Episode 64
Episode 31. To Yoheim (2)
Natalie did not hide her irritation. It wasn’t that he had great attachment to his country to the point of risking his life against the empire.
Jangmihoe always took care of Haseoguk’s dirty work, but was secretly looked down upon.
Natalie is the ruler of the underworld and a symbol of fear, but to some of the elite, she is nothing more than a stiff bitch who is good at poisoning.
Haseo-guk Wangseong was also aware that someday, when the honeydew ran out, he would throw out the rose society.
But motherland is motherland.
I didn’t like Yuma’s intention to use it to absorb the rose society. In fact, you don’t even have a choice.
It would have been better if he had said, even in a joking tone, that we should rather do that because we are lovers.
It’s not a bad choice to be absorbed by Yuma when he has no loyalty to Haseo.
It was true that I liked Yuma. It was also an emotion that could be called love by Natalie’s standards.
Natalie gritted her molars.
“What about the government? I’m leaving in three days. It will take at least a month and a half, so let the rose society know in advance. Let me know if you need anything.”
Yuma said with a grin, whether he knew Natalie or not.
“Sons …
Natalie smiled and sweared.
That night, Jeka visited the mansion at the top of Puang.
Yuma introduced Natalie and Zecca to each other.
“Haseo-guk’s rose hoejuju?”
“okay.”
“After the Black Wolves, even the Rose Society have wide feet. Nice to meet you. My name is Jeka.”
“It’s Natalie.”
The three of them drank all night and talked about this and that. When Zecca heard what Yuma had done in Haseo, he laughed and shared his experience.
“That’s because he’s a complete thug. Not through Dokdo? It’s a scam, it’s a scam.”
“Oh, do you know something? That’s when I get a big nose injury.”
The two of them talked right away and got along better than expected. It was because of Jeka’s affinity.
After receiving Cybeline from Chrysa, Jecca’s personality continued to brighten.
It was possible not only because Sibelin’s aura protected his spirit, but also because Zecca was also enjoying a life worthy of life for the first time.
“But the poison doesn’t work on you either…’?”
“huh? poison? Have you been poisoned?”
Natalie had put a few doses of sleeping poison in Jecca’s wine.
“Now I put quite a bit of sleeping poison in to spend some time with my lover. You seem to have the same constitution as Yuma. Amazing.”
“Is that so?”
Jeka laughed awkwardly, not knowing how to react.
“Ah, because there is something similar to the will of a great being… in my body. That spear called Cybeline also protects me.”
Human poison couldn’t work on Jeka, who had been turned into a machete by Pidgin Carta’s ghost. In addition, Cybeline’s spirit prayer had the power to defeat poison.
“I’ll be unemployed soon.”
“Nana and Jeka are special cases, so don’t be too heartbroken.”
“Hehe, someone lived their lives trembling with shit in order to master poison…
It’s a bit futile. I need to get some comfort from my lover.”
said Natalie, giving Jecca a coy glance.
“Haha… I’ll just get up. I have a lover waiting for me too.”
When Zecca passed away, only Yuma and Natalie were left in the VIP room of the mansion.
Natalie had been feeling depressed for the first time in a while.
Born as the daughter of a backstreet drunkard, growing up through terrible things, and countless things she had experienced to rise to the position of a rose owner flashed through her head.
‘Now the time is coming when all that will be for nothing. I did everything I could to become stronger, but outside the well called Haseo, there are overflowing monsters.’
Natalie chuckled weakly and drank the wine.
“Have you ever felt helpless? You always seem to have lived with what you wanted in your hands.”
While choosing an answer for a moment, Natalie sat on Yuma’s lap.
Yuma’s fingers lightly grazed Natalie’s spine once.
“Yes. Even if I tell you, you won’t believe it.
There have been times when my life has been broken.”
Yuma raised her head and looked at Natalie as she answered.
“It’s a lie that you’re four years younger than me.”
Their lips met. Death was not on Natalie’s lips this time.
Yuma slowly closed her eyes and gently knocked Natalie over the table.
The warm energy rising from Natalie’s neck touched Yuma’s face.
“I wish I could lie too.”
The two spent the night together in the VIP room.
Natalie did not fall asleep until morning. Lying on the sofa in the VIP room, Yuma was in a deep sleep, snoring softly.
Natalie slowly ran her finger across Yuma’s sleeping face.
If it was now, he could have killed Yuma.
The man sleeping soundly in front of him was terribly cold, but there was a strangely lax corner.
“It’s funny that you left me sitting and sleeping so defenselessly.”
Natalie let out a small sigh and smiled.
* * * The four halls are over.
Yuma’s party, including Evan, prepared a wagon to go near Yoheim. It was a wagon full of camping supplies and dry food.
It is a distance of more than 20 days by carriage to Joheim. Yuma was proud of how Evan had walked such a long distance and passed through hell.
“Do I really need to take this little boy?”
The carriage started and Natalie asked.
Evan hung his head and was silent.
When he asked for help from Yuma, what Ban wanted was not this small number of people. He wanted to move the imperial castle and send the imperial knights and regular troops.
It was a thankless thing to move directly, but from Evan’s point of view, it was unreasonable to save Yohaim with this number.
Yoheim became an imperial territory and the scale was greatly reduced, but it was a large land.
Above all, if you think of Baron Secron and the monsters he commands, the three reinforcements feel like going back to sleep together to die.
“You need to know the local situation.
I absolutely need it.”
“Huh”
T- • Natalie was surprised that Yuma would go all the way to Yoheim to listen to the plea of an unfamiliar kid. It was the opposite of what Yuma had seen so far. No man of power Natalie had ever seen in her life had done such a foolish thing.
There doesn’t seem to be any benefit at all, and according to what I’ve been told for a few days, it’s pretty dangerous.
The day before departure, Natalie couldn’t stand it and asked why.
– Why the hell? Doesn’t it have nothing to do with you whether Joachim is shit or heaven?
– Maybe. But aren’t you from the bottom of the back alley too? Did you ever wait as a child for someone to hold your hand and save you?
– Is that really all?
– Almost everything.
Natalie couldn’t find anything to say.
Yuma’s help to Evan wasn’t just because of clues about demon possession or the dragon horse war.
But Evan thought there was no hope.
“Evan.”
“Yes, Yuma-sama.”
“I know what you are thinking.”
“I will not disappoint you.”
It wasn’t that Yuma didn’t use his hands during the four halls.
However, Hwang Seong intervened in the affairs of the Joachim region. It was not the kind of thing that could be moved hastily.
Yuma checked if there were any documents from the garrison in Joachim through Mars, the garrison officer who had previously left the Puang Merchant Company with a shabby knight named Jack.
As a result, there were no documents sent from Yoheim other than extremely formal reports.
-It’s kind of weird. Is the report too principled? Usually, reports from provincial garrisons sent to the capital garrison are often omitted or fabricated. But Joachim’s report is too neat.
Mars had said so for a few gold coins.
Yuma also met Adeline Woods, an imperial magician, and visited the Zach family to try their luck with Yoheim.
-There is a servant from Yoheim, named Cogra, and he wonders if the security in Joheim is as bad as before.
-Well… I don’t know because there are no imperial mages dispatched to Joheim. Shall we find out?
– No, don’t do that.
Jacques was in a similar situation.
It was a land no one cared about in the capital, but it was strange that there was no information like this.
Evan came to the Puang Merchants and the hall was already over.
It would take two weeks to travel by wagon to the vicinity of Joachim, get a new wagon from that province, and take another week to arrive.
The reason to go all the way to Joheim and get a new wagon was simple.
Currently, Yuma judged that Heize was clearly involved in this.
If the wagon of the Puang Merchants went all the way to Yoheim, they could have bought suspicion.
Then, a month has passed.
In the meantime, innocent people would have died and Baron Secron’s ritual would have continued.
‘It’s frustrating to think like this…
It’s also ominous.’
Feeling somehow impatient, Yuma touched the handle of the Ascalon.
The party was able to safely arrive in the southern part of Joheim.
A few small villages could be seen below the hills full of bare branches.
Even at night, it was difficult to find lights in the village. There were no magic lights at all, just a few torches.
“Isn’t this pretty bleak?”
“A hard road is expected. When Yuma goes back, pay extra.”
“Let’s not be too petty between us, Natalie. Evan, how far do we have to walk from here to the lord castle?”
“Even if we go quickly, it will take three days.”
When Evan returned to Yoheim, he continued to look around and showed signs of anxiety as if an old memory had come to mind. It was pitiful to see her shivering with her still skinny body.
“Let’s go down to the village first.”
The group came down the hill and walked to the village. Not a single patrol was seen on the road.
“I can’t believe this is the same empire.”
When we arrived at the entrance of the village, Natalie said.
A gust of cold wind passed the line. Seeing the deserted and dark village up close gave it a more gloomy atmosphere.
Even though there was a private house right in front of my nose, I didn’t want to camp or stay homeless. The group entered the village and knocked on the door of a decent-looking private house.
“Is anyone inside?”
“I see.”
I went around and found a few places, but there was no private house that opened the door.
There was no sign of it, as if it were an abandoned house.
“What is this town? Even a ghost will come to me.”
“Probably because of the order of the lord.”
“Command?”
“Because they imposed a curfew after 10 p.m.”
Evan said, putting his hand on the handle of the short sword Yuma had given him. A look of fear was evident.
“It’s crazy… you mean you even control the movements of your body?”
A person finally came out of the private house where he knocked on the door for the 15th time.
It was a white-haired middle-aged woman. At first glance, he looked like an old man.
“Thank you for opening up. We are travelers from the capital city and want to stay overnight. There seemed to be no inn. I will give you plenty of room and board.”
“…come in.”
The group followed the white-haired woman into the house.
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