The Regressed Son of a Duke is an Assassin

It was exactly 30 minutes before Luna and Schurz arrived.

Brian was distracted by the unfamiliar scenery of the astral space, while Hastia, seeming somewhat accustomed, didn’t pay much attention to the astral space itself.

Instead,

‘Where is Cyan, though?’

Her gaze toward Cyan couldn’t be avoided.

While the White Elves kept their distance from humans, they had close relationships with other transcendent beings.

Hastia had witnessed their power, from the guardian dragons of Pruina to the lesser gods of the divine realm occasionally visiting.

However, she never expected to witness their power emanating from a human.

It wasn’t like Cyan had borrowed power recklessly.

This was a power uniquely his own, evident simply by creating the astral space.

Hastia could sense that he had reached the level of a god or beyond solely by accomplishing this feat.

However, compared to the two speechless people,

“……”

Cyan’s expression was far from cheerful.

He was staring intensely into empty space.

‘Why so serious, Cyan?’

“You’ve blocked it quite effectively.”

Instead of answering the question, Cyan muttered incomprehensible words.

‘Huh?’

“Never mind. Since you guys won’t be moving for a while, just wait here until I return.”

“W-where are you going, sir?”

“Since the main entrance is blocked, I’ll have to take a detour.”

Cyan only threw cryptic words in response to Brian’s question before disappearing without looking back, leaving Hastia and Brian with no choice but to wait obediently.

While they were waiting as instructed by Cyan,

Luna and Schurz appeared.

“So, this is not the astral space of Mist, but senior’s, right?”

Luna began to observe the space with keen interest, examining every detail meticulously.

As Luna was busy observing, Schurz explained how they ended up here.

“Oh, Princess Arin has been kidnapped?!”

Not knowing anything about the news from the Imperial Palace, they naturally showed a surprised reaction.

“What? You didn’t know?”

“We came from somewhere else, not from the Imperial Palace. And since our senior said there wouldn’t be a safe place in the Imperial Palace once things start, he just told us to stay here…”

Brian paused momentarily while speaking.

Cyan said he was going to the Imperial Palace last night,

Arin, who was reported kidnapped by Mist last night.

Unless he was a fool, wouldn’t anyone notice some connection between the two?

“What was our senior doing here?”

“Well, nothing special. He seemed quite displeased while staring into space. Then he just said, ‘Since the main entrance is blocked, I’ll have to take a detour,’ and left.”

“Alright then, it’s confirmed.”

Luna’s eyes sparkled with certainty.

“W-what do you mean?”

“Princess Arin is trapped in a different astral space, not here. More precisely, it’s the astral space of the god of Black Mist.”

Everyone’s expression except Luna’s froze for a moment.

Brian let out a sigh of relief.

He briefly wondered if Cyan might have kidnapped Princess Arin, but it seemed unlikely.

“A god’s astral space has a special property that can connect two astral spaces with similar energy.”

Luna and Schurz had also come here using this property of astral spaces.

“Perhaps Senior Cyan knew that Princess Arin was trapped in an astral space and planned to connect the two spaces.”

‘Wait a moment! Does that mean Luna also created an astral space and came here?’

“What’s the problem?”

Hastia blinked her innocent eyes at Luna’s indifferent response.

“But for some reason, you seemed to give up. It seems like you encountered an unexpected obstacle.”

Luna unraveled the situation as if she had seen Cyan from the sidelines.

“But I didn’t have such intentions, so I’ll connect the two spaces instead.”

She then went to where Cyan had been standing and sat down heavily.

“Is that even possible?”

“We won’t know until we try. Although if Senior gave up, it must be quite exhausting, surpassing my expectations…”

Nevertheless, she didn’t seem to care and immediately began to draw mana.

‘I’ll help too.’

Hastia approached her.

‘We just need to find an astral space with a similar energy to Cyan’s, right? If that’s the case, I’m confident!’

“Why’s that?”

There was a hint of displeasure in Luna’s voice.

‘I’ve always kept Cyan’s energy with me!’

Proudly, Hastia showed off her Soul Stone.

“……”

At this, Luna’s expression suddenly turned cold.

* * *

One of the favorite old sayings of assassins is what?

Darkness lies beneath the lamp.

Amidst the commotion of Princess’s kidnapping,

knights would be scouring the entire palace desperately searching for even the slightest clue.

But in doing so, they would overlook a few places.

The place where I am right now is exactly such a place.

In a spacious area with easily over five floors, filled with dozens of bookshelves and tens of thousands of books within them.

Surrounded by unfamiliar books, it didn’t feel pleasant.

This is the Imperial Palace Library, located very close to the palace.

Despite the chaos, it was still filled with silence.

-Tok, tok

Familiar footsteps echoed between the bookshelves.

The footsteps stopped right in front of the bookshelf directly across from me.

And so, silence flowed again for about a minute.

So, another minute passed in silence.

“You sure love wandering around with your head held high.”

Amidst the densely packed bookshelves, a familiar voice came from the only empty spot.

“I thought you’d be stuck in the astral space, shrouded in embarrassment.”

“The recovery was faster than expected. Initially, it wasn’t much different from what you mentioned.”

I replied nonchalantly.

“The first time I met you in my past life, it was similar to this place. You found me crouched in a corner of the academy library and even bothered to greet me.”

“You were probably hiding the Mist’s orders on your way here.”

The leader replied with a slightly playful tone.

“I felt it in this and previous life. Looking back, I realized that the leader’s words were all correct. I’ve never benefited from not listening to you.”

“It’s fortunate that you’ve realized it now.”

“I have one question.”

I paused for a moment.

“If I were to leave the Mist and serve under someone else, what would you do?”

“……”

The leader also paused for a few seconds before responding.

“If that’s what you want, I won’t support it, but I’ll send you off.”

“Why?”

“Whatever you do, it’ll be much easier for you to move forward on the Mist’s path than on the path you’ll take under someone else, right?”

It was an answer that didn’t deviate from expectations at all.

At this, laughter erupted from me unintentionally.

Of course, it wasn’t laughter born of affirmation.

“Breaking free from unnecessary constraints and forging your own path, isn’t that the true joy of a teacher seeing a student being proactive and independent?”

Really?

Does she genuinely think that?

To be able to let go without any opposition one day when the successor who has given everything and done everything suddenly decides to leave,

Is that possible?

“In my past life, the leader just sent me off without any lingering regrets, when I said that I would follow my brother.”

The leader didn’t reply as if saying, ‘Did I do that?’

“Aeru was the same. That god probably did it out of annoyance, but I can’t understand why you did it, leader.”

“……”

“Why would you send me away?”

“It’s the same reason you didn’t kill Arin, isn’t it?”

Not understanding immediately, I furrowed my brows.

“There’s no need to think too hard about it. I also have affection for you.”

The leader said casually, as if it were nothing.

“Why? I’m not a human being? Before being the leader of the Mist, before being an assassin, I’m a person with feelings of joy and sorrow. It’s because I’m a person that I can’t help but have affection for you.”

“……”

“You don’t want to walk a difficult path. You wish for a good life. You wish for happiness.”

“……”

“A selfish, arrogant disciple who thinks they can handle everything alone, but secretly hopes for an easy life without any hardships… as someone who genuinely cares about you, I just want to do what’s best for you.”

“Is that all?”

“I don’t think there’s anything else to explain.”

It felt like my throat was blocked, and no more words came out.

Is it just for my sake?

Just because of one feeling she harbors for me?

If it were my past self, I would probably have contorted my face in disbelief.

To think that a woman, the leader of an assassination organization, would try to send me away just because of one feeling called affection.

Perhaps I would have been not just in denial but angry.

But now, as I am, I could deeply understand the leader’s words.

“Why so quiet? Do you think I lied?”

“You’ve never lied to me once, my leader. I believe it’s the same this time.”

“I appreciate your acknowledgment. So, what now? Will you follow my orders now?”

“Don’t you know that I won’t?”

The leader’s chuckle sounded distinctly in my ears.

“Both you and I, along with the Mist’s members, Emily and Brian, and even Nana. All of them want to live proudly and confidently on this land. Once we overcome any hardships or constraints, that’s it. That’s why I came to find you this lifetime, my leader.”

Instead of answering, the leader burst into a satisfied laughter.

“Impressive. But the world you seek won’t come true just because it has desires and power.”

“Frankly, is there anything more needed?”

“You need motivation.”

The leader emphasized the word ‘motivation’ with force.

“A motivation to let go of everything around you and pursue just one path you want. Without that, the world you seek won’t come.”

“If you think of Princess Arin as that motivation, you may be mistaken?”

“We’ll see about that. By the way, she’s still alive. I plan to kill her exactly six days from now.”

It was a clear murder threat, not a joke.

“Consider my kindness towards you over as of today. From now on, you and I are not teacher and student, nor leader and member.”

“Two assassins seeking different paths… Is that what you’ll say?”

Instead of continuing, the leader remained silent for a moment.

“Taking a woman’s words without permission is not a man’s courtesy, Cyan.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at her earnest scolding.

Exactly six days later.

Perhaps by then, beyond just clashing swords, the leader and I would finally see bloodshed.

As we, who had already anticipated it, would turn our backs on each other,

We couldn’t help but feel unable to smile.