〈 Chapter 593 〉 Jegal.
Red Feather.
He was a figure who had been famous for some time in the North Sea—or, more precisely, within the Ice Palace.
[There is no one in the Central Plains who does not know that friend.]
The ‘friend’ explaining the story to her with a relaxed expression wore an unusually cheerful look.
Though it had been over a decade since they’d last met, he was still bright and refreshing.
[Anyway, I told you he’s an amazing friend, right?]
Perhaps because time had passed.
The friend, who used to live completely absorbed in his own greatness, had shed such airs and was busy showing off a new companion he’d made.
[That guy is definitely going to make it big. That’s why there’s no one in the Central Plains who doesn’t know him already.]
[You mean Red Feather?]
[That’s right. Red… *pfft*. Feather.]
Though a stifled breath was grating in the middle, she didn’t pay it much heed.
Because her friend had always been a strange one.
However.
If that strange friend was praising someone to that extent.
Yuri felt herself growing somewhat interested.
So she decided to ask.
[White Fox.]
When Yuri called out, the ‘bodyguard’ in the rear turned her head.
Tall for a woman, with a slender frame.
And yet, her sensuous curves stood out prominently.
She was a figure commonly known as the White Fox.
She always wore a white fox mask, and no one knew the face hidden beneath it.
Her friend had said she’d suffered burns as a child and hid a vicious scar beneath it.
Having heard that, Yuri had never insisted she remove the mask.
[Do you know of Red Feather as well?]
[…]
When the question was asked, White Fox nodded.
She was unusually taciturn.
Yuri herself was a woman of few words, but White Fox spoke even less.
Rather, that made her comfortable.
She didn’t act needlessly charming, nor did she show any sign of hardship.
They even said she was a martial artist of the Central Plains possessing tremendous martial prowess.
Yuri liked White Fox.
So much so that it greatly displeased her to hear White Fox would soon return to her hometown.
[…If even you know of him, he really must be a famous figure.]
[She would know him well even if Red Feather weren’t famous.]
[Hm?]
Yuri tilted her head at her friend’s words.
Wondering what he meant.
[Well, it’s because the two of them are…]
Click.
The moment her friend was about to speak.
A sound came from White Fox’s waist.
She was already gripping her sword hilt.
Her friend flinched slightly upon seeing that.
[…Cl…close.]
[Ah.]
Yuri didn’t notice.
[I mean they’re close.]
So White Fox was also a famous figure in the Central Plains?
It was possible.
After all, someone that outstanding couldn’t possibly be unknown.
Yuri nodded and asked her friend.
[Are you also somewhat famous?]
[I…am.]
The friend pondered briefly at Yuri’s question.
[…A little?]
[Hm. I see.]
If he said so, then it must be so.
Yuri believed her friend. She thought him a companion who, at the very least, didn’t lie.
That was why she was curious.
Was this person called Red Feather truly that incredible?
How incredible? Such curiosity arose.
[What kind of person does he feel like?]
It was a question Yuri had asked White Fox.
Since the two were said to be close, she’d thought White Fox might know something.
Upon hearing this, White Fox was silent for a moment, then.
[A puppy.]
[…Hm?]
suddenly let out such a word.
It was unexpected.
[A cute puppy.]
For some reason, with a firm attitude.
An impression quite fresh and different from what she’d heard from her friend.
Did it mean he was pure and kind compared to his strength?
The moment Yuri tried to understand it on her own.
[*Pfft*… *pffft*… *cough*…!!]
The friend beside her turned away and began stifling laughter.
She could see his shoulders trembling with how hard he was holding it in.
She already knew he wasn’t in his right mind, so Yuri didn’t pay it any mind.
[A puppy, huh…]
[Cute.]
White Fox’s words simply remained in her head.
A transcendent who wielded flames.
A benevolent hero who couldn’t simply pass by the weak and injured.
A hero who sought to save the world, and at the same time.
A great genius who would remain in history.
Yet also a man with the cuteness of a puppy.
[How curious.]
Saying so, Yuri smiled.
Stories of the Central Plains were always entertaining.
That was why she hadn’t expected at all.
That a few days later.
When the bloody winds of the North Sea would rage.
She would end up going to the Central Plains to find the man who’d been called a cute puppy.
Sitting at the now-quiet table, Yuri muttered.
“…And they said he was a cute puppy.”
Her tone was full of grievance.
How could she not feel aggrieved?
“Rather than a puppy, there was never such a venomous serpent.”
Just where was the puppy in him?
At best he was a vicious beast; at worst, he was no different from a vengeful ghost.
Yuri had never met such a violent person in her entire life.
As for his speech and gaze?
He looked ready to overturn everything immediately if things went even slightly wrong.
A supreme egoist.
Or perhaps a madman.
A word she had never once associated with anyone in her life came to mind.
Someone she would surely have executed had she seen him in the North Sea.
“Of all people….”
But of all times.
Right now, Yuri needed him.
Thud.
She struck the table with her slender hand.
“My Lady.”
At Yuri’s action, the figure before her.
Ubeom carefully spoke.
“I apologize….”
An apology was the first thing he offered.
Yuri shifted her gaze to Ubeom.
“I failed to handle the matter properly.”
Unlike his appearance earlier when he was making a mess of things, Ubeom’s attitude was solemn.
Seeing this, Yuri spoke.
“Do not apologize. It is all my fault.”
“How can…!”
“I failed to assess the situation properly.”
Everything had gone wrong.
Because none of her efforts to appear foolish had worked.
“…Even the situation Ubeom had worked so hard to create. I ruined it all.”
The situation on the road with the merchant caravan where they’d been able to escape had been created by the precious artifact’s power, and by Ubeom and Useok.
And the aftermath was, ultimately, Ubeom’s sacrifice.
Ubeom had deliberately acted like a vain and arrogant man to draw people’s attention.
There were several reasons for this.
One was to make others perceive her as a lacking young lady accompanied by such guards.
The second was to divert attention from Useok, who had suffered internal injuries.
All of this had been to lead the negotiation to a favorable position, but…
“…Nothing went right.”
“My Lady….”
“I truly didn’t expect this.”
Along with the fact that the one called Red Feather was not a cute puppy.
“He was far smarter than expected. And tenacious.”
This was her mistake as well.
She had made several mistakes in her conduct, and her opponent had noticed every single one without fail.
In other words.
‘Arrogant, but not incompetent.’
Fully aware of his own strength and talent, he maintained a somewhat arrogant demeanor.
But he possessed the power to back it up.
This was troublesome.
To Yuri, he was a difficult and undesirable person in a different sense.
‘Those born to be kings.’
Most who possessed such an aura were like that.
Those destined to sit above others.
Those destined to become the head of the dragon.
They were the very existence Yuri feared most.
Yes, just like.
‘…the Palace Lord.’
The Red Feather she had met was a man much like her father.
The gaze with which he looked down upon her.
The atmosphere he exuded.
Even the confidence that nothing could stop him.
Yuri could not forget the impression of the young man she had just met.
[Young Lady.]
Before heading to the Central Plains.
Her father’s words came to mind.
Her father’s warning not to get involved with the Martial Alliance.
There were words he’d spoken after that.
[If, by chance, you go to the Central Plains and meet one who wields fire from the west.]
[Flee far away from him by any means necessary.]
Yuri had been shocked to hear those words.
Her father had always said to fight against any trouble.
For such a man to tell her to flee.
[He should be entering middle age by now. A man who wields fire. Remember this.]
His tone had been far more solemn than when he’d spoken of the Martial Alliance.
Having heard that, Yuri couldn’t not ask.
[Just who is he, that you would say such things?]
Why would the king who ruled the North Sea speak thus?
When Yuri spoke with doubt.
[He is.]
The Ice Palace Lord said to her.
[The Supreme of the Central Plains.]
It was an extremely firm tone. As if he would accept no objection.
Perhaps that was why.
For some reason, that memory came to mind now.
She had heard that Red Feather also wielded fire.
The west.
Which direction had he come from? The thought crossed her mind briefly, but.
‘He said the man would be entering middle age, so it can’t be him.’
Comparing their ages, it was certainly not him.
Her father’s journey to the Central Plains with her grandfather had been much earlier.
Perhaps even before Red Feather was born.
The man her father had warned of could not be that young man.
‘Now is not the time to worry about such things.’
Yuri rubbed her face dryly as if exhausted.
As she said, now was not the time to worry about such things.
“Haah….”
At the point where all plans had come to naught.
To Yuri, whose situation was tangled and twisted, Red Feather spoke.
[It seems the situation has changed a bit. Wouldn’t it be better to talk in detail tomorrow?]
His voice contained laughter.
And Yuri couldn’t help but know that the laughter was mockery.
He knew.
[If we’re going to ‘negotiate,’ I think you’ll need to prepare what to say.]
That the situation had completely changed.
At first, she had come as a client.
With things as they were, it was no longer a ‘request,’ but a desperate plea.
Their positions had shifted.
From client and contractor.
To a relationship of superior and subordinate.
Naturally, the superior would be Red Feather, and the subordinate would be Yuri.
“Haah.”
This was not good.
Negotiations would become difficult. Moreover, didn’t her opponent already know?
‘…That the North Sea is currently in chaos.’
She wondered how he had grasped that much in their brief meeting.
But it was already exposed.
The North Sea was in chaos.
It was twisted by treason and rebellion, and cold winds were mixed with bloody gales.
‘The reason it became like this is all because…’
Her father, who had steadfastly held his position.
The problem was the abnormality that had occurred in the Ice Palace Lord’s body.
They were trying somehow to hide and hold it back, but time was running out.
To reverse their current positions, she needed Red Feather’s ability to dispel curses.
She wished it were a lie.
It couldn’t be.
Rather, it being true was precisely the problem.
Yuri felt increasingly exhausted by the mounting complexity.
“…I suppose I’ll have to think it over.”
It had been a brief conversation.
But Yuri had been certain of one thing when she looked at Red Feather.
He was.
“Not a man who moves by righteousness or chivalry.”
Far from the hero her friend had spoken of.
He was an excessively rational and cold person.
One who wouldn’t move if it didn’t benefit him.
Conversely.
‘If it harms him, a man who would become crueler than anyone.’
Apart from his words and actions, she could tell just by his gaze.
He was absolutely not a good person.
‘He is not someone who moves out of sympathy or circumstance alone.’
To persuade him, she needed rational conditions that could sway his mind.
Without that, it was meaningless.
Yuri looked out the window.
The day had somehow already turned to dusk.
He had suggested they talk in detail tomorrow at noon.
Which meant she didn’t have much time to think.
Thus, she decided to acknowledge it first.
She needed to realize her exact position and know her place.
Only then could she judge more accurately.
‘The night is short.’
She had to come up with something before noon.
Somehow, she had to think within this short night.
A way to obtain his cooperation.
********************
As Yuri was racking her brain.
Ouyang Tian had just returned to his quarters.
His original schedule had been to have a meal with Lady Mi later.
Or to take Tang Xiaolie and Murong Xiya sightseeing around the county.
Ouyang Tian had to abandon all of this and return to his quarters.
“Hmm….”
A somewhat serious expression.
His fierce eyes were even more narrowed, making him look particularly terrifying.
With narrowed eyes, Ouyang Tian was looking at something.
An unidentified piece of paper in his hand.
This was the reason Ouyang Tian had turned his steps.
Around the time he’d just finished speaking with the young lady.
The moment he was about to leave after saying they should talk tomorrow.
[…Wait.]
Then, Yuri had grabbed Ouyang Tian.
Wondering if there was something else, Ouyang Tian looked at Yuri.
She took out this letter from her bosom and handed it to him.
[What is this?]
He looked at Yuri with a strange expression at the unexpected item.
[It’s from your friend.]
At Yuri’s words, Ouyang Tian had to widen his eyes.
The friend she mentioned.
His connections in the North Sea who would send him a letter.
Several people immediately came to mind. How had the young lady come to have this? An unpleasant thought crossed his mind.
He’d already been irritated by the news that something had happened in the North Sea.
Ouyang Tian accepted and opened the letter right there.
[…!]
After reading the lines, he had to furrow his eyes deeply.
It was writing that warranted such a reaction.
Thanks to that, he had to cancel all his plans and hole up in his quarters.
“...”
Rustle.
Inside the dark room, having not lit the lamp.
Within it, Ouyang Tian’s blue pupils shone clearly.
So dark was it that none of the letter’s writing was visible.
But to Ouyang Tian, it didn’t matter.
Even with darkness spread before him, he could see it all too clearly.
So he read it again and again.
[Sorry. Late.]
A short single line.
[But don’t worry.]
And a second line.
That was all.
A mere two-line passage.
It might look like nothing much.
“...”
Ouyang Tian could feel his heart gradually growing cold as he looked at it.
There was only one person who would send him such a letter.
Someone who had become more precious than his own life before he knew it.
The wicked woman who had shaken off his pleas not to go and left.
It was exactly the letter she had sent.
If asked why he reacted so to a short letter that seemed to hold no problems.
The reason was simple.
The words written there.
[Don’t worry.]
That was the problem.
Why was this a problem, one might ask?
The problem was that these were words unbecoming of her.
Words as untrustworthy as those he himself uttered.
It weighed heavily on his mind.
Earlier this year.
Meaning by spring. Or at the latest, she’d said she would come by summer.
‘Suddenly saying she’s late?’
He thought as he looked at it.
No way.
‘Could she be involved in what happened in the North Sea?’
The moment he thought that.
Crack.
A rough sound came from his clenched fist.
It was a very unpleasant hunch.