“Owww…!! Aagh, I’m dying—!”

‘…What’s with this idiot?’

The acting was so unnatural and awkward that such a thought crossed her mind.

She was about to ignore him and keep walking when the woman next to him suddenly shouted.

“Hey you! How dare you try to run away after bumping into someone?! Honey, are you okay?”

“Honey… cough, cough.”

Why was he coughing when he had fallen down?

‘Did he break a bone, or is he sickly? Pick one.’

Naran, who had been walking ahead, turned around at the man’s loud wailing.

“What happened?”

The woman approached Naran with a fierce expression.

“Yes, something very big happened. Your companion hurt my husband and tried to sneak away without apologizing. Look, can’t you see he’s in terrible pain? He’s already weak to begin with—”

On cue, the man lying on the ground let out another long groan, “Aaaagh…!”

Passersby quickened their pace without even looking at the two people making a commotion.

‘These people must do this often, I guess?’

The way pedestrians fled as if avoiding any involvement suggested that the pair’s bullying was familiar in this area.

‘They must be thugs who extort money through intimidation like this.’

“Should I call the security forces right now? Huh? Then you’ll be going to prison, prison—”

“……”

Naran was examining the woman with cold, lowered eyes.

His gaze lingered on the dagger at the woman’s waist.

He seemed to be assessing their combat ability.

A savage energy that she hadn’t seen in a long time settled in his crimson eyes.

“I can make it so they won’t find a trace.”

That phrase suddenly flashed in her mind, and she snapped back to reality.

Naran, who silently shifted his gaze from the woman to the man on the ground, looked like he might dismember the two into pieces at any moment.

Naran sometimes acted impulsively, and if left alone, he might actually do it.

‘No…!! Absolutely not!’

If there had been fewer eyes watching, she might have let him teach them a small lesson, but there were too many people here.

‘I can’t let a commotion over something like this ruin our future plans…!’

“Hmm, ahem—!”

She cleared her throat repeatedly while giving Naran a meaningful look.

It meant not to lose his reason and to find a way out of this situation.

Fortunately, Naran seemed to understand her signal and took a small deep breath. The killing intent from earlier seemed to have subsided.

In a voice that seemed to be deliberately maintaining composure, he said to the woman.

“…My companion could have been hurt too, bumping into such a large man…. Let’s both be more careful and move on. He doesn’t seem to be seriously injured anyway….”

“What?! How would you know? Want to check?”

The woman who shouted fiercely approached the man and pulled down the collar of his top.

There was a bright red bruise on the man’s upper body where his collarbone met his shoulder.

“See this? This is all because of you—!!”

“Ha, what nonsense— How is that an injury from bumping into someone? You probably made it beforehand! I know because I’ve done it myself, at minimum you’d need an iron club….”

She placed her hand on Naran’s shoulder as he burst out in anger.

Naran, who seemed to regain his composure, flinched and turned to look at her.

“Ah, Li— I mean… sorry. …Because of me.”

His face showed genuine regret.

He seemed to think she had gotten involved in this because he had suggested going out together.

“It’s okay. It’s not your fault.”

She gently patted his head and then approached the man who was still lying on the ground and the woman beside him.

The woman looked up at her and said in an intimidating voice.

“Do you understand now, Miss? If you’re not careful, you’ll become a criminal. You won’t be able to get married for the rest of your life, and your life will be ruined.”

“……”

“We don’t want it to go that far either. So either pay for the medical expenses, or pay with your body.”

The woman looked her up and down and muttered as if with pity.

“Oh dear, judging by your appearance, it seems difficult for you to afford medical expenses…. Don’t worry. I’ll introduce you to a place where you can work. Miss, consider yourself lucky that your face is quite decent.”

“This is really—”

At those words, Naran, who was standing behind her, tried to lunge forward with murderous intent, but she restrained him with one hand.

Such matters should be left to the knights.

“Call someone.”

When she spoke in a low voice, Naran opened his mouth anxiously.

“But….”

“It’s okay. Trust me.”

Naran seemed reluctant to leave her alone, but soon nodded and said, “I’ll be back quickly,” before running off urgently.

The woman watched him with a contemptuous expression.

‘She seems confident she won’t be arrested, judging by how relaxed she is. Does she have connections? Well, I expected that much.’

She could roughly guess the woman’s thoughts from her expression.

The woman looked at her as if she were an easy target.

‘That’s probably why they chose me.’

Lize’s innocent-looking impression must have played a part too.

Even now, the woman didn’t seem to think she would dare to retaliate.

“Someone like you can’t live with doing bad things, right? Isn’t that so?”

“……”

“Decide quickly. My husband is in too much pain.”

“Urgh, ow ow ow ow….”

As if to reinforce the woman’s urging, the man groaned with a furrowed brow.

After watching them for a moment, she crouched down in front of the fallen man.

Then she stared intently at his face.

Perhaps taken aback, the man’s groans that had continued like wailing gradually decreased.

After slowly examining his face, she opened her mouth.

“Hmm, your face isn’t too bad.”

“What?”

“Miss, we don’t have time for chitchat. Please make a decision soon. We don’t want to make a young lady like you a criminal….”

“I’ve decided! I want to hear this man groan for real!”

“What?”

“I like watching handsome men suffer.”

“What…? What are you saying….”

The man had a face that showed he couldn’t understand a word she was saying. But it didn’t matter.

“Let’s do this. You stab this man with that. And say that I caused that injury too.”

She pointed at the woman and the dagger she wore, one after another.

Despite her kind gesture, the woman looked like she didn’t understand a word of what she had said.

“What…?”

She sighed deeply and explained once more.

“I mean, you wound this man with that knife. And then claim that I caused that injury too. That way, I’ll owe you even more, right?”

“What are you….”

“I won’t say anything! Even if I deny it, you can just insist as you’re doing now.”

The woman blinked her eyes and said as if she couldn’t understand.

“But, if that happens, you will—”

“It doesn’t matter. Don’t you want to get more money?”

At those words, the woman gulped.

“That’s…. No, but why are you doing this?”

“I told you, I like watching handsome men suffer.”

She said with an innocent smile.

“A handsome man bleeding is always good. Hurry up and wound him more! The more you do, the more money you can get.”

“Huh….”

The woman, who let out a short groan as if dumbfounded, looked back and forth between her and the man. Then she slowly drew the dagger from her waist.

The man’s face turned pale at the sight.

“What are you doing? You’re not actually listening to that nonsense, are you…?”

“It’s not like a few more scratches will do anything serious.”

As the woman tried to stab the dagger into the man’s shoulder, he quickly twisted his body to avoid it.

It was a speed that was hard to believe for someone who was supposedly seriously injured (though of course, this was just their one-sided claim).

“Are you crazy?! What the hell are you doing!!”

The woman retorted with a look of contempt.

“What’s with the exaggeration? I’ll be gentle, so just stay still—”

The woman swung the dagger at the man again, and the man, who narrowly avoided it, contorted his face.

“You think I’m just going to take this? Try that one more time and I’ll break your arm—!”

“Go ahead and try. Pathetic bastard, you make your own injuries and now you’re afraid of this little thing?”

No longer caring about the pretense that he was injured from bumping into her, he was revealing the truth with his own mouth.

The woman’s dagger almost grazed the man’s cheek, and the enraged man lunged at her.

And she watched them with fascinated eyes.

“I should never have worked with someone like you—!”

“Please, look who’s talking!! If only my previous partner hadn’t gone to prison…!”

‘Oh, seems like they have a lot of built-up resentment.’

Her statement about wanting to hear the man’s real groans was half sincere and half a ploy to buy time until the knights arrived, and thanks to that, she was able to easily instigate a fight.

Even passersby began to stop and murmur as they watched the fight.

“You stupid fool, making such a fuss over just getting a little scratch!”

“Why don’t you do it on your own body then?”

“Try it if you can—”

It was then.

“Stop—!”

A loud shout echoed through the middle of the street.

Those who walked through the crowd were knights in armor.

“Security forces….”

People murmured as they looked at the knights.

The woman and man also stopped fighting and looked at them.

“You dare to brandish weapons in the middle of the street?”

However, despite the intimidating voice, the woman and man didn’t look scared at all.

The woman, who quietly lowered her knife, smiled comfortably at a middle-aged knight standing at the edge.

“Oh, Commander Fred. It was a bit noisy today, wasn’t it?”

Her familiar tone made it seem like she was addressing someone she knew well.

‘So she did have connections with the security forces.’

“I’m sorry. We won’t cause any more disturbance and will be on our way.”

“……”

Despite the woman’s words, the knight named Fred couldn’t answer and just stood there awkwardly.

The woman also noticed something was strange and called him again.

“Commander?”

“So it was true that the security commander took bribes from thugs…. Well, as a fellow knight, I’m too embarrassed to hold my head up.”

Grumbling, a man in white armor stepped forward.

“—These are the ones. The ones who threatened my maid.”

And beside him, Naran, who had removed his robe, pointed at them.

Judging by how he called her a maid, he seemed to be trying to hide her identity.

“That’s unfair…! Threats, I swear we never did such a thing.”

The woman, realizing that the commander was no longer in a position to help them, quickly changed her stance.

“That’s right, we never threatened anyone! Rather, this woman incited the fight!!”

The man also chimed in.

At those words, the man in white armor turned his gaze to her.

“Is that true?”

She clasped her hands together pitifully. With her eyebrows gently lowered, she opened her mouth.

“How could that be…. I’m someone who can’t live with doing bad things.”

“Someone like you can’t live with doing bad things, right? Isn’t that so?”

And when she looked at the woman pitifully, the woman’s expression contorted.