A Woman with No Eye for Men (5)
Anna waited for him to continue.
Cain cleared his throat.
“Lily just happening to be the one analyzing that report wasn’t coincidence either, was it?”
“Right. It was part of the plan. To make sure you and Lily found out about it. And one more thing—I’ll tell you this much: it was Verneis’s arrangement. I didn’t know the details that granular, and I couldn’t order it anyway. Just like I can’t stop your retirement.”
Anna’s fingers tapped lightly on the desk.
“And I had no idea Lily harbored feelings for you that deep. If I’d known, I would’ve transferred her to another department. I couldn’t let you… go through that kind of pain again. I’m not that heartless a woman.”
Cain stared down at his staff. The ash wood staff stared silently back up at its master.
“Cain. Do you know why the other agents couldn’t capture Goetz von Bearinggen so easily?”
“Fear of retaliation.”
It was the truth. The Security Bureau’s security protocols had grown lax, forcing agents to hide even their origins. Verneis’s secondary defense was to show only fragmented pieces that couldn’t be pieced together. But at least someone like Boehm I, Elector of the First, or the Minister of Justice could reveal who had captured Goetz. Once a noble house knew which family’s scion had done it, retaliation would follow. But not Cain. His commoner birth alone was enough. Being the eldest son of an apple orchard family was more than sufficient. No one dug deeper. Boehm and Bom were the same. Lily… seemed too intimidated to even ask.
“You get it, then. You’ll understand why Verneis kept you so busy, too. He intended to entrust the Goetz capture to you from the start. No one else could do it. But the deal with the Pope didn’t come easily, and Verneis, me… and my husband had to agonize over it. Capturing Goetz too soon would’ve exposed our hand.”
The Empire’s Prime Minister. The Emperor’s closest advisor. Nicky Brienne.
That meant the Emperor was behind it all.
Anna blinked rapidly, holding back tears.
“But I had no idea you were suffering that much. Guess it’s because I’m a woman with no eye for men. Cain. Kairos… you’ve been through hell. Truly, I’m sorry. All this time, while you were wearing yourself down… I just watched. I’m truly sorry.”
Something felt off. Unsettled.
From the moment he’d joined the Imperial Security Bureau, Cain had sworn to do anything for the Empire. And he had—literally anything. He’d learned to wield a staff instead of a sword, but as the saying went, if you had no teeth, use your gums. He’d made do. Hated being dismissed as a commoner, so he’d run twice, three times harder than anyone else. Meeting cheerful, proactive subordinates like Boehm and Bom was a stroke of luck. Lily was quirky, a bit of a burden, but not someone he disliked. At least her swordsmanship was top-notch.
It had all been a long road. Behind it all stood his mentor, the Empire, the Emperor. The imperial family watched over wanderers’ paths like the sun. But it was also a meticulously paved road. An endless gray expanse where you couldn’t tell where it began or ended, fact from coincidence.
Even when he thought he wasn’t acknowledged, the Empire had been watching. Guiding him subtly down an unacknowledged path.
What the hell is the Empire, anyway? Is my vow to give everything to it still valid? Why am I even here?
Like a man waking from deep sleep, Cain began to stir.
Before him stood a woman bearing the sun. She’d dreamed dreams as vast as the sun itself, but they’d slipped away in an instant, becoming a lifelong burden.
“Cain. Any regrets? Loose ends from your Security Bureau days?”
“…Yeah.”
“I see.”
Anna gave a faint smile.
“Not much time left till retirement, but if you can, clear it all out before you go. Step into your new life with your head high. Whatever path you take, I’ll always remember you fondly. You said you’d grow apple trees?”
“Yes.”
“Apples you grow would taste amazing.”
Anna closed her eyes, as if savoring a sweet apple slice already.
“I’ll miss it already. The flowers white, bees buzzing for sweet nectar. The apples ripening red with time. You at harvest, beaming with pride and fulfillment… It’s all just imagination for me. The joy of reaping. Happiness from seeds you’ve sown. A life lived on your own terms. I’ve spent my whole life envying people who achieve that. Still do. That’s why I envy you.”
Anna stood and offered her hand.
Cain rose hastily and grasped his mentor’s hand. It was hot. She still burned with passion inside.
“Go now. Be happy. Always. Leave this place as a memory. Walk on. No regrets.”
Just like this? The end?
Sweat beaded in Cain’s palm. Anna didn’t let go. Should he shake her off? Was he clinging? Her grip had no strength.
Anna seemed a touch awkward in the moment. She stepped closer, resting a gentle hand on his waist.
“Life will be tough, but remember this: you passed the trials here fair and square. Graduated safely. You were one of the elite of the elite in the Security Bureau. Can’t brag about it, but wherever you go, whatever you do—your capabilities are more than enough. Don’t forget.”
Words Anna always said when Cain struggled. Words that lifted him when he wanted to collapse.
Words he’d passed on to Lily.
‘If you’d known where to find the answers. Who to ask. You would’ve done it. What you don’t know is just where to seek them.’
His own words echoed back.
Cain wanted meaning. The meaning of everything he’d done at the Bureau. Was it worthwhile? Or just drudgery?
The place to find answers was clear.
“One.”
“Hm?”
“Just one. One more case.”
Anna released his hand and stepped back. Cain’s body trembled slightly. His words stuttered.
“Professor. I… want answers. The meaning of what I did. What it meant to me. Not the aftermath of the ripples I caused…”
“Like a pebble finding its own truth at the lake bottom?”
Cain couldn’t make metaphors like that. Didn’t know how to phrase it so.
“Yes.”
Anna closed her eyes and clasped her hands. A familiar gesture. Prayer.
Any imperial citizen, any churchgoer, knew it. But Cain had never seen Anna pray. Not that he’d spent ages with her, but this was a first.
“Truly, the Lord hasn’t abandoned the Empire.”
Anna’s chest swelled. She drew a deep breath, exhaled. Words even she hesitated to voice.
“Cain. There is something I’d like you to take on. I had you in mind from the start… Your retirement news left me at a loss.”
“What is it?”
“Something only you can do.”
Anna wasn’t one for exaggeration. Hated flowery rhetoric. Her words were plain truth.
“In this vast Empire, only you alone can do it. It concerns the Empire’s past, present, and future. The hope of all hangs on it. Dark and painful work. But I couldn’t imagine anyone else. No one in the Empire knows your hometown. Not until you spoke it yourself. Your experience. Your wisdom. And someone I know and trust. You’re the only one who fits every criterion. Cain. But the final choice is yours. Once you hear it, there’s no turning back.”
Words he’d heard when applying for the secrecy handling certificate. Submit it, and your agent life ends. Lily running off with it. Godfrey’s taunts. Was it all… someone’s design? Or coincidence?
“I’ll hear it.”
Anna bit her lower lip hard. Hard enough for blood to well up. She didn’t hide her agitation.
“Imperial Security Bureau Fourth Section Chief Cain.”
“Yes.”
“Sit.”
Cain did.
Anna pulled a file envelope from her drawer. It brimmed with the Pope’s letter, the painter’s sketches, a thick report.
Pope's Letter • Painter's Sketches • Detailed Reports
“You know the tale of the seven heroes who defeated the Demon King, I trust. Even in children’s fairy tales. No need to pretend otherwise.”
“I do.”
A famous story. Trending lately. Hero tales always inspire dreams and hope in tough times.
‘Order and law dwell in the capital, but near at hand, only fists and pain. Nobles corrupt, the Demon King rises—only the seven heroes stand with the people.’
“Two of them have been attacked. One seemed coincidence. The Pope buried it so deep, even the Guard Corps missed it. But two? They caught it. The Pope couldn’t hide anymore.”
The Guard Corps was the Security Bureau’s predecessor. Sharpened for assassination and murder far beyond the current Bureau. Too powerful, too infamous—disbanded and absorbed, birthing the new Security Bureau.
“First: the Apostle of Temperance, Abbot Arius. The Pope never revealed where, but estimated in some eastern city. You know it… almost certainly the ship at Venereucia Pearl Wharf.”
A ship in name only—a pleasure barge in disguise.
“I know it.”
“Guard Corps estimate: three months ago, new moon night. Check the logs. And recently, another new moon: Archbishop William, Knight of Purity, near Count Lorenz’s territory. The Count’s half-crippled from the eastern border skirmish five years back, wife handles affairs. Witnesses say she confessed faith to the Archbishop. Unlike the Abbot, the Archbishop’s group is clear: thirty Mercy Knight Order spearmen, seventeen servants and hires, two parish priests, one monk, two nuns. And the Archbishop himself.”
New moon nights. Seven heroes. No coincidence. Deliberate attacks.
But impossible. Venereucia’s foreign, details fuzzy on a pleasure ship—but the Archbishop’s entourage topped fifty. Moreover…
“Doesn’t add up.”
Cain tapped the desk.
“Fifty people attacked means a comparable force moved. They’re noisy, sloppy. Someone should’ve fled and testified. But the Security Bureau missed it, Guard Corps barely caught wind—that means cover-up. To my knowledge, no assassin group that elite exists.”
“Not assassins.”
Anna clenched her fist.
“Section Chief Cain. No victims. They’re all alive.”
“…Alive?”
“Yes. Alive.”
Anna spread the documents. Showed the painter’s sketches.
To Cain, they all looked wrong.
“Eyes crushed. Tongues ripped out. Molten lead poured in ears. Bones shattered, then forcibly reset—doctors say even rebreaking and resetting won’t guarantee recovery.”
Impossible. Impossible.
Smashed grapes. Discarded sack. Shattered ink bottle on floor. Splintered log. Roadkill dog, maybe. Not people.
“Archbishop William mumbles nonsense. Laughs or cries. Doctors diagnose him regressed to a three-year-old. Incontinent… ribs piercing lungs like wings… He lives.”
The heroes. The people’s dreams and hopes. The Empire’s faltering beacons.
Crushed in misery.
“Who. Why. How—with what. Uncover the truth. That’s your mission. Why some demonic bastard crushes past heroes. The Empire’s last hope can’t shatter more. Dare they? Whoever seeks to sever the Empire’s final bond… expose them.”
Blood trickled from Anna’s split lip. She endured. Held on.
“Protect the Empire. Ordinary people’s faith. Hope in simple daily lives. You safeguard it.”