A faint blue light tapped rhythmically against the slightly ajar window slit.
Chirp chirp.
By the sound alone, it might have been an ordinary hummingbird, but the bird with those delicate blue feathers was no common fowl.
‘She’s here.’ I walked to the window and carefully opened it.
The blue bird flew lightly inside as if it had been waiting, landing in front of the chair beside the bed.
I immediately dropped to one knee and bowed my head in the prepared posture.
In an instant, the blue feathers scattered softly, replaced by a swirling vortex of azure mana.
Then a clear woman’s voice cut through the air.
“I thought you’d be at least a little surprised…
but it seems you’re already quite familiar with my transformation magic?” I shook my head lightly.
“I could never treat the great Princess Evelyn so disrespectfully as a mere ‘sparrow.'” “You sure know how to lay it on thick.” As the swirling blue energy subsided, the princess sat on the chair in place of the blue bird, her sea-blue hair and eyes gleaming as she crossed one leg over the other.
“From the fact that Your Highness has come in person, it seems the information I provided earlier was of some help to you.” I took a deep breath and offered a serene smile that belied the eleven hours of surgery I’d just endured.
The princess studied my expression in silence for a moment before pressing her temple with the back of her hand and sighing.
“Haa…
Yes, Lucas Argent.
Just as you said, tracing the drug distribution in the slums led us to one branch connected to the Versailles family.
They were so close to our imperial house that we never even suspected them…
How did you figure it out first?” I deliberately averted my gaze and answered curtly.
“Just luck.” “Luck…?” Princess Evelyn’s eyebrow arched subtly.
Her expression mixed surprise, doubt, and a faint, reluctant acknowledgment.
“Calling it ‘luck’ when you singled out the Versailles family—a house so loyal we hadn’t even put them on the suspect list…
You’re a remarkably casual ‘member,’ aren’t you?” I shrugged.
Her evaluation didn’t matter.
What truly mattered was that, just now, for a fleeting moment, Evelyn had called me a ‘member.’ And despite her displeased frown, she tossed me the blue fruit she’d been holding onto.
The remnant antidote from the Adam and Eve branch.
It was a signal that she acknowledged me as part of the Ashen Hand.
I swallowed the fruit carefully and asked, “Does this mean you’ve accepted me as a member of the Ashen Hand?” “Haa…
I suppose I can’t deny it.” Evelyn crossed her arms and turned her head away.
“After all, thanks to your help, the empire is a little cleaner.” She turned back, narrowing her eyes.
“But remember this, Lucas Argent.
You’re still just a lowly member.
I permitted your entry not because I trust you, but because I needed you.
Don’t forget that.” Her tone aimed for sternness, but it came off more like a child pouting over not getting more secrets.
Even the genius princess who became the protagonist’s party’s brain in the original story couldn’t hide her youthful immaturity.
I chuckled inwardly.
‘Whether you trust me or not, I don’t particularly care.’ In ten years, when the original story exploded and the Argent family was dragged to the guillotine, I planned to use the Ashen Hand’s influence to quietly slip out of the empire.
Head to some remote area, live peacefully as a village doctor.
I wasn’t aiming for a high position in the organization, nor did I need excessive trust.
As long as I could live quietly like a mouse, this level of distance was perfect.
I nodded, lost in those calculations.
“Understood.
Then…
Your Highness.
As payment for joining the Ashen Hand, may I make one ‘request’ now?” Evelyn’s eyes flickered subtly.
“Haa…
You even know about that part?” She slowly scanned my room and shook her head.
“At this point, it almost proves you’re not an Argent spy.
No family would stick someone like you in a rundown annex like this.” Her words were sharp, but laced with wariness toward talent she couldn’t ignore.
In the original Vengeful Goddesses , when Piel and the protagonist’s group allied with the Ashen Hand, Evelyn had granted each of them one wish.
It wasn’t mere compensation.
It was her personal ritual for welcoming new comrades—a quiet declaration of trust.
But those wishes had two rules.
If it was within her current power as princess, she’d grant it immediately.
If not, she’d promise to fulfill it once she ascended as empress.
And I…
had prepared a wish that even the young Evelyn now could grant, but one desperately needed by me.
Seizing the moment as she glanced around the room, her guard lowering, I spoke quietly.