CH 95

Should I pretend to be innocent first? 

“I don’t know what you mean, but if you happy about it, that’s fine.” 

I responded to Richard like that and smiled brightly.

“It’s not something you’ve done once or twice.”

“It was my first time doing it, so I must have done well. That’s a relief.”

Even after hearing my brazen reply, Richard smiled well without changing his expression. I also smiled skillfully without losing.

“You’re wearing a wig today too, Miss Shabrina.”

“….”

My face almost hardened for a moment.

That punk’s wig. 

He certainly seemed to know me. Isn’t he too close to say no? But his ambiguous behavior makes it hard to be sure. 

“…What do you mean by a wig?”

“Hmm. I said it was a wig because it looked like a wig. What was the problem?”

Damn it. I should have dyed it. 

No, I think he would have still said that I dyed my hair. 

“….” 

“I apologize if it was a secret.”

With a face that didn’t seem too sorry, Richard calmly apologized.

“…What do you mean secret just to use a wig. I was just wondering how you knew about wigs when I hadn’t told you anything about it?”

“It smells different.”

“…Smell?” 

“It’s the characteristic scent of a wig.”

As he said, a wig usually has a unique scent. But good wigs don’t smell. To be precise, it means that the smell is not strong enough to be recognized by humans.

‘I mean if you’re an ordinary person.’

I couldn’t even imagine that he could smell such a subtle scent. I knew that man was transcendent, but I didn’t know he could recognize even the smallest details. 

“How long do you plan on wearing that wig?” 

“Maybe until the trend is over.” 

“Trend?” 

“Didn’t you know? This style is popular in the capital these days.”

It wasn’t a lie.

Because in the capital, the style of wig I’m wearing now is currently popular. 

“Then are those masks also trend?” 

“You have a lot of questions for me, Commander.” 

Without denying it, Richard smiled softly. Still, his beauty is enough to draw attention to itself. 

“Because Miss Shabrina reminds me of someone I miss.” 

“…Someone you miss?” 

“Yes. Shabrina’s eyes resemble someone I know.” 

…It’s not a resemblance. It’s me, you punk. 

Of course, he knows, but—.

‘And it’s not that you miss that person, it’s a bad relationship.’ 

“Your lips are very similar to that person too.” 

“….”

When Richard’s gaze ran across my lips, I felt a strange feeling.

“I am not the one you miss.”

“I know.”

“If you know, don’t say that.”

I said firmly and laughed.

“Then I’m busy. May I go first, Commander?” 

“Of course, Miss Shabrina.”

I walked past Richard.

He seems to have recognized me; I’m not sure why he’s acting as if he doesn’t, but at this point, I’d prefer just to be comfortable. 

If a bad relationship will make you blush, it’s better to pretend I didn’t see it. 

<I don’t forget what happened.>

<I will remember your name too.> 

Look. That was a silly thing to say.

It’s because the anger completely swallowed the reason at that time. 

‘I have to go to Michelle.’

Let’s stop doing this here and check out Michelle’s condition. Then I stopped by my room first before I went to Michelle.

…How come this place doesn’t feel good? 

I took a hairpin out of my luggage. And I put it in the wig. 

It’s a hairpin with a colorful mask and a flower full of presence. It was an interesting harmony. It was then.

Bang!

“It’s an attack!”

There was an urgent sound with a roar. 

I heard that there are frequent raids in the north— however, I didn’t expect it to happen when Michelle and I came.

“Aide Shabrina! Are you inside?”

Then someone from outside shouted urgently.

“Who are you?”

“I am a knight of the Lord’s Knights! Because of the raid, I have been ordered to evacuate you to a safe place immediately.” 

* * *

“Cough, cough!” 

Gilbert, who barely escaped from the pond, coughed continuously. Finally, he breathed hurriedly and found the air he had never tasted while in the water. 

“…That damn b*tch!” 

As his breathing slowly regained stability, Gilbert immediately cursed Shabrina. The imagination of tearing and killing Shabrina was not enough, so Gilbert headed somewhere without even having time to tidy up his clothes. The Count’s servants looked at Gilbert, who was striding with surprise.

Gilbert, drenched from head to toe and smelling sour, can’t help but look strange.

Then Gilbert was heading to the Count’s room.

“Count!”

“Gilbert, all of a sudden, I hear…why do you look that way?” 

The count, who frowned at Gilbert’s rude behavior that came without knocking, opened his eyes wide when he saw him looking like a wet mouse.

“Shabrina, that crazy girl did it!”

“If it’s Shabrina… Isn’t she Baron Savlin’s aide?”

“That’s right. That crazy b*tch dropped me into a pond and made me like this.”

“The aide?”

The Count looked at Gilbert in disbelief.

“Yeah, that’s what that crazy b*tch did!” 

He knows she’s not an ordinary person, but— he never thought she would drop Gilbert into the pond.

When the Count imagined what would have happened, he almost laughed.

“She’s really not an ordinary girl.” 

“Count! Now is not the time to talk like that! You must kill her!”

“I know.”

The Count looked at Gilbert with contempt.

‘I don’t feel like it.’

The Count praised Shabrina and Michelle as great.

She is a woman who used to be a maid and an underage woman, from which all rights were taken away from Gilbert.

Isn’t it amazing to have a Savlin merchant who has a great influence in such a position?

But apart from that, the Count had to solve old trouble on his estate.

‘I remember that time again—’

A child and his parents were starving when they went to the temple, when he saw that, how painful it was as a Lord who had to protect them.

“When the hell are you going to take care of that b*tch!” 

Maybe it was a mistake to join hands with Gilbert?

He was the one who made the decision, but he was worried that he had underestimated the opponent too much. But he is just impossible to change. 

The Count looked disgustedly at the man who was busy filling his stomach like a pig, then calmly opened his mouth.

“Don’t worry. The plan is in action.” 

“…is it running?”

The moment Gilbert asks back with a question.

Bang!

There was the sound of something exploding in the distance. He could see black smoke billowing out of the window.

“It’s an attack!”

From that shout, the castle became noisy. The Count knocked on the window and laughed.

“Didn’t I tell you? The plan has already begun.”

* * * 

The knight took me somewhere.

As I was not familiar with the path of the Count, I had no choice but to follow the knight.

But there were fewer and fewer people, and as people disappeared, doubts were bound to come up. Still, I follow the Count’s order in silence, wondering if he will use the Count’s order as an excuse to do something so obvious. 

“Is this really the right way?”

“Don’t worry, aide. I have worked here for a long time.”

That’s not the problem—.

When an attack happens, it’s right to run away first to an empty road, but as doubts have grown, it seems natural to be suspicious. 

“Where is the Baron?” 

“The Baron is also coming. The North puts the safety of our guests first.”

The place where the knight took me was in a certain forest. We walked for a while in the forest.

The deeper I went into the forest, the more my anxiety grew. The more I thought about it, the more I had a feeling that things were going wrong. I distanced myself from the man and walked behind him, sneakily pulling out a hairpin and holding it in my hand.

“…How much more do I have to go? My leg hurts.”

“Oh, no. I’m sorry. I’m trying to get you to the safest place possible….” 

The knight turned and smiled mysteriously at me. I instinctively took a step back.

“This should be enough.”

The surrounding was quiet. 

Is it because they came too far from the place where the attack took place, or has the situation calmed down outside? 

“…Is this the middle of the forest the destination? Without any shelter?”

I thought he was taking me somewhere like an air defense shelter, but this is only a shelter in the middle of a forest like this?

It can’t be.

I don’t know much about the North, but I know roughly what a shelter feels like.

In the northern part, where there are frequent raids, such a place would have been better prepared—.

“That’s right.” 

The knight approached me with an unknown smile.

As the distance between me narrowed, I took a step back.

“Aide? What’s wrong?” 

“If your purpose is to protect me, keep this distance now.”

“Ah…” 

The knight put on an embarrassed face. 

“Did I get caught—?” 

The knight drew his sword.

As expected.

I ran right away without looking back. My body moved faster than I thought I should run away as if the survival instinct gripped me strongly. 

“There!” 

The knight from behind ran to catch me as I ran away. 

‘They’ll catch up soon.’

A trained knight can’t be the same as an ordinary woman. After that, I had to do the best I could here.

“Help me! Help me!”

My voice echoed through the forest.

“Save me—ack!” 

“I caught you.” 

As expected, the knight caught me right away.

He grabbed my shoulder with a strong grip and pushed me down. My body fell to the ground helplessly, and the knight quickly grabbed my shoulders and smiled.

“No matter how much you cry out for help in this forest, no one will hear you, you know?”

I know. 

How far did we get in? This guy must have considered that too.

“Be quiet. Then I will send you nicely.” 

“….” 

“But before I kill you, shall I see your face? How ugly are you wearing a mask?”

The knight touched my mask.

I couldn’t stop the knight from removing the mask. The knight looked at my face and stiffened for a moment.

“….It’s a waste to just kill.”

“…Waste.” 

“What?” 

At my murmuring, the knight frowned and asked.

I replied with a smile.

“I’m not a waste, you b*stard.”

“What—ugh!” 

Without giving a break, I took advantage of the man’s carelessness and stabbed a sharp knife into the tender flesh under his chin.

Blood splattered everywhere.

His face got wet. I was captivated for a moment by the terrible sight.

“Ugh…” 

The knight couldn’t even scream and collapsed. I stiffened without even thinking of raising the fallen knight over my body.

A person—, a person has died. 

Obviously what I did was right. However, my hands trembled. I pushed the knight away with a weak hand and just like that, the knight rolled over to the side.

“There…” 

What should I do by calling a knight here? I knew it, but I couldn’t stop the voice from leaking itself. I turned my head away so I could no longer see the blood dripping down the knight’s neck and staining it.

‘Wake up.’

What am I going to do here?

‘It wasn’t me who did the wrong thing in the first place. I couldn’t help it.’

My heart was pounding.

It was then.

Tak, tak.

With the sound of trampling on the blades of grass, white shoes appeared.

A familiar voice came over my head.

“Miss Shabrina?”

…Damn it.