Chapter 27. I’m Not Shady

“I just came to explain tomorrow’s schedule.”

A non-excuse excuse tumbled out of Claude’s mouth.

At his nonchalant attitude, I glared at him as if I wanted to kill him. My hands were crossed in an X-shape, covering my chest. Even though I was fully dressed, I somehow felt n*ked.

Just a moment ago.

Having been caught off guard while pleasantly bathing in hot water, I turned red from head to toe. I could feel the heat rising and my skin burning without even looking.

After a sharp scream tore through the night air.

Bang!

Claude slammed the door shut as if he would break it.

Then, silence fell for a moment. But my eardrums still felt muffled as if they had suffered a great shock. It was as if every cell in my body was resonating with a dull ache.

For a time that seemed to stand still, impossible to gauge how long it lasted, I remained frozen like a statue.

And though I couldn’t see him, I instinctively knew that Claude was in the same state outside the door.

He was the one who broke the silence filled with shock.

He said he had something to say, so I should come out.

Only then did I come to my senses, and as if finally released from a spell, I was able to move my body.

Splash.

Seeing the rippling bathwater made me want to cry.

When I lowered my head, my skin was clearly visible beneath the transparent water.

This bastard…

How much did he see?

I wanted to ask so badly, I was so curious, I wanted to dig into his mind and carve out just that part of his memory, but I couldn’t bring myself to utter such explicit words.

All I could do was convey my feelings through my eyes and body language, like now.

Currently, Claude and I were sitting face to face on the first floor of the inn.

There weren’t many guests during dinner time earlier, but now, probably because it was so late, it was just Claude and me.

“No matter what, knocking is basic etiquette!”

At my accusatory voice, a wrinkle formed between Claude’s brows. His already cold face turned savage.

I flinched momentarily at that scary change in expression, but I quickly regained the strength in my eyes. It was because he couldn’t meet my gaze the whole time and was looking sideways at an angle.

His blood-red eyes briefly turned to my face before returning to some random point in space.

Still exuding a chilly aura, Claude said,

“Being around those shady guys made me like this.”

“I’m not shady though.”

“Then I’ll just do it. Knock.”

As he said this, Claude moved his head to look straight at me.

Hey, what did you do right to glare at me so confidently!

I was dumbfounded, but I couldn’t maintain eye contact with his bright red eyes for long and lowered my gaze.

He’s too scary.

“Wake up at 5 AM. Understood?”

“5 AM?!”

When I raised my head in surprise, he shamelessly added,

“If you don’t come out on time, I’ll forcibly put you on the horse and depart.”

“……”

“Answer.”

“How about… 6 AM…?”

At my words, which I threw out as if negotiating, Claude’s expression turned grim. As if to say, how dare you talk back instead of obeying your superior’s orders.

Feeling my courage shrink, I answered in a small voice.

“Yes.”

I wanted to cry.

* * *

Even though we had already ridden horses all day yesterday, waking up after only three or four hours of sleep was too much even for me, who had been trained by Johann’s special training.

That’s right.

I failed to wake up on time.

Knock knock knock.

I thought I heard something hitting in my dream. Drrrr drrrr. It seemed to mix with the sound of my light snoring.

“Purifier Seraphina.”

A chilly voice also echoed in my ears.

It seemed that because I was stressed by Claude, he was appearing in my dreams.

Oh, come on.

What a nightmare.

Bang bang bang!

Then, a rougher knocking sound reverberated in my head. At that moment, I realized this wasn’t a dream.

“Gasp!”

With the instinctive realization that I had overslept, I opened my eyes wide. As I sprang up from the bed, Claude’s cold voice came from outside the door.

“I’m coming in.”

It was a seriously angry voice.

My neck involuntarily shrank like a turtle’s. Fear filled me from toe to head like a criminal awaiting execution.

I felt all those emotions in an instant.

Creak.

The door opening slowly, contrary to the fierce voice, made me sink deeper into fear.

That’s exactly how it felt.

Like I was facing a predator that’s slowly coming to tear apart its already captured prey.

Finally, the door opened, and Claude and I faced each other.

His bright red eyes scanned over me sitting demurely on the bed.

“What’s this? Why didn’t you answer if you were awake?”

“I just woke up.”

Looking down at me with cold eyes as I smiled sheepishly, trying to look good, he gave a short order.

“Come out immediately. I’ll give you one minute.”

“Yes, sir.”

As I answered briskly, he looked me up and down once more and slammed the door shut.

Seriously.

What a temper.

Not knowing that it was an incredible leniency to end with just slamming the door despite my tardiness, I grumbled softly. It was later that I learned what kind of punishment those ‘shady guys’ who made him lose his manners received when they made the same mistake.

Who would have thought that the great Northern Knights would become so haggard because of that.

Anyway, as soon as Claude disappeared behind the door, I moved quickly. And surprisingly, a minute later, I was standing in front of the inn with him.

He was already sitting on a sturdy warhorse, having brought out two horses from the stable. The black mane, resembling its owner’s jet-black hair, swayed in the gentle breeze.

The dawn light was breaking.

I momentarily blanked out at the sight of Claude bathed in the faint light emerging from the darkness.

It was a majestic and perfect figure.

A straight back. Proudly squared shoulders. Cold and unwavering eyes that inspired awe beyond fear in the beholder. Large hands firmly gripping the reins.

“Let’s depart.”

The voice of a man for whom giving orders was as natural as breathing.

I could understand why he didn’t bow his head to Johann.

Claude was another ruler.

A ruler who governed and protected the harsh northern lands.

“Yes.”

I mounted Sylphid.

Claude waited silently as I clumsily struggled, and only when I was properly seated in the saddle and firmly gripping the reins did he start his horse.

The sound of powerful hoofbeats echoed through the quiet dawn air.

* * *

“Prepare.”

Cyril briefly ordered as he held the paper over the candlelight.

Jacques answered in a flat voice as he watched the note he had just brought catch fire.

“Yes, Master.”

He bowed concisely and disappeared behind the door.

Left alone in the room, Cyril stared at the closed door for a moment, then moved his eyes to look at the flickering candle before turning his gaze to the window.

“They’re sending her far away.”

His cool voice created gentle ripples in the air before disappearing.

Cyril’s gaze, fixed on somewhere beyond the window, was as cold as frost.

“The Emperor…”

Isn’t that too big of a fish, even for a big shot?

It felt like facing an enormous wall whose top couldn’t be seen even when craning one’s neck, considering how he had just found Seraphina.

But for the great Cyril Xavier, giving up was not an option.

The Emperor.

One of the three heroes who saved the world from the undead.

Even so, he wasn’t omnipotent.

No matter how great, he was still just a human after all.

“This will be interesting.”

A sinister smile appeared on Cyril’s lips as he said this. In his mind, the contents of the brief report Jacques had just submitted floated.

[Miss Seraphina’s deployment location has been decided. She is scheduled to depart within a week for the eastern desert city where Sir Mihail Andantino is stationed.]

It was top-class information brought from the imperial palace.

The ability to obtain such classified information, which was not yet released to the newspapers, was because Cyril was the master of the information guild that had spread its roots like a spider’s web across the continent.

Even so, obtaining information from the tightly secured imperial palace was a remarkable feat. Especially when that information was a secret of secrets known only to the Emperor’s closest confidants.

Of course, it would spread to the media over time.

“I should give her a surprise.”

Cyril recalled how he couldn’t easily approach Seraphina because she was thoroughly protected within the imperial palace walls.

The Emperor had tightened security around the purifier as if she were some kind of treasure. That’s why neither the maid he had planted long ago nor the guild member who had infiltrated wearing an artificial mask could get close to Seraphina. The control and management around her were too strict.

Then, luckily, the information he finally managed to obtain was the news that her deployment location had been decided.

Cyril planned to go and wait for her first.

This time without an artificial mask.

She had called him a ‘benefactor like the wind,’ so she probably hadn’t forgotten this face.

“Master.”

At that moment, Jacques returned with a knock.

It was just a short word, but the air changed.

Cyril, who had been looking out the window, slowly turned to face his capable subordinate. He had finished preparing to leave for the east.

“Good. Let’s depart right away.”

Cyril’s slow voice seemed to have a joyful hum mixed in.

He could already feel the dry air of the desert enveloping his skin.