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Chapter 8
Rosalyn stared intently at the wall blocked by the bookshelf.
If it wasn’t her imagination, she had clearly just sensed someone’s presence.
A letter knife was still a knife. The moment she had gripped it, the hidden killing intent had slipped out without restraint.
And as if responding to it, a faint movement came from beyond the wall.
“So it’s not like you really sent the entire staff on vacation. Then it must be one of the knights? Or maybe a very large rat wandering around? In a duke’s estate, of all places?”
Her words were cutting and sharp.
Deus lowered his head.
Avoiding her gaze was practically an admission. If he had nothing to hide, he wouldn’t have looked away.
Rosalyn was calmer than she had been since entering the mansion.
She quietly retraced the situation in her mind.
Everything was clearly her mistake. There had been countless suspicious signs on the way here.
But unlike her usual self, she had chosen to interpret everything in the most favorable way—and that had been the problem.
The reason for such an uncharacteristic mistake stood right in front of her: Deus, with his head bowed like a criminal.
It wasn’t nostalgia. It was simply arrogance—thinking that someone so small and insignificant couldn’t possibly be a threat.
“Your Grace.”
There was no emotion in her voice.
“Whether what’s hiding behind there is a rat or not doesn’t really matter. Because by the time something happens, it’ll already be too late.”
Rosalyn drew the letter knife again and aimed it at Deus’s neck.
It happened in an instant.
Deus stared blankly at the thin blade pointed at his throat.
Perfectly steady, aimed at a fatal point—it looked as though it would pierce his skin and take his life at any moment.
Yet Rosalyn’s gaze was not on him, but on the bookshelf.
Deus opened his mouth as if to speak, but even the faintest sound would not come out.
“So what will it be, Your Grace? Call out the rat? Or write the reply?”
Everything went dark in his mind. Where had things gone wrong? Deus exhaled shakily.
There was no choice.
His lips moved slowly.
“…I will write the reply.”
“Good decision.”
Rosalyn turned the blade and handed it back toward him.
Helpless, Deus tore open the envelope. But he could not bring himself to show her the blank letter inside.
“Could you turn around for a moment?”
“And what if that knife ends up in the back of my neck?”
Rosalyn spoke lightly, but her words were chilling.
Deus’s expression hardened.
“That will… never happen.”
His voice sounded almost desperate. Rosalyn shrugged lightly and stepped back without resistance.
“Well, I wouldn’t know. Someone who lied once might do it again.”
Deus rubbed his face in frustration. Trapped in his own snare, he had no way out.
“I’ll compromise and stand over here. Is that acceptable, Your Grace?”
From a distance, Rosalyn folded her arms.
Deus, with trembling hands, unfolded the letter. The blank page looked like a reflection of his own mind.
Once he wrote a reply to a letter that didn’t even exist, everything would truly end.
He sighed repeatedly.
If he had known it would become like this, he would never have taken this job in the first place.
“Wait. A reply…?”
Suddenly, Deus’s eyes sharpened.
A reply. And a reply to that reply.
If used correctly, this could turn this tangled situation into not an ending—but a beginning.
He picked up the pen.
Scratch, scratch. The nib moved smoothly, producing a steady, pleasant sound.
Rosalyn clicked her tongue quietly as she watched.
“You would’ve saved us both trouble if you had cooperated from the beginning. Still the same—always making things difficult.”
Old memories quietly surfaced.
The time she had spent with Deus had been just over a month.
Short, yet strangely long enough to leave a lasting impression.
He had been the first person she ever saved.
And the first person she ever spoke to as an equal.
The most capable assassin in the Feil Empire.
Until a few years ago, that title had referred to Rosalyn.
She had been raised as a blade since she was too young to remember.
The title of “most capable assassin” was nothing more than proof of desperate survival.
But she had rules.
She did not harm women or children.
That was why she had spared Deus.
It wasn’t out of justice or sympathy.
He had simply been a boy who fell into the ambiguous boundary of her rules—and she had acted because the others had irritated her.
‘Come to think of it… I wonder if that kid even knows the emperor was the one who tried to have him killed. If he knew that, he’d never call him “Your Majesty.”’
Rosalyn rotated her wrist lightly.
The order to assassinate Deus Cervellion had come directly from the Imperial Family.
They had even hired multiple assassins to erase the Cervellion family from the map entirely.
‘I still don’t understand the reason. And I don’t get why they stopped trying to kill him either.’
She sighed softly.
But it was none of her concern. After today, she would never be involved with House Cervellion again.
“Here.”
At last, Deus finished the reply and stood.
The end of this tiresome job had finally arrived.
Rosalyn quickly stepped forward and snatched the letter from his hand.
“Finally over. You’ve had a difficult time getting here, Your Grace. It was an honor meeting you, and I sincerely hope we never meet again. Goodbye.”
She tucked the letter away, bowed quickly, and stepped back.
“W-wait!”
In panic, Deus reached out and grabbed her wrist.
At that exact moment—
Crash!
Deus was slammed to the ground.
In an instant, the world flipped upside down.
The carpet against his cheek. The pain in his twisted shoulder.
And the weight of someone on top of him.
“…Ah.”
Rosalyn let out a soft sound.
“It might look like something misunderstandable, but I didn’t throw you on purpose.”
She quickly stood up, flustered.
“This is your fault, actually. You have bad manners. Why are you grabbing people’s wrists like that?”
Deus let out a tired laugh as he sat up, sore.
“I won’t apologize.”
Rosalyn hesitated, then reluctantly extended her hand.
Deus accepted it and stood.
“It’s fine. It was my fault.”
Rosalyn looked momentarily surprised. She hadn’t expected him to admit it so easily.
Nobles usually turned even their own mistakes into someone else’s responsibility.
But Deus was different.
Rosalyn quickly shook off the feeling.
“Just be more careful. If you keep grabbing people’s wrists like that, you won’t keep your face intact.”
Deus stiffened.
Rosalyn realized she might have gone too far.
Before she could correct herself, Deus spoke first.
“I won’t do that to anyone else.”
His tone was serious.
Rosalyn blinked rapidly.
“No—what I mean is, not literally ‘anyone else’ as in nobody around you… Haah. Not having people around you isn’t something to be proud of, Your Grace.”
“…Isn’t it?”
Rosalyn sighed again.
This conversation was pointless.
With a light movement, she distanced herself from him.
“Think whatever you want. Handle your social life yourself. I’m a busy person—farewell.”
“A—wait!”
“I’ll use the door on my way out. Jumping the wall is an occupational secret. Goodbye forever!”
With a cheerful tone, she disappeared into the darkness beyond the door.
Alone, Deus rubbed his face in frustration.
Her voice—let’s never meet again—would not leave his ears.
Finally, he lifted his head.
His blue eyes were cold.
“No. No matter what it takes… we will meet again. I will make sure of it.”
His voice had completely changed.
