Chapter 235
Chapter 235
The Real and the Fake (1)
While Nora Galatea was dealing with the Lunaseeker Agency agents, Kairus and Irena were also continuing their battle against Denver Hudson.
“I’m telling you, you just need to open the way.”
“What I want is treatment for my wife.”
Hundreds, thousands of blade winds sliced through Denver Hudson’s body, yet he paid them no mind as he charged forward and swung the burning stake toward Kairus.
At that moment, Irena circled behind him, stabbed a sword into the back of Denver Hudson’s head, and exploded compressed air, blowing his skull apart.
“…Crazy bastard.”
But something like that meant nothing to Denver Hudson. The fragments of his exploded head gathered back together and returned to their original form.
Then came Irena’s counterattack. Yet Denver didn’t block it. He simply endured it with his body while attacking Irena in return.
“What kind of fight is this?! Who the hell fights while only doing their own thing?!”
He didn’t react to his opponent’s movements. It felt like fighting a wall. Only then did Irena fully understand what Kairus had meant earlier when he said, “It might be a little difficult with just the two of us.”
Denver Hudson was weaker than Dana Watson. Even so, he was still capable of holding back both Irena and Kairus alone.
“Hours, days, months… none of it matters.”
Scarlet sparks spilled from the chunk of charcoal clenched in Denver’s hand.
“I will not collapse, I will not tire, and I will not give up.”
The path leading to the Emperor would never open unless Denver Hudson stepped aside. And the key to making Denver Hudson move aside was Liriana.
‘I do have her.’
They needed to hear that the enemy’s plan had failed. Until then, they had no choice but to continue this meaningless battle.
“You fucking bastard.”
After deflecting the thrust of the burning charcoal stake with his blade, Kairus plunged his sword into Denver’s chest. Beyond the shattered ceiling of the Imperial Palace, dark clouds spread across the sky as thunder roared and lightning crashed down.
With a sword still embedded in his chest, Denver’s body trembled briefly as repeated bolts of lightning struck him. Then he moved again.
“I’ll do it this time…!”
The greatsword Irena swung with all her strength split Denver at the waist. His severed upper body thrust the stake toward Irena.
“Tough bastard.”
Overcoming the combined assault of Irena and Kairus was impossible. Denver had already experienced death hundreds of times over.
Every type of death Kairus and Irena could create was unfolding upon Denver Hudson. Yet despite that, Denver Hudson silently endured it all.
“Keep pounding away. It’s meaningless anyway.”
The battle that had begun in the morning continued past evening and toward the edge of night. At this point, it was Kairus and Irena who were beginning to tire slightly.
“Doesn’t seem like you’ve received word that they secured your wife yet, huh?”
At Kairus’s words, Denver stopped moving. Then he planted the charcoal stake on the ground and stared at him.
“…I was just beginning to think something was strange.”
If they had succeeded, word should have come long ago. But no message saying they had successfully retrieved Liriana had arrived even now.
“There should be telephone lines in the Imperial Palace, right? How about calling our office to confirm it?”
Irena casually suggested it to Denver. The fact that no contact had come until now meant the situation was turning in Kairus and Irena’s favor.
“A new drug is being developed in the Daeyeon Kingdom.”
“I already know.”
This was information regarding his wife’s treatment, of all things. There was no way Denver Hudson wouldn’t know about the clinical trials taking place in the Daeyeon Kingdom.
“If you step aside peacefully, I’ll arrange for your wife to participate in that clinical trial.”
Denver Hudson hesitated for a moment. The lack of any contact still bothered him. If things had gone wrong, then agreeing to Kairus’s proposal was the only remaining way to save Liriana.
“Let’s confirm it first.”
“Good. I prefer clean business myself.”
Kairus obediently waited while Denver contacted his office. Using the telephone inside the Imperial Palace, Denver called Kairus’s office.
— Hello? Uh… this is Kairus’s office.
The one who answered was Nora. That alone revealed quite a lot.
“Do you still have Liriana with you?”
The moment she heard Denver’s voice, Nora let out an “Ah.”
— Lunaseeker agents came by earlier. They said it was something ordered by the Emperor of the Empire? What the hell is that bastard even thinking?
He had intended to hand over the wife of the Guardian of the Nation who protected him to a foreign country, and a potential enemy nation at that. Nora simply couldn’t understand it.
“…”
Denver couldn’t find any reason to answer that question. There were more important matters right now.
“Liriana…”
— If you mean that unni, I’ve got her with me safe and sound. She’s pretty. Like a sleeping princess from a fairy tale.
At Nora’s words, Denver Hudson still wore an expression of complete incomprehension. The plan had sounded plausible. Nora Galatea was an agent of Lunaseeker, and naturally, she should obey Lunaseeker’s orders.
If Lunaseeker ordered Liriana to be handed over, he had assumed Nora would naturally comply.
“You’re a Lunaseeker agent. Are you disobeying orders? Have you abandoned the name of Lunaseeker?”
— I’m still Lunaseeker. I’m just a bit of an oddball.
Instead of blindly obeying orders, she made her own judgments according to her own principles and presented paths that would benefit the organization.
Younia highly valued that aspect of Nora. It was a virtue any company president should possess.
— The important thing is that I’m taking good care of your wife… and any further negotiations should be done with oppa Kairus.
“And what if you’re lying right now?”
A small sigh came from the other side of the receiver.
— Hmm… what would work? Ah, right. Is there some secret about your wife that only you know?
“She has burn scars on her body.”
— I’ll check.
After saying that, Nora briefly stepped away.
— Mister, there’s nothing like that though? I checked everywhere, and there’s nothing. Are you messing with me?
Hearing that answer, Denver tightly shut his eyes. That alone proved Nora still had his wife with her.
There was no reason to continue the conversation any further. After ending the call, Denver stood before Kairus.
“And your answer?”
Denver threw away the charcoal stake he had been holding and stepped aside.
“Keep your promise about the Daeyeon Kingdom clinical trial.”
“No need to worry. I’m different from Philip IV.”
Denver no longer had any intention of fighting. At last, Kairus could throw open the door without interference.
“It’s definitely thick.”
The passage leading underground was blocked by a silver-white metal door. Kairus stared at it for a moment before striking it once with the back of his hand.
Judging from the way the sound echoed, the door was unbelievably thick.
“I wonder how long Flicker would take.”
Kairus embedded Flicker into the door and spent about ten minutes at it.
And then, exclusion.
“No, are you kidding me?”
Beyond the section Flicker had excluded, another metal plate had already been prepared. Kairus grimaced and looked toward Denver.
“There are fifteen more blast doors like that.”
“Good.”
Kairus withdrew Flicker again. With a structure like this, Flicker couldn’t get through. Beyond every excluded section was another blast door waiting behind it.
They would just have to smash through them directly. Kairus took a deep breath and raised the output of Veil of Plumed Mist.
Beside him, Irena also began swinging Angelene’s Answer.
Amid booming explosions, the two of them diligently smashed apart the blast doors.
“Haa… haa…”
It became a massive undertaking that lasted for hours. Contrary to their original plan, Kairus and Irena advanced underground by personally destroying every single blast door one by one.
Finally, after succeeding in shattering even the last blast door, Kairus looked beyond it.
“You fucking bastard. You seriously made people suffer this much?”
Though he had planned to kill him anyway, the urge to kill him now burned even stronger. Kairus advanced forward with murderous intent blazing inside him.
“Hey! Where are you?!”
There was no need for manners. The bastard was already a traitor anyway. It was rare for a robber to speak politely to his victim.
“…So you’ve come.”
A single candle dimly lit up within the dark space. A middle-aged man was staring at Kairus and Irena.
The clothes he wore and the crown resting on his head proved that this man was Philip IV, the one Kairus had searched for so desperately.
“Kairus Featherwing. Irena Kellogg.”
He slowly rose from his seat. Fear that could not be concealed lingered in his eyes.
And yet, despite that, he still faced this situation head-on.
“So, what are you planning to do now?”
“Your voice is trembling. You already know what’s going to happen.”
Kairus brushed his palm across the table as he approached the Emperor. Philip IV. The enemy who had framed House Featherwing and destroyed them.
And now that very man stood right before him. If he reached out and snapped his neck, the Emperor would shatter without resistance. The ruler of the vast lands of Valorn would meet such an easy end.
For a while, Kairus stared into the man’s eyes. After maintaining eye contact for a long time, Kairus faintly smiled.
“Hey, bring out the jade seal. Let me have a look at it.”
“…”
The Philip IV standing before him silently stared at Kairus. His eyes were trembling even more now.
After waiting a moment for an answer, Kairus let out a small sigh and spoke.
“You don’t have it, do you? The Emperor must’ve taken it with him.”
“Kairus, what are you talking about right now?”
Irena questioned Kairus. Then, a moment later, her body flinched as if she finally understood what he meant.
This bastard was a fake the Emperor had prepared beforehand. Kairus examined his face from various angles before speaking.
“A procedure, huh? Damn, they did a hell of a good job.”
It looked like they had shaved down his bones and replaced his skin. Most likely, even Denver Hudson hadn’t known such a substitute had been prepared. If Kairus left satisfied, believing his revenge complete, they probably intended to restore the Emperor’s position later when the timing was right.
‘That’s why he took the jade seal.’
Because he would need it to prove he was the real Emperor.
“Kill… kill me.”
Kairus lightly patted the man’s back with a pitying expression.
“You were a pretty good actor. You probably got special training too, huh?”
Pretending to be the Emperor wasn’t easy. He must have spent a long time being educated, thoroughly memorizing the Emperor’s behavior, etiquette, and all the laws and customs that had to be observed within the Imperial Palace.
“…I was even taught state administration in preparation for the possibility of his long absence.”
This was beyond imagination.
The smile lingering on Kairus’s lips deepened.
“I see.”
Leaning against the wall, Kairus gazed at the ceiling of the underground shelter for a moment before speaking.
“You ever thought about becoming the real Emperor?”
The key was the jade seal. If they found the jade seal the Emperor had taken away, then the fake standing before them would become the real one.
And the real Emperor who had destroyed the houses of Kairus and Irena would become the fake Emperor.
“…”
“There must’ve been a reason you stayed here doing this.”
Whether it was blackmail, or because he had committed some irreversible and catastrophic mistake. Either way, he had continued acting as the Emperor while fully knowing he would die if Kairus came here.
There had to be a reason. But Kairus didn’t care. Honestly, he wasn’t even curious about what the fake Philip IV’s original name was.
“I’ll find the jade seal and hand it over to you.”
“…What are you saying?”
The fake Emperor blankly stared at Kairus after hearing those words.