With a cheerful laugh, she extended the silver knife that had sliced through Shay’s chest. Thanks to her quick reaction, the knife had managed only to cut a single layer of clothing. No blood stained the blade, but her intended goal was achieved. From the start, the knife had been meant to cut Shay’s clothes.
“Look! Take a good look, because *I* kindly cut it open for you!”
Shay belatedly felt a hollow sensation. Her clothes were made of a fabric that allowed her qi to circulate well, for something too sturdy might become a prison binding her. The same applied to her opponent. A blade infused with qi cut through Shay’s garment without much difficulty.
That was all. She wasn’t even injured, having reacted with the Cheonban-gyeong, so only her chest was laid bare. A result utterly pathetic for what was meant to be a decisive surprise attack. And yet… it had to be the chest.
“Look here, everyone! Amazingly enough, Shay, whom we’ve known all this time as a delicate boy!”
The most fatal strike landed at the most critical moment. It was merely a torn piece of clothing; in itself, it was nothing serious… but the real problem was the “lie” hidden beneath those clothes now exposed.
Through the torn fabric, the Cheonjamsa silk wrapped across her chest was visible. A bandage encircling her upper torso like the equator, and beneath it, the unmistakable presence of rounded contours.
Cheonjamsa. A precious silk that is strong and barely stretches. To keep her chest from swaying during the intense movements of battle, Shay tightly wrapped herself with Cheonjamsa. If bound a little tight, it alone served as a disguise as a man. And the cloth bound around her chest had no other conceivable purpose. Even more so when the curves of a woman were clearly visible.
“She’s a woman!”
Hilde cried out, spreading both arms like an actor at the climax. …In a way, even this wasn’t that great a problem. After all, she only hid her gender. However, both Shay and Tirkanjaka knew that Yeong-gwe’s trap did not end here.
“Having gone through what she hasn’t gone through, knowing what she shouldn’t know, versed in all kinds of secrets. And she’s not even that old, right? On top of that, she forced herself to hide her gender just to infiltrate Tantalos. Why would she do that~?”
This is why she should have been alone. Being together brings too many dangers. Not only if that person betrays you and turns into an enemy, but even if that person remains an ally. If a comrade with whom you’ve shared your heart abandons you, or argues and disappointedly leaves… Even if her body returns through regression, the heart she had given away would be eroded.
“Everyone knows, don’t you? The answer is, to hide that she’s the Saintess, of course! Yes, Shay! That, no, *she* is the Saintess!”
How she was found out is unimportant. What matters most right now is the one person here who detests the Saintess above all and harbors a fierce murderous intent. With resolute determination, Shay faced Tirkanjaka.
Tirkanjaka, who at some point had given up raising objections and had been quietly watching with her parasol resting on her shoulder, stared at Shay with an utterly blank expression.