# Chapter 98
Having confirmed that the red pattern on his palm had absorbed the black fragment without a trace, Chepel immediately picked Levi up.
Levi was wearing nothing but a thin bedsheet, which meant he might have to shiver in the cold night air soon to come, but this wasn’t particularly important to Chepel.
This was a body that wouldn’t catch any disease or die anyway. Rather than taking time to find something for him to wear, it was better to escape as quickly as possible.
Chepel carried Levi and opened the door.
Normally, there should have been undead soldiers standing guard inside the mansion, but on his way back, he had deliberately paid a few poor villagers to cause a disturbance. Being desperate for survival, they were now violently making a scene in front of the mansion as promised.
‘With attention drawn away now…’
Although the undead soldiers firmly believed they served the same lord, he was taking away Levi, whom Ion was trying to keep close at all costs. Naturally, they would find this suspicious.
Taking advantage of the moment when attention inside the mansion was focused outside, Chepel moved with his characteristic stealth and silence. Using the blind spots in the mansion he had identified beforehand, he fortunately reached the back door without being detected.
‘Encountering soldiers within the estate grounds is unavoidable.’
Even though he had diverted attention elsewhere, this was the Grand Duke’s mansion with numerous undead soldiers stationed. While there might be fewer inside the mansion, outside they would be densely positioned, standing guard.
‘Need another distraction…’
Chepel, who was planning to use Ion’s name to make the guards move elsewhere, noticed something strange as soon as he exited the mansion.
‘There are too few guards.’
Soon, instead of the current deep sunset glow, a pitch-black darkness would fall. Usually, security would tighten at night, but now it felt as sparse as if it were morning.
While this should have been good news for Chepel, he became tense instead, as there had never been so little presence at this hour.
Just then, as if waiting for Chepel, a presence began approaching him. Chepel placed Levi between some wooden crates near the back door to conceal him, then waited for whoever was approaching to reveal themselves.
“What’s this, why are you alone?”
The person who appeared under the sunset glow was Marquis Hest Wesslon.
As soon as Chepel confirmed who it was, he felt his tension ease and exhaled.
However, even though he knew this person had colluded with Raziel, it had only been a few days since he found out. Naturally, wariness flowed out.
“Marquis Wesslon, why are you here?”
Although there weren’t any undead soldier presences nearby, he carefully used honorifics just in case. Hest, revealing his face in the sunset glow, smirked.
“I came to clear away the soldiers at the back door. There are too many eyes, don’t you think?”
Chepel realized that Hest was at the mansion to help him escape. For Chepel, this was an unexpectedly great ally.
‘No wonder there were so few guards at the back door—it was his doing.’
“Then perhaps you’ve prepared horses too? We need them for quick movement.”
The horses he had used when traveling to and from Princess Claudia’s village were in the mansion’s stable. When moving alone, it wouldn’t have mattered, but in the current situation where he needed to take Levi with him, going to the stable to get a horse wouldn’t be easy.
Hest nodded as if he already knew everything and replied:
“I’ve prepared them. The path ahead should be smooth.”
“You’re quite perceptive.”
Thinking that thanks to Hest he could easily escape the Verdit territory, Chepel headed toward Levi, whom he had hidden between the wooden crates. Hest grabbed Chepel’s shoulder, making him turn back.
“Wait. The black fragment? That’s the most important thing.”
Hest gave him a suspicious look.
“Surely you’re not trying to run off with Levi first without even finding it?”
“Don’t worry.”
Chepel pointed to his collarbone area.
“It’s quite effective.”
“Oh…”
After removing Hest’s hand of admiration from his shoulder, Chepel approached Levi again.
“The fragment is already in the absorption phase. During that time, we need to move quickly without delay. Where did you tie up the horses?”
“You’re in a hurry.”
Despite the obviously urgent situation, Hest strangely seemed relaxed.
“I tied them up nearby. But the horse I prepared is a bit…”
Hest trailed off, scratching his cheek with a face that seemed to be deliberately avoiding the point.
At the same time, Chepel noticed someone’s violent presence that hadn’t been detectable until now.
“Very impetuous and fierce.”
As soon as those words ended, Chepel looked up with wide eyes at someone falling toward him from the sky. A cold blue sword blade bathed in the sunset glow and brilliant golden hair tinged with red completely dominated his vision.
Chepel couldn’t avoid Ion Verdit’s sword falling from the sky—specifically, through the third-floor window as if he had been waiting.
“Kugh—!”
He instinctively twisted his body, but Ion’s sword deeply pierced the right side of his chest. The tip of the sword that penetrated Chepel’s body as he fell was firmly embedded in the ground.
Ion, who had thrust the sword down with his full weight and mounted Chepel’s body, glared at him with eyes as cold as if covered with ice.
Chepel swallowed his groan with eyes mixed with pain and surprise.
“Why is Ion Verdit—!”
There was no need to finish his question.
The reason was obvious.
Chepel shifted his eyes to Hest Wesslon, who was just staring down at him.
Even while receiving such an intense stare, Hest smirked and arrogantly folded his arms.
“I told you, the horse I prepared is very impetuous and fierce.”
As he casually gestured toward Ion, it felt incredibly annoying.
Chepel felt his head throbbing more from trying to understand the current situation than from the pain of his pierced chest.
Hest, who picked up Levi from between the wooden crates, immediately contorted his face.
“This bastard has no sense of decency. It’ll get really cold at night, and he didn’t even wrap him in a blanket.”
Clicking his tongue, Hest held Levi close and glared at Chepel. Whether Hest’s words provoked Ion, the sharp sword now pierced through his right shoulder. Ion had considered making another hole in the opposite side of his chest, but with the power of the Black Hand embedded in him, even his immortality ability was now nullified. Stabbing his heart would be too merciful and excessive.
“Kruugh—!”
A moan swallowing a scream burst from Chepel’s mouth. Ion’s eyes looking down at him were filled with murderous intent.
“I was going to let you die peacefully in consideration of your effort in finding the fragment, but that seems impossible now.”
Ion glared at Chepel, who was fixed to the ground with the sword, and stood up. By then, Owen and two undead soldiers, who had been waiting in advance, were running over.
Ion stomped on Chepel’s stomach and ordered Owen:
“Cut off his limbs and throw him into the cages of young beasts.”
Ion’s voice was so cold it could freeze the surrounding air.
“Even though he’ll melt away on his own by tomorrow, it would be quite a sight to see him die while being bitten piece by piece by the small beast cubs.”
After saying these cruel words nonchalantly, Ion didn’t even glance at Chepel anymore, as if he no longer had any interest in him.
Ion approached Hest, who was tightly holding Levi, and extended his arms as if asking him to hand Levi over, but then noticed Chepel’s blood on his hands and forearms. Unable to bear the thought of staining Levi with the filthy blood, Ion wiped it off on Hest’s white uniform.
“Hey! Why are you wiping it on me?”
“If I wipe it on my clothes, it might get on Levi.”
“You could wipe it on your back or legs! This is a white uniform, you know!”
After leaving distinct bloodstains on Hest’s uniform, who was complaining, Ion quickly took Levi from him. With a face as infinitely gentle as if his earlier ice-cold demeanor had never existed, Ion planted a brief kiss on the forehead of Levi, whom he held in his arms.
Watching that scene with a bizarre expression, Hest shook his head at Chepel, who was being restrained and dragged away by Owen and the other undead soldiers.
“I told him the path would be smooth, but if you give such cruel orders, what does that make me?”
“What’s cruel about it?”
Ion’s eyes suddenly filled with anger.
“Those who see Levi as a monster are the cruel ones.”
“…Fine, fine. Now you’re going to tear people apart with just your gaze.”
When Hest waved his hand, Ion’s expression finally softened.
Hest was newly appalled by Ion’s mental structure. It was clear that everything in that golden head was composed entirely of Levi, without exception.
Even with Chepel, Ion could have dealt with him immediately when he brought the fragment, but instead carried out this business outside, saying there shouldn’t be the smell of blood in the mansion where Levi was.
‘His head is full of nothing but Levi.’
But that’s why Hest liked Ion.
Ion, who was walking ahead carrying Levi, turned to look at Hest as soon as he entered the mansion.
“No other contact from Raziel’s side?”
At Ion’s question, Hest shrugged.
“Besides telling me to use Chepel, there haven’t been any other messages yet. But when I report today’s events, they’ll probably send some new orders.”
Ion nodded and took another step forward.
“Be careful. Marquis Wesslon is a precious ‘double agent.'”
“Yes, yes.”
Responding half-heartedly while following Ion, Hest recalled the first day Raziel had contacted him.
