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Chapter 4
Along with a tension that sharpened all my senses, I gripped the dagger tightly.
Silently, I rose from the bed and walked toward the door.
Even my breathing was suppressed.
Creeeak, creeeak.
Footsteps were steadily drawing closer to my door.
Thud, thud.
Someone knocked on the door with a fist.
“Luki.”
It was Senior Jake’s voice.
“…Yes, senior.”
But I couldn’t let my guard down.
I pressed myself more tightly against the wall near the door.
“Issue an assembly order. Change clothes and come out immediately.”
Senior Jake spoke briefly in an urgent tone, then knocked on the door of the next room.
Before long, it seemed like everyone on the same floor was waking up, as scattered footsteps echoed from all around.
“Hoo…”
So it’s real.
I activated my artifact, changed into Lurnelc Ains’s appearance, got dressed, and headed to the assembly point.
“What’s going on?”
“I don’t know. They said there’s an emergency meeting at the main building, and we’re assigned to guard the hallway.”
“Emergency meeting?”
The place our Strike Team 13 arrived at was the 3rd floor of the main building, where the conference hall and the duke’s office were located.
The meeting must have already started, because other strike team members were already standing guard in the dark, cold hallway outside the conference room.
“You, here.”
Senior Jake, lowering his voice as much as possible, placed me directly in front of the conference room door.
Why here of all places?
I frowned in protest, but he silenced me with a look.
He was clearly dumping the spot on me because he was scared to stand there himself.
How cheap. Seriously cheap.
I had no choice but to stand by the door and observe the faces of those who had arrived earlier.
Whatever had happened, they all looked terrified.
A bad sign.
An emergency meeting in the middle of the night, and frightened members of the organization.
‘What on earth is going on inside?’
But the large conference room door was shut tightly, its soundproofing far too perfect.
After some time passed and the tension began to ease slightly—
Without a sound, the conference room door opened.
But what hit me before even the fact that it had opened was the sharp, metallic stench.
Blood.
A smell I knew too well—and one I found equally revolting—spilled out through the crack of the opened door.
And then a man appeared.
Tall, with wavy brown hair tied high, sharp green eyes hidden behind glasses, and a tightly closed, cold mouth.
“Dufon Clansher, right hand of Duke Killian Knox.”
I had seen him many times in documents when I was in the intelligence division at Whisker, but this was my first time meeting him in person.
Without realizing it, I looked straight up at Dufon Clansher.
That was my mistake.
“You.”
Dufon Clansher, meeting my eyes, flicked his finger.
“M-me?”
I stupidly asked back, and one of his eyebrows rose slightly.
“Follow me.”
Ah. This feels bad.
I had no choice but to lower my head slightly and follow behind him.
The moment I fully stepped into the conference room—
“Hup.”
I instinctively held my breath.
The conference room was filled with people wearing Knox uniforms.
Members lined along the massive walls, high-ranking officials seated along a long table, and even executives seated in a circular formation in the front.
The overwhelming pressure inside the room was so dense it felt like it could make an ordinary person collapse instantly.
But that wasn’t what shocked me.
‘This isn’t the smell of one person.’
I should have realized it earlier.
The scent of blood filling the room was too thick.
It wasn’t the kind of concentration that could come from a single body.
I quickly scanned the room, pretending to cover my mouth.
Around 300 members were present.
Only a fraction of Knox’s total force, but still…
These must be their elite.
Why were they all gathered here in the middle of the night?
The pale, frightened faces of those along the walls and tables were all looking in one direction.
‘That way?’
Following their gaze, I looked toward the executives.
There were seven seats among Knox’s so-called “executives.”
I had never seen their faces in person, but I had gathered information on them for a long time while in Whisker, so they felt familiar, like neighbors I had known for years.
All of them were from vassal families that had served Knox for generations.
And now, three seats were empty.
‘One is Dufon Clansher, who went out earlier. Another must be that person.’
I had already heard that the captain of the personal guard had left the capital a few months ago.
‘The remaining one… must be Greyer Knox.’
As the surname suggested, Greyer Knox was not from a vassal family but from the ducal bloodline itself.
He was Duke Killian Knox’s uncle and had been in charge of intelligence since the previous duke’s era.
Naturally, I searched for the face of that incompetent old man I had clashed with the most—
And then, a figure in Knox uniform slowly rose from the darkness.
No.
He wasn’t rising by his own will—someone was lifting him by the neck.
His feet kicked helplessly at the air, but it was clear he couldn’t escape the grip.
“P-please… spare me… ugh!”
CRACK—!
Before his desperate plea could finish, a horrifying crushing sound echoed.
His neck twisted like clay, ending his life—but the suffering didn’t end there.
SPLAT!
His severed head rolled across the floor, and a rain of blood poured into the conference room.
With a dull thud, his body collapsed like discarded luggage, and beyond it, I saw another person kneeling in the center of the circle formed by the executives.
‘…Greyer Knox.’
The owner of the last empty executive seat.
“I-I’m sorry, Your Grace. I was incompetent, please… forgive me…”
And the one who had torn off a man’s head with one hand, now trembling and begging for mercy, was Greyer Knox.
“Hey.”
Suddenly my vision went dark.
No—it was Dufon Clansher stepping directly in front of me.
He was so tall that he completely blocked my view.
“Prepare bath water.”
“Bath… water?”
What the hell is he talking about?
“A new recruit?”
Dufon Clansher frowned in displeasure and pointed to a door attached to one side of the wall.
“There is a bathroom connected to the duke’s office. Prepare the bath.”
No way. There are hundreds of servants in this estate!
Waking someone in the middle of the night just for this!
It was dirty and unfair—but Dufon Clansher was second in command of Knox.
A low-ranking member like me could be dismissed with a single gesture.
And I couldn’t afford to be expelled from Knox.
Damn it.
Why is my bad feeling always right?
Just as I was about to move toward the indicated direction—
“Intelligence division’s failure…”
“Spies always end up like that…”
Fragments of whispered conversations drifted from the wall.
Ah.
Intelligence division. Spy.
Only two words—but that was enough.
I clenched my teeth and dashed toward Killian Knox’s office.
Without even looking around, I rushed into the bathroom and turned on the hot water.
“This… should be enough.”
My hand trembled slightly as it gripped the edge of the bathtub.
The man in uniform whose head had been torn off—
“A spy… he was a spy.”
No wonder Greyer Knox had begged for mercy while trembling before Killian Knox.
Preventing infiltration was the intelligence division’s responsibility.
Which meant Greyer Knox had missed a spy that Killian himself had uncovered.
Greyer Knox was the executive I knew best among the seven.
He had once been my opponent in intelligence warfare while I was in Whisker.
He was mediocre enough, and lazy enough, not too difficult to handle.
So it wasn’t surprising he missed a spy…
No, that wasn’t it.
My mind, tangled like a knot, was filled only with the image of the spy being torn apart.
“If you get caught… that’s what happens.”
Killian Knox’s terrifying reputation wasn’t just rumor.
Whisker might have been far more humane than Knox.
“I must never run into him.”
Even if I could deceive Greyer Knox’s intelligence division, I might not be able to deceive Killian Knox.
But unfortunately, Dufon Clansher’s order still needed to be completed.
‘Whatever. I don’t care anymore.’
Rushing water!
In my haste to leave as quickly as possible, I even turned on the cold water.
This damn bathtub was unnecessarily huge!
“Done!”
Shivering at my toes, I waited until the tub filled, then shut off both taps.
Now I could leave!
Just as I sighed in relief and tried to step away—
Bang!
The heavy bathroom door swung open as if it were made of paper, and a man stepped inside.
Step, step.
Each step left behind faint bloodstains.
I looked at the killing intent in front of me and unconsciously raised my head.
And my eyes met a pair of golden pupils.
‘Killian Knox.’
Ah. So this is why they said he was a descendant of dragons.
His eyes weren’t human-like at all—vertically slit pupils, like a beast’s, staring straight through me.
They say if you look into Killian Knox’s eyes, you’ll turn to stone.
I had once heard that as a joke.
I needed to move.
I needed to lower my head immediately.
But my body wouldn’t obey.
Even my gaze felt frozen, unable to turn away.
Silver hair, sharp like a blade meticulously honed.
Deep-set eyes, a straight nose bridge.
Perfectly shaped lips and porcelain-white skin splattered with blood—strangely obscene.
Slightly disheveled hair and loosened collar gave him a decadent, arrogant aura.
When I had gathered information on Killian Knox in Whisker, the most common word I saw was “crazy.”
I had thought it meant he was insane.
But maybe it meant something else entirely.
That his beauty was insane.
A ridiculous thought surfaced in my stunned mind.
Step, step.
“…Huh.”
As Killian Knox passed by me, his steps briefly halted, then continued.
The moment he moved past, I could breathe again.
I staggered, finally able to breathe properly, and my mind cleared.
‘I need to get out of here.’
That single thought pushed me forward.
I moved silently, suppressing every trace of my presence.
My heart felt like it would burst with each step.
Just as I was about to leave the threshold of the bathroom—
A chill crawled up the nape of my neck, exposed by my short hair.
And then a low voice, mixed with lethargy and steel, called out:
“Hey. You.”
