“Is that… Sir Knox’s behind?”
The knights murmured below, but he didn’t pay them any mind.
For 24 years, Knox had lived a life dedicated to his passion as a monster enthusiast and as the aide to the Kreutz family. Never once had he bent his beliefs for the sake of others’ opinions.
Climbing up the wall, he carefully peeked through Aisha’s bedroom window. To get a clearer view, he pulled out a second monocle and placed it over his other eye.
As he caught sight of the child’s back, his eyes widened.
“What do you think you’re doing!”
“Eek!”
He caught her. He had already caught something suspicious.
“…This should grab Knox’s attention, right?”
An hour earlier, I had returned to my bedroom, ready to execute my plan. Having possessed Aisha’s body, I needed to disrupt the original plot to prevent my impending doom.
But as things unfolded, I had ended up becoming Calypse’s daughter just as the story intended. Though he accepted me knowing I was a spy, I couldn’t rest easy. I had to gain his trust somehow.
“But I need help from others for that.”
The problem was, there was no one who could help me. Calypse had no expectations of me, and Knox was even more suspicious of me.
“Then there’s only one option.”
I chose the simplest dress from among several and laid it on the floor. Then, I began to draw something on it with a crayon, mimicking the way Pose’s spies would write a report.
“If I act suspiciously enough, he won’t be able to resist getting curious.”
Head Maid Mai mentioned that Knox was currently in his private office.
“…But does he really think I’ll believe that?”
With Calypse away, Knox was more likely to be watching me closely. So, the claim that he was in his office was obviously a lie. He’d be trying to catch me in the act while I was alone, and…
“What do you think you’re doing!”
Just as I had expected, the moment I started drawing, a sharp voice rang out from the direction of the window.
‘Here we go.’
“Eek!”
Having aced the acting tests at Pose, I quickly hid the dress in a suspicious manner and looked up in shock.
“Greetings, fake lady.”
There he was, ominously smiling with two monocles on his face. Honestly, why did he have to look so terrifying?
But anyway…
‘You’ve taken the bait!’
“…Did you climb up the wall to get here?”
I asked timidly, pretending to be scared. Knox, who had just put the monocle away, calmly stepped into the room through the window.
“I was keeping an eye on you, trying to understand how a seemingly ordinary fake lady like you could win over His Grace.”
“So you broke into my room without permission? Climbing through the window?”
“Yes.”
His expressionless monocle glinted.
“While His Grace is away, I must play the role of your father.”
“….”
“Though I find it quite bothersome.”
He looked down at me with a bored gaze.
“Since it has come to this, I might as well find out what exactly led His Grace to adopt you, Lady Aisha.”
“….”
Despite being caught spying, he acted as if nothing had happened, even seeming more confident.
“But to think you’d be up to something so cute. What were you writing on that dress?”
What else? Something suspicious for you to investigate.
“The dress?”
Feigning innocence, I shrugged and subtly pushed the dress further behind me with my foot. But of course, Knox’s sharp monocle didn’t miss that.
“What did you draw on it?!”
“Nothing?”
“You’re acting suspiciously while hiding it, and you expect me to believe that there’s nothing on it?”
“Even a 5-year-old has the right to privacy.”
“But a ‘former’ spy who’s five years old is a different matter. Show me what’s on that dress!”
“Eek!”
He suddenly lowered himself and reached out behind me. I pretended to resist, but unfortunately, his arm was much longer than my short one.
“Hmph… What did they even teach you during spy training?”
He didn’t hold back, even though I was only five years old. In the end, Knox triumphantly held up the dress, looking down at me smugly.
What did they teach me? How to pretend to lose, as I’m doing right now.
Knox unfolded the back of the dress and read aloud:
“…’Ahilli’s Circus. 12 o’clock. Staff storage room.’ ”
His voice grew icy as he read the fake message aloud. It was clearly a spy’s meeting point.
“…What were you planning to do there?”
The atmosphere around us grew heavy.
“Were you planning to boast about how you fooled the Duke and became his daughter?”
“….”
Wow, this is scarier than I thought.
“I’m quite curious about what the fake lady plans to do. Let’s go there together.”
“Eek?!”
As I froze, he let out a chuckle, threw the dress onto the bed, and lifted me by the scruff of my neck like a kitten. Without giving me time to react, he dragged me along and we boarded a carriage.
“Get off.”
He said, yet his large hand didn’t let go of me as he lifted me down.
Since reading the fake report I had written, Knox had stopped treating me as “the lady” as the Duke had commanded. Just as planned.
Luckily, he seemed convinced I was in contact with Pose’s forces.
‘A bit scary, but it’s good that we’ve made it this far.’
Following his lead, we entered the circus tent, and the air inside felt as cold as a freezer.
Just then, a powerful spotlight illuminated the stage, revealing the ringmaster.
“Welcome, everyone, to the greatest monster show on earth, Ahilli’s Circus!”
“Wow!”
“Whoo-hoo!”
The ringmaster’s voice boomed through the tent as the excited crowd rose to their feet.
“…Monsters? People have gathered here to see monsters?”
Knox, taken aback, murmured in a puzzled tone.
Indeed, this was an illegal circus where captured monsters were displayed. But for someone like Knox, who had never been to such a place, the concept was baffling.
After all, monsters were unpredictable, vicious, and difficult to hunt. So how could there be a monster show?
Given Knox’s expertise in monsters, he would find this even more perplexing.
So, how did they manage to capture and control these monsters?
The answer lay in the power of the Ice ability.
Kreutz Duchy’s second son.
The one I was about to rescue, Lucas, was trapped here, with his ability being exploited.
Meanwhile, beyond the ends of the world…
“The pack of Winter Wolves loitering near the ice wall has been eliminated.”
“And the orcs?”
Calypse’s black hair whipped in the fierce snowstorm. His blood-red eyes stood out starkly against the white backdrop. Despite the blood dripping from his palm, Calypse wiped it away and roughly bandaged the wound, as bleeding during a monster hunt was to be expected.
“We confirmed about ten orcs near the border.”
“What about our forces?”
“Three are incapacitated. The rest are still capable.”
“Then we strike at dawn…”
Calypse trailed off as a small child’s face suddenly came to mind.
Aisha.
The little girl waiting for him back at the duchy.
Of course, she would be fine without him, but he couldn’t shake the unease of leaving her under Knox’s care.
‘Is he nagging her for no reason right now?’
As the thought crossed his mind, Calypse changed his orders.
“Let’s finish this quickly. Prepare immediately.”
“Yes, sir.”
After securing the bandage, he took a swig of liquor. In the harsh cold, with temperatures plunging below -30℃, strong alcohol was essential. His fiery red eyes were already fixed on the distant north, where the orcs awaited.
‘If we finish quickly, I could be back by tonight.’
There was someone waiting for him. Someone who would embrace him when he returned home.
“……”
The thought of that warmth, something he hadn’t felt in a long time, caused his usually stoic lips to curl up slightly.
But then—
“Your Grace. There’s an urgent message from Sir Knox.”
The white, powdery face of the child was replaced by the sight of the message the knight handed over.
‘An urgent message?’
That couldn’t be. The only real threat to the Kreutz Duchy was monsters. And with him personally hunting them down, there should be no danger.
“……”
But—
[I caught Aisha secretly writing a report. We are on our way to the meeting point described in it.
PS. Didn’t I warn you about this?]
“Your Grace? The preparations for the hunt are complete, but….”
“We’re going back.”
“What?”
“Open a portal. I have somewhere to be immediately.”
Calypse crushed the note in his hand, feeling his blood run cold.
