Chapter 59
Through the window, she caught sight of them—
the very same ruffians she and Sharie had once encountered in that alleyway.
If that incident hadn’t been a coincidence but part of a larger plan…
If those men weren’t mere thugs but mercenaries hired by her father…
That thought alone made it impossible for Olivia to ignore them any longer.
***
“I saw you leaving late last night, Agor. Has something happened to Father?”
Olivia probed carefully, testing the waters with the butler.
But Agor, though timid, was a man of unshakable loyalty. If the master commanded it, he would obey without question.
“My lady need not concern herself with such matters.”
No matter how she pressed, his lips remained sealed—
his profile as unyielding as a door that would never open.
Olivia, trained to shine as the brightest flower in the deadly garden of high society, didn’t need his answer to know the truth.
‘He means to harm the noblewoman.’
Yet the security within the royal palace was not so lax that mere thugs could breach it.
The defenses would only weaken at a certain moment.
And the hunting tournament—
that was the perfect opportunity to draw close to their prey.
For so long she had hesitated, torn apart by her own thoughts.
‘I can’t simply stand by and let this happen.’
But if the price of acting meant losing everything she possessed…
She faltered.
‘Everything I possess…? Do I truly own anything in this house?’
Within the Kusley estate, she had never owned a single thing.
The sprawling mansion and her father’s presence had always been shackles, confining her like a prisoner.
How many times had she suffocated in this gilded cage, desperate for freedom?
She had always wanted to break free—
not to be treated like a possession of her father’s will, but to live a life she had chosen for herself.
Even if it meant losing everything the Kusley family represented.
‘Yes… none of it was ever mine to begin with.’
At last, after long deliberation, Olivia made her decision.
She sent an anonymous letter to the Royal Guard, warning them of the impending threat.
“Do not worry, Lady Nepir,” Olivia said, clasping her trembling hands together with a fragile smile.
“Soon it will all be resolved, and peace will return.”
Her smile was bittersweet—tinged with both sorrow and relief.
***
He must have been around thirteen.
A boy from next door had once boasted to Hans that he had worked so hard at the forge that calluses had formed on his palms—
and for his labor, he had been paid one copper.
‘Pathetic fool.’
Hans had laughed at him.
One copper was barely enough to buy a loaf of bread.
Just the night before, Hans had lifted a purse from a shoeshine girl, earning three silvers in a single stroke.
The time and effort couldn’t even compare.
‘Only idiots make money honestly.’
That creed became his way of life, the compass that dictated every step thereafter.
‘The world is survival of the fittest. If you’re prey, it’s your own stupidity.’
As an adult, his crimes only grew darker.
He trafficked children with his ilk, selling them to slavers.
He conned grieving elders by pretending to be their long-lost son.
From a mere gang of street thugs, his circle swelled into a true syndicate.
The timing had been perfect.
With the Black Snake syndicate gone, commissions from powerful figures—men who needed others to soil their hands—poured in.
‘Shady people always come with the strangest jobs.’
This one was no exception.
***
“There’s something I want you to do.”
The instructions had come with an obscene amount of gold, and they were stranger than anything Hans had heard before.
“Scatter these stones across various parts of the Cedric Mountains.”
At first, he thought the man insane.
To pay so much just to hide a few green rocks?
Yet the reward was enough to live in indulgence for months.
‘The minds of the highborn are impossible to fathom.’
Still, when he did as instructed, the promised wealth rolled in.
The ease of it sent shivers down his spine.
***
“There’s a certain nuisance I’d like removed. Can you handle it?”
The second commission, he accepted without hesitation.
When he saw the target, even Hans was surprised.
But in the end, she was nothing more than a rabbit-kin woman.
Marriage was politics, nothing more.
There were plenty of rabbit-kin to replace her if need be.
‘What, they’re not going to start a war over one bride, are they?’
And if war did come, Hans would simply flee the continent.
The gold promised for her death was more than worth it.
***
“I’ll give you the ambush site. Prepare accordingly.”
The client was meticulous, providing even the time and location.
But Hans preferred simplicity, the quick and easy path.
‘Why wait? She’s just a hostage in a political marriage. Surely the cold-blooded lord doesn’t care.’
Why wait for the hunting tournament when he could kill her outright?
He had tried—
and failed.
Her guards were far more formidable than expected, leaving no openings.
‘Should’ve done it then….’
Only once had fortune smiled: when he’d seen her wandering the dark alleys.
Had the client’s daughter not wasted so much time, the job would already have been done.
In the end, Hans had no choice but to follow the prepared plan.
***
“Do you understand? Strike during the hunting tournament. Do exactly as I say.”
Though the client’s sudden imprisonment delayed matters, Hans wasn’t worried.
With such lofty status, he would soon be freed.
Hans gathered his men and set out.
‘The layout’s clear.’
The forest was wide; guards were spread thin, manning tents and resting stations.
With the target’s path mapped out, success seemed inevitable.
“Spread out and scour every corner!”
Or so he believed.
“Damn it—why are the knights here…?”
Hans crouched with his men behind a tree, glaring at the shadows moving swiftly through the underbrush.
Knights patrolling here, of all places—
that wasn’t part of the plan.
‘Where did the leak come from?’
Anxious, he scanned the woods—
then froze.
A broad-shouldered man, a bastard sword strapped to his back, caught his eye.
‘That man….’
He remembered him from the alleyway.
The way he commanded the other knights made Hans grind his teeth.
So the rabbit-kin woman had been protected by this man all along?
The client and Hans had assumed the cold lord would never care for his political bride.
But the scene before him told a very different story.
‘We’ve been wrong from the start.’
The entire premise of the plan was flawed.
“Damn it.”
The chance of success was zero.
“What do we do, boss?”
His men, unsettled by his grim expression, hesitated.
“What else? We use our trump card.”
Hans gestured toward the wagon they had dragged with them.
“Release it.”
“I-Is that safe…?”
One of them glanced nervously at the wagon’s contents.
Hans clicked his tongue at their cowardice.
“What’s there to fear from something that’s tied up?”
Inside the wagon lay a monster, bound tight, drenched in strange green liquid.
It was the client’s personal gift—
a weapon.
***
“For now, it sleeps under the fumes of the narcotic incense. This vial will rouse it when the time comes.”
The client had been thorough.
“You may bloody your hands if you must, but if possible, use the beast to kill the target. Make it seem… natural.”
They couldn’t use it as originally intended.
But to scatter the knights and buy time to flee?
It was more than enough.
“What if it turns on us?”
Their fear was plain.
Hans too felt unease at the unnatural sight of the beast, soaked in that green substance.
But he forced a sneer.
‘Who cares?’
“It won’t. And if it does, we’ll run before it wakes. Simple, isn’t it?”
“…Fine. If you say so, boss.”
At his command, one of them hurled the vial into the wagon.
Crash!
The glass shattered.
Moments later, harsh, guttural breaths rattled from within.
Hhhghhh… Hhhghhh…
The wagon rocked violently as the enraged monster stirred awake.
“B-Boss…”
His men flinched, terror-struck.
Hans felt his own heart constrict with unease, but forced his face into composure.
