chapter 03
The commotion outside gradually grew louder.
One by one, every member of the guild entered the room, dropped to their knees, and mourned the woman through tears.
The funeral was held in silence.
She was buried within the guild’s own grounds.
It had all started ten years ago, when she brought me here.
She was the reason I’d ended up living this life.
Now that I was finally free from the life I’d never wanted, I should have felt relieved.
So why…
“Why do I feel so awful?”
I pressed a hand against my chest, trying to ease the tightness there. I couldn’t make sense of the feeling.
When I was little, I hated her.
The endless training had been unbearable, and I resented the woman who had forced me into it.
But ten years could change almost anything.
If she hadn’t appeared before my sister and me after we lost our parents…
Who knew what would have become of us in those mountains?
In the end, I’d survived. Seniel had been adopted by a noble family and was living the life she’d always deserved.
That should have been enough.
I wasn’t grateful to the woman.
But I’d stopped hating her a long time ago.
I’d planned to make her repay the debt of chaining me to this place for the rest of her life.
Instead…
She was gone so easily.
“…Goodbye.”
Standing before her grave, I uncorked the bottle of liquor I’d brought.
“I’ll let this take the place of my tears. It’s your favorite drink, isn’t it? Drink as much as you want over there.”
I poured every last drop onto the fresh mound of earth.
As I did, Rayleigh walked over and stopped beside me.
“Queen preferred sweet wine over hard liquor.”
“You only think that because you didn’t know her back then. She only picked up refined tastes a few years ago. Before that, all she ever drank was the strongest stuff she could find.”
“Really?” Rayleigh smiled faintly. “If you say so. You knew Queen better than anyone.”
“…”
“So what are you going to do, Prince? I want you to take over the guild. Everyone else feels the same.”
I set the now-empty bottle beside the grave and quietly closed my eyes.
“I’m tired of killing people.”
“The guild master doesn’t fight personally,” Rayleigh said. “You’d only give orders. We’ll do the work.”
You’re a kind child.
Queen’s words echoed through my mind.
Did she… want me to leave?
At first, I’d taken this path only because she’d forced me to.
Somewhere along the way, it had become as natural as breathing.
This was all I knew.
Every skill I’d ever learned.
Everything I could do.
If I walked away…
What would I even become?
“…I need time to think. I’m taking a vacation.”
“Where?”
“I want to see my sister.”
Just then, Sophia came running over, tears already welling in her eyes. She grabbed the hem of my pants.
“They said Queen left the guild to you! If the guild master leaves, what happens to Raven? Are we supposed to disband?”
Her eyes were brimming with tears.
For a brief moment, she looked like a puppy that had lost its owner.
It almost made me waver.
“Prince…” she whispered. “You’re not really abandoning us… are you?”
The word abandon made a vein twitch across my forehead.
“Then should everyone retire together? You, Rayleigh, everyone else—you all love this guild.”
I looked from one face to another.
“I don’t.”
Unlike me, who had been dragged into Raven against my will, every other member had joined by choice.
Raven’s reputation was infamous.
But it was also legendary.
Among the underworld guilds, none could rival it.
Every member took pride in calling themselves a Raven.
No one wanted to see the guild disappear.
Except me.
“Then how about this?” Sophia suddenly blurted out. “You could run a shop!”
“…A shop?”
I stared at her as though she’d completely lost her mind.
“Yeah! A shop!”
She grabbed both my hands, her eyes sparkling.
“We’ve got guild branches all over the continent, don’t we? We use them as meeting points and information hubs.”
“So?”
“You can manage one of them! If you don’t like the current location, we’ll let you start wherever you want.”
She looked incredibly proud of the idea she’d come up with.
Unfortunately…
It didn’t interest me in the slightest.
“I don’t know…”
Seeing my lackluster reaction, Sophia clung even closer.
“Think about it! You could live the normal life you’ve always wanted without cutting ties with us! Isn’t that perfect? Right?”
“I’ll think about it.”
I gently removed her hands and looked back at the empty liquor bottle.
Then Rayleigh suddenly lifted my chin, forcing our eyes to meet.
“Go see your sister,” he said softly. “However long you’re gone, I’ll watch over this place.”
He paused.
His expression grew unexpectedly gentle.
“But come back.”
His voice was barely above a whisper.
“You’re our Prince. Queen’s successor.”
He leaned close enough that I could clearly see my own reflection in his eyes before lightly pressing his forehead against mine.
“I believe you’ll come back.”
I pulled away just a little…
Then rammed my forehead straight into his.
Thunk.
“You people are way too sentimental. It’s annoying.”
“Urgh! That hurt!” Rayleigh groaned, clutching his forehead. “Rosia, do you know your skull is ridiculously hard?”
“Nope. I said I was taking a vacation! Why are you and Sophia acting like this is some dramatic farewell?”
“Because…”
He rubbed his forehead.
“…it feels like you’re leaving for good.”
I gave Rayleigh—a man who resembled Queen more than anyone else—a couple of reassuring pats on the shoulder before standing.
“Don’t worry.”
I smiled faintly.
“I’ll come back with my decision.”
Only then did Sophia and Rayleigh finally let me go, both wearing relieved smiles.
As I walked away from the guild grounds, Sophia shouted after me.
“Wait! Aren’t you taking your sword?”
“You can keep it.”
“…What?”
“You’ve always wanted it.”
“I was joking! That’s your signature weapon! Prince! Priiince!!”
After talking to the guild’s officially ranked number one and number two naggers, my ears felt like they’d gone numb.
I rubbed them vigorously.
Then…
I removed the mask I’d worn like a second face for the past ten years.
I couldn’t even remember the last time the midday sun had touched my skin directly.
Ten years in the guild had left me with lightning-fast reflexes…
The skills to kill a person in an instant…
A body honed beyond human limits…
And…
Money.
Most of my earnings had gone straight to Queen.
Still, a small percentage had always been mine.
I’d never had any reason to spend it, so I’d left it in her care at the bank.
By now, it had probably grown into a respectable fortune.
“The bank’s in the capital.”
I stretched lazily.
“I’ll stop by after I see Seniel.”
Before setting out, I reread the periodic reports I’d received about my sister over the years.
“Participated in numerous wars. Exceptional talent with extraordinary potential. Graduated from the Academy with honors. Ranked among the top competitors in the National Swordsmanship Tournament. Served for several years in the Second Prince’s personal knight order. Highly likely to be accepted into the Imperial Knights…“
If I belonged to the shadows…
Seniel belonged completely to the light.
We had lived entirely opposite lives.
At the very end of the report, someone had scribbled a note in bright red ink.
P.S. She’s incredibly popular.
“…How popular can she be?”
I shrugged, slipped the documents into my storage artifact, and fastened it shut.
“She’s going to be surprised.”
For the past ten years, Seniel and I had met only once a year.
One day.
Two hours.
It was a promise we’d never broken.
Showing up without warning this time…
She’d probably be shocked.
Part of me wondered if appearing before her—now that she had a perfect life without me—was the wrong thing to do.
…But I want to see her.
Before deciding what to do with the rest of my life…
I wanted to see my little sister.
After riding for an entire day, I arrived at the territory of House Freya, the noble family that had adopted Seniel.
I rented a room at an inn near the bustling town square.
The first thing I did was write her a letter.
“Shell.”
I tied it to the leg of the raven that had faithfully carried messages between Seniel and me for the past decade.
“Take this to Seniel.”
The bird launched into the sky without hesitation.
Shell was smart.
If anyone could find her, it was him.
Still…
I understood why the locals kept stealing glances at me.
A stranger had appeared in their territory, after all.
But the constant stares were driving me insane.
“I really need to dull these instincts.”
Years of surviving as an assassin had sharpened my senses to the point that every tiny movement around me demanded my attention.
I forcibly shut out my awareness as best I could.
Then, exhausted from the long journey, I collapsed onto the stiff inn bed.
*
Meanwhile, Seniel was completely absorbed in preparing for the Imperial Knights entrance examination, now only two months away.
Like always, she’d spent the past week training in the capital.
She returned home seven days later.
“Welcome back, Lady Seniel. You must have had a difficult journey. Were you injured anywhere?”
The butler greeted her warmly as she handed over her luggage.
Seniel let out an exhausted groan.
“My whole body’s covered in bruises. They had us climbing mountains, crossing rivers… I swear they’re trying to kill us before the entrance exam even starts. At this rate, I’m tempted to forget the Imperial Knights altogether.”
She stretched her sore shoulders.
“Oh, right. Did anything important come in while I was away?”
“No, nothing urgent. Although…” The butler gestured toward a towering stack of envelopes. “Invitation letters from young ladies of various noble houses have accumulated once again. They’re all over there.”
Seniel’s popularity had spread throughout the Empire.
Letters poured in from every corner of the realm.
There were so many that counting them had become impossible.
Since Seniel had absolutely no interest in them, sorting out anything truly important had become one of the butler’s regular duties.
“Just handle them however you think best.”
She barely spared the mountain of letters a glance.
“And decline every single one.”
Yawning from exhaustion, Seniel headed upstairs toward her room.
