CH 12

Katya actually had very good ears. When she went hunting, there was a reason she could hit a hundred out of a hundred.

As sensitive as she was to the movements of animals, she knew who was coming at the sound of footsteps.

Her father, Duke Smirnov, and Bianca had different gaits, and each of them had their own personality if you listened carefully.

The floor, which had creaked loudly as Katya walked down the corridor with the utmost care earlier, was strangely quiet now.

She didn’t want to wake Nikolai, but normal people didn’t have to walk so quietly.

“Assassins? Who paid you?”

Nikolai’s words from the office cabin flashed through her mind.

An ominous premonition flashed through her mind.

If this was indeed the assassin Nikolai had said it was.

Stepping out into the living room, Katya picked her way across the carpet and picked up the flintlock pistol on the mantelpiece.

Taking the stairs that way, she walked down the corridor, keeping her body as close to the wall as possible and stepping quickly only on the floor where it met the wall.

On her way out, she saw the door to her room, which she had obviously closed, half open.

And just as she suspected, there was an uninvited stranger in the unlit room.

Seeing the man walking towards Nikolai, who was fast asleep on the bed, Katya stepped on the clothes she had spread out on the floor earlier.

Thankfully, the man hadn’t heard her footsteps when he raised his knife high towards the ceiling.

Something hard and heavy hit him in the back of the head, and he went still as a statue.

Clank.

“Put the knife down and put your hands up unless you want a bullet in your skull.”

Katya spoke low in the darkness as she held the muzzle of the gun to her attacker’s head and quickly undid the lock.

The man slowly laid the knife down on the bed.

“I’m going to count to three, and if you want to live, get the fuck out of here. One.”

He did as she was told and moved aside with both hands raised, the man suddenly turned, drew another knife from his holster, and lunged at Katya.

As she stumbled backwards from the sudden action, Nikolai, who had just risen from the bed, struck the man in the side with his foot.

He had actually woken up earlier and was waiting for the man to move into range.

Little did he know that Katya would intervene.

Nikolai grabbed the man on the ground by the throat with one hand and twisted his wrist with the other.

In an instant, his grip loosened, and the subdued man gasped, his face turning blue from the strangulation.

“Ouch!”

“Who sent you?”

The man who had been writhing in Nikolai’s hands suddenly shouted, looking towards the door.

“That……. Get her!”

Nikolai spun around in surprise.

But there was no one there.

The hooded man, pretending to have company, caught him off guard, bit his hand, ran to the window, and jumped out.

Normally, the man wouldn’t have been able to pull off such a trick in front of Nikolai, but the thought of Katya being in danger weakened him.

Nikolai didn’t chase after the man, but quickly rushed over and helped Katya to her feet.

“What are you doing?”

He asked in an angry tone as he grabbed Katya by the shoulders.

He seemed to lose his temper at the thought that he had almost put her in danger.

“What the hell were you going to do with a gun with no gunpowder?”

“I was going to scare them away.”

“And if you got caught?”

Even if she had gunpowder, she knew that it would not fire in the rain because of the dampness.

But Katya had pushed through anyway, to protect Nikolai.

“I don’t know, I didn’t think of anything like that.”

“What? You could have been killed! How could you be so unprepared–”

“You were in danger.”

She replied, showing no remorse whatsoever.

The words left Nikolai speechless.

What was this woman?

“Anyway, I’m glad we’re both alive, aren’t you?”

Katya showed her straight teeth and smiled.

“I saved your life, we don’t owe anything to each other anymore.”

She deliberately pushed herself into a more brazen position.

She was smiling mischievously, trying to reassure him, but Nikolai noticed that her right hand gripping the gun was trembling slightly.

He took the gun from Katya and placed it on the table.

Then he took her trembling hand in his own.

“Next time, don’t do anything like this.”

“Are you planning to team up with me again next time? Dream on, man–”

They both burst out laughing at the same time.

“Who knows if there won’t be a next time, there are no absolutes in this world.”

“Forget it, I’m not going to save you again. I risked my life to save you, and I don’t even get a thank you.”

“……Thank you.”

“It was too soft to hear. What?”

Katya raised her hands and put them close to her ears.

“Thank you.”

Nikolai murmured lowly.

He didn’t know anyone else in the world who would throw themselves for him.

A lovely woman, raw, without a drop of blood, small and fluffy, like a small animal.

Katya nodded with a satisfied smile.

“Any other injuries?”

Nikolai asked in a soothing voice.

As if that weren’t bad enough, her ankle sprained right in front of her eyes, and this time, in an attempt to save herself, she fell backwards and landed on her buttocks.

“I don’t have meat on my bum, so it’s a little stiff, but it’ll be fine after I sleep.”

Nikolai put one hand to his forehead at the blatant explanation.

What exactly is he to this woman?

At a glance, it was clear that she was younger than him, yet she treated him as if he were her own flesh and blood, even resembling the way one would treat a younger brother.

What’s wrong with your bum?

“You don’t have to be so detailed, do you?”

“What’s wrong with a flat bum?”

“Let’s not talk.”

“Let’s get a move on. We need to get to bed if we want an early start at dawn.”

She said, tugging on his sleeve.

They lay on their sides on the bed with their backs to each other.

Tired as she was, she fell right back to sleep, but Nikolai found it hard to stay asleep.

His gaze drifted down, counting the patterns on the wooden floor, when someone knocked cautiously on the door outside.

“Your Highness, it’s me.”

It was Boris.

Nikolai slid out of bed so as not to wake Katya, threw a robe over his bare body, and opened the door.

“Your Highness……!”

Nikolai gently pushed Boris’s forehead away with his hand as he tried to hug him, overcome with emotion at the reunion.

He was back to his usual self, not allowing anyone to touch him.

Katya was the only exception.

Grumbling that it was too much, Boris tried to move into the room, but was stopped and shoved back out into the corridor.

“Not here.”

“What’s wrong?”

Boris stuck his neck out of the doorway and peeked inside, his mouth dropping open in surprise at the sight of a woman lying on the bed.

“Who, who is it?”

Nikolai put his index finger to the corner of his mouth to silence the voice of the horrified aide.

He led Boris down to the first floor and sat down on the common room couch.

“Did you manage to clean up the scene?”

“Are you aware that I strain my back every day due to Your Highness’s constant demands?”

“You do know it’s your job, right?”

“Of course, how could it not be? I dug my own grave.”

Boris sighed deeply, filled with regret. Ah, what a predicament.

“Did you pay the shopkeeper to keep quiet, and you didn’t reveal who I was?”

“That defeats the purpose of going undercover, and I wouldn’t have done it without being insane. He just assumed you were the bastard son of some rich nobleman.”

“He’s not wrong. Because I’m the same as being a scoundrel.”

“You know that, yet you’re still going to do things like this without a plan? I was freaking out earlier when you just left without telling me!”

“Well, if you made it this far, you must have picked up on the clues I left behind.”

Nikolai walked out of the shop, making sure Boris and the knights followed him, leaving markers along the way.

“We got halfway there, but then it suddenly rained and it was all swept away, and we were lost!”

“Well, you’re brave to have come this far.”

“Right! Near the inn, they found a suspicious person and arrested him. He was limping.”

It was most likely the man who had jumped out of the window in an attempt to pounce on Nikolai.

“So where is he now?”

“As soon as he saw the sword of one of our knights, he bit his tongue and died.”

The sword bore the mark of the Knights of the Grand Duke’s House.

If he recognised it, it was indeed an assassin sent from the north.

“He went to my cabin to kill me a little while ago.”

“Yes? Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. Someone else took the hit.”

“And who was the woman in the room? Surely it wasn’t Lady Katarina from earlier in the day?”

“How do you know?”

Boris jumped to his feet, stunned.

“Ka, it’s Lady Katarina?”

“Is there a problem?”

“I snuck a word to the owner. There’s a portrait pinned up like a wanted leaflet, and he said it’s Katarina, eldest daughter of the Duke of Smirnov. There’s no one around here who doesn’t know her. I don’t know her face, but I’ve heard her name.”

“She’s famous?”

“Notoriously so. They say she’s called the ‘Wicked Woman of the South.'”

Nikolai momentarily doubted his ears.

“Wicked Woman of the South? Not a chick or a bunny or something?”

“What?”

In Nikolai’s eyes, Katya looked tiny and adorable, like a giggly chick or a cuddly bunny.

“You must have heard wrong.”

“There is nothing wrong with my hearing, Your Highness.”

“Well, it’s not Zladejka, it’s Zemljanica.”

Nikolai said, remembering the strawberry-blonde woman.

In Hersen, Zladeika is a wicked woman and Zemljanica is a strawberry.

So strawberries from the south.

That’s right. Until now, he couldn’t quite remember what scent it was, but now he can finally define it clearly.

She smelled like a fresh and slightly sweet strawberry scent