Obviously, I wasn’t going to let it end just like that. Simply breaking my arm or dislocating my shoulder wasn’t a bad idea, but the gift I prepared for him was a bit worse than that. When I mixed my mana with the mana Cha Hee-Ra had put into me earlier, the result was better than I expected. I did get a warning that it was going to be painful, but it was more painful than I thought.

“Ahhhhhhh!” I yelled.

Blood started spilling out from my right arm in an instant and I saw Cha Hee-Ra cutting off my arm. Of course, this wasn’t an attack against me. What she did was more like first aid. I expected this to happen because before coming here, she planted her mana into me and that mana filled my body as if it had exploded inside of me. If she didn’t cut off my arm, then her mana would have dug into my brain in an instant. I did feel an immense amount of pain, but when I saw Ito Sota looking at me as if it was absurd, my pain went away.

‘You’re like a painkiller…’

“You bastard!”

‘Nice acting!’

Cha Hee-Ra looked as if she was panicking and her acting made the situation even more believable. Hee-Ra noona was against it at first, saying that it was dangerous, so it was natural for her to react this way.

‘Hahahaha...’

I wanted to laugh out loud, but my voice was filled with pain.

“Aaaaaaaaack!”

My arm had been severed so, of course, I was in pain. Actually, it was more like all the pain I had suppressed until now was released all at once. I had to endure the pain from the time Cha Hee-Ra had escorted me in. I could barely hold it in earlier, and since I no longer had a reason to hold it in, I screamed even louder. I felt like I became a newborn baby.

The blood splattered on the noblewomen and they stepped away from me as they screamed. Jung Ha-Yan was surprised so she quickly ran over to me. I heard someone calling for a priest and Cha Hee-Ra clenched her fist started throwing punches at Sota - the punches were strong enough to make things fly all over the place.

“Kyahhhh!”

“Ahh!”

“Oh my gosh!”

If I really wanted to be the victim, there was nothing more effective than me being in the action and although it was painful, it was a reasonable decision.

Despite the fact that Cha Hee-Ra was punching him, Ito Sota was still staring at me with a frustrated look and even though it was only for a moment, I smiled brightly while rolling on the ground.

‘You dumb bastard!’

Craaaack!

I heard a loud sound as Cha Hee-Ra’s fist struck Sota’s face and after spinning a few times, he struck the wall.

Booooom!

“You bastard…”

“Cough…”

When the smoke dissipated, I saw Ito Sota embedded in the wall, spitting out blood, and Cha Hee-Ra approaching him. I was certain that the pain he was feeling was beyond his imagination because his endurance wasn’t that high.

The majority of the people looked shocked because it happened so suddenly, but they focused on me again. It was only natural for them to focus on me since I was grabbing their attention by screaming. In an instant, the priests started gathering around me and many people started running over in order to check my condition.

“O-Oppa, are you okay? Oppa… heuuuuuk… oppa…” Jung Ha-Yan said while crying.

“Ugh…”

“Oppa…”

“Aaaack!”

Jung Ha-Yan didn’t know about this situation so she was crying while holding my arm. I thought that the situation didn’t look that bad, but before I knew it, Lee Ji-Hye ripped her dress and stopped the bleeding on my arm.

‘What a memorable scene. Yeah… it’s definitely a memorable one.’

It was a memorable scene you would see in war movies.

“What happened?”

Even though Lee Ji-Hye knew what was going on, she asked the priests an obvious question. She was expressing her anger and her acting was outstanding.

“No, treat him first. We’ll have to attach his arm back. What are you doing? This is no time to be spacing out. Hurry up and call for the priest!” she yelled.

“Hurry… a priest… a priest!”

“Your arm wouldn’t have been the only thing you lost if you were a little late,” she said.

“Please tell me your symptoms.”

“M-Mana was intentionally injected into him from the outside and it started running rampant. Thankfully, Miss Cha Hee-Ra had cut off his arm in time so she was able to stop it from eating away at his body, but I’m sure that he’s in a lot of pain. Stitching his arm back is a priority and we must get rid of the remaining mana that’s in his arm before it’s too late. S-Someone…”

“M-Me, I’ll do it,” Jung Ha-Yan said.

“I’ll leave it to you, Miss Ha-Yan,” Lee Ji-Hye said.

Thankfully, the opinion of the priest that rushed over here had placed us in an advantageous situation. I thought that it would have been better if they said it louder so that others could hear it, but I was sure that the people close to us heard it.

The mana that suddenly ran rampant in my right arm was the reason for this incident and the culprit who intentionally planted the mana inside me and caused me pain became painfully obvious. There was one name everyone thought of. Our idol...

‘Ito Sota.’

That bastard was the culprit and he had no way of getting out of this. People that were considered strong usually had advanced mana control knowledge as one of their job effects and intentionally planting mana into my arm and making it run rampant was a type of magic that only people with that knowledge could do. There were probably about 5 people in this room that could do such a thing, but the three people everyone thought of were probably Cha Hee-Ra, Victor Hart, and Ito Sota. Victor Hart didn’t have enough stamina to plant mana into me so he was excluded and in their eyes, there was no way my lovely Hee-Ra noona would do something like that, so it was obvious who the culprit was. I was certain that Ito Sota must have realized by now that he had fallen for my trap.

When I slightly lifted my head, I saw Jung Ha-Yan holding my severed arm. She was getting rid of the remaining mana that was in it and behind her, I saw Ito Sota constantly spitting out blood.

“Cough… ughhhh…”

The attack was sudden, but he should be more than capable of dodging her attack.

It was a bit unfortunate. I felt happy seeing him coughing out blood, but if he attacked Cha Hee-Ra back then, it would have become the most beautiful scene. Nevertheless, this situation felt exhilarating. The Yamato Guild members that were around him tried to fight Cha Hee-Ra, but they were useless and if I had a choice, I wanted to have the last hit, but…

‘I can’t do that considering my situation.’

When I saw how Victor Hart and the guards blocked Cha Hee-Ra’s path, I thought that it was over and the gramps looked troubled as he quietly stared at Cha Hee-Ra.

“Stop it. I won’t allow any more of this,” Victor said.

“Move gramps. My business is with that bastard behind you, not you,” she said.

“This isn’t the practice room, Hee-Ra,” he said.

“Gramps, you know as much as I do who caused all of this! But why is it that you’re stopping me instead of that bastard? Even the guards around me… Could it be that you still can’t tell who’s the victim and who’s the assailant? Do you need more proof? That bastard is the offender and he has been caught in the act. This guy tried to kill my darling in front of me so he deserves to die,” Cha Hee-Ra said.

‘Good job.’

Everything was made up and honestly, none of this made sense. No matter how crazy Ito Sota was, he shouldn’t be crazy enough to plant mana into me and make my head explode when all the important people were gathered here. If people thought about it carefully, they would easily deduce that Ito Sota wasn’t the culprit, but that applied to my case as well. Obviously, I wasn’t crazy enough to kill one of his guild members within the castle of the Holy Empire.

‘I don’t have that kind of guts either…’

I basically paid him back for the ridiculous trick he had pulled on me and if I had proof, I could have easily come up with a reason. Just like what that idiot had done, I could fabricate the truth.

“You know that something is strange. Even if he threatened Lee Ki-Young, he’s not dumb enough to do something like this. There’s… there’s definitely something wrong, so it’s best to follow the procedure and hear both sides of the story,” Victor said.

“That’s what you think. My darling has a lot of important data in his head,” Cha Hee-Ra said.

“...”

“He can’t really say anything because there’s no physical evidence, but the information he has is quite powerful… I completely understand why that bastard Ito Sota did what he did. I’m sure he wanted to keep my darling quiet because if he used that information, then it would be the end for Sota.” She explained.

‘That’s right...’

Cha Hee-Ra’s acting was better than I thought. I was worried that her acting was going to be awkward, but I guess she must have gotten excited because she was doing so well.

‘I’m proud of you, Cha Hee-Ra!’

“What…”

“He wanted to kill my darling so much that he did this at a social gathering like this. I can guarantee that there’s a motive behind this,” she said.

‘Of course, it’s a lie.’

“It’s also the reason why he threatened my darling and used Juliena to turn him into a murderer…”

‘That’s also a lie...’

“If I told you that it was related to the Lindel terrorist attack, will you believe me?” she asked.

‘That’s a lie as well...’

“Even if that’s the case, did you forget the fact that you’re not the one that should punish him? I understand that the person you love is injured, but please think about where you are right now. If you don’t… I’ll have no choice but to wield my sword,” Victor said.

Victor Hart looked anxious. I was certain that he had fallen for Cha Hee-Ra’s acting and was thinking about the possibility that her words were true but after recalling the conversation he and I had before coming here, I was sure that he was denying that possibility.

‘She’s like a daughter to me…’

Considering what he said, it seemed that he really trusted Cha Hee-Ra, but there was also a reason why parents said that there was no use in raising children.

Victor was quietly holding up his sword while maintaining a troubled face, so I had no choice but to say something because nothing would come out of it if this stalemate continued.

“Hee-Ra noona, I’m… fine…”

“Darling.”

Seeing Cha Hee-Ra’s beautiful figure as she ran toward me made my heart race and at this moment, Cha Hee-Ra became more precious to me than Kim Hyun-Sung. I felt bad for our regressor, but that was how I felt.

“Are you okay, darling? How’s your arm?” she asked.

“I’m fine… don’t make a fuss, noona…” I said.

“Okay, I understand,” she said.

I guess she must have calmed down because her voice started to sound awkward. But when I saw the guards and Victor Hart surrounding Ito Sota, I felt better.

“You’ll have to come with us for now. You must tell us the reason why you did that at a place like this,” Victor said.

“I didn’t attack Mr. Lee Ki-Young,” Sota said.

“We’ll follow the procedure and investigate,” Victor said.

‘The word “Procedure” is a good word…’

“Okay, I’ll go along for now, but I never attacked Mr. Lee Ki-Young. I want to tell all of you here that I didn’t approach Mr. Lee Ki-Young with the intent to kill and I never threatened him,” Sota said.

“You’ll have a chance to make a statement about it later. Let’s go,” Victor said.

“Okay.”

I saw him glancing at me and even though I saw his annoyed face only for a moment, I guess he was really mad. Prideful people like him who didn’t lack anything would definitely feel ashamed of falling for a trap made by an insignificant being like me. I was sure that he was really furious right now because when he framed me, I was so mad that I couldn’t even sleep. I didn’t know what was going to happen to him, but I was certain that he wanted to rip me into pieces right now and if he could do that, he would have it long ago and no one would be able to find my body. It was clear Ito Sota must be thinking that not being able to do that was a shame. If he wanted to kill me, then he picked the wrong place because he shouldn’t have brought politics into it.

‘It’s not over yet, you poor bastard. This is only the beginning so I hope you look forward to it.’

I wanted to send a message to him since he was still staring at me, so when I slowly lifted my middle finger, I felt an exhilarating thrill down my back as the corner of my lips went up.

‘Fuck you.’