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Chapter : 07
Spirit Mark
A mark that only a spirit mage could leave—and only another spirit mage could recognize.
In this imperial palace, there was only one spirit mage: Jenaida. Which meant she was the only one who could see this message.
‘How dare you threaten to kill someone?’
The muscles beneath her jaw bulged as anger made her arms tremble.
Dalton was Jenaida’s squire—the only person in the palace she could truly trust.
But after she married Kaiden in her previous life and moved north with him, they had naturally lost contact.
Not wanting to drag him into harm unnecessarily, Jenaida had intended to sever ties with Dalton altogether. She was someone who had already resolved to die for Kaiden. She didn’t want to form pointless connections.
If the murderous intent had been directed at her instead, she wouldn’t have been this furious. She might even have accepted it calmly.
Jenaida stared intently at her own palm. The contracted spirit showed no sign of emerging—it remained eerily quiet.
‘I’ll have to force it out…’
Spirits usually behaved however they pleased, but they would sometimes manifest when their spirit mage suffered severe physical shock. If the spirit mage died, everything gained through the contract would disappear as well.
Jenaida lifted the hem of her dress and drew a sword.
Just as she was about to slash her arm without hesitation, a chilling voice rang out as Kaiden grabbed her wrist.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
She flinched for a moment, then immediately tried to pull free.
“Let go of me.”
“I asked what you’re doing.”
He pressed the question, but Jenaida couldn’t answer. Even if she told him the truth, Kaiden—who knew nothing about spirits—would never allow it.
She had to identify who left the spirit mark before anyone touched the body. The more people handled it, the fainter the mark would become.
“Please don’t concern yourself. Just for a moment—”
“Answer my question first.”
He muttered lowly.
“Now.”
Jenaida, who had never seen Kaiden truly angry before, swallowed hard as she abandoned the idea of forcing the issue. One wrong word, and it looked like he might break something.
She relaxed her arm and spoke calmly.
“Please let go, first.”
Sensing the absence of agitation in her voice, Kaiden released her without protest. Her wrist throbbed painfully—he’d been gripping it tightly.
Jenaida hastily strung together a flimsy excuse.
“There was a loud noise, so I drew a weapon for self-defense.”
“……”
“That’s all.”
“Is that truly all?”
“Yes. That’s all.”
Lies were hardest the first time. The more you told them, the easier they became. And eventually, you grew numb to them.
Unlike the first lie, which had made her heart pound, she felt no tremor now.
“I’ll go downstairs.”
She cut the conversation short and hurried away, completely forgetting the protocol that required her to be escorted.
Kaiden didn’t follow.
Time had already been wasted in their struggle.
‘What if all the traces are gone?’
Spirit marks faded the more human hands touched them. Eventually, it would become impossible to tell which spirit mage had left the trace.
“……”
Tracking someone with even a little information versus none at all was the difference between heaven and earth.
A brutal scene flashed before her eyes and vanished. Just imagining it made her body tremble.
Jenaida bit down hard on her lip.
The unstable clicking of her heels echoed through the corridor.
When Jenaida finally arrived at the scene, she pushed through the crowd. Imperial guards had already surrounded the body.
With regret, she reached out into the air to examine what remained of the spirit mark.
Most of its contents had been erased, and the spirit energy was scattered chaotically. There was no way to identify who had left it.
‘Do I really have no choice but to stay glued to Dalton all day?’
There was no indication of when or where the attack would occur.
Jenaida took a long breath, trying to steady her mind.
The fact that the culprit had deliberately left a spirit mark meant that their true target wasn’t Dalton—it was her. As long as she didn’t provoke them, Dalton would at least survive the night.
Just as she reached that rational conclusion, Kaiden approached from behind.
He must have followed her.
With a faint frown, he guided her backward, his broad back completely blocking her view of the body.
As Jenaida was about to protest, more imperial guards arrived and addressed the gathered nobles.
“Please step back, everyone. By order of His Majesty the Emperor, all guests are to return to the banquet hall.”
At the mention of an imperial command, the murmuring nobles began to disperse.
Kaiden joined the flow of people, and Jenaida had no choice but to follow in silence.
As most turned their backs, a golden light seeped out of the corpse, hovered briefly in the air, and vanished.
The assembled nobles looked at the emperor with uneasy expressions.
The face that had been full of smiles moments ago was now cold as frost. Slowly, the emperor swept his gaze across them, then gestured to the guards at his side.
The knights instantly sealed the doors leading outside.
The already anxious nobles turned pale, but no one dared voice open dissatisfaction toward the emperor.
A heavy silence settled over the hall.
Felix spoke in a magnanimous tone.
“Do not worry. This is merely to apprehend the culprit. Those without suspicion will be safely escorted out.”
Hearing this, Jenaida quietly clenched her fist.
There was a high chance the culprit was still within the palace. According to routine, Dalton—the squire—had been in the palace, and if the culprit wanted to threaten Jenaida, staying here was far more advantageous than fleeing. If things went wrong, they could kill Dalton immediately.
‘He could die without anyone noticing.’
She didn’t know how the intruder had entered a palace protected by holy barriers, but once inside, killing an unawakened squire was as easy as breathing.
Dalton didn’t even have an escort knight like Kaiden.
As she debated slipping away, the hand she was holding tightened.
She hadn’t squeezed—it was Kaiden.
Her gaze lifted to meet his emotionless violet eyes.
“Don’t do anything foolish. Unless you want to drag my name through the mud as well.”
She’d thought she was hiding her emotions well, but apparently not. Even in her second life, she was still this clumsy.
Jenaida almost made an excuse, then stopped. She didn’t want to involve him in pointless rumors.
Meanwhile, more knights entered the hall.
But on closer inspection, many of them wore uniforms different from the palace’s official knights.
‘Huh?’
A sense of suspicion drew her gaze toward them. Then, a familiar face approached.
“Lady Jenaida, are you all right?”
“Dalton?”
The very person she had been searching for appeared before her.
She stared at him blankly. There were no visible injuries—he didn’t seem to have been touched.
Calmly, she asked,
“Why are you here instead of a knight?”
“There was an emergency order. Most of the knights were dispatched to search for the culprit and reinforce palace security, so I was temporarily assigned here.”
“Ah…”
“Guess I got lucky.”
Seeing him crack a joke even in such a serious situation eased her tension. It was typical of the easygoing Dalton.
She was just starting to smile when a cold voice cut in like icy water.
“Are you competent? How long have you been a squire?”
A probing question.
At the sharp tone, Dalton straightened instantly and bowed properly.
“I have trained under Lady Jenaida for five years.”
Jenaida quickly added,
“I vouch for his abilities. There’s no need for concern.”
Kaiden still looked displeased, but he didn’t press further and turned away.
After the questioning ended, Jenaida and Kaiden returned to the estate.
She changed clothes and lay down on the bed.
Since the attack, Morris had been stationed at Kaiden’s side, so there was no need for her to keep guard.
Still, she couldn’t fall asleep. She stared at the window, fully covered by curtains, letting not even a sliver of moonlight in.
‘At least for tonight, Dalton is alive.’
But that safety would only last two days.
Even if things were fine now, there was no telling when that spirit mage might whimsically decide to kill him.
She had to do something.
In the end, she got out of bed and opened the window. A burst of light poured over her instantly, illuminating her silver hair with a soft glow.
‘I have to act—now.’
