It was well past midnight, in the early hours of dawn, when Flora, who had been sleeping in the bed she had now become quite accustomed to, suddenly opened her eyes.

Furrowing her brow, Flora concentrated her sense of smell on a fishy scent that had blown in from somewhere.

“The smell of blood…”

This faint scent permeating her nose was undoubtedly the smell of blood.

Her ability to instantly detect this subtle blood scent that an ordinary person would never have noticed was because it was a smell she had encountered daily for 8 years.

Flora, who had jumped up, lowered her posture like an animal and looked around her quiet room once. Then, instinctively, she reached her arm behind her, but with a face that seemed to realize something, she withdrew her hand that had been groping the empty space.

Her sword had been taken away long ago. There was no way she would have a weapon.

“Damn it.”

She uttered an unfamiliar curse she had forgotten for months, moved nimbly in her lowered posture, and immediately pressed her back and ear against the door.

She concentrated, but no sound came from beyond the door. But her keen sense of smell, honed over a long time, was certain of the faint smell of blood.

She turned the doorknob she had placed her hand on without making a sound, opening it just a span’s width. The corridor wrapped in silence was quiet, and indeed, there was no one.

After watching outside for a while, Flora looked for something she could use as a substitute weapon and ended up taking a palm-sized paper knife for lack of options.

As soon as she stepped into the corridor, the smell of blood wafted so strongly that it made her wrinkle her nose.

Had the smell of blood always been this nauseating?

Covering her nose with her sleeve, before she could take a step, she saw a man collapsed at the far end of the corridor. The moment she recognized that he was wearing casual clothes that the mansion’s servants would wear, her stomach churned.

Flora’s eyes lowered darkly as she narrowed the distance, minimizing her footsteps as much as possible.

The face visible above the grotesquely twisted neck. It was a servant who, though not close, would blush and provide snacks whenever they met.

An intruder.

At this conclusion, her calm heart suddenly began to pound.

Flora, who had closed the eyes of the servant who had died with his eyes wide open as if in surprise, then slowly began to walk.

After seeing the servant who had become a corpse, her thoughts turned to the maids she worked with. Since there wasn’t a drop of blood here, the source of this thick smell of blood must be elsewhere.

But soon, Flora shook her head, regaining her scattered reason.

There would be no servants out of their rooms at this hour. It was time for everyone to sleep, so they were likely to be in their respective rooms. Even if someone had intruded, they wouldn’t go to the servants’ rooms to cause trouble.

‘Then the remaining assumption is…’

Naturally, Flora’s gaze turned to the master’s room above the central staircase beyond the corridor. She hurriedly moved her legs, changing her destination.

The moment she quietly reached the end of the stairs while surveying her surroundings, an unusual sight entered her thrown gaze.

The door to the master’s room, where the duke of the mansion stayed, was wide open. A thick smell of blood was blowing from there.

An ominous feeling rang alarm bells in her head. Flora, lowering her upper body, climbed one step and looked left and right down the corridor.

Amidst the absence of anyone, a faint human presence was felt from inside the master’s room. Flora’s eyes caught glimpses of dim figures as she peeked inside the door.

One, two… three shadows flickered.

Three figures were surrounding someone lying on the large bed. Below them, the motionless duke could be seen lying down.

‘Why is the master sleeping?’

Given that he was unrivaled in martial arts, even if he were in a deep sleep, there’s no way the duke wouldn’t have sensed their presence.

Something didn’t add up.

As Flora was about to approach carefully, she quickly covered her nose with her collar at the faint fragrance that wafted from somewhere.

This lingering scent was the fragrance of rahel flowers.

Now I understood why the guard knights guarding the corridor were not visible.

Rahel flowers, commonly seen in forests, are mainly used for ornamental purposes due to their beauty, but when the powder extracted from the flowers is ignited, it becomes a sleep fragrance.

Flora fell into contemplation. Since she didn’t know their skills, she couldn’t move rashly.

Considering the possibility that the duke might have already been attacked, it was time to wait and gauge the timing.

“The information wasn’t wrong. This was easy.”

Someone opened their mouth in the darkness. The unfamiliar voice was quite husky.

“It can’t be false since we paid a hefty price.”

“This is easier than expected. We’ll be able to pocket a generous reward.”

What kind of conversation is this?

Although she couldn’t understand the content exchanged beyond the quiet space, her judgment that there were three opponents was accurate.

At that moment, as the bed curtain swayed, a long object glinted in the moonlight that flowed in.

A sword!

There was no need to think further.

Just as the man was about to thrust the sword into the duke’s chest, Flora forcefully threw the thin paper knife she was holding.

Clang!

After the sharp sound of impact, an ear-splitting friction sound echoed in the room.

“Wha… what!”

“Who is it!”

One of the men turned around and shouted at the shock applied to the sword. The other men were equally startled by the sudden flying object.

Flora, who had immediately plunged between the confused men, struck one man’s ankle and knocked him down. There was a cracking sound, and the man fell backwards.

In the meantime, she strongly struck the wrist of another man who was trying to stand up and swing his sword with the back of her hand.

Simultaneously, she snatched the sword he had dropped and thrust it into his abdomen. Red blood splattered onto the neatly laid carpet.

“Ugh!”

Groans of the men who had been suddenly ambushed resounded here and there.

The last man, perhaps flustered by his comrades’ screams, wildly swung his sword in the darkness. The threatening sound of the blade cutting through the air could be heard.

Flora, who had been focusing on that sound, rolled once to approach the man closely and strongly struck his solar plexus with her elbow. Not stopping there, she kicked his lower abdomen with the rebound of extending her leg.

With a thud, the man who had hit the wall dropped his head and collapsed right there.

She exhaled rough breaths after her rapid movements. However, there was no time to relax.

Now that she had neutralized the men’s force, there was something she had to do.

Flora, who immediately mounted on top of the first man who had fallen, placed the blade of the sword she was holding against his neck.

“Tell me who sent you.”

“Ugh… Why would I… be crazy enough to tell you?”

The subdued man struggled greatly to escape.

Flora pressed the threatening blade deeper. Blood oozed from the pressed neckline and gathered in droplets on the sword’s edge.

“If you don’t state your reason for coming here, I’ll cut you.”

Despite his pained expression, Flora calmly urged him to answer again. His fearful eyes shook violently above the black hood covering his face.

Just as the man was about to open his lips, rolling his eyes towards the sword tip, a faint presence was felt from behind.

Oh no.

At the sound of a whoosh, Flora quickly twisted her shoulder to avoid something flying towards her. The dagger that had barely grazed her lodged squarely into the chest of the man lying on the floor.

The man beneath her died with his eyes rolled back, unable to even scream.

Flora, who had barely dodged in time, hurriedly looked back. A man was slowly walking out from between the curtains.

A skilled one.

Flora swallowed hard when an assailant, whose presence she hadn’t even sensed, appeared. Due to her carelessness, a stinging sensation formed on her cheek.

To think he killed his comrade to silence him.

Cold sweat trickled down her spine. The man’s face, dressed in the same attire as the other men, was similarly covered.

“…There was no need to kill your comrade.”

Flora spoke to him, lightly turning her wrist to shift the direction of the blade backwards. She thought to throw the longsword if the opportunity arose, taking advantage of his inattention.

But he took no further action. He just glanced briefly at his comrade, then silently tilted his head slightly and stared at her.

The gaze lingered quite long, as though he was also gauging her skills.

For a moment, Flora, who had found herself in a standoff situation, quietly caught her breath. Although there seemed to be no sign of immediate attack, she remained vigilant, sensing that he was a dangerous person.

Then suddenly, the man nimbly climbed onto the window sill.

‘I can’t let him go.’

In that brief moment, Flora, having made her decision, put strength into her hand and threw the longsword.

However, the man easily avoided it just by tilting his head. Then, after looking at her face for a moment, he smoothly escaped over the window.

She hurriedly searched for the man beyond the window, but there was already no trace visible in the dark garden.

In the end, she gave up chasing further and locked all the window latches in the room. Afterwards, in preparation for any possible situation, she moved all the slumped intruders to the bathroom and firmly locked the door.