Chapter 263: Side Story 9

The two other Ghosts who had been watching this unexpected situation understood what exactly happened a beat too late.

“You!”

“How dare you?!”

Once they grasped the situation, they quickly pulled out their swords and rushed forward.

Since he had always been looking into the air, seemingly helpless, they hadn’t realized how strong the man from the Southern Continent really was. But now, they saw he wasn’t an ordinary man. For him to have been able to subdue a Ghost with his bare hands meant that he was at least a part of the Master class, or someone who was approaching it.

The two of them swung their swords at Yushin without dropping their guards.

However…

He looked at them indifferently, then stepped forward. Compared to how quickly his opponents ran forward, his movement was relaxed as if he was going out for a walk. 

“You!”

“Die!”

They aimed sharply for Yushin’s neck and waist, but at that moment, Yushin moved slightly back and their attacks sliced through the air. 

Immediately afterwards, there was a different attack.

Crack!

The sound was so bloody it was impossible to believe that it came from a person hitting another on the head with their fist. 

“Keugh…”

Although he was beginning to feel faint, the struck Ghost still swung his sword. Fortunately, because he continued to attack, he was able to block any further attacks towards himself. But that was it. His opponent simply stepped backwards as he looked at them in a relaxed manner.

Yushin glanced at his fist before speaking to the Ghosts.

“You’re impressive warriors. Normally, people would have died from this.”

“......”

Although what he said could be considered arrogant, neither of the Ghosts responded. Until now, he had been lazing around with much resistance, so they hadn’t known that their opponent was such a strong human being.

“You bastard… Why have you been hiding your skills until now?”

Yushin grinned at the Ghost’s question.

“Rather than hiding… no. What’s the point of even telling you?”

Yushin rotated both his wrists, loosening them up, as he approached the opponents in front of him. 

“We’d have to fight either way. Don’t you agree?”

“Guh…”

That was true. Both of the Ghosts knew that their opponent was stronger than themselves. In that case, the right decision would be to step back. But if they retreated now, they would lose Imperial Princess Elizabeth. Just as Yushin said, this was a situation in which they had to fight.

“I’ll kill you.”

The Ghosts resolved themselves with desperation and rushed towards Yushin. Swift attacks flew through the air and Yushin avoided all of them with minimal movements. However, even as he avoided them, he still had to pay attention to Princess Elizabeth who was behind him.  There was a chance that if he rushed forward and missed one of them, then the Ghosts would attack her.

That was why…

‘Guess I should slowly stretch here.’

As Yushin pushed aside the enemy’s attack with his bare hands, he sometimes stretched out his own hands and feet when he saw an opening.

Smack! Crack! Pow!

Each of his blows were sharp and heavy. Despite the opponents holding weapons, Yushin’s hands and feet all landed their blows while avoiding the Ghosts’ swords. Soon, the enemies gradually slowed down as they were hit. 

Once he felt his enemy had weakened to some extent, Yushin struck a fatal blow. He dodged the sword flying towards his head and at the same time, he moved closer until it was like he was embracing his enemy. He made a small turn so that his back showed, then what happened was...

Bam.

“Ke...ugh…”

Yushin’s elbow accurately dug into the enemy’s solar plexus. With the strength he pushed his elbow in, and the turning movement on top of the centrifugal force...

He had elbowed the enemy’s solar plexus with all his strength.

His enemy was experiencing a kind of pain that was so painful that he couldn’t even let out a scream. 

Without even turning back, Yushin immediately kicked his foot up.

Crack!

Yushin’s kick struck the head of the Ghost who had been behind him. His opponent flew backward and stopped breathing. 

“Now, you’re the only one left.”

Having said that, Yushin approached the remaining Ghost member. 

The Ghost turned to look at his fallen comrade and then turned back towards Yushin.

“I… I surrender.”

“...What?”

“I surrender. Please let me keep my life.”

Yushin was a bit surprised when the Ghost surrendered. From what he had heard from Elizabeth, Ghosts were people who fanatically believed in Siegfried and were intoxicated in his belief that their willpower was very strong. If they were to die, then they died; they would never surrender. At least, that’s why Yushin thought, but the Ghost was surrendering. 

Elizabeth stepped forward from the back and spoke.

“You are truly going to surrender?”

“Of course...Your Highness. Now that all my comrades are dead, I don’t want to waste the rest of my life because of republicanism. Your Highness.”

As if she wanted to double check, Elizabeth spoke again.

“If that’s the case, can you tell me where you were planning on meeting up with the rest of your comrades?”

“I can, Your Highness.”

Elizabeth seemed convinced.

“Alright. Then we accept your surrender.”

At that, Yushin approached Elizabeth and spoke to her.

“Can we trust him?”

“Probably. I think it’s about a 70% probability.”

“If he betrays us…”

“That’ll be a problem for them. If we get the information, and even if it’s false information, we won’t be worse off than we are right now.”

Yushin nodded his head as if he realized the same thing. 

***

In conclusion...

That Ghost’s betrayal was real.

Once Elizabeth and Yushin left the place they were held captive, the first place they went to was the Lester Empire’s government office. Once Elizabeth identified herself, she sent an urgent message to Jerome Taker. 

Since she had already contacted him once she heard that the Ghosts had appeared, she was able to get a hold of him rather quickly. Jerome had received the letter halfway and quickly joined Elizabeth to set up a trap to capture the remaining Ghost survivors. 

The very existence of the Ghosts was like a spectre. With their fanatical faith in Siegfried and blind faith in Republican ideology, the Ghosts denied reality and tried to bring about their ideals to life. Their very existence was harmful. 

However, some of them didn’t want to live like that any longer. There were some who wanted to rest now. There were some who didn’t want to fight any longer. There were some who had to force themselves to continue acting like that because they were with their comrades. 

The Ghost who surrendered to Elizabeth was such a person. 

In Elizabeth’s point of view, thanks to that, she was able to obtain useful information and deal with the situation. And even though that Ghost was sent to prison, he was able to keep his life just like he had wanted. 

***

Just as it seemed like everything was going smoothly...

“You want me to return?”

Elizabeth frowned at Jerome. Jerome seemed rather dumbfounded when he heard her response. 

“Are you really saying that you’re going to keep running away from home even after all this?”

“Well, I didn’t cause this incident…”

“Things got more complicated as a result of your involvement. I’m sure you’re well aware of this, Your Highness?”

“Well, no, that’s… If you only look at the results, then you won’t be able to think creatively. Aren’t you thinking too rigidly? If you look at the problem in a different way… 

“Miss.”

Jerome interrupted Elizabeth and called her by her childhood title. He gave a nice and friendly smile.

“Please, just go back. His Highness the Grand Duke is about to lose all his hair from worrying.”

“Haa…”

Elizabeth let out a long sigh. Jerome was one of the few people that her sophistry - and she herself knew very well that’s what she was doing - wouldn’t work on. 

‘But if I return like this, then my original goal of finding a marriage partner… Ah! That’s right. There’s that method.’

Elizabeth came up with a good idea. 

“Okay, let’s go back.”

Elizabeth agreed to go back with a bright smile. At that, Jerome’s face suddenly hardened as he asked her.

“What are you planning?”

“Hugh? What do you mean? I’m just thinking about going home quietly and docile like you said, Uncle Jerome.”[1]

“Miss, you’ve always done something ridiculous when you had that look on your face.”

“Oh, really?”

“Things will get complicated if you plan on doing something.”

“I’m not planning on doing anything. I’m a good girl who listens to her parents very well. Ah.. is there anyone else in the world who’s more filial than I am?”

“......”

Jerome was convinced. Elizabeth was planning on doing something ridiculous.

‘Well, I’m just glad she decided to return quietly to the Capital.’

But just in case, Jerome decided he should escort her, no, he should guard her until they got to the Capital.

***

That evening. 

Elizabeth met with Yushin and had a secret conversation with him.

“...You want me to do something like that?”

“Please, I have no one else to ask except you.”

Just what kind of request did she ask from him?

Yushin sighed deeply as he responded.

“You have a knack for getting people in trouble.”

“I’ve heard that a lot since I was a kid.”

“......”

Elizabeth wasn’t in the least perturbed to be told that to her face. 

She asked him again.

“Please, do me this favor. As long as things go as I planned, there’ll be no problems.”

“The more I think about it, the more I think there's going to be a problem…”

Yushin sighed deeply. 

If this was him in the past, he would have refused such a ridiculous request as the one Elizabeth was asking for right now without hesitation. However, he couldn’t do that when he looked at Elizabeth’s earnest expression or at her coquettish behavior. 

It was difficult to think that she grew up as a precious and treasured gem of the Imperial Family when he saw how energetic and aggressive she could be. With Elizabeth and her vital personality next to him, Yushin was able to forget about his situation for a moment as the corners of his mouth curled up.

Perhaps that was why.

“Alright, I’ll work with you.”

Yushin agreed to Elizabeth’s request in an easy-going manner.

“Kya! Thank you, Yushin! I owe you a favor.”[2]

Elizabeth hugged Yushin tightly as she jumped up and down in joy.

“Ah… ah… This.. this is…”

Yushin’s face turned red at the sudden touch. How could a grown woman embrace a man first? This was unimaginable on the Southern Continent. But, even though he felt embarrassed, he didn’t hate the feeling. 

***

Once they arrived at the capital, the palace could be seen in the distance from the carriage’s window. 

“Mm… we arrived. We finally arrived.”

Elizabeth looked at the palace as if she was a warrior looking at the Imperial Palace.

“You didn’t run away, Your Highness. That’s praiseworthy of you.”

At Jerome’s words, Elizabeth puffed out her cheeks as she responded to him.

“Just how do you see that you’ll say something like that?”

“Hahaha… You’re right. I was rude.”

“......”

Truthfully, if she had seen an opening, she would have run away.

However, it would’ve been impossible to run away under Jerome Taker’s watchful eye, so she had given up.

“Please, go on in. It’s always nice to see your family after being away for a long time.”

“Well… maybe.”

Come to think of it, it was her first time staying away from her family for a long time. Elizabeth entered the palace with anticipation. 

1. Raw used the word 아저씨 which is Mister, but since they’re pretty close, I went with Uncle to denote a closer relationship

2. Raw said I’ll pay you back, but since she’s asking him for a favor, I felt like, ‘I owe you one,’ was the better fit, contextually.