“Did you see everything you needed to?”
“Huh? Oh, yes. I checked everything. The person I’m looking for wasn’t here. But, Your Highness.”
“Hmm?”
Raylin, staring at the seat where the unconscious man had just been slumped, asked,
“Why did you capture him?”
She had heard Aiger say they were “taking” someone.
However, during the journey, she had been too preoccupied with closely tailing Aiger while scanning for Catherine inside the casino. Even in this room, she had focused solely on finding her name, leaving her unaware of the exact nature of the man’s work.
Words like ledgers and accounts had been exchanged, and judging by the man’s appearance, it seemed to be related to money…
But watching him being dragged away, it felt less like “taking” someone and more like an outright abduction.
At a glance, this was clearly a covert operation.
Yet, Aiger had casually invited her along. And before that, he had said she could ask him anything.
Surely, this level of questioning was acceptable.
Even with what she considered a rational and logical basis, Raylin still fixed her gaze intently on Aiger, waiting for his response.
“He’s one of the guys managing the emperor’s money flow. Starting with him, we’ll need to track down the rest as well.”
As Raylin listened to his response, she unknowingly widened her eyes in surprise.
The emotion floating beside him was none other than ‘pleasure.’
A man who enjoyed kidnapping people by ambushing them from behind, and a woman who found herself sharing in that joy just by following him—it was a scene that, to any onlooker, would seem like a pair of lunatics finding their match.
Of course, the two involved merely exchanged faint, warm smiles.
Aiger straightened up and extended his hand toward Raylin once again.
“Do you want to stay here longer?”
Thanks to this, Raylin had managed to confirm the list of high-alert individuals who frequented the private rooms and casino—places that required careful maneuvering to enter. Shaking her head, she replied,
“No. I’ve finished my business here.”
She had also confirmed that Catherine had not visited today and that there were no deposits made in her name.
If possible, she wanted to use Catherine’s notorious reputation as the ‘disgrace of the Sillion family’ to get her banned from the casino altogether. However, taking such action without a valid reason would inevitably prompt an official complaint from the Sillion household.
For now, this was enough. Soon, she would have to bribe a few casino employees to keep tabs on Catherine’s movements.
It would be ideal if Catherine caused trouble herself.
“Casino? Ah, Raylin, you’ve never been to one, have you? I’ve only been twice, so I don’t have much to tell you. But one thing’s for sure—if you win an absurd amount of money, they ban you from entering.”
Catherine’s amused voice echoed in her mind.
Shaking her head to clear away the lingering traces of Catherine, Raylin casually asked,
“What’s the best way to prevent someone from handling large sums of money in a casino?”
“The simplest method is bribing the dealer. You could also hire a gambler to follow that person around.”
Raylin, who had stopped in her tracks at the clear and specific answer, blinked.
Aiger, who had naturally been matching his stride to hers, also came to a halt.
Raylin asked again,
“Aren’t you curious about who I’m looking for?”
“If I’m allowed to ask, then I will.”
The moment he closed his mouth, Raylin blurted out,
“You can!”
She had spoken louder than intended and, feeling embarrassed, cleared her throat before adding,
“His Highness told me I could ask anything, so it’d be strange if I hesitated now. Of course… there are still a few things I’m not ready to answer yet. But for this matter, I can tell you everything in detail.”
As she rambled in a defensive tone, Raylin glanced at Aiger.
No, there was no need to glance.
His long eyes curved into a smile, and the corners of his lips softened, forming a vivid grin.
Without realizing it, Raylin found herself grinning back.
At Aiger’s next question, she quickly answered.
“So, who are you looking for at this hour, in a place like this?”
“Catherine Sillion.”
“And the person you want to prevent from winning money—is it her as well?”
“Yes.”
Aiger tilted his head slightly but didn’t ask further.
He had yet to receive a proper answer as to why Raylin was so fixated on opposing Sillion’s disgrace, but he didn’t want to push her if she seemed reluctant.
Besides, if Raylin was hostile toward the Sillion family, that was a good thing.
Sillion—nothing more than a puppet slave created by the emperor.
To bring down the emperor, a madman obsessed with ruling the empire forever, such obstacles had to be removed.
Confirming that Aiger was in a good mood, Raylin asked with a hint of expectation,
“Then… is there a way to ban Catherine—no, Lady Sillion—from the entire casino?”
“There is, but the process is quite complicated.”
“Then I’ll just stick to the method you suggested earlier.”
Clicking her tongue in disappointment, Raylin decided she would have to be satisfied with successfully scouting the casino tonight.
As their conversation continued, she eventually returned alone through the staff passageway.
Reaching for her mask, she adjusted the strap that felt slightly uncomfortable behind her ears.
Just then, Aiger’s hand suddenly covered hers and secured the strap in place.
“There. It’s fixed now.”
“…Thank you.”
The tips of her ears burned where his fingers had brushed against them, and Raylin instinctively rubbed them to cool the sensation.
Aiger, watching her, was about to ask if she was still uncomfortable when—
Raylin froze.
Her eyes widened to their absolute limit.
For a moment, she forgot to breathe.
And with good reason.
Standing right before her was someone she had never expected to encounter tonight.
Amidst the dazzling lights and the masked crowd moving to and fro, how could she possibly fail to recognize her?
Catherine.
She was only a few steps ahead of Raylin.
Click. Click. Click.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
With each step Catherine took, Raylin’s heart pounded with unease, and the searing pain of her insides burning from the poison Catherine had once fed her returned in full force.
Any moment now, Catherine might reach out, clasp her throat, and whisper with a smile—
“There you are, Raylin. My dear friend. You have no idea how long I’ve been looking for you.”
This was their first meeting after the regression. Of course, right now, she was just a stranger with no relation to her, so there was no way she would feel any emotions toward her.…Or at least, that should have been the case.
Something could be seen next to Catherine. Elation, a sense of achievement, joy. These were the emotions she had displayed when she killed her.
How could a person… How could a person feel such emotions while killing their closest friend—the one who had done everything for them, wholeheartedly, for years?
Raylin felt a simultaneous sense of human repulsion and disgust. Even at the moment of her death, she could not understand Catherine, nor did she want to.
“Hhng!”
As the memory overlapped with the present, Raylin’s face turned as white as a sheet, and her lips took on a bluish hue. She couldn’t breathe properly, her fingertips trembling violently before stiffening entirely. Just as her vision darkened—
A low and firm voice, unbreakable by anything, poured down over the crown of her head.
“You’re okay. You’re safe. As long as I’m here, no one can touch you.”
Those words, that warmth, that voice—They had always pulled her out of his nightmares.
Only then did Raylin’s shriveled lungs expand again, allowing her to breathe. Aiger, who had been holding her from behind, gently loosened Raylin’s hand, which had been gripping the fabric of his robe so tightly it was as if she were wringing it out.
Her fingers had become so rigid that as Aiger swept over them, releasing the tension, the strength in them melted away.
After a moment of steadying his breath in Aiger’s embrace, Raylin ran her tongue over her parched mouth, dried from extreme tension and anxiety. It seemed she had unconsciously bitten the inside of her cheek—there was a faint metallic taste and a slight sting. But she welcomed the pain. It confirmed that she was still alive.
Taking a deep breath, she opened his mouth.
“I’m okay now.”
“Alright.”
Aiger accepted her words without argument but did not release her. Nor did Raylin attempt to break free. Instead, she only tried to remove Aiger’s hand from her eyes.
But her strength hadn’t yet returned. She fumbled a few times, unable to lift the hand, and in the end, merely brushed against Aiger’s palm.
At that moment, Aiger’s back stiffened, and his jaw clenched. Then, as if by reflex, he removed his hand from Raylin’s eyes.
Raylin’s vision instantly brightened. She blinked a few times in the flood of light before her sight adjusted.
Naturally, Catherine was gone. She hadn’t simply vanished into thin air—if she searched, she could find her.
Her stomach still churned, but the firm support and warmth at her back kept her from being pulled into the past as she had before.
Just as Raylin took a short, steadying breath and turned her gaze toward Catherine—
“What should I do about it?”
A low, deep voice resonated like an echo in a well, whispering as if tempting her.
‘There’s no need for you to act. Just say the word, and I will do anything. So tell me what you want.’
In that single phrase, everything was implied. Raylin’s heart trembled again, though for a different reason than before.
“Raylin.”
At Aiger’s call, Raylin fell right into his snare.
“If possible, I’d like to have her barred from entry. Can you do that?”
“If that’s what you desire.”
With that lightly amused response, Raylin had once again successfully blocked Catherine’s path.