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Chapter: 37

I told Gon to keep a closer eye on things for now. To understand how things were unfolding, he needed to observe and listen carefully.

If Lord Naam was keeping this guest hidden from me, it was likely because they were on the opposing side.

Someone I shouldn\'t meet.

Someone who would never consider meeting me beneficial.

In short, someone who loathed the sight of me.

Who could possibly loathe the sight of me?

The answer was simple.

It had to be the Second Prince and his lackeys.

"Hah."

It would be so much simpler if they just challenged me to a one-on-one duel to the death.

It was unfortunate that things weren\'t going my way, but if this was the civilized way, then I had no choice but to accept it.

That didn\'t mean I wasn\'t civilized back when I was Baek Yeon.

Seriously.

I had my suspicions. It was possible that the Lord of Naam Fortress was connected to the Second Prince\'s faction. Although I wasn\'t certain yet, there was enough evidence to consider the possibility.

How did Woo Joong, the Duke of Mungung, come to acquire Gae Yeohwa?

Gae Yeohwa, the adopted daughter of the Lord of Naam Fortress, who didn\'t live in the capital or anywhere near it.

It took a considerable amount of time to travel from the capital to here.

With a little thought, combined with the clues I had gathered, I could deduce the answer.

Why would the Duke of Mungung be interested in the adopted daughter of a mere fortress lord?

There was no reason.

None at all.

Not even the slightest one.

Unless he knew about Gae Yeohwa\'s ability to foresee the future, there was absolutely no reason for the Duke of Mungung to pay attention to someone like the adopted daughter of the Lord of Naam Fortress.

In other words, the Duke of Mungung knew about her ability before recruiting her as his strategist.

He must have been incredibly eager to have her.

So how did the Duke of Mungung learn about Gae Yeohwa\'s ability?

There was probably someone acting as a middleman. In this case, it was Lord Naam.

There was no particular reason why Lord Naam couldn\'t side with the Duke of Mungung or the Second Prince Jaean.

The only ones qualified to inherit the throne after the current king were me or the Second Prince.

So if he wasn\'t on my side, he had no other choice but to side with the Second Prince.

He might be ugly, but he was still a legitimate son, just like me. He wasn\'t born a legitimate son, but since his mother held the position of Queen, he was considered one. It was unfortunate that he wasn\'t the firstborn, but it didn\'t significantly affect his position in the line of succession.

Moreover, unlike me, his mother was still alive and well, and he had the backing of powerful maternal relatives.

Even so, there was no reason for him to choose me over the Second Prince. So there was no point in feeling resentful.

In any case, I had figured out how Gae Yeohwa ended up in the Duke of Mungung\'s hands.

To think I\'d find the answer this way.

"Great job."

It was almost as if Gon had intentionally caused that eunuch\'s accident, leading me to this discovery.

Inviting someone from the Duke of Mungung\'s side to the fortress while I was staying there was a foolish idea, no matter who heard it.

So it couldn\'t be that.

It seemed that the Duke of Mungung, or one of his people, was scheduled to visit this fortress right after I left Naam Fortress.

But Gon\'s mishap caused me to extend my stay at Naam Fortress, disrupting the Lord\'s plans.

He wouldn\'t have had the time to send someone to postpone the visit.

I wonder what he was thinking when I said I’d stay longer. He might have been bowing and scraping on the outside, but cursing me on the inside.

"...At most, it\'s the Duke of Mungung himself. If it\'s someone less significant, then it\'s one of his subordinates. Or at the very least, it\'s someone from my ugly little brother\'s followers."

It would be so satisfying to round them all up and throw them into a well, but unfortunately, I couldn\'t.

Since I couldn\'t throw them into a well, the next best thing was to sever their connection.

If I failed, Gae Yeohwa would be taken by the Duke of Mungung. It wasn\'t a distant possibility. I had no time to spare. It was going to happen soon. I\'d have to watch it unfold helplessly.

I refused to let that happen.

"Hmm."

I pondered for a long time.

But in the end, the solution that remained in my mind was simple.

All I had to do was prevent the Lord of Naam Fortress from meeting the Duke of Mungung.

I chuckled.

"That\'s easy."

* * *

The already dim room was even darker with all the windows closed. In the midst of it, Gae Yeohwa sat upright with her eyes closed, her heart filled with dread.

After a long while, she opened her eyes.

Her eyes, wide with shock, trembled beneath her lids as if they had witnessed something unthinkable.

She couldn\'t believe what she had just seen.

To someone unaware of the situation, seeing her alone in her room might have seemed strange. But what she saw wasn\'t just darkness beneath her eyelids; it was a vivid scene of the outside world.

"What is this...?"

It was a premonition so absurd that she couldn\'t help but deny it herself. A hollow laugh escaped her lips in disbelief. Could such a thing really happen? It was preposterous.

But her premonitions were never wrong. At least not once until now.

A tense voice escaped her parted lips.

"What the hell is this?"

Gae Yeohwa said in a daze. Her voice, like a sigh, dissipated weakly into the air.

But denying it once was enough. It wouldn\'t change anything anyway. If the future she had seen were to change, it would only be because she had conveyed her premonition to someone with the power to influence the future. There was no other reason.

The future was not set in stone, but it wouldn\'t change on its own. It demanded action, it demanded effort.

If so, there was someone she needed to see right away to prevent what she had just seen.

"Oh no. He really is a madman."

Her foresight showed the mad prince laughing while watching Naam Fortress burn.

She didn\'t know why Naam Fortress was burning, or the cause of it. She only saw the scene. She couldn\'t even try to see the future again, because no matter how powerful her foresight was, she couldn\'t peek into the future whenever she wanted. Her eyes that saw the future needed a long rest.

The image of the burning fortress seared itself into her memory, a vivid nightmare that refused to fade.

And it wasn\'t just any laughter, but a chilling, maniacal cackle that had erupted from the mad prince.

Gae Yeohwa felt goosebumps rise on her back. She suddenly felt as if the air around her had frozen.

It must have been her imagination.

"...Madman."

The mad prince.

It was the maniacal laughter of that mad prince. She had heard that laughter.

"He\'s not just a madman, he\'s a lunatic!"

Even though she hated the Lord of Naam Fortress, she didn\'t want Naam Fortress to be destroyed. Just because she thought badly of the lord didn\'t mean she thought badly of everyone under him. Even her sister, Gae Rihwa, wasn\'t on bad terms with her.

Gae Yeohwa had a sense of attachment to her homeland. Since she was born and raised in Naam Fortress, she couldn\'t be free from such feelings. It was the only meaningful thing the Lord of Naam Fortress had given her as her adoptive father.

"Lunatic. Lunatic."

Gae Yeohwa cursed the mad prince.

Even though she knew his courtship was a complete lie, she had considered following the mad prince. But after hearing his maniacal laughter, she couldn\'t bring herself to follow him.

"Yeah... No... No, there\'s no smoke without fire..."

Even though no one was watching, Gae Yeohwa slowly shook her head.

Perhaps because she was so shocked, she kept staring blankly into space for a moment. But it was only for a moment. She jumped up, opened the door, and ran out.

She had to stop the mad prince, no matter what. She could figure out the rest later.

* * *

A way to prevent the guest, presumed to be from the Duke of Mungung\'s faction, from meeting the Lord of Naam Fortress.

No, according to what Gon said, they had already met. To be precise, it was a way to prevent the two from having a private conversation.

Furthermore, a way to make sure that the guest never wants to set foot in Naam Fortress again.

"What\'s so difficult about that?"

The method was simple.

Just think simply.

All it took was a commotion.

If I thought about it long enough, I could come up with various ways to keep the Lord of Naam Fortress busy, but at the same time, there weren\'t many ways to make the guest want to leave Naam Fortress.

But one big commotion could solve both problems at once.

I needed a tool that could cause a major incident without leaving any evidence.

And I just happened to have a bird.

A creature that could understand words and act as a messenger.

It seemed like I was a pretty lucky guy.

"Gon."

I don\'t even know how many times I\'ve gone back and forth between my quarters and outside today.

As I lingered near the fortress where we met earlier, a black shadow descended from the sky.

"You told me to keep watch, then why are you calling me again?"

In my hand were flint and dry twigs.

It was midday.

The sun was warm, and it was time for most people to be working outside.

Therefore, it wouldn\'t be bad if a fire were to accidentally break out somewhere.

If a forest fire were to break out, this would be the best time for it to start.

"That thing. That guest. That group."

Gon tilted its head.

"Were you referring to the Duke of Mungung or perhaps, Prince Jaean?"

When I asked that, it nodded.

"I heard it."

"Oh."

Another good guess.

"Who? Which side?"

"They said it was the Duke of Mungung."

"I was right."

"I did the work, and all you did was talk."

"The bear does the tricks, and the owner gets the money."

"Are you saying you\'re the owner?"

"You should have been born a human if you don’t like it."

"Youuu..."

I chuckled and pressed down on its head. Gon shook its head in annoyance.

"Stop being angry and drop this somewhere far away."

"The wood?"

Instead of continuing the banter, I nodded and handed Gon the twigs and flint I was holding.

"Over there, far away. See that pavilion?"

It was a small pavilion located in a corner of Lord Naam\'s residence. The Lord had specifically mentioned that it was a storage shed for weapons and the like.

The area around the shed was empty, so even if a fire broke out, there would be minimal damage, and the flames would be easily visible to people.

In other words, it was the perfect sacrificial lamb for today.

"Go check it out first, and if no one\'s around, take this and throw it into the pavilion. I\'ll light it here."

Having experienced years of war, I was quite adept at playing with fire. I had seen countless thatched houses of the common folk burn to the ground.

I never wanted to see that again.

Gon nodded and took flight once more.

I shielded my eyes with my hand and watched the black wings soar through the sky.

"It flies well."