Silver Dragon Chronicles, Episode 43
Watching that sight, Heukhwa muttered inwardly.
‘If this keeps up, something terrible is going to happen….’
Because he had just seen Hong Yuhwa’s future.
Snap!
A vein bulged on Jehwa’s forehead, and upon seeing it, Heukhwa averted his gaze from Hong Yuhwa.
Smack!
“Ack!”
Jehwa’s fist struck Hong Yuhwa’s face hard.
Jehwa smiled and spoke to Hong Yuhwa, who staggered while clutching her face.
“Hey, you crazy bitch. Did you just grab me by the collar?”
“A-ah, no…. Th-that’s not it….”
As Jehwa growled, Hong Yuhwa forced an awkward smile and stepped back.
Before she knew it, her eyes had returned to normal long ago.
But unfortunately, this time it was Jehwa’s eyes that had changed.
Grrrrrr!
“Eek!”
Silver energy began to surge up from Jehwa’s body in waves.
Along with it, an intangible draconic aura enveloped the surroundings.
“Come here.”
Seeing Jehwa beckoning with a bright smile, Hong Yuhwa took a step back.
“You won’t come here?”
“N-no!”
To those words, Jehwa replied with an excessively radiant expression.
“Do you want to come here and get hit, or not come and die?”
“Please let me off just this once.”
“No.”
Jehwa shook his head at the words of Hong Yuhwa, who was making a tearful face.
And shortly after…….
“Kiaaaaaaak!”
Hong Yuhwa’s desperate scream echoed throughout the Palace of the Zhuque.
Yeom Hwihyeon, who had poked his head out from the audience hall, muttered upon seeing that.
“As expected, blood doesn’t lie.”
Though he wasn’t exactly in a position to say such a thing.
***
Those who dwelled in the Palace of the Zhuque were all divine beasts.
To be precise, they were spirit-like beings born from the immense power of the Zhuque who had protected this place for generations.
“Looking at them, they’re similar to spirits, yet subtly different. They’re not phantom beasts either……. Don’t they seem like a mix of spirits and phantom beasts?”
Hong Yuhwa muttered with a fascinated expression as she watched those cleaning their surroundings.
“That is because this world is different from the one where we live.”
Hong Yuhwa nodded at Heukhwa’s words.
However, her face was in a terrible state. Dark bruises had formed around both her eyes, a souvenir from the beating she had just received from Jehwa.
“Huu……. I really thought I was going to die.”
As Hong Yuhwa let out a deep sigh, Heukhwa also sighed and spoke.
“Indeed. You managed to survive somehow.”
“Wait? Now that I think about it, why were you just standing there while I was getting beaten? You should have stopped him or something!”
“…….”
“This is hilarious.”
As Hong Yuhwa spoke with a murderous expression, Heukhwa sighed once more.
“I need an opening to stop him.”
Without giving any such opening, Jehwa had savagely beaten Hong Yuhwa.
“You still should have tried.”
‘I was scared too.’
He muttered inwardly, but Heukhwa absolutely did not voice it aloud. He didn’t know what kind of retort he would suffer if he did.
Hong Yuhwa continued to glare at Heukhwa with a dissatisfied expression.
“More importantly, I have found his whereabouts.”
“Found him? Where is he?”
“He is in Liaoning.”
The moment Hong Yuhwa furrowed her brow, Heukhwa added,
“It is in the east.”
“Far?”
“It is quite far.”
At the word ‘far,’ Hong Yuhwa’s face scrunched up deeply.
“I’m dying of annoyance, so why is that bastard wandering all over the place?”
“That is precisely why we are suffering like this.”
Heukhwa also made an annoyed expression.
At that moment…
“Where did that bitch go! How dare she grab someone by the collar looking to die! If I catch you, you’re dead!”
“Eek…….”
As Jehwa’s thunderous voice roared out, Hong Yuhwa’s face turned deathly pale.
“Let’s just not think about that bastard and run!”
Hong Yuhwa shouted and immediately started running.
“What, she ran away again.”
Jehwa muttered, frowning as he looked around.
“She’s disgustingly fast at running away.”
Jehwa’s eyes, which had been grumbling with a displeased expression, suddenly gleamed.
“There you are!”
Boom!
“Hyek!”
Without hesitation, Jehwa swung his fist at a nearby pillar, and with it came a startled voice.
“Huh? What, it’s not her.”
Jehwa frowned at the small girl trembling as she looked at him.
She was a cute little girl with red hair and red eyes.
“Ugh! Annoying. Where did she run off to?”
Leaving the trembling girl behind, just as Jehwa was about to set off to find Hong Yuhwa again!
“H-how rude!”
“Huh?”
He turned his head back at the sudden voice.
“How dare a mere human commit such rudeness against me! M-moreover, why is a human here? And you dare smash the palace pillars as you please?”
Ignoring the girl shouting with a flushed face, Jehwa started walking again.
“Where did that girl go?”
“…….”
The ignored girl stared blankly at Jehwa, then moments later screamed at the top of her lungs.
“Eek! Don’t ignore me!”
And she threw a piece of the shattered pillar at Jehwa.
Of course, Jehwa was absolutely not one to simply take such a thing.
Smack!
The stone fragment thrown by the girl was caught far too easily in Jehwa’s hand.
“Ugh!”
The girl flinched at the sight.
Jehwa looked at the stone in his hand for a moment, then threw it at the girl’s head without hesitation.
Thud!
“Ack!”
“My hand slipped.”
Jehwa lied through his teeth.
Ignoring the girl clutching her head in pain, he started walking again.
***
“Haa…….”
In the center of Gaizhou in Liaoning, someone stood.
A man sighing while making an expression of sheer exhilaration was covered in blood from head to toe.
“Kikikikik…….”
His appearance, laughing as if enjoying something, was horrifying.
“Uwahahahaha! Khwahahahahahaha! Ahahahaha!”
And he began to burst into even more deranged laughter.
***
“Surely she can’t chase me this far.”
“I believe she will come, however…….”
“Shut up.”
Hong Yuhwa muttered, having fled all the way to the palace garden, and beside her, Heukhwa spoke with an expressionless face.
Then someone spoke to Hong Yuhwa, who had been breathing heavily.
“You…….”
“Hmm?”
Turning her head toward the voice, she saw Yeom Johwi staring blankly at her.
Yeom Johwi’s appearance was not much different from Hong Yuhwa’s.
“Kuk! Kkkkkuk……. Uwahahahaha!”
At that miserable sight, Hong Yuhwa burst into laughter unconsciously.
“Don’t laugh. You’re in a similar state as me.”
Watching Hong Yuhwa burst into laughter, Yeom Johwi sighed, and at those words, Hong Yuhwa stopped laughing.
“What happened to you?”
At Yeom Johwi’s question, Hong Yuhwa spoke with a tearful face.
“Jehwa hit me.”
“I was hit by my mother, but you were hit by a man? Your situation is more bleak.”
“…….”
At Yeom Johwi’s words, Hong Yuhwa’s face instantly darkened.
“Yeah, I was hit by the man I love.”
“Boohoo…….”
Seeing Hong Yuhwa begin to cry as if she were upset, Yeom Johwi made a slightly bewildered expression.
After soothing Hong Yuhwa for a while, once she had somewhat calmed down, Yeom Johwi asked with a puzzled expression.
“But you’re not from this world, are you?”
“Huh?”
“I heard from my mother. That you’re a princess from the Demon Realm in another world.”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“But why did you come here?”
At Yeom Johwi’s question, Hong Yuhwa pondered for a moment, then opened her mouth with a stiff expression.
“I came to catch some thieves.”
“Thieves?”
“Yeah.”
Nodding with a stiff expression, Hong Yuhwa began to explain the reason she had come to Zhongyuan.
For a hundred years after the Yongcheon Great War, the world was at peace.
The Middle Realm, over which the Celestial Realm had exerted strong influence due to its power, came under the rule of the Dragon Realm. It was no longer a matter of influencing the Middle Realm; the Dragon Realm had begun to reign directly over the humans.
Apart from that, the world was quiet, and the same was true for the Demon Realm.
Then one day, something happened. Several high-ranking demons had started a rebellion to usurp the current rulers of the Demon Realm.
The war lasted for five years, and victory naturally went to the current Demon Kings of the Demon Realm.
But the matter did not end there. Taking advantage of the chaos of war, several demon nobles stole the Demon God’s Jewel located in the center of the Demon Realm and fled to another world.
And while fleeing to another world, they were caught by the former Flame Demon King, Debireuan.
But they succeeded in escaping to Zhongyuan using the Demon God’s Jewel and hid throughout the land.
Debireuan assigned his subordinates to Hong Yuhwa and commanded her to chase down those demon nobles, kill them, and retrieve the Demon God’s Jewel.
And so Hong Yuhwa came to this world.
“Complicated.”
Having heard Hong Yuhwa’s entire story, Yeom Johwi scratched her cheek and spoke.
“But are you okay? Sending a princess to the world where the rebels fled.”
“I’m fine. Among those demon nobles, the highest rank is at best a Demon Count. But he’s weaker than me. I came to gain experience and sightsee another world.”
“Heeh…….”
“And after coming here, I met that guy too.”
Smiling brightly for some reason, Hong Yuhwa pointed at Jehwa standing before her.
Wait, Jehwa?
“Huh?”
“Caught you.”
Jehwa grinned and grabbed the collar of Hong Yuhwa, who was pointing at him.
Come to think of it, Hong Yuhwa was still in the middle of being chased by Jehwa.
“W-wait!”
“Take your beating.”
“Kiaaaaaaak!”
Hong Yuhwa’s desperate scream echoed out.