyes narrowed. He began suspecting someone.
'The Crown Prince is too straitlaced for such tricks. That leaves the third or fourth prince—must be their handiwork.'
Suspicion hardened into conviction.
Thud!
"Fetch the Grand Overseer."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Staring at his departing subordinate's back, Yi Tae-ji filled his eyes with venom.
'You dare try it, huh?'
* * *
The past few days had been a string of peaceful ones.
Thus, Yi Hwan immersed himself in devising new techniques to pass on to Go Mi and his other aides.
'Is it too much?'
He had finished Go Mi's first. But upon completion, he wondered if even she could keep up with its level. It was the result of his greed to create something even stronger for her.
'I have no choice but to trust in her talent once more.'
Yi Hwan set down his brush and stretched his back.
Crack!
After poring over it for several hours, his whole body ached. Yi Hwan stretched grandly, rose from his seat, and headed outside. Ju Tae, who had been dozing off slumped in his chair, jolted awake and stood.
"Heading out, my lord?"
"Lunch."
"Ah, yes. Let's go."
Yi Hwan stepped out and made straight for the restaurant reserved for generals.
But he hadn't gone far before stopping short. He spotted Go Mi running toward him from up ahead. Her expression looked quite startled by something.
"Great Prince."
"Did something happen?"
"Shall I tell you here?"
"To the office."
Moments later, in the office, Go Mi dropped a bombshell.
"Yesterday, one of Second Prince Yi Tae-ji's aides was murdered on the official road. But his face had melted away completely from the poison, leaving only bones."
"......!"
For a split second, Yi Hwan recalled the death of the man known as the Black Dragon Pavilion Master of Zhao Kingdom.
"It's identical to the incident in Zhao Kingdom."
"Exactly."
"Any other details on the case?"
"The murdered aide of Second Prince Yi Tae-ji had his horse stolen from the stables a few days prior. And in the process, Yi Tae-ji's aide brutally killed the stable hands managing it. We'll need more investigation to see if it's connected."
"Hmm..."
Yi Hwan leaned back in his chair, his gaze settling gravely.
'A murder method where the face melts from poison isn't common. And it happened in Zhao Kingdom, then here in Yeon Kingdom with just a slight time lag?'
Yang Chan naturally came to mind.
Yi Hwan suspected him as the culprit behind the poisoning in Zhao Kingdom. To that end, he had disguised him as the Descendant of the Poison King to put Southwest King Jo Yun on edge.
'Would he have any reason to cross into Yeon Kingdom? If it wasn't him, that means a poison expert has finally appeared here too.'
No poison expert had emerged in Yeon Kingdom in decades. Compared to the other two kingdoms, Yeon controlled poisons, explosives, and aphrodisiacs most stringently.
"What are you thinking?"
Yi Hwan shook off his thoughts and met Go Mi's eyes directly.
"Who's handling the investigation?"
"I plan to do it myself."
"Even without ties to Zhao Kingdom, the emergence of a poison expert is a grave matter. We can't assume he's on our side just because he killed Yi Tae-ji's aide, so dig into it thoroughly."
"Understood."
"It'd be easier if there were witnesses."
"Unfortunately, none have been confirmed yet. The Golden Imperial Guards are conducting a massive investigation, so we'll have to watch for now."
"Yi Tae-ji might get the wrong idea. That paranoid sort is bound to suspect the Crown Prince's Palace and me again."
"Possibly."
"At any rate, Moon Lord, I'll need you to take care of it. I can assign men if you want."
"I can handle it alone."
Yi Hwan rose from his seat.
"Have you eaten?"
"Not yet."
"Then let's go together."
"Yes."