“Ji, Giselle?”

“Huk, I’m sorry, Rukna. Your touch was so gentle that I…”

Giselle took out a handkerchief but instead of wiping her tears, she placed it in Rukna’s hand.

Does she want me to wipe them directly with my hand?

Thinking that she was a female lead – or perhaps a villain candidate – with a subtly annoying side, Rukna finished wiping her cheeks.

Giselle accepted Rukna’s touch with a satisfied expression and opened her mouth.

“What were you going to ask earlier, Rukna?”

“Ah, I thought it was strange that a mere head maid could imprison a noble like you in the basement.”

By the way, isn’t she rubbing her face on my palm too much? Rukna slightly withdrew the hand that was wiping Giselle’s tears.

Giselle gazed at Rukna’s retreating hand with regret as she answered.

“This isn’t imprisonment… it’s discipline, they say.”

“Do your parents know about this?”

“Rukna, you really have forgotten everything.”

“…?”

“Both of them passed away, and uncle is temporarily acting as the head of the family in place of my sick brother Perta. Since then, our family has declined like this.”

“Ah… I’m sorry. I didn’t know because I can’t remember.”

“It’s okay. Because you’re Rukna.”

Only then could Rukna understand the head maid’s arrogant attitude and Giselle’s mistreated position among the servants.

The dilapidated state of the mansion and the somewhat rude behavior of the servants were all because the count’s family’s power and wealth were not what they used to be.

‘Giselle must have given me the precious keepsake of my mother because she had no money to give.’

Giselle informed Rukna that he had been adopted into the count’s family 8 years ago and that the count couple had died in an accident afterward.

When the count couple passed away, Rukna had left the mansion for some reason and lived separately, and he had voluntarily entered the military academy in place of the sick Perta.

As soon as he heard that, one question came to mind.

‘Surely the person who killed the count couple… isn’t me?’

The moment he thought he might be the villain who killed the female lead’s parents and ruined her family.

‘What’s this, why am I getting anxious?’

His palms became clammy with cold sweat. Rukna rubbed his palms on his pants.

‘In any case, escape is the priority now.’

Rukna took out the necklace hidden in his clothes.

As he grasped the pendant with one hand as he had learned in the tutorial, the round pendant glowed and a silver sword hilt rose up.

When he pulled it outward, a long blade slid out of the small pendant.

It looked just like pulling a sword out of a heart.

Wow, this is no joke! It’s like magic!

Giselle also opened her eyes wide and looked back and forth between Rukna and the holy sword.

“Wh-what is that, Rukna?”

“My secret weapon.”

He delivered the cool line with a wink, but inwardly Rukna was just as surprised.

Rukna gripped the sword with both hands and took a stance.

As if he had learned basic swordsmanship at the military academy, his body instinctively took a stance.

And as he swung the sword towards the bars…

Clang!

The thick and sturdy bars were cut through far too easily.

‘I just swung it, but it cuts through iron bars like tofu?’

He must be quite strong, having attended the military academy.

“Rukna, that’s amazing!”

Giselle exclaimed with wide eyes, clasping her hands together.

‘Indeed. I am really amazing.’

Rukna looked down at the hand holding the sword and then carved his name on the stone wall as if signing it.

Seeing the fairly sharp writing engraved stylishly, the sword’s sharpness was considerable.

Good boy. Rukna stroked the holy sword like a puppy and asked about the escape route again.

‘Hey Bisbee, I think I’ve proven my conscience now.’

“Yes, master. The lock has been released.”

‘Tell me how to escape from here.’

“To search for the optimal route, please remove that unpleasant touch.”

‘Unpleasant touch?’

Could it mean this? Rukna awkwardly lowered the hand that was touching the blade.

Then, as if it had been waiting, a hologram-like map appeared before his eyes. Damn holy sword.

The map was simple and clear, like looking at a navigation system. It was a bit strange that it wasn’t the shortest route, even though it claimed to be the optimal path.

‘Should I trust it and go for now?’

It might be a route to retrieve treasure chests and such that he had seen on the way.

Rukna urged Giselle, who was still crouched inside the prison.

“Let’s get out quickly, Giselle.”

“But Rukna, I’m not sure if it’s okay since the head maid hasn’t given permission to come out yet.”

Giselle, who had been sparkling with excitement just moments ago, now cowered in fear.

“Giselle, are you more afraid of the head maid than this prison?”

“Th-that’s…”

“Even if I’m with you?”

“But Rukna… you’re going to leave for school again.”

You’ll leave again. It’s natural that you’ll leave me behind.

Giselle murmured the last words as if she were someone who found being left alone achingly lonely.

Her pale face looked not just frightened, but seriously oppressed by despair.

‘Does she have trauma?’

It was quite understandable. If she was a female lead candidate – or perhaps even a villain – she would have at least one heart-wrenching story.

A few light words of comfort that could be offered at times like this swirled in his mouth.

But strangely, he didn’t want to offer mere words of comfort.

“Then I won’t go, to hell with that military academy.”

It was an impulsive choice, but surprisingly, he felt no regret at all.

After all, Giselle, trapped in a prison of her own making, was somehow similar to his own image of wandering like a stranger in the orphanage.

“What… did you say, Rukna?”

“I said I’ll stay by your side. I won’t abandon you.”

“I’ll be by your side, Hayun. I won’t abandon you. So don’t worry and let’s go out together?”

Rukna recalled the words Sister Agnes had said to him in his previous life as he continued speaking.

“So trust me and come out.”

There must be many ways to make money without a military academy diploma. With this smart holy sword, we should be able to find something.

Giselle stared at Rukna’s hand for a moment before grabbing it and bursting into tears.

“Huk, hueeeng.”

Giselle, who clutched Rukna’s hand desperately like someone with the scar of abandonment engraved on her soul, slowly followed behind Rukna.

This time, she wiped her own tears as she walked.

Rukna followed the guidance of the holy sword.

As expected, various items were blatantly dropped in every place they stopped. Giselle examined each item.

“This is the hidden accounting ledger! It shows all the evidence that the head maid has been embezzling money from our family!”

“This is the highest grade recovery potion that can only be obtained from the magic tower! This will help improve my brother’s condition a bit.”

Giselle began to gather the items into a large sack with an excited face.

‘They’re practically spoon-feeding us how to solve the case, spoon-feeding us.’

This must be why the holy sword marked it as the optimal route.

Meanwhile, Giselle showed Rukna a very dangerous-looking magic scroll. Eerie black smoke was slowly rising from the scroll.

“Look at this, Rukna. Even the black magic scroll sealed during the Demon War was here!”

“…It does look extremely dangerous.”

“This is one of the family heirlooms that only the direct line of the Golden family knew about.”

“Then shouldn’t you not tell me about it, Giselle?”

“But you’re Rukna.”

“…Right. I’ll forget about it on my own.”

Rukna vowed to erase what he saw today from his memory as he moved to the last location marked on the map.

Then Rukna, who was walking ahead, stopped Giselle from approaching.

“Wait. Don’t come any closer, Giselle.”

In the corner of the cell was an abandoned, fully decomposed corpse.

Although it was Rukna’s first time seeing a corpse, strangely, he wasn’t greatly surprised.

‘Something’s off. The count couple dying after I was adopted, and not even feeling uncomfortable seeing a corpse.’

It was suspicious that he was calm as if he had seen many corpses before, rather than fainting in shock.

Surely my identity isn’t that of a serial killer? This was an even more serious situation than if I were a thief.

“Ru-Rukna. That person is the physician who went missing last year. I’m sure it’s him, looking at that bracelet given by my late father.”

Giselle covered her mouth with her hand as she stared at the arm of the decomposed corpse.

“A physician belonging to the count’s family?”

Rukna, who had been praying that his identity wasn’t that of a murderer, opened his eyes wide.

Then was this body familiar because it was someone this body knew?

“Yes. Thanks to that physician, my brother was healthy for a while… why is he dead here?”

It wasn’t difficult to find the answer to that question. Rukna recited the predictable situation.

“Someone might have killed that physician and hired another one to worsen Young Master Perta’s health.”

“Oh my, who could have done such a thing!”

“Is it… me?”

The worry he had been muttering to himself accidentally slipped out. Giselle blinked rapidly and then burst into laughter.

“Haha, you’re still as odd as ever? You were at the military academy at that time.”

“Ah, what a relief.”

Rukna was sincerely relieved. It would have been terrible if he had been possessed by an extra character who was a murderer scheduled for execution.

“Don’t be silly. There’s someone else I suspect, Rukna.”

“Who?”

“The head maid.”

Giselle took a deep breath and walked forward.

Although he thought the fragile young lady would faint at the sight of the corpse, she bent down on her knees and examined the body closely.

Her expression was quite firm.

“I couldn’t protect them, Rukna.”

“Huh?”

“This physician, my brother, and you, Rukna. If I had been a bit braver, I could have protected them.”

Whoo. Giselle exhaled once more as she slowly stood up.

“Thank you for holding my hand earlier, Rukna. And for saying you’ll stay by my side. I’ll never forget it.”

Then she smiled brightly at Rukna.

“Let’s really get out of this prison.”