Chapter 174
A forest blooming like an oasis within the Southern Desert. Yuwon walked alone through the Naless Forest in silence.
Chirrr—
The intermittent cries of insects and the calls of small forest birds. Aside from that, the forest was so quiet and peaceful it bordered on utter stillness. The sound of Yuwon’s footsteps rang out with unusual clarity, breaking the silence.
Step—step—
Each heavy step fell at a steady rhythm, his gaze sunk deep and沉. For so reason, Yuwon’s expression was far from ordinary. At that mont, he was lost in profound contemplation.
‘Standing on the battlefield is only a matter of ti now. Before long, I will stand against the Empire.’
Separated from his companions by coordinate interference, Yuwon had been left alone. Having spent so long going wherever he went with others, this rare solitude stirred thoughts he had never truly examined before, throwing his heart into turmoil.
‘How much blood will I have to spill while fighting the enemy from now on? And because of this war, how many people will be forced to shed tears of blood… Am I truly prepared to make that much blood flow for the sake of my own desire?’
The decisive battle against the Empire. What lay ahead was a path of brutal thorns, impossible to imagine clearly.
As the mont of decisive battle—once distant—ca close enough to grasp, Yuwon felt it carved into his bones just how arduous the road he sought truly was. He agonized, and agonized again.
‘There is no way to protect everyone. In war, only victory and defeat remain. Once war begins… soone will die. Those who trust and seek to protect the Empire will also be wounded and die along the way….’
That thought made fear seize Yuwon’s heart. Fear—of all things! He was soone who had lived forgetting fear even in the face of death, yet the mont he imagined precious people being hurt or killed, the long-forgotten emotion of fear suddenly reared its head.
‘Can I… stake their lives on this?’
Those who trusted Yuwon and guarded his side, and those he would have to protect from here on.
Terrien, the knight who had once broken his own sword and wandered.
Hastings, who followed after Marcellus and beca Yuwon’s most reliable shadow.
Bernid, a half-brother bound by blood they could no longer sever, though their beginning had been an ill-fated one.
The Valaris father and daughter, who maintained unwavering loyalty toward the Empire even in tis of chaos.
Marquis Carson, who abandoned everything he had built in his life to choose loyalty to the Empire until the end, and even the allies of the Great Jungle who readily agreed to stand with Yuwon.
As he thought of them, an unconscious, faint smile blood on Yuwon’s hardened face. Yet that smile faded just as quickly as it had appeared. The heavy weight of responsibility pressed down upon his shoulders.
‘…It isn’t just them. From those whose nas I barely rember to those I have never even seen, countless people are following in trust. Just because I am Yurion Aphahiel.’
In the northern lands of Valaris, nearly twenty thousand soldiers were bracing themselves for death as they stood against the Empire’s hundred-thousand-strong army. Among those twenty thousand, how many did Yuwon personally know?
‘What on earth are they believing in, to trust like this… How ridiculous. I used to think banding together was a cumberso thing only the weak did….’
A life utterly opposite to his past one, where he had been discarded after arousing jealousy and fear. Once accustod to solitude, Yuwon was no longer alone.
‘If I lose this war, everyone who believes in will et a miserable end.’
The humiliation awaiting those who followed Yuwon if he lost the war was as clear as day. This was a fear he could feel only because he was no longer alone. It was an unfamiliar emotion.
‘Is this truly the right thing to do? That I—soone who seized Yurion’s body—would command a war where tens of thousands of lives hang in the balance, in Yurion’s na… If I were rely occupying his body and living in comfort, that would be one thing. But do I truly have the right to bear sothing of this magnitude?’
The mont he questioned his own worth, Yuwon’s steady stride ca to an abrupt halt. Standing still, he spread both hands and stared at them.
Hands that, across his previous life as Tang Yuwon and his current life as Yurion, had taken so many lives he had long since given up counting—today, they felt strangely unfamiliar. As though they belonged to soone else.
As he stared blankly at his outstretched hands, a thought flashed through Yuwon’s mind—one Tang Yuwon would never have entertained.
‘If I alone were sacrificed and everyone else survived…? What if I was truly born with so absurd fate, like the reincarnation of the Heavenly Slaughter Star or an Evil God, and because of even those ant to live end up dying?’
The thought crossed his mind that perhaps this tragic end was the fate of the Aphahiel Empire, and that Yuwon himself might be the spark igniting unnecessary conflict by defying that fate.
Having taken on another’s na and body as Yurion Aphahiel and charged forward without looking back to reach this point, the blood-soaked destiny awaiting him ahead was enough to make even Yuwon hesitate.
‘If it’s not too late… perhaps it would be better for to quietly exit at this point.’
At the final mont of his previous life, he had sworn that if he were granted a new one, he would seize rather than be robbed—even if it ant crushing the enemy’s hand. Yet even that resolve proved difficult. The mories of the life he had lived as Yurion seized Yuwon’s ankles on the eve of the decisive battle.
‘I kept denying whatever the world called , yet in the end I beca exactly what they said. Was my fate destined from the very beginning to call forth blood…?’
Complex thoughts continued to intertwine endlessly in Yuwon’s mind. While he was lost in that deep contemplation, a small, naless snake of the forest slithered toward him like it was swimming and ca to a stop by his side.
Sssl—
“…Hm? What is it? Do you have sothing to tell ?”
At Yuwon’s question, the snake blinked and nodded its head. A tiny, palm-sized snake—small and cute. But what it wished to convey to Yuwon was anything but cute.
“Is that so? A ssage all of a sudden. How intriguing. Go on, tell .”
Snapping back to his senses, Yuwon reached out and lifted the snake.
Hiss—hiss!
Perched on Yuwon’s hand, the snake flicked its split tongue to convey its aning. Words that no ordinary human should have been able to understand were delivered to Yuwon with perfect clarity, not a syllable missing.
“Hmm… At a ti like this, in a place like this, there’s another person…?”
Leaving it alone felt strangely unsettling, a prickling sensation at the back of his head. Thanks to that, Yuwon was able to set aside his deep 고민 for the mont.
“Let’s go. Guide .”
Though they had once pointed blades at one another, the two had never actually t. Thus, the eting between Yuwon and Gion ca to pass.
By chance, in a land no one expected. Like fate.
“I’d like to ask for directions.”
After hearing the snake’s ssage, Yuwon imdiately moved locations. His first words to the concealed Gion were an utterly ordinary request for directions.
In truth, he had already obtained all the information he needed from the woodcutter, so asking for directions was rely a pretext to continue a conversation with this suspicious man.
At Yuwon’s greeting, Gion turned his head and replied.
“I’m unfamiliar with this road myself, so I’m hardly in a position to guide anyone. Is that alright?”
Already aware that there were other uninvited intruders in the forest besides Colbus, himself, and the woodcutter, Gion reacted to Yuwon’s appearance as though it were no surprise at all.
“You’re an interesting fellow. Speaking casually from the very first eting.”
“There’s no need to show respect to soone who’d collapse in shock if they knew who I really was. Just being able to speak comfortably with like this should be an honor you rember for the rest of your life.”
It was an answer so shaless and arrogant it bordered on madness. Yet to Yuwon—Aphahiel’s legitimate successor and Emperor—it sounded rely laughable.
“Well, do as you please. Judging by your voice, we seem to be about the sa age, so I’ll speak comfortably too. Since you started talking casually first, that much should be fine, right?”
Yuwon’s reply shifted from half-formal speech into blunt casualness. Gion might have been Gion, but Yuwon himself was not kind enough to indulge a brat who spoke so freely upon first eting.
“Haha. You’re a bold one. The woodcutter I t earlier knew his place and went on his way. Looks like you’ve got sothing you’re relying on.”
At Gion’s reply, a faint smirk crept onto Yuwon’s lips beneath his robe.
“At a ti like this, in a place like this, I can at least protect myself. So there’s nothing to be afraid of. Wouldn’t you say the sa?”
“Indeed. You’re not wrong. Very well. I have no intention of seeing blood today, so I’ll overlook that bit of discourtesy. I was bored anyway, so I’ll indulge you.”
Yuwon answered with a note of mockery.
“Indulge , you say… I’m so honored I hardly know where to put myself.”
“I wonder if you’ll still be able to say that once you learn who I am.”
“An empty cart makes the most noise. I’m not particularly curious.”
Yuwon’s response was sharp.
“Ha! Hahaha! You’re not just a puppy ignorant of fear—you truly are confident. I thought you were rely bold, but it seems you really do have sothing to rely on. Just who are you, exactly? What kind of person are you, to be here like this?”
“There must be a reason we’re both hiding our faces, so let’s not ask such things. Unless…”
“Unless?”
“You reveal your identity first.”
What was so amusing, no one could say. The smile never left Gion’s face.
“Heh. If I reveal my identity now, this little amusent would be ruined. Instead, how about this? We each ask one question of the other. What do you say?”
eting in a suspicious place without knowing each other’s identities, Yuwon himself was curious about the man standing before him. It wasn’t a bad proposal.
“…Fine. We’ll do that. But let’s add another rule. We take turns asking questions.”
“That’s only natural.”
“And one more. Whoever asks a question must also answer that sa question themselves.”
“Hm… So if you ask about identity, you’ll have to reveal yours as well? That’s rather interesting. Very well, I accept.”
“No lies?”
“This isn’t a contest to decide victory. There’s no reason to go that far for re amusent.”
At Gion’s reply, Yuwon nodded as though satisfied. The two quickly reached an agreent.
“Good. Then may I begin?”
“As you please. Since I’ll have to answer my own question anyway, there’s no need to rush.”
Tricked by Yuwon’s ploy, Gion readily yielded the first move. Beneath the deeply pulled-down robe, a faint smile spread across Yuwon’s lips.
‘Got you.’
Yuwon’s first question followed imdiately.
“Then this is my question. Who are you?”
From the start, Yuwon had no intention of hiding. He had rely set a snare so his opponent could not escape.
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