Chapter 03
Normally, she wouldn’t have given a second glance to a request from someone who was clearly hiding something.
But under duress, forced to accept the request with no real choice, Milona found herself deeply curious about why he had opened that door—or why he’d had no choice but to open it.
‘There’s got to be a trap in this, right?’
She knew there was a trap, but she had no choice but to go anyway. There was no turning back, so what else could she do? Just smile.
“Hey, your guild member is seriously insane, isn’t she?”
“Want to take her into your guild now?”
“I don’t care as long as she’s skilled, but crazy is… It lowers information reliability.”
“Excuse me? I can hear you, you know? I’m perfectly sane, so cut it out.”
She’d said something that sounded completely unhinged and was laughing about it, so she must have looked genuinely crazy. Milona gritted her teeth and smiled at the twins, who had already put some distance between themselves and her. Those twins had a natural talent for getting under people’s skin.
“If you’re sane, that’s even worse.”
“Are you trying to ruin the guild on purpose?”
“Don’t worry, I’m not asking for detailed information. And Captain, stay out of this! You’re distracting me!”
Milona, who had succeeded in shutting Danilo up—though she didn’t know what consequences might come later—turned to Daniela, who was demanding an explanation with a serious face, and opened her mouth.
“Like I said, I don’t need detailed information. I just need to know when His Grace the Duke visits the temple.”
The nobles of the Lisias Empire visited the temple at regular intervals to offer donations or contributions and pray to the gods for the stability and prosperity of the empire and their families.
It wasn’t mandated by law, so it wasn’t compulsory, but it was a tradition that had persisted from ancient times, so no noble ignored it. That included Wade, who was both a member of the imperial family and a high-ranking noble.
“It’s not some top-secret schedule—just a temple visit. You can find that out, can’t you?”
“He’s not just any noble; he’s a duke and a royal. You do know that even attempting to find out his schedule is a capital offense, right?”
“I know.”
At Milona’s firm answer, Daniela, after a moment of thought, nodded.
It was because she trusted that Milona—who lived by the motto “safety first”—wouldn’t willingly throw herself into danger. Besides, she was a “capable” talent that Daniela herself had recognized, so letting Milona owe her a favor wasn’t a bad choice.
Daniela, shifting from Daniella, owner of the Raven Tavern, to ‘Black Bird,’ head of the information guild, sat up straight and looked at Milona.
“There are three places our guild can’t directly touch. Yours probably aren’t any different.”
“The imperial palace, the Lee Ponti Ducal House, and the Glover Marquessate. Every reckless fool who tried to touch them ended up dead.”
Danilo added, taking a seat next to Daniela. Milona could tell that he was now looking at her not as the owner of the Bluebird Flower Shop, but as ‘Blue Bird,’ head of the thieves’ guild. A thief from the thieves’ guild was trying to obtain information that should never be touched through the information guild, so he was stepping in to clamp down beforehand.
“Even if the temple visit schedule is technically public, the danger level skyrockets when it involves a royal.”
“I know better than anyone that you’re not the type to do something reckless, but I still have to ask. Why do you need information on someone so high up?”
At Danilo’s question, following Daniela’s warning, should she answer honestly: ‘I’m going to save the world with love for that high-ranking noble!’? For a moment—a very brief moment—Milona seriously considered it, but then she swallowed a sigh without the twins noticing. Honesty had its time and place. It wasn’t like they’d believe her anyway…
‘I’d be lucky if they don’t lock me up in a facility.’
Milona brushed the thought aside lightly, beamed brightly, and gave the most truthful answer she could muster.
“Because I want to see his face!”
“I almost died.”
Back home, Milona took off her blouse and skirt, changed into work clothes, and shuddered as she recalled the extremely dangerous situation from earlier.
“Who knew gardening shears would fly at me again? And where on earth did he get a fork?”
The twins had been genuinely angry, asking if she was really requesting such dangerous information just because she was curious about a high-ranking noble’s face. Gardening shears flew at her, a fork flew at her, and even a small thorny flower tree that was being prepared for repotting had flown at her, threatening her life.
“If that had happened to anyone else, they’d be dead for sure.”
Milona tightened the half-gloves on her hands, securing the wrists firmly, then let out a long sigh and muttered.
Still, she got what she came for. The head of the information guild, who held Loa’s information in her grasp, would never refuse to collect it just because it was dangerous!
Her wallet was considerably lighter as a result, but thankfully, she’d managed to get quite a few discounts, so her finances weren’t completely ruined.
“There was a condition that if something goes wrong, my guild membership is revoked on the spot, and I have to pay the twins triple the amount I paid for the information as compensation—but it’s fine!”
Even if it wasn’t fine, she didn’t have any other options, so she forced herself to think positively. Milona stood in front of the mirror and checked her appearance.
Dressed entirely in black, with a mask covering half her face, only her violet eyes stood out, shining brightly. She had other comfortable clothes, but when moving covertly at night, this outfit was the best. Milona tucked the braid of hair sticking out from under her black hood with her fingers and carefully opened the window.
She could have just left through the door like she did when going to work at the flower shop, but as a “transfer of ownership specialist,” the standard way in and out was through a window.
If Daniela had seen her, she would have sighed and said Milona was as eccentric as the guild master herself, but Milona had no intention of changing her professional habits, not even a speck. She leaped from the window onto a nearby rooftop. Her body was light, and thanks to shoes with multiple layers of soft leather on the soles, the only sound was the wind brushing past her ears.
‘Whether it’s luck or bad luck, he’s visiting the temple tomorrow. God, are you giving me a break because this is hard work?’
If that were the case, she’d be grateful—but not really. She’d mentally prepared herself somewhat, but there simply wasn’t enough time to make a detailed plan.
Milona knew very well that most outsiders viewed thieves as nothing more than moths drawn to a flame, with no regard for their own lives. And that wasn’t entirely wrong. The thieves’ guild was full of people who lived like there was no tomorrow, chasing a big score without caring for their own safety.
In that kind of place, Milona was a rare breed—a weirdo who valued her own life above all else, unlike most of her peers. Of course, she knew that no matter how careful she was, if a natural disaster or a calamity beyond human control like ‘ruin’ swept over her, that was the end. But still, there was no harm in doing her best to stay safe.
In that sense, Milona always prepared at least three plans based on thorough preliminary research when working. But this time, she was short on time.
‘I’m just checking his face, so it should be fine… right?’
She wanted to believe it was a simple task with no unexpected incidents, but her insufficient preparation left her unable to shake off a growing sense of unease.
Slicing through the quiet evening air, Milona began running silently across the rooftops, her mind growing more and more complicated. The fact that she was charging toward the temple without any concrete plan was a problem, but what came after checking his face was also an issue. After confirming Wade’s face without any trouble… then what? What should she do next?
No answer came to mind. She didn’t even need a perfect solution—just a roundabout path forward would be enough…
Since her client was a god, it seemed the difficulty had also jumped to a divine level. Milona spotted the temple drawing nearer and let out another long sigh. She was truly lost.
If she could, she’d grab ‘the Light’ by the collar and complain about why it had dragged her into such an enormous mess.
Just this morning, she’d proudly declared that she wouldn’t overthink it, that she’d solve things her own way. But was that really possible?
She paused for a moment, habitually crouching down to hide in the shadow of a building, and bit her lip beneath her mask.
‘Think. I have to think. My way—the transfer of ownership specialist’s way!’
No matter what anyone said, what Milona did best was stealing things. Pickpocketing, in particular, had become so instinctive that her hands moved on their own without her even having to think about it.
With that in mind, there was only one “next” action she could think of.
‘First, check his face… then casually approach, pick his purse full of gold coins, and say… “I’ve never stolen this much money before, so I came to return it…”’
Would he then say, “You’re the first person to ever pick my pocket and then confess—I’m in love!”? No? Hey, God? Is that not going to work? Huh?
