In a residence located in the central region of the Huphester Alliance.
"…It's been four days since you left, and that's all you tell me? You lost Dan, and your identities were leaked to an unknown magic swordsman?"
Beris and Kuzan lowered their heads.
They had just escaped the pursuers from the Delki Kingdom and were about to return. Beris was still suffering from the aftereffects of mana overflow, and Kuzan's wound didn't completely heal.
"We have no words, Miss Taimyun."
Krrrrk.
Taimyun ground her teeth as she looked down at them.
A dark shade momentarily covered her face, as if she were thinking about something.
"You idiots… I don't even want to see how pathetic you are, so piss off. I will never order you useless shits ever again."
The two kneeling siblings' eyes widened.
"What do you mean by that…?"
"Just as I said. You guys made too big of a mistake."
"M-Miss Taimyun, are you disposing of us?"
"Miss Taimyun! We are gravely sorry! Please forgive our mistake!"
Kuzan's voice shook while Beris hunched over and begged while crying, akin to a child begging to a parent.
"Forgive? You two are useless hunting dogs that failed their hunt. How dare you request that from me?"
"Miss Taimyun, Miss Taimyun, Miss Taimyun. I'm really sorry. I won't make mistakes from now on. Please… Please don't throw us away."
Beris grabbed Taimyun's dress and continued to wail.
Thump, thud!
Without remorse, Taimyun kicked Beris's face while Kuzan knelt, shedding tears.
"How would we live without you, Miss Taimyun?! We will take any beating and torture as a treat… Just please don't throw us away. Please…"
As if her cruelty and bloodlust from killing the other Lunar Sacrifice survivors were mere hallucinations, Beris constantly rubbed her hands together and begged.
"Yeah? If you will take anything as a treat, then die. I will kill you here, right on this spot."
Shing!
Taimyun unsheathed her sword, but Beris didn't have any intention of dodging. She just had her eyes closed, awaiting her death.
The moment Taimyun swung her sword, Kuzan embraced Beris, urging the nanny to halt her movements.
Taimyun looked down at them with the blade on Kuzan's neck.
"…Miss Taimyun. I mean, Mother…"
Kuzan stood and looked into Taimyun's eyes.
"I… I wish you well."
"Never come back to me. Never again."
Kuzan left with Beris in his arms. Their relationship with Taimyun ended today.
Taimyun clicked her tongue as she watched their backs grow smaller and smaller.
'The magic swordsman they saw is definitely Young Master Jin. Most definitely so since he used spiritual energy. And soon, he and Lady Luna will come to me. This would've been bad if I didn't know about Young Master Jin's powers.'
For a second, Luna's face popped into her mind.
It was Taimyun's dream to see Luna powerful and beautiful at the same time.
'Lady Luna can't kill me anyway. And now, I've learned something. In addition to Young Master Jin being Solderet's contractor, he also has magic abilities? This is information even that person doesn't know…!'
Taimyun smiled.
The hunting dogs were not as useless as she thought.
"Yeah, yeah. Is there anything bugging you nowadays?"
"Yes. There's nothing much to do since Madame Luna offered us so much. All of our people have found jobs, and we are all now living like normal people."
After returning to her land, Luna was having tea with Tika.
"That's good. …Huh?"
"What's wrong, Madame Luna?"
Luna looked around her. Tika put her teacup down, looking around herself as well.
"I can suddenly feel my youngest brother's energy. What the heck? This is my land, though. Maybe I have mistaken?"
"You can feel that?"
"That kid's energy is kind of special. Well, there's also the part where I'm sensitive… Uhhh, who is that? So I wasn't wrong?"
Outside the window, Luna saw and pointed at Jin who had a robe on. Despite him having a disguise on, it wasn't enough for him to just freely show himself in Luna's land in broad daylight.
Due to that, he couldn't approach the guards and instead solicited outside the gates.
"That fearless idiot. He just comes here without regret. What's going to happen when the other siblings find out? You provisional flag-bearer!"
Luna complained about her brother's uninvited visit, but her eyes glimmered as she ran down the stairs.
"Hey!"
Luna jumped over the fence and planted her fist on Jin's head.
Bam!
"You're crazy, youngest boy. If you keep doing this, you're gonna get in big trouble."
"Erk, Eldest Sister. Your greeting is very violent."
"You're the violent one, you idiot. Because of you, I can't live up to my honor. Let's go in first before anyone sees you."
They went to the front door and into Luna's room.
As soon as the door was locked, Luna grinned and beat the hell out of Jin.
Thunk, wham!
"Alright, let's hear what the little boy came for, shall we? Huh? Or did you come because you wanted to see your sister?"
She would be satisfied with either answer. Luna was just in a good mood.
She really wanted to see her youngest brother. Since the last time she saw him was when he flipped the main house inside out, she wanted to know whether he was growing well.
'Even if Miss Taimyun is related to my curse, it isn't related to Eldest Sister. She would never want to harm me in any way.'
Jin was embarrassed that he felt the slightest hint of doubt towards a sibling like this.
"First, I would like to thank you, Eldest Sister. If it weren't for you, the Kollon natives wouldn't have had any other place to live."
"You should've sent a letter along with your friends here. I wouldn't be able to meet them if I had work to do."
Since Taimyun would have seen the letter first, he didn't send one.
"And you're saying that stuff again? I already told you last time that between us Runcandel siblings, there's at least one who will give you unrequited love."
"Yes, I do remember…"
"Hm? You seem a little conflicted. Is there some problem that's hard to deal with?"
Some problem that's hard to deal with.
Well, she wasn't wrong.
'Eldest Sister probably cares about Nanny Taimyun after me—possibly more than me. I don't know how to tell her that Nanny Taimyun tried to harm me.'
He had been conflicted even before his arrival.
Since Taimyun Marius was one of the people his eldest sister loved most, he felt even more uncomfortable with Luna looking at him happily.
"Eldest Sister."
"I'm listening, my dear brother."
"I sought you because I have something to confirm with Nanny Taimyun."
"My nanny? Why her?"
"Do you remember what I told you when you first came to visit me at the Storm Castle?"
"That someone tried to assassinate you?"
"Yes."
The joy in Luna's face disappeared.
"Go on."
"Recently, there has been friction between those of the Marius name in the Delki Kingdom. We managed to find only one Marius alive and well in the kingdom…"
Jin took a deep breath and continued to relay the story to her.
He started with his conversation with Alu regarding 'that person' after destroying the Tesings, all of the information he got while investigating Alu, up until his confrontation with Kuzan and Beris.
When he finished talking, Luna barely suppressed her shivers and had drips of sweat rolling down her face.
It was the first time in her life where she had such ominous feelings in her chest.
If her youngest brother's words were true, whether it was related to the assassination attempt or not, her nanny had committed a serious felony. Whatever Taimyun's relationship was with those underlings, they attacked a pureblood Runcandel.
"…Hence, I would like to meet your nanny and confirm this information."
"My nanny… has trained assassin orphans in Delki? Th-There's no way. I've never heard of such a thing. There must be a misunderstanding, Jin."
Jin thought of seeing Taimyun himself as he expected that Luna might react like this. However, if Taimyun really was the culprit behind the curse or an accomplice of the crimes, she couldn't stay alive.
Additionally, even if she was the culprit, not allowing her to talk to Luna was a cruel outcome.
'But Eldest Sister Luna didn't even know about her troops. Taimyun Marius… Just who the hell is she? What does she want?'
Shudder.
Luna put her hand on Jin's shoulder, and he could feel that she was trembling like a tree branch in the wind.
"My nanny is… on vacation. She said she had business in central Huphester. We should wait until… No, no. We must go to her now."
"I'm sorry, Eldest Sister."
"What are you sorry about? Nanny Taimyun is definitely not related to this. That all had to be the assassins' own will. Well, if there was a connection between them, then my nanny must have… some reason."
Jin didn't answer and just held onto his sister's hand.
'Looking back, she went to the Delki Kingdom very often. She went on vacation a lot, and I heard that she donated money to an orphanage every time she got paid.'
Back then, it wasn't treated with any importance. When she was in her 20s, Luna had followed her nanny to volunteer at various orphanages, but they were all normal orphanages, not Lunar Sacrifice.
—Nanny, I know this is a good deed, but why do you help out these orphans this much?
—I was also an orphan. Oh, I must have not told you. Haha, if your adolescence was a little less grand, I would've had the opportunity to tell you. You should've drank with me at some point back then.
—Oh, uh… Sorry. I didn't know. I was too mean.
—What do you mean by sorry, My Lady? The other nannies of Runcandel could only dream of becoming your guardian. You gave me more than enough time for myself, so doing volunteer work became possible.
—Uh, hm. Do you need more days off?
—In that case, can I have one more?
Recalling one of their conversations from the past, Luna shook her head.
'I… Looking back, I don't know much about my nanny. I learned that she was an orphan in my 20s, and I thought she was just doing volunteer work during her breaks.'
Taimyun's favorite food, favorite alcohol, favorite book, favorite clothes…
While failing to know these petty facts, Luna couldn't imagine her nanny ordering 8-star assassins around.
She indeed loved Taimyun, but she didn't have much curiosity about her.
From the 1st year until the 35th, they had been together for so many hours. Taimyun was her confidant.
"Let's go, Jin. If your words are true, then my nanny… With my own hands, I'll… No, wait. Wait, Jin… Let's go a little later."
Luna sat and hugged her legs.
Jin couldn't say anything, so he just patted his sister's back in sympathy.
—————