LUW 37

 Chapter 37

There was no hesitation in Cecilia’s confident actions. As she tied her horse and began to head down the path, Pierre’s words suddenly came to mind:

“This inspection is just a simple visit. Don’t do anything reckless.”

She suddenly wondered—what exactly counted as “reckless” to him? Perhaps he would consider what she was doing now to fall under that category.

But that just meant he didn’t really know her.

While Pierre had only ever seen her flounder through dance and etiquette lessons, the forest and mountains were her territory. Besides, this was a golden opportunity. There was no guarantee she’d be able to return here again, especially under Jilgeok’s watchful eyes.

She had to see with her own eyes what lay at the end of this path. Cecilia murmured softly:

“Save your worries.”

With that, she quickly made her way through the forest path. The mountain was steeper than she had expected, but the deeper and higher she climbed, the stronger her conviction grew. Soon, a faint light shone through the foliage.

Peeking her head out, she saw a large building. It looked similar to the facility where the lower craftsmen worked, but there was one distinct difference.

“…There are five of them.”

There were significantly more guards stationed at the entrance. The interior was likely even more tightly secured.

Cecilia instinctively felt that this place held the answers she and Pierre had been searching for. Finding the location was great—but she still needed more concrete evidence.

She wanted, if possible, to confirm the interior. Entering through the front gate was out of the question. But with such a large facility, there had to be another way in.

Seeing a guard yawning widely from fatigue late in the night, Cecilia began moving slowly.

She walked along the outer wall of the factory. As she moved deeper inside, she spotted a ventilation opening and a narrow window. Though both were covered in cobwebs and dust, likely unused for a long time, they could give her a view inside.

But they were far too high to reach by just tiptoeing. Looking around, she grabbed some discarded crates and began stacking them as makeshift steps. With effort, she climbed up and peered inside.

It was only a partial view, but it was clearly different from the lower workshop. Cecilia quickly scanned the interior with her eyes. There were many workers, most of them moving minerals piled in sacks.

Through the open sacks, she saw materials of various kinds—and she recognized them from her grandfather’s workshop.

Lead, sulfur, saltpeter… all components used in firearms.

“They’re preparing properly, I see.”

It looked like a facility even larger than the lower workshop. If this entire place was related to the gun incidents, then the past incidents seemed few by comparison.

Maybe what had already happened was just a testing phase—for something much bigger to come.

Realizing that, Cecilia shook her head with a serious expression.

“Getting inside may be difficult, but this much should be enough reason to act.”

Just as she decided to pull away from the window, a rough voice suddenly cut through the air behind her.

“Who’s there?!”

Startled, she turned to see a guard staring right at her. Cecilia quickly scanned the area. It seemed he had wandered off on his own and happened upon her. She calmly stepped down from the box and spoke:

“Oh, perfect—I was just looking for someone.”

“Wh-what?”

“I was curious about the workshop and wandered off. I must have gotten lost.”

She smiled sweetly. The guard looked confused, unsure whether to treat her as a threat.

“Judging by your appearance, you seem to be of noble birth. But it’s quite a distance from the main workshop to here. Are you seriously expecting me to believe you came here by accident?”

“I’m just very curious by nature.”

Cecilia tried to appear harmless, but the silence between them only deepened. The guard narrowed his eyes and continued:

“I’ll need you to come with me so we can confirm your identity.”

Tch. If she got caught now, there would be no way out of this. She had to escape quickly—before Jilgeok started moving again, ideally.

The moment the guard approached, Cecilia kicked the crate on the ground toward him.

“What the—?!”

Startled by the sudden move, the guard raised both arms to block the box, and in that moment, Cecilia struck the back of his neck hard. He collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Cecilia shook her stinging hand. The guard had let his guard down, likely because she was a woman in a dress—something she had used to her advantage.

If he had been even slightly more cautious, she might have failed. Catching her breath, she muttered:

“Sorry. I just need time to escape.”

She dragged the man into the bushes to hide him. If her uncles had seen this, they would have laughed heartily, saying she was now fit to be a mercenary.

Embarrassed, she cleared her throat and turned to leave—only to notice something odd. The sky behind the factory was unusually bright.

“Since when was it that bright back there?”

With a bad feeling, she grabbed the mercenary’s longsword and moved toward the back of the building.

Carefully peeking out, she saw a man dressed in black from head to toe, save for his eyes, lighting fires here and there with a torch.

Her eyes widened. Several guards lay unconscious nearby, clearly overpowered.

Cecilia, panicking, looked through the open factory. The fire was already spreading inside. If things went on like this, by the time she and Pierre returned, all evidence would be gone.

‘It’s not Jilgeok’s men who attacked the guards… so who is trying to destroy the evidence?’

Just then, the man in black, about to toss the torch into the factory, suddenly turned his head toward her—as if sensing her presence.

Their eyes met, and Cecilia immediately drew her sword.

“Don’t move. Who sent you?”

The man seemed surprised to see a noble lady in a dress threatening him with a longsword.

He let out a scoff and turned back toward the factory, as if to finish his job.

Without hesitation, Cecilia picked up a dagger from the ground and threw it at him.

It flew straight toward his face. He twisted his body just in time to avoid it and looked back at her, stunned.

“Who the hell are you? Got a death wish?”

Cecilia kept her sword trained on him as she slowly approached, focusing on his voice.

“Answer my question. Who sent you? If you’re just a hired mercenary, you’d better walk away now. You’re not just setting a fire—you’re committing a far worse crime.”

She tried to reason with him to buy time. But the man’s eyes narrowed slyly.

“Huh… I thought you were just some dumb rich girl. But it looks like you know exactly what’s stored in there.”

Cecilia’s eyes widened.

“You… you were sent by the real culprit behind the gun incidents.”

A tense silence fell between them—then the man sprang forward.

Their swords clashed violently. Cecilia retreated, letting his heavy strikes slide off her blade.

“Looks like you’ve had some training.”

He grinned with interest and pressed her more aggressively. From the way his sword moved, Cecilia realized he wasn’t just some hired hand. He was an assassin—highly trained over many years.

“…!”

His next strike landed heavily, straining her wrist. Sensing her hesitation, he slashed again, nicking her thigh.

A second later and it would’ve been a fatal wound.

“Haa, haa…”

Breathing hard, Cecilia glared at him.

The man picked up a torch from the ground and hurled it into the factory. Flames rapidly spread through the interior. Their shadows lengthened in the growing firelight.

He sneered.

“That was a fun little diversion. But now you’re just a nuisance. Time to die.”