# Chapter 52
Hiding in the forest and monitoring the situation, Hest quickly threw a smoke bomb to obscure visibility before the soldiers could completely join Raziel. Then he swiftly rushed in, supported Ion, and ran straight toward the tunnel.
Throughout the run, he kept looking back several times, never dropping his guard. Despite their slow pace due to supporting the severely injured Ion, there was no sense of anyone pursuing them.
“Le…vi…”
Ion’s lips kept releasing Levi’s name as he moved forward with Hest’s support. Each time, blood gushed out from his pierced abdomen.
“Shut up. No matter how much you call, Levi won’t come.”
Hest, who had been watching the situation in hiding, could sense how things were unfolding, even without specific details. Despite this, Ion shook his head stubbornly.
“No… he can’t come… that bastard… because of that son of a bitch…”
A cold, murderous intent glinted in Ion’s weakened eyes.
“It’s him… he took Levi away… back then… and now too…”
“Just shut up already. How many pools of your blood have you made now?”
Even someone like Ion could face unknown consequences if such a severe wound worsened. Unlike Levi, he was not “immortal,” nor could he heal himself instantly as he did with others. He could only rely on his abnormal self-healing ability.
Meanwhile, Ion was aware of his physical condition even at this moment. He wouldn’t die from this. As proof, the intervals between the pools of blood he was leaving were growing longer, and their size was gradually diminishing.
Ion pushed away Hest who was supporting him. Then he turned around and tried to go back the way they had come.
“I have to… find Levi again…”
“Enough, you punk!”
Grabbing the arm of Ion who was staggering away, Hest finally raised his voice.
“Do you even know what kind of weapon stabbed you?!”
Ion looked at him as if wondering why the sword that suddenly stabbed him was important.
Hest had recognized the sword that had fallen beside Ion when rescuing him. The emblem embedded in the sword’s guard was clearly that of the Caron Empire’s imperial family. Moreover, the top of the sword’s hilt had a black diamond embedded in it, symbolizing the highest authority in the Caron Empire.
Only one person could proudly possess such a symbolic weapon.
“The one with Levi is none other than the Emperor of the Caron Empire!”
At those words, Ion’s eyes widened in surprise.
Emperor? The young Emperor of the Caron Empire?
Only then did Ion recall the man with Levi, examining him piece by piece.
Black hair and black eyes, a carriage that departed from the imperial palace, a sword embedded with a black diamond.
And the name Levi had called him.
“Raziel is coming too. I can’t leave him behind.”
Emperor Raziel Bisrua Caron of the Caron Empire.
Judging from the control and protection of the Black Forest, Ion had thought that perhaps a high-ranking official in the Caron Empire was trying to use Levi. But he never imagined it would be the Emperor himself.
If that’s the case, then all the events entangled with Levi so far had been a comedy played out on the palm of that Emperor.
“Your face was exposed, and things have gotten completely twisted. The Caron Empire, which has been quiet until now, will soon start a war using the excuse that a grand duke from an enemy nation attempted to assassinate their Emperor! We need to return to His Majesty immediately, inform him of this fact, and discuss a solution!”
“Discuss…? Is there anything to discuss…?”
Ion’s face, which seemed momentarily shocked, quickly turned cold. Seeing him like this, Hest couldn’t help but feel a chill down his spine.
Ion roughly spat out a blood clot that had been precariously rising in his throat onto the dirt floor.
“What does it matter if that man is the Emperor of an enemy nation? Ha… Either way, he’s someone I need to kill, that hasn’t changed.”
“Do you… even understand the seriousness of the situation?”
“Of course I do. That’s precisely why I’m saying this.”
Ion touched his stomach, where the bleeding had stopped without any specific treatment, and swallowed a breath at the burning ache.
“It’s not like I tried to kill the Emperor of a nation we have an alliance with.”
Ion’s lips twisted bitterly.
“Isn’t that right? Aren’t we in the midst of war after the ceasefire ended? All the people of the Caron Empire are enemies.”
“Well, that’s…”
Hest couldn’t refute his words. Indeed, the ceasefire agreement had ended two days ago, and now they were in a state of war as Ion said. Killing an enemy nation’s Emperor wouldn’t be a crime; rather, if successful, it would deserve commendation as an achievement.
The problem was that the land they were currently standing on was enemy territory. Stepping into enemy territory during wartime gives the enemy tremendous vigilance and implies a purpose of engaging in battle. Moreover, since the intruder was someone of the high position of a grand duke, they would surely try to capture him as a prisoner.
If not for the current chaotic state, it would be nearly impossible for Grand Duke Ion Verdit, a key figure in controlling the Delos Empire, to escape again.
“Even so, this is not the right approach right now.”
Shaking his head, Hest blocked Ion’s path and looked straight into his eyes.
“Please be rational, Your Grace, Grand Duke Verdit.”
The formal address, seemingly to remind Ion of his status, appeared to have an effect as Ion’s determined gaze faltered slightly.
“Even if you go after them now, there’s nothing we can do, just the two of us. They already have soldiers who were guarding the forest, and somewhere around here, unknown archers are lying in ambush. We can’t win with just ourselves.”
“No, I can kill them all by myself.”
“Even Levi?”
Ion’s shoulders flinched, and his face contorted. He shot a look of disgust, as if asking how Hest could even say such a thing. But Hest didn’t back down from Ion’s harsh gaze.
“You saw what state Levi is in now. He was protecting the Emperor of an enemy nation without any regard for his own injuries.”
Hest had seen Levi like this before.
On some day in the past when he had been kidnapped by bandits and was about to be torn to pieces, Levi had saved him and instead faced death as a tattered mess. Until the moment he vanished into black ashes, he desperately tried to protect Hest using his ragged body.
It was the same with Ion. Levi had tried to protect Ion even as his body was being torn and pierced in various places, and in the end, he saved Ion while turning to ashes himself.
The Levi then and the Levi now overlapped to the point of being identical. If that was the case, would Levi stand by if someone tried to kill the Emperor of the enemy nation?
“Levi would shield him with his body even if it meant his own death.”
Hest lowered his voice, as if providing the answer.
“So come to your senses and escape. We’ve clearly found out whose hands Levi is in and in what form, so that alone has achieved our purpose. Now, what you need to do is not to act in such a poor environment, but to devise a strategy so that Levi will voluntarily come to your palm.”
Hest struck a blow not to Grand Duke Verdit, but to Ion. It seemed to have an effect, as the madness swirling in Ion’s eyes gradually calmed.
Ion couldn’t refute his words. Thinking rationally, even if he were to go back immediately to capture Levi, he wasn’t sure if there was a way to bring him without hurting him.
His throat felt tight, and the tangy taste of blood seemed to grow stronger. Ion lightly caressed his neck with his blood-stained left hand. It felt hotter than his blood-soaked stomach.
His chest hurt intensely as he recalled the moment Levi’s fierce eyes turned toward him and his throat was constricted.
He had never seen such killing intent, even when Levi first came to assassinate him. It was completely different from the past when he had to kill humans because he needed sustenance or because of someone’s orders.
Because he truly wanted to kill.
The thought that he must kill the man before him, regardless of the need for sustenance.
Ion had never imagined that he would become the target, so his chest couldn’t help but ache as if it were being torn apart.
That’s why he needed to kill Raziel even more and take Levi away from him.
Because not only had Raziel set things up so that Levi had no choice but to look at Ion with those eyes, but it was also obvious he would continue to use Levi in the future.
‘Moreover…’
One person was enough for Levi to want to protect and to want to be protected by. Only Ion should be the meaningful one in his life.
To achieve that, he needed to kill the Emperor of the enemy nation who held Levi’s leash, and before that, eliminate the enemy soldiers blocking his path. As Hest said, he grew increasingly cautious at the thought that his current impatience might turn into poison directed at Levi.
Ion gazed wistfully at the path they had traveled, but eventually turned back with Hest.
“…Let’s go see His Majesty first. He’ll be very pleased if I say I’ll fulfill the contract first.”
As he turned back, his mind was filled with thoughts of not only destroying Raziel but the entire Caron Empire.
