Chapter 18
Being with Nina always reminded Rabian of Anna—or more precisely, of who he had been back then. It was unpleasant, yet inevitable.
“Damn it.”
Since Anna, Rabian had never once taken care of someone with such patience.
He had vowed never to do it again.
And yet…
‘Maybe I should’ve brought the Second Princess instead.’
But the Second Princess, who often appeared in public, was not suitable as a hostage. Even kidnapping her was too high-risk.
“I’ll handle this personally as the Captain of the Guard and isolate the young lady. It makes no sense to entrust her to garbage like you! I’m sure Merci would agree, and Nina would definitely prefer m—”
Rabian slowly turned his head toward Dité, who kept blabbering nonsense.
His absinthe-colored eyes now glinted with a chilling light.
“Hey.”
“Uh? Wh-what is it?”
Startled by his cousin’s sudden change in tone, Dité flinched and instinctively stepped back toward the guards.
Of course, they were far enough away that it was useless.
“Was I too harsh? Sorry, I was just joking…”
“That thing—did you bring it?”
“What…?”
Dité’s expression changed in an instant when he finally grasped the situation.
“Who dares stalk the Captain of the Guard—?!”
“Shut it.”
Rabian, clearly fed up, cut off Dité mid-outburst with a grin.
He was already in a foul mood—perfect timing.
“Let me borrow this.”
“Eh?”
Before the stunned guard could even protest, Rabian had snatched a special-issue baton from him and vanished before their eyes.
“Wait, where’d he go…?”
Before the words even left his mouth, despite the clear skies, thunder struck.
Boom! Crack!
A bolt from the blue—literally.
Pedestrians froze in confusion, street vendors cursed at the blazing sun, and the guard squad dashed into the alley where the noise had come from.
There, five or six men lay drooling and twitching on the ground in convulsions.
It looked like they’d been struck by lightning—all of them.
Rabian sat on top of the least injured of the bunch, a purple-haired man, lighting a cigarette.
Purple Hair groaned and howled.
“That’s low, Rabian! You’re the boss, and you still use weapons?!”
“If I don’t, you’ll die.”
Rabian answered coldly, as if doing them a favor, then tossed the baton toward the approaching Dité.
“Ah, jeez! Do you know how expensive this gear is?!”
“Marquis Frank. Still trailing after Rabian like a puppy even though you’re the Captain of the Guard, huh?”
Purple Hair groaned again. He seemed to be doing well enough to complain.
Dité looked dumbfounded.
So did the guards, who for once shared the same expression as their commander.
“Oh, it’s just those Vine guys. I got scared for nothing.”
“Exactly. They’re just those root-for-brains punks.”
Even for the Guard, mocking someone else’s long-standing organization name was a bit much.
Infuriated, Purple Hair launched into a detailed rant.
“You ignoramuses! It’s not vine—it’s wildcat! We’re recognized as a wildcat-class predator by the Empire! Gray-brown fur, 45–55 cm body length, 25–32 cm tail…”
“I’m out. You deal with the rest.”
“My speech isn’t over! Wait, Rabian! Don’t leave like a coward—!”
“What, am I your friend now? Should I call your boss and have him come sort this out personally?”
Rabian’s murderous tone was enough to make even a black fire dragon from the abyss give up and walk away.
“Seriously, Perry, what’s gotten into you lately? Even if they’re ‘vine’ trash, there’s still a line! Apologize!”
Eventually, Dité stepped in to scold him, and Perry mumbled dejectedly.
“I mean, maybe not a friend, but we were comrades once…”
“Comrades?! The war ended ages ago! And even if I could forgive you, you ever seen that heartless demon give a damn about anyone?”
The aforementioned demon was now leisurely walking away from the alley, as if he hadn’t just nearly started a gang war.
Perry ground his teeth as he stared at Rabian’s shameless retreating back.
“I said wait…!”
“Whoa, just let him go. Why are you asking for trouble? You only came chasing after him because you were curious about the kid too, right?”
“Well… true. But man, that girl’s really pretty.”
“Right? Nina’s really cute, isn’t she?”
“You only met her for the first time today…”
“So?”
Dité raised his eyebrows, as if to say, “What’s the problem?”
Perry changed the subject with a scowl.
“Never mind that. That general store—some Dozer brat’s been hanging around it for a while now.”
At the mention of a “Dozer brat,” Dité’s expression turned unusually serious.
“What? But that shop has good security, right? It’s not like he works there part-time or anything—”
“I dunno, I was trying to tell that bastard earlier, but he just walked off.”
Word of Rabian traveling with a child had spread like wildfire—everyone was chasing after him. There’s no way the infamous Dozer kid wasn’t also aware.
Which meant, considering the bad blood between the Dozer brat and Rabian, Nina might be in serious danger.
That was the real message Perry was trying to get across.
Dité agreed, but was confused.
With Rabian around, what was there to worry about?
“She’ll be fine, right? Rabian’s headed back there anyway…”
“…”
Perry gave Dité a long, pitying look, making him bristle with irritation.
“What the hell is with that look? You want me to cuff you?!”
“You still don’t get it, huh?”
“What?”
“You really think he’s just out for a stroll with a kid? You think I chased after him just for fun?”
“You said it was out of curiosity, jerk. And didn’t you hear the rumors she’s Merci’s sister? Come on, even Rabian wouldn’t just throw away a commander’s sibling—”
Dité trailed off mid-sentence, uncharacteristically unsure.
Not that he truly believed Nina was Merci’s sister.
Nor did he put any stock in the rumors that she was Rabian’s illegitimate child.
Anyone familiar with the underworld’s ways felt the same.
They weren’t making a fuss because they seriously wanted to know Nina’s identity—it was just strange that someone like Rabian, the demon of Anubis, was suddenly taking care of a child.
Because in this world, children’s tragedies were far too common.
So common, in fact, that people were tired of hearing about them.
Like, say, someone who couldn’t repay their debt and handed over their kid as collateral—that wouldn’t even be surprising.
Perry gave Dité a bitter smile as he looked at his confused face.
“He’d do it.”
Contrary to what his former comrades assumed, Rabian had no intention of abandoning Nina.
But he didn’t head straight back to the shop either.
“Goddamn it.”
He couldn’t bring himself to go back and face her.
What made it worse was not knowing why he felt this way.
“Should I just ditch her?”
Muttering aimlessly, Rabian plopped down on a nearby bench.
He rubbed his aching temples and looked up—right in front of a toy store.
“…I’m gonna lose it.”
At this point, it felt like he was being brainwashed.
Rabian was starting to seriously consider the theory that Nina was some kind of royal ultimate weapon.
‘Of all the people she could’ve resembled…’
She looked like Anna.
