Reader’S Regeneration Life [EN]: Chapter 232

232―――――

Retribution

A party isn’t just about laughing, enjoying oneself, and drinking until everyone is drunk.

For nobles, alcohol is merely a tool to enhance the atmosphere.

The real purpose of such gatherings is, after all, an extension of politics and power structures.

The King was the first to leave, followed by the marquises, and then the nobles, one by one, departing from the banquet hall where they had enjoyed themselves and gathered information.

Eventually, those remaining were Sion and his group, Jyan, Princess Vanessa, and a few other nobles.

“Then, I shall take my leave.”

Sion, still not very accustomed to such parties or grand banquet halls, intended to quietly slip away before it got too late.

Princess Vanessa, who remained in place of the King to see off the nobles, couldn’t hide a slightly disappointed expression as she subtly conveyed her message.

“Let us meet again tomorrow with guests.”

In the end, she was telling him to bring guests and come to the royal palace again.

Sion wondered if Princess Vanessa’s decision to have Jyan stay at Count Klausen’s mansion instead of the royal palace was to create this very opportunity.

The stated reason was that Sion and Jyan had already met personally in the north, and Sion, having met the northern tribes, could understand Jyan and the two warriors better and treat them more favorably.

“May I ask one thing?”

Just as Sion was about to leave the banquet hall, Princess Vanessa stopped him with a question.

Sion turned around, expecting a question about whether he intended to marry Jyan or whether he intended to make the alliance happen, but the question Princess Vanessa asked was not that.

“That song.

Did you foresee the situation and prepare it in advance?”

“···Ah, that song?”

He hadn’t foreseen the situation in advance.

He had prepared the song, but in truth, it was a song prepared for lighthearted women like Rishikda or Ria.

“It was just a song I was going to sing if the atmosphere in the banquet hall became a bit…stilted.”

“···Is that so?

Anyway, at times you become a hero whom the kingdom’s enemies fear, and at other times you become a minstrel with a dream of melting the coldly hardened world.”

Princess Vanessa made a joke and bid farewell to Sion and his group.

‘It wasn’t prepared for those noble bastards to hear, damn it.’

Still, Rishikda had been humming ‘Sharararara’ since earlier.

As if she was overjoyed to have heard Sion’s song again.

“···I don’t remember her being like this when I saw her in the north.”

Jyan, who had seen Rishikda before, seemed to remember her as serious, if not as much as herself, quite rigid, like most tribal warriors.

But the knight he was currently seeing was just a girl, smiling brightly and humming the song Sion had sung.

“It’s easier to understand if you think of it as two sides coexisting, Jyan.

She may be giggling like that, but if an enemy appears in front of me, she’ll immediately glare with fierce eyes and reveal her killing intent.”

Jyan listened to Sion’s answer and stared intently at Rishikda.

‘Looking at her like this, she just seems like an ordinary kingdom knight, but looking back, she has become even more formidable than before.’

That knight, Rishikda, was said to be Sion’s bodyguard.

Jyan, who had seen her in the north, had once assessed Rishikda as a decent warrior but still with much to learn.

If forced, there were gaps to exploit, and although her mana was refined, it felt somewhat impure, as if mixed with impurities.

But Rishikda, whom she met again after a few months, was beyond different.

It was almost as if she had become a different person, to put it a bit exaggeratedly.

‘Something else has been added to that woman’s original systematic movements, sword skills, and mana.

Something a bit rough, quite aggressive, and fatally sharp.

It’s like….’

It was like seeing a man she had briefly crossed swords with in the north.

Of course, Rishikda still had many shortcomings compared to him, but if she had grown so much in such a short period, one could guess how much effort she had put in during that time, and how outstanding the talent that woman, Rishikda, possessed was.

“More than that, are you really okay with it?

Staying at our family’s mansion, I mean.”

“A simple place is perfect for me, rather than such a ridiculously large and extravagant one.”

“Where did the pride of being the leader of the warriors from the north go?”

“I’ve already received enough hospitality, and warriors always consider the best place to sleep to be on horseback.

The more luxurious and comfortable the place you sleep in, the more you rot yourself.

And the royal palace is not a place for someone like me.”

“Then where is a place suitable for you?”

“···.”

Instead of answering Sion’s question, Jyan stared at him.

Sion, feeling as if she was asking if he didn’t know that already, muttered ‘Damn it’ inwardly and scratched the back of his head before getting into the carriage.

‘Damn it, I don’t know about you, but I’m not okay.

If I think about adding another woman to the mansion where Lilit-nim, Lucia, Trisha, and Ria are all already there?’

This was another shortcut to accumulating his own retribution [karma].

He wanted to ask her to please just spend one night at the royal palace, but it was already too late to back out, as both he and Jyan were already in the carriage heading to the mansion.

Sion sighed and opened his mouth, muttering, ‘I don’t know anymore, damn it.’

“Jyan.”

“I’m listening.”

“There’s a saying in the world.

When you go to Rome… no, when you go to a new place that isn’t your home, follow the laws of that place.”

“···?”

“You’re a guest, and I’m the owner of the mansion who has accepted that guest, so I’m telling you the rules you must follow from now on, that’s what I’m saying.”

“Surely you’re not trying to burden me with something strange.

What are those rules?”

“It’s simple.

Don’t show too close of a relationship with me, and don’t show off your strength.”

Jyan immediately frowned at Sion’s words.

Both were quite difficult and arduous rules for her.

“Those are difficult rules.

You’re telling me not to show a close relationship with my fiancé, and not to show the strength that a warrior should naturally show, so what am I supposed to do?”

“I told you.

Follow the laws of the place when you go there.

If you’re not happy, leave my house right now.”

“···I will try my best.”

Jyan, who was the leader of the tribes, accepted it quite quickly.

Sion nodded, muttering ‘Good!’ at Jyan’s reaction, and decided to ask something he had been wondering about.

“Jyan.

I have something to ask.

You couldn’t even look me in the face before, but now you look at me just fine?”

“Are you talking about that?

Of course, it’s the result of my efforts.

Would you like to hear about the efforts I made, so that I wouldn’t be a pathetic woman showing a shameful side in front of you anymore?”

Sion showed interest, saying, ‘Yeah, let’s hear it.

What were those efforts?’

Jyan crossed her arms with a confident expression and opened her mouth.

“Every day, I practiced with a paper drawing of you.

Talking, answering, looking into your eyes, and even touching bodies, everything.”

“···What?”

Just as Sion was about to say something at the completely unexpected practice method.

Jyan rummaged through her bosom and proudly presented a portrait of Sion that she had drawn.

“How is it?

Isn’t it quite similar?”

“···Yeah.

It’s quite similar….”

There is such a thing as a mirror in this world.

Thanks to that, Sion was able to see the face of this body, which could have dreamed of conquering the world with its appearance alone, and immediately grabbed his face while cursing, ‘You bastard!’

That’s how flawless this body’s appearance was.

‘But what the hell is that….’

It didn’t resemble him at all, and it was hard to even see it as a human face in the first place.

Just a large circle with two small circles inside, a triangle presumed to be a nose, an oval presumed to be a mouth, and hair sticking out upwards.

Perhaps if he were to give it a title, it would be something like ‘Sion Klausen of the Twisted Underworld.’

“How is it, Sion?

Isn’t it quite good?”

Sion wondered if the definition of ‘goodness’ that he knew had changed in the meantime.

No matter who looked at it, even her loyal warriors, even if they looked at it twice, looked at it again and again, no matter how much they looked at it, they couldn’t say it was good.

But as the ancient sages said, a fist is near, and a knife is even nearer [better to avoid conflict with someone close by].

There was no point in saying something that would upset Jyan.

In addition to that, spitting on a smiling face is harder than you think, so he couldn’t say, ‘Damn it, you can’t draw for shit!

I could draw better with my toes!’ to someone who was so proud.

“Y-yeah.

You put in a lot of effort, a lot of effort.”

“Hehehe.

I knew you would answer like that.

In fact, the warriors said that no matter how they looked at it, it didn’t seem right, so I retorted, ‘Have you guys ever seen Sion’s face properly?’ and they immediately shut their mouths.”

“···.”

Hey, Jyan.

Khan of the North [title for a ruler or leader in some Central Asian cultures].

You should really consider yourself lucky.

Still, there were quite a few warriors left who spoke the truth, calling themselves loyal subjects.

It wouldn’t have been easy to do that under a tribal chief who would fold at the waist at the slightest provocation.

“Anyway, thanks to that effort, I can now face you comfortably like this.”

Sion didn’t know what was helpful, but he decided to move on.

He couldn’t even estimate where to start tackling it and where to start fixing it.

After the carriage had been running for a while, it was nearing Count Klausen’s mansion.

‘Hmm?’

Jyan’s eyes flashed coldly for a moment as she looked at the night view of the royal palace beyond the window.

Until just now, she hadn’t felt anything, but at some point, she suddenly sensed a suspicious gaze watching this way.

‘What is it?

Why is someone suddenly tailing us?’

If they were targeting this side, they should have attached themselves as soon as they left the royal palace.

It was foolish to watch this side and follow behind now that they were almost at their destination.

Jyan thought that the unidentified eyes watching this side would soon disappear.

But after a while, Jyan realized that her prediction was wrong.

Thud―.

‘Look at this?’

Sion didn’t notice.

Of course, even he wouldn’t have noticed unless he was focusing all his attention, and would have just dismissed it as the carriage shaking lightly.

But now he was already on high alert, and after realizing that something had landed on the roof of the carriage very quietly and with light movements just now.

‘Are they targeting me?

Or Sion?

If not, perhaps….’

Perhaps, it could be someone trying to break into Sion’s mansion.

So they may have climbed onto the carriage without making a sound, suppressing their presence as much as possible, and quietly waiting for the right moment.

Jyan wanted to break the roof right away and grab the person who had climbed on top and break their back, but she aimed for the opponent to be completely relieved [to let their guard down].

And finally, as the carriage slowly slowed down and entered Count Klausen’s mansion.

“Sion.”

As Sion turned his head at Jyan’s voice calling him in a very small voice.

“···?”

Jyan put her index finger to her lips as if telling him to be quiet, and then gestured to him as if telling him to lower his body.

As Sion reflexively lowered his body, Jyan responded with a smile as if saying he did well, and looked up at the ceiling of the carriage before slowly clenching her fist and pulling her arm back.

And before Sion could even say anything, she thrust her fist upwards as it was.

Kwaaaang!―

“What, what is it?”

“What!”

“Nyaaa!”

Thanks to that, Rishikda and the knights, who had just gotten off their horses and were about to tell Sion, who was in the carriage, that they had arrived, were struck by lightning out of the blue [unexpectedly].

But Jyan didn’t care about that at all, and got out of the carriage with a cold expression and approached a figure watching her from afar.

“What are you, you bastard.”

“Nyaang?”

“Why are you following us, watching this way with those suspicious eyes?”

The other party let out a sigh as if they were dumbfounded at Jyan’s question.

But to Jyan, that sigh felt full of energy that looked down on her.

“Good.

If you don’t want to talk, I can just ask your body [interrogate you physically].”

With those words, Jyan pulled out a dagger from the leather scabbard she was wearing on her thigh.

It was an extremely simple self-defense dagger that was short in length and didn’t seem very sturdy, but the person holding it was not an ordinary person, but Jyan Temujin, a woman who would be called ‘Khan.’

With just that simple-looking dagger, ordinary knights could have their tendons cut all over their bodies and flail around like puppets with their strings cut in a play.

Just as Jyan was about to attack the unidentified opponent with the dagger in her hand.

Sion, who had finally grasped the situation, rushed over and stopped Jyan.

“What are you doing?

Stop!

Hey, Jyan.

Stop!

Freeze!

That cat, I mean that woman, is not an enemy!”

What are you doing, you crazy woman!

Don’t shoot, it’s an ally!

Don’t fold at the waist [don’t give in]!

It’s my cat!

‘Damn it!

Come to think of it, those two are meeting for the first time now!

I forgot!

You idiot, you should forget what you should forget, how could you forget this!

The butler is really sorry!’

As Sion rushed in, screaming inwardly, Ria, the house cat of the Klausen mansion, who had been mistaken for an unidentified intruder by Jyan, lightly threatened Jyan with dissatisfaction, ‘Hiss!’

“Haaaak!”

To put it simply, you’re dead to our male now!

That’s about it.

Or you’re going to get in a lot of trouble, you suspicious woman!

Serves you right!

Haaak!

To that extent?

Of course, the reality will unfold in a completely different direction from what she expected.

―――――――Afterword―――――――

Thank you to those who are worried about me continuing to write while hospitalized ㅋ ㅠ

I want to rest too, but I’m a little scared that if I rest for a few days, I’ll fall off completely like this….

If you press the recommendation button, I think I’ll feel energized!