Chapter 9: Princess Isis Is NOT the Heroine (2)

“Uuuuuu.”

Does this cutely whining child know who he is exactly…?

This child was none other than the precious grandson of the king of the Pendragon Kingdom, who was born between the crown princess and the last prince of the Britain Kingdom. For context, the Britain Kingdom was the country that fought the war with the Pendragon Kingdom three years ago. Now, it had become a mere principality that could barely survive with its own feet.

The reason for this was because after they won the war, Pendragon took over most of Britain’s territory.

This child will probably become the king who’s able to embrace both the Pendragon and the Britain citizens…

Not only was he a child who inherited Pendragon’s bloodline, but also Britain’s royal bloodline.

Judging from his silver hair and eyes—the symbols of the Pendragons—the kid had strong Pendragon blood running in his veins. However, since he also had the Britain’s bloodline running in that same vein, he should possess mystical abilities that matched his status.

After all, every royal bloodline had some kind of unique properties like that.

“You could tell, right? This child is a symbol. A symbol that will connect Britain and Pendragon—which are still like oil and water—for he has the legitimacy to do so.”

“…Well, I don’t know much about politics.”

“Hmph! Stop feigning ignorance! This lady knows that your vision is wider than most scums who walk in this land. Don’t pretend as if you don’t know!”

“Ugh…”

As Crown Princess Isis had said, Lee Han knew how the kingdom worked to some extent. He also knew that Britain, which Pendragon had just eaten, was still harboring rebellious thoughts. And, he knew that the prince of Britain, the last legitimate heir of Britain, was suffering from a chronic illness, and it wouldn’t be strange if he were to die at any moment.

In other words, if this little prince was able to grow up well and became the crown prince, Pendragon and Britain would finally be united into one. If that were to happen, the kingdom would possess great power, no less than that of an empire. But…

…It’s still a long way off…

“Arthur Drake de Pendragon, Arthur Pendragon! This lady’s dear son will definitely grow to be a great king! Hehehe!”

“…Ahaha.”

Somehow, that name sounds extremely ominous… In a lot of ways…

No, no, no, what am I saying? He will definitely become a great king later…

Lee Han tried his best to bless the child’s name.

After that, they continued their small talk for a while. By that point, Lee Han’s tense body had significantly relaxed. He had been sitting down for a while since he presumed that the conversation would go on for longer than he thought.

“So, Big Sister…? What’s the real reason you came here today?”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, c’mon, don’t play dumb. I know you, Big Sister. You have the talent to see into other people’s hearts.”

“No? This lady doesn’t have that kind of talent. Instead, this lady just has the confidence to discern truth from lies by listening to the other person’s mood and tone. And this lady used that to understand their thoughts and intentions.”

“…And that’s different from seeing into other people’s hearts?”

In truth, Lee Han respected the person in front of him deeply. Back when he saved her from the assassins, she left an impression as if she was an outstanding figure—no, a heroine of a fairytale.

[You saved this lady? Commendable.]

Even though that tent was covered in blood, her calm demeanor was enough to overwhelm the crowd.

Thanks to that, Lee Han knew that she was a heroine of this era. Another thing that he knew about her was that she wasn’t someone who’d carelessly seek out others. While yes, he had saved her once, and she allowed him to treat him like a step-sister, that still wasn’t enough to make her break her truer nature; she never met up with someone without any kind of political gains.

Which meant, she came here to ask him for something, and that something was…

“Haa… Seriously… You’re treating me like a hunting dog again!”

“Hahaha, I’m sorry.”

To the words that Lee Han seemed to randomly spout, Isis apologized for the first time. And then…

Stab–!

“H-How…?”

The chest of one of the maid who was serving Isis was pierced. What caused it was the hand axe that Lee Han had been carrying around; he had thrown it toward the center of the maid’s chest without any hesitation. After that, like a nimble hunting dog, he moved and grabbed the maid’s neck. The veins in her eyes were bulging, she couldn’t even breathe properly now.

Lee Han then opened his mouth.

“Big Sister, if you have any questions, you should ask them all now.”

“Thank you. Tsk, you are aware that this lady is always impressed by the way you took care of this lady’s hair, right?”

Isis looked at the maid with a contemptuous expression. This maid had been serving Isis in the Royal Palace—where it was harder to survive in than even the harsh jungle—for over two years. Yet, there wasn’t even a trace of regrettable expression in her eyes, only an icy, piercing gaze.

“So, are you a remnant of Britain? Or an assassin from the North?”

“I-I—!”

“Trying to hide the truth until the end? Your loyalty is commendable.”

She then threw a glance at Lee Han. Without a shred of hesitation, he—

Thud-!

“Keuuuuuukk!”

–pulled out the maid’s tooth, which hid poisonous substances inside.

“Jeez, did they process it with magic? It looks just like a real tooth.”

“They probably did it to avoid suspicion. Whether it’s a spy or an assassin, they both have the same depth in meticulousness.”

The maid seemed to be aware that her identity had been completely exposed, so she tried to move her hand. Even though her chest was pierced by an axe and her neck was about to be broken, she was still able to do this, that means she was no ordinary human. She was someone who had learned Combat Techniques, someone who possessed a secret ability. But…

What a dumbass.

Instead of doing something stupid like this, she should just kill herself. Or else, she’d just end up giving more information to her enemy.

Crack-!

“Keuuuuuk!”

Without any hesitation, Lee Han used the best way to block her movement; cutting her limbs.

…Well, he actually shouldn’t be doing that since there was a literal baby in this place, but seeing the current situation, it wasn’t like he could help it.

“Being physical isn’t the Pendragon way. Nor is it the Britain’s way…”

“Are you sure?”

“I’ve fought the Britains to the point that I got tired of them back during the war. I’ve seen enough of their knights too. Just like us, the base of their fighting style is all the same. But this girl is different…”

“Wow, you know about such things too? Who was it that said he had no talent again? Yet he has such a good pair of eyes like this.”

“This isn’t talent, but intuition. You know it already, no, Big Sister? My senses are a little special.”

“Hoho, of course. They’re better than ten hunting dogs.”

“…You really are treating me like a hunting dog, huh?”

Isis let out a giggle, as if she was watching a comedic routine, meanwhile Lee Han acted calmly even though the situation could be considered as tense. This rather out of common sense reaction from them made the maid who had her neck grabbed flailed in fear.

Eventually…

Crack-!

“Oh, c’mon! Why did you have to struggle so much?!”

“Is she dead?”

“Yes.”

“That’s too bad. This lady wanted to get more information from her.”

In contrast to her words, Isis just waved her hand, as if gesturing to him to throw the corpse away since it was no longer valuable to her. The moment she made that gesture, black-clad figures who had been waiting outside the carriage appeared.

They moved the maid’s body away in an orderly manner, as if they were familiar with this kind of work. That left Lee Han, Isis, the baby, and the maid who was tilting her head with a somewhat stupid expression inside the carriage.

And as if declaring to the other people inside that she really was a stupid woman…

“Excuse me, Princess.”

“You should call this lady Crown Princess, or Your Highness.”

“Hehe, yes, Your Highness! Um, I don’t understand what just happened. Was she a traitor?”

Yes. She really was a dumb kid.

“You fool… Well, both of you were under this lady’s suspicion…”

“Aha!”

“…And the reason why this lady suspected you was because you were so stupid and naive. How could someone’s brain be so…pure…?”

“Hehehe, my parents often complimented me for having a clean head.”

“That definitely wasn’t a compliment…”

“??”

“Haa…”

As Isis let out a sigh, Lee Han finally understood why she, someone who was so observant, found it difficult to find the traitor and decided to come to him.

Even someone with too pure of a brain could be suspicious, huh…?

Well, that’s new, I guess…

Isis was one of the few people who knew Lee Han’s secret.

She knew about his sense of smell that was able to detect scents that ordinary people could never smell, that was able to detect even the faintest of scents.

Of course, he’d suppress this ability in his daily life, but when he didn’t, he could gain a large amount of information through smell alone.

Maybe it was because he once worked for an assassin organization.

He could easily detect someone’s level of suspiciousness by smelling the scent of poison, blood, iron and the unpleasant scent of their sweat. The maid just now had washed herself clean and applied strong perfume on her body, but she still wasn’t able to hide the smell of the poisonous plants from him.

“Suddenly, the members of the royal family started to show signs of being poisoned. Arthur in particular, showed big signs of that.”

“…Crazy. They even poisoned a child?”

“Fortunately, those with the Pendragon’s bloodline have a strong immunity to poison.”

“…”

‘But, that still won’t ease the pain…’ Lee Han swallowed those words with difficulty while gritting his teeth.

Even though there should be a lot of suspicious circumstances, the Royal Family was able to narrow the suspicion list into two people and brought them here. Isis even decided to call Lee Han to catch the woman who’d definitely reek of poison.

What an amazing woman…

If it were any other mother, they would let their emotions get the better of them and lose their reason. But Princess Isis managed to maintain her composure. She was so amazing that it brought chills to Lee Han’s spine.

“There are many who find Arthur troublesome. After all, if our kingdom were to completely unite with Britain, we’d be unimaginably stronger than we are now. That’s why there are a lot of people from other kingdoms, who’d wish to get Arthur off the picture.”

“…Disgusting.”

“That’s just how politics are.”

Isis calmly and mercilessly stated that fact while stroking Arthur’s head. At a glance, she seemed like a mother who possessed a lot of maternal love, but to Lee Han, her cruelty as a monarch was the thing that stood out the most from her.

Seeing that, Lee Han stuck out his tongue, wondering if he could do the same thing as her. But, he instinctively felt that he would never be able to imitate that woman’s boldness.

“…So, is it over?”

He politely asked, trying to prove if it was okay for him to leave now as he had fulfilled his duty as her hunting dog. Then, Isis responded to that question.

“No. This lady still has two errands to give you.”

“…T-Two?”

“Don’t worry, this lady will reward you. If you wish to, this lady will even let you kiss the back of her hand.”

“Hell no. I will never accept that as a reward. Stop trying to turn me into a pervert.”

“Hehe… This lady was letting you kiss the back of the hand of the most beautiful woman in the kingdom, yet you’re wasting that opportunity.”

“Please, just spare me from that.”

While Lee Han legitimately thought that Crown Princess Isis was a beautiful woman, he didn’t want to accept the poisonous thorn that was extended to him.

“There’s nothing this lady could do, then. This lady will reward you later.”

“No, really, I don’t need it.”

“Of course, you can refuse it if you don’t want it. Anyway, this lady will now tell you the ‘favor’ that she wants to ask you. So, make sure to remember it.”

“…What favor? You’ll still force me to do it anyway.”

Ignoring Lee Han’s grumbles, Isis went ahead and explained her request— or rather, order, to him.

…And the moment Lee Han heard it.

“…Big Sister, are you crazy?”

“Hehe, not at all. This lady is perfectly sane.”

“…”

The fact that she is sane is the problem here…

Anyway…

…Is she really asking me to kill her younger sibling? This woman really is…

The nature of the order that Lee Han received was none other than assassination..