“No one came out? No, they definitely said a woman with black hair and green eyes would come out. How could this be?”

At the time when Heidi and Dietrich were in the midst of exploring the street food scene.

The man, who had been hiding in a tree near the huge gate with a silver wolf painted on it, yawned while waiting for the maid who didn’t come out even though the sun was about to set.

According to the employee, all he had to do was follow and kidnap the pretty maid with black hair and green eyes who would exit through the gate.

‘But I don’t see anyone like that. What’s going on?’

It wasn’t difficult to realize that something was wrong. By the time no more maids were coming out of the gate, the man sensed that he needed to change his plan.

[It’s a 500 copper advance payment. If you successfully eliminate that maid for certain, I’ll give you the remaining 500 copper in full.]

Recalling what the young lady with gray hair had said, he nimbly jumped down from the tree.

‘Hmm, by eliminate, she probably means kill, right? But I don’t do murder.’

The word ‘eliminate’ did bother him a bit, but it was 1000 copper. A whole 1000 copper.

With that money, he could pay off his accumulated debts and even buy some meat with the remaining amount.

‘I can’t let 1000 copper slip away.’

It was a valuable request he received when he was on the verge of closing down due to the lack of jobs coming in.

Moreover, he was already way past the due date to pay back his debts, so he was being chased by loan sharks.

If he wasn’t careful, his life would be in danger.

To receive the remaining 500 copper, he had to handle the request properly.

The slightly concerning points were that the maid wanted the other maid dead and that this matter was entangled with the Delgado Duchy’s maid.

Nothing good ever came from getting involved with the Delgado Duchy. If he got caught, losing his head would be the least of his worries.

But what could go wrong?

She was just a mere maid.

He decided to first leave the front of the gate and go to where the summer festival was being held.

According to the plan the maid had mentioned, he was supposed to follow the maid from the gate and kidnap her in a crowded place.

If he searched for the maid with black hair and green eyes at the summer festival location, he should be able to find her.

With some luck, he might even find her quickly.

He hastened his steps. But as soon as he entered the festival grounds, he despaired at the thought that finding the woman might be more difficult than he had anticipated.

There were more people than he expected, making it nearly impossible to check each and every face.

‘Damn it. They should have given me a better description of what she looks like!’

They said she would come out of the gate, but he didn’t even get a glimpse of the woman’s face. This was all because of the client who provided the wrong information.

If he couldn’t find the woman, the remaining 500 copper would fly away.

He couldn’t let that happen.

With that thought, his surging irritation subsided a little.

‘Well, it’s not easy to earn 1000 copper anyway.’

It was okay to go through this much trouble. Even if it took a bit more time, finding the woman was the top priority.

He walked slowly, scanning his surroundings.

Black hair wasn’t common, so if he could just find her, he would be able to confirm if it was that woman.

As he wandered the streets with his black cloak pulled down over his head, he spotted a man in the distance near a stall who had a similar attire to his own.

He was tall enough to stand out even among the bustling crowd.

The man in the cloak was selecting items with a black-haired woman who seemed to be his lover.

Wait a minute. Black hair?

The man’s eyes narrowed beneath the cloak. It was the first black-haired woman he had seen while walking around.

He needed to confirm if she was the maid he was looking for.

However, just as he was about to casually walk past them and check the woman’s face, he couldn’t take a single step from where he stood.

The man beside the woman suddenly turned his head in the direction where he was standing.

Tensing up at the man’s action of slowly surveying the surroundings as if he had noticed something, he held his breath tightly.

It was a great relief that he didn’t make a sound.

But who the hell was that man?

He had never been caught by anyone while doing this job.

So much so that ‘Shadow’ was his childhood nickname.

Although he had never actually killed anyone, he was quite skilled at kidnapping people.

Yet that man immediately reacted to his movements.

‘I need to be careful.’

He had no choice but to walk past the two of them, pretending not to know anything. He couldn’t confirm the woman’s face.

However, he began to naturally follow behind them, blending in with the crowd so that the two wouldn’t notice.

He almost got caught by the man a few times in between, but he wasn’t exposed thanks to the large number of people.

‘Why are there no opportunities?’

In the meantime, they bought and ate so much food.

Feeling hungry as well, he ended up purchasing the chicken skewer they had bought.

After trailing them for a while like that, he was finally able to confirm the woman’s face when the two of them sat down on a plaza bench.

Sitting on the bench opposite from where the two were seated, he took a big bite of the chicken skewer and grinned upon seeing the woman’s green eyes.

‘Found her.’

There was no doubt that the woman was the maid the maid had mentioned.

[She has black hair and green eyes. Well, I’m not sure what clothes she’ll wear to the summer festival, but they won’t be that expensive. She can’t wear costly clothes given her maid status. She is quite pretty though. Pretty enough to recognize at a single glance.]

There was another piece of incorrect information in the maid’s words.

The woman sitting on the bench over there was wearing a dress that looked expensive even at a glance.

However, he could brush off that level of information error.

The black hair, green eyes, and a beauty that could be recognized at a single glance were just as the maid had said.

‘Hmm, now how do I kidnap her?’

If the woman had been alone, it wouldn’t have been a difficult task, but the problem was the man beside her.

‘That man is dangerous.’

His instincts told him so.

So he silently waited for an opportunity. For a situation where the woman would be left alone.

In the meantime, more and more people began to gather inside the plaza.

It seemed that the plaza banquet, one of the highlights of the festival, was about to begin soon.

Even then, he sat calmly in his place. The chicken skewer was so delicious that waiting for the woman to be alone wasn’t too boring.

When beautiful music started playing and he came to his senses.

The man and woman who had been sitting on the bench stood up and began to dance.

Even to him, who was not familiar with the dances of the nobility, the waltz of the two was different from the others around them.

The woman moved gracefully to the man’s elegant lead. And at that moment, the man’s cloak flipped back.

And upon seeing the man’s face, he was at a loss for words.

The man had a literally picturesque appearance. So much so that it was incomprehensible why he had been wearing a cloak until now.

It was as if a bright light was spreading around him.

‘Truly a crazy appearance.’

It was a face that could captivate even men.

Staring at Dietrich for a while, he tilted his head at a familiar feeling.

It was definitely a face he had seen somewhere before. Such a beautiful man was not common…

‘Wait a minute.’

He froze stiff at the name that flashed through his mind.

“Dietrich Delgado…?”

After uttering the name, he could be certain.

That man was undoubtedly Dietrich Delgado, the eldest young master of the Delgado Duchy.

There was no way he couldn’t recognize him. One couldn’t call themselves a citizen of the Cronotia Empire if they didn’t know that dazzling face that frequently appeared in the imperial newspapers.

Whenever large or small wars broke out, the participation of the Delgado Duchy’s knights and the genius swordsman Dietrich Delgado was a major concern for all imperial citizens.

He stared at the unbelievable scene unfolding before his eyes with his mouth wide open.

Why was the maid he had to deal with together with Dietrich Delgado?

The maid had made no mention of this matter at all. He couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

If it was a problem involving Dietrich Delgado, it was a different story. Moreover, the fact that the maid seemed to be close with Dietrich Delgado was an even more serious issue.

Seeing the two people smiling at each other, he bit his lip hard.

His mind began to spin rapidly. Should he give up on kidnapping that woman as it was?

However, he suddenly recalled the advance payment he had received earlier and the money he would receive later.

Just as he had resolved to do it earlier, it was a whopping 1000 copper.

If he lost a client who paid such a large sum, he might really have to close his doors this time.

Then what would he do for a living?

Struggling to make ends meet his whole life, this job was the only thing he was somewhat good at.

Joining a knightly order was beyond his dreams.

It was his dream to join the Hareon Knights, but he didn’t have the time or means to devote himself to swordsmanship.

For someone like him who struggled to put food on the table, dreams were a luxury.

This was the only way he could scrape by and survive.

He took a deep breath. It was too much of a waste to give up on 1000 copper like this.

Just then, the music paused for a moment. And the man glanced at the woman gasping for breath before turning his body towards where the street food was being sold.

It seemed like he was going to buy her a drink or something. He realized that this was a golden opportunity that would never come again.

After being lost in thought to the point of his head nearly exploding during that short time, he abruptly stood up from his seat.

Then, pulling his cloak down deeper, he moved directly towards where the woman was.

And while scanning his surroundings, he struck the back of the neck of the woman who was smiling happily.