There Is No Hidden Villain in This Novel Chapter 78

What came back was out-of-the-blue self-praise. At this point, I was beginning to suspect that Cassis de Millang had gone completely bonkers and become a different person. Of course, it wasn’t a serious thought. Because there was no way such a thing could happen.

‘But I regressed…’

Thinking about it that way, it seemed suspicious again. In the end, Ryuseong was racking his brain over it, but he let out a chuckle at the words that followed.

“You wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a high-end pearl and a cheap fake one. You’re the perfect type to be swindled, so if you ever have to handle such valuables, come to me anytime. So you don’t get scammed.”

…It was a thought he might regret, but it seemed like it wouldn’t matter anyway. As long as Cassis de Millang was Cassis de Millang, he felt that anything was fine.

Though his words changed three days later.

“We’re already in Siberia. Do you have a plan?”

“Ah, of course I do.”

“What is it.”

The next moment, a bewitching smiling-eyed gaze tightened around his throat.

“From this moment, we will be getting off the train.”

“Off a moving train, what are you going to do?”

Clatter. Cassis de Millang opened the window. Only then did Ryuseong, realizing the bullshit he was spouting was serious, try to stop his insane act, but Cassis de Millang had already fallen out the window.

“Are you crazy…!”

Only the echo of “are you crazy” resounded across the blizzard-swept plains of Siberia.

…So, Cassis de Millang had a plan for everything.

Though Ryuseong would not be able to sympathize.

Hmm, I did jump out with great vigor, but was it really a crazy thing to do, throwing myself out of a moving train?

Tumble, tumble, tumble. I somehow managed to land, but I twisted my foot and ended up rolling about ten times. Tumble, tumble. And on a downward sloping hill at that. If the ground hadn’t been covered in a thick layer of fluffy snow, my joints would have been done for. Still, I quickly used a breakfall to get up, trying to somehow fix my pathetic state before Ryuseong saw me.

‘I’m crazy, I’m crazy. To not even be able to handle this much.’

“Ryuseong, Mr. Ryuseong?”

I called Ryuseong’s name into the pitch-black void. The blizzard whipping around me blurred into a white haze, eating away at my vision, and the golden light leaking from the train was getting farther and farther away. Even though I was dressed quite warmly, my bones were chilling and I was shivering, a testament to the Siberian plains.

‘…But why isn’t this bastard coming? He’s not going to ditch me, is he?’

For some reason, I felt like my nose was going to run, so I made a sniffling sound and swallowed the air.

I had a clear goal for this journey. Honor. To participate in the official raid beforehand and display an overwhelming class. In fact, that’s all I needed to accomplish. But to solidify my reputation, it would be more efficient to go through a preliminary process.

‘For example, conducting a surprise raid!’

That was right. From now on, I was planning to follow the railroad and wipe out every monster colony I saw.

Hiding and then revealing my identity would allow me to reap double the benefits, like revealing a donor’s name late after keeping it anonymous, so a situation like this should be seen as a good thing.

That’s why I landed so casually at a specific point on the plains where black foxes were said to gather… actually, it wasn’t so casual.

‘Of course not! Who would happily accept overwork?’

Even regular work isn’t pleasant, but overtime work outside of working hours is horrible!

‘Still, to make a living… ha.’

All my eccentricities are desperate efforts to navigate a harsh life with some moisture—thinking that, tears were about to cloud my vision.

Just then, a black figure began to approach through the blizzard. No, fuck. It was too flat to be Ryuseong. How should I explain it. Should I say it looked like a pitch-black wild boar crawling on the ground? So I couldn’t accept it. I had heard that the Siberian plains were crawling with monsters, and that’s why I jumped down to wipe them all out, but… I’m suddenly pissed off.

‘Why the hell do you pop out like something from a horror special and make my heart pound!’

Filled with my pissed-off feelings, I beautifully turned them into minced meat. I was about to wipe the monster blood that had splattered onto my cheek with the back of my hand, but Ryuseong, who had run through the blizzard, grabbed my wrist. Snatch. And before I could even come to my senses, he spotted my ankle.

“Are you hurt? Are you in your right mind? The potion.”

“Uh, I’m hurt, I am in my right mind, and not yet on the potion.”

“What do you mean, in your right mind, you fell from a train. Get out a potion first. Damn it. What were you thinking.”

“I am in my right mind.”

“Get out a potion.”

Such a personality. I clicked my tongue, tsk, and took out a potion, and he knelt on one knee and tried to take off my shoe. But my swollen instep hurt, so I wanted to avoid being touched.

“Just pour it on as is.”

“You don’t seem to know the concept of first aid right now.”

However, Ryuseong didn’t listen to me at all and undid the buckle on his own, and I unconsciously bent at the waist and grabbed his shoulders.

Normally, I would have scoffed at a wound like this, but because the weather was so bitingly cold, I felt like the wound itself would freeze. Annoyed, I tapped the jewel in the middle of the robe to try and increase the heating function, but only the reply that it was already set to maximum came back. But I’m freezing to death. Is it defective? True, I only checked for poison with the principal, not the functions. Don’t tell me those de Millang bastards, were they trying to freeze me to death… I was staring at the robe in disbelief when the potion was poured on the wound.

Hmm, a warm energy spreads out in a rush, then stabs like needles. Soon, my ankle was in a state where it didn’t hurt to move it. As expected of a top-grade potion. Awesome.

“Are you okay?”

“…Everything except for the cold. I think the robe is broken.”

“What?”

Ryuseong scrambled to his feet. His urgency was visible at a glance. He pushed his leather-gloved hand inside my robe and felt my body, then took off the leather glove inside the robe and touched me with his bare hand. I was going to joke about it being too lewd, but I was so cold that I didn’t. I was so cold that even the leather glove felt warm, and when his bare hand touched me, a sensation so hot it felt like I would get burned washed over me.

“You’re going to die before the battle.”

He said that and took off his own robe. I thought this guy was crazy, but wasn’t he taking off my defective robe and putting his own on me.

“And you won’t die?”

But in the middle of my sentence, as soon as the robe’s clasp was fastened, a warm heat rushed in as if a gentle breeze were blowing. No, fuck, so this is how warm it is when you wear one that isn’t defective. So it was only me who was so damn cold. Life is bleak. It’s cruel…

As I was vaguely reminiscing about the cruelty of life for a moment, Ryuseong spoke as if to tell me to snap out of it.

“Let’s find a place to shelter from the wind before I follow you in death. If you sleep now, you’ll die. Get up if you don’t want to be slapped.”

I liked being slapped only when I was in bed. But this was too vast to be called a bed. There’s a limit to how open a space can be.

I’m about to get frostbite while unzipping my pants, right now.

I’m human too, so I wanted to prevent such a terrible future. So I obediently followed Ryuseong’s words and entered the cave he had found.

After checking if there were any monsters hiding inside, Ryuseong pushed me into the inner part where the wind couldn’t reach, went out for a moment, and came back in to start a bonfire. It was a moment where I deeply understood the words of my professors who said that life is easier even for a swordsman if you know how to do flame magic. Just try not being able to even start a fire at a time like this. You would have frozen to death just like that.

With drowsy eyes, I quietly watched as he made something like a brazier over the fire he had lit and put a pot on it. At some point, when I came to my senses, a warm soup was in a mug and placed in my hands.

What should I say, hmm…

‘A well-kept Ryuseong is better than ten servants?’

“Is there anything I can help with?”

As I was shamelessly lounging around, treating Ryuseong as a superior entity to ten servants, I felt a prick somewhere in my conscience, so I only opened my mouth.

It was a sentiment of at least saying something, even though I had no real intention of helping. But Ryuseong seemed to have seen through my vile scheme.

“You’re a nobleman. I never thought you’d be of any help in camping in the first place.”

“Haha.”

Well, that’s true. Still, it’s emotionally burdensome to just make you work.

“I’m originally from the streets, so I’m good at this kind of thing.”

…Why do you say something like that while eating soup.

When I stopped blowing on my soup, Ryuseong tilted his head as if puzzled.

“It’s not wrong, is it. I’m sure you’re aware of it too.”

“Well, I was thinking it would be good material to attack you with without hesitation if I met you. But now we’re tied together in the frame of being lovers, aren’t we?”

I smiled arrogantly.

“Would I spit in my own face?”