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Chapter 06
“Could you stop doing reckless things? I’ve been begging you about this over and over again. At this rate, you’re seriously going to end up in real trouble someday!”
He kept nagging, but Papillion knew.
Yulician was not someone who could turn a blind eye to injustice. He would rather throw away his life than ignore it.
That was precisely what made him admirable enough to follow. But sometimes, his recklessness was genuinely worrying.
Papillion reined in the horse with one hand and briefly stopped, rummaging inside his coat.
“I really did prepare a resignation letter… gah!”
But before he could even take it out, his breath was cut short.
Yulician had grabbed him by the back of the neck and pulled him off the horse.
At the same time, a dagger flew in from somewhere and pierced the horse’s neck. Poison must have been applied—the horse immediately collapsed, convulsing.
Yulician checked whether Papillion was injured, then dismounted and drew his sword.
“Papillion, get on my horse.”
“Pardon?”
“You’ll be more useful getting help than fighting while I protect you. Ride and bring people.”
It was a rational decision.
Papillion had only ever handled blades like pen nibs in his life.
He knew that himself, so he obediently climbed onto the horse.
“I’ll be back quickly!”
He kicked the horse’s side and rode off at full speed.
The assassins did not pursue Papillion’s escape. Instead, once the witness had disappeared, they revealed themselves openly and aimed for Yulician’s life.
Yulician smiled out of habit, but his eyes were full of contempt.
“Only five of you? You’re underestimating me.”
Blocking the incoming attacks and cutting down the assassins took no time at all.
It was so easy that it almost made him suspicious.
‘Are they just trying to delay me?’
A sense of unease rose instinctively, and Yulician turned his body.
The moment he tried to run toward the direction of the Grand Temple—
Srrk.
A chilling metallic sound came from behind him. He reacted immediately, twisting his body. But the blade had already carved into his back.
The man who had appeared suddenly was about to flee after being splashed with Yulician’s blood.
Suppressing his collapsing body, Yulician turned and swung his sword, channeling the force of his rotation into the strike.
Clang!
The man barely blocked it, staggering.
Even while bleeding heavily, Yulician did not stop.
The longer it dragged on, the more disadvantaged his injured state became.
He poured his weight into the blade to finish the fight quickly.
The man was pushed back hard.
With the recoil, his large hood slipped off halfway, revealing his face.
Ash-gray hair. Dull brown eyes. A pale face with a gloomy aura.
Someone Yulician had seen beside Kildian before.
“Shait Hunnieswald.”
Shait did not seem to expect to be recognized and looked momentarily flustered.
That emotional disruption created an opening.
As Shait’s posture wavered slightly, Yulician swept his leg.
Shait lost his balance and dropped his sword. Instead of continuing with weapons, he tried to tackle Yulician in close combat.
But Yulician did not fall so easily.
Grabbing Shait’s shirt, he twisted his body.
Something snapped with a dull sound, and a small round metallic object landed in his hand.
Yulician slipped it into his pocket and pressed a dagger to Shait’s neck.
Even as rain poured down, hoofbeats could be heard in the distance.
Papillion was returning.
Yulician endured the nausea from blood loss and forced his fading consciousness to stay focused.
“Every time my brother does something strange, your name and Cydele Nishurvan’s appear in the reports.”
“……”
“I’ll personally take you to my brother. I’m sure he’ll be delighted.”
He expected resistance, but Shait Hunnieswald was surprisingly docile.
Not only that—his lips trembled, and he let out a bizarre smile.
Sensing something ominous, Yulician tried to move away—but then—
A violent impact struck his chest.
Through his fading vision, he saw Shait Hunnieswald’s retreating figure.
…and his own body lying collapsed on the ground.
‘What… is this…’
He found himself floating in a semi-transparent state, like a ghost, looking down at his own corpse.
He tried repeatedly to re-enter his body, but it was impossible. Something blocked him, repelling him each time.
Even his consciousness was fading rapidly.
‘Am I… dying like this?’
He saw Papillion rushing in with soldiers.
But Yulician could only hear Papillion’s voice.
“He’s still alive! Take him to the manor—!”
…and then, he lost consciousness.
—
And when he opened his eyes again, the first thing he saw was an unfamiliar woman.
Slightly drooping eyes, large innocent violet pupils, soft sky-blue hair flowing gently, and delicate features.
A girl with an undeniably charming presence.
But Yulician did not let his guard down and subdued her immediately.
Her fragile body tilted easily with even slight force.
It was surprisingly easy—almost suspiciously so—but Yulician did not show it.
‘An assassin?’
Under the moonlight, her face was pale and pure, her eyes clear without hostility.
He had met countless assassins since childhood, but this was the first time one looked this innocent.
For a moment, his tension almost loosened.
‘She’s trying to lower my guard for a surprise attack.’
She was likely an assassin using beauty as a tactic.
He steeled himself and subtly pressured Amarantis.
But that misunderstanding did not last long.
‘This… isn’t my body.’
He had become someone entirely different.
And of all people, he had ended up inside the body of the one who had caused his downfall.
‘Is this a dream?’
He wanted to deny reality, but his senses were precise.
His thoughts grew sluggish from the surreal situation. He forced himself to focus on rational concerns.
‘The assassins were already lying in ambush. Only the butler should have known I was going to meet the Archbishop.’
That meant information had leaked internally.
He did not want to suspect the butler who had been by his side since childhood… but perhaps he had betrayed him.
Or there might be an internal spy.
His mind cooled. Confusion set in, but his rationality sharpened.
‘For now, I’ll live as Shait Hunnieswald and investigate my brother’s plan and the traitor.’
He needed information while searching for a way back to his own body.
To do that, he needed to understand who Shait Hunnieswald was.
And conveniently, Shait’s wife was right in front of him.
‘A wife would know Shait Hunnieswald well.’
Before starting his questioning, he planned to ease her guard with light conversation.
But then—
“Who are you?”
Amarantis suddenly asked this.
—
Silence.
As the silence dragged on, tension crept into her body. She glanced at Shait.
He wore a faint smile, unreadable.
One leg crossed casually, toes occasionally tapping.
That only strengthened her suspicion.
‘So the memory loss story was a lie.’
A person with real amnesia would normally show confusion when their identity was questioned.
But Shait showed no reaction at all.
After some thought, she narrowed it down to two possibilities.
- Someone else was pretending to be Shait.
It sounded plausible, but something felt off.
Shait’s palms were covered in scar-like wounds, and the same scars were on the hands of the man in front of her.
Even if someone meticulously copied them, would they know Shait was left-handed?
So impersonation didn’t make sense.
That left only one possibility.
- He was pretending to have amnesia to reveal his true nature.
That seemed most likely.
The problem was she could not understand either the reason for hiding it or the reason for revealing it now.
Maybe he was trying to drag her into something bloody. She hoped it wasn’t that.
Feeling uneasy, she looked at Shait’s crumpled coat on the floor.
Then he spoke.
“So you’re doubting my identity because I lost my memory.”
What is this now?
Why is he asking that?
So it really isn’t amnesia after all.
She decided to smile. If she pretended not to know, she could avoid getting dragged into trouble.
“Yes. You used to be left-handed, but now you use your right hand more often.”
“Then that’s why you suspect my identity?”
