Episode 132
Chapter 42. Taimun Marius (5)

As the nursemaid of Runcandel, Taimun possessed skills well above the seventh rank. Yet, caught completely off guard, she was powerless against the sudden ambush from those she had thought were allies.

Thud!

A dagger thrown by Jin pierced the assassin’s shoulder, preventing him from delivering a proper strike. Taimun, reacting just in time, narrowly avoided a fatal wound.

Just a graze on the shoulder blade. Still, Taimun’s eyes widened in disbelief, as if she couldn’t accept what was happening.

That was close. If I’d been even a moment slower, Taimun would have been done for.

There was a mountain of information Jin needed to extract from her.

He hadn’t saved her out of kindness.

For over fifteen years since that fateful day, he had failed to find a single clue about the culprit behind the curse. He couldn’t allow the perpetrator to die unpunished. And if anyone was to pass judgment, it had to be him.

He would find not only Taimun but also the brother lurking behind her, and finally settle the score from their past lives. Jin clenched his teeth, his heart heavy.

“Who dares—on my land!”

Luna swung her Krantel, and with a single slash, two assassins’ heads were severed.

If they had been true Runcandel execution knights, they would have withstood at least one blow. Luna’s eyes narrowed as she realized they were impostors.

Before the assassins’ heads even hit the ground, Jin closed the distance to Taimun in a flash.

“Who sent you? Who defiled the name of Runcandel?”

Luna’s furious voice echoed, causing the remaining assassins to stagger back.

Not out of fear of her strength, but because they couldn’t handle the overwhelming aura she radiated—it was a reflex.

If the power in her voice drained their strength so easily, they were no higher than sixth rank. And with only five of them, once their initial assassination failed, they had lost every chance.

But they were assassins, not warriors—highly trained killers.

Even after losing two comrades in an instant, their eyes remained cold and fixed solely on Taimun.

“Jin!”

“Don’t worry!”

Jin hurled Bradamante at the assassin who had first targeted Taimun. At the same time, he pulled her back and threw her behind him. The assassin regained balance and swung his dagger again.

Shing!

But Jin sliced through the assassin’s entire arm holding the dagger, spun around, and grabbed his neck—cutting it clean.

Blood splattered as Jin felt an unsettling certainty: these assassins had come expecting death from the start. They had come to die alongside Taimun.

“I was right, Taimun Marius. Your master never intended to save you.”

Jin said calmly, wiping the blood from his blade. By then, Luna had broken the limbs of the remaining two assassins, ending the fight.

They hadn’t killed them because there were too many questions to ask.

Crack!

Luna crushed the assassins’ steel masks, tearing them off like paper.

“These who are not involved will be spared if you tell us everything…”

She stopped abruptly, staring at their faces. Jin, approaching, swallowed hard.

Their faces were a grotesque patchwork of scars, from forehead to jaw, with ears half torn off.

The wounds were fresh, swollen and raw—clearly done recently to conceal their identities.

And they were already dead. Their eyes rolled back, frothing at the mouth.

“What the hell…!”

“Wait, sister.”

Jin shoved his fingers into the mouths of the dead assassins. Though their tongues were missing, he felt tiny granules near their molars.

“They had poison pellets hidden between their teeth. Looks like they bit down just before or after being subdued.”

“Damn it… this is despicable.”

Luna pressed her forehead, troubled. Even before the assassins arrived, her mind had been unsettled by Taimun’s behavior. Now, she had no choice but to accept the truth.

Her nursemaid had tried to kill Jin. And behind it all, one of the brothers was surely pulling the strings.

Their plan was to eliminate Taimun first, erasing all traces.

Anger and despair surged through Luna.

“How… how could my nursemaid do this to me? How? When I asked to investigate who tried to harm Jin, she shamelessly pretended not to know…”

Luna couldn’t bring herself to look toward Taimun.

Her heart was in chaos. Just hours ago, Taimun had been the person she trusted most in the world.

Until the very end.

Luna wanted to believe there was some misunderstanding. To strike down Taimun—who was like a mother to her—would be harder than confronting the brothers themselves.

It must be devastating. Just as Lilli was to me, Taimun was more than a mother to you, sister.

Jin’s heart was heavy too. But this bitter reality was something he had braced for the moment he put Taimun on the suspect list.

If he had planned to let things slide this lifetime, he wouldn’t have come to Luna in the first place.

The curse of the blade’s madness. Twenty-five years of misery, ending with exile from the family. Taimun Marius, you will tell me everything.

Jin took slow, deliberate steps toward Taimun. At the sound of his steady footsteps, Luna squeezed her eyes shut.

“My dear sister.”

“Yes, sister.”

“I must steel my heart now. Regarding your nursemaid’s attempt on your life, I will take responsibility. Until all her crimes are revealed, I will not interfere with you.”

Luna’s voice was low, soaked with tears of blood.

“There is no need for you to bear that burden, sister.”

Jin looked down at Taimun, who was leaning against the wall.

“Ho, hoho… I never imagined it would come to this, Master Jin.”

Her voice trembled—not from fear or confusion, but from the fading strength of a dying person. Her breathing was ragged.

No way!

Jin hurriedly bent down to check her complexion. Cold sweat covered her face, and dark blood dripped from her slightly parted lips.

“You hid poison in your mouth too? Taimun Marius, do you intend to show nothing but cowardice to my sister until the very end?”

“No… Master Jin, cough! No, this is just as cowardly…”

Taimun shook her head violently, coughing up blood and trembling.

Sensing something was wrong, Luna stepped closer and covered her mouth. Jin noticed the shoulder of Taimun’s coat was stained black.

It was the spot where the assassin’s dagger had grazed her earlier—the slightest touch.

The blade had been coated with poison.

A deadly, potent toxin.

Kuzan Marius’s poison. Far purer than the one that had threatened Jin not long ago.

“Cough… I suppose I am old after all. Even with the element of surprise, I couldn’t dodge it…”

“Enough, Taimun. The poison is spreading! I’ll get a healer.”

“No need, Master Jin.”

“Nursemaid! Wait just a moment—this is my land. I’ll call a healer right away.”

But Luna’s urgent voice was laced with instinctive dread. This poison was beyond the help of any healer.

“Miss… cough!”

“Nursemaid, no! Don’t end like this. Please, no.”

“I know this poison well, Miss… Kuzan’s… masterpiece.”

Taimun coughed up thick, black clots of blood.

Not only that, but blood was now welling from the wound itself. The poison, barely held back, was tearing through her veins.

From the moment the dagger grazed her, Taimun had already accepted her fate.

She knew better than anyone that without Runcandel’s blessed body, even a mere scratch from this poison meant certain death.

So this is karma.

Her eyelids slowly drooped, the dark scent of death closing in.

A person buried in sin always fears death.

I don’t want to die. If I could, I’d beg forgiveness from you and Master Jin right now, and live. I want to stay by your side.

Instead of a flashback, such desperate wishes consumed Taimun’s mind. She wanted to fall prostrate and plead for the tears of Numerus—the one who could even bring back the dead.

Surely Luna would not turn away from such a plea.

But then, a faint smile appeared on Taimun’s lips.

“I mustn’t let my lady see anything but a vile, wretched side of me until the very end. To my beloved, my dear lady.”

Though he had deceived Luna all this time, plotted to kill Jin without her knowing, and allied with her other siblings to commit countless misdeeds—

The affection Taimun held for Luna was genuine. Even if that love was twisted beyond measure.

“My lady… and Master Jin. Please listen carefully to what I’m about to say.”

“Nurse, why do you sound so scary? Like it’s the end or something. Are you really going to do this…?”

Thick, warm tears slipped from Luna’s eyes, dampening Taimun’s forehead.

“Even if I confess now… it won’t wash away my sins. I won’t apologize for deceiving you.”

“Stop it, please, Nurse. You’re bleeding more.”

“…Fifteen years ago, the name of the sorcerer who cursed the youngest master was Kidad Hall.”

With each word, Taimun’s voice grew more slurred. The poison was creeping up his tongue.

“The one who ordered me to harm the master… was Jo, Sua. Master Joshua.”

Hissing like steel scraping steel, Taimun’s eyes darkened with poison.

“And he… knows about the youngest master’s power. The contract.”

“Nurse, m-mother…”

Luna grasped Taimun’s cold, fading hands, pressed her cheek against his, rested her forehead on his, and held him close to her chest—like a helpless cub clinging to its dying mother.

Summoning his last strength, Taimun looked at Luna with eyes already dimmed.

“I’m sorry for the pain I caused, my lady. Please don’t remember this wretched man for too long. I beg you.”