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Chapter 2
My breath was caught in my throat, and my lungs felt like they were about to burst.
“Haa… haa!”
My ragged breathing froze into pale vapor in the northern cold air, leaving traces in the dark forest.
“Haa… huff… damn it.”
My vision swam, and I finally came to a stop.
I had no choice but to lean my back against a large tree. The sweat that had drenched my body began to cool rapidly, turning icy against my skin.
Bad luck.
On my way out of the mansion, I had run into several elite soldiers.
They were the ones who had gone out on external inspection with Edward.
Evading them had cost me time, and thanks to that, the wound on my shoulder had torn further open, increasing the bleeding.
“Hoo…”
With a sigh, I lowered my head—and in my vision I saw strands of black hair, cut off in uneven clumps.
“It’s… finally over.”
Exactly one month after the day my entire family was killed.
I abandoned the noble identity of Helena Morton and hid myself in the lowest ranks of Wickes, all for revenge.
It took me thirteen years—from pickpocketing in the streets to climbing the ladder of power.
And in the end, I completed my revenge.
BOOM! KRAAANG!
A massive explosion echoed from afar.
The Wickes mansion, now reduced to a distant point, was once again engulfed in roaring flames.
The fire started by mana bombs must have spread successfully to the gunpowder traps I had planted in advance.
“Haa…”
Where should I go now?
Once an assassin of Wickes and the head of its intelligence division, I was now nothing more than a fugitive being hunted by them.
“For now, I should be safe… but…”
Edward would inherit the position of boss, and for a while he would be too busy cleaning up the Wickes family I had long been carefully dividing and destabilizing.
Chasing a traitor would come after that.
At that moment, I remembered what Edward had said just before the mana bomb exploded.
“I will find you, Helena. In the end, you’ll come back to Wickes. And when you do…”
The rest was drowned out by the explosion, but I could clearly read his lips.
“I’ll break your ankles first.”
Edward was definitely the kind of man who would do it.
I’d probably end up wishing for death instead.
“I need to run far away.”
Like I did thirteen years ago, I would have to change my appearance again.
So that no one could find me.
But places safe from Wickes’ influence across the continent were extremely rare.
A place where I could hide from Wickes… and one I knew inside and out.
“That place would be…”
A name flashed through my mind. More precisely, the name of an organization.
Gulp.
I swallowed hard without realizing it.
Just thinking about it sent a chill down my spine.
“Ugh…”
A groan slipped through my tightly pressed lips.
Suddenly, even the wound on my shoulder felt like it was getting worse.
Going to that organization…
If someone had asked me a few days ago—or even a few hours ago—I would have laughed in disbelief.
I would’ve said, “If you want to die that badly, just find a cleaner way to do it.”
To gain Benedict Wickes’ trust, I built the intelligence division and served as one of its key executives, earning plenty of hostility from that organization in the process.
In other words, if my identity were exposed, things would become extremely troublesome.
“But there’s no better place to hide.”
No matter how I looked at it, no one would imagine I had taken refuge in Wickes’ enemy faction.
Especially not in that infamous group.
The more I thought about it, the better the option became.
“Anyway… as long as that man doesn’t find out, it should be fine, right?”
The hesitation didn’t last long.
Knox is stronger than Wickes.
No matter how capable Edward was, he couldn’t recklessly invade Knox.
If I was already a fugitive from Wickes, then there was no safer place than Knox.
I took one last look at the burning Wickes mansion.
“It’s burning nicely.”
The mana bombs I had painstakingly obtained from an unknown workshop were doing their job perfectly.
A fire that could not be extinguished with water was devouring a centuries-old estate like dry firewood.
It was a shame I couldn’t watch it burn more closely.
I turned away without regret and started walking back into the forest.
First, I had to cross the border.
One year later.
Lautern, the capital of the Bernheim Empire, which dominates half of the eastern continent.
The House of Knox is the only ducal family in the entire Bernheim Empire.
The ducal estate on the outskirts of Lautern was as grand as the family’s status demanded.
Rather than a noble residence, it resembled an independent town—or even a fortress.
A massive castle that could only be seen after traveling a long road by carriage.
Dozens of separate buildings belonging to Knox vassals surrounded it, along with various facilities serving different purposes.
Anyone visiting the ducal estate for the first time could not help but be impressed.
And so, someone had to guard the main gate of the great House of Knox.
“There will be an inspection.”
A young man spoke in a mechanical, slightly annoyed tone—yet his voice still carried a hint of youth.
The employee of the Kelita Merchant Guild, one of dozens of trading companies delivering supplies to the Knox household, glanced at the guard who approached.
He was a beautiful boy with straw-colored blond hair and faint sky-blue eyes.
He looked barely old enough to be an adult.
He wore the insignia of the lower-ranked “action unit” of Knox.
“Hey, rookie. Do the inspection properly.”
“Yes.”
The boy responded flatly to his senior’s nagging. Compared to the sturdily built members of the unit, he was quite small.
However, his slightly raised eyes and indifferent expression gave the impression that he wasn’t someone to be taken lightly.
“Show your identification.”
“Ah, yes. Here.”
The guild employee—who secretly liked small animals and cute dolls—stared blankly at the boy before hurriedly handing over her ID.
He checked it against a list and nodded.
“Ilise of Kelita Merchant Guild. Confirmed. You’re good to go.”
“Um…”
“Yes?”
“May I ask your name?”
“My name?”
The sudden question startled him. His already large eyes widened.
“Runnelk Eins. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, I just wanted to know… Th-thank you for your hard work!”
Flustered, the guild employee quickly climbed back onto her wagon.
The sky-blue eyes watched the departing carriage carefully.
“Hey, anything suspicious?”
His senior, Jake, tapped his shoulder.
“…No. Nothing like that.”
“If something’s off, say so. I’ll stop them. Your instincts are reliable, Rookie.”
Though he had only joined less than a year ago, the boy had already become known within the action unit for his sharp intuition.
“It’s nothing.”
He shook his head, then glanced sharply at Jake.
“And don’t call me Rookie. I have a proper name—Runnelk.”
“Ha! Why not? It suits you perfectly. Rookie Ruki.”
“…Fine. Do as you like.”
“But was that merchant group really fine? If something happens later, it’ll be a headache.”
“There’s nothing wrong with the cargo, but the employee was a bit…”
“The employee?”
“She suddenly asked for my name. I wondered if she knew me…”
“Oh, that. Rookie, that’s because—!”
“Because?”
“Not telling you! If you don’t know, keep not knowing!”
Jake laughed loudly, shaking his shoulders, then walked back to the shaded guard post shouting something like “Single heaven! Couples are hell!”
He left the rookie alone under the blazing sun.
The small guard post attached to the towering wall of the Knox estate was crowded with long-serving soldiers like Jake, who were shamelessly slacking off.
Glaring at them with narrowed eyes, Rookie let out a long sigh.
“Seriously… hiding is ridiculously hard.”
