〈 Chapter 145 〉 Hostage Situation (2)

*

“What exactly did you teach Yusera?”

Elsie asked with a look of disdain as she adjusted my dislocated shoulder while applying the potion.

Honestly, I felt just as pathetic.

But at the same time, it was true that I had no choice.

“Armbar and guillotine choke.”

“What’s that?”

“…Wrestling techniques from my hometown.”

Upon hearing that, Yusera’s eyes sparkled.

“Then how incredible must the deeply-rooted wrestling techniques of Leim Kingdom be?”

Elsie shook her head, seemingly resigned.

“I’ll demonstrate them to Mr. Sung Yoo-rang myself later.”

There was a deadly glint in Elsie’s eyes as she said this.

It seemed this wouldn’t just slide by easily.

“Sorry, Elsie, but you know it was unavoidable.”

“Sure, but I always say, understanding and tolerating are two different things.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine. The misunderstanding has cleared up, and you did well enough.”

She finished applying the potion and slapped my shoulder.

While it was just a slap in words, to be honest, it really hurt.

I wondered if I wouldn’t have a bruise if not for the potion already applied.

“That stings… so have you finished the operation?”

“Of course. I scattered it all over the Leim Kingdom, so even if I mobilized the entire Knights, they wouldn’t be able to gather it all.”

“Great. Then we can check the reactions tomorrow morning.”

I could confidently say that tomorrow morning’s streets would have quite a different atmosphere than usual.

*

“What is this?”

The next morning, people on the street started picking up papers from the ground one by one.

The guards affiliated with the royal palace did their best to stop it, but there were already too many papers scattered around.

All of them had been spread out by Elsie throughout the streets last night.

“But is this for real?”

And written on those papers with black ink were some words.

It was something Yusera had been writing during her days alone in the room.

The content was simple.

– I have kidnapped the princess. (Masked Hero)

However, despite its simplicity, the implications of the content were shocking.

Therefore, the murmurs among the people did not cease.

“Did the Masked Hero really kidnap the princess?”

“That criminal guy…”

“He’s not even a hero to begin with. But did he really kidnap her?”

He did, in fact.

Because the princess was actually right next to me.

“Hehe…”

She was quite proud of her act.

I was proud too, seeing the operation succeed.

‘This method truly worked well.’

There was a reason I chose to spread papers around instead of making a fuss like the first appearance of the Masked Hero.

In a rigid place like Leim Kingdom, it was difficult for rumors to spread.

When the rumors about the Masked Hero first spread, the Leim Kingdom was caught off guard, making it feasible. But I figured it would be tough afterward.

‘And…’

In the midst of the murmurings, I started to hear voices.

“What’s the royal family saying?”

“I don’t know, has anyone heard anything?”

Information disseminated simultaneously to a large number of people is favorable for public discussion.

Even if it’s disadvantageous to the royal palace, if so many people voice out together, it will be impossible to quietly catch them as they had been doing.

‘If we’ve succeeded up to this point…’

Now, all that was left was to wait for the royal palace’s response.

The real princess is on our side.

Let’s see how they will react.

‘I have a rough estimate, though.’

*

A day passed.

As the debate about the princess’s whereabouts spread among the people, the kingdom declared the princess was safe in the royal castle and that the Masked Hero’s words were false.

However, the people didn’t believe that statement outright.

After all, it was true that the princess had not been seen much lately.

Moreover, when morning came again, other papers were rolling around the streets.

– The royal family’s words are false. I have the princess. (Masked Hero)

Even though the guards patrolled the kingdom all night, the Masked Hero had once again scattered papers.

At this point, the people couldn’t easily believe the royal family’s claims.

They all worried for the princess with one heart and one voice.

However, even if it’s a coup group, it’s impossible to punish all the citizens just for worrying about the princess.

There was no reason to punish them either.

After all, they had a simple way to resolve this controversy.

The Fake Princess.

Thus, they simply declared to the citizens.

Three days before the Festival of the Unknowns begins, that is, when the festival starts tomorrow, they would show the citizens that the princess was safe.

‘Of course, that princess will be the fake one.’

Because the real princess is right here.

I looked at Elsie, lounging around in the dormitory.

‘The operation has been perfect up to this point.’

Now the remaining operation depends on Elsie when the fake princess makes her appearance tomorrow.

And whether it will succeed or not is uncertain.

From then on, it would entirely be up to her acting skills.

“Alright, everyone, let’s sleep now.”

In fact, Yusera had already conked out.

She was probably exhausted from the outburst after being teased by Elsie about gaining weight from staying in the room.

On the other hand, Elsie was simply staring blankly at the ceiling.

“Elsie.”

“Yes?”

“Are you alright?”

Elsie tilted her head to look at me while lying on the bed.

“I’m fine. I was just thinking in preparation for tomorrow’s operation.”

“Don’t think too long. You’ve practiced enough already, and tomorrow’s condition is also quite important.”

“That’s true. Then I should get some sleep too.”

After that, I completely drew the curtains in the room.

The room turned into a dark chamber.

“Good night, Elsie.”

Just as I said that and lay down on the makeshift bed, suddenly, Elsie quietly spoke from the bed above.

“How about we have a match?”

What was she saying out of the blue?

“What about?”

“The deeply-rooted wrestling of Leim Kingdom.”

It can’t be real wrestling.

So that implies she’s talking about something else.

But proposing that now was problematic.

“You just said tomorrow’s condition is important.”

“Exactly. With the current buildup, I won’t be able to do anything.”

“How’s your stamina?”

“One match wouldn’t even make a difference.”

That was her take; I felt a bit differently.

But ultimately, since there wouldn’t be much I could do tomorrow, it probably wouldn’t matter.

However, there was still one obstacle left.

“What about Yusera? Won’t she wake up?”

“Can’t you just use your keen ears to distinguish the breathing sounds?”

“That’s true, but Yusera’s a bit tricky. There’s hardly any difference between her shallow and deep sleeping breaths.”

In recent times, having shared a room, I had tried diligently to distinguish Yusera’s breathing sounds.

But the conclusion of that effort was that whether Yusera was in a shallow or deep sleep, her breathing sounded almost identical.

Maybe she was always in a deeply asleep state.

“Well, we can’t help it. As long as we’re quiet.”

So, we only need to be quiet.

“Can you really be quiet?”

I’ve never seen her be quiet so far.

Then Elsie smiled and said, “That’s easy to achieve if we just keep it physically quiet.”

She pulled out a cloth from somewhere and started to cover her mouth.

At this point, any reason I had to refuse had vanished.

Sure, one match wouldn’t hurt.

‘But before that…’

I reached into my inventory and pulled something out.

It looked somewhat like a vitamin packet.

“What’s that?”

Elsie paused covering her mouth, asking about the identity of the item.

“This isn’t a trial. Having a child in this important situation would be troublesome.”

“Does using this prevent having a child?”

“Yep.”

“Absolutely?”

“About 99.9 percent.”

She blinked, astonished.

“Pleasure without responsibility? Isn’t that a bit too much of a cheat item?”

Well, I thought it might not be too much of a cheat because the pleasure might be a little lacking.

From my perspective, having only done it during the trials with Elsie, I wasn’t entirely sure since it would be my first time using it.

As I was unwrapping it, Elsie suddenly spoke.

“By the way, I almost forgot to mention this.”

She said with a playful smile, “I’m still a virgin.”

*

After spending a heated, silent night, the morning arrived.

One match turned into two matches, and two matches turned into three, so I could barely remember passing out.

Yet, Elsie had quietly returned to her bed at some point.

‘Is today finally the day…’

As I glanced at Elsie for a moment, I sat up from the makeshift bed.

And I noticed Yusera waking up first and stretching her body.

Yusera, who always slept early, tended to wake up early as well.

“Good morning.”

“Yep, it is.”

For some reason, her response felt strangely cold.

Though thinking about today’s operation, I could understand why she might feel that way.

With that thought, I shook Elsie awake from the bed where she had fallen deep asleep.

“Elsie, wake up. It’s time to get ready.”

“Mmm, uh-huh…”

“The fake princess is making her appearance, so the real princess can’t be missing.”

At my words, Elsie’s eyes opened.

“Of course.”

She was indeed assigned the most important role in today’s operation.

Yet there was no sign of anxiety or impatience in her eyes.

They simply bore the same strong gaze as always, backed by a determination filled with a hidden sharpness.

*