Chapter 618

Raon clenched his fist in a way that no one could see.

‘It worked perfectly. It was worth pushing boundaries with such a long explanation.’

When Glenn had asked about what happened in his journey, he’d vividly explained everything, unlike the other times.

He especially slowed down on the parts about how much Judiel missed Juvel and how Juvel had been living to stir the emotions of the executives inside the audience chamber little by little.

The executives were as cold as a blade, but they slowly got absorbed in Judiel and Juvel’s circumstances before they knew it.

Now that he had finished telling them the story, they were getting angry as if it had been their own younger brother who was forced to live in such a way.

Judiel and Juvel’s sobbing must’ve served as a hammer to destroy the wall around their emotions. Making them practice acting was so worth it.

‘Now, as a finishing touch…’

Raon lifted his eyes, wavering as if he were terrified, and looked at Karoon. Even he felt like he couldn’t act any better. The eyes of the executives followed his anxious and sorrowful gaze and shifted toward Karoon.

“Huh…?”

“C-could it be…?”

“Was it the Central Martial Palace master?”

“Is this for real…?”

Their lips trembled as they looked back and forth between Raon, who was covering his mouth, and Karoon, whose veins were bulging in his temple.

“Grr…”

Karoon bit his lip violently while glaring at Raon, who sank to the ground.

“Hey.” Aries raised her chin sharply, positioning herself to block Karoon’s gaze from reaching Raon. “What did you do?”

It was a short question, but the frightening note to her voice made a chill run down his spine because of her anger.

“Impossible. Did you really do it?” Even Balder’s eyes widened in astonishment. “You went too far! You should’ve known some moderation!”

He clenched his thick fingers tightly, as if he were about to grab Karoon by the collar.

“......”

Glenn wasn’t doing anything, his lips tightly sealed even though he’d looked like he was going to take action personally. He was just quietly watching Karoon, Aries, and Balder.

“He didn’t do it.”

Raon stood up after reading the atmosphere all around the audience chamber. He shook his head with a teary voice.

“He didn’t?”

“But you looked at Karoon just now!”

Balder and Aries tilted their heads, wondering what he was talking about.

“…?”

Even Karoon’s eyes widened, unable to understand the situation.

“I don’t know if Sir Karoon was behind it or not.”

Raon shook his hand while letting out a sigh, and Judiel came next to him by crawling on her knees.

“Juvel was nowhere to be seen when I returned to my senses, and I was already inside the Central Martial Palace. I was educated to become a maid from there.”

Judiel told them about what had happened in the Central Martial Palace with a teary voice.

“Ah, then he probably didn’t do it, right?”

“I knew it, there’s no way Sir Karoon would do such a thing!”

“Everyone who suspected him should bow their heads down to the ground!”

The executives murmured that they were glad it wasn’t him, and the direct lines breathed out a sigh of relief.

“......”

Karoon furrowed his brow while looking at Raon. His eyes were asking him what he was even thinking.

‘Are you nervous? I’ll make your worries come true.’

“However!” Raon shouted instead of Judiel. “Judiel wasn’t simply educated to become a maid in the Central Martial Palace.”

“What?”

“She received maid education during the day, and she was forced to learn how to be a spy at night.”

“I-it’s true.”

Judiel stuttered on purpose and nodded.

“I was taken by force when I was asleep and was taught how to behave as a spy. I learned how to remove my presence, the Distant Hearing Technique to hear sounds from afar, and the Internal Control Technique that allowed me to control a body’s insides. I even had to learn assassination techniques…”

She leaned forward with teary eyes, unable to finish her sentence.

“J-Judiel.”

Juvel wrapped his arm around her shoulder and bit his lip. Every single executive was furrowing their brows.

“It’s such a sad story. The sister lived as a spy so that she could see her little brother again, and the brother lived as an assassin in order to save his sister. I don’t know who did this, but they really have a demon’s heart.”

Raon briefly summarized their lives to wrap it up.

“Did that person separate the siblings, raising one as an assassin and the other as a spy?”

“That’s not all. They even used them as hostages against each other!”

“Oh my God…”

“It’s better to just kill them. This isn’t something that a human being should be doing.”

“Ugh…”

Everyone except for the direct lines clenched their fists while looking at Karoon.

“......”

On the other hand, Karoon’s face had turned as dark as charcoal.

“I’d like to ask.”

Raon stepped forward, hiding Judiel behind him. He violently pounded his heart while looking at Karoon.

“Why did the Central Martial Palace even raise a spy? And why did you dispatch that spy to the annex building?”

“Raon…”

Aries looked at him in worry.

“I’m fine. I just want to know why the ones working beneath him had to suffer so much,” he declared, then murmured ‘aunt’ by silently moving his lips.

“You son of a jellyfish!” Aries roared as soon as she saw the movement of his lips and dashed at Karoon.

Swoosh!

Karoon rapidly raised his hand to defend himself, but Aries’s fist still managed to brush past his cheek. Blood started to flow from his right cheek.

“I didn’t do it.”

Karoon calmly shook his head. He was so calm that people would believe that he really didn’t do it if they didn’t know the truth.

“I also investigated my palace after I heard it from Raon, but the one who did it was already dead.”

He pushed Aries back while telling her that the butler who’d educated Judiel as a spy had hung himself.

Raon chuckled quietly upon hearing Karoon’s voice remain completely calm.

‘How unsightly. He is acting exactly the way I expected.’

“That might be true.” Raon smiled faintly and shook his head. “But I’m still surprised by the fact that Sir Karoon didn’t know that such a thing was happening inside the Central Martial Palace. It’s not like you could be a palace master in name only.”

“You arrogant…”

Veins bulged violently on his forehead.

“How regrettable. There’s no one to compensate them for their lives…”

Raon cut Karoon off and held Judiel and Juvel’s shoulders.

Wow…

Wrath blinked in awe.

You’re insane. Your acting is getting better and better! How is this even happening? Your acting improved even more than your swordsmanship! You are a Transcender now!

‘This isn’t an act since it’s how I really feel.’

Screw that shit! What are you even saying now, after you even gave them an acting lesson?

‘You’re just imagining things. We’re just telling them how we’re feeling.’

Imagining? Bullshit! You can deceive the others, but the King of Essence won’t be deceived! He will never trust you unless he is blind…

‘Yeah, sure.’

Raon poked Wrath’s eyes as he kept rambling.

Ack! The King of Essence’s eyes!

Even in a situation like that, he rolled on the ground while saying the King of Essence’s eyes instead of my eyes.

He definitely had a clear ego, at least.

Raon slapped Wrath away as he kept squirming and gazed upwards at Karoon.

“I believe we need to give them a chance for vengeance, even if we have to take out on the butler’s corpse.”

He curled his lips into a smile while looking at the deep wrinkles on his forehead.

* * *

Karoon bit his lip while meeting Raon’s confident gaze.

‘You damned bastard…’

He’d thought Raon was going to behave as he’d expected when he saw the serious look on his face when he entered the audience chamber. Since he acknowledged his intelligence at least, he believed that an unspoken agreement was formed between them.

However, he was gravely mistaken.

Raon Zieghart stirred the emotions of everyone inside the audience chamber to turn them to his side and made him into an official villain.

‘Yes, I missed one thing. He is smart indeed, but he is even more of a nutcase. But even if it’s you, you won’t be able to do anything more than this.’

He couldn’t stop the Central Martial Palace from getting involved because of Judiel, but he would never be able to find proof that he was related to the matter.

‘What I need to do is clear.’

Karoon wiped away the blood flowing from his cheek and straightened his back. Then, he just lowered his head at Raon, Judiel, and Juvel.

“As the Central Martial Palace master, I offer my apologies to you. Even though I wasn’t involved, I’ll compensate you as much as possible as the master of the Central Martial Palace.”

He acted confidently instead. He declared that he would take some responsibility even though it wasn’t his doing. He captured the gazes of those who didn’t completely fall to Raon’s words by showing his generosity.

“The Central Martial Palace will take responsibility for their lives. Let me apologize once again.”

Obviously, he didn’t mean that he was going to take good care of Judiel and Juvel. He was threatening that he would take their lives away if Raon kept offending the Central Martial Palace.

“Haa…”

Raon furtively lowered his gaze. He adjusted the angle to show a sneer towards him but not anyone else.

“I’m thankful for the offer, but I have no intention of sending them to a place that raised them as a spy and an assassin. They will be so restless there that they won’t even be able to eat.”

“She was only educated to be a spy. There was nothing like an assassin.”

Karoon was unable to suppress his urge and furrowed his lips.

“Oh, that’s true.”

Raon calmly nodded his head. His expression and the way he spoke clearly implied that he’d said it on purpose to sound him out.

“I must’ve been mistaken because you came near the Suran tribe, palace master.”

He brought up the Suran tribe while pretending that it was a coincidence with a cheeky look on his face. He was an irritating man.

“The Suran tribe?”

“N-no way, was he there when the assassins attacked?”

“Then he really…”

“Palace master…”

The executives swallowed nervously because they could get a grasp of the story.

Crack.

Karoon glared at Raon while grinding his teeth. His head was lowered but his lips were curled into a deep smile.

‘You son of a bitch!’

He wanted to beat him to death immediately, but that was impossible. He had to stay calm as much as possible to escape from such a situation.

‘It will be fine as long as Father doesn’t do anything.’

Aries was also a danger, but she couldn’t do as she pleased in the manor. He could still live as long as Glenn didn’t act.

“This is so frustrating.”

Karoon shook his head, showing his usual expression and gaze. The others were agitated upon seeing his calm reaction.

“I simply went there because I saw that the forest was burning and heard the screams.”

“That’s true. I’m sure that’s what you did.”

Raon nodded, saying that that was obviously true.

‘Why is he saying that now?’

A chill ran down his spine upon hearing that Raon was taking his side. That was clearly not a good sign.

“You must’ve been so worried. Worried enough to even kill the head of the assassins, who I had perfectly arrested.”

“Kill the head of the assassins? What do you even mean?” Aries asked, shifting his gaze.

“When the area around the Suran village was exploding, I captured the head of assassins, who was hiding nearby, alive. He was about to tell me who was behind the incident, but the Central Martial Palace master suddenly appeared and killed him. Isn’t it a rather curious coincidence? He appeared as if he had been waiting for that moment,” Raon murmured, his head still lowered.

Everyone could clearly hear him even though he was quiet because his voice was clear and well-pronounced.

“I’d completely immobilized him, but he immediately cut his body apart. He must’ve been seriously worried about me.”

He licked his lips as he spoke.

“That’s…”

“Hmm…”

The gazes of the executives started to show blatant suspicion.

Crack.

Karoon clenched his fist, his hands hidden behind his back.

‘You damned fox…’

He could’ve reacted if he’d revealed that fact from the beginning, but Raon was telling them about it little by little in order to control their way of thinking and emotions. Their suspicions had grown like a snowball, and it was impossible to deal with anymore.

“This is a bit late, but I’d like to express my gratitude again.”

Raon stood up awkwardly and lowered his head. Karoon could see his lips curving all the way up to his earlobes. He wanted to tear his white neck apart.

Cring!

Aries unsheathed her sword and dashed at Karoon.

“Argh!”

Even though he was angry, Karoon drew his sword to block Aries’s strike. But his back reached the wall in no time because he was pushed back by sheer strength.

“You son of a seaweed. I’m going to kill you right now!”

Aries engulfed her blade with an astral sphere as if she were seriously going to kill him. The current curved towards Karoon’s neck with a frightening radiance.

“Stop.”

Glenn shook his hand for the first time. Aries lowered her sword and turned around upon hearing his quiet voice.

“Father! But…”

“I told you to stop.”

“Ugh.”

Aries bit her lip upon facing the emptiness in Glenn’s gaze.

Glenn closed his eyes while looking at Karoon, who was standing behind Aries.

“Haa…”

Karoon rubbed his fingers while looking at Glenn’s face.

‘I’m going to be punished.’

Glenn wasn’t an idiot. He must’ve noticed faster than anyone else that it was his doing.

However, punishing someone like him, who was a successor candidate and a palace master, was a whole different story. Karoon guessed that he would call him later on privately to punish him.

“My lord.”

Karoon was relieved and lowered his hand just before Raon raised his head. His lips were curved into a faint smile, implying that he had something else up his sleeve.

“I have something to give you.”

* * *

Raon briefly nodded while looking at Glenn, who’d stopped the entire situation.

‘I knew he would do that.’

Even though Glenn had been nice to him recently, it was just because of the rewards he’d earned. It was only natural for him to be nicer to Karoon, since he was his son and the closest one to becoming his successor.

That was why he’d stirred the emotions and minds of Aries, Balder, and the other executives first.

‘This was the plan when I was in the Suran tribe. However…’

He had gained another weapon.

“You have something to give me?”

Glenn calmly opened his eyes. The coldness in his gaze made him look like a patient who was bound to die.

“Yes. It’s a letter from the leader of Beast Union for you, my lord.”

Raon took out Ogram’s letter.

“Hmm.”

Glenn simply shook his finger, and the yellow letter floated on its own to enter his grasp.

Rustle.

Glenn furrowed his brow as soon as he spread out the letter.

‘That’s bound to happen. After all, the contents of that letter aren’t embellished at all.’

[Glenn Zieghart.,

You’ve raised your son in a shitty farm plot that can’t even be fertilized. I’ll overlook this matter to let you save face, but there won’t be a next time. However, you don’t need to think that you are indebted to me, because your grandson already paid it back.]

Ogram’s daring personality was perfectly apparent in the letter. Glenn was obviously going to furrow his brow upon reading a letter like that.

“Haa…”

Glenn quietly exhaled and stood up. He incinerated the letter violently, showing that he’d made up his mind.

“I believe I already told you all not to do anything inhumane, at least.” The resonance in his voice was as sharp as a blade piercing into the heart. “You’ve crossed the line separating humans from demons.”

With a heavy voice, Glenn stepped down from the platform’s stairs. Every single step made a majestic pressure spread around him, making it feel like the atmosphere was rumbling.

What are you even talking about?!

Wrath quickly shook his head.

That’s not even a demon! It’s just ugly malice!

He shook his head, saying that even demons didn’t act like that.

“Karoon Zieghart.”

“Yes…”

Karoon bit his lip to the point of bleeding upon reading how furious Glenn was.

“Come forth.”

Glenn’s eyes glimmered coldly, a fiery intensity burning within them, potent enough to evaporate every drop of blood.

“I’ll teach you how to be a human today.”

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Writing Ant, 글개미]

[Translator – Kyangi]

[Proofreader – Harley]