Chapter 26 - EPISODE 26 – DEVIL’S HAND (7) (1/2)
“I want to go with my beloved Jude Bayer! We-we’re inseparable!”
“Yes, that’s perfect. That’s all you have to do.”
Jude clapped his hands, and Cordelia closed her eyes tightly with a red face and threw up a curse.
“Oh, really.”
“Yes, I understand. I understand.”
Cordelia’s face flushed even more when Jude sympathized with her. It was not from shame but because of anger.
“Hey!”
“Yes?”
“Why!”
“Huh?”
“Why is it me again? You, you can do it! That’s right! It doesn’t necessarily have to be me!”
Cordelia’s argument was that Jude and Cordelia love each other and not that Cordelia loves Jude one-sidedly.
As if she came to a great realization, Cordelia’s eyes sparkled in excitement, but Jude shook his head.
“Hey, that’s not it.”
“Why…what…why is it not you? Is this because of Gueumjulmaek again?”
“No, it’s not because of Gueumjulmaek. Just think it through with common sense.”
Jude made some big gestures with his two hands to calm her down, and then stood up and continued to speak.
“Who of us has business in the north? You or me?”
“You.”
“That’s right, it’s me. So it’s a situation where Cordelia wants to ‘follow’ me, right?”
“And?”
“If I say that I don’t want to be separated from Cordelia here, and that I want to ‘take’ Cordelia with me because we’re in love, it sounds different, right?”
Jude had an awkward and bitter smile, and Cordelia was in tears again.
It was as Jude said.
There was a huge difference between Jude ‘taking’ Cordelia, and Cordelia ‘following’ Jude.
“So, if you think about it rationally, it’s a situation where Cordelia has to appeal to follow Jude. I would have done it had I been in the opposite situation. Really. Cross my heart.”
Cordelia frowned when Jude put his hand on his chest as if he really swore.
“I hate you.”
“I’m sorry, I love you.”
“What is this crazy bastard saying?”
“I just told you, okay?”
Jude slyly smiled as he sat back down, and the pouting Cordelia sat down too.
“Okay, let’s say that we’ll solve that problem with that. However, we still need to coordinate our stories for the information exchange and so on that will happen later tonight.”
“Is it because we defeated Minos?”
“Yes, Lucas helped us, but no matter how you think of it, it was still too much for the three of us to defeat Minos.”
If Minos had only fought with Jude’s party, he could’ve said, “Minos was just weak.” The problem was the fact that Minos defeated none other than the Flame Wizard Ronin in front of everyone.
Everyone would have thought it was strange if Jude and Cordelia had defeated such a strong man.
“Hmm…how about we say that he was tired and weak because he fought with Ronin?”
“That will work, but I even sold my father’s name…so to draw a big picture, we need to play another card.”
“Another card?”
“Come closer for a second.”
Jude suddenly looked around as he spoke in a small voice, and Cordelia blinked her eyes and sat closer to Jude.
“So…”
As Jude explained in a small whisper, Cordelia quietly listened and at some point, nodded.
It’s because she thought that it was a plausible story.
“Hey…by the way.”
“What?”
“Do we really have to talk in whispers?”
There was the only the two of us in the room in the first place.
“No, I did it unconsciously. I just went along with the ambience.”
Cordelia’s eyes narrowed in anger, while Jude made an awkward laugh.
‘Sometimes I don’t know if he’s stupid or smart.’
I’m sure he’s crazily smart, but he has a clumsy side to him too.
‘Indeed, Outboxer is a human too.’
Cordelia convinced herself as she nodded and quietly smiled, while Jude continued his words as if to change the topic.
“Do you somehow understand it? I’ll go ahead with the whole story, so you can match with my rhythm later.”
“Okay.”
They have to pull off their plan this evening.
Jude and Cordelia looked at each other and nodded.
***
Treigian, one of Langesthei’s leading luxury lodgings, was much more crowded than usual.
This is because all the children from the 12 northern families who were staying in Langesthei moved to Treigian. And at night, guests from various places gathered there too, including the knights.
While the Order of the Blue Lion and the Langesthei Guard fiercely guarded Treigian, the Blue Lion’s knight commander, Sir Barua, and the Langesthei Guard’s captain were inside. Langesthei’s mayor and the wizards of the Red Dawn Tower, led by Flame Wizard Ronin, also visited Treigian.
And at 8pm, in the conference room located in Treigian’s 1st floor, Jude stood and started talking to everyone.
“We met the Fairy Queen.”
“What?”
“Fairy Queen. The queen of the fairies. Oh, of course, the fairies have many queens just like humans. It’s not just one.”
Everyone in the conference room looked around at each other in confusion to Jude’s explanation.
Wasn’t he going to talk about how he defeated the demonic human?
Why did he talk about the Fairy Queen all of a sudden?
Moreover, he met the Fairy Queen?
“Are you confused? I understand, but it’s true. Me and Lady Cordelia met the Fairy Queen a few days before arriving at Langesthei.”
The atmosphere in the conference room shifted to “Let’s hear it for now” as Jude calmly spoke.
A satisfied Jude continued to speak.
“It was a fantastic night with a very beautiful moon. The fairies fell in love with Lady Cordelia’s dazzling appearance and asked her if she wanted to participate in the Fairy Queen’s night banquet.”
Jude pointed to Cordelia as he spoke, and everyone’s eyes turned to her. Cordelia’s face instantly blushed red and she lowered her head.
‘W-what’s the crazy bastard saying?’
It was true, but it was still embarrassing.
However, Jude asked Cordelia indifferently.
“Isn’t it true, Lady Cordelia? The fairies approached and said that Lady Cordelia was so beautiful, and that you were invited to the Fairy Queen’s night banquet, right?”
“Uh…yes…”
Cordelia responded with a despondent voice, but everyone in the room did not doubt her sincerity.
It was indeed true that Cordelia was a very beautiful girl. Furthermore, it was cute to see her blushing in embarrassment.
“In the meantime, a Bicorn suddenly appeared and attacked us. The fairies said that the Bicorn always bothered them.”
The word “Bicorn” lit up the eyes of the wizards, including Ronin.
The Bicorn was a monster that was hard to see like the Unicorn.
“This is the horn of the Bicorn we defeated at that time. Me and Lady Cordelia fought together to bring it down, and we took one horn each.”
Wonder and amazement spread among the wizards as Jude gently shook the Bicorn’s horn he held in his hand.
“Wait, can you show me that for a moment?”
“Of course.”
In response to the wizard’s request, Jude handed over the Bicorn’s horn through Jun, who was next to him.
“Oh, it’s real.”
“It’s real. It’s clearly the Bicorn’s horn. It’s filled with chaotic energy.”
The atmosphere in the conference room changed a little when the wizards admired the horn.