“I felt it.”

Crunch.

At Hikars’s response, Ruel silently ate his meat pie.

“There was an unmistakable smell of death.”

“If you’re talking about the smell of death… does that mean that Treitol Kran is dead?”

At Ganien’s question, Hikars shook his head.

“I can’t say for sure. The smell of death naturally lingers around the deceased if one stays near them for a long time.”

Crunch.

In short, Hikars was saying one thing.

“Are you saying that the smell of death is coming from here?”

“Indeed. The moment I entered the castle, I sensed the stench of accumulated death. Somewhere within this place, death is gathering.”

“Haha.”

Ruel laughed in disbelief.

To feel death in a castle.

It was absolutely chaotic.

How deeply had the Red Ash infiltrated Kran?

‘In a place that worships the gods… talking about death….’

Ruel scoffed again.

“Can you pinpoint the location?”

“I will do my best to find it for you, Ruel-nim.”

Hikars bowed respectfully to Ruel and then stepped back into his shadow.

Ruel then turned to look at Cassion.

“Call Noah.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to rest for a bit now?” Cassion hesitated slightly before asking.

Ruel had to move again tomorrow.

Though it was called a welcome party, he knew it would be no different from a battlefield for Ruel.

—Indeed! Ruel needs to rest so he doesn’t get scolded by Fran!

Leo chimed in.

“My current condition is nearly perfect!”

Ruel looked at Cassion and Leo in turn, as if questioning what they were saying.

He only had a slight fever and no injuries or pain.

“What a very amusing joke.”

Cassion retorted sarcastically.

Given Ruel’s condition, he would likely be in serious pain tonight.

“Call him.”

“Understood.”

Cassion replied reluctantly and headed outside.

Ganien watched Ruel with a peculiar expression.

“Why?” Ruel asked, sensing his gaze.

“I know it’s an urgent situation, but you seem even more pressed… as if you’re out of time…”

Ganien hurriedly stopped speaking.

His expression soon darkened as if he had touched something he shouldn’t have.

Curious about what he was about to say, Ruel furrowed his brow.

“Why did you stop mid-sentence? It’s unsettling.”

“Oh, it’s nothing, really.”

Seeing Ganien’s fidgety attitude, Ruel finally caught on to what he was thinking.

“I’m not going to die.”

At that moment, Leo perked up his ears and looked at Ruel in surprise.

Ruel petted Leo while looking sharply at Ganien.

It seemed Ganien still believed that he didn’t have much time left to live.

Avoiding Ruel’s gaze, Ganien began to stutter, “W-When did I say you were going to die?”

“I really won’t die. So stop being so conscious of my mortality.”

“You’re annoyingly perceptive.” Ganien mumbled in a lowered voice.

“You need some intuition, at least.”

Ruel smiled.

If he didn’t have any intuition, he wouldn’t have made it this far.

Every moment was like walking a tightrope.

Who would have thought that the insight gained from a career in sales, constantly breaking and rebuilding, would come in handy here?

Knock, knock.

After a knock, Noah walked in with an anxious expression alongside Cassion.

He seemed to be gripping something tightly in one fist.

“You called for me, Ruel-nim?”

“Relax your face. Someone might think you were dragged here against your will.”

Noah briefly opened his hand to reveal some gold coins.

A smile quickly bloomed on his previously tense face.

“Haa. I’m okay now. What do you want to tell me?”

“You need to go to the underworld once more.”

“Do I have to go again?”

Noah made a blatant face of displeasure.

“We need to find the corpses of the missing monsters and adventurers.”

They broke through the wall that kept death hidden, concealed by the Red Ash at the second defense line.

There, they found only old skeletons and some corpses.

The rest of the bodies had been taken away somewhere.

As Glen Syria died, there will be a disruption in the supply, so they will have to send people from the country under the pretext of investigation, and they will have no choice but to change the existing route to another place.

The suspected routes were, a) an adventurer or b) the underworld.

“Isn’t this too much? Last time you told me to investigate the tombs, and now it’s corpses!”

“Oh.”

Ruel replied absentmindedly.

It was true that the previous tomb of the former lord of Setiria had been robbed.

All traces that could possibly reveal who did it had disappeared over time.

“You must have received enough from Cassion if it’s about money, right? Are you trying to squeeze more out of me?”

At Ruel’s unexpected remark, Noah’s eyes momentarily widened.

Ruel flashed a sharp smile.

“It seems that Billo’s training hasn’t been sufficient.”

“Ah, no! I will do it! If it’s something you ask of me, Ruel-nim, I must do it!”

Noah managed to force a smile.

“I’ll reconsider after seeing you do it this time.”

Ruel smiled back.

He had entrusted the pursuit of the adventurers to the shadows.

Given that they were protecting him and gathering information, they didn’t have enough hands for the task.

“Chase down those who are trading corpses in the underworld, whoever they may be, and I’ll add a few more people this time.”

He was thinking of attaching a warlock to Noah.

“More people?”

Noah laughed widely, enough to show his teeth in surprise.

It had been quite exhausting to explore the underworld alone last time.

“Right. You had too many complaints last time.”

“I didn’t really complain… at least not specifically.”

Feeling as if those green eyes could see through him, Noah unconsciously licked his lips.

Ruel turned to Cassion.

“Cassion, are you okay without Noah?”

Now Noah had enough manners and skills to assist Cassion with competence.

All of it was thanks to Billo.

“Yes. I’m fine. After all, isn’t there one more attendant?”

Cassion replied happily, looking directly at Ganien.

Ganien looked surprised and pointed at himself.

“…Me? You’re not suggesting that I’m the attendant, are you?”

“Have you forgotten what position you entered here in?”

Cassion said with one corner of his mouth lifted, and Ganien flared up.

“That can’t be! I’m not just an attendant!”

“Exactly, so you should act like one.”

“But that attendant and this attendant are different!”

“If you came as an attendant, then you should behave like one. You’re really dense.”

‘Here we go again.’

Ruel inhaled Breath and looked at the two of them.

Leo watched their childish behavior with sparkling eyes.

“Fun?”

—It’s fun. Looks too enjoyable.

Leo smiled broadly.

As long as they were having fun, that was fine.

Ruel laid down on the bed, continuing to listen to their ongoing conversation.

‘Let’s see how much they chatter.’

Noah quietly backed away while checking his surroundings and stepped outside.

***

“Give it.”

At Cassion’s command, Ganien reluctantly held out a hair tie.

“Ah, come on.”

“Be careful not to crumple it. It’s more expensive than your salary right now.”

Cassion openly mocked, but Ganien gritted his teeth and just frowned.

“Urgh.”

Ruel let out a big yawn, still half-asleep.

Leo also yawned widely and blinked his eyes.

Ruel scratched the back of his neck.

“There was some light twinkling from a distance at dawn. Was it you guys?”

—That’s right! This body saw everything!

Leo said, rubbing his face against Ruel’s body.

“Seems like Cassion won.”

Ganien flared up at Ruel’s comment.

“It was a close call.”

“A close call? I guess you won the title of ‘winner’ with your mouth.”

Even at Cassion’s continued taunting, Ganien just clenched his mouth shut.

“Ruel-nim.”

Cassion, who had tied Ruel’s hair back, handed him some documents.

“This is the result of the investigation into Treitol Kran again. Unfortunately, there haven’t been any significant changes.”

“No significant changes?”

Ruel’s eyes sharpened as he accepted the documents.

“Yes. Additionally, there are records related to the rest: Adea Kran, Jayel Kran, and the king of Kran.”

Cassion then handed Ruel a meat pie along with other documents.

Ruel, who immediately took the documents, read through them urgently.

—Cassion, Cassion!

As Leo happily called out his name, Cassion promptly took out a bowl of food.

“Sit down.”

Leo, who had been running over, sat down in front of Cassion, his eyes sparkling as he looked at him.

—Quickly, give it to this body. This body is waiting.

“Wait.”

At Cassion’s firm reply, Leo pouted his lips.

—I am not a dog! I am a great purifier!

“Right. Leo is a spirit.”

As Ganien chimed in, Leo nodded vigorously.

“I’m the one who gives treats.”

Just as Cassion was about to take back the bowl of food he had offered, Leo spoke urgently.

—Ah, okay! This body is good Leo, so this body will wait patiently.

Satisfied with Leo’s response, Cassion finally filled the bowl with treats.

Leo swallowed hard as he watched the treats being placed one by one into the bowl.

Flap.

Ruel’s speed in flipping through the documents gradually increased.

Soon, he let out a hollow laugh, gripping the documents tightly.

Aside from the occasional gaps in Treitol Kran’s activities, the results were as Cassion had said.

These gaps were bothersome, but based solely on the activities, he was merely a misunderstood good prince who had been wronged by his brother.

The point when he had become a completely different person was when he had started chasing the Red Ash.

‘Is it really not true?’

Ruel set down the documents related to Treitol Kran and took a bite of the meat pie.

Crunch.

‘Then what is this gap?’

It was clear he had come out of the castle as if he had become someone else, but there existed a gap where no traces could be found after that.

The number of such occurrences was small, but as a prince who had only learned a bit of swordsmanship, there were some traces left imperfectly enough for the shadows to track.

Crunch.

With a frown on his forehead, Ruel examined the documents investigating others.

The king of Kran inherited the throne simply because he was the eldest and enjoyed peace thanks to the glory of the previous generation.

However, he lacked love for the country.

He seemed indifferent to how the kingdom was faring, merely pretending to be king.

And the eldest, Adea Kran, was…

‘Ambiguous.’

Crunch.

Ruel exhaled, brushing off the crumbs that fell from the paper.

There were traces of the Red Ash approaching Adea, but there were none in the opposite direction.

Rather, Adea was investigating the Red Ash.

Yet, his own person, Medeas Tehel, was an executive of the Red Ash.

Additionally, Adea was diligently digging into the Tonisk Empire.

‘A very passionate and caring prince for his country.’

Still, there was nothing that immediately came to mind.

Ruel finally examined Jayel Kran.

Not long after reviewing the documents, he suddenly let out a chuckle.

‘Preparing for rebellion?’

Death was pooling somewhere in the castle, the Fourth Princess was preparing a rebellion, while the king had no interest in the country, and the first and second were entangled with the Red Ash.

‘The country seems to be running very well.’

Jayel Kran was part of the Red Ash.

The fact that she was preparing for rebellion implied that the Red Ash were also aware of this and were supporting her.

‘Rebellion means breaking this alliance system, doesn’t it? Are they really going to break the game they themselves created? Why?’

Ruel set the documents down and tapped his thigh.

‘Death lingering in the Royal Family. Rebellion.’

Slowly, the corners of Ruel’s mouth began to rise.

The ray of darkness.

The ray of darkness that supposedly destroyed the empire suddenly came to mind.

The Tonisk Empire was now gone, and the alliance was merely a means for the Red Ash to expand the influence of Leponia and Cyronian.

Yet, the Red Ash were aiding rebellion in the Kran Kingdom.

This was not an ordinary rebellion.

The goal of the Great Man was to obtain his own body, and the best way to sacrifice in return would surely be through war.

‘If this rebellion was a plan left to take my body…’

Crunch.

Ruel chewed on the meat pie with a serious expression.

Then he had to outwit the Great Man at everything.

Author's Thoughts

After a lot of thought, we decided to replace the black light with a ray of darkness. I apologize for the inconvenience.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read