The strangest thing was standing in this dark underground sewer without a lamp.

Lake and Lord Thompson had taken lamps with them.

Even if there was a problem with the lamps, there was no way they would have found her and stood so quietly like that.

Veronica watched the feet that appeared in the darkness while holding her breath. The other person seemed to be looking at her too.

In the heavy silence, their gazes examining each other sharply pricked their skin.

Then in an instant, as soon as she noticed the feet across from her about to move, Veronica moved too.

She intended to run away. But before she could even turn her body, a hand shot out of the darkness and choked her throat. Her body was pushed against the wall and lifted into the air.

Veronica immediately kicked at her attacker.

There was not even a flinch. Rather, the hand choking her throat tightened its grip and Veronica choked for air.

She thrashed her feet in the air wildly, grabbing onto the arm choking her throat with both hands and clinging on.

If she didn’t do at least this much, it felt like her neck would snap any moment.

When she barely managed to open her eyes, she saw a faint light.

The lamp that had fallen to the floor illuminated the ceiling and dimly revealed the face of the person choking her.

It was a man she had never seen before. Below his expressionless face, she could see a build even larger than her own.

Veronica fumbled at her waist and drew the dagger she had attached there. Then she stabbed it down into the man’s arm.

As the grip choking her throat loosened slightly, she didn’t miss the opportunity and kicked out again. Finally finding freedom, her body tumbled to the floor.

Coughing, Veronica crawled across the floor on all fours.

Reaching the opposite side, she used the wall to support herself as she stood up. Her strongly choked throat cried out in pain.

The pain would likely worsen as time passed. Bruises would be difficult to hide when they formed, she thought as she tried to stay calm.

When she raised her head, the man was staring blankly at her from over there.

Veronica straightened her back and faced off against the man. His figure was clearly visible in the light.

“Even if I asked where you came from, you probably wouldn’t answer.”

“……”

The meaningless question ended. Veronica lowered the hand that had been feeling her throat and gripped the handle of her dagger with both hands.

Cold sweat was already drenching her back. There was a taste of blood in her mouth.

She couldn’t tell if it was from having her throat choked, or if the inside of her mouth had been torn while struggling.

Veronica pressed the bitter taste stuck to the roof of her mouth with the tip of her tongue.

The man rushed at her in an instant, reaching out his hand again. Veronica twisted her body to the side to dodge.

The hand that missed its target struck the wall, and the strong impact hit her eardrums.

It was a sound loud enough to deafen her ears. If she had been hit directly, her bones would have been crushed.

Veronica calmly stabbed her knife into the man’s side.

The attack landed, tearing the man’s flesh. The follow-up attack was stopped as the man grabbed her wrist.

Her wrist was half-crushed.

The man glanced briefly at his torn side, then twisted Veronica’s wrist as if trying to break it. A groan escaped her red lips.

Veronica drew out the blade hidden in her other sleeve and stabbed it towards the man’s face. But that hand was caught as well.

With both hands crossed and restrained, her body hit the wall again. She spat, but the man didn’t even blink.

Her crossed arms painfully pressed against her chest.

As her whole body trembled, barely blocking the man’s strength, she kicked his groin with all her might.

Fortunately, he seemed defenseless there and her restraints were loosened.

Veronica didn’t miss the opportunity, shaking off one hand and stabbing her blade into the man’s chest.

She plunged the blade in so that it sank completely into the flesh.

A large hand grabbed her arm and threw her. Veronica slid across the floor as she fell.

When she raised her grimacing face, the man was looking at the blade stuck in his chest. He pulled it out with his bare hand and threw it to the floor.

The sound of the blade bouncing off the floor echoed around them.

As the man took another step towards Veronica, his body suddenly staggered. Leaning against the wall, the man showed emotion for the first time.

Rubbing her wrist that had nearly been broken, Veronica stood up from her spot and smiled sweetly.

“Since I’m weak, I have all sorts of methods.”

She had coated the blade with a paralyzing poison. It was a strong poison that could easily paralyze an adult male even with just a small cut.

Given the location, she had prepared for contingencies, and as expected, being thorough in preparation proved useful.

The man tried to appear composed, but she could see his gaze becoming cloudy.

“Don’t think too harshly of me. Wasn’t it wrong in the first place to try and strangle a stranger to death without warning? How nice it would be if we exchanged names and had a pleasant chat. So peaceful. So you should be more careful next time. When you meet such a weak and beautiful lady, I mean.”

“……”

“You should show kindness.”

Of course, there wouldn’t be a next time.

Unfortunately, the man didn’t collapse right away.

She had coated it with just enough paralyzing poison not to kill, but the man only staggered a bit without showing signs of falling.

It felt like he was enduring through sheer willpower. But whether he was paralyzed or not, he failed when trying to stand up straight and leaned against the wall.

Murderous intent filled the man’s face as he looked at Veronica. Veronica forced a smile. If she had known it would be like this, she should have coated it with poison instead of paralyzing poison.

‘Now what do I do…’

Her left ankle had been throbbing since earlier. It seemed she had twisted it when she fell to the floor earlier.

Her choked throat hurt, and both wrists were numb.

Though she feigned composure on the outside, her condition was a mess. Veronica raised her dagger again.

The man who had been staggering for a moment quickly regained his balance and charged.

Veronica stepped backwards while recalling every method she could think of in her mind.

But when the man’s fist hit her stomach, she had no presence of mind for thoughts or anything else.

Thrown to the floor again, Veronica grabbed the nearby fallen lamp and swung it.

The lamp shattered as it hit the man’s face. The light suddenly vanished.

The man immediately grabbed Veronica’s ankle, but she had already swung her dagger.

The sensation of stabbing was vivid.

Pull back once, then again. And again. Continuously, she moved the blade calmly as always. She wasn’t scared in the darkness before her eyes.

No longer afraid. Though the other person tried to resist to the end by twisting his body, it wasn’t difficult to stop his dull movements.

Veronica straddled the man’s body and brought down the blade again. She pressed down on the convulsing body with both thighs and stabbed wildly.

Blood spurted out in long streaks from the torn flesh. A familiar scent spread to the tip of her nose.

He must die. He must die. He must die now!

“─!”

Someone called out to her. But Veronica, who had lost her senses, couldn’t hear it. Someone grabbed her wrist.

Veronica shook off the hand and stabbed down with the blade again.

The sound of flesh being pierced reverberated in her ears. Finally, a strong force grabbed her waist and pulled her off.

“Get ahold of yourself!”

Her vision flickered and brightened. In the illuminated view, she saw Lake urgently restraining her.

“Do you recognize me?”

Lake asked calmly. Veronica stared at him blankly. There was no focus in her eyes. Her state was abnormal.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Because he tried to kill me. So he has to die. He must die. So he can’t resist. So he can’t fight back. Definitely. Calmly. He must die. I can’t hesitate. It’s the end. He must die. That’s how, I live…”

Lake narrowed his eyes. He lowered his gaze to look at Veronica’s hand gripping the dagger.

Her hand, drenched in blood, was trembling slightly.

Lake carefully grasped her hand. He could feel the small hand flinching.

“He’s already dead.”

“……”

At his words, Veronica’s eyes turned to the motionless form on the floor. As he said, the corpse that had become like a rag doll was not breathing.

Only then did she start to come to her senses a bit. Veronica realized she was panting heavily.

Meanwhile, Lake examined Veronica’s appearance. In that short time, she had become a mess.

Her neatly tied hair was disheveled, and her clothes were dirty and splattered with blood as if there had been a struggle, looking unsightly.

There were also marks of strangulation on her neck.

He reached out his hand towards it, but seeing Veronica flinch, he withdrew it.

“Are you more clear-headed now?”

“…Where is Lord Thompson?”

“He’s waiting where we parted. When we returned after the agreed two hours and didn’t see you, we thought something might have happened, so I left him behind. It seems that was a good choice.”

Lake turned to look at the corpse that had become like a rag doll.

“Who is that person?”

“…I don’t know. He suddenly appeared.”

“Why didn’t you run away? You could have at least waited until I came back.”

“I couldn’t. More accurately, I didn’t have the presence of mind to do so. The other person rushed at me to kill me as soon as he saw me.”

Lake, who had been looking at her, stood up and approached the dead man. Kneeling on one knee in front of him, he examined the man’s face and clothing.

“Though his attire is shabby, he has quite a good build. Judging by the shape of his hands, he seems to be someone who does active work. I don’t see anything that would reveal his identity.”

Veronica limped over to him.

“He seemed accustomed to using force. His reactions were quick even when stabbed with a knife.”

It felt different from a simple robber or just a well-built beggar.

But he used his bare hands without weapons, so he didn’t seem to be a mercenary or someone professionally trained either.

Using force wasn’t necessarily wrong, but there was something strange about it.

His clothing was quite decent for someone from the slums, and encountering him in a place like this was the most suspicious part.

Veronica felt for the pocket where she had put the map.

Could it be someone sent by a person who knows the value of this map? They might be searching for the map.

Lake, who had been examining the corpse this way and that, seemed to find nothing of note and stood up. Veronica looked at him and spoke.

“Lord Rining. Could you tear apart the corpse?”

“……”

“What’s wrong?”

Lake stared at her intently.

“You seem to know how to handle this well.”

“I am a knight’s daughter, after all.”

“As expected of House Hardness. If there had been a connection, I would have liked to receive teachings.”

“If it was you, Lord Rining, my father would have been pleased.”

That was the end of the unnecessary small talk. Lake drew his sword.

“Are you sure you don’t want to find out his identity?”

“Yes.”

It would be difficult to discover anyway. That’s the feeling she had.

After hearing her answer, Lake skillfully tore apart the corpse. He added other stab wounds to the basic ones and fabricated the condition.

They couldn’t hide that he died from being stabbed in the chest, but they could make it impossible to deduce who killed him.

Meanwhile, Veronica gathered the blades she had dropped on the floor, wrapped them in cloth, and put them away.

The lamp seemed unusable since it was broken. Then as she tried to move again, suddenly her legs gave out.

She leaned her staggering body against the wall. Lake, who had finished his work, hurriedly approached.

“Are you alright?”

“…I’m fine.”

“It looks like you’ve injured your foot.”

“I twisted it a little. It’s not so bad that I can’t walk.”

“Excuse me for a moment.”

Lake bent down and carefully lifted Veronica’s left foot. He removed her boot and examined her slightly swollen ankle. Veronica stared down at the red head.

Of all people, she had let an untrustworthy man see her in an unwanted state. If it was Lord Thompson, she could at least threaten him roughly, but this man was different.

She had brought him along to placate Magnolia and protect Lord Thompson, but this situation was problematic.

Should she kill him? She couldn’t win with strength, but it wouldn’t be difficult if he was off guard. Veronica still had a dagger in her hand.

If she stabbed it into that man’s neck, she could kill him.

The fingers holding the dagger quietly curled.

If everything went wrong, she could just stab herself in the neck and turn back time.

Killing herself was the easiest thing to do.

It would be a shame and a waste of all her efforts so far, but still.

For a moment, a face resembling his flashed through her mind. A faint breath escaped her slightly parted lips.

Meanwhile, Lake, who had been examining her ankle, discovered the scar from a stab wound higher up and reached out his hand.

Veronica quickly pulled her foot away. He raised his head. As their eyes met, Veronica continued speaking.

“I’m fine, so let’s quickly return to Lord Thompson.”

“I’ll support you.”

Thinking he meant to at least hold her arm, Veronica held out her hand.

Lake took her hand and put it over his shoulder, then suddenly lifted her body. Veronica was startled to find herself in his arms so suddenly.