Chapter 37
No matter how much Kim Yul, by expertly weaving together the worldviews of Luo Guanzhong and Chen Shou while serializing the Cao Cao and Liu Bei arcs at the same time, performed such a feat, he still couldn't always keep the timelines synchronized.
Naturally.
The gruesome stories that couldn't be included in the official histories were dumped onto the Liu Bei arc, while the Cao Cao arc kept on unfolding political-engineering stories.
Thus, the time periods began to drift apart in a strange way.
As Kim Yul, unable to get his head straight, kept writing in a stream-of-consciousness haze, that gap began to widen little by little.
For example, in the Liu Bei arc, things had already progressed to Liu Bei being badly struck from behind by Lü Bu and turning into a whimpering mess in Xiaopei, relying on the original historical drama.
Meanwhile, in the Cao Cao arc, the part where he "protected the emperor"—that is, picked up Emperor Xian, who had escaped from the arms of the infamous killing machines Li Jue and Guo Si, and began securing legitimacy in earnest—was only now able to appear in the episode.
That was exactly when the emperor of the empire began paying serious attention to Kim Yul.
After all, how could one treat the emperor of a country as nothing more than a puppet useful for brandishing as a source of legitimacy?
At that grisly idea.
“Your Majesty! Ulysses is a heretic!”
“This is a narrative that directly challenges the authority of the imperial house!”
“Even if it's a novel, this is clearly……!”
Even the pro-imperial faction, who had been uneasy about recent developments, ended up in an uproar as well.
They felt it too.
The strange incidents that had broken out all over the capital on the day the former emperor suddenly held a masked ball.
How could that possibly be unrelated?
If you gathered the rumors circulating through high society one by one, more than half of those who had gathered there were pro-imperial, so it was a natural conclusion.
So they were extremely uneasy.
In any case, rumors were already rampant that subversive currents were moving within the empire, so such a blatant move was too much.
Of course, they had neither the courage nor the hard evidence to accuse Duke Vertus head-on.
They just wanted to hang the easiest prey they could find up and burn it to make an example of him.
However.
“Are you nobles of the empire, or mere weaklings shaken by rumors? If you block literature and even satire, are you saying the next step is to shut down all the newspapers?”
The emperor of the empire let out a solemn rebuke.
Of course, his words were also extremely appropriate as a ruler.
And in the emperor's judgment, the writer known as Ulysses was still someone too close to a hornet's nest to touch.
However, the pro-imperial faction's anxiety was not so slight that it could be soothed by the emperor's words alone.
The emperor himself was also not yet fully confident about Ulysses to share the information he had gathered with the pro-imperial faction.
Therefore.
“It looks like you’ll have to step in.”
“I have never once swung this eloquence at the weak…… But if it is for the nation's normalization, I shall step in personally.”
The pro-imperial faction decided to throw at Ulysses the loudest, most tart, and most fiery human weapon they had.
It was the former Assemblyman Asterik, now a jobless bum, who had been completely cured of Orange Disease by a single handwritten letter from the emperor.
* * *
Another peaceful day in the western square.
The peach world tree was still wildly scattering pink petals everywhere, and couples were laughing and chatting beneath it.
If you turned your gaze just a little.
“I am Guan Yu, Yunchang!”
“Dad, you’re awesome!”
People who had come out as families were even scattered in groups of three or five, renting clothes from cosplay shops and making memories for their children.
Like the hanbok rental shops in front of Gyeongbokgung Palace, the 'Two Heroes Cosplay Shop' had somehow become a famous sight of the western square.
Some were crudely made, but there were also some with fairly excellent workmanship, like the one Estea had once excitedly worn and run over in.
Watching them, I even felt as if the nearly dried-up Three Kingdoms hype in my chest was being filled back up.
What pleased me more than anything was.
“Mm. Quiet, huh.”
That the elf protesters who used to make noise in front of the newspaper office had been completely wiped out.
Power is only satisfying when you wield it, so I grabbed Chloe by the ear and yanked it.
- Lady Chloe!
- If it is Your Ladyship's word, it can't be helped…….
Sure enough, the moment Chloe stepped in, it vanished in an instant.
……It was enough to make me think that elf bitch was behind it.
“The pride of elves and…… love of nature…… hic…….”
“Aren’t the clothes you’re wearing now artificial too? Why don’t you just go around naked, then?”
“What an elf-hating remark……!”
I swallowed the truly Chloe-hating remark—that there wouldn't even be anything worth seeing if she stripped—deep inside.
“So why did you call me here?”
“I am the chairwoman of the Truth Daily, you know? As the foundation director, isn't it only natural to praise the marquee author, you know?”
“Are you the president, the foundation director, or the chairwoman? Pick one.”
“All of them refer to this lady!”
Every time I exchanged words with her, I felt like my intelligence was dropping.
In any case, if she kept her mouth shut, she looked pretty cute, teasing her was satisfying, and she was rich.
A little troublesome, but maintaining a relationship like this wouldn't be so bad.
“So what's the business? I'm a busy person, you know.”
“Hmm, please wait just a moment, you know. I’m eating bread, you know.”
What is it.
Why do I get such a bad feeling about this?
“This way, you know!”
At Chloe’s voice, I turned my head.
What I saw there was.
“…….”
It was a face I remembered.
The man who had gone full McCarthyism, drawn up a kill list, and strutted around Congress.
Apparently that still wasn't enough in terms of showmanship, because he eventually caused a huge commotion by spraying manure all over the parliament in every direction and ended up getting kicked out of his seat in the end.
It was definitely that assemblyman, Asterik, or whatever.
“Agyak!”
I yanked Chloe's ear hard.
.
.
.
“Haha! Then I look forward to working with you, author!”
“……Take care.”
Assemblyman Asterik came like a storm and vanished like a gale.
“Hyak! Stop, stop that, you know!”
The moment he disappeared, I stretched out my arm, fiddled with the tip of Chloe's pointy ear, and kept tugging at it while
I mulled over his words.
Because he had such a cheerful personality, he piled on all sorts of extra explanations, but to sum up.
- Have people been talking about you behind your back lately?
……you could say that.
No, I was really wronged.
If I had gone out flailing around saying I was going to do politics, then maybe, but I'm just a peace-loving shut-in writer.
“Uee, uuu, uee-uee──”
Wasn't it Asterik himself who flew into a rage after reading the novel in the first place?
And Duke Vertus, who sent assassins, too—what on earth is going on in the politics of these otherworlders?
Why do they keep coming to me and pestering me, instead of going and dragging over one of those pseudo-official-history forum buddies in the salon?
“Ueeeh──”
“Have you reflected on your actions?”
“I have, I have reflected, you knowww……!”
Only then did I let go of Chloe's ear.
The way it had turned bright red looked rather nice.
“I distinctly remember telling you I didn't want to meet separately with people like those shady peddlers.”
“Hmm, but it was Father's request, you know.”
“Your father……?”
After Duke Vertus, now even the elf duke?
Suddenly, I felt a bizarre, Hwang Hee-like dread brush past my spine, one that hadn't even been granted retirement.
* * *
By nature, Kim Yul wasn't the adventurous type.
So, despite Historie's objections, he tried to cut out as many things in the Cao Cao arc as possible that fell into the 'disliked' category.
But.
Today, with that monster Asterik clinging to him again, his state of mind changed greatly.
As a result.
## ====== ##
“Mmn, mmn…….”
A sense of depravity and conquest filled Cao Cao's head.
In his arms, Lady Qiu—the aunt of Zhang Xiu and the widow of Zhang Ji—was nestled, letting out heated moans.
If he had an odd quirk, it was that he liked married women far more than ordinary women.
Taking a woman who already had a husband, or once had had one, gave a man satisfaction beyond compare.
The petty anger of the defeated Zhang Xiu was nothing to him.
Heroic to the core, how could a hero see a beauty and not covet her?
But.
Before he could continue focusing on the conquest, Cao Cao frowned at the feeling that things outside were gradually growing noisy.
Soon.
“Enemies! Enemy ambush!”
The urgent cry that ripped through the silence instantly blew away Cao Cao's drunken haze.
“Kyaa!”
He shoved Lady Qiu aside, hastily donned his armor, grabbed his sword, and stepped out of the tent.
What lay before him was a hellscape of chaos.
Before he knew it, flames were shooting up in all directions, and Zhang Xiu's soldiers were cutting down his own guards wherever they found them.
Only then did Cao Cao realize his mistake.
“My lord! This way!”
At that heavy, steel-like voice, Cao Cao barely managed to pull himself together and turn his head.
“Akrae!”
Dian Wei was already drenched in blood, as if he had single-handedly slaughtered at least several dozen soldiers.
.
.
.
“Father, over here──!”
Cao Cao couldn't quite bring himself to immediately grab the reins his son, Cao Ang, held out.
But.
“Father, run. You must run.”
Cao Ang grabbed Cao Cao's hand and placed the reins in it.
“I am Cao Cao's son, Cao Ang!”
Bravely, like a moth to a flame, he stood in the way of those pursuing them.
Cao Cao could not bear to watch the scene to the end.
## ====== ##
Even as he wrote it, Kim Yul had poured such steamy married-woman love into it that he himself thought, “Wow, is this really historically accurate?”
The attempt to emphasize the protagonist's human side as much as possible so it wouldn't get too entangled with the current political situation was good in itself.
But there was something he overlooked.
“This, no matter how I look at it…….”
“Right?”
“Among the nobles, the only married-woman lover is probably that duke.”
“Huh, is it okay to make it this blatant?”
Coincidentally, the empire happened to have someone renowned as an expert in adultery.
“……This fucking bastard?”
He had thoroughly rubbed Duke Vertus, the legendary stud who somehow kept his noble title despite five infidelity scandals, the wrong way.
It didn't end there.
“Hwahaha! A masterpiece, a masterpiece! I’d almost want to read it aloud in front of the duke someday!”
The emperor hit Like, Recommend, Retweet, and Share.
“As expected of Assemblyman Asterik!”
“Haha, it's because my sincerity got through.”
“To attack like this—indeed, writers are just built differently!”
“This isn't fake; I hit the upvote button five times myself!”
In response to the emperor's retweet, the pro-imperial faction friends also joined the chorus, shouting, “This isn't fake; I hit the upvote button five times myself!”
And then.
“……Huh?”
Though she could accept pure love, harems, harem-pure romance, and polygamy alike, the saintess could not accept NTR.
The saintess displayed the Unhappy status effect.