Chapter 35

“Who’s that?”

When Navia asked, the boy flinched. The coachman replied.

“He is my assistant.”

“Really?”

Navia approached the boy and held his arm.

“But why are you covering your face like this?”

Pak!

When the boy shook off Navia’s arm violently, the coachman panicked and hurried to lie.

“Oh my, I apologize! The Lady is just so pretty that my assistant must have been surprised.”

“Yeah. It’s okay.”

Navia raised her hand and gave a shy smile.

‘I achieved my goal.’

Her cold eyes were on the black moon, dripping with mana.

Kate pulled Navia with a nervous expression.

“Miss, you will catch a cold if you get wet. Come under the umbrella.”

With a nervous expression, Wood, the boy who was said to be an assistant, watched Navia move away.

‘How dare a dirty commoner touch me.’

Wood grit his teeth and inadvertently swept his arm.

‘What was that feeling earlier?’

When Navia touched him earlier, it felt creepy. Maybe he was scared he got caught?

In the meantime, Navia got on the carriage and asked Kate.

“You’re not going?”

Kate smiled awkwardly.

“I have a lot of work to do.”

Navia nodded.

The door closed, and Kate was seen leaving with relief through the window.

‘It would have been better for you to leave the duchy with me.’

If you’re here, Nikan won’t leave you alone.

Soon, the carriage passed through the Agnes Duchy’s back gate. This road was the opposite of the Main Street and was headed towards Duke Eseled.

‘It’s a good place to do ugly things since only a lake and forest surrounds it.’

It was also a good place to ambush someone in a hurry.

Navia knew Wood much better than Nikan.

Using Charlotte, Navia whispered to Wood.

‘Make Lady Navia a slave.’

Slaves were prohibited under imperial law, but legal procedures existed.

Those who attacked and lost without declaring a territorial dispute, and criminals who caused more than a certain amount of property damage or casualties.

Up to this point, huge amounts of compensation had been covered up. But what about a commoner who harmed a noble? The imperial law was more severe on the common people, and Navia was just a commoner.

Wood was willing to expose the fact that Navia was a commoner to the world and attribute everything to Navia before the slave trial began.

Because Navia said so.

There was a loophole in this method.

‘It can be rendered useless when an attacked noble doesn’t regard it as an attack.’

Wood was at an age to understand the loopholes.

“Hire contractors who will do anything and pay for the carriage that will carry Lady Navia and go to Duke Eseled together.’

Then Navia, rather than Eseled’s foster daughter, will soon become a slave.

This technique was still too dangerous for a young boy,

‘Wood must be confident.’

When it rained like this, the power of a water wizard would be the strongest.

He may be counting on the fact that the rain can compensate for his lack of recovery.

‘Those calculations are mine too.’

Navia, who stole Wood’s magic, was also able to take advantage of the rainy weather.

Navia looked out the window. It was likely that they would reach Duke Eseled soon.

The tension dampened her palms.

Navia clenched her fist and caught sight of her badly damaged hands.

It was the scratches that occurred when she struggled hard with her fingernails stuck in the floor of the warehouse. The blood under her nails made her look unsightly. Will Duke Eseled listen to her so shabby self? Wouldn’t he kill her before she could negotiate?

Navia pulled her short sleeves down by force. It was to hide her dirty and unsightly appearance.

Then she laughed.

In the first place, she wasn’t trying to be a beloved foster daughter.

It was to benefit from Duke Eseled and negotiate her own safety.

The carriage stopped before she knew it. She heard someone leave from outside.

‘The coachman must be running away.’

She felt someone approach her this time. It would be the contractor hired by Wood.

Sure enough, Wood’s quiet whisper was heard dimly.

“It’s here.”

Navia counted with her eyes closed and pulled up her mana.

“Give the balance first.”

Three.

“Here. I’ll give a big tip when you’re done.”

Two.

“Kiki! Then we should deal with it more clearly.”

One.

Kwang-!

Navia burst a condensed spell when the voices gathered at the door.

“Keuah!”

The fragments of the bursted wagon stuck on the bodies of the contractors like a dagger.

In an instant, two of the three contractors died. Despite the murder, Navia stole Wood’s mana once more with a cold face.

Neigh-!

The horses, surprised by the explosion, began to run. Navia crawled from the horses seat in the carriage, which had flown all over.

She knew how to drive a carriage.

“Keut!”

Even if she were an adult, she wouldn’t have been able to handle the strength, but she was in the body of a skinny eight-year-old’s. Navia grit her teeth despite the pain of her arm breaking.

She could see a monster-like black mansion in front of her.

Kwang!

The carriage was completely broken by magic, and Navia rolled over the muddy water.

“Cough!”

‘An explosion wizard?’

The black moon didn’t absorb the explosion. Navia bit her lips tightly but ran forward without hesitation.

‘Even if I die, I have to die in the duchy.’

That way a definite weakness will be created for Agnes!

“Die!”

Wood followed her closely in the rain.

Navia was able to use her remaining power.

And like Wood, she stepped forward and moved in the rain water.

The places where Navia ran to quickly exploded.

Kwang!!

After a close chase, she was caught up in the aftermath of the explosion. It was chaos.

Her wet clothes were heavy, and the coldness penetrated inside.

However, nothing else but her life depended on it.

Navia got up again. With only one thing on mind, she moved her shaky legs.

Kwang!

In a series of explosions, Navia floats in the air and soon sank into the ground. A deadly pain swept her whole body.

‘Is this the pain from dying?’

This wasn’t deathly pain.

Is there someone who knows how painful it is to be sick enough to die more than me!

So she didn’t give in. Even though it was hard to stand up, she crawled on all fours.

‘I’m finally here, I can’t die in vain!’

Paak!

Before she knew it, Wood kicked her side.

“You have a talent for wriggling when stepped on, like a bug.”

There was a thick flow of life washed on Wood’s face.

“You’re going to put me through this?”

Pak!

Navia swallowed a groan that was about to burst.

When the light flashed from her eyes, Wood got more excited with anger.

“There’s no use in you as a space. I’ll just kill you!”

Then, a contractor approached and grabbed Wood.

“Why didn’t you tell us that b*tch was a wizard?”

“This… how dare this lowly!”

Wood gave an expression that he couldn’t believe that the rude contractor was facing him so openly.

“Do you want to die?”

The contractor laughed.

“Young Master, do you know where we are? There’s no one here. No one will be sanctioned even if they’re beaten in front of the duchy.”

That’s why he accepted this contract.

Compared to the pay, the work was too easy. You don’t have to pay attention to the surroundings and the opponent was a powerless eight-year-old girl.

“So it’s simple to get rid of the Young Master. Don’t you think so?”

Even if Wood was born with an outstanding talent as a wizard, he was still only ten-years-old.

In addition, his opponent was a grown adult with murder experience.

Wood, who felt the danger, took off his hood and spoke.

“I’m the successor to Agnes! Do you think you’ll be okay after touching me?”

The contractor flinched.

He thought it was weird to see him use water magic, but to think he was an Agnes!

Wood checked his opponent’s reaction and quickly became arrogant.

“It’s money that will just rot. I’ll pay you enough to play and eat for the rest of your life after.”

“…I will remember that.”

The contractor let go of Wood, approached Navia who was fleeing towards Duke Eseled, grabbed her by the neck and lifted her up.

“Kuk!”

Navia struggled to get out of his grasp, but her whole body was sobbing.

‘There’s just three steps to the gate!’

The contractor was horrified at the sight of her red eyes.

How could an eight-year-old be so awful?

“Devil-like b*tch. I can’t let you go because of my colleagues.”

The contractor produced scarlet beads over his other palm.

Navia’s body suddenly drooped.

‘I didn’t die, but what is this…?’

The contractor grinned as his eyebrows rose.

“Yes, die peacefully.”

Navia looked at the contractor calmly.

Chill!

“…huh?”

The contractor’s exploding magic suddenly died down, and he felt something was wrong.

Navia smiled coldly.

Kwaaang-!

The ground under the contractor exploded.

She was also tinged by the aftermath. She was aiming for Eseled’s ground.

Navia closed her eyes tightly.

‘I’ll be stuck to the ground like this.’

Still, this one life, making the most significant death ever, can stain Agnes.

Then, the body she thought was going to be stuck to the ground, was gently wrapped in something.

At the top of her nose, there was a cold, pungent smell, not rain, blood, nor soil, and a strong man’s voice fell over her.

“I get to see all sorts of things as I live.”

As she gently lifted her eyelids, she saw a black cloth. As soon as she saw long flowing black hair, she realized she was hugged by the man.

‘Who?’

Before Navia could grasp the situation, a huge explosion was heard.

Kwaaang-!

It was a tremendous explosion that couldn’t be compared to the contractor’s magic.

“Ahhhk!”

Navia, with a blank expression, came back to her senses at Wood’s scream.

“You can’t kill them…!”

If he killed Wood now, it would give the Emperor and Agnes a reason to officially destroy Eseled.

Navia’s eyes met with the man’s.

“……!”

The man’s eyes were red.

When Navia was frozen, the man’s eyes narrowed.

“I’ve never seen your face before.”

It was a strange remark.

Of course it was, they had never met before, so wouldn’t this be his first time seeing her face?

But the man’s words seemed to imply more than that.

The man tilted his head slightly.

“Why are you scared of me?”

Navia wanted to ask what he meant, but only a sound came out.

Her mental capacity reached its limit.

‘Is this the end?’

The light faded and her view was getting dark.

Navia knew this feeling well. Death was on the horizon.

It’s okay to die. So what, it isn’t the first time. It didn’t matter as long as this could hurt Agnes.

Yeah. It’s okay.

Then a faint voice came out like a breath.

“Save… me…”

And then her consciousness was broken.