Chapter 101
Chapter 101
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 101
Chapter Title: The Assassination Order
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Aduduk.
Timpia ground her teeth.
“That mongrel bas… that bastard…”
She’d nearly spat out “mongrel whelp,” but Timpia—tormented by him countless times—switched words without thinking.
*Dog bastard? Family Head!*
*Kid bastard? Family Head!*
*Chew bastard? Family Head!*
It was infuriating, utterly maddening.
To think a Demorus successor candidate would stoop to such childishness.
But when he was so blatantly juvenile, it only fueled her rage without giving her any room to retort.
If it were anything else, she could’ve just ignored him and avoided confrontation.
“Already… how many times is it?”
At Timpia’s words, her supporters bowed their heads.
Swish.
She extended her fingers, folding them one by one.
“Twice in the fourth district.”
She folded two fingers.
“Once in the fifth district.”
Another one, until her hand was fully clenched into a fist.
Kwang!
The table before her shattered to pieces.
“This is the fifth time our missions have overlapped with that bastard’s.”
That was the true reason for Timpia’s fury.
Demorus took on any mission.
They accepted and handled anything fitting or well-paid.
In the process, Demorus members sometimes ended up opposing each other.
“Do you think this is coincidence?”
When that happened, one side backed off, or one forfeited the mission, or they reached an agreement—handled that way.
*-Is this the first time you’ve seen this?*
At first, she’d thought it coincidence.
He as bodyguard, her as assassin—they’d clashed.
He was gaining fame lately, but still just a candidate.
*-What’ll you do?*
Sein telling her to pick one of three options.
No need to say which she chose.
That marked the first direct clash of force between Sein and Timpia.
The result was Timpia’s utter defeat.
*-I’ll stop him!*
Without her subordinate’s sacrifice, the Demorus successor candidates might’ve dropped from four to three that day.
Afterward, when they crossed paths again, Timpia tried to negotiate.
*-Why should I?*
Memories of humiliation.
Kwaaak.
Now she knew for sure.
He wasn’t just any candidate.
“Several supporting factions have already defected.”
Demorus’s Sixth Elder, Opas.
Once rumored as a witch candidate and called the Flower of Blood.
She was a famed assassin in Demorus and Timpia’s greatest spiritual pillar, her biggest backer.
Even called an elder, her appearance shone radiantly.
“At this rate, you’ll be the one taken down, Timpia.”
Timpia had held the second-largest support among successor candidates, but now she’d sunk to Jagar’s level.
Changes born from increasing contacts with Sein and repeated humiliations at his hands.
“Timpia.”
“Speak, Sixth Elder.”
“The time has come. We must move now.”
At those words.
“Finally…”
A smile spread across Timpia’s face.
“Call in ‘them.’”
“They” meant the members of the Third Combat Unit—Sein’s closest aides.
Creeeak.
Finally, she could move.
The restrictions on main house affiliates were lifting at last.
*
*
*
Pitong Castle had always been unpopular due to rumors of its lord’s poor health.
Thus, despite its grand size and splendor, the castle was forever empty.
“We pay respects to our lord.”
Quite a crowd had gathered in such a Pitong Castle.
“Sit, all of you.”
At Sein’s word, over thirty people took their seats.
Roberta, Derun, Cienjin, and the core of the Third Combat Unit.
Plus faces he hadn’t seen in a while.
Gathered from that one year at the main house.
Those pledging loyalty to Sein.
“You’re all busy with your duties, so straight to the point.”
Sein’s lips twitched.
“Timpia’s started moving.”
“……!”
The gathered people’s eyes widened.
But Roberta, Derun, Cienjin, and the like just nodded silently.
“That means…”
“It’s finally starting.”
The unwritten rule of Demorus.
Once all successor candidates were set, a one-year truce among them.
Thus.
*-Death sentence.*
When Sein had tried to behead Jagar, Demorus’s guards—Delan—had intervened.
And here in this room.
“Sis must’ve held back long enough.”
Jagar was present too.
“The real competition begins now.”
The true successor battle.
It was the main house’s rule.
That’s why Sein had spent that period tightening the noose on other candidates while building his strength.
Now was the proper start.
Knock knock.
A knock sounded then.
“Come in.”
At Sein’s permission, two men entered through the open door.
Sturdy builds, fierce faces.
Veterans of long battlefields, they were Third Combat Unit enforcers.
“Chebvez, Herzer.”
Their names.
“What’s this about?”
Only key executives had been invited to today’s meeting.
“Pardon the interruption, my lord.”
The pair apologized for disrupting.
Their eyes gleamed as they cautiously raised their heads.
“Orders have come down.”
Chebvez said.
“Orders?”
Only two could issue orders to them.
Demorus’s master, Family Head Tezera.
And the Third Combat Unit’s master, Sein.
But Sein had no memory of ordering the unit.
“Did the Family Head assign a mission to the Third Combat Unit?”
As another executive voiced puzzlement.
“Kill Sein Demorus.”
One line from Chebvez’s mouth.
Thud.
The conference room’s air felt crushed.
“Timpia’s orders.”
But Sein’s response was a smile.
“That fool woman’s finally getting serious.”
Chebvez and Herzer.
When Sein first gained the Third Combat Unit, they’d been summoned to Timpia and sworn loyalty to her.
Yet now they were reporting her orders to Sein.
No killing intent, heads bowed quietly.
“Good work.”
They were already Sein’s people.
“Fool woman.”
Sein’s assessment of Timpia wasn’t wrong.
She thought her beauty, power, and main house origins were advantages too great.
But the Third Combat Unit had spent a full year with Sein.
Just as Sein had observed them, they’d observed him.
*-We have something to say.*
One day, Chebvez and Herzer approached Sein.
*-We’ve committed a grave sin. The truth is…*
They confessed everything.
Sein’s skill, his attitude and mindset toward the Third Combat Unit—they’d chosen to defect.
*-Lucky.*
Sein had said then.
*-If you’d been too late, I’d have had to eliminate you. And I rather liked you all.*
Sein had known everything.
Chebvez and Herzer’s cold sweats and repeated apologies and thanks then would be etched in their minds forever.
“You all heard that, right?”
Sein rose slowly.
“This is war now.”
Creeeak.
“You’ve waited long.”
Crack.
Sein tore open the shirt beneath his coat.
“What’re you waiting for?”
He approached Chebvez and Herzer.
“Stab me.”
*
*
*
“Kuk…”
A stifled laugh.
“Kuahaha!”
Timpia burst into loud laughter.
She’d just heard joyous news.
“Sein Demorus is critically wounded and unconscious.”
A signal of the plan’s success.
Details weren’t clear yet, but Timpia knew.
Chebvez—one of her planted spies—had ambushed him in his sleep.
“Idiot!”
It felt like an aching tooth had fallen out.
Timpia had no doubt of Sein’s critical state.
“I saw it coming when he fully trusted the Third Combat Unit and left his guard to them.”
From some point, Sein had rotated Third Combat Unit members for his protection, even sleeping with them on guard.
How she’d cheered inwardly then.
The most vulnerable moment for any human—the perfect time for her prepared blade to strike deepest.
But.
“Let’s wait and see.”
Timpia wasn’t purely joyful.
Then an executive rushed to her, kneeling on one knee.
“Medical corps reports confirm Sein Demorus was stabbed in the heart.”
Clap!
Only then did Timpia clap.
No fooling the medical corps.
In the underworld, where wounds were constant, they were the most vital group.
Directly under the Family Head, ineligible for successor or other competitions, they had to treat all fairly always.
No bribes taken or offered.
So their words were truth to all.
“The assassin?”
“Unknown still.”
“Clean work.”
She approved.
“Just a shame he didn’t die.”
Perfect if he’d perished this strike.
She’d waited till he opened to the Third Combat Unit and grew overconfident in his skills, the optimal moment—yet the result was slightly lacking.
Then others arrived for Timpia.
“The assassin is Third Combat Unit’s Chebvez. The unit’s pursuing him now, and here…”
They handed a letter.
“Asked to deliver to you, Lady Timpia.”
Obvious without opening.
Mission done, so save and protect him.
But.
Rip.
Timpia tore the unopened letter.
“Trash who misunderstand my value.”
They were discard pawns.
She’d have used them more if undetected, but sheltering assassins of Demorus blood was absurd from the start.
“Timpia.”
Opas called then.
“Only one’s exposed. And Sein Demorus isn’t dead yet.”
A seductive smile rose on Opas’s face.
“Call in the other one.”
One more chance remained.