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“What I commissioned as an agent for Canael was the assassination of the 4th Prince Seth, and several teams responded to my request and demanded various remunerations.”
Canael was not simply an organization that receives commission then assigns and dispatches those who met the request conditions. They, who unconditionally form a pair of two, write down their detailed skills, specialties, and desired commission fees if someone requests it to Canael and wants to receive it. The client scans the collected resumes and selects a pair according to the skills he wants and the commission he can afford.
Zair also received several pairs of resumes in the same way and selected one of them.
“I decided to pay one of the team’s half of the gold they wanted and give the rest after the completion of the mission. But when they tried to assassinate Seth, they were caught and torn to pieces by him instead.”
Mendel’s face trembled at the last words. He remembered the other day when he went hunting with Sethian, he tore one of his servants alive to death because he said he was irritating to the eyes. Considering the situation, he was the servant who was supposed to shoot a poisoned arrow at Sethian, but he doesn’t know if it was because he was caught or not, but the way he handled it was too cruel. Just thinking about that time still makes him feel nauseated.
“It’s a story I heard after stabbing one of the guards in the dungeon they were being held at the time, but it is said that the Canael’s assassins died suddenly, without poisoning them or trying to kill them. They said it was due to Canael’s strong brainwashing to protect information about the client.”
Mendel has also heard of it while passing by. And as Zair said, the people of Canael not only have their tongues cut off to prevent them from divulging the client’s information under any circumstances, but they have also undergone strong brainwashing to deal with in case of mission failure.
But then what? If you got paid, you have to succeed no matter what.
“It must have been impossible for the Canaels, who said they could do anything, to cut Sethian’s neck.”
“I deliberately left it to the least skilled team to make the task impossible.”
Mendel’s eyes filled with doubts at Zair’s words. Wasn’t it only natural to send the team with the best skills to increase the chances of success?
“I just wanted to check what would happen when they failed. This is something we need to know before making a full-scale request.
If, contrary to the rumors, that their mouth was light or the suicide from brainwashing was false, the agent who commissioned Canael by now would have been a corpse torn by Sethhian’s hands by now. Fortunately, he is still alive and well.
“Their client’s privacy security could be trusted.”
Mendel, who had been quietly listening to Zair all this time, raised one corner of his mouth, smirked, and crossed his arms.
“Even so, isn’t the problem their skill? I don’t believe that Canael’s gutter rats would be able to do anything to Sethian.”
“In fact, that’s why I proposed an alliance.”
Zair looked at all his siblings, including Mendel, one by one and said.
“On the list of assassins received through the agent, there was a pair of deputy-guildmasters.”
“Deputy-Guildmasters?”
Even Mendel, who had neither interest nor thought to know about Canael, opened his eyes wide to the fact that a Deputy-Guildmaster Pair had responded. The Deputy-Guildmaster Pair, which is no different from the second best-ranked team in Canael, which ranks as the most talented members, was famous for their chronicles of attacking the mansion of a war hero who had many enlisted soldiers and was devastated by the two of them alone.
It was said that they screen a lot of requests to cover up, so they rarely respond.
“Their skills are well known by word of mouth. No matter how tall and high Sethian flies, he won’t be able to withstand the two.”
Even if they have to pass through countless crises, they will surely bring Sethian’s head.
“As you know, we don’t have much time left. According to the imperial doctors, His Majesty’s breath will likely to stop in as early as a month, or at most, two months. Even the nobles who used to stay away from the limelights were now anxious to meet Sethian in a hurry.”
In the Kinellian Empire, the right to succession to the throne is prioritized over the thickness of the imperial bloodline, the power of the nobility on its back, and the support of the people. Unless Sethian personally comes forward and announces that he will renounce his right to the throne, he may sit on the throne as it is. In particular, if he becomes deeply interested in the throne because of the golden arts allowed only to the emperor, it will inevitably be the case.
“It’s now past the time to be wishy-washy in making our resolve.”
Raminez reached out and brought the already cold tea to his lips. His snake-like eyes curved like crescent moons.
“Let’s completely eliminate Sethian first before we keep a tab on others.”
Mendel, who regained his composure as the conversation continued, remained silent for a moment. He lowered his eyes and focused his gaze on the remaining tea left on his cup.
“I know that you guys want to utilize them, and I also know that we don’t have much time left. However, I still don’t know why it is necessary for us to form an alliance. You could have done it by yourself.”
“Although the remuneration offered by that pair is a deferred payment, it is because I cannot pay it alone.”
Mendel raised his head and looked at Zair. How-the-hell-much compensation do they want?
Zair held out a piece of paper he had received through an agent from his bosom and showed it to him. At the end of the paper, which was full of the history of the Deputy-Guildmaster Pair, the remuneration they wanted was written.
“What the pair wants is a written contract of the four of us that promised the position of ‘the next emperor’s knights’.”
“What?!”
Mendel’s eyes widened. As he said, that was the only reward written on the paper.
The written contract can only be prepared at the Magic Tower, and if the contents of the contract are not fulfilled, the creator will be cursed and will die within a few days. Canael’s Deputy-Guildmaster Pair has demanded four such contracts in exchange for a huge remuneration. If all four of them sign the same contract and give it to them, then whoever becomes emperor has no choice but to give up their personal knight’s position to pay for the remuneration.
“If we really want to get rid of Sethian for sure, we will have to ride the same boat, brother.”
At Zair’s words, Mendel’s dry saliva went over his throat.
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“Hmm, do I fold it like this….”
As he tilted his head and folded the white memo several times, Yi-Gyeol’s face suddenly turned bright as if he had found the way to do it too late.
His lap was full of memo papers that failed to form a shape, and the paper in his hand, which was successful, had a crooked shape somewhere. Still, he was quite proud that it had a shape enough to recognize what it was folded into.
“Your brain’s not dead yet, Joo Yi-Gyeol.”
He praised himself and looked down at the white butterfly in his hand.
Five years ago, on the eve of the CSAT exam, his younger sister, Yi-Jin, who was a middle school student at that time, held out a small box of chocolate and a beautifully folded butterfly to pray for his success in passing the test. It was in the shape of a butterfly that Yi-Jin taught when she was still in elementary school and he helped her with her origami homework. When he opened the butterfly that Yi-Jin gave him, there was a lot of encouragement written in cute letters.
Unlike the butterfly which was folded with a large letter paper at the time, what was in Yi-Gyeol’s hand was infinitely small. However, he had no choice but to use a memo paper as it is the only paper he could obtain in this place, his space. So instead of writing a lot, he decided to fold several pages and put a simple phrase of encouragement.
Recalling how to fold a butterfly somehow, Yi-Gyeol looked at the white butterfly in his hand and thought of Seth.
It has already been eight days since he started meeting Seth, following the golden butterfly that comes every day. Just until a few days ago, he was full of thoughts about what to do if there was no golden butterfly and what to do if he could not meet Seth again. Now that he thinks about it, they all just seem like baseless worries.
‘It’s no big deal, right?’
He often thinks about that every time he’s awake. And the uneasiness that comes every time it does, destroys Yi-Gyeol’s complexion at once.
He(S) was the first friend he had since he got sick. He(S) hadn’t even seen his(JYG) face, so he doesn’t know what he would think, but at least Yi-Gyeol thought of him as a close friend.
‘Friend….’
He had quite a few friends during his school days, but as he got sick and his waking hours decreased significantly, he naturally became distant from them. His friends stopped contacting him altogether so as not to wake him up from a disease that would kill him if he didn’t sleep for a long time.
Even if Yi-Gyeol contacted them from time to time, there were many cases where he couldn’t reach them because of their busy college life or military service. No, he really doesn’t know, perhaps they just didn’t receive it on purpose. To them, he was just a pitiful person who they had to express their sympathy unilaterally, and he was a person who could not even hang out with them even if he wanted to in the future.
So he also gave up on his friends early on. If his existence was only a burden to them and was unnecessary, he would rather live cleanly. Of course, he felt bad inside, but it was okay. He has a loving family, and he thought that their affection and care were sufficient.