Chaotic Nights — Chapter 84. Affection

Translator: Atlas

Weekly Chapter 2/6

When the door to the room opened, a man wearing a gat hat walked in. The tall man wore a black hanbok. His features were sharp.

“Prince! You’re wrong!”

Jihak stood before the person whose tongue had not yet been cut out, then extended his hand toward Yuljae. He handed Jihak a dagger.

Yuljae had wielded his sword the entire night. Not only did he cut their sinews, he also gouged out their eyes.

“I found it in this guy’s waist. This is the dagger you gave Eunha.”

Jihak pulled the bloody dagger from its sheath. Slowly, he looked from side to side. The only man who could speak trembled before his sharp eyes.

“Who ordered the kidnapping?”

The warrior tried to bite his tongue, but Jihak was faster than him.

He brutally stabbed his palate with the dagger to prevent him from biting his tongue. The man, whose eyes rolled back in his head, spat blood.

Then Jihak stabbed the dagger into the man’s ankle.

“Who hurt the girl?”

“Ah… ah…”

The man fell to the side. He couldn’t speak anymore. Jihak shook off the blood that had splattered on his clothes. The blemish was indelible, yet his desire to erase it persisted.

Yuljae looked at Jihak’s cold face. He wiped the blood off the dagger.

“It seems that the Defense Minister has obtained a delicious bait. Maybe he also hired the assassins who have invaded my house?”

“We’ll have to check, but it looks like they were dispatched by someone royal.”

“I see. I have many enemies…”

Jihak stepped in blood on the floor as he walked away.

Sohyeon had told him about this place. The same place where Eunha was taken.

His black Hanbok absorbed the blood, so it took on an elegant sheen.

Jihak looked at the house in the distance.

“Don’t kill them, send them to the Defense Minister. Tell him he will pay with his blood because he has used mine as bait. Jongshin will understand.”

Yuljae took off his mask. He dropped it into a fire pit at the side.

“She didn’t try to escape.”

Jihak smiled.

“She did not lie.”

“My lord, do you feel affection for that girl? Is she in your heart?”

Jihak inquired with a playful tone.

“Affection?”

“You cannot deceive me. That girl resides in his heart.”

“Shut up!”

“I can see that.”

But her eyes became unfocused when they stopped at a basket where there were wet fabrics for dyeing. Disappointment flashed in his eyes.

The white cloth obscured his vision.

***

The oil lamp oscillated back and forth.

She was sitting near the window as she waited for the front door to open, but Jihak did not return until late at night.

It was strange that he disappeared on his birthday. Not only the attendants, but also the scholars who had come were puzzled.

In the west pavilion where the sumptuous banquet was prepared, the doors opened wide. The men were surprised because courtesans entered.

They were nobles who had never been in a courtesan’s house. But the courtesans sat with them. They acted in a flirtatious manner to lighten the mood.

The atmosphere became increasingly lustful.

Finally, Jihak arrived at the house with Yuljae.

All the attendants rushed to help him. So did Eunha.

How was it possible for him to return drunk for the banquet?

Eunha ran into the drawing room in her socks and made eye contact with him. He looked at her in silence like the dark night. After he hesitated for a moment, she ran into the yard to help him up.

“How could you drink alcohol…?”

Although Eunha stumbled, she helped him sit down in the drawing room.

Amidst the commotion, he shook Eunha’s hand.

Then he leaned to the side with a smile.