TCRDG 13

Chapter 13

[Raven Organization Chart]

The moment I saw the familiar name written on the paper, my heart sank with a loud thud, and I swallowed hard.

“Ra…ven?”

I only glanced at it, but I could already tell it wasn’t something ordinary. The personal information of the guild members I knew was recorded in dense detail.

“Ah, noona! You shouldn’t be looking at that—it’s a classified document.”

Startled, Seniel—who had let his guard down while talking to me—snatched the document from my hands.

Orbis also seemed to snap out of it and walked over to the table.

“This is the guild you guys are tracking?”

“Why? You know about it too?”

I bit my lip as I looked at the piles of documents stacked on the table.

To think all that was about our guild. Even if there wasn’t anything about me, I couldn’t help but worry about the guild.

“Why would I know?”

“Right?”

Seniel, who had momentarily tensed up, smiled again and gathered the documents to keep me from seeing any more.

“Why are you tracking them?”

“You’re really curious today, huh?”

Seniel probably meant it as a joke, but I felt guilty for my intentions and blurted out something random to cover it up.

“Be-Because the guild name is pretty. I like crows.”

“Oh? So that’s why you raise Shell? I thought it was unusual since people usually use pigeons for message delivery.”

He bought it?

I’d raised Shell because the crow was the symbol of our guild, but it served as a convenient excuse now.

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Recently, Raven stole something very important from us. We’ve been tracking them since, and apparently, the guild master died recently? So we’re thinking this might be a good chance to absorb them.”

“Seniel! Even if it’s Rosia noona, isn’t that too much to say…?”

Orbis belatedly tried to cover Seniel’s mouth, but I’d already heard everything and smiled awkwardly.

“Don’t worry. It’s not like I’ll tell anyone.”

Actually, I planned to head straight to the intelligence branch and report it the moment I left the palace.

“Right, noona? Really, you absolutely must not tell anyone.”

“Of course. Don’t worry. You both look busy, so I’ll get going.”

I was about to stand up hastily, anxious to leave, but Seniel grabbed my arm.

I flinched and looked back at him.

“What is it?”

“It’s too late to leave today. The main gate must be closed by now.”

“Then what should I do?”

“Just stay the night. This detached palace has plenty of guest rooms. Since His Highness brought you here himself, I’m sure it’s allowed.”

The idea of having to spend the night at the royal palace left me blinking blankly.

Even while I stayed here, they would keep collecting and organizing information about Raven.

Though I was uneasy, there was no way to open the palace gates once they were shut.

“…Alright.”

With no choice, I was guided to a guest room in the palace.

***

There really were plenty of empty rooms in the detached palace, and the guest room I was shown to was lavishly furnished despite having no owner.

But I couldn’t appreciate any of it—my head was too full.

Sitting on the bed, I thought back to what had just happened.

“To think they’re planning to absorb our guild while it’s in chaos… I never even imagined. Is this the imperial family’s will? Or just Prince Vidler acting on his own?”

As I’d seen earlier, Prince Vidler and the Empress had a terrible relationship.

And from what I’d heard, even the Emperor didn’t care much for Vidler.

If so, this must be something Vidler was pursuing personally with just a few trusted aides.

“How many of them are there? I need to figure out the scale.”

Even I, someone who had carried out guild missions for years, didn’t know about this—so they likely weren’t operating through the usual underground channels.

I didn’t know why they were trying to absorb a dark guild, but first, I needed to grasp their size to respond properly.

“I have to investigate. Now’s the only chance.”

If I wanted to check the information gathered here inside the palace, this was my only opportunity.

Once I left in the morning, I might never get the chance again.

It was risky, but I couldn’t just turn a blind eye to the guild. I put on the shawl hanging from the rack and stepped into the corridor.

I didn’t bother to hide my presence.

Pretending to take a stroll, I stepped outside and checked if the lights in the other rooms were off.

Rustle.

There was a constant noise coming from the nearby bushes. Thinking it might be a cat or something, I approached—only to see a child crouching.

“Shh!”

Surprised by the child’s sound, I instinctively covered my mouth. The child gestured for me to come closer.

The third prince from earlier?

It was strange to see a young prince hiding in the detached palace this late, but I crouched down too.

“Your Highness, are you lost?”

“What? I wouldn’t get lost.”

“Then what are you doing here?”

“Shhh. Quiet.”

The prince once again covered my mouth with his tiny hand and pressed his eye to a hole in the bushes.

He looked like he’d done this many times before—his posture was way too natural.

His legs were fidgeting constantly, which meant he’d probably been here for a while.

What is he trying to see?

Curious, I peeked through the bushes too.

Just then, I heard someone walking into the clearing ahead.

The young prince took a deep breath, so I held mine as well.

The person who stepped into the clearing began practicing swordsmanship. Dressed in white training clothes, they moved so elegantly it almost looked like a dance.

Vidler.

The person the little prince was spying on was the second prince.

He trained under the moonlight for quite a while before wiping his sweat with a towel and disappearing.

“Hehe. Cool, right?”

“…Yes.”

“He’s my brother.”

His cheeks were flushed from focusing so hard, and the prince looked up at me proudly with twinkling eyes.

“Why do you watch him in hiding?”

“Mother doesn’t like it. If I’m with him, my brother gets scolded.”

The prince, looking downcast, suddenly stood up—perhaps his legs were numb—and rubbed his finger with spit before touching his nose and forehead.

“You must really like your brother.”

“He’s so cool! I’ll grow up to be just like him!”

He mimicked Vidler’s training movements. It was both adorable and a little sad.

What a complicated relationship.

Knowing the Empress’s personality from earlier, she’d never allow the third prince to grow close to Vidler.

As I stayed quiet, the third prince tilted his head and reached out with his chubby hand.

“Which maid are you with?”

“I’m not a maid. I’m a guest.”

“From what house?”

Though he was young, he had the authoritative tone of a prince.

I bowed my head and responded politely.

“Just a commoner from a humble household.”

“What? Why is a commoner in the palace… Waaah!”

Before he could finish, we heard the maids calling out for him in the distance.

“I have to go. Today’s meeting is a secret!”

He scampered off like a little rabbit, dodging through the garden.

Maybe because he had royal blood, but his bright red eyes made him even more rabbit-like.

“Just like how Seniel was when he was little…”

I rested my chin on my hand and watched the third prince’s retreating figure, thinking of a young Seniel I hadn’t remembered in a long time—when I suddenly sensed a familiar presence behind me.

I hoped they’d just pass by, pretending not to notice me, but instead, the person came right up behind me and spoke in a chilling tone.

“You again.”

“…Hello.”

I widened my eyes in surprise at the sudden appearance of Vidler.

Well, I did act a little surprised—but honestly, I was startled. Even though I’d sensed him earlier, he had appeared much closer than I expected.

“What are you doing here at this hour?”

“I couldn’t sleep, so I came out for a walk.”

“In that position?”

I was still crouched from hiding behind the bushes with the third prince.

Vidler openly looked at me with suspicion. Judging by his demeanor, my plan to sneak into the office was definitely ruined.

“I got dragged along by the third prince.”

It wasn’t something I needed to hide, so I stood up and answered honestly.

“I feel like you’ve been following me. Can you explain that?”

“It’s just a coincidence.”

“And if the coincidences happen too often?”

“Maybe it’s fate.”

I said it casually to escape the situation, but Vidler’s lips parted slightly in surprise. His ears even seemed a bit red.

“I didn’t take you for someone who tosses around such words lightly. Disappointing.”

…Disappointing? What did I even say?

No, more importantly—why did his disappointment matter to me?

I replied indifferently.

“It was a joke.”

“Who jokes like that?”

Was it just my imagination, or was there a hint of contempt in his gaze?

Was my joke that weird? The guild members always laughed at stuff like that…

Whenever I said something silly, they’d laugh so hard they’d hold their stomachs.

So I thought I was good at making jokes.

But if Vidler’s reaction—someone more objective than my guild members—was this cold, maybe I’d just been fooling myself all along.

“I won’t do it again. But did you train even though you knew we were there?”

“That brat would’ve waited all night if I didn’t show up.”

Surprisingly, Vidler didn’t seem to dislike the third prince.