I couldn’t hide my bewilderment at the brazen kidnapper.

Although I was still suspicious of him for letting me go so easily, he didn’t seem to have any intention of killing me.

‘First, let’s get out of here.’

Whether what that man said was true or not, I had to get out of here and find Dietrich.

I quietly looked down at the knife in my hand.

Yes, let’s try to get out for now.

With eyes full of suspicion, I turned the doorknob without taking my gaze off the man.

And the moment I stepped outside.

I froze on the spot.

The sight that greeted me as soon as I came out was shocking.

‘Where is this place?’

A dark alley with red lights flickering intermittently.

Drunkards staggering with broken bottles in their hands and old women eyeing expensive dresses up and down.

A chill ran down the back of my neck as I faced the base desires that filled their eyes.

I opened the door again and went back inside the house.

I couldn’t move a single step. My mind went blank with fear that I had never felt before.

With the sound of the door slamming shut, the man sitting in the rocking chair asked incredulously.

“What, look at this maid? I thought you said you were leaving?”

“Just a moment.”

“Ha, seriously. Weren’t you just threatening me with a knife, saying you’d escape?”

The man shook his head as if he couldn’t understand.

I calmly sorted out the situation.

That kidnapper had already said he wouldn’t kill me. But could I fully trust his words?

No, I couldn’t. But trying to get out of this alley alone seemed just as dangerous as being with that man.

Moreover, unfortunately, I didn’t even know where this place was.

I didn’t really want to know what might happen to me if I wandered through dark alleys that weren’t even mentioned in novels.

If I left like this, I might suffer worse than being kidnapped.

Would I be able to survive if I left here?

I could be humiliated if I recklessly went out.

But it seemed like I could use that kidnapper.

Although there was a risk, using that man to get out of here seemed the safest option.

It was a bit of a ridiculous situation, but I had to think carefully.

Without Dietrich or anyone else to help me here, the moment I made the wrong judgment, my life would be in danger.

In the end, I hid the knife I was aiming behind my back, signaling that I had no intention of attacking.

Then I smiled brightly at the kidnapper. As if he thought I was crazy for suddenly smiling, he flinched and shrugged his shoulders.

I didn’t care and opened my mouth.

“Okay. Mr. Kidnapper.”

“Mr. Kidnapper?”

He asked back in a dumbfounded tone at the strange form of address.

“I have a proposal.”

“I said it’s fine, didn’t I? I’m going to wash my hands of this now. I’m already regretting immensely bringing you here.”

“Really? I’ll make sure you don’t regret it. If you just help me.”

The man, who had been pushing the rocking chair back and forth, stopped in place.

“What do you mean by that?”

“You’re worried about getting involved with Lord Dietrich Delgado, right? I won’t tell the young lord. In exchange, help me get out of here.”

The man’s eyes seemed to waver with perplexity.

Of course, I couldn’t see his face well.

“What? I said I don’t want to get involved in this! Figure out how to escape on your own!”

“You’re the one who kidnapped me! If you get me safely to the Summer Festival square, I’ll pretend this never happened.”

“Or else you’re saying you’ll tell everything?”

The man’s voice dropped an octave lower. He slowly got up from his seat and approached me.

“What if I get rid of you right here so you can’t even open your mouth?”

He reached out his hand as if he was about to grab my throat at any moment. My legs trembled with fear, but I absolutely couldn’t show it.

I had to be stronger here.

“You won’t kill me, right?”

“Who knows. If I’m put in danger, shouldn’t I survive even if it means killing you?”

“…500 copper. I’ll make sure you get the full 500 copper you didn’t receive.”

The man flinched for a moment. He asked me again as if to confirm.

“You’re saying you’ll make sure I get the remaining money as well? How can I trust those words?”

“I promise. If I manage to get out of here, you’ll become my savior who saved my life. If you take me to the square and find the person who ordered you to kill me, I’ll give you the remaining 500 copper.”

Of course, it would be Dietrich.

I could vividly imagine Dietrich shouting if I was crazy. Let’s survive for now and pay it back later!

The man hesitated at my brazen proposal. Then, with a deep sigh, he said.

“Really? Can I trust you?”

“That’s what I want to say. Can you take me there?”

It was as if I could hear the man’s mind spinning rapidly.

I decided to drive a wedge into his hesitation.

“You probably think I don’t have that kind of money because I’m a maid, but actually, I’m…”

“Actually, you’re…?”

Sorry, Dietrich.

I’ll have to use you a bit out of necessity.

“I’m very close with Lord Dietrich Delgado. Almost like his own elder sister.”

“…I knew it. I thought you two seemed close from the beginning.”

I spat out the lie without even blinking an eye.

I couldn’t bring myself to lie about being his lover. I was afraid it might severely damage his image.

Instead, being a very close elder sister should be fine, right?

The man now seemed hopeful that he could receive the 500 copper.

“…Alright. I accept the proposal. However, I need assurance that you won’t betray me.”

“What do you want me to do to make you believe me?”

“I also know that Lord Dietrich Delgado is a skilled swordsman. If you’re really close to him like you say, he’ll try to kill me as soon as he sees me. So until I receive the money from you, you’re my hostage.”

I slowly nodded my head in agreement.

As long as I could get out of here and meet Dietrich first.

I could teach this wicked kidnapper a lesson.

The man let out a deep sigh and approached the iron bed. Then he bent over and looked under the bed.

When he opened the long wooden box, a longsword came out.

It was a style of sword I had never seen before in this place.

I thought I had seen enough various swords thanks to Dietrich and the Haleon Knights.

Seeing me looking at it curiously, he grumbled curtly.

“It’s an old one, so I can’t use it well. But it might be necessary since this neighborhood is so dangerous.”

The man fixed the sword at his waist and stood in front of the door.

I silently followed behind him, gripping the knife in my hand.

With a creak, the door opened, and the same scene as before unfolded.

The people standing in the dark alley stared intently at me in my expensive dress.

Without even blinking, as if they would reach out their hands to me.

Outside was shrouded in pitch-black darkness. The man turned around to check if I was following and whispered softly.

“It’s still the day of the festival. Not much time has passed. About two hours have probably gone by.”

Two hours.

It was enough time for Dietrich to realize I had disappeared after buying the mango juice and returning.

I nervously bit my lip.

“Where is this place?”

“It’s Garbage Town. Do you know it?”

“…No, I don’t.”

As I thought. This place was indeed somewhere I had never been before.

I had never heard of a place called Garbage Town, neither in novels nor since coming here.

I stuck close behind him.

It wasn’t that I trusted that kidnapper, but this alley looked quite dangerous.

Beneath the stone walls that looked like they would crumble at any moment, people sitting on the dirty ground reached out their hands as if to snatch my ankle.

“Be careful. They have nothing to lose. If you get caught, they’ll just abandon you and leave.”

“You know that applies to me too, right? You kidnapper.”

This was all because of whom!

No kind words came out. As if he had unnecessarily struck up a conversation, the man tightly shut his mouth.

After walking for a while, the man turned his body to enter the alley on the right. But then he stopped in place and tilted his head as if something was strange.

“Wait a moment. Didn’t it feel like someone was watching us?”

At the same time as his words, I met eyes with someone looking at us from beside a ruined store and froze in place.

Someone was watching us from the darkness.

The kidnapper, who turned his head in the direction of my gaze, also froze in place.

He stiffly tried to turn around and go back out the alley we had entered.

However, the entrance of the alley we had come through was already blocked by men in black clothes.

I couldn’t understand what was happening. Who was chasing us?

That maid who had ordered me to be killed?

But how did she know that this man didn’t kill me?

The man was equally unable to hide his bewilderment.

He whispered quietly towards me.

“They’re mercenaries hired by loan sharks.”

“…What?”

Now what was this about?

He pressed down on his hooded head and continued in an anxious voice.

“I couldn’t pay back the money, and they threatened to drag me away if I was late again this time. Ha, this is driving me crazy!”

…The one going crazy was me.

I, who had absolutely nothing to do with this man’s debt, was about to get caught up in a troublesome situation.

One of the men blocking the path approached the kidnapper.

“Hey, we’ve been looking for you for a while, and you were here? And with a woman? Unbelievable.”

With those words as the starting point, people in black clothes began to appear from somewhere one after another.

The narrow alley was filled with people in black clothes, front and back.

There was nowhere to escape.

Looking at the people holding sharp swords, I suppressed my trembling breath and shouted loudly.

“I have nothing to do with this man!”

However, my shout was drowned out by the laughter of the mercenaries holding their stomachs.

“So what do you want us to do about it? Being with this bastard is a crime in itself, miss. Looking at you, you seem pretty and wealthy. If we sell you somewhere, we might be able to pay off some of the debt.”

It was so unfair and frightening, but for some reason, my mind felt like it was getting colder.

To survive, I had to hold onto my reason tightly. It seemed the kidnapper had the same thought.

He whispered softly in my ear.

“Do you know how to fight?”

“Do I look like I do?”

“From the way you were threatening me with a knife earlier, it seemed like you knew a bit.”

I frowned in annoyance at the man’s words.

I was about to tell him that the only thing I had used a knife for was trimming ingredients.

It wasn’t a situation to be playing with words.

This was reality.

Unlike how they treated the novel protagonists, the mercenaries did not mercifully wait for our conversation to end.

“Seize them!”

With a sharp shout, they charged at us.