Chapter – 8.2 ☀️

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Volume 3 – Clash (激突)

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1

When Jiyul and Chiayun joined forces, Taejeokrune’s Golden Army, which was full of morale, began to rush in. They fought hard, but they were forced to push back gradually. That didn’t mean that there was somewhere to run to. When the dominance of the Allies’ forces was clearly demonstrated, they expressed confusion. 

However, the distance to Taejeokrune, whom he thought would be easy to catch, was farther away. It was because Taejeokrune’s soldiers quickly stepped back as soon as the forces led by Jiyul and Chiayun, joined. They were cunning men. Aran frowned and clicked his tongue inwardly. 

“Aran.” 

Cain suddenly called his name and beckoned him to his side. When he turned his head in the direction he was pointing, he saw someone riding a horse across the Palace grounds, heading towards Taejeokrune. The man was an armor-clad, majestic military officer, with a strange boy sitting in front of him. 

The boy with a slender physique, who seemed to have been in his late teens, was wearing no armor or even a sword, even though he was in the middle of the war. The boy’s arms were tied behind his back, wearing nothing more than a plain overcoat, and his face was pale with a bit of fear. But, the moment Aran saw him, his heart pounded and fell to the ground with a thud. 

”…… Won.” 

It could be seen at a glance. He was definitely the Prince of Won. 

The last time he saw Won, he was a little boy, not yet ten years old. Even though his youthful appearance still remained, it could have been difficult to recognize him easily because he was seeing a child that he hadn’t seen in ten years who was transforming into a young man, but Aran realized at once that he was Prince Won. It was because he resembled the late King, to the extent that it was clear even from a distance. 

“Oh my God!” 

Aran, who was slowing slightly, couldn’t take his eyes off the boy. Anyone who knew the late King would undoubtedly be able to recognize him. The hand holding the reins trembled slightly. When he thought that the only blood kin that he had so desperately wanted to find was right in front of him, he couldn’t keep his composure. 

Unbeknownst to himself, Prince Won fixed his gaze only on Taejeokrune. Aran licked his lips, wanting to call his name out loud. But soon the man with Won in front of him shouted loudly, and Aran stopped moving. 

“Listen! Prince Won, that you have been looking for is here! If you don’t want any harm to come to Prince Won, you’ll have to obey me!” 

The man holding Won with one arm shouted with a savagely distorted face. It was a sound to announce that he was Taejeokrune’s ‘hostage’. Because Cain’s Army had also joined, this may be the first time he has faced defeat, now the situation has turned to the point where he can already see it’s over. 

Aran ground his teeth and turned his gaze to Taejeokrune. He was cornered and was looking at him with cold, sunken eyes, wondering if he was taking Won as a hostage. However, the moment he saw Taejeokrune wielding a sword from a distance, he suddenly felt a strange feeling. It must have been because Taejeokrune had a stiff expression on his face, and was staring at the man as if he was about to kill him. He looked as though the man was an enemy, not his subordinate. 

Most of the people he’d seen had bloodthirsty cruel eyes. That was Taejeokrune’s appearance that he was most familiar with. Even so, compared to now, he looked at the man with a sinister face, like he’d seen a ghost, to the extent that he thought his face from the past looked ordinary in comparison. In a word, it was an atmosphere that clearly showed that he was angry at what he had done without his command. 

The man was speaking out in a loud voice, in anger alone, as though he did not even feel the gaze of Taejeokrune. He couldn’t even hear what he was saying. He looked alternately at Taejeokrune’s bizarre appearance and Won’s straight gaze that followed him. 

Unbeknownst to him, a low-pitched profanity was heard. He had a vague suspicion that something was a little off. It was when he turned around, trying to shake off the anxiety that was chilling him down to his fingertips, Taejeokrune also began to approach the man holding the Prince Won. The man returned to his words. Taejeokrune, with angry eyes and a ferocious face, revealed a look as though he was likely to kill the man by twisting his neck at any moment. 

“If you want to take the enemy prince out safely—.” 

The man opened his mouth triumphantly. But his words ended there. It was because a blue dagger flew out from the darkness and made a cracking, bone-piercing, cruel sound, and pierced the man’s forehead with accuracy. With his eyes wide open, red blood drops from the man who had been hit in the head with a knife, dripped down Won’s hair. 

“… Won!” 

The man was still holding Won so throwing a dagger was so reckless in a situation where, if one mistake was made, he might have stuck it in Won instead of the other man. But there was no time to look back at who threw it. The large man, who had been talking in high spirits for a long time, closed his eyes halfway and fell from the back of the horse, Won with his arms tied lost his balance, and shook. 

Won was leaning, he was barely balancing on the back of a horse. Upon seeing the precarious figure not being able to control his leaning body because of his arms being tied behind his back, Aran hurriedly got on his horse. However, it was not easy to move forward through the soldiers blocking the way. While wielding the sword nervously, he didn’t know if Won would fall off the horse again, and he didn’t know if Taejeokrune would steal him away again. 

Of course, everyone, not just Aran, was running towards him. The allies were trying to somehow save the Prince, and the enemy forces didn’t want to lose their hostage. Prince Won’s sudden appearance in the pandemonium made the whole area even more confused. And in a situation where they rushed towards him all at once, it was, unfortunately, Taejeokrune that caught Prince Won the first. 

The black horse of Taejeokrune trampled the soldiers and jumped like a lightning bolt. There was an advantage because he was closer than Aran, but it seemed that he ran a little more desperately than that would be expected. Taejeokrune, who ran quickly and desperately, embraced Won, who was on the verge of falling out of the horse. In an instant, Aran, who was watching the situation in front of himself, stopped moving without realizing it. 

It was because Won was unharmed, and also, there was resentment that Taejeokrune took Won, but the biggest reason was because of his bizarre expression as he embraced Won as he was falling. He couldn’t understand it even though he was watching it with his own two eyes. 

Why… Aran looked at them and ground his teeth. In the meantime, Taejeokrune began to drive the horse into the Inner palace, holding Won as though he were escaping with him. 

“Jiyul, please stay back!” 

Aran grabbed the reins and shouted to Jiyul, who was running towards Prince Won just like himself. It was as if he could hear Jiyul’s voice calling his name anxiously from behind, but Aran drove the horse as though he hadn’t heard anything. As he struggled to escape among the tangled sword-wielding soldiers blocking the gates, he heard the sound of his name being called again. 

“Aran! He’s here!” 

When he turned his head, Ryugen, who had not been seen for a while, beckoned from a distance. Cain was by his side, so Aran hurriedly turned and ran to them. The moment he got close enough, a thought suddenly popped into his head, and he turned to Ryugen and asked. 

“Ryugen, did you throw a dagger at the man holding Won?” 

“Oh, weren’t you in a hurry?” 

Just as expected. Abusive words welled up in his throat as he watched him answer indifferently, but he only bit his lip. In the first place, if it was Ryugen, he was a person who could drop a man without hurting Won. As a result, the dagger was accurately pierced into the man’s forehead. But what if his fingertips slipped even a little…… Just thinking about it makes him cringe 

“It was too hasty.” 

The words Aran was thinking came out of Cain’s mouth. 

“I could guarantee that I would hit him. But I apologize for acting first.” 

Aran did not respond at all to Ryugen, who gently apologized. Now, he was so focused on chasing after Taejeokrune, who disappeared with Won, that there were no other thoughts that came to his head. Also, it was a relief that it was successful. 

“Well, the important thing right now isn’t that you threw the dagger and missed him. What the hell is the relationship between Taejeokrune and Prince Won?”

This time, Cain asked a question in a very annoying tone. Aran, who had been running with all his attention focused on looking ahead, suddenly opened his eyes. Cain seemed to feel the subtle atmosphere between the two as well. No, in fact, it was an atmosphere that everyone who was paying attention to them would have noticed. 

“I don’t know. Because I wasn’t expecting it at all. Who would have known that Taejeokrune would be so frightened and take the kid?” 

However, even Ryugen, who seemed to have all the information in the world, didn’t know. Cain clicked his tongue. 

“It’s surprising that there is something you don’t know.” 

“I know. But it was really beyond my imagination. I can’t believe Taejeokrune turned white and ran away. It’s kind of disappointing because I felt like I’ve seen something unbelievable.” 

Ryugen grumbled as he wrinkled his nose. 

“And what’s even more strange is that he vanished like he was running away from the battlefield. If it’s a war, why run away like a madman?” 

“It’s like winning or losing is already decided.” 

Cain said bluntly. Ryugen shook his head resolutely. 

“He is not that kind of person. The Taejeokrune I know does not put down his sword on the battlefield and turn his back until it’s over.” 

Aran, who was listening to him, felt his heart pounding again. He was a villain like no other in the world, without blood or tears. All he had was a bloody smell and gloomy atmosphere that vibrated from head to toe. So why……  

“It’s difficult.” 

Cain muttered to himself as if he had noticed something. Aran just listened quietly to their conversation. All of a sudden, he felt like his brain was getting complicated. Meanwhile, Ryugen entered a path slightly off of the Palace gate. As he passed the narrow road along the wall like a secret passage, he was able to quickly enter the Inner Palace. 

Aran looked around in amazement. But he had never heard of this hidden path. It was a large palace, and as a child, there was a limit to his range of entry, so it was natural to not know all the places within the palace. But he had never even heard of such a hidden path. How did Ryugen know the Royal Palace like the back of his hand? Recalling a new question, Aran headed straight to the main palace, the largest building in front of him. 

If you’re reading this anywhere other than Foolishtranslationss.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.

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2

As the soldiers rushed outside, there was even a sense of silence in the palace. There was still a loud noise coming from behind, but it was eerily quiet in this place. Did he run away with all the officials? The eerie silence even made him feel as though he had stepped into the eye of a storm, in the tense atmosphere right before something explodes. Aran swallowed dryly and clenched his hands. 

“Jar is late.” 

Cain, who was suddenly following him, frowned and looked back. By now, he should have been chasing Cain, it was strange, but for some reason Jar and the other soldiers had not yet come. 

“He’ll come soon.” 

It was at that moment when Ryugen, who was ahead, responded indifferently. Suddenly, a sharp blade of murderous intent sped out from the darkness. Aran hastily stopped his horse. Cain, Ryugen, and Shaw also noticed the same thing, and all at once stopped moving and grabbed their swords. Most of the soldiers were gathered around the outer palace, and a suspicious question came to their minds. 

“Damn it, move it!” 

Swoosh – There was the sound of something flying from the darkness, and Ryugen, who was next to Aran, uttered a short swear word almost at the same time as him. It happened at about the same time that Ryugen threw himself from the back of the horse while hugging Aran, and fell onto the cold floor. 

“Aran!” 

“Prince!” 

Cain and Shaw shouted from behind at the sudden event. They hurriedly jumped off their horses and quickly turned to Aran and Ryugen, who were rolling on the ground. Then, from where he appeared, Ryugen’s minions, dressed in black as darkness, surrounded them as though guarding them with swords. 

“Prince, are you okay?” 

Aran, who dropped as though he had fallen, managed to raise his upper body at Shaw’s worried voice. His body was aching from the violent thump on his back, but there were no serious injuries. 

“Thankfully…” 

Aran sat up slowly and looked at Ryugen, who was still pressing heavily on him, with wide open eyes. He was lying on the floor, motionless. 

Then he felt something strange. He didn’t move while hugging him. Aran blinked with puzzled eyes and grabbed his shoulder. At that moment, he realized that his hand was dyed bright red. Aran raised his hand and looked down. Then, the appearance that even the armor was soaked in dark red blood caught his eye. 

“Oh my God……. Ryugen!” 

I called to him in a trembling voice. Cain looked back at Aran’s unstable voice. But before either Cain or Shaw could ascertain his condition, a group of men emerged from the darkness, appearing immediately and began to run, wielding blue-edged swords. 

“What the hell are these-!” 

Cain and Shaw, who were looking at Aran and Ryugen’s situation with unfamiliar eyes, spit out swear words at the crowd that had jumped out of nowhere and stretched out their swords. Fortunately, Ryugen’s subordinate was also quietly following them. If it wasn’t for Ryugen, it would have been difficult for the three to handle them now. 

Ryugen’s minions stopped the enemies that came out of the darkness. Shaw and Cain, who were standing next to him with stiff faces at the sudden situation, also rushed to them, but Aran, who was sitting next to Ryugen, held his sword in his hand and looked around, but could not stand up easily. It was because he couldn’t move from under Ryugen, who had collapsed and had yet to revive. 

“Wake up, open your eyes. Ryugen, Ryugen!” 

The voice, which was getting louder little by little, resounded amid the noise of the blades intersecting. It was around the time he was watching the situation and protecting Ryugen, suddenly, a long breath escaped between his dry lips. 

“Ha…… Noisy.” 

After a while, Ryugen regained consciousness and slowly lifted his eyelids. His face was still pale and tired, and his eyes were blurry. However, thinking that it was fortunate for him to come to his senses, Aran was relieved inside and carefully tried to turn him around. With a short moan, Ryugen pressed a little harder on the side he was holding. 

From the moment he fell off the horse while hugging Aran, the hand he had been holding his side with was red and wet with blood. The surroundings were dark and Ryugen couldn’t come to his senses, so he didn’t have time to take a closer look, but the wound seemed bigger than expected. 

“Show me what happened.” 

Aran lowered his anxious gaze while soothing Ryugen, who was struggling to cover up the wounds that looked like he’d been hit with a sword or bow. 

“Well……” 

He stubbornly refused to lower his hand. But that didn’t stop Aran from grabbing his wrist and pulling it away. Aran looked down at Ryugen’s wounds revealed under the hazy moonlight and stopped breathing for a moment. 

The wounds were worse than he thought. The weapon that stabbed him wasn’t just a bow or sword. There was a small metallic barbed hook-like thing, sticking out of the left side of his abdomen, piercing it from behind his back and through his abdomen. 

“This… What the hell is it?” 

Aran stared blankly at the weapon he had never seen before. A thin, trembling hand wandered over Ryugen’s wounds, but he didn’t know what to do. He looked with a pale face and saw the wounds that had been crushed by the hooks over and over again. 

“This is the weapon I made. The barbed spike was modified.” 

Ryugen smiled faintly as he wiped his bloody mouth with the back of his hand. What? Aran couldn’t even make a sound and clapped a hand over his mouth. He couldn’t even blink his wide eyes. A weapon made by Ryugen? He didn’t know what that meant. 

“Don’t tell me, you knew……. when you blocked it? Knowing that something like this is attacking……. why?” 

Aran muttered blankly. He had a sullen smile on his blood-stained lips. 

“Yeah……. because….. you are his precious prince.” 

A faint whisper flowed out so that only Aran could hear it. Aran grabbed Ryugen’s drooping shoulders tightly. It was still something he couldn’t understand. His mind was in a state of confusion. 

“So you…… that’s why you’re a child. How can you just stop like this?”

“But.”

“What do you have to do with me getting hurt? Get up and run right now…..Taejeokrune is now running away…….so wake up. If you don’t go now, you won’t be able to catch him.” 

Ryugen barely spoke, panting for breath, and finally coughing up a lump of blood. Cough-  Still clutching the hook that pierced his abdomen, he continued to spit out silent words toward Aran. 

“Right now, get up.” 

Aran stood still as he watched his lips twitch. He couldn’t leave Ryugen alone like this. Especially in a situation where swords were intersecting loudly all around. Aran clenched his jaw and shook his head. That was the moment, 

“It’s been a while, brother.” 

A low voice came from beyond the darkness. Ryugen bit his blood-soaked lips, and Aran raised his eyes. Then, three or four steps away, a man sitting on the back of a horse slowly appeared. 

“… Traitor bastard!” 

Ryugen muttered suddenly. It was as faint as a lamp before the wind, but it was a voice that was clearly heard. Aran then realized that the man was the one who betrayed Ryugen and killed many of his subordinates. 

So that was why Ryugen said that the hook that pierced through his stomach was a weapon he had made. And the shadow-like bastards that came out of the darkness shooting out of nowhere, were very similar to Ryugen’s subordinates who were fighting against them. They used to be his companions who lived in the ‘Forest of Evil Spirits‘. 

It was funny contrast. like between Ryugen and himself, who were enemies in the past that became friends, they are now Ryugen’s enemies. And now, they were aiming for Ryugen. The gaze at Ryugen with his malice-filled glaring eyes was terrifying. 

Suddenly, Aran hugged him as if to protect Ryugen from the man who was approaching him like a reaper. He couldn’t let him go like this. Because Ryugen was already his friend. 

“It’s been a while since I saw you. It seems that you have also gotten a lot weaker.” 

The man mocked and sneered. 

“Silly.” 

As the man’s words fell, Aran found something shining in the darkness. It was dark and invisible, but when the man moved his hand, it changed the angle and gave off a sharp light. It was a long thread. And the thread was connected to the end of the thin barbed hook that stabbed Ryugen’s back. Oh My God! The blood drained from Aran’s face, as he muttered,

“I have been given the last order to stop you.” 

He couldn’t even hear the man muttering. Aran quickly grabbed the string attached to the end of the hook. But grabbing the sharply pulled string with one’s hands was a futile effort. The wire made of thin iron could not be easily broken. 

“It would be even better if my brother died in the meantime.” 

“No!” 

Aran quickly raised his sword. It was the intention to cut it somehow. But at that moment, the man who had focused only on Ryugen no matter what Aran was doing, briefly clicked his tongue and kicked the side of the horse. As the horse moved, the string was pulled taut. And Ryugen’s body had no choice but to be pulled back and dragged. 

He let out a short scream. Aran, who spits out a short profanity in the absurd situation, held on to the thin string as if in a tug-of-war without even hitting it with a sword. However, the taut string cut Aran’s palm and dragged Ryugen away. 

“Ryugen!” 

In the blink of an eye, Ryugen, whose abdomen was pierced by a barbed hook, was dragged onto the frozen ground. Aran grabbed his sword with a pale tired face and ran. On the spot where Ryugen had been dragged, blood was splattered crimson. 

Ryugen, Ryugen! 

It was time when he was screaming and running. Cain, who suddenly rushed from the opposite direction, grabbed his sword and struck it in an instant. The sword that slashed at the line between the running horses could have cut Ryugen, but Cain’s sword was accurate. At the tip of the sword that was slammed over Ryugen’s head, there was a tingling sound that bounced up the string. At that moment the taut iron cord broke, and the movement that was dragging Ryugen like an animal stopped. 

Aran ran to Ryugen, who had been thrown to the ground, and hugged him. In a flash after he was separated, he was just miserable. He was lying on the cold ground without moving and it seemed that he had already stopped breathing. 

“How…” 

He couldn’t believe what was happening in front of his eyes. He thought he would be fine no matter what happened. No, he didn’t think anything would happen like this, but he was so helpless. How did it come to be like this even as he was trying to save his life? His chest was so heavy that he couldn’t breathe. 

“That’s great. You’re running and striking with your sword.” 

The man who stopped talking only after the cord was cut had a disgusting smile. He couldn’t stand it any longer. Aran, having even forgotten the thought of keeping Ryugen safe by his side, sprinted forward as he held his sword. And beheaded one of the closest minions. 

Aran swung his sword again and decapitated another person even before the body of the man first man could fall backward and squirt blood to the floor. His eyes turned black. He couldn’t control the anger that rose like flames from the bottom of his heart. 

He didn’t like that Taejeokrune had taken Won and disappeared in front of him, or that the people who betrayed Ryugen hurt him again after Ryugen had wrapped himself around him, or that he was dying because of it. He was furious and he went mad. 

His eyes flashed a deathly pallor as he swung his sword wherever he could. Aran cut through the cold frozen atmosphere as he slashed the black-clad bastards. He couldn’t think of anything as though his head was empty. He was just angry as he widened his eyes and swung his sword to strike them down. 

No one approached Aran hastily. The whole area was filled with the smell of blood as he swung his sword repeatedly without shaking off the blood that was thickly adhering to the sword. Aran was also drenched in blood that had splattered from head to toe, making him look even more horrifying, but he didn’t realize it. He looked like a killer. 

Just as he was slashing randomly so that no one could stop him, he heard the sound of horse hooves coming from behind him. It was the sound of so many horses running at once that it made the ground rumble. Aran regained consciousness only then and opened his darkly focused eyes. Fortunately, it wasn’t the enemy. Rather, it was Jar and his soldiers who had been waiting and were now running toward them. 

Those who had been holding on until then, blocking Aran, froze, and stepped back when they saw the number of reinforcements. The same goes for the man who brutally attacked Ryugen. Frowning, the man gave a small signal to his remaining men as he tried to escape. Their only purpose was to buy time for Taejeokrune to escape, they never had any intention of fighting to the end.

“Jar, lift your bow,”

Shouted Cain as they tried to escape. As soon as his name was spoken, Jar pulled his bow from his back and loaded it. In the meantime, Cain got on his horse and sped over to Aran. 

“There’s no time, hurry.” 

Aran turned his head and looked at Ryugen who was still laying on the floor like a corpse.

It was ringing in his ear like my tinnitus. Hearing the futile sound, Aran had to erase the indelible Ryugen from his eyes. 

“Don’t worry about him. Because he’s not going to die like that.” 

“… …” 

“He will not die like that, not while the Northern lands are waiting.” 

His utterance flowed on the wind, but it was unknown whether he was speaking to comfort Aran or speaking to comfort himself. Aran didn’t know why Cain was talking about the northern land, but he just listened silently. 

“Obviously, he will open his eyes.” 

Aran, who was listening to the resolute voice, quietly nodded to him even though Cain could not see him, and then dropped his forehead on his wide back. 

Suddenly, sleet was scattered in the cold sky. And a blue dawn began to rise between them. It was a new day. Aran, who was looking at the deep blue color that made his heart ache, closed his eyes.

If you’re reading this anywhere other than Foolishtranslationss.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.

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