𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐲'𝐬 𝐇𝐮𝐬𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 || 敵の旦那様 (𝐁𝐋) ✔ [COMPLETE]

52. Double-edged Sword

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It was almost the time of the night when ghosts trekked trees but the oil lamp within the General's tent was still lit. He couldn't fall asleep, not even when he closed his eyes and pretended to be consumed by slumber. He could feel the weight of the night on him; the sensation of each passing wind heightened by the darkness and every stab, every jab at his heart felt more real than it should have.

And it was beyond the sense of betrayal he felt from Fu Lin's doing.

There was also a thread of questions that remained unanswered in the grand scheme of these things happening around him. A loophole in the events that he couldn't quite piece together.

The Assassin.

It was peculiar–both his appearance and disappearance. He appeared unannounced, unfathomable, and out of thin air. He disappeared the same.

It was, of course, not all that strange for an assassin to be inconspicuous, but Haoran had more or less some degree of knowledge pertaining to existing assassins within the Empire of Blazing Sun. He knew of their calibre and had a certain level of information regarding the major organisations and alliances of illegal bounds that traded hitmen, assassins and homicidal mercenaries. He knew of their respective techniques, the most gruesome killers among them and the most wanted candidates.

But the carriage rider assassin was a completely bizarre case.

The level of skill he displayed could give even Haoran himself a run for his money. Additionally, he wielded a Katana–an unusual weapon for someone of the Blazing Sun plains, and Haoran could hardly deduce who he was when he confronted him. But he was an excellent swordsman and the grace with which he manoeuvred the Katana was something he had never before seen, not even with his experience on the battlefield for over a decade.

That was not all.

Even after the incident, when both he and Fu Lin managed to leave the scene unscathed after jumping down from the carriage, he sent a subordinate to report on the remnants of the carriage. Even there, they found nothing.

The carriage was completely crushed, but beneath the wooden debris, they found no blood nor flesh. The assassin seemed to have made it out alive quite unfortunately. And any investigation conducted regarding his existence ultimately turned out futile because, according to any and

every report he found, there was no such person. Not by appearance and not by skill. Even portraits of the assassin were deemed laughing stock by actual hitmen.

This meant only two possible scenarios: His identity was either protected by somebody among the nobles so strongly that they left no traces of his existence. And if anybody in the country wanted him dead, it was those damn political rats.

The second and most likely scenario was that the assassin was a Silver Mountaineer. It was also... quite probable that Fu Lin colluded with him.

Haoran sighed. His eyes reddened and he crumpled the parchment in his hands. Goddamnit. He wanted to sleep.

But he couldn't. And he couldn't stop the dread that pooled in his chest by the minute. And he couldn't help thinking that this was what Fu Lin had intended from the beginning–to trick him. To show that he was trustworthy so that he could gain his favour to stop any possibility of a divorce.

Because the possibility of the assassin being a Silver Mountaineer felt more credible than every other case.

For starters, the assassin being one of such incredible skill and of unmasked bloodthirst would have caused quite the stir in the Blazing Sun's hitmen society. The underworld of Blazing Sun would not turn a blind eye to such an amazing swordsman and yet he disappears leaving no trace. Therefore, it was quite unlikely that he was a Blazing Sunner.

But it'd make sense for him to be a Silver Mountaineer because as knowledgeable as he was, Haoran and the Blazing Sun underworld are ignorant of the Silver Mountain's swordsmanship except on the battlefield.

Secondly, when Haoran investigated the minister of revenue's stables and the riders, he was informed that the actual rider due that day was found tied up and unconscious in a bush nearby. And Haoran instinctively knew that, that was not how somebody who wanted to disguise and shelter an assassin would do things meticulously. And provided that the minister of revenue had somehow hired the assassin, there was no need for him to assign another rider for that day.

It seemed as if this was somehow not within the minister's control. And if this was an act on his part to distract if an investigation were to be conducted, then it still made no sense to tie up the actual rider. It's almost as if the assassin didn't want the actual rider to alert the minister's manor that somebody else replaced him when the assassin got into action and stole the carriage.

And the final basis as to why he deemed the assassin to be Silver Mountaineer was because of Fu Lin's undisguised show of victory over the carriage rooftop at the time. Fu Lin had been a coward through and through and though he occasionally surprised Haoran with unfounded bravery in the most bizarre occasions, the fact that he was able to take down a seasoned killer

by throwing sand on his face seemed too much of a coincidence. Perhaps they had already discussed the scene in advance.

And maybe Fu Lin initially wanted him dead but changed his mind later on.

He couldn't suppress the cold that seeped into his body as the oil lamp died out. He didn't want to go there... because he more or less felt he yielded better benefits to Fu Lin alive than dead. They wanted him to prevent a divorce and a dead man automatically annuls the marriage. That, however, did not make him feel any better.

He felt like he was walking a double-edged sword. And that he'd inevitably cut himself; no matter the side.

And that the sword was Fu Lin.

His eyes trembled as he tried to fall asleep. But he couldn't, not when one of his subordinates came rushing into the tent and cried,

"Your Grace! An imperial edict from the Emperor is here!"

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( ' ∀ ')ノ～ ♡ Hi lovelies! How's life for you? Mine's been okay. By the way if you have  any theories, predictions or guesses on what could happen in the story in the future or answers for unanswered questions in the story yet, Don't be shy (' ε ' )♡ Drop your theories here! 

(つ✧ω✧)つ I'm very interested about whatever ideas or directions you have come up with!

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