Both Ir and Sirha understood what he planned to do. Nergal intended to set fire to this house and completely bury the incident.

“Hurry. My people will help you.”

“…Yes!”

Sirha immediately went upstairs, worried about her siblings sleeping there after hearing the house would burn. Before leaving the room, she turned around. Ir, leaning against Nergal, looked at her.

Sirha hesitated for a moment, then knelt down and pressed her forehead to the floor.

“Thank you for helping me today, Lady Ishtar. If I can ever be of any help to you, I will do anything.”

Then she got up and went straight upstairs. The men who came with Nergal followed her.

Nergal watched Sirha hurry with satisfaction. She was said to be clever, and indeed her perception proved quick. She immediately understood how to act with just a brief explanation. Someone like her would likely manage well even in an unfamiliar place.

Now he had nothing more to do. His subordinates would handle the remaining tasks cleanly as ordered before they arrived. Nergal finished wiping the blood from Ir with his clothes.

She wanted to say she was fine, but Ir kept feeling her strength drain away.

‘This is strange.’

She shouldn’t be this weak just from overexertion. Moreover, this sensation of energy being instantly drained felt familiar, like she had experienced it recently. When was it? Through her fading consciousness, Ir soon remembered when she had felt this way.

‘It was definitely at the auction house.’

When Nergal had come up and the auction house grew noisy with people’s jeers, she had felt around to untie the rope and grabbed something. Then she dropped it and failed to untie the rope, and at that moment, just like now, her strength suddenly drained away.

‘Why is this happening again?’

Ir staggered and turned her head. She thought she should retrieve the dagger she had just stabbed Kilim with. That’s when Nergal noticed something was wrong and lifted Ir into his arms.

“We should leave now.”

“But… here… Sirha too….”

“Don’t worry about that.”

Saying so, Nergal patted her back to comfort her.

“I’ll take care of the rest, so you can rest now.”

At those words, Ir looked at him for a moment and nodded. Then she collapsed into his arms.

Nergal covered Ir with his outer garment. He wanted to wipe all the blood from her face and body right away, but they couldn’t linger here too long.

Shortly after, Sirha’s sleeping siblings were carried out on the backs of the men.

Ishin, who stood in front of the carriage, approached Sirha and placed a small pouch in her hand.

“Open this when you reach the place they take you.”

“…Thank you.”

Sirha bowed her head again. Then she disappeared into the darkness with the men. Nergal also boarded the carriage carrying Ir.

“Clean it up well.”

“Of course. You know this used to be my profession.”

After hearing Ishin’s answer, Nergal immediately had the carriage depart. The plain carriage with no decorations soon left the street. Much later, as the carriage traveled along a hill road, they could see a house in the distance engulfed in flames. Even without checking, they knew it was Shulat’s house.

Four bodies would be found inside the burned house. They would be burned beyond recognition, but the security forces would determine them to be Kilim and Shulat’s siblings including Sirha.

And testimonies from residents and security forces would prove that Kilim had visited the traitor’s family unnecessarily often, and Kilim’s family would try to cover up this matter as quickly as possible to avoid scandal.

Turning his gaze away from the burning house, Nergal looked at Ir in his arms.

Like someone who had completed an extremely difficult task, Ir slept deeply.

Ir had looked the same when they returned to the lodging from the auction house. The appearance of someone exhausted from enduring alone. Wasn’t that why he had made a promise to himself? That he would do anything Ir wanted.

So when Ir asked him to help with her revenge, he felt extremely pleased.

Ir needed him. That fact excited him.

“You couldn’t wait that little bit and rushed out.”

Nergal grumbled while wiping the remaining blood from Ir’s hair. Yet he couldn’t completely erase the smile that appeared on his lips.

From the beginning, he had planned to kill Kilim. He knew that was what Ir wanted. Still, he needed to find bodies to substitute for Shulat’s siblings, prepare to burn the house, and arrange other matters, which took some time. But she couldn’t wait and rushed out.

Nergal looked at his hand. The feeling of stabbing Kilim’s neck just a while ago remained vivid.

‘She used to cry before.’

He recalled the day Ir committed her first murder.

She had stood frozen in a room splattered with blood. A murder committed to protect him. Ir had held the sword with trembling hands. All by herself.

That night, Nergal couldn’t sleep. Whenever he closed his eyes, he saw Ir trembling alone, covered in blood. Each time he remembered that image, he felt regret. Why couldn’t he tell her it was okay? Why couldn’t he kill together with her? Why didn’t he…

The shame he had carried in his heart for over a decade seemed to fade a little only today.

Nergal held Ir’s blood-stained hand. Despite his efforts to wipe it clean, some blood still stuck stubbornly. He intertwined his fingers with hers. The blood they shared together stuck to them viscously.

But he didn’t mind. From now on, more blood would spill, and he would stand with her through it all.

Right now, he simply felt happy to commit sins together with Ir.

***

‘The villa.’

As soon as she opened her eyes, Ir felt relieved seeing the now-familiar ceiling.

After sitting up, she slowly examined her body. Dizziness and nausea washed over her. Fortunately, the nausea subsided when she took a slow, deep breath. But the dizziness persisted.

Wondering what was wrong, Ir realized it was deep hunger. The good news was that apart from hunger, she felt no other pain. Her hands and arms remained normal. Her vision and hearing too. When she touched her body, she didn’t feel any fever.

‘My condition is much better compared to last time.’

Back then, she had suffered from fever the entire time she was collapsed, but not now. She seemed to have become accustomed to something she had experienced once before.

‘How much time has passed?’

Her last memory was of the deep night. Turning her head, she saw the sky after sunset. That meant she had been collapsed for at least a day. Judging by her current hunger, she must have been lying down for even longer.

Ir unconsciously turned her head. Beside where she had been lying was only a clean sheet with no trace of anyone else. In the past, she would have felt comfortable with that fact. But now, strangely, she felt an inexplicable disappointment and emptiness.

Confused by this unfamiliar emotion, Ir held her hand up to the orange sunset light coming through the window. Naturally, no blood remained on it anywhere. The same was true for her hair and face. All traces of murder had disappeared. She could guess without asking. The person who had brought her here had clearly taken the trouble to clean her thoroughly.

Ir slowly clenched and unclenched her fist. Though the traces were gone, the sensation of killing Kilim still remained vivid in her hand.

It wasn’t really different from what she had done until now. But…

Ir covered her right hand with her left. Then she shook her head without realizing it.

‘It’s different.’

It was completely different from when Nergal had held her hand. The hand that had gripped hers without hesitation then had felt strangely reassuring.

After clutching her hand for a long time, recalling that moment, Ir got up from the bed.

As soon as she opened the door, she saw Seviti standing in the hallway.

“You’re awake. Are you feeling alright?”

At the concerned question, Ir smiled and nodded.

“Nothing hurts particularly. By the way, how long has it been since I returned?”

“Three days have passed.”

As expected. Quite some time had passed, just as she had guessed.

‘Still, it’s shorter.’

When she collapsed at the auction house, hadn’t it taken a week before she could open her eyes?

“First, I’d like to request a meal. And I’d also like to wash up.”

“I’ll prepare it right away.”

Seviti answered with a bow, as if she had been waiting for this. As she was about to turn to make preparations, Ir spoke again.

“And… is His Highness Nergal currently at the villa?”

For now, she wanted to see him.