CH 4

Delinda did not answer. She didn’t even raise her head to identify him. She just lay on the ground as if dead.

I was told to follow this advice when I stumbled across this information. If involved in a criminal act, don’t even think of identifying the other person’s face. Just close your eyes. Because criminals will not allow someone who looked at their face to survive.

“Who sent you?”

“…”

The man, who’d been staring down at Delinda for a while, began to rub the soles of his shoes on Delinda’s cloak lying on the floor.

Delinda didn’t even breathe, even though she was furious at his behavior of treating her cloak as a rag.

After wiping all the blood off his feet, he lifted her chin with the toe of his shoe.

“How’d you get in here?”

Despite his calm tone, there was no emotion in his cold voice. He was too composed for someone who just killed a person.

Delinda, lying flat-faced on the floor, only lifted her head when he moved his foot.

Delinda kept her eyes closed. The man raised her chin to inspect her face, but she did not do the same.

‘This psycho really just… In what country is it polite to lift a person’s face with your feet?’

Being from a country of Eastern courtesy, she was angry at this man’s behavior, but her tiny anger was lost to intense fear.

Delinda declared firmly, her eyes clenched shut.

“Please spare me. I’ll be good.”

“…What?” 

If you spare me, I’ll behave myself, sir.

The man was silent as if Delinda’s answer was expected.

“I’m only a passerby; I didn’t see a thing. My eyes are currently closed. I’ll act very nicely.”

The formality was second nature. Even being a duke’s daughter and whatnot, or being humiliated, in the face of death, a crazy strong bastard will rule over others no matter what.

“I fell as I was walking just now. And then I found myself here. I’ll keep my eyes closed until you leave.”

So just kindly let me go, you crazy bastard.

The man, with his eyes closed, was still listening to Delinda’s rambling. As if trying to figure out what was going on inside her head.

Delinda felt frustrated. She was just walking down the street and touched a wall. Who would’ve expected to find this jerk inside?

If I made a mistake, I was only guilty of wandering around in the middle of the night to find out some information revolving around the Spirit Stone.

The man lifted Delinda’s head and removed his foot. Delinda’s face fell back to the ground.

There was a sharp gust of wind above Delinda’s head.

I heard the cold sound of metal scraping at the same time as my hair fluttered in the air. Shaking the blood off his sword, the man put it back into its sheath.

The man bent over and grabbed something hanging around Delinda’s neck. It was the ring she put on the chain of her necklace.

The ring she grabbed for the purpose of financing. The ring shone alone in the dark.

Clink. The man used his strength to easily break the chain. When the ring separated from her body and came into the man’s grasp, its glow dimmed as if it were a lie.

The man smiled faintly, sneeringly.

A mage…

His murmuring voice did not reach Delinda.

Soon, the ring landed beside Delinda’s face. The man threw it back at her.

Delinda checked the ring with her eyes before discreetly reaching out to take it.

‘My precious funds.’

But her attempt to take back the ring failed. The man had his foot gently pressing on the ring.

“What is your name?”

“Pardon?” 

She asked, wiggling her hand and reaching for the ring.

“I asked you what your name is.”

His toneless voice seemed to say, “I’ll kill you if you make me ask you again.”

“Del! It’s Del!”

Delinda shouted with all her might.

At best, I gave a pseudonym similar to my real name. I should’ve gone along with Francesca, but it’s too late now.

The man applied more pressure on the ring under his foot.

“Affiliation.”

“I know nothing of an affiliation! I’m only a maid of noble birth!”

He seemed to be asking for my identity, but I’d never say I was the daughter of Duke Schultz. What kind of fool would expose their true identity to a murderer?

In response to her answer that she was just a maid of a noble family, the man laughed as if she were ridiculous.

Until then, Delinda had kept track of the situation by listening to her surroundings.

The man took his eyes off her, retrieved a jewel from somewhere near his chest, and flung it at the wall. Crash. The shattered jewel cast a circle of white light in the air.

— Yes. Lawton speaking.

Someone’s voice emerged from the circle.

“28 Clancy Street. Three on the left corner.”

— Are they dead?

The voice coming from the light casually spoke of death.

“Dead.”

— Are you going to maintain the space?

“I think I’m going to leave it as it is.”

— Yes. I’m heading out to handle it straight away.

As soon as he heard a clear answer, the man grabbed the light. The light was captured in his large palm before it split and burst.

Until then, Delinda was scanning her surroundings. What was going on above her head? Is there such a thing as a walkie-talkie in this world?

At that moment, while immersed in numerous thoughts, her body was suddenly scooped up.

“Kyaa!” 

As she lay flat on her stomach, he grabbed the back of her cloak’s hood and pulled up.

The man simply lifted this grown woman’s body as he would a puppy. Then he began to stride toward his destination.

Delinda’s toes dangled in the air.

‘Am I going to die? Am I going to die like this? Are you going to kill me? Is it my turn now?!’

Delinda clasped her hands over her mouth. Because she thought screaming would provoke the man.

After some time, he dropped her body on the ground as they arrived somewhere.

Delinda stared at the dirt on the floor, devastated. She never even thought of looking at the man’s face.

I heard footsteps receding in my ears.

It was the man’s footsteps. He tossed me somewhere and left me on the street alone.

“…”

Even after the man disappeared, Delinda sat in the same position for a long time. Then, after an even more of a long time, she pulled on her cloak’s hood.

My ears finally popped open. There was nobody around. All noises came flooding back as if they’d washed ashore after sinking into deep water.

The laughter coming from the window and a minstrel’s song outside the square.

No one will know of the tragedy behind that secret wall.

Delinda strengthened her legs and moved slowly. She was more suspicious than relieved.

Why did he spare me?

Even though the man generously let me go, I only questioned his motives.

The man had no reason to spare me. Didn’t he have the power to kill people and also the justification to kill the eyewitness to the crime?

“What’s done is done. Is it alright that I got out alive? Something’s still bothering me.”

Delinda yanked tighter on her cloak. Even the soft air brushing her skin felt cold, perhaps because of what happened just moments ago.

‘But if I die here, will I go back to the real world?’

She stopped to think but then resumed walking once again. If she dies, that may just be the end. There was no need to risk her life based on an unproven theory.

“Let’s not die, and let’s not go bankrupt. It’s dangerous out tonight, so I’d better start looking into the Spirit Stone tomorrow.”

Delinda made a promise to herself and circled the square. She blended in among the people and stepped into an alley a while later.

Entering an unknown bar, I drank a beer, then aimlessly strolled through the narrow streets.

Wandering on the streets, I wasted my time. Then when the moon rose high in the sky, I finally headed back to the duke’s residence.

Afraid of someone noticing I was from the duke’s family, I deliberately spent time on the streets to ensure safety.

Before I knew it, I was getting closer to the mansion. Fortunately, no one seemed to be tailing me.

Just as before, two knights were stationed in front of the duke’s residence. Delinda naturally steered clear of them and headed for the wall by the backroad.

‘No one’s here, right?’

I glanced around and climbed a tree. The chunky edge of the branch reached the inside of the wall, so I thought I could jump from there.

I crawled along the bough with a grunt and leaped for the wall.

But.

“Oof!” 

I bumped into something and toppled back toward the branch.

“What the?” 

I hugged the branch, clinging to it like a koala so that I wouldn’t fall. It felt like I just got stuck on something. I thought nothing was there, but apparently, there was a branch under the bridge.

After thinking for a moment, Delinda stood on the branch again. Then she looked around and jumped again.

However, she got stuck again.

“Ah! What the hell!” 

This time, she fell off the branch completely and rolled to the ground.

Angrily huffing, Delinda jumped up like a roly-poly and started climbing the tree. Then she mounted the branch once more and flew toward the wall.

And the moment Delinda’s body was about to hit the barrier,

Tink—.

A stone flew from an unknown direction and shattered the barrier’s corner. Delinda slipped into the duke’s residence through a gap that silently cracked.

Not knowing someone had let her in, she hummed in admiration for her ability to jump over the wall.

The sound of Delinda singing receded over the wall.

“…”

A target that breaks the barrier. The man Delinda encountered in the alley earlier peered over the wall where she had disappeared.