Chapter – 25
Part 7. Kyles I
At the ball, no other man could catch Dee’s eye. Perhaps seeing Kyle and Amira so often had raised her standards for beauty.
The ball still seemed to be a stage she hadn’t quite adapted to, so Dee returned to the temple early.
Just then, she heard the sound of a window opening and jumped, turning around.
Perched on the window frame was Jin Kyles.
“A thief?”
As Dee stood up and tilted her head, Jin gasped for breath. He slumped inside, his arm soaked in blood.
Startled, Dee rushed to him urgently. She supported Jin and laid him down on her bed, asking,
“You, why are you like this? Where did you get hurt?”
“I got lost on my way here and went into the East Temple, and some woman shot an arrow…”
“What?! Oh my, that’s your fault. Why did you go to the East Temple?”
“…Huh? It’s my fault?”
Jin groaned in disbelief and pain, then looked at Dee in her dress and said,
“You look incredibly pretty today.”
Dee replied with a moved expression,
“Right? Pretty, right? You compliment me so well, so why is your brother like that?”
“Kyle doesn’t really say things like ‘pretty’ or ‘cute’… Wait, that’s not important. I got shot with an arrow! People can take a wrong turn sometimes, can’t they? And it wasn’t a warning shot; they were trying to kill me!”
“Pfft, if they wanted to kill you, they would have. Would you be alive then? So, why did you go to the East Temple?”
Jin felt frustrated by Dee’s matter-of-fact reaction, then groaned, feeling anemic. Dee stood up quickly and said,
“You’re really a hassle.”
Dee ran out to find a doctor. Even though she called him a hassle, her mind was in such a panic thinking about Jin’s wound that she didn’t even notice her pure white dress was stained with blood.
Afraid that something might happen to Jin, she couldn’t stop running all over the place until she finally found a doctor and explained the situation. Only after the doctor rushed to the West Temple at Dee’s hysterical insistence that “If the prince dies, we’re all finished!” did she come somewhat to her senses.
Leaning exhaustedly against a wall, Dee was spotted from a distance by Kyle, who approached. He bent down, grabbed the bloody hem of her dress, and asked,
“Who did this?”
“Huh?”
“I said, who did it?”
Kyle hadn’t even particularly contorted his expression, but Dee felt the same eerie sensation she had when she first met him. Only then did Dee look at her soiled clothes.
“Ah, this? It’s not my blood.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah. Jin got hurt. He went to the East Temple by mistake and got grazed by an arrow, I guess.”
“Why did he go to the East Temple?”
“He said he got lost.”
“You’re really not hurt?”
Kyle asked again, just as Stephanie came running with a shriek.
“Oh my goodness, what is this! My Lady!”
Startled, Dee hurriedly defended herself,
“Stephanie! This is Jin Kyles’s doing! It’s not my fault! Should I go get angry at him?”
“Oh? Oh dear, I can’t live because of that prince, really. Let’s hurry back to the temple. You need to change clothes.”
“Ah, Jin’s in there. He should be getting treated.”
“Oh? Then what should we do?”
Seeing Stephanie’s troubled look, Dee’s emerald eyes sparkled as she said,
“Let’s raid the East Temple. What are they going to do about me not having a room?”
“Ooh, let’s swipe all their snacks!”
Chattering excitedly at the prospect of a girls’ night, Kyle chuckled as if finding them cute and turned away.
“Then go and play. I’ll go do the Emperor’s cleanup.”
Kyle muttered and headed towards where Emperor William was getting drunk. Come to think of it, he had smelled of alcohol.
Dee thought the eerie feeling he gave off earlier was probably because he was drunk. The type to cause trouble when drunk… that couldn’t be. Not that upright guy.
She dismissed it and urged Stephanie.
“Hurry, let’s go get some snacks.”
The two excitedly ran off to gather snacks.
The next morning, Jin woke up realizing he was lying on a temple bed. Sitting up, he checked his well-treated arm and got up.
“Where did Dee sleep?”
Jin mumbled, heading for the door. Just as he was about to go out, he stopped at the voices coming from outside. Listening carefully, he heard Kyle and Jason arguing.
“So get lost, Jason Deb. Don’t loiter around here in Feyton.”
At Kyle’s words, Jason acted innocent.
“No, it’s just that the Divine Maiden seems extraordinary, so I came back to ask a few things. Isn’t it too much to be so intimidating? Anyone would think your lover had shown up.”
“Shut up.”
“Well, the Divine Maiden here is special. Quite a pretty face too. Wow, so you do have a type? Is this Divine Maiden your type…?”
Just then, a bang sounded, making Jin jump away from the wall. Startled and frozen, Jin cautiously peeked out the door only after Jason hurriedly scurried off in shock.
“Kyle, that bang sound earlier…”
Jin’s eyes widened mid-sentence. Right next to the door, a dagger with a blade as long as his forearm was embedded in the marble wall, leaving only the hilt exposed.
“Ah, Kyle! What are you doing sticking a dagger in the temple wall! You’ll get scolded by Dee!”
“……”
At those words, a look of confusion crossed Kyle’s face, as if wondering when he had gotten angry. Jin sighed and asked,
“Is it because of Jason? That guy has been giving you a hard time for ages, hasn’t he?”
“Never mind that. I heard you went to the East Temple and got hurt?”
“Ah, yeah, yeah. That’s right. Isn’t it too much? I just got a little lost, and they shot an arrow just like that…”
“You were wrong. Why did you go to the East Temple?”
“Kyle, did you and Dee team up? How can you both say the exact same thing? You know what’s really funny? The palace doctor said the same thing! Said it was my fault. I’m so wronged right now, am I abnormal? How are people with no sense of direction supposed to live in this harsh world!”
Jin argued, implying that Kyle should take his side, but Kyle’s stance was firm.
“Even if you got lost, you shouldn’t have gone to the East Temple.”
Why? What on earth is the East Temple that makes you all act like this? Is there some huge secret I don’t know about?
Jin’s pupils shook in confusion. Deciding to investigate the secret of the East Temple later, Jin changed the subject for now.
“Anyway, where did Dee sleep?”
“The East Temple.”
Huh? In that place with the huge secret I don’t know about?
“Ris, risking her life?”
“She probably told them in advance before going in.”
“Whaaat?”
As Jin looked utterly confused, Kyle spoke as if annoyed.
“Consider yourself lucky you’re alive. Rest a bit and then go.”
“Yep, I’ll quietly tidy up and leave.”
“You pull that out yourself.”
Kyle jerked his chin towards the dagger and left the temple. Jin shivered with an inexplicable chill and stared intently at the dagger hilt embedded in the wall.
“How did this go in?”
He tilted his head as if not understanding, then grabbed the hilt. Groaning as he tried to pull it out, he heard Dee’s voice from afar.
“Ah! What have you done to my room!”
Having had a fun night at the East Temple, she returned to find a dagger stuck in her door.
“I call a doctor for you, let you sleep in my bedroom, and this!”
Dee flared up and confronted him. Jin quickly let go of the hilt and acted innocent.
“You see it. This is the power I’ve been hiding, Dee.”
“Your power…”
Dee looked at the dagger hilt and the shameless Jin, clicked her tongue, crossed her arms, and took a step back.
“Pull it out yourself then.”
“Ugh.”
“You didn’t do it, did you?”
“You really have foresight? Wow, damn. I never believed it until now.”
“But… it has the Feyton crest on it. Is this Kyle’s by any chance?”
“Yeah. Kyle did it.”
Without hesitation, Jin ratted him out. Dee asked with an aggrieved expression,
“Why? What does he have against me? Why stick a dagger at my bedroom door, so ominously?”
“Jason came and picked a fight. You know who he is, right?”
“Ah, that guy again.”
Dee sighed. She also tried pulling the dagger out by yanking the hilt, even hanging from it, but it didn’t budge. She took a deep breath and gathered energy in both hands.
“Hyah! Hyah!”
She tried shooting divine power at it and pulling, but it was a futile effort. Jin, who had been watching her show, chuckled, then laughed while holding his stomach.
“Ah, stop being funny. My wound might reopen.”
“I had a feeling… Anyway, is your arm okay?”
“Yeah, they treated it right away, so it’s fine. Thanks for lending me your bedroom and all that.”
“But even in Feyton, you’re second only to Kyle, aren’t you? Aren’t you living too recklessly?”
“Well, I’m not even from Feyton, right? I’m from the Bitensia Empire.”
“An, an international criminal?”
As she looked genuinely surprised, Jin burst out laughing again. After laughing his fill, Jin said goodbye.
“I’ll really go now. My guys are probably crying looking for me.”
“Okay.”
“See you. Ah, be good to my brother. He’ll be under a lot of stress because of Jason. That guy really tormented the eldest and second brother when he was the Crown Prince.”
At those words, Dee’s expression contorted.
For some reason, the man named Jason made Dee extremely uncomfortable. Perhaps that’s why she grew even more curious about what the crest on that carriage he was so concerned about was.
Even after Jin left, Dee couldn’t give up and hung onto the hilt again, groaning as she tried to pull the dagger out.
“Ah, thinking about it makes me angry. Why are they fighting in front of my room, these jerks.”
As she grumbled and pointlessly exerted her strength, a large, burly middle-aged man came walking from a distance with heavy footsteps.
“My Lady, need some help?”
“Huh?”
Dee stepped back in surprise.
He looked as if ‘I am Kyle Kyles’s father’ was written on his face.
Although smaller than Kyle, his massive build and handsome yet rough appearance made it unmistakable.
Dee fell into deep contemplation about genetics, wondering just how much Jin resembled his mother. The man, William Kyles, who saw the dagger embedded in the marble wall, said,
“Who would do such a nasty thing where the Divine Maiden sleeps?”
It was your son…
Dee couldn’t bring herself to say it and forced a smile. William put in effort and pulled out the dagger. Looking at the crest on the dagger, he made a face of certainty and said,
“The only troublemaker who would do something like this is that Jin kid.”
You are completely wrong, Your Majesty!
Dee felt like she’d become the official from historical dramas who always begs the king for understanding. They probably had to phrase things carefully when the king was wrong too, or risk getting their heads chopped off. ‘Your words have missed the mark, please reconsider’ and such…
As Dee couldn’t hide her awkwardness about what to do, fortunately, William realized on his own.
“Come to think of it, Jin probably doesn’t have that much strength?”
Should I tell him? If I do, will Kyle get scolded? But maybe he deserves a little scolding? Doing this in someone else’s room…
Thinking that, Dee turned her head at the sound of footsteps from behind.
Coincidentally, Kyle was returning after hearing Jin’s complaints about not being able to pull the dagger out.
William, tilting his head curiously at his son’s appearance, looked closely at the sword in his hand.
“Hmm? But looking at it, it’s not the Bitensian Imperial crest? It looks similar, so I was confused.”
It was the Feyton crest, a slightly altered version of the Bitensian Imperial crest. Realizing this was Kyle’s dagger, William then remembered that Kyle didn’t believe in the goddess Roxand.
So, the conclusion was one.
His second son had threatened the Divine Maiden!
