Hilaire Lister was on her way home for the first time in a very long time. It had been a while since she had been able to go to her hometown because she was so busy carrying out her duties as deputy division commander of the Knights of Philres.
‘Edwin must have grown quite a bit by now.’
She had a brother who was much younger than she was. His name was Edwin Lister and he was the eldest son of the Count of Lister.
‘He’s still too young to inherit the title but…’
Edwin had officially inherited the title of Count a year ago. He had succeeded the title when his grandfather, the former Count of Lister, had passed away.
At only fifteen years of age when he received the title, he was too young to be in charge of a territory. He had turned sixteen this year, but that was still too young. Originally, his oldest daughter, Hilaire, could have succeeded the title, but she chose to serve as a Knight of Philres instead.
She felt sorry in a corner of her heart. She had placed such a large burden on a child who had lost his father early. Still, she did not regret her choice.
‘He’s a smart kid. He will do well.’
In fact, Edwin really was carrying out his duties well. Of course, he received a lot of help from the butler, Jackson, but the estate was running smoothly without much trouble. The only thing she was worried about was…
Suddenly the mansion appeared in the distance. Hilaire paused her train of thought and increased her speed. The soldiers guarding the main gate recognized her right away and cleared the way.
The atmosphere seemed a bit strange though. Everyone looked like they were confused about something. The reason was clear as soon as she entered the mansion.
“What do you mean?”
It was Jackson, the family’s butler. He was shouting, all the blood drained from his face.
“The young master was kidnapped?! What on earth were the knights doing?!”
It was a rule not to call Edwin, who had become a Count, ‘young master’ anymore, but Jackson, who had taken care of Edwin since he was young, would often use the old title.
“Well… it appears that only one escort accompanied him on his patrol.”
“How could this happen? Then where is he now-“
“Who was kidnapped?”
“Ah, Lady…!”
Confusion spread across Jacksons face when he saw Hilaire standing there.
“When did you arrive…?”
“Edwin was kidnapped? Is it true?”
Hilaire asked in a cold voice.
“Well, that’s…”
Jackson was now sweating profusely and attempting to come up with an acceptable answer.
“Mr. Jackson! Outside now…!”
The door opened with a loud bang and a servant came running in. The servant froze in surprise when he spotted Hilaire standing in the drawing room then quickly regained composure and delivered his message.
“They sent someone, they’re outside now.”
“Why are they here?!”
“It seems they have a message. Go out quickly.”
“Guide me to them. I will go myself.”
Hilaire said as she walked out the door.
“Yes!”
The servant hurriedly took the lead and Hilaire followed closely behind. Jackson quickly followed suit. When they arrived outside, there were three or four men who were confidently standing there in front of the mansion. There were knights stationed here as well and even though they said they were holding the Count hostage; their attitude was truly fearless.
Among them, a man with a large scar on his cheek shouted.
“Tell Hilaire Lister! If she wants to save her brother- “
“Are you the ones who kidnapped my brother?”
A cold voice descended upon them, cutting off the man’s words. The man who then spotted the woman walking toward them spoke again.
“You! Are you Hilaire Lister?”
“Answer the question. I asked if you were the ones who kidnapped my younger brother?”
But the man was not listening to Hilaire. The man, scanning her face thoroughly, then twisted the corner of his mouth in a sneer.
“I never thought you would show your face right away like this. Saves me a lot of unnecessary trouble.”
“Who are you? Where is Edwin?”
At those words, one of the men raised their brows.
“You don’t recognize us?”
When Hilaire didn’t reply, a laugh filled with mockery suddenly escaped from the mouth of the man.
“Well, I’m not surprised. A precious lady like yourself probably would’nt remember people like us.”
“…”
The man then answered her question.
“Galloite Mercenaries.”
“…!”
Hearing those words, Hilaire’s eyes widened in surprise. When the man saw that, he crossed his arms and scoffed.
“Huh, are you starting to remember now?”
“Are you the remnants of that group of trash?”
Hilaire replied with a stiff expression.
A few years ago, Hilaire and Ash had worked together to carry out a request that was submitted to the Knights of Philres. In the process, they had learned of the existence of a mercenary group that were exploiting the citizens and eliminated them.
One of the men responded.
“Yeah! And thanks to you destroying the mercenary guild, we became beggars overnight!”
“I especially can’t forget that damn Dukes face!”
“So, what exactly do you want? I’m sure you probably didn’t come all the way here just to spout nonsense.”
“What? Just to talk? We’ve come this far because of your grand performance…”
Then the man with the scar on his cheek raised one hand to silence the man who had stepped forward in anger. It seemed like this man was in charge.
“Let’s just cut to the chase.”
The man, who had been smiling bitterly before, completely wiped the smile off his face and continued speaking.
“Asher de Philion. Bring him here.”
“What?”
“I’ll give you a week. When the time comes, bring him to this place written here.”
A folded note was then thrown at her feet.
“Our captain really wants to see him. You know what I mean right? Of course, you need to ensure that he doesn’t catch on to what is happening.”
The man’s eyes flashed dangerously. It was an obvious trick that anyone would be able to see was a trap. Hilaire gritted her teeth.
“Are you telling me to betray my master now?”
Shing.
With an extremely cold face, she pulled her sword from it’s sheathe and pointed it at the men.
“It looks like you’ve forgotten where you are right now. I could detain you and make you reveal the information.”
Through torture or something else. She could find out Edwin’s exact location and the layout of their hideout. The she could personally infiltrate the location herself. But upon hearing this, the man only shrugged his shoulders lightly.
“You’d be better off not doing that. The moment you touch us, your brothers head will be blown off.”
Then he added, as if it was a funny joke.
“Or maybe his whole body will be blown to pieces instead?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well- your brother has a bomb attached to his body.”
“…!”
“You get it now? If you so much as lift a finger in our direction, boom! He’ll explode.”
The man then pretended to press a switch with his thumb. At that moment, her grip on her sword tightened. The man who was watching her expression chuckled.
“There are all sorts of strange magic tools available on the market these days. If you don’t believe me, try it. We’ll see whether you raid our hideout and save your brother or he explodes first. It’s your choice.”
“…”
Even with Hilaire’s threatening demeanor, which seemed as if she would cut down her enemies at any second, the man remained extremely relaxed.
After a while, the tip of Hilaire’s sword, which was pointed at them, slid down. The man, who chuckled mockingly at her as she gritted her teeth in silence, turned his back and shook his head.
“Keep in mind. The deadline is one week. If you don’t bring him by then, your brother will lose his life.”
As the men walked away, the knights surrounding them moved out of the way, restraining their anger.
“And don’t worry too much. We will take great care of him in the meantime.”
The man then laughed again as if he was mocking them and left the mansion. At that time, a knight who was trembling and staring at the man could not overcome his anger and drew his sword.
“I can’t stand this! It’s just…!”
“Stop.”
“But, my Lady…”
“That’s an order.”
She stared after the departing men in fury as they leisurely walked away. She then turned and climbed the stairs to the mansion. Jackson hurriedly caught up to her and asked.
“Miss, what are you going to do? Should I contact the duke?”
“No. I won’t inform him.”
“What? Then what will we do about the young master?”
Jackson exclaimed as he jumped in front.
“I will be handling this on my own. I will carefully and meticulously plan Edwin’s rescue.”
“But, they have a bomb…”
If they had one magical device, there was no guarantee that they didn’t have others. It was clearly a trap aimed at Ash.
Hilaire inspected the note the man had thrown. He must have done something to the place that was written on the paper. Knowing that, taking her master to that place was the equivalent to placing him in danger with her own hands.
Hilaire opened her mouth calmly.
“Even if something goes wrong, I can’t betray my master.”
“Miss!”
“So, don’t think of telling him anything. That is an order.”
Jackson, who wanted to object to the absurdity of the situation, was at a loss for words when he saw Hilaire’s eyes. She calmly left those words and turned her back, walking away. Just like that, Jackson just stood there in the hallway and watched her back with a dark expression as she walked away.
