Chapter 220: Arrogance
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 220: Arrogance
Officially, Balak had left Duke Babel's capital city. To keep that fact a secret, I needed to refrain from going out.
But the mysterious letter had been waiting for me, as if it knew about my few excursions outside. It was proof that the sender knew my schedule down to the last detail.
The next day, I disguised myself by sticking a fake beard to my face and covering my body with a hooded robe that concealed even my eyes, then left the ducal castle.
Despite the commotion I and the Duke had staged a week ago, a large crowd was strolling through the shopping district as if nothing had happened.
“Did you hear the rumor? Turns out, most of the people who attended the last duel tournament were enemy spies trying to assassinate His Grace the Duke!”
“Hah, of course. Isn’t it all over the place? They say a week ago, one of the quick-witted rats realized he’d been found out and put on quite an escape act, didn’t he?”
However, the voices I overheard from time to time told me my objective had been properly achieved.
The rumor hadn’t died down; it had simply spread so far that it was no longer something to make a fuss about.
The letter that arrived yesterday was the only fly in the ointment of my plan. No, it was a variable that could turn all my plans to dust.
My steps came to a halt at a two-story shop. A familiar face, the one who had acted as my informant when I was under Baron Allanton’s care, was waiting for me.
“Welcome.”
“Has the item arrived?”
“Ahem, didn’t I promise I would get it for you? Please, come inside.”
We entered the back, acting the part of a merchant and a regular customer. At the informant’s signal, the merchant inside nodded and headed to the front of the shop.
He seamlessly filled the spot his colleague had vacated. This was a safe house Boatman had prepared, a hideout for his informants.
“Did you catch him?”
I had received the letter at a location about halfway between the ducal castle and the central plaza.
Though not as crowded as the central plaza, it was still a busy area, so I hadn’t been able to catch the person who gave me the letter. Drawing attention would have risked exposing my identity.
Only after seeing my real name written on the letter did I decide to risk being discovered and try to catch him, but by then, he had already fled.
“He was a common pickpocket from the back alleys. He said he was commissioned that very morning for a few coins to deliver the letter.”
I had left the ducal castle after breakfast. In other words, the person who commissioned the delivery knew my movements in real time.
“The client?”
“A back-alley thug he pays tribute to.”
The informant who had led me here rolled up the carpet on the floor and leaned it against the wall. Then he pulled on a metal ring that had been hidden underneath.
Kwoong.
With a heavy sound, a section of the floor lifted, revealing a staircase leading down to a basement.
I came face to face with the thug from behind the iron bars of a cell in the basement. Boatman, who had been interrogating the thug, washed his blood-stained hands and came out of the cell.
“You’re here.”
“Did you find out who’s behind this?”
Boatman shook his head.
“He says he got it from a fellow thug.”
“…And that fellow thug will say he got it from some other nobody. Am I wrong?”
“To use such a troublesome method, they must have anticipated we would trace them.”
“If we keep chasing the trail, it’ll just go cold.”
Someone who anticipated I would follow their trail would not fail to cover their tracks.
Boatman’s silence was his agreement.
What mattered was the identity and purpose of the person who sent the letter. The first name that came to mind was Vivian, but she was quickly dismissed as a candidate.
Vivian would never expose the fact that she knew my identity.
On the contrary, she would pretend not to know and try to set a trap. It’s a well-known fact that a hidden dagger is sharper than one that is revealed.
“For now, it means they’re not an enemy…”
In truth, there was only one person capable of seeing through my elaborate disguise and tracking my location in real time.
The Witch of the Sky.
And if the Witch of the Sky was truly behind this, it also meant she wasn’t cooperating with Vivian.
As I said before, Vivian would never want to reveal that she knew my identity in such a manner. In other words, this was a good situation for me.
The problem was that I didn’t know the Witch of the Sky’s purpose for sending the letter… and assuming she had no connection to Vivian made her motive even harder to discern.
“What do you think her purpose is?”
“How would I know… but to approach you in such a roundabout way, she must want something, don’t you think?”
“You think this is a blackmail letter?”
“Instead of leaking your weakness to the enemy, she revealed that she knows it. This means she intends to use that weakness to extort something from you.”
It was an opinion befitting a merchant. A plausible assumption.
However, if that assumption were true, the Witch of the Sky would demand a price far beyond my expectations. She would know the exact value of this information.
“What could she want?”
“How can I know the demands of someone I’ve never met? But if we wait, we’ll find out. They’ll be the one to approach us again.”
I shook my head.
“Being led around isn’t my style.”
The Witch of the Sky had gone to the trouble of sending the letter in a roundabout way to hide her identity, but her method wasn’t completely flawless.
Perhaps the Witch of the Sky was somewhere nearby. I had three reasons for my suspicion.
‘First. Her inconvenient ability.’
Her power only activates when her eyes are closed. In other words, while using her ability, she is as good as blind. She becomes defenseless.
Therefore, she can’t easily use her ability unless her own safety is guaranteed. That’s why she can only use it for absolutely necessary tasks.
Isn’t that why I controlled my skills so as not to stand out?
To be discovered despite such efforts meant that the Witch of the Sky had watched the entire duel tournament with her ability.
Why would she watch even the unimportant parts? It was just a tournament, nothing more than a pastime for nobles.
And it didn’t seem like she was on the same side as Vivian, who was presumed to have sent the assassins. If so, there was only one reason.
Perhaps she took an interest because it was happening near where she lived.
‘Second. She used this city’s back alleys.’
She may have tried to minimize her tracks in a roundabout way and even cut her tail, but the fact that she used this city’s back alleys remains unchanged.
This was an era without any special means of communication. To make a request, there had to be some form of contact.
‘Third, and most important. The timing.’
I had informed Duke Babel of my outing at the breakfast table. The time the pickpocket and the thug received their commission was around then.
That meant the time between the commission and its execution was short. It would be impossible if the physical distance was great.
The more I thought about it, the more certain I became. If so, wasn’t this a golden opportunity?
“Boatman. Gather all the human resources you have.”
“What are you planning to do?”
“I’m going to light a fire. In the rabbit hole.”
If his identity was exposed, there was no need to hold back. Allen decided to pursue the Witch of the Sky with all his might.
Ordering Boatman to gather his resources and obtaining Duke Babel’s permission were part of that plan.
“So, you’re saying a witch might have infiltrated my domain?”
At the thought that the witch who had been tormenting him might be right under his nose, Duke Babel cooperated without a word. Jean Philippe led the troops.
“We’ve blocked all escape routes.”
After receiving Boatman’s report, I relayed the information to Jean Philippe. Nodding, Jean Philippe shouted to the soldiers watching him.
“Suppress them!”
It was the beginning of a blitzkrieg to clean up the underworld. Soon, a rough clamor spread like wildfire.
Jean Philippe’s clear voice pierced through the screams and curses of the slum dwellers.
“Find her! She must be in this city!”
@
Meanwhile, in a mansion in the wealthy district on the opposite side of the city, Christina opened her eyes. Her fine brow was slightly furrowed, and she was biting her lip.
“I don’t understand. How can he be so bold when his weakness has been exposed? What will he do if I tell Vivian?”
She rose from her armchair and stretched, her body making creaking sounds here and there.
“Well, this was one of the reactions I anticipated.”
She had already covered her tracks. Even if they searched the slums with a fine-toothed comb, her existence would not be revealed. She could guarantee it.
The problem was that Allen’s actions were several steps faster than she had expected. Such bold decisiveness was outside the norm, and therefore, very threatening.
If a situation like this were to repeat, her plans could be ruined. She felt the need to take some measures.
“As expected of someone who was an emperor. He’s not a pushover like that idiot.”
No sooner had she spoken than a knock came from the door, and a servant appeared.
“Monsieur Georges is here.”
“When did he arrive?”
“He’s been here for over half an hour.”
Christina clicked her tongue inwardly and straightened her clothes. Her hair was a bit flattened, but a man blinded by love wouldn’t notice.
“Christina!”
Soon, a neatly dressed young man entered the room. He was an official working under Duke Babel.
Christina was temporarily relying on him to avoid outside attention. They say the darkest place is right under the lamp, after all.
“I’m sorry. Have you been waiting long?”
“For you, I could wait an eternity. It’s not as if I don’t know your circumstances. It’s an illness brought on by that unfortunate accident, is it not?”
Christina smiled gently. Georges’s face flushed as he met her gaze, but his reaction would have been different if he knew what was truly on her mind.
‘Unfortunate accident…’
Georges believed that Christina’s family had fallen into ruin after being caught in a dispute between larger families.
He thought that the shock of losing all her relatives in the process had caused Christina to develop narcolepsy.
But the truth was different.
It was true that her family had fallen, but the one who had brought it about was Christina herself.
‘You must sacrifice yourself for the family!’
‘If you just accept, the family will regain its past glory! Please, think of the family!’
The voices of her father and brothers echoed in her mind. Voices she would never hear again.
Christina tightened her lips. It was a conditioned reflex to stop the corners of her mouth from twitching.
What on earth was a family that they would sell out one of their own? Was the family name so important that it was worth sacrificing a family member?
‘Liars.’
Her brilliant mind had seen through the true intentions of the family that had forced her to sacrifice herself.
They were simply afraid. Afraid of the peculiar ability she possessed, her intellect that far surpassed ordinary people, and her captivating beauty.
So they panicked and tried to get her out of the family. Even though they knew that embracing her would be more beneficial to the family than selling her off.
It was right after that when one family member made a suggestion. Wasn’t it a waste to just get rid of her when she was so beautiful?
‘Fools! If you’re going to sell me, you should at least get a price worthy of my value!’
Marry me off to the heir of a barony who had nothing to show for himself but some paltry swordsmanship? Isn’t that the same as trading gold for shit?
‘How can they be so stupid!’
She could tolerate them treating their family as mere tools. But she could never forgive them for devaluing her worth to nothing.
Christina was sick and tired of her family and its members. She couldn’t possibly admit that she shared the same blood. It was insulting.
‘You’re the ones who stopped treating me like family first.’
She seduced the scoundrel of a ducal family, one far more powerful than her betrothed’s, while pretending to go along with her family’s wishes and agreeing to the marriage.
Then, with tears in her eyes, she revealed to the ducal scoundrel the “truth”—that she was being forced into marriage due to the machinations of both families.
It was a biased truth, no different from a lie.
‘I swear on my name. I will destroy everything that stands between us.’
The ducal family’s scoundrel, taken in by her beauty, led his soldiers to storm the wedding on the day it was to take place and killed the man who was to be Christina’s husband.
The problem was that the dead man was the sole heir of the barony. Though their power was weak, they had no choice but to retaliate, and war was inevitable.
That was when the Duke intervened, mediating in exchange for a vast sum of wealth. There was one other price. The source of the conflict: Christina’s family.
The baronial family, whose heir was dead, no longer needed a daughter-in-law, and the Duke, having realized his son had been caught in a honey trap, sought to restore his tarnished honor.
As a result, the Lusignan family, which had dreamed of a revival by selling off Christina, was wiped out overnight.
The only survivor from the Lusignan family was Christina, who had fled the family and escaped into Duke Babel’s territory before the incident occurred.