Episode 32
Maddie peeked through the back window of the house, but not even a sliver of light was leaking through the cracks.
She pulled out a bent needle and a skewer as long as her finger from between the sole and leather of her shoe.
After inserting them into the locked doorknob and giving slight movements up, down, left, and right, the locked door clicked open.
But that wasn’t the only lock.
Through the narrow crack, she could see three more locking mechanisms.
“This isn’t even the front door, just the back door off the kitchen—why are there so many locks?”
Might as well hire someone to watch the house if you’re going this far.
Oh, you dumb dumb sweetheart. How are you going to survive without me, huh? Silly boy.
Chuckling to herself, Maddie easily disabled the remaining locks.
The back door fully swung open. She was about to take a step inside—
—when something glittered faintly in the moonlight.
She bent down to examine it and found a taut, thin wire stretched at ankle height just in front of the door.
Tracing it upward with her eyes, she saw a butcher’s knife hanging above the kitchen door.
Carefully stepping over the wire, Maddie quietly murmured in admiration.
If an intruder had come in without noticing, their ankle would’ve hit the wire and that knife would’ve delivered a fatal blow.
They seriously set this up to kill someone.
Looking around the house, Maddie noticed that all the windows could only be opened from the inside.
Once shut, a latch automatically dropped to lock them.
So “secure,” huh? A small-time thief like me got in so easily. Do they really think this setup is safe?
She pouted, thinking of herself as just a petty thief.
If Nox heard that, he’d have said, “You? A petty thief? Haven’t seen the mirrors in the Grand Duke’s estate, have you?”
The great thief Maddie silenced her footsteps and began surveying the house.
It was quiet with all the lights off.
In the kitchen, everything came in pairs. One set looked small—likely for a child.
So a kid lives here. They use forks and knives. There are even books in the living room. Must be old enough to read.
Maddie quickly climbed to the second floor.
She had to make a decision before daybreak.
Should she leave Astrid and her child here like this, or smuggle them away in secret?
If she left them, they’d become Yulikian’s weakness.
He already turned grim every time Astrid was mentioned.
Changing identities would be hard… but not impossible.
To truly escape, they’d need to leave not just the Empire, but the entire continent.
Astrid and Yulikian probably knew that—but they couldn’t sever their “family” ties, which was why they remained here.
What’s so great about family anyway?
Maddie blinked blankly as she pieced together her plan.
She could help the mother and child escape without telling Yulikian.
Fake their deaths. Smuggle them abroad. Give them enough money to settle comfortably.
Maybe Dalianco—it was diverse, so the chances of getting caught would be low.
For Maddie, the life of the contract-holder Yulikian was top priority.
Just then, one of the second-floor doors burst open, and someone lunged at Maddie.
The man, gripping a rope wound around his hands, quickly wrapped it around her neck.
“Guh!”
The man, large and masked in black, said nothing and simply started strangling her.
Clutching the rope with both hands to make room to breathe, Maddie pushed off the wall with a foot, grabbed his sleeve, and threw both of them to the floor.
The chokehold broke.
They rolled down the hallway with a loud thud.
The man immediately drew a knife and aimed for her chest.
The sharp blade gleamed faintly in the darkness as it plunged toward her.
At the last moment, Maddie wrapped her legs around the man’s waist, flipped his body, and escaped from under him.
She locked her thighs around his neck, twisted, and forced his hand back to disarm him. Then she kicked the knife down the hallway.
The man’s eyes flashed with killing intent as he realized he had lost the upper hand.
He lunged at her again.
Maddie pulled his outstretched arm toward her, disrupting his balance.
She swept the inside of his thigh, leaped up, and spun her body like a windmill, slamming him to the ground.
Then she wrapped her legs around his neck and started choking him.
He struggled and, despite being in a chokehold, managed to lift his upper body with her still clinging to him.
“Damn, you’re strong, old man.”
Maddie didn’t loosen her grip, but he wasn’t giving up either.
He charged at the wall.
The window shattered. Glass shards pierced Maddie’s face and body.
Still, she didn’t let go.
She pulled out a small dagger hidden in her clothes and stabbed the top of his head several times.
Blood splattered all over her face.
The man finally collapsed to the floor with a loud crash.
Pinned beneath him, Maddie kicked his head to push it away and wriggled free.
She stood up, caught her breath, and checked his neck.
No pulse.
Maddie pulled her blood-stained dagger from his skull and began brushing off the shards of glass from her face.
The wounds gradually faded, then vanished completely.
She wiped the blood off her face with her sleeve.
Was he guarding the house? Maybe Yulikian hired someone to protect it. But for that, his methods were too… brutal.
Doesn’t seem like the Grand Duke’s style—he doesn’t like killing people.
Then a thought struck her—Crocton had been acting strangely lately.
When he met the One-Eyed Man, it was mostly the One-Eyed guy doing the talking.
Crocton barely spoke—just nodded, and the few times he did speak, it was far less than usual.
…What if the One-Eyed Man gave him an order? Something like… “Kill Astrid and her daughter”?
Maddie clenched her fist, wiping blood from the dagger.
If Yulikian loses his last remaining family, he’ll cry. Maybe break down so badly he’ll never recover. He acts tough, but he’s really just a lonely, fragile guy.
Spinning the dagger habitually in her hand, her expression darkened.
Crying is fine. But if he gives up and cancels the contract, then I lose.
…My face is already everywhere. If I don’t even get married after all this, that’s such a waste.
Guess I have to help. That’s what spouses do, right? I’ll call this a free service for my best customer.
Maddie quietly ignored the flicker of emotion rising deep in her chest.
Just then, another assassin stood at the end of the hallway, eyes wide, staring at her.
With a smirk, Maddie muttered, “Hey, psycho killer. Try making some noise, will ya? You’ll scare decent burglars like me.”
“Hyaah!”
The man shouted and charged at her with a long sword.
That’s a sword meant to kill.
Maddie angled her dagger and deflected the blade, spinning her body.
The distance between them closed.
She drove her elbow hard into the side of his head.
The man collapsed without resistance.
“Huh? That was it? He’s even weaker than the first one? It’s supposed to get harder, not easier. Boo! Maddie’s disappointed!”
She pouted, hands on hips.
Silence returned to the hallway.
Maddie picked a large shard of glass off the floor, wrapped it in the man’s mask cloth, and held it.
She caught her breath and headed quietly toward the final door at the end.
It was eerily quiet beyond it.
She kicked the door open.
Inside, a middle-aged woman and a small child knelt on the floor, trembling.
A man and woman in black clothes held blades to their throats.
“Who are you?” they asked.
Maddie suddenly let out a wailing shriek.
“Ah! Ah!”
She clutched her head and stomped her feet.
Twisting and turning her body like she was dancing, she glared at them with annoyance.
“Ah! I was gonna say that line first! You stole it!”
“Is she nuts?”
“A little? Not a lot.”
She twirled her hair and wriggled.
Startled by her antics, the two assassins whispered to each other.
“…You don’t think this is a double-cross?”
“We got set up?”
“We were told to kill just the woman and mess up the house, then get out. No interference, they said!”
“We shouldn’t have trusted that bastard!”
“Told you it was shady!”
“Damn it! Let’s just get out of here.”
As they murmured, Maddie squatted by the entrance, bored, dragging a knife along the floor.
“Geez, just talking among yourselves? Rude. Then I’ll have my own convo. Hi, Astrid.”
The child looked exactly like Yulikian—it was uncanny.
If she hadn’t heard it from Head Steward Philip, she would’ve doubted the girl wasn’t his.
Astrid had beautiful silver hair and bright blue eyes.
The blue sparkled beneath her bangs like pieces of the sky.
Was Yulikian like this as a kid?
A soft smile appeared on Maddie’s face.
“You must be Astrid, right? You look a lot like someone I know.”
Despite her gentle tone, the child just trembled.
“I’m not a scary person.”
Maddie had no idea how she looked.
She’d only wiped her face.
Below that, her clothes were drenched in blood.
Still, she winked cheerfully at the child.
“Totally not scary at all~.”
She looked absolutely terrifying.
