Mr. Kadan in the Deep Forest - Chapter 36
Ruth blocked the sword with his body and smiled.
“Haha, gentlemen, let’s be a little more gentlemanly here… cough!”
One of the knights kicked Ruth sharply in the stomach. He flew back and rolled in the snow.
“Of course, ignorant peasants never understand,” one knight scoffed.
After dealing with Ruth, the knight used the tip of his sword to lift Luna’s coat. Her frostbitten legs were exposed for all to see.
“Wow, she’s not even wearing a slip? That’s really tempting.”
As Luna’s red knees and pale thighs were exposed to the cold air, one of the knights slapped the back of another knight’s shoulders.
“Hey, wait a minute. What’s that tattoo on her thigh?”
“Tattoo? Ugh, that’s real. What the hell is that?”
“It looks pretty creepy. But wait, doesn’t that writing look just like the one we saw earlier?”
The knights murmured among themselves, glancing at Luna’s tattoo. Just then, the commander appeared from behind the group.
“What’s all this commotion about?”
“Commander, we found the people who were fleeing the village!”
The knight stepped back, reporting the strange tattoo on Luna’s leg.
“Tattoo?”
The commander approached Luna with a proud stride. The heavily-bearded commander stood still and stared at Luna’s thigh.
“Runic script.”
“Are you referring to the ancient characters we saw earlier?”
“Yes. The ones on the seal stone at the beast gate. It’s exactly the same.”
The commander had been investigating the beast gate on royal orders for several months. After daily studies of documents, he had learned to identify certain characters.
The commander knelt slightly, continuing to examine Luna’s thigh. He guessed that this tattoo might extend from her pelvis, up her belly, and to her chest. Why? Because the inscription he had seen on the stone in the forest was long, and the writing on Luna would likely stretch that far.
His mouth watered. The commander hesitated, considering whether to strip the woman right here under the pretense of examining the tattoo, but then clicked his tongue.
‘It’s too early to push my luck. But wait…’
Suddenly, an old memory flashed through the commander’s mind. Slowly rising, he took a closer look at Luna’s face.
Something about her seemed familiar. Ha ha! The commander burst out laughing and looked at his knights.
“It seems even the heavens are on our side. As soon as we find the gate where the beasts are summoned, this woman shows up.”
“Eh? What do you mean?”
“Do you remember? Duke Dheim’s family, the former ruler of this region.”
“Ah, yes. I remember. The family was destroyed for treason.”
“Right. After we burned down the Dheim mansion, we found a bag underground. Inside was an ancient book with the curse of Dheim written in it.”
It was an old book containing the secrets of the Dheim family.
The Dheim family had long protected the borderlands. They had kept a close watch on the Inut tribe beyond the northern woods, predicting that their immense power would eventually surpass the kingdom’s.
The ancestors of the Dheim family, deeply loyal to the crown, had consumed a sacred stone from the northern forest. As a result, the sealed beast gate opened, and the beasts began to swarm the forest. Many kingdom citizens living around the forest lost their lives to the beasts, but the kingdom itself gained much from the chaos.
The forest served as a barrier to prevent the Inut tribe from crossing.
At that time, a prophet visited the Dheim estate and left a prophecy.
“The sin of swallowing the sacred stone will become a curse. When a child marked by the sin is born, the sinner’s family will fall, and everything will return to its rightful place.”
This was the prophecy written in the old book.
“I didn’t understand the meaning of the curse or the mark back then, but as I investigated the beast gate, certain connections became clear.”
The commander raised his hand and lifted Luna’s chin.
“It’s been a long time, Lady Dheim.”
As the commander pretended to recognize her, Luna’s eyes widened. He was the same man who led the massacre of the Dheim family the day the Dheim mansion was burned. He was the man who had sold her into slavery.
“Your beauty was so exceptional that even after years, it hasn’t been easy to forget. And that… disgusting tattoo of yours.”
The filthy gauntlet brushed over Luna’s thigh tattoo. The cold metal surface sent shivers down her spine wherever it touched.
“Don’t touch me!”
Luna kicked her leg up to push his vile hand away. The knights surrounding Luna then pointed their swords at her, cornering her.
“Relax, put your sword down. You shouldn’t treat a noblewoman like this.”
The commander laughed heartily and leaned his face close to Luna’s. When their faces were just an inch apart, Luna held her breath, disgusted. The commander grabbed her thigh tattoo tightly.
“That day, I mistook you for a slave because of this tattoo… but thanks to it, I didn’t kill you. That was a stroke of luck.”
“Let me go!”
“I can’t let you go. You’re the key to an important event. I don’t know how you ended up in this village, but now you’ll have to come with us. According to the prophecy, everything must be returned to its rightful place, right?”
The commander gestured for the knights to bind Luna. But the knights hesitated, wary that the curse might spread to them.
“Pathetic fools.”
The commander clicked his tongue and decided to bind Luna himself. He found a certain thrill in restraining her, so he didn’t scold his hesitant subordinates.
The commander mounted his horse and turned its head. They headed back toward the beast gate.
