Chapter 221: Arrogance
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 221: Arrogance
Christina watched from her window as Georges left the annex and returned to the main building.
His oddly cheerful steps told her he was excited. The fool probably thought he had made progress in his relationship with her.
"How displeasing."
Aside from providing a safe hideout thanks to his position as one of Duke Babel's administrators, Georges was a man with no other charms.
His situation was better than Christina's—a fugitive from a fallen house—but in her eyes, which held a high opinion of her own worth, he was far from satisfactory.
"He's not even a quarter of the Emperor. Hmph."
Sitting back down in the armchair, Christina closed her eyes. At the same time, an unseen eye opened, and a dizzying sense of ascent sent a thrill through her body.
Was this what it felt like to see through the eyes of a god? From the sky, the city and its people were smaller than her fingernails, so tiny she worried she might accidentally crush them.
Perhaps her arrogance stemmed from more than just her brilliant mind.
As she focused, the city, once smaller than a fingernail, magnified to show the slums.
"We've searched every inch, but the target isn't here."
Jean Philippe, Duke Babel's first knight, spoke to the empty air. His gaze was also fixed on nothing.
Soon, a new set of footprints appeared before him. It was proof that someone else was there, even if they were invisible.
To be invisible to her Clairvoyance (千里眼) meant the person was either the Emperor or a witch.
Jean Philippe shook his head.
"We can't search the other districts the way we did the slums. Even for His Grace the Duke, the political burden would be too great."
She couldn't hear the voice of the other person, presumably the Emperor, but she could infer what was being said from Jean Philippe's replies.
"Investigate food consumption? Ah, that makes sense. Aside from wealthy commoners or nobles, no one leaves food to waste. If there's an extra mouth to feed, the amount they eat would certainly change."
But the investigation would yield no results. Christina had anticipated this and chosen to rely on the rather wealthy Georges for that very reason.
The problem was what came after the investigation. First, they had swept through the slums. Next would be the commoners. After that, it would naturally be the wealthy commoners and the nobility.
The search area was narrowing.
'Process of elimination?'
Christina realized Allen would track her down by eliminating suspects one by one.
When the conversation ended, she opened her real eyes. The backlash from her ability washed over her, bringing dizziness and a sense of weakness.
Gripping the arms of the chair to steady herself, she stood up and looked out the window, thinking.
'Should I run for now?'
Her identity was well-disguised, and Georges was the only one who knew she was here. Even if they narrowed the search, she wouldn't be easily found.
The problem was that this kind of unexpected situation likely wouldn't be the first, nor the last.
Allen was always several steps ahead of her. So far, his moves had been within her predictions, but it wouldn't be strange if he surpassed them at any moment.
'Yes, just in case...'
Isn't there a saying that a long tail eventually gets stepped on? She thought the chances were slim, but if she were discovered, her situation would become ridiculous.
Just as Christina made up her mind, she caught sight of children playing in the garden beyond the window. They seemed to be playing hide-and-seek.
'Georges's cousins.'
Only Georges's relatives could play in the annex, which was off-limits to outsiders. She remembered hearing that his cousins had come to visit recently.
From the third floor, she could see not only the seeker but also the hider concealed beneath a garden tree. The seeker, however, couldn't seem to find the culprit at all.
'Should I tell them?'
Neither the seeker nor the hider would want their game ended by a third party's help, but Christina didn't care. It was due to her nasty personality.
Making a sound would reveal her presence, so she decided to toss a coin toward the hider's spot. But just before she could, the seeker made a move.
"Hmm~? Where could you be~? Here~? Or here~?"
He had started poking here and there among the garden trees with a wooden stick he'd gotten from somewhere.
The garden was large, and the spot the seeker was noisily searching was far from where the hider was. But slowly and surely, he was getting closer.
'The seeker will probably tire himself out first.'
Unlike Christina, who judged the situation coolly, the hider seemed to think he might get caught.
Growing visibly anxious, he tried to change his hiding spot. His target was a tree the seeker had already searched.
He must have judged that the seeker wouldn't search the same place twice. A clever little brat.
The problem was that his body didn't cooperate. He tried to move stealthily, but he couldn't hide the sound of rustling leaves.
"There you are!"
"Eek!"
In the end, the hider was caught. The seeker's triumphant smile contrasted with the hider's tearful face. Christina smiled too.
But only for a moment. Her expression quickly hardened. She realized the scene between the seeker and the hider was strikingly similar to her own current situation.
"Could it be...?"
The image of the seeker slowly closing his net from afar overlapped with the image of Allen, who had swept the back alleys and was now turning his attention to the commoners.
In the hider, who grew anxious and made a rash move despite the low chance of being caught, Christina saw herself.
"He was trying to make me react...!"
Goosebumps rose on her skin. When she had learned through her Clairvoyance that the castle gate's inspection had been tightened and extra troops deployed, a chill had run down her spine.
Soon, she wrapped her arms around herself. An unbearable excitement shot through her body. Her face flushed, and she licked her lips without realizing it.
"So he didn't become Emperor by luck, did he?"
An excited breath escaped her lips. A deep smile had already formed on her face.
*
"Any results?"
Boatman shook his head at my question.
"Only a few families connected to the back alleys have made a move. The rest seem to be holding their breath. They probably don't know why the Duke suddenly launched a cleanup operation."
A week had passed since the operation in the back alleys, but there was still no progress in finding the Witch of the Sky.
The food investigation among the commoners also turned up nothing unusual, and no suspicious individuals tried to force their way out of the city.
Sensing that the Witch of the Sky had seen through my ploy, I clicked my tongue. As expected, this wasn't going to be easy.
"Withdraw the troops stationed at the gate."
"Sir? But isn't it too soon?"
I shook my head.
"If she intended to leave the city, she would have made her move when the cleanup operation threw things into chaos. Besides, there's a risk of exposing our informant. Giving her that information is not a wise choice."
After dismissing the troops, Boatman returned and asked.
"Then what is your plan now...?"
"She's still a rat in a trap. Her situation is dire, so she'll be forced to make a risky move. And when she does, she'll naturally reveal her tracks."
I didn't for a moment think the Witch of the Sky would surrender. With her arrogant personality, believing herself to be the best, she wouldn't give up easily.
There was only one way to bring her to her knees: to make her admit that my skills were far superior to hers.
'The question is, how will she resist?'
She won't threaten me with a letter again. Words have little power, and using the same method twice would mean she has no other cards to play.
Knowing her personality, she'll surely try to pay me back in kind. I expected a counterattack that would send a chill down my spine.
Her counterattack came two uneventful weeks later, just when I was beginning to think my prediction was wrong. It was a moment when I couldn't help but let my guard down slightly.
Late at night, when everyone was asleep, the door to my room slowly opened.
Creeak
The poorly oiled door made a loud noise, and it paused for a moment. Then, sensing no movement from inside the room, it began to move again.
The figure that soon appeared was an ordinary administrator who worked in the castle. In his hand, he held a sharp dagger that seemed utterly out of place.
Gulp
After entering the room, his gaze remained fixed on the bed.
The room was dark, making it hard to see its occupant lying in bed, but the faint moonlight filtering through a gap in the window illuminated a moderately raised lump under the covers.
Tiptoeing toward the bed, he squeezed his eyes shut and raised the dagger.
"The Lord desires my sacrifice...!"
Stab
The dagger plunged through the lump under the covers without any resistance.
The important thing was the lack of resistance. Even a mere administrator could tell it wasn't the feeling of piercing a human body.
"What the...!"
He hastily threw back the covers. Beneath them lay a row of pillows.
"Looking for me?"
"H-Heok!"
The assassin, seeing me reveal myself, fell back on his rear in shock. Soon, lights flickered on throughout the castle, announcing the intruder's presence.
"Isn't that Joseph? I can't believe it. I have never done you wrong, so why would you try to assassinate my guest?"
Duke Babel, who had rushed over upon hearing the news, looked as grim as he had when he learned of my insomnia. He was likely thinking that he could be a target as well.
"I was only following the Lord's command!"
"Hmm...!"
The Witch of Dreams had intervened.
Only after having his guards lock Joseph in the dungeon did Duke Babel face me.
"A most dangerous ability. I had already warned my men to be wary of their dreams, yet this still happened. If Joseph, who has worked in this castle for over ten years, fell for it, what of the others?"
Duke Babel asked if he shouldn't flee to his detached palace in another region immediately.
I shook my head.
"That is precisely what the enemy wants. They can't touch Your Grace, who is protected by mentally disciplined guards, so they're threatening you by targeting me, your guest, to lure you out."
In truth, I was the target. The fact that they had aimed for me among Duke Babel's many guests was proof.
In other words, the Witch of the Sky was behind the assassination. And as a counter to my last move, she had contacted Vivian and mobilized the Witch of Dreams.
However, it was too clumsy to be a serious attempt. Using an administrator who had lived a life far removed from assassination? Thanks to that, I had noticed it quickly, hadn't I?
Both I and the Witch of the Sky knew that such a sloppy assassination attempt would never succeed.
This was a warning.
A warning that if I tried any more tricks, she would do something worse. And a warning to resume negotiations.
At the same time, it was a huge mistake. She was probably confident that she had seen through all my schemes, but she had already fallen into my trap.
'To catch a fox, you must set three traps.'
After calming Duke Babel, I gazed out the window. The sky above the mountain ridge was growing pale. Dawn would break soon.
*
Christina paced the room anxiously. She had sent a warning, but there was no reaction from Allen. He couldn't possibly have failed to recognize it as a warning.
Something was wrong. It felt like she had fallen into a deep mire from which she couldn't escape on her own.
"What is it? What did I miss?"
An indescribable intuition sounded an alarm. Fortunately, her brilliant mind figured out where things had gone wrong and saw through Allen's scheme.
"No way."
Sitting in her armchair, she closed her eyes. Her vision shifted instantly, heading toward the territory of Duke Philippe, another of the Three Powers (三强).
To be precise, her target was the cabin in the woods where the Witch of Dreams was hiding. And the moment she saw her target, another chill ran down her spine.
A group of soldiers was surrounding the cabin. They were Duke Babel's men.
Seeing them standing guard facing outward meant their leader was inside the cabin.
The cabin itself appeared empty, but the traces of movement indicated that two invisible people were inside.
One would be the cabin's owner, the Witch of Dreams. The other would be Allen.
"I've been had...!"
Christina understood the situation at once. When she had contacted the Witch of Dreams, one of Allen's trackers must have followed her messenger.
Since he couldn't identify her messenger, he must have assigned trackers to everyone who had entered or left the castle since the back-alley cleanup.
It was an incredibly inefficient method, unless he was certain she would contact the Witch of Dreams.
The problem was, it had succeeded.
The Witch of Dreams would confirm that the messenger was Christina's subordinate, and by backtracking the messenger's path, they would be able to find her.
In other words, her discovery was only a matter of time.
Only then did Christina realize she had been dancing in the palm of Allen's hand from the very beginning.
"Even if the sky falls, there's always a way out."
It wasn't completely over. Isn't there a saying that a crisis is an opportunity? In any case, her most dangerous enemy, Allen, had left for the territory of another of the Three Powers.
If so, wasn't this the perfect time to escape Duke Babel's city?
The naive Georges didn't doubt for a second Christina's story that a pursuer from the duke who had annihilated her family had arrived.
So, he used his position to pressure the gatekeeper into opening a side gate of the castle in the middle of the night.
"We'll meet again later...!"
"Christina...!"
Georges seemed to have much more to say, but his usefulness had run out. Christina was about to leave without a backward glance.
Just then, a sound came from the darkness beyond the reach of the torches mounted by the gate.
Step
It was the sound of a footstep.
"No..."
Christina whipped her head toward the sound, and her eyes caught a shoe just as it crossed the boundary between darkness and light.
"This is the first time we're meeting face-to-face."
The person who stepped fully into the light along with the voice was none other than Allen.
"I don't believe it...! This is impossible...!"
Looking at Christina, who was shouting with a horrified expression, Allen offered a smile.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Allen. Allen Tobalts."