“Kugh.”

She tried to move her body, but strength wouldn’t come readily.

Acupressure points must be sealed.

Fortunately, it seemed they had taken measures to allow her neck to move.

Looking at her condition below the neck, bandages were wrapped around her entire body. There was no more bleeding.

Only an unidentifiable medicinal smell in the room.

Though she had no sensation below her neck, it was clearly a luxurious bedroom at a glance.

Naturally, her weapons were nowhere to be seen, presumably confiscated.

Instead of her original clothes, she had been changed into simple clothes suitable for patients.

Outside the door, she could hear servants coming and going.

Why didn’t they kill me?

She had certainly thought that when she opened her eyes, she would be in a torture chamber with her limbs bound and her tongue caught in pincers.

Torture is fundamentally not much different whether in the frontier or the Central Plains.

Pulling out fingernails and toenails one by one, then teeth.

Severing the tendons in the limbs.

Just like an ant dismantling a butterfly piece by piece—wings, legs, antennae—all methodically taken apart.

Even martial arts masters with strong mental fortitude would spill all the truths in their bellies.

Why are they treating me so well?

Is this also a form of sophisticated psychological torture?

It was completely baffling to her.

At that moment, the door slid open.

As fire flashed in her eyes, Jin Cheonhee quickly said:

“Calm down. I’m not here to torture you.”

Ilkana still took a deep breath.

“Hello, Brother[1] White Divine Dragon.”

Her slimy smile was unnatural.

However, her thoroughly controlled voice revealed what kind of education she had received as she grew up.

Oh, she didn’t call me White-Robed Divine Dragon?

Jin Cheonhee’s favorability rating increased slightly.

“You know me. As expected of the Assassination Order, information gathering is basic.”

The way she looked at him trustingly was not the appearance of an ordinary person.

Ilkana continued to answer calmly without changing her expression.

“You seem to know well about our order… what is your reason for leaving me like this, brother? I’m curious about what trap you’re setting.”

No cursing or provocations to kill her.

Just a strange sense of discomfort.

Jin Cheonhee sensed one thing from this appearance.

The will to live.

A tenacious and strange attachment that couldn’t let go of the obsession with life.

An assassin is someone who kills others and is always prepared to commit suicide.

The brainwashing applied from childhood to the extreme typically castrates even self-love.

Naturally, even the desire to live is not granted to them.

However, the Ilkana before him couldn’t let go of life.

That was a good sign.

Hmm… I should explain well from here?

It meant there was an opportunity for him.

First, if he said “I’m a reader who knows your future. If you continue like this, you’ll die. I’ll save you,” she would nod in understanding and then stab a dagger in the back of his head when released later.

So it would be good to start with the right first button.

“Please calm down. I’m not particularly setting a trap. Besides, I’ve done some investigation about the order, so I know something about you too.”

This kind of groundwork should be a good start.

Jin Cheonhee spoke calmly.

“Ninth Princess Ilkana.”

After debating whether to call her Imperial Princess, he decided to call her Princess for now.

“…”

Ilkana was still smiling, but her lips were somewhat stiff.

On her mask-like, metallic face, he could see her lips twitching slightly.

Well, from here on… it might be better to appear somewhat mysterious?

Jin Cheonhee managed his expression and began speaking in a deeply settled voice.

“My name is Jin Cheonhee. As you know, I hold the title White-Robed Divine Dragon and am a physician serving as the Junior Pavilion Master of White Dragon Medical Pavilion. However, I possess unique abilities unknown to the common people.”

Ilkana’s expression remained unchanged.

She didn’t open her mouth first to ask questions.

Looking at her, Jin Cheonhee slowly continued:

“I can limitedly peer into the past, present, and future by reading the energy of heaven and earth. That’s why I know about you. Ninth Princess Ilkana. Daughter of the Sixth Queen. And one who craves revenge. Isn’t that right?”

Looking at Jin Cheonhee’s serious expression, the smiling Princess Ilkana’s face distorted slightly.

“How did you…”

What appeared through the cracked mask was clearly killing intent.

It’s understandable to be surprised when I say I know her secret that even the Assassination Order doesn’t know.

If he didn’t explain properly, it was clear she would stab a blade in the back of his head the moment he released her.

However, as a mountain that must be crossed…

Sometimes, to gain true trust, one must cross a line.

In reality, Ilkana’s heart was filled with confusion.

If the Assassination Order knew her secret, she wouldn’t have been alive until now.

The most intimate secret. The fortress protecting her life.

How could Jin Cheonhee, the White-Robed Divine Dragon whom she had never met before, know this?

Jin Cheonhee looked at the beast growling inside the broken mask.

If I don’t answer properly, she will certainly bite my neck someday.

Though he knew this, Jin Cheonhee’s expression remained unwavering.

“Meeting you was coincidental. When I came here, I couldn’t know that you would come here to assassinate someone. But after preventing your attack and learning a bit about you, I thought. Perhaps… we could join hands.”

“…”

“You didn’t commit ‘suicide,’ the basic principle of the Assassination Order, because you desire revenge. Am I wrong?”

Ilkana answered with killing intent:

“You’re an interesting person. It seems physicians these days enjoy playing with people?”

“You flatter me. In truth, I don’t know everything. As I mentioned earlier, I can only see limitedly. So, do you believe my story?”

Jin Cheonhee smiled faintly.

Toward such a Jin Cheonhee, Ilkana spoke in a settled voice:

“…Whether I believe it or not isn’t important. Rather, I’m curious about what you want, brother.”

Still maintaining an inscrutable smile, she feigned composure.

If Three Seasons Tiger was a straightforward heroine, the Ilkana before him was a twisted partisan.

In some ways, she was several times more difficult to deal with than Three Seasons Tiger.

Huh, saving one person isn’t easy.

Jin Cheonhee was not Yeo Ha-ryoon.

Persuading and captivating someone by smashing their head with force was not his method.

Moreover, Jin Cheonhee’s goal wasn’t something grand like breaking heaven.

Only amazing people like protagonists can do that.

What Jin Cheonhee could do was just save the person before him, as far as his hands could reach.

To do that, he was just a bad adult who could tell any small lie.

Jin Cheonhee captured the atmosphere and continued:

“What I want is nothing else. Stay under me for five years, just five years.”

“Five years? That piques my interest.”

If one only heard her voice, it would seem she was persuaded, but Jin Cheonhee knew that wasn’t the case.

At this rate, she would just wait for the day she was released, then eliminate Jin Cheonhee as a future threat and disappear.

That’s Ilkana. That’s her character.

“You’re an assassin. And one with a broken string at that.”

To those words, she merely responded with a smile instead of an answer. Jin Cheonhee continued:

“Even if I release you obediently, the order will try to eliminate you, thinking you’ve defected. And you can’t die like this either. If you had wanted to commit suicide, you would have done so already.”

“Brother, you assume I’m that attached to life.”

“I just know you have a goal weightier than death. I also know you don’t believe in the Selim Theocratic State’s heavens.”

“…”

Touching the deepest place, Jin Cheonhee thought.

“In fact, I also know that even if I release you now and you seize the opportunity to kill me, reality won’t change. Just five years… I want us to be together for five years.”

With five years, even if I send her to Yeo Ha-ryoon, she won’t die.

Analyzing the original work, she ultimately died as a shield because the enemy was too powerful compared to her strength and experience.

And…

Realistically, it’s not easy to seek revenge, follow the path of the Heavenly Demon’s blood with Yeo Ha-ryoon, and train simultaneously.

Ultimately, the cause of Ilkana’s death lay in trying to catch several rabbits at once while the enemy was too powerful.

“If you want revenge, I’ll help. Probably… the Sultan, or someone close to him.”

“Oh? It seems brother can see such things too.”

“…The star energy in the Selim Theocratic State was too strong, allowing me to see. The energy of a greedy star.”

Jin Cheonhee looked into the distance again with distant eyes.

At Jin Cheonhee’s words, she burst into laughter.

“Brother, that’s enough. Let’s drop this shit prophet play. Yes. There’s no point hiding it now. I dream of revenge, and because of that, I broke the assassin’s code by not committing suicide. I probably won’t reach the heavens.”

Her laughter subsided. Eventually, she continued in a serious voice.

“Whatever your intentions… yes. I can see you’re an interesting person.”

“You don’t believe me?”

When Jin Cheonhee asked sourly, she shook her head.

“No, brother. This is my sense as an assassin—I can tell it’s true that you’re predicting some future. But, well. For some reason, I can also feel you’re trying desperately to save me. And…”

Crunch—

Her molars grated past with resentment.

“My choice is only one anyway. I want to live, and I’m in a position where I need to impress you. For that, I was prepared to lick even your shitty toes, brother.”

She closed her eyes.

Strangely, when she closed her eyes, she could hear the sound from that time.

The words her mother spoke while covering both her ears.

Her mother’s palms covered her ear lobes, making only muffled cries audible.

Did she ask to be saved? Or did she ask for revenge?

Or did she plead for at least her daughter to be saved?

It doesn’t matter. After all, the drug-trained, hungry beast cubs just needed to fill their stomachs.

She survived because her mother’s flesh was enough to fill their stomachs.

And because, even as she was being torn apart, her mother embraced her daughter and never let go until the end.

What did her mother say while covering her ears then?

To find that answer, she had to kill someone.

To place the one who caused this incident among those drug-addicted hungry beast cubs.

To throw them in with their children.

She needed to see what sounds they would make.

“It’s truly strange, brother. Somehow, according to my intuition… if I killed you, not only would I not get revenge, but truly shitty things would happen.”

Jin Cheonhee answered calmly:

“I’m not just asking you to stay. If you stay with me for five years, I’ll teach you some good martial arts. Then you can become stronger.”

Whatever assassin’s intuition was poking at the back of her head…

Jin Cheonhee was earnestly promoting.

Elder Phantom Archer… I’m currently packaging a decent new recruit.

Please wish me success!