Chapter 02
The man’s voice whispering “anything” was dizzyingly sweet.
Leaning back with his arms crossed, he gave her a seductive smile with his eyes.
Renia realized that the man she had met less than five minutes ago was extremely fox-like in nature.
“…I can’t really believe that. How do I know you’re not just all talk?”
“If you’re suspicious, you can check for yourself. I’ve got plenty of time today. Want to go out together?”
“I’ll pass. Who asks for a second date on the same day? How tacky.”
“Why worry about other people’s eyes? If a man and a woman like each other enough to meet, what does any of that matter?”
If this had been an ordinary encounter rather than a matchmaking meeting, she might actually have accepted.
But the problem lay elsewhere.
Renia’s sharp instincts—honed from years in the underworld—were sending out a warning signal.
“Let’s end today’s meeting here. If you want to request a second date, send it through the madam. You can go now. I’ll pay for the table, so don’t worry about it.”
Just as she stood up to leave, the man chuckled softly and spoke.
“I was hoping we could enjoy a leisurely date while talking, but that’s a shame. Then… shall I try a different method of persuasion?”
Step. Step.
In the blink of an eye, the man blocked Renia’s path and whispered in a gentle voice.
“I actually know one of your secrets.”
…A secret?
What is he trying to say? That’s troublesome—there are too many possibilities.
Was it the jewel she had stolen during a job a few months ago?
Or the painting she bought at the market and sold after forging it as a masterpiece? If it wasn’t that… was it the counterfeit gold coins she circulated after making them out of lead?
Ah, this is driving me crazy!
As Renia anxiously glanced around to identify an escape route, the man stepped closer.
A smug smile spread across his face, as if asking where she thought she was going to run.
“You’re not actually a real noble, are you?”
“What are you—!”
“Shh. People might hear.”
The man’s gloved hand gently brushed her cheek.
At first glance, the touch seemed affectionate, but Renia instinctively sensed danger and felt a chill run down her spine.
“Impersonating a noble in the Empire means forced labor. You do know that, right?”
“How rude. Do you have any proof that I’m not a noble?”
Gulp.
Just as she was touching the gun hidden at her waist, wondering if he might be a pursuer—
The man grabbed her wrist as if it were nothing and whispered coldly into her ear.
“Renia Crestian. That’s your name, right? A con artist from the Swindlers’ Guild—quite famous in the north, I hear. Want me to say more?”
…Damn it. I’m screwed.
How the hell does this guy know my identity?
* * *
Renia Crestian.
Codename: Cassandra.
She was a swindler so famous that there was hardly anyone in the northern regions of the Solan Empire who didn’t know her name.
Having grown up in the underworld since childhood, Renia used her exceptional disguise skills and agility to carry out countless scams.
She could transform freely—from an innocent commoner girl to the mistress of a wealthy noble house, even into a middle-aged man or an elderly person.
Because of this, only a very small number of people knew her true appearance.
She gained such great notoriety in her early twenties because she had been raised in an underworld organization that specialized in training con artists since childhood.
Before she had even turned five, her biological parents sold her to the underworld.
Her price had been nothing more than a single silver coin.
After that day, Renia decided she would become the greatest swindler in the Empire and live a successful life out of sheer defiance.
She threw herself into her work more passionately than anyone and eventually grew into the most highly paid con artist in the northern underworld.
But one winter day, just before turning twenty, she was stabbed in the back during a mission and met her death.
The betrayal came from a longtime companion who had lived alongside her in the underworld.
“D-Don’t blame me! I just wanted the money you had!”
“Cough… I… trusted you.”
“Since when does loyalty exist in the underworld? This is all your fault. Every profitable job around here went to you—of course someone would get greedy for that money.”
It was Christmas Eve, with white snow falling.
Bleeding alone in a cold back alley filled with a bleak atmosphere, she cried and prayed to God.
Please don’t let me die like this.
If given another chance, she would live a different life.
Please save her.
It was unbearably painful back then. Though strangely, it healed like a lie afterward.
Perhaps her desperate wish reached the heavens.
As her dying body lay there, it suddenly began to heal rapidly when the soul of someone from another world entered it.
That soul belonged to Hyemin, an ordinary office worker from the modern world.
After dying in an unfortunate accident on her way home from work, Hyemin’s soul possessed Renia’s body.
The two who had died became one, sharing each other’s memories and experiences completely.
Renia… she was such a lonely child who had never received a single Christmas present in her life.
Hyemin, now living as Renia, decided to give herself a new life.
A life where she could greet the morning like everyone else…
And at night, instead of expecting assassins with knives, she could fall asleep peacefully under beautiful moonlight.
A life where she could leave behind the underworld—where betrayal and schemes were the norm—and live in peace.
For the old Renia, such an ordinary life had always been an unattainable mirage.
Hyemin wanted to turn that wish into reality.
Because she clearly realized that this was the purpose both of them had to fulfill after crossing death into a new life.
Then the first thing to do is escape the underworld. After that, I’ll pull off one big job and leave this world behind. If I want to retire early in my early twenties, I’ll need a lot of money.
In truth, despite her great reputation, Renia hadn’t saved much money.
That was because she secretly donated most of what she earned to help children abandoned in the alleys like she once had been.
Of course, she still possessed wealth comparable to that of many noble families.
But it wasn’t enough to live luxuriously for the rest of her life.
So she made up her mind.
If she was going to do it, she would carry out a swindling scheme so legendary that it would be recorded in the Empire’s history books.
In my previous life, I had nothing to do with scams… but who cares? I’ll just be a good con artist who only scams rich, corrupt nobles.
Now that Hyemin had completely merged with Renia, she could at least take care of herself.
But that alone wasn’t enough.
What she truly wanted was a completely new life—helping poor and powerless people abandoned by the world.
And today was the monumental first step toward achieving that life.
