IESKC | Chapter 002

Episode 02

Who were the Black Iron Knights?

The protagonists of a terrifying tale from the six-year war with the Beimar Kingdom, said to have piled corpses into mountains and turned rivers red with blood wherever they passed.

And the leader of these so-called War Demons…

Was taking her to their den.

‘This is insane.’

Rosalyn’s mind spun faster than it ever had in both her past and present lives combined.

‘I’ve got to escape before we reach the Knights’ headquarters.’

Once she arrived, it would be over.

Rosalyn first scanned her surroundings.

Clatter, clatter.

The location: inside a carriage.

One might think it too luxurious for a criminal.

But outside, knights surrounded the carriage like an iron fortress.

And across from her sat the Grim Reaper of the battlefield.

‘…How am I supposed to escape this?’

Rosalyn decided to calmly tackle the closest target first.

Cassius.

“Sir Cassius.”

Cassius, who had his eyes closed, slowly lifted his eyelids.

His indifferent gaze turned toward Rosalyn.

‘What’s with that aura?’

The moment their eyes met, it was startling.

Sitting so close, she could see his features clearly—a strikingly handsome man.

But his cold aura overshadowed his appearance.

Eyes as chilling as a frozen sea.

Lips that, even when still, exuded a frosty demeanor.

In all her life, across countless encounters, she had never seen such a cold presence.

This was worth noting.

Rosalyn prided herself on having faced more fearsome people than most.

In this life, she ran an information guild.

In her past life, as a detective, she had dealt with countless criminals.

Oh, how did a former detective end up running an information guild that straddled the line between legal and illegal?

There’s a tear-jerking story behind that.

* * *

Her first life could be summed up in one sentence.

A grueling struggle ending in a bad outcome.

She realized she’d been given a second life during her childhood.

Rosalyn pondered what she could do.

Starting as an orphan in the slums, life’s difficulty was brutal.

‘What good is being a detective in my past life?’

A filthy orphan claiming she could help catch criminals at the royal guard would only get her beaten and thrown out.

Knowledge from 21st-century Earth?

A detective’s expertise?

‘That doesn’t help me survive right now!’

Even scraping together meals was a struggle back then.

One day, while barely getting by with odd jobs and meager sustenance, something happened at the diner where she was cleaning.

“This isn’t fair!”

“Fair? Look at this guy talking about fairness. Listen, in this area, we are the law.”

Broad-shouldered thugs raised their fists threateningly.

Money borrowed yesterday had doubled in a single day.

Exorbitant interest, but in the slums, it was commonplace.

As the thugs said, fists were the law here.

And that meant a bigger fist was a stronger law.

“Hey, you punks! Don’t you have parents?”

“What’s that, old man? Wanna make today your last?”

As the atmosphere grew hostile, Rosalyn quickly ducked out of sight and slipped out the back door.

Her small stature was useful in moments like this.

Soon, she rushed back through the front door, making a scene.

“Mister, big trouble! The Reapers are coming!”

“What? Damn it! Boys, let’s go! You’re lucky, old man!”

The thugs, who seemed ready to wreak havoc, fled in an instant.

The “Reapers” were the nickname for the knights most feared in these parts.

Was their real name Black Iron or Black Something?

The diner owner, pale with fear, beckoned to Rosalyn.

“Rose! Get in here quick! What if they spot you loitering?”

With a calm expression, Rosalyn said,

“It was a lie.”

“What?”

“I made it up to scare them off.”

The owner let out a hollow laugh. A kid barely ten years old had pulled off such a convincing act.

When the thugs returned the next day, Rosalyn casually brought up the Reapers again.

“Mister, they say loan sharking against imperial law can get you executed.”

“What’s that? Some wet-behind-the-ears kid talking big?”

“I heard the Reapers are cracking down on crime these days… If they catch you, slice…”

No one would suspect her terrified act was fake.

Well, except for the diner owner, who knew the truth.

The incident that nearly ruined the diner due to loan sharks ended safely when the terrified thugs fled.

“Thank you, thank you so much. I thought I’d have to shut down the shop.”

The owner, clasping her tiny hands with both of his, didn’t stop at words.

Through a contact, he secured Rosalyn a public job.

The public job came with decent pay and a good environment.

Hired as a cleaning maid at a library, Rosalyn read books in between sweeping the floors.

Especially books on law.

In this world, books were rare, and to most people, the law was a daunting, fearsome thing.

Learning it would surely prove useful.

As she studied law, she naturally began helping people around her—market grandmothers, odd-job workers, anyone facing injustice.

Of course, her past life influenced her.

‘How can I ignore someone being wronged?’

As those days piled up, Rosalyn became indispensable in the slums.

Did you know the lowest of the low make the best informants?

No one pays attention to a cleaning maid adding logs to a fireplace while overhearing the master’s conversations.

One day, Rosalyn realized she had the perfect conditions to run an information guild.

The trust of the slums.

Modern knowledge.

Information, after all, was money.

That day, she founded her guild.

Named “Hyde.”

All she wanted was to live well without hardship in this life.

She never imagined it would become the empire’s largest information guild.

* * *

Anyway, as a former detective and now the head of an information guild, how many people had she encountered?

Yet, she had never met someone with as overwhelming a presence as the man before her.

Rosalyn flashed a bright smile.

No one spits in the face of a smile.

“I’ve heard so much about your reputation… It’s an honor to meet you like this.”

Flattery makes even whales dance.

And it wasn’t a lie.

Though it was her first time seeing him in person, his name was so familiar it felt like they were old friends.

The problem was, they were more like enemies than friends.

Even in Hyde, the Black Iron Knights’ commander was the top priority figure.

But…

‘…Why isn’t he responding?’

Cassius didn’t so much as twitch.

‘Is he the type who doesn’t bother talking to non-nobles?’

Cassius was the heir to a ducal family, the epitome of nobility.

Rosalyn, on the other hand, was a commoner—and, technically, a criminal under probation.

But if he were the type to dismiss her for her status, he wouldn’t have ridden in the same carriage with her in the first place.

‘Fine, I’ll just talk enough for both of us.’

Rosalyn reached a simple conclusion.

She needed to keep the conversation going to create an opportunity.

With an even brighter smile, she said,

“Your fame is so great, it’s reached even the ears of an ignorant woman like me. I’ve always admired you.”

Utter nonsense.

She was just pandering to the outdated mindset of this world’s people.

But Cassius’s face showed neither satisfaction at the flattery nor disdain for her nonsense.

‘Hmm…’

As Rosalyn weighed her next move, she adjusted her skirt and subtly stood.

When she sat back down, she had shifted to Cassius’s side.

A man and a woman alone in the confined space of a carriage.

The atmosphere should have felt charged.

Yet Cassius didn’t even glance at her.

He stared blankly ahead.

No matter what she did, he remained unresponsive.

Rosalyn inched closer, her thigh brushing against his.

Still, Cassius didn’t react.

‘He’s ignoring me even now?’

Glancing at his chiseled profile, Rosalyn whispered softly in his ear.

“It feels like a dream to see you this close.”

Her slender fingers brushed his shoulder.

To anyone watching, it was the bold advance of a woman smitten with the knight.

Only then did Cassius turn his head toward her.

His deep blue eyes, like an unfathomable sea, were calm, without a ripple.

“Sir Cassius.”

Close enough that a slight lean would bring their lips together.

Her vibrant red eyes locked onto his gaze.

Her fingertips, resting lightly on his shoulder, slid downward.

Over the firm chest felt through his uniform.

Toward his side…

“I want to know more about you.”

Her seductive voice tickled his ear.

The blue eyes that had been watching her slowly retreated beneath his eyelids.

‘Did it work?’

Rosalyn cheered inwardly.

She knew everything about Cassius Eindehart from the thick stack of documents.

For instance, that he had never once appeared in high society.

Or that even rumors of romantic entanglements were nonexistent.

Gulp.

Rosalyn swallowed hard.

If he was truly a man unswayed by women, this could make things easy!

Her hand, subtly exploring his side, slid lower to his thigh…

“Pointless.”

Rosalyn froze.

The blue eyes reappeared.

His calm gaze fixed on her.

“If you’re looking for the handcuff key, you won’t find it even if you go lower.”

A gloved hand had already seized her wrist.