The moment Bruno was sure the woman was gone, he bolted the door.
He checked and locked every window, every entrance.
Then, with trembling hands, he activated a magical security device he had purchased for a fortune after a previous break-in.
‘I never thought I’d get ambushed outside like this.’
A bright light filled the room as the device activated, and a wave of relief washed over him.
‘I survived again…’
He instinctively wrapped his arms around himself, then cried out as pain flared through his body.
“Aaaargh!”
Startled, he tore off his clothes to inspect the damage, and his jaw dropped.
The pain was vivid, agonizing, but there were no visible marks.
Was the pain a lie?
“Ugh!”
He poked his arm, and fresh tears welled in his eyes.
He examined his entire body and felt a wave of despair.
He was so clean that the guards would never believe he had been beaten.
It was utterly unfair.
The pain made it hard to think, so he decided to just go to sleep.
He applied some medicinal salve he had kept on hand since the last incident and collapsed onto his bed.
It was a mattress, which was the finest of its kind, that usually sent him into a deep slumber the moment he lay down.
But tonight, the pain kept him wide awake.
He tried to ignore it, but his whole body throbbed with a dull, persistent ache.
Closing his eyes only made it feel more raw.
The human heart is so fickle.
A moment ago, he had been terrified of the woman.
She had shoved a sock in his mouth, tied him up, and beaten him relentlessly.
He had cried from the fear that it would never end.
Having dished out his own share of violence, Bruno knew that hitting someone took energy.
He had felt like he was dying, yet the woman had not even broken a sweat.
That lack of exhaustion had made her even more frightening.
“Aaagh!
Why do I have to go through this?”
Lying there, his fear slowly curdled into indignation.
Why should ‘he’ have to be beaten?
“How dare she hit me!”
He was practically the king of Etin.
The fact that he was now forced to help his attacker escape made his blood boil.
This was the third time something like this had happened.
‘I can’t just let this happen.’
Bruno ground his teeth.
Not once, not twice, but three times!
It felt like this kept happening because people thought he was a pushover.
The first time, with the couple, he had been too embarrassed to tell anyone he had been assaulted.
He had convinced himself it would never happen again.
After the second attack by the masked group, he had been too afraid to retaliate, certain they were still watching him.
And they had been.
But this third time was different.
Being taken down by a single woman was the last straw.
The second group had been terrifyingly vicious.
When they had first come for him, he had refused to talk out of pride, and they had broken his finger without a second thought.
Then they had kindly poured an expensive potion on the wound.
“How many times do you think you can endure?” the masked man had asked.
“We have plenty of potions.
And these are more expensive than you are, so the pain will be even more severe.”
The man had been dead serious.
Bruno realized he was dealing with someone who would resort to any level of torture to get what he wanted.
He had told them everything.
That had earned him a swift release, and it was why he had acted so servilely with the woman tonight.
It was pure survival instinct, but thinking back on it now, he felt nothing but shame.
He could not let this keep happening.
Bruno decided he would extort bribes even more aggressively from now on and invest the money in his own safety.
If he hired expensive mercenaries for round-the-clock protection, he would never have to tremble in fear and humiliation again.
But first, there was something else he had to do.
‘I can’t just let that woman go.’ No more.
To restore his shattered pride, he had to get revenge.
It was not as if she had a whole crew of companions like the previous attackers.
He was the king of Etin.
He just had to teach her a lesson.
Besides, there was a loophole in her conditions.
“If you haven’t lied to me, and I depart without any problems, then we’ll never see each other again.”
All that mattered was that her departure was smooth.
Accidents happened on ships all the time.
The voyage was long, after all.
“Hehehe, I’ll make you regret this,” Bruno chuckled, his confidence finally returning as the pain began to fade.
“Who are you going to make regret it?”
An unfamiliar voice spoke from right beside him.
“AaaAh!”
Bruno instinctively rolled away from the sound.
‘Thud!’
He fell off the bed, a fresh wave of agony shooting through him, but he had no time to register it.
He scrambled madly until his back was against the wall, desperate to put distance between himself and the intruder standing in the darkness.
“Wh-what!
Who are you!” His heart hammered against his ribs.
After the last break-in, he had become hyper-sensitive to any presence in his house.
He had even had his security magic active.
He should have been alone.
“Wh-who are you!” he shrieked.
“I asked who you were going to make regret it,” the emotionless voice echoed from the shadows.
It was a low, slightly raspy voice that amplified his terror.
‘The security magic!’
“How did you get in here?!”
He fought the urge to grovel, remembering his earlier resolve.
As his eyes adjusted to the gloom, he could vaguely make out a slender frame.
A woman.
‘Don’t tell me she came back?’
His body trembled at the horrifying thought, the memory of the beating sending phantom pains through his limbs.
“Were you counting on this?”
In the intruder’s hand was the magical security device, now dark and powerless.
“H-how did that…”
“If there are security devices, of course, there are deactivation devices.” The intruder waved her other hand, revealing a glowing magical item he had never seen before.
Bruno cursed the merchant who had sold him the original device.
‘Those swindling bastards!’
“Now, let’s continue our conversation.” The intruder advanced, tossing the deactivation device from hand to hand.
“D-don’t come any closer!”
“Say it again.
Who were you going to make regret it?”
The intruder was clad entirely in black.
The only feature he could make out was the color of her eyes.
Green.
The woman from before had red eyes.
This was not her.
It seemed she had a companion to clean up her messes after all.
Just then, the intruder threw a dagger.
Bruno squeezed his eyes shut.
He heard a ‘thud’ but felt no pain.
“Hahaha, your aim is terrible…” he started to taunt, but froze as he tried to move.
Something was caught on his arm.
He looked down to see a dagger pinning his sleeve to the wall.
“What is this…”
In that instant, another dagger flew.
He flinched, shutting his eyes again.
‘Thud!’
Again, no pain.
But now his other arm was pinned.
Bruno realized with dawning horror that she was intentionally missing him.
“Wh-why are you doing this to me?!”
“Your crotch.”
“What?” he yelped, though he knew exactly what she meant.
He instinctively rose onto his tiptoes.
‘Thud!’
A new dagger embedded itself in the wall between his thighs.
It had not pierced him, but it was lodged perilously close.
‘If I hadn’t moved, I would have lost my family jewels.’ The realization drained the strength from his body, and he felt a warm wetness spread through his trousers.
“So,” the intruder’s voice was flat and bored.
“Who were you going to make regret it?”
At the final question, all thoughts of revenge evaporated from Bruno’s mind.
He just desperately, desperately wished he could pass out.
‘Hmm, I’m sure she handled it well,’ Elena thought as she lay in bed.
She had sought out Camila the moment she returned to the inn.
“I have a request for you.”
“A request?
You couldn’t find the manager?”
“No, I met him.
Our talk went well.”
“Then what is there for me to do?” Camila had asked, unsurprised, as if she had expected nothing less.
“I need you to go and threaten him a bit.”
Camila had paused for a moment before asking, “Not eliminate him?”
‘Just what you’d expect from an assassin,’ Elena had thought.
‘So bloodthirsty.’
“Don’t kill him.
Just scare him enough so he doesn’t get any funny ideas.”
“Eliminating him would be cleaner.”
“If someone like the manager suddenly disappeared, it could cause problems.”
“That’s true.
Alright.
I’ll take care of it.
I never liked the way he looked at me anyway.”
With Camila’s skills, the manager would be properly intimidated.
Elena had seen this scenario play out in her dreams countless times.
The opponent was always a villain, and after a moderate punishment, the result was always the same—revenge.
People did not change easily, especially those who had lived their lives doing whatever they pleased.
They might be scared at first, but they would soon recover their nerve and seek retaliation.
Elena had anticipated this and hired Camila accordingly.
‘If he thinks I have a companion ready to help at any time, he won’t dare try anything foolish.’ With the loose ends tied up, Elena fell into a peaceful sleep.
The next day, she boarded the ship without a hitch.
She had expected to be smuggled aboard in the cargo hold, but the reality was quite different.
“Take this with you,” the manager had said, handing her a forged identification plate and a fake letter of guarantee.
“Have a safe trip!” he had added, treating her with excessive politeness and refusing to meet her eyes.
It seemed Camila had delivered a proper warning.
Her final conversation with Camila also lingered in her mind.
“Hmm, so you’re returning to the Empire after all,” Camila had remarked.
“After all?”
Camila had crossed her arms, thought for a moment, then declared, “I get it.”
“You do?”
“I said I get it.”
‘What in the world did she get?’
“You’ll be using our branches in the future, right?”
That had confused Elena.
She had thought Camila was on the run from the Crescent Moon guild, but now she was talking about branches?
She must have been deluding herself about something.
“I don’t know.
I don’t really plan on requesting any assassinations.”
“So, what you need is information?”
“That’s right.”
“Good.
I’ll tell the branches to focus on information gathering.
If you need information, look for a branch.”
Selling information was a side business for an assassin’s guild; it was not very profitable.
“Why are you being so kind to me?”
“Do I seem kind?” Camila’s eyes had widened in mock surprise.
Elena had paid her, of course, but her attitude felt overly friendly.
“Am I wrong?”
“No, you’re right.”
‘What is this?
Is she trying to pick a fight?’ As Elena had stared at her in disbelief, Camila had grinned.
“I wanted you to know that I was showing you favor.”
“But why?”
“Well, who knows?
We might be able to help each other out, right?”
“Will we even see each other again?”
Elena planned to head straight to the Empire.
Once she found her parents, she would return to her village.
She would likely never see Camila again.
But Camila had just smiled.
“You never know about human connections.
Travel safely.
See you again.”
In the end, she never learned the reason for Camila’s cryptic behavior, and it left her with a lingering sense of unease.
‘HOOONK-!’
The loud blast of a horn shattered her thoughts.
The anchor was raised, and the ship set sail.
The sky was clear, promising a smooth voyage.
The novelty of sailing quickly wore off, replaced by a tedious monotony.
Staring at the same endless ocean day after day was bound to get old.
She thought her time on board would pass uneventfully, if a bit dull.
But on the fourth day, the sea began to churn.
Rain poured down, and a fierce wind whipped the waves into a frenzy, causing the ship to rock violently.
The most terrifying enemy of any voyage had arrived—a storm.
“Do not leave your cabins until we announce it is safe!” a sailor shouted, going from door to door.
Elena could sense the gravity of the situation and stopped him.
“Excuse me!
Will the ship be okay?”
“I’d like to say yes, but this is the worst storm I’ve ever experienced,” the sailor yelled over the wind.
“Prepare yourselves.” He gave his grim warning and hurried away.
Knowing nothing about sailing, Elena could only wait in her cabin.
‘What in the world is happening?’
Since awakening her dream ability, Elena had become largely unflappable.
The lives of the heroes in her dreams were so extraordinary that her own daily troubles felt trivial.
But trapped inside the violently shaking ship, even she felt a knot of anxiety tighten in her stomach.
With every massive wave, the ship tilted as if it would capsize.
This was a force of nature that even her enhanced abilities could not overcome.
It was at that moment.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” someone screamed.
A colossal wave crashed against the hull, and the ship heaved over.
“Aack!”
‘CRASH!’
A massive impact shuddered through the vessel.
Screams erupted from all directions.
“Aaaaaargh!”
“Help me!”
“Water’s coming in!”
“Run!”
“We’re all going to die!”
She heard the clamor of people scrambling to escape the rising water, but the power of nature was merciless.
Another wave, larger than the last, swallowed the ship whole.
The vessel broke apart with terrifying speed, and everyone was swept into the churning sea.
‘This can’t be happening!’
Elena was thrown into the water, helpless against the current.
She tried to swim, but reaching the surface was impossible.
Waves crashed over her, one after another, disorienting her.
She could not see, could not feel anything but the crushing, ice-cold water that stiffened her body.
Strength began to drain from her limbs.
She knew, with a cold certainty, that she could not hold on any longer.
‘I never thought I’d die like this…’
As she sensed death’s approach, the faces of her parents and Jayden flashed before her eyes.
She felt a pang of sorrow and worry.
Her parents were strong; they had each other and would endure.
But Jayden… he was utterly alone, with no family to turn to.
She should have said a proper goodbye.
“I understand.
I will be back soon, so please stay safe.”
Her memory cut off with the sound of Jayden’s voice.
The water enveloped her, and a darkness as black as night swallowed her whole.
“We have arrived at the estate, Brother.”
They had finally reached their destination.
Jayden pressed his fingers to his throbbing temples and stepped out of the carriage.
The journey had taken two grueling weeks, even with the aid of three teleportation circles.
It had been a week by carriage just to reach a town with a circle, and since the circles in the capital were reserved for the imperial family, they had been forced to take another week-long carriage ride from their final teleportation point.
‘Was it really this far?’
He had traveled from this very estate to Elena’s house in an instant.
He did not know how he had done it.
He had simply come to his senses and found himself there.
Jayden had never given it any serious thought before.
‘There’s no reason to be curious.’ But now, having traveled the distance himself, he could not help but wonder how he had managed it.
There was no time to dwell on the thought.
“You’ve come.”
At the top of the stairs, a man who looked just like him, though etched with the passage of a few more years, was looking down.
It was just like the first time they had met.
He remembered the man’s words from back then, spoken through iron bars: “I’m surprised you managed to survive in such a state.”
The moment Jayden had seen him, he had known instinctively the man was powerful, one he could not treat carelessly.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, my son.”
Those had been the words of the man he had once mistaken for his new master.
Jayden directed his question to the man on the stairs—his father.
“What do you want?”
His father stared back for a long moment, his face an expressionless mask, before he finally spoke.
“It’s been a while, yet you offer no greeting.”
They had last parted after a fistfight.
Were they really on terms to be exchanging pleasantries?
Besides, he had been dragged here against his will.
The thought made his fists clench automatically.
A rustle of paper crinkled from within the pouch he clutched.
‘Ah…’
He quickly loosened his grip, smoothing out the small bag.
He had held it for the entire journey, terrified of losing it.
It was a gift from Elena, given to him just before he left.
“Don’t look at it now.
Check it later.”
“When?”
“Hmm… after you meet your father.”
Now that he had met his father, it was time.
‘Just a little longer.’
Instead of opening it, Jayden clutched the pouch again.
He refused to reveal Elena’s gift under the gaze of so many prying eyes.
“It seems you haven’t learned any manners,” his father’s voice cut through the silence again.
Had Elena’s voice not surfaced in his mind at that exact moment, he would have ignored the man completely.
“Jayden, greetings are a basic courtesy between people.” Even in her absence, her words were impossible to disregard.