#41: Chapter 41 — Snatching the Villain’s Precious Princess

“The former Commander of the West Sea Legion is imprisoned in the offshore prison too, isn’t she? We can rescue her while we’re at it. Then it won’t be a deal that only benefits us.”

Just as Morae had expected, the Shadow Knights themselves posed no real threat to her.

That might change if they failed to get what they wanted, but for now, that was the reality.

In fact, their goals overlapped with hers to a certain extent.

Bringing Seo Jeongeon back into the open.

And rescuing those imprisoned in the offshore prison.

Those were both things Morae wanted as well.

Regardless of what had happened to the late First Commander, if they could rescue Kim Sowol from prison and Seo Jeongeon returned from hiding, the four founders of the West Sea Legion would finally be reunited.

If that happened, both her father and mother would have far less to worry about, and the Legion’s standing would only continue to rise.

But if only it were that simple.

“Don’t you think?”

“I understand how you feel.”

After losing the vice leader—the pillar holding the organization together—the Shadow Knights’ strength had fallen to less than half.

With the people they had left, there was no way they could assault the offshore prison, the fortress renowned for being impregnable.

Swallowing their pride, the Shadow Knights had asked the West Sea Legion for help.

Their leader had even bowed their head, only to be coldly refused.

Left with no alternatives, they had kidnapped Morae.

One wrong move could bring about the complete destruction of their organization.

But they had no other choice.

Morae understood how they felt.

She could vividly imagine the crushing sense of loss the Shadow Knights must have experienced after losing both their vice leader—the heart of the organization—and several comrades.

She, too, had experienced losing people precious to her more times than she cared to remember.

“You understand, don’t you? That place is a nightmare. The first and second levels aren’t so bad, but the deeper you go, the less information anyone has. Nobody knows what happens down there. Do you?”

“…”

Unfortunately, she didn’t.

Morae chose not to answer.

“If it were merely cruel or painful, they’d publicize it to intimidate underground Hunters. But the fact that they don’t talk about it means it’s something far worse than that. Our vice leader and the former Commander of the West Sea Legion are both imprisoned in those deepest levels. We can’t leave our vice leader in a place like that.”

“I understand.”

It was the most sincere thing she’d said since being kidnapped.

It probably wasn’t comforting.

But at least it conveyed genuine empathy.

Years ago, when Kim Sowol had been transferred to the offshore prison, Morae had caused quite a scene herself.

Still just a child, she’d cried for days, throwing tantrums and begging everyone to go bring her aunt back.

Kim Sowol hadn’t simply been dragged off to prison.

She had led half of the Legion into a desperate battle against the Hunter Association—and lost.

At the height of the conflict between the government and the West Sea Legion, Kim Sowol could no longer tolerate the government exploiting and insulting the death of the First Commander.

Within the Legion, Kim Sowol led the hardliners, who insisted on confronting the Hunter Association directly.

Opposing them were Eun Jisung and Han Nokyeong—the moderates—who believed a full-scale conflict had to be avoided.

The West Sea Legion split in two.

Led by Kim Sowol, the hardliners assaulted Hunter Association headquarters.

They were defeated.

And imprisoned.

To the young Morae, every part of it had been traumatic.

The family she loved had split into hardliners and moderates, fought one another for what felt like forever, and ultimately broke apart.

A third of them never came back.

Kim Sowol had been imprisoned in the offshore prison—a place rumored to never even return the bodies of the dead.

Not long afterward, Seo Jeongeon, who had remained neutral throughout it all, disappeared into seclusion.

In the midst of all that chaos, Morae had felt as though countless blades were tearing her body apart.

“But no.”

That was precisely why she knew.

Her father and mother would never go to rescue those imprisoned there.

It had been the same back then.

They hadn’t gone to save Kim Sowol.

They hadn’t stopped Seo Jeongeon from leaving.

No matter how much Morae cried, begged, or threw tantrums, they never wavered.

They refused to leave White City because they couldn’t risk the people who remained.

If they hadn’t gone to rescue Kim Sowol—a companion who had endured countless hardships alongside them as an experimental subject—then rescuing the Shadow Knights’ vice leader?

That was impossible.

“They’ll do it.”

The woman narrowed her eyes.

Her greatsword sliced through the sturdy dining table as effortlessly as cutting castella sponge cake.

Lowering her head, she gently stroked Morae’s cheek.

The rough, calloused hand scraped painfully against her skin.

“Because we have you. No matter how cold that doctor is, he’ll react differently when it’s his own daughter.”

“Mm. I’m sleepy. If we’re done here, can you take me to my room now?”

Instead of arguing with the kidnappers, Morae simply changed the subject.

She only spoke about what she wanted to discuss and let out a long yawn.

The first rule of being a hostage was never to let yourself get dragged into the captor’s pace.

Since turning sixteen, only one kidnapper had ever managed to disrupt Morae’s rhythm.

Pado.

He had been different from the very beginning.

Ironically, he’d never intended to kidnap Morae at all.

He’d been dragged into the situation without even realizing it was a kidnapping, and that was how they’d met.

Occasionally, there were kidnappers soft-hearted enough to pity their hostage.

Despite her actual abilities, Morae had been born with an appearance that made her look delicate and vulnerable, and she’d taken full advantage of that over the years.

Since the Gates had appeared, people of every age and gender had gained extraordinary abilities.

Even so, humanity’s old prejudices remained deeply ingrained.

By the age of eight, Pado had already been strong enough to defeat five grown adults.

Yet adults still instinctively believed he was someone who needed protecting.

Morae ranked among the top one percent of combat-oriented Hunters—even when compared to both women and men.

Yet people unconsciously saw her as someone fragile who needed to be protected.

The instincts built up over tens of thousands of years naturally led people to judge strength and weakness by appearances.

Pado was different.

From the very beginning, he had never looked at Morae as someone pitiful.

Whether it was because everyone in the world seemed weaker than him and he treated everyone equally, or because he already knew her history, she couldn’t tell.

Either way, he was neither especially gentle nor especially cold toward her.

When he’d grabbed her ankle and thrown her, his movements hadn’t been rough.

But unlike everyone else, he hadn’t shown the slightest hesitation at the sight of a young girl’s delicate face or body.

She’d never resorted to tearfully pleading with Association Hunters.

Even if she had, it probably wouldn’t have worked on him.

The reason he’d freed her was because of his pride and his resentment toward the Association.

For nothing more than those reasons, he’d chosen a path that ruined his own future.

Honestly…

It would have been easier if he’d simply fallen for her.

If he’d said he couldn’t bring himself to beat up and imprison a helpless young woman because his conscience wouldn’t allow it, people would have believed him.

Instead, he’d coldly thrown her aside while rescuing her for no such reason.

That was exactly what made him so appealing.

He was so foolishly stubborn it almost made her laugh.

That was why Morae had persuaded him to join the West Sea Legion.

She still couldn’t forget how she’d felt when he’d taken her hand.

“What’s so funny?”

The woman with her hair tied up shot her a chilly look.

Coming back to herself, Morae answered with her brightest smile.

“Mind your own business. It’s my problem.”

Escorted to her room, Morae looked around.

The room was about the size of a hotel suite.

“At least you have some decency. The room and the food are both pretty good.”

“You sure talk a lot. You’re like the Princess and the Pea.”

“I’m nicer than she was. I even compliment people.”

The Princess and the Pea.¹

Compared to that princess, Morae had praised both the meals and the accommodations while genuinely enjoying them.

She found it irritating that the members of Shadow Knights refused to appreciate just how considerate she was.

Driving the kidnappers away as they continued picking pointless fights with her, Morae flopped onto the bed.

The waterbed was pleasantly soft.

She wasn’t flattering them just to earn goodwill.

Shadow Knights had actually treated her with considerable respect.

They’d prepared proper meals, given her a comfortable room, and hadn’t recklessly laid hands on her.

Well…

Someone had tried.

But his companions had immediately beaten him for it, so it hardly counted.

It wasn’t realistic to expect greater kindness from kidnappers.

Considering the circumstances, this was more than acceptable.

It wasn’t as though underground Hunters bold enough to kidnap Morae had suddenly become intimidated by her family’s reputation.

They had clearly prepared everything in advance with the intention of treating her well.

Their words and attitudes toward her remained rough despite all those preparations, but that was probably the stick to accompany the carrot.

They didn’t want Morae becoming too comfortable.

They weren’t bad at balancing rewards and threats.

Either way, they’d even given her a private room.

There was undoubtedly some sort of surveillance hidden somewhere, but even so, this was exceptional treatment for a hostage.

When Morae complained, they had even provided her with a slime.

Seeing that they weren’t relying solely on intimidation but were actually thinking things through, she could tell just how serious they were about rescuing their vice leader.

At first she’d assumed she’d simply happened to be standing where the helicopter crashed through the wall.

Now she was convinced that had been calculated too.

‘But they’re sloppy.’

They’d made the mistake of believing one person was enough to keep Morae under control.

It had probably been a compromise to avoid provoking the West Sea Legion any further.

Still, a mistake was a mistake.

If maintaining relations with the Legion forced them to hold back this much, then perhaps they had never possessed any path to victory in the first place.

Morae suddenly sat up, hugged the slime wriggling around the room, and began rummaging through its body.

She hadn’t inherited much of her father’s intelligence.

Being generous, maybe one quarter.

Realistically…

Probably one tenth.

What people overlooked, however, was just how extraordinary a genius Eun Jisung truly was.

Morae had inherited only a tiny fraction of that brilliance.

Even that tiny fraction was enough for others to call her a strategist.

For example…

She could build an explosive device right here in this room.

A small slime.

Some yeast.