TFL 02

Chapter: 02

The man’s voice, whispering “anything,” was dizzyingly sweet.

Leaning back with his arms casually crossed, he flashed a teasing, inviting smile.

In just under five minutes of meeting him, Lenia could already sense that this man had a dangerously sharp edge—he was not to be underestimated.

“…I’m not sure I can trust you. How do I know you’re not all talk?”

“You can check for yourself if you doubt me. I have plenty of time today. Shall we go out together?”

“I’ll pass. Who asks for an after-meeting on the same day? That’s so tacky.”

“Why bother worrying about what others think? If a man and woman like each other, what does it matter?”

If this were a normal meeting rather than a matchmaking arrangement, she might have considered it. But the problem lay elsewhere.

Lenia’s sharp instincts, honed from years in the underworld, were sending her a warning signal: this was dangerous.

“Let’s end today’s meeting here. I’ll send any request for an after-meeting through the madam, so you can head home. Don’t worry about paying; I’ll cover the bill.”

As she stood to leave, the man let out a quiet chuckle and spoke.

“I was hoping we could chat while enjoying a slow date… it’s a shame. Shall I try a different way to persuade you?”

Step by step, he approached.

Before she knew it, he was blocking her path, speaking in a soft, captivating voice:

“I… actually know one of your secrets.”

…A secret?

‘What could he mean? There are too many possibilities, it’s impossible to guess.’

Was it the jewel heist she had carried out a few months ago on commission? Or the time she passed off a market painting as a masterpiece? If not that… was it the incident of forging gold coins with lead?

‘Ugh, this is insane!’

Growing anxious, Lenia subtly scanned for an escape route—and the man moved closer, pressing against her with an arrogant smile, as if daring her to run.

“You’re not really a noble, are you?”

“What…!”

“Shh. People might hear.”

A hand in a black leather glove gently brushed her cheek. At first glance, it seemed tender, but Lenia, sensing danger instinctively, felt a chill run down her spine.

“In the Empire, impersonating a noble is punishable by forced labor. You know that, right?”

“How rude. Do you have any proof that I’m not a noble?”

She swallowed hard.

Reaching for the hidden gun at her waist, thinking he might be a pursuer, she was stopped as he snapped her wrist with effortless strength and whispered coldly into her ear:

“Lenia Crestian, right? From the con artist guild, quite infamous in the North. Want me to tell you more?”

…Damn it. She was caught.

How on earth did he know her true identity?

Lenia Crestian.

Codename: Cassandra.

In the northern regions of the Solan Empire, she was a con artist known to nearly everyone.

Having grown up in the underworld from a young age, Lenia had used her exceptional disguise skills and agility to carry out countless scams. She could freely transform from a naive, innocent common girl to the lady of a wealthy noble family, to a middle-aged man or even an elderly person, so very few had ever seen her true form.

By her early twenties, she had gained a massive reputation—thanks to being raised in an underworld organization that specialized in training young con artists.

Before she had even turned five, her biological parents had sold her to the underworld for a mere silver coin.

Determined to prove herself and live a life of her own, Lenia worked tirelessly, eventually becoming one of the highest-paid operatives in the northern underworld.

But on one winter day, just before she turned twenty, she met death—stabbed in the back during a mission.

The betrayal came from a longtime companion who had shared life in the underworld with her.

[Don’t blame me. I just wanted your money!]

[Guh… I trusted you.]

[Loyalty in the underworld? Don’t be naive. This is what you brought upon yourself. If there’s something worthwhile around here, someone will always want it.]

On a snowy Christmas Eve, lying in a cold alleyway, bleeding to death, she prayed to the gods with tears streaming down her face:

Please don’t let me die like this.

I’ll live a different life if you save me.

‘It hurt so much… but miraculously, I healed soon after.’

Perhaps answering her prayer, her dying body was rapidly healed as a soul from another world entered her body.

The soul belonged to Hye-min, an ordinary office worker in the modern world, who had died in an unfortunate accident on the way home.

With Hye-min’s soul merging into Lenia’s dying body, the two became one, sharing all their experiences and memories completely.

‘Lenia… she was a lonely child who had never received a Christmas gift in her life.’

Now in Lenia’s body, Hye-min resolved to give her a new life.

A life where mornings were ordinary, where at night she could fall asleep peacefully under the beautiful moonlight instead of facing assassins with knives.

A life away from the betrayals and scheming of the underworld, enjoying peaceful days.

To the original Lenia, a normal life was a mirage—something desired but unattainable. Hye-min aimed to make that wish a reality.

She knew clearly that crossing death to live a new life meant she had to achieve this purpose.

‘First, I need to leave the underworld. Then, I’ll pull off one big heist before retiring early. I’ll need a decent amount of funds if I want to retire in my early twenties.’

Despite her fame, Lenia had not saved much money, secretly donating much of her earnings to children abandoned in the alleys like she had been.

She did have wealth rivaling some noble families, but not enough to live comfortably for life.

So she made a decision.

If she was going to act, she would stage the kind of con that would be remembered in Empire history.

‘I never had anything to do with scams in my previous life, but that’s fine. I’ll just be a “good” con artist who scams only the rich and cruel nobles.’

Having fully merged with Lenia, Hye-min could now handle her body confidently.

But that alone wasn’t enough.

She wanted a completely new life: one helping the poor and powerless, who had been abandoned by society.

And today marked the first monumental step toward that life.