Chapter 156

Translator: yun

I asked the stall owner with a sparse beard who was waving his wooden stick. The stick ended in a V-shape and it looked like a tool used to grab items from elevated spots.

Lord Ray tapped on my shoulders and whispered softly so that only I could hear him.

“Don’t remove your cape.”

I nodded my head slightly. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“I’m looking for a relative of mine and I think she lives in this building.”

“Oi dear. You’ve cam’ to the wrong place. This building was built entirely by a certain corporation and only their employees live here.”

“A corporation?”

“That’s right. I don’t think it’s been long since they came. Your relative is probably not around.”

Just then, I could hear the clanging of what sounded like two metal pans banging each other. It seemed like there was a blacksmith around. I covered my ear at the noise of a banging hammer before raising my head.

‘So it’s not just a building but a corporation…’

There were countless balconies and windows. I gradually shifted my gaze from the huge block-like building. On the ground floor. I noticed its name engraved in old and shabby letters.

The gate that looked like nothing special opened slightly in the wind to give me a glimpse of the flight of stairs leading to the upper floors.

Can I just go in?

The problem was that I could not think of a particularly good reason for opening the main gate and just entering.

‘If it had just been a place where people live, I can just enter it and say I was looking for my relative… but a corporation, huh.’

Wasn’t it suspicious how a corporation that appeared in the middle of the night managed to occupy the whole thing?

“What should we do?”

“Damn. It looks so well-built that I’m kind of hesitant.”

In movies, the villain’s hideout always seemed pretty obvious but I guess that did not seem to be the case in reality.

“Was this really the right place?”

“The map pointed to this place.”

I let out a sigh.

Lord Ray replied casually as if he had no thoughts before giving me a blank expression. No matter how hard I tried to get him to change, his insincere attitude never changed.

But I noticed the hand that rested on my waist which he never removed. It was Lord Ray’s habit. Perhaps he was acting as he usually did so that I would not get nervous.

He might not seem like it but he was a knight who would display his consideration quite brazenly.

“As I expected… it won’t be a good idea to just go in, right?”

Lord Ray shifted his gaze at my question. He continued to stare at me.

I winced before saying, “Alright.”

I admitted gently. It would be too reckless.

“Although you insisted on coming here in person… wouldn’t it be better to leave this to the experts?”

I whined before replying, “What. You want me to leave it to the patrol guards, right? Why? Are you not confident enough to protect me?”

“Why are you twisting my words like that?”

His eyebrows were slightly curved.

“Why don’t we head inside instead?”

The Lord shook his head. I couldn’t forget the expression he had when he glanced over at me.

“If possible, I’d like you to think of plans where you won’t get hurt.”

It was at that moment. The Lord wrapped his arm around my shoulders before pulling me.

“I’m sorry!”

A large cart drove past the spot I was just at. I slowly raised my head. My gaze raised to see the straight and firm jaw facing in front.

Whenever Lord Ray is around, getting protected by him feels natural. I mean, he was supposed to be my escort but…

‘My life has been so hectic that the awareness that I’m a princess has completely disappeared.’

There are times when everything feels as if it was happening to someone else.

“What are you going to do? Mistress?”

“Wow, that term. I just got goosebumps.”

I shivered as I stepped away from him.

“Because I can’t call you the princess.”

“That’s true but…”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“Anyway, this is the place the map led us to. No matter how I look at it, it’s a far cry from an evildoer’s den.”

They were smart. Wasn’t it said that people should hide within people? Just when I hesitated.

“Uh? Lord, someone’s coming.”

Someone opened the tightly-shut door and came out.

“… That man is?”

It was the man who chased me down into the alley and knocked me out with a sword. I realised who he was and quickly pulled my hood down.

‘Hold on, he wouldn’t recognise the appearance I have now, right?’

I stared at the man from a distance away before quickly pulling on the hem of Lord Ray’s robe.

“Lord, Lord. Do you see the man over there? The man with brown hair and a scar over his eye. The one with a car.”

‘Ah, ah. Yes.”

“What do you think of him, lord?”

Lord Ray seemed to have glanced at the man for a moment.

“… From how he’s walking, he’s probably a good swordsman. He has probably held a sword for more than half his life.”

“How is he compared to the Lord?”

“Who do you think you’re comparing him to? Of course, I’ll win.”

Lord Ray looked as if his pride got hurt. The expression he had looked slightly dissatisfied.

“I mean, that’s not what I asked.”

“…..”

“Alright. The Lord is the strongest. You’re the coolest.”

I tapped on his hand before pulling it whilst deep in thought.

‘What should I do?’

Even though Lord Ray was strong, he was a knight, not a templar. Moreover, he couldn’t deal with many people at once, right?

I had a weak constitution. If a fight occurred, I would only inconvenience him. As long as the Lord is here, I would not die so nothing bad would happen.

‘I’m so curious what’s inside…’

But I could not see anything inside the dark building. It was like a cave. I raised my head with a frown.

Just then, I spotted sun-kissed skin flickering through the darkness. I managed to catch the figure of a large woman through one of the windows.

‘Had she been kidnapped?’

The woman, who looked about 20 years old, disappeared faster than she appeared. For a moment, I could clearly see heavy black things wrapped around her hands which looked like handcuffs or something close to chains.

“What should we do now?”

“… Let’s head back. Because it’s clear that this is the kidnappers’ den now.”

Lord Ray would not be able to come back to life if he dies. Moreover, he might push himself because of me.

“Is it alright for us to just head back?”

I let out a quiet sigh when I glanced over at the diary.

“Of course… it’s not alright. But we can’t go in when we’re still not sure.”

Amor did say there were numerous hideouts and that the hostages will be held in their most important one. I thought of Soricks whom I had met briefly before we left.

“Your friend disappeared? I’ll help you!”

I had asked for help regarding Hannah’s disappearance which I masked as my friend’s disappearance and he accepted it readily.

“Please let me know if you find anything! I’ll run right over!”

He might have just said it to comfort me but anyway, I now got the troops to move at any time I want.

“You’re quite calm.”

“I’m just trying to be.”

This place was too ordinary. Women were doing laundry by the well. A stall owner. A beauty salon in the midst of wall repairs. A peddler on a cart carrying grains wielding a whip…

“If it were me, I would never have it here.”

I stared at him.

“If you think it’s there, you would have entered the building once you got your act together.”

“…..”

“What are you looking at? I’m just saying that you’re amazing like that.”

Was this how Lord Ray consoles me? When I looked up again, he didn’t even look like he was making fun of me.

“Actually, if you had ordered me to enter, I would have somehow found a way to do it.”

“… Stop saying nonsense.”

“That’s not what you should be saying, mistress.”

I pressed my lips together to keep silent before turning my back from the building.

“It’s not that I don’t want to go inside right away and check.”

But there was something bothering me.

“Then we can get rid of ‘midnight’.”

About a week has passed since that day. I haven’t seen Hernan yet. With one excuse and another, I avoided going to the Administrative Office so that he would have no choice but to visit my palace if he wanted to see me. But he never came.

The last time I met Hernan in the palace, he told me he would be busy for some time. If he was ‘busy’ because of the stuff he had to do here…

Hernan might have been here.

Could I handle meeting him here?

“Mistress, that man is moving.”

“… Let’s go after him. I need to know how bad it is.”

“Alright.”

We chased after the guy in earnest. Fortunately, the crowds due to the festivities covered our trail. I wondered how long we had been chasing the man. Lord Ray froze.

“… What should we do?”

Lord Ray asked me calmly.

“He entered an alley. This is not good.”

I looked into the corner of the alley the man had disappeared into before groaning.

‘Should I go after him or not?’

In just a few days’ time, all my bad memories were made in an alley. Such a gloomy-looking alley was not welcome.

I had a strong knight with me but it would be difficult for me to just rush in. I did not know what kind of danger existed. I hesitated.

“Mistress, we’re in the square and I can see capital guards passing by from time to time. How about we do this?’

Lord Ray whispered as if he noticed my concerns.

‘What?”

I looked up at him.

“I’ll go ahead and look into it for a while. You can, yeah, go over there and sit down.”

“… You’re chasing me away.”

I narrowed my eyes.

“Do you not like it? I thought this plan was quite suitable.”

“Who’d like it? Lord, are you trying to lead me on? Just go with me.”

I took the lead after tapping on Lord Ray’s hand. I could hear his soft breaths from behind me.

“… You are seriously slow-witted.”

He chased after me.

“There’s a bad smell here.”

In the quiet strip behind the alley, there was an unbearable stench. It looked as if all the trash from the eateries had been placed outside their doors. And the bags looked like someone had cut into them cleanly as their insides spilled out like a torn dumpling.

“Uhm, all the food waste bags are torn. Someone seemed to have done it on purpose.”

No matter where he looked, all the bags had exploded.

“It looks like he’s preventing us from getting closer to him.”

“… Is he hiding from us?”

“Probably.”

His silence gave me the affirmation I needed. HIs silence was a sign of the tension in the air. As we walked further ahead, we reached a fork in the road and the Lord stopped. I heard something faint from my far right.

Clang!

Lord Ray made eye contact with me before nodding wordlessly. It was the sound of a guard.

“I’ll stay here. Go ahead.”

“No, I’d rather we go together.”

I shook my head.

“I’ll only be a burden if you fight.”

I’ve already checked to this extent. I shouldn’t be stubborn anymore.

“Then, I’ll just head outside the way we came in. This would be better, right?”

Lord Ray shook his head.

“We shouldn’t be separated.”

However, when I heard a scream that tore through the air, our faces hardened and we looked at each other as if we had planned it.

I couldn’t tell whether he liked or disliked the situation based on his facial expression but for once I could tell what he was thinking.

“I’m begging you. Please help that person.”

“…..”