71. There Was a Rat
“What are you doing here at this hour? Aren’t you tired?”
The knight looked at Henry with a pleased expression. Henry responded with an awkward laugh.
“Tired? What would I be tired from? All I’ve done is stand here.”
“If that’s the case, we’re not much different, are we?”
“Are you really comparing yourself, fully armed, to me standing here unarmed?”
At his playful rebuke, the knights chuckled.
“I’m fine.”
“Fine? You were nodding off from exhaustion just a moment ago.”
The knight, who had been grinning the whole time, suddenly turned red.
“Well… it was just too quiet.”
“Is the Duchess asleep?”
“…Why do you ask?”
“Oh, nothing. You just said it was quiet, so I wondered if something had happened.”
“What could possibly happen? And even if something did… huh? What are you doing here?”
The knight’s gaze shifted past Henry, acknowledging someone behind him.
Just as he was about to turn his head to look, an unexpected sensation hit him. Before he could even recognize the face, a sharp sting spread through his nose, and the world turned black.
***
Silently stacking the fallen knights against a wall, Shane dusted off his hands.
“Why did you suddenly jump in?”
As Shane finished dealing with the knights, a man who had been standing behind him sheathed his dagger and approached.
“They were about to wake up.”
“…That’s the only reason?”
The man’s gaze fell on Henry, unconscious at Shane’s feet.
“You weren’t supposed to use the sleeping powder like this.”
“Do you not understand the need for silence?” Shane warned, his lips barely moving.
“Hurry up. The sleeping powder’s effect lasts two hours.”
The man lingered, staring at Henry for a long moment before finally moving.
Stripping the unconscious knights of their armor and donning it themselves was quick work. The disguised knights moved with precision.
The man who had carried the unconscious knights away returned, and Henry was gone as well.
“What did you do with him?”
“I put him away properly.”
At Shane’s words, the man furrowed his brows as if about to protest but then let out a deep sigh.
Now wasn’t the time to worry about minor details. The priority was to quietly extract the Duchess.
“We’ll talk later.”
Shane smirked at the threatening remark, then covered his nose and mouth with his cloak before pressing his ear against the door.
The hallway was filled with the scent of sleep-inducing incense, and a bribed maid had already served tea laced with a heavy dose of sleeping powder.
By now, the princess’s maids and guards should all be fast asleep.
‘Money. Give me the money.’
Suddenly, he recalled the desperate voice of the maid from earlier that evening, her face pale as she trembled.
‘I will check first.’
‘When is that?! That’s not what you said! You told me I’d get paid after serving the tea!’
‘Not what I said? I clearly stated that if the job was done properly, you’d receive a chest full of gold. What kind of fool would hand over such a sum without confirming the results?’
Her twisted, panicked expression had been quite a sight.
‘Tomorrow at dawn, come to the front gate.’
‘You better keep your word. If not, I’ll report everything!’
Shane smirked at the memory. What an idiot.
Did she really think someone as powerless as a mere maid could walk away with a fortune?
She had no idea she was just a ‘discarded tail’ meant to take the fall for Baloch’s wrath.
“How’s it looking?”
“Let’s go.”
Snapping out of his thoughts, Shane opened the door.
The bedroom was as silent as expected.
The moment Shane stepped inside—
A chilling sensation pressed against the back of his neck.
He twisted his head in panic, rolling to the side, but a sharp pain burned across his nape.
“Wow…”
Clutching his bleeding neck, Shane got to his feet.
“Is this an ogre or what?”
“He is a knight of Baloch.”
The maid and the knight, who were supposed to be unconscious, stood with their swords drawn.
It had been an impressive ambush—but that was all.
The sleeping incense Shane used was strong enough to knock out even a large bear for three days.
Yet, they had inhaled it without any antidote. Their condition must have been awful.
“To endure this in your state… I have to commend you.”
“That’s unnecessary.”
“How are you still standing? And more importantly, weren’t you supposed to be stationed at the far east end tonight? Didn’t you go check out the noise?”
“The castle’s security is the concern of the butler and the head maid.”
“But you’re a knight, aren’t you?”
“I protect the Duchess, not the castle’s security.”
“…Well. Fair enough.”
Shane noticed the knight’s sword trembling slightly and took a step forward.
“Stop.”
“What a noble sight.”
Eventually, the wavering knight collapsed to one knee, and Shane burst into laughter.
Watching an unwavering knight crumble was always satisfying.
Baloch’s knights were excellent warriors. But only as knights.
They were strong and skilled in battle, but utterly defenseless in the face of deception and schemes.
They had always been wary of monsters…But thieves? That never even crossed their minds. That’s why they had likely remained so close all the time.
“Let’s take the princess.”
Shane nodded toward the man who had entered with him.
The knight, barely managing to stay conscious, could only watch as they passed him.
The maid, now collapsed on the floor, was the same.
Shane approached the bed with light steps.
“Handle her with care.”
A weak hand suddenly grasped his ankle.
“No…”
The maid was desperately trying to wake up.
Her struggle was beyond desperate—almost horrifying.
She had bitten her lips so hard that her flesh was torn, her mouth a bloody mess.
Every time her heavy eyelids fluttered shut, she looked like she wanted to die.
This was new.
Shane crouched down, observing her.
“Shh. Just sleep.”
“No… no…”
Her breath was thick with the scent of blood.
Watching it drip down her chin, Shane finally drew his sword.
“This is a first.”
“No… No…”
“Shall I put you out of your misery?”
‘You just look too pitiful.’
Shane was serious. However…
“Ugh!”
A sharp cry rang out, and Shane had to twist his body to avoid the sudden attack aimed at him.
“What the—?!”
He stumbled back, staring in disbelief.
The knight, who had just been struggling on the floor like a dying insect, was now standing tall.
If not for the faint trembling of his sword, Shane might have believed he had imagined the knight’s earlier state.
“What the hell is that?”
At Shane’s words, a clear voice rang out.
“I told you. He is a knight of Baloch.”
It was the maid’s voice, the same one who had just collapsed and was gasping for breath.
Clutching her bleeding side, she pushed herself upright.
Shane twisted his lips in frustration as he looked at the two of them, seemingly restored.
“Did you take an antidote?”
“There’s no such thing.”
“Then how are you still standing? Even I have to admit, this stuff is incredibly potent.”
This time, it was the maid who answered.
“You really don’t get it, do you? Knights of Baloch endure the waves of monsters, taking in their poison head-on. Most poisons barely affect them.”
“What about earlier?”
“Half pretense and a trap, you could say. To be honest, I’m still struggling a bit.”
Shane suddenly noticed something strange in the maid’s words. The knights of Baloch were resistant to most poisons due to their exposure to the miasma of monsters but the maid wasn’t a knight.
“…Are you a knight too?”
The maid smiled at Shane’s question.
“Did you think I was just an incompetent maid?”
“Well, if you’re a knight, it’s only natural that you’re bad at maid duties.”
It seemed she wasn’t lying about feigning weakness earlier. Though she spoke in a relaxed tone, her body swayed slightly.
Shane pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wrapped it around the deep wound on his neck.
“Wow, you’re really something, huh? Even with two wounds, you’re still standing. So, this means just cutting you won’t be enough?”
“Unless you kill me, it won’t make a difference.”
At her words, Shane answered indifferently, as if the matter had nothing to do with him, and stood up.
Every breath he took sent sharp pain through the wound on his side. But if he stalled any longer, he might actually die. After all, traps were meant to capture their prey.
Still, something about this situation felt odd. Why hadn’t the princess reacted at all despite all this commotion?
“Did she drink the tea?”
“What tea?”
Ha.
Hearing her response, Shane let out a dry laugh.
So she hadn’t been trembling earlier out of fear of betraying Baloch, but because she had been lying to him.
He should have just killed her outright instead of planning to use her as a disposable pawn.
Grinding his teeth, he muttered, “You really are something else.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Then why is the princess so quiet?”
“You said you used a sleeping incense meant for beasts, right? My lady isn’t a knight, so of course, she wouldn’t wake up.”
“For all your arrogance, you still let her breathe it in?”
“Oh. I didn’t know. We’re knights trained to fight monsters, not beasts. It would be strange if we knew everything.”
The maid shrugged nonchalantly.
“Are we just going to keep talking? I don’t mind, actually.”
“…”
“Soon enough, our ‘Head Maid’ will be back.”
“So this place is filled with knights?”
“It’d be faster to count the non-knights in Baloch.”
Shane clicked his tongue and glanced at the bed. Then, he nudged his fallen comrade with the tip of his boot.
“Hey, get up. There’s no way we’re leaving them alone now.”
At his words, Baloch knights answered.
“We were hoping for this.”
Clang.
With that, the clash of swords echoed sharply through the air.
***
Inside the inner stronghold, where the snow had not been cleared, the ground was blanketed in thick, untouched snow.
Jillian charged straight through it, relying purely on strength.
He wrapped his mana around his horse, ensuring it neither froze nor tired as it galloped through the snow.
Thud. Thud.
Plowing through the deep snow with his own body was pure agony. Every step collapsed the path behind him, and he was surrounded on all sides by endless white.
A normal person would have lost their mind in such conditions—no sense of time, no direction, no escape.
But he was Jillian Baloch.
Baloch, the one they called ‘inhuman.’
For him, this was merely another challenge to overcome.
After what felt like an eternity, he finally reached the main castle.
And waiting for him there was…
“So, there really was a rat.”
It was Izar, strolling leisurely through the castle gardens.
Izar should have been shocked to see him return in the dead of night, but he merely narrowed his eyes for a brief moment and that was all.
“Back so soon? That’s unexpected. I didn’t realize the Wave was so easy to handle.”
Izar even smiled as he spoke.
“You’re not asking who I am? Does that mean you already know?”
“Is there a need to ask your name? A rat is just a rat, after all.”
Jillian shrugged.
It was a deliberate provocation, but instead of getting angry, Izar let out a light chuckle.
“Ah, my mistake. I momentarily forgot that you’re a beast of Termina, standing on two legs. No wonder you fail to recognize your emperor.”
Unlike the emperor of Termina, who was known for his temper, Izar remained unnervingly composed.
Far too composed.
Something about him was deeply suspicious.
