Regressor Instruction Manual

Chapter 1399. Crimson Ball (9)

‘That was faster than I thought.’

"..."

"..."

It was neither good news nor bad news. If one had to ask which side I leaned toward, I'd say it was good news for me.

It meant that their first target wasn't Kim Hyun-Sung. Whether he never really thought of Kim Hyun-Sung as important in the first place or something had gone wrong along the way and he changed his goal as a result of it, no one knew for sure.

At the very least, Kim Hyun-Sung was in a safe place.

‘No, they can still run into each other. It could just be some cheap trick to drag Kim Hyun-Sung into the mess.’

Since Second Hyun-Sung seemed to have no particular thoughts about Song Jung-Wook, it was hard to imagine that the two had a close relationship or were familiar with each other, but Song Jung-Wook was still an Imperial personnel here.

If the guy fell into a trap or ended up in danger, Kim Hyun-Sung could be forced to save him. Of course, it went without saying that such a move wouldn’t be wise. The guy was destined to die anyway. Either way, it was still good news.

The young ladies now had a safer foundation to move around. The possibility that key members of the brigade could have crawled into this shelter had just become zero, and even the disposable members of the Brigade would have their attention drawn over there.

They would probably try to cause confusion or freeze any activities in that region.

Of course, it wasn’t enough to say that the danger had become zero, but it meant it was about time to pack up this shelter.

"Lady Rainelpia, are you all right?" I asked.

"Y-yes... I'm fine. It doesn't hurt... I'm fine," Lady Rainelpia answered.

‘As if. You've been crying your eyes out not long ago...’

"More importantly, do you... have a mirror? Anyone..." she asked.

"I-it’s better if you don’t look, Lady Rainelpia. But don’t worry. If we go a bit farther, we can secure the royal storage. There may be priests among the survivors. Once this is all over, I promise our family will mobilize all our power to heal you... so please rest for now," I reassured her.

"Is it really that bad?" she asked.

"Of course not. Just know that everything will be all right," I answered.

‘Yeah, it’s understandable she would be worried.’

Aside from Lady Rainelpia, the exhausted young ladies were encouraging one another. Most were quietly resting to gather the mana they needed to fight, while the shelter continued to reorganize itself.

As if preparing for a siege, they began securing supplies on their own, moving furniture that could be used to block the walls, and gathering anything useful from the path that connected the salon to this place.

In the midst of it all, they even found candles, oil, cloth, clothing, ceremonial short swords, and decorative silver shields, so this scavenging of sorts was beginning to bear fruit.

Of course, it wasn’t only the young ladies who were working hard. The attendants who had been rescued alongside them seemed to think that helping in any way they could was the only thing they could offer, so they devoted themselves entirely to caring for the young ladies.

They hadn’t received professional training, but there were people who could at least provide basic first aid, and they tended to the noblewomen who suffered injuries, great or small.

Just then, I heard a voice from afar.

"The other young ladies have arrived!"

"What?"

"The young ladies who have been hiding are here!"

‘They’re already here?’

Marina Peneloti and Karina Peneloti—Alps and Belier—had arrived.

"It’s the ladies of Peneloti!"

"Ah..."

"The ladies of Peneloti, Lady Marina Peneloti and Lady Karina Peneloti!"

Her older sisters, whose life or death had been unknown, showed up. For Aina Peneloti, who couldn’t help but worry about them, it was great news. Naturally, she ran out quickly to greet them.

"P-Peneloti?" Lady Pastel said.

She probably knew at least a little about their family situation, so she looked slightly tense, as if she was worried they would harm Aina again, but there was no room to spend time on a long, emotional sibling story.

This was a moment where they had no choice but to express genuine gratitude that they were alive. Marina Peneloti and Karina Peneloti, who fought through a difficult battle, stood before Aina Peneloti.

The young ladies who had been following them stood behind them.

Lady Pastel and Lady Palette positioned themselves to protect me in a subtle way. There was faint hostility in their eyes, but Marina Peneloti, who instantly grasped the situation, pushed aside the young ladies.

She couldn’t hide her excitement as she approached and muttered, "Aina..."

"..."

"Aina!" she shouted.

"Marina..." I muttered.

Karina Peneloti was the same. Still, she was showing a much better performance than Alps’ terrible acting. I saw her moving toward me. Tears were already filling her eyes. She thought she hated her younger sister and resented her all this time, but seeing her alive like this had to have stirred something new inside her. No, she never truly hated Aina in the first place.

She simply poured out the misfortune in their family and her own anger onto her. Her face looked as if she had just realized that fact. The young ladies of the Black Rose Salon relaxed at the sight, smiling as they looked at her and me.

"Karina... Karina!" I shouted.

"Aina..."

A hug scene was, of course, necessary here.

The sisters wrapped their arms tightly around her, looking relieved.

"Aina!"

"Heuk..."

"You’re a mess, Aina. You’re so careless," Karina said.

"I’m sorry. I’m sorry..." I mumbled.

The hug felt like it was going to crush me, and Karina Peneloti wasn’t the only one unable to hold back her tears. The eyes of the other young ladies behind her also welled up with tears..

The scene itself was touching, but I assumed they became emotional because they witnessed precious people being reunited.

The atmosphere hardly allowed for jokes about hope, but they realized that hope still existed. Whether it was family, friends who had met in this unfamiliar place, or lovers who had promised engagement, they were surely imagining the moment of meeting them again.

Still clinging tightly to me, I whispered to her, asking, "Did you bring the potion?"

"Yes, sir," Belier answered.

"Your cheek is swollen. Who did it?" I asked.

"Ah, this wasn’t from a fight—no, I mean, right. It must’ve been from the intruders who came into this place," she replied.

‘They must’ve been fairly skilled to be able to injure Belier’s face.’

In any case, it was about time to separate from her. They still needed to reunite with the other young ladies they had rescued.

As expected, I saw people exchanging greetings with one another. I saw a young lady hugging a friend she was separated from, and I saw those who had no choice but to abandon their fellow salon members sharing apologies and gratitude.

"Heuk... heuk... I’m glad you’re safe, my lady."

"I’m sorry. I’m so sorry."

Voices like that continued to echo, but there was no time to just stand around crying. Upon managing to pull herself out of the emotional wave, Lady Paint immediately turned to Marina Peneloti, asking, "Lady Peneloti, may we speak for a moment?"

"Sure, Lady Paint," Karina answered.

"Could I ask what happened, and where you came from?" she asked.

"The ballroom," she replied.

"Pardon?"

"We were hiding in the ballroom. Then, I led the remaining young ladies and ran toward the light," she clarified.

"The terrorists..." she mumbled.

"I don’t think they were in the ballroom. We did run into a few of them, but luckily..." Karina paused.

‘More like she had cut down at least a few dozen, not just a few...’

Karina Peneloti stopped speaking and slowly lowered her gaze to her own hand. Seeing the blood on the ceremonial sword, Lady Paint understood what had happened and nodded.

“There was a fight.” Lady Paint pointed out.

“That’s right,” Karina answered.

“Then the ballroom now...” Lady Paint mumbled.

“As far as I know, there’s no one there. I don’t know where they moved, but only a few remnants are left. It’s as if the enemy forces are all headed somewhere...” she said.

“Where could they have gone?” Lady Paint asked.

It wasn’t a question thrown at Karina Peneloti, but a question Lady Paint had asked herself. It wasn’t a particularly difficult problem. She could easily make a deduction. She knew better than anyone that these terrorists weren’t targeting the young ladies or the young nobles of the ballroom.

Even though the nobles of the Union of Kingdoms were gathered in one place, it was hard to say that they were truly the ones leading the current Union of Kingdoms.

If someone were to ask me about what the Republic could possibly gain from assassinating them, I'd shake my head and say "nothing."

The leaders of the Republic weren’t so idle as to waste their time assassinating fledglings who had just debuted in society.

There had to be a reason behind all this. Why now, and why at this exact moment? It didn’t take long for Lady Paint’s thoughts to reach the Empire, which had come here for a marriage alliance.

‘It really did reach that point.’

Although the alliance meeting between the Empire and the Union of Kingdoms was top secret and would have been unknown to her without Lee Chang-Ryeol and Ha Yeon-Soo's report, she had already concluded that something was happening behind closed doors.

Would an imperial delegation really come here solely for a marriage alliance? Of course not. It was only reasonable to assume that something else was happening somewhere out of sight.

Having reached that conclusion, Lady Paint said, “It's an alliance meeting with the Empire. An alliance with the Empire took place inside this royal castle.”

‘A perfect answer.’

“The terrorists’ goal is the assassination of those pushing for the alliance between the Empire and the Union of Kingdoms,” she continued.

“Huh? Wh-what did you say, Paint?” I asked.

“We’re not their targets. Their targets are the royal family members and imperial representatives secretly stationed here,” she said.

“W-what? That sounds strange. I never even heard there was such a meeting... and if the alliance was actually happening, wouldn’t it make even less sense? The Republic has no need to poke a hornet’s nest. This incident could even force the Empire and the Union of Kingdoms to band together more tightly...” I argued.

“There must’ve been an anti-alliance faction,” she assumed.

“What...” I muttered.

“It was strange from the very beginning. A figure as big as one of the Republic’s Five Tiger Generals appearing at the ballroom under the name of Marquis Jayce? There must be people in the Union of Kingdoms who look unfavorably upon an alliance with the Empire.

"The Empire is no different. Those who didn’t want the alliance simply shared aligned interests with the Republic. Eliminating all pro-alliance figures is the goal of this terror attack. They’re doing it with someone else’s hands,” she explained.

“Uh...”

“We need to move immediately. Lady Marina Peneloti, is it certain that there are no terrorists in the ballroom?” Lady Paint asked.

“I’m not sure,” she replied.

“Even so...”

‘We have to go.’

Now was the moment when they had no choice but to roll the dice.

No one understood that better than Lady Paint. Of course, she couldn’t move all available forces, since most of the young ladies needed time to recover. It was a gamble that required accepting a certain amount of risk.

It wasn’t a perfectly rational decision, but in this kind of game, one had to make bold plays to win. If we were lucky, we could seize the ballroom and secure a passage to both the upper and lower floors.

We could save all the other young ladies and the other injured people on this entire floor. What mattered was if she was the kind of person who could throw the dice. It was a matter of whether she could become the kind of person who could stake the lives of others as well, like Commander Jin or Lee Ji-Hye.

Lady Paint nodded and said, "I’ll go to the ballroom."

"Wh-what?"

‘Wow... look at her.’

"I’ll take the lead. If what Lady Marina Peneloti said is true, and if my prediction is correct, the ballroom should be completely empty right now. I cannot guarantee that there are no remnants at all, but at most, there will only be a few of them. With our strength, we can easily break through them," she said.

"..."

"Lady Marina Peneloti. Lady Karina Peneloti?" she said.

"We’ll go with you," the sisters answered.

‘Of course they have to go together.’

"Lady Palette. Lady Hamgardia," she said.

"Yes, I'll lend my strength," Lady Hamgardia answered.

"Lady Pastel?"

Lady Pastel hesitated. She wasn't afraid, but she kept glancing my way. It seemed she felt uneasy about leaving Aina Peneloti in the shelter by herself, as she couldn't fight at all. However, she also knew what mattered the most.

When I nodded, Lady Pastel reluctantly nodded as well.

"It won’t take long. We’ll enter the ballroom, build a wall, and send a messenger back here. After that, Lady Brush and Lady Peneloti, please gather the other ladies and the workers. Then, follow us inside," Lady Paint instructed.

"Okay!"

A sort of strike team has been formed.

"There’s no time. Right now," she urged.

"Okay."

"Hurry and prepare, Lady Pastel."

‘Yeah, hurry up. I have a lot to do, too. I appreciate your thoughts... but a revenge-crazed killer is roaming this palace right now. That bastard won't hesitate to blow up the entire palace just to kill Kim Hyun-Sung.’

"M-me, Peneloti. I-I’ll go and... no... maybe I should just stay here..." Marina stuttered.

"Lady Pastel," I said.

"Y-yes?"

"Your tie... is crooked." I pointed out.

"..."

I fixed her tie with a small smile as if giving her courage. I saw her grateful face as she nodded at me. I could feel her burning resolve—the resolve to make it back alive.

After parting with them reluctantly, I couldn’t help but carefully open my mouth.

"Where is that bastard Song Jung-Wook right now?"