Debuff Master

‘W-What’s going on? Why is he treating me like an insect right now? I know he looks down on me, but I don’t think his disdain is supposed to be this deep,’ Siegfried thought that something was strange.

It was not strange for Michele to look down on him a few times a day, so he had no issues with that, but it was his first time seeing Michele look down on him with such disdain and contempt.

Why? What were his eyes trying to convey?

“W-What’s going on? Did I do something wrong? Your eyes are scaring me, Michele…” Siegfried asked.

“Haa… I’m disappointed.”

“D-Disappointed?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Why?”

“Please, you may drop the act, Your Majesty.”

Michele cut him off as if he was not interested in playing games right now.

“I know that Your Majesty has the right to bring in concubines since having numerous wives is a right of a monarch.”

“What in the world are you talking about…?”

“But there is a time and place for that right, do you not agree, Your Majesty? I beseech you to have some shame… How can you do that when your wife, the queen, was in that state?”

“What in the world are you talking about…? Hey, can you explain what’s going on…”

It was then.

Seung-Gu suddenly appeared and whispered in his ear, “Hyung-nim…”

“W-What?”

“I think you have to go see hyungsoo-nim[1]. She seems very upset.”

“Why? What’s going on?”

“You know… That Amazoness woman? Antiope? She brought all sorts of gifts from the Great Jungle to see you.”

Badump!

Siegfried felt his heart drop to the floor as he froze on the spot.

“A-Antiope is here…?”

“Yes, she came bearing gifts; she said they’re tributes.”

“A-Ahem…!”

It was only then that Siegfried finally understood why Michele was looking at him as if he were an insect. Actually, Siegfried had nothing to hide as his conscience was clear. All he was guilty of was doing his best to obtain the Dragonian Mango, which was Brunhilde’s only medicine, and he had never fooled around or done anything shameful.

Well, he did lay in Antiope’s bed, naked, for a moment, but that was not important as it happened while he was asleep.

But…

‘There’s some room for misunderstandings…’ He knew that people unaware of the situation were bound to misunderstand what had happened if they only listened to Antiope’s side of the story, and everyone was bound to treat him as a philandering husband who had been fooling around while his wife was on death’s door.

“Ah…” Siegfried muttered. He broke out into a cold sweat and asked, “She just gave tributes and left, right? She didn’t attend any—”

“She had tea with hyungsoo-nim, your wife, hyung-nim.”

“What?!” Siegfried exclaimed. His expression turned pale as he asked, “T-They drank tea together…?”

“Yes, hyung-nim.”

“…”

“I think you’re fucked, hyung-nim… So why did you do that? You pretended to be all good and faithful around me, yet you were busy doing that with others… h-hyung-nim…?” Seung-Gu couldn’t continue his sentence.

Whoosh!

Because Siegfried ran as fast as he could into the castle after realizing that he was royally fucked…

***

“What is this nonsense…?”

The man who had infiltrated the Proatine Kingdom under the guise of a servant was forced to suppress the rage welling up within him once again.

“Immunity to all poison?! Is it because she’s an elf? No, that’s not possible… Even the elves can’t be safe after ingesting poison… Just what in the world is going on…?!”

Carlisle had mixed nearly forty different kinds of poison into Brunhilde’s food for the past few days, but the elf did not show any signs of getting poisoned or feeling unwell. In fact, she even went as far as to praise Carlisle that the food he had been bringing her tasted unique.

C-Crack…!

Carlisle gritted his teeth, and he felt the rage within him char his insides. He tried testing the poison on a rabbit[2] on the castle grounds and found that the poison was extremely potent and effective.

Unfortunately, none of the poisons seemed to work on the queen.

“Damn it…! I can’t assassinate her when there are so many eyes watching… Argh!”

Bam!

A massive kinetic force slammed against him and catapulted him dozens of meters into a fountain—once again.

Splash!

A pillar of water gushed up from the fountain.

“Ack!” Carlisle screamed in agony. Then, he cursed loudly, “W-Which fucking bastard did this?!”

“Ah! My bad!”

“Y-Your Majesty…?” Carlisle muttered as he doubted his eyes.

His sworn enemy, who was away from the kingdom due to some matters, was right in front of him. Siegfried looked quite apologetic as he extended his hand and asked, “Are you alright? Aigoo! You seem quite hurt!”

“N-No, I am alright, Your Majes… argh…!”

“I am really sorry, but I am really busy right now. Can you make it to the infirmary?”

“Y-Yes… Ah…! I think I can, Your Majesty…”

“Then please hurry on. I would love to accompany you, but I am really busy right now so…”

“Y-Your grace is… Argh…!”

“Ah, this is for your treatment and to compensate you for the accident. You mentioned your name was Kyle, right? I’m really sorry about this,” Siegfried said as he took out a pouch filled with dozens of gold coins and placed it on Carlisle’s hand before adding, “I will apologize to you once again later, so please forgive me this once.”

“Ah, y-yes!”

“Then, I will excuse myself now. Please get yourself treated, okay?”

Siegfried made sure to apologize and fairly compensate Carlisle before running off once again.

‘Whoa… I almost rammed someone to death. It’s a relief that servant is quite the tough guy, but if I had run into a maid instead, then—yikes… She would die on the spot… But come to think of it, that servant is oddly tough.’

Siegfried could not help but find it strange that the servant named Kyle was quite tough for a servant.

‘Oh well, I’m just glad that he didn’t get hurt. I should give him a raise or throw him a reward later on. I feel really bad for him…’

Meanwhile, Carlisle was beyond furious. ‘That fucking son of a biiiiitchhhh!’

***

Knock! Knock!

Siegfried knocked on the door, but the way he knocked already made him look quite guilty. However, there was no response from the other side of the door.

‘I’m really fucked…!’

He instantly realized that he was in grave danger.

Knock! Knock!

Still, he mustered his courage to knock once again, but there was still no response.

Someone was definitely inside, as Siegfried could feel Brunhilde’s presence in the room.

“Uhmm… Honey? Are you in there?” he asked as gently and carefully as he could.

However, he received no response.

“Your Majesty, I believe Her Majesty is currently asleep.”

A maid appeared and reported as respectfully as she could, but the problem was her gaze.

‘This piece of trash…!’

Contempt.

She was looking at him with eyes that judged him for fooling around with other women while his sick pregnant wife was fighting for her life.

‘N-No!’

Siegfried tried to show that he was innocent and that he had done nothing wrong, but the maid was still looking at him with contempt.

“Her Majesty has to preserve her strength for giving birth, so please do not disturb her sleep and come again later, Your Majesty.”

“Ah… Hmm… Y-Yeah, I will do that… Ahem…” Siegfried awkwardly replied as he staggered away from the door.

“…Come in.”

Brunhilde’s soft voice echoed from behind the door.

The maid was slightly taken aback, but she soon glared at Siegfried and said, “Please go in, Your Majesty. Tsk!”

‘I’m innocent!’ Siegfried cried out inwardly and pleaded for his innocence.

He carefully entered Brunhilde’s bedchamber and saw her sitting on a chair.

“Ah…”

Siegfried wanted to say something, but he found himself tongue-tied. Thus, he decided to explain himself first before anything else.

“Brunhilde, it’s a misunderstanding—”

“It’s fine,” Brunhilde interrupted him and flashed a lonely, sad smile before saying, “I understand.”

“Huh? Understand what?”

“You are a king, and you have the right to take in concubines.”

“N-No! That’s not it!”

“I was a bit sad about it, but I’m fine now.”

“No!” Siegfried raised his voice, then he explained, “I have no idea what you heard, but that’s not true. Please, listen to what I have to say first.”

“Please don’t trouble yourself, I will get over—”

“No, you have it all wrong. What happened was…” Siegfried shook his head and proceeded to explain everything that happened at the Southern Great Jungle.

He did not skip any detail and made sure to diligently explain everything he could to her.

“R-Really?!”

Then, Brunhilde’s face started to brighten up once again.

“So, you did not engage in this, that, and that with that woman?”

“Nonsense! Why would I? What do I lack to do that? My wife and child were on the verge of death, but how can I fool around with another woman?”

“Ah!”

“You’re the only one for me!”

“B-But… people are saying that you’re a vicious stud—”

“W-Who said that?!”

“The Adventurers said so… They said you have the words that Stamina King on top of your head…”

‘Ah… My reputation…’

Just then, Siegfried realized that his reputation was already in the gutters.

Perhaps this was the best time to quote—you reap what you sow—but he was bound to get into all sorts of misunderstandings after walking around with such a promiscuous title floating above his head.

“Honey…” he muttered as he held her hand tightly and said, “All I think about is you and our child.”

“I-I’m sorry for misunderstanding!” Brunhilde exclaimed. She started tearing up as she continued. “I’m sorry for being such a petty woman… I was not jealous, but it was just… I felt so sad… I was not jealous, but… You are a king, and it is only normal for you to have more wives, so…”

“I have no plans of doing that,” he cut her off, and then he held her tight before saying, “You’re the only one for me.”

However, he was inwardly lampooning. ‘Aigoo… My luck… My rotten luck…!’

He lamented and lampooned himself because of the title he had to live with.

***

Siegfried spent the next two days spending quality time with Brunhilde and going over the documents he had been ignoring for quite a while now.

To His Imperial Majesty,

- Siegfried van Proa

He sent a written letter to the emperor containing the fact that Chae Hyung-Seok still hadn’t settled his debt.

‘Hoho! This is the end for you!’

He could not help but be happy just imagining what kind of reckoning Chae Hyung-Seok would have to face.

Knock! Knock!

Then, someone knocked on his door.

“Hyung-nim?”

The one that knocked was none other than Seung-Gu.

“Are you busy?”

“Hmm? I’m taking a break now, why?”

“Ah, that is…”

“Hmm?”

“Ahem… So…” Seung-Gu hesitated and squirmed as if he had to take a dump.

Siegfried narrowed his eyes and asked, “What is it? Did something happen? Has your mother fallen ill?”

“No, she is healthy.”

“Then what? Just say what you came to say.”

“That is… I need your help,” Seung-Gu finally said what he wanted to say.

“Hmm? What help?”

“I have a quest, but I can’t clear it with my own strength. You know I don’t usually ask these kinds of favors…”

“Yeah, I know,” Siegfried nodded in agreement.

Seung-Gu possessed a class that specialized in manufacturing and operating the Iron golems, and he did not really have to hunt in a party. He had the ability to clear quests and hunt monsters alone with his golems, so it was quite rare for him to ask for Siegfried’s help.

However, it seemed that whatever quest he was doing right now was quite difficult, judging by how he was asking for help out of the blue.

“What quest is it?”

“Do you want to take a look?”

“Yeah, show me.”

Seung-Gu shared the quest details with Siegfried, and the title of his quest was…

[Rise of the Golem King]

Surprisingly, the quest that Seung-Gu was asking for help with was related to the Golem King, which was rumored to have disappeared centuries ago.

1. What Koreans call the wife of their older brother, but this is used for their close older friend’s wife too. ☜

2. NOOOO! ☜