TVHR - Chapter 33

"Where on earth have you been all this time? Why are you only just showing up!"

Bayan's fist slammed down on Batar's head.

"Do you have any idea how much your mother and I searched for you?! How could you run away, leaving only a letter like that behind!"

"Ow! It hurts! It really hurts! I'm sorry. I originally planned to stay for only a week and then come back!"

So it wasn't that he couldn't use honorifics.

It was clear that proper honorifics just didn't come out when speaking to Roselyn.

"But... Uncle, no... that bastard 'Jambaga' kidnapped me!"

"...What?"

Bayan's expression, which had been filled with relief, hardened.

Perhaps because the face of the young chieftain 'Bayan' had stiffened, the expressions of the other Kaluta tribesmen who came out with him also hardened.

"But who am I! Am I not the proud son of the Khan and my older brother? Anyway, I did run away in the middle of it, but..."

Batarr, who had been speaking vigorously while pounding his chest with a tightly clenched fist, became hesitant and fidgeted with his fingers as the conversation went on.

Batar swallowed hard, realizing that Bayan's patience was slowly wearing thin.

"I couldn't come... because I was captured by bastards like the empire's slave traders."

The atmosphere became ugly.

It was enough to make her suffocate for a moment.

Roselyn realized for the first time that murderous intent could actually be felt.

"At first, I gratefully accepted the food they shared, but I never imagined those guys would be bad guys...! I never even dreamed!"

Batar raised his voice as if he felt wronged.

Realizing the ominous atmosphere, the boy hurriedly waved his hands and continued speaking.

"Anyway... I almost ended up in some auction or whatever... but Roselyn saved me."

"...Save you?”

"Yes. She paid a large sum of money to buy me, rescued me from that filthy place, and brought me here. She is a truly remarkable woman!"

"...Wow."

Watching the situation unfold from the side, the Second Prince, Yuldian, rubbed his arm and looked at Roselyn with a disgusted expression.

"Look at that, I'm telling you, it's all planned. She's just playing hard to get. Everything."

The softly murmuring voice became loud, as if to make sure everyone heard it. Roselyn shrugged her shoulders.

"...That's right."

Bayan murmured in a low, subdued voice.

"Arrest Jambaga and his entire family. Summon every tribe that colluded with or harbored Jambaga."

"Yes, Chief."

"And find Jambaga."

"Ah. Speaking of that, that is the second gift."

Roselyn raised one hand, leaned her face aside beside Arma, who had suddenly blocked her path as if guarding it, and spoke.

“...Second gift?”

Bayan looked at Roselyn with surprised eyes.

"Yes."

As Roselyn gave a light gesture, another Imperial Knight pulled a pitch-black sphere out of the carriage.

The black sphere was floating in the air, suspended from a thick chain.

"This one."

“...What is that?”

Roselyn took something out of her pocket and tossed it toward the sphere.

Pop-!

At the same time, a black sphere burst like a soap bubble, and two people fell out of it.

"H-Hwaaaak!! Aaaak! Aaaak!!"

A man started screaming and struggling.

With his focus half-off, he wildly swung his limbs in all directions, displaying considerable monstrous strength.

It seems that even in their decay, the Kaluta tribe was still the Kaluta tribe.

The escort of the person who said he would buy Batar from Roselyn sat blankly, staring only at the sky.

One eye's pupil was cloudy and pale, as if it had died.

"This looks like the Abyss."

Bayan murmured softly.

Roselyn opened her mouth as she watched the Kaluta tribe easily subdue a middle-aged man who was running wild in all directions, showing off his monstrous strength.

"While I was trying to get a Batar, they said they would buy it."

At Roselyn's words, Bayan's lifeless, dry eyes met her.

"So, with the help of someone else at the auction house, I managed to catch him. If I had been even a step late, he probably would have..."

Quang!

Bayan stomped his foot before Roselyn could even finish speaking.

The floor sank in.

Even though she saw the fierce gaze, Roselyn did not stop talking.

"Batar must already be dead."

No sooner had the words been spoken than Bayan's figure vanished from in front of her.

"Uncle, why did you do that?"

Jambaga still looked like he had lost his mind.

He, who had been captured by the Kaluta tribe while making strange noises, was grabbed by the neck by Bayan and lifted into the air.

"Chief, he seems to be out of his mind. He can't even have a conversation when I talk to him..."

“I see."

Bayan laughed fiercely.

The boy, grinning with his lips stretched wide under a menacing gaze, looked more like a ferocious beast than a human.

"Then all we have to do is bring them back to their senses."

He held the man's neck with his left hand while gripping his left forearm with his right.

Crackle.

And then, twisting the arm he was gripping mercilessly.

"Aaaargh!!"

The boy who had twisted the opponent's neck eventually grabbed and tore off the opponent's arm.

It was a monstrous strength that could hardly be described as human.

A fountain of bright red blood shot up into the sky.

"...I will report to Khan, so take simple measures and throw all of these into the basement."

The boy threw the piece of meat he was holding onto the floor and gave an order.

The Second Prince Yuldian turned deathly pale and could not even bring himself to step back, only sweating profusely.

In the meantime, Roselyn stared blankly at the man who had fainted and was convulsing, unable to even scream.

This was because in a future where the man who killed Batar was left alone, the Empire and Kaluta would go to war.

A war breaks out because the man, acting like a sycophant, shifted the entire blame for killing Batar onto the Empire.

"I have made a fool of myself on our first meeting. I will pay my respects later. For now, please rest and recover from your journey."

Bayan, covered in his uncle's blood, said that to Arma and then bowed his head deeply while looking at Roselyn.

"Thank you for saving my younger sibling. However, given the circumstances, may I properly thank you later?"

“Yes, I understand.”

"I will send a replacement right away. Please wait just a moment."

Bayan laughed heartily at Roselyn's words and said.

The sight of him, stained red with blood, looked a bit like a horror movie.

He led the people first and disappeared.

Roselyn looked at Arma, who had been guarding her path since she felt the murderous intent.

He was looking at her with a strangely subtle expression.

"Damn it, hurry up and give me the guide!"

It was a time when Yuldian was getting annoyed at the maids with a pale face.

"Kyaaa! What are these handsome men! Let's get married!"

Someone ran so fast that they were invisible, snatched Yuldian by the waist, held him in their arms, and lunged at Arma.

Arma, with quick reflexes, embraced Roselyn and immediately stepped back.

"Oh my, the handsome older brother is running away! How about you, pretty older sister? Becoming my concubine!"

A half-naked, lightly dressed woman jingled gold jewelry and shouted as she chased after Arma, who was fleeing with Roselyn in his arms.

Roselyn covered her ears and squeezed her eyes shut in confusion.

'Excessive talk of personal matters, a background check, and now a proposal for a concubine?'

It was a total mess.

***

"I am Naryan Khan's only daughter, the youngest, and the twin of the stupid Batar whom my pretty older sister saved."

The girl, having failed to catch Arma, who was narrowly escaping, eventually guided them while smacking her lips with a look of disappointment.

"Hey. Aren't you going to put this down right now?!"

Of course, Yuldian was still being held in one arm like a princess.

"Oh my. His prickly and fierce personality is exactly my type. And he's even handsome..."

Wavy silver hair flowing down to the waist, vivid green eyes sparkling with vitality, and long, tanned skin.

The young girl showed no signs of fatigue even as she held a man three heads taller than herself in one arm.

Her protruding lips were strangely mischievous.

"You even said he was a Prince?"

She blushed.

"I like someone who is promising, has strong convictions, and is fierce with masculinity."

Arma paused at Naryan's words.

It was because it was a phrase he had heard many times before.

"I prefer someone who is more promising, has a strong sense of self, and is a bit fierce and masculine."

Seeing Naryan smacking her lips in disappointment, Arma glanced at Roselyn. 

'No way...'

Arma felt his mind go completely blank for the first time in a long while and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Why can you do it, but I can't, Young Lady?"

"Because you are the opposite of my ideal type."

It was because he remembered the brief conversation he had with Roselyn.

'Then that ideal type...'

Arma squeezed his eyes shut.

“I will do it!”

"... Yes?"

"I will become a fierce person with strong convictions and masculinity!"

“Oh, that’s right.”

"Yes."

Even she, who had looked at him then with a belated expression of not understanding, nodded her head as if she finally grasped the meaning.

"..."

Arma involuntarily closed his mouth at the unexpected truth.

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