Professional English Translation
‘……No matter how late it gets, Lord Jason will surely finish his night watch and return by around three in the morning. I must find the letters and get out of here before then.’
Kai cautiously surveyed the interior of the bedchamber for a moment, then immediately stood before the small bookshelf next to the window and began searching through the books.
Though they all appeared to be ordinary books on the surface, they were actually letter storage boxes disguised as books.
How much time had passed?
Inside a box disguised as a romance novel, Kai discovered the very letters he had been searching for so desperately. The letters were densely filled with details reporting the confidential secrets of the Winterton Marquisate to someone.
‘My lord’s suspicion was correct……!’
Kai involuntarily let out a sharp gasp. Goosebumps broke out all over his body at the truth he had witnessed with his own eyes.
As soon as day broke, he had to deliver these to Marchioness Winterton and report to Lake, who was leading the knights and mages in place of their lord.
With a grim expression, Kai thrust the letter storage box deep inside the inner lining of his sleepwear. Then, avoiding the eyes of others, he returned to his own bedchamber.
Just as the boy was about to open his door—
“Where have you been at this hour, Kai?”
“……!”
Jason was standing at the end of the hallway.
Paralyzed by shock, Kai froze right on the spot. Jason twisted one corner of his lips upward and spoke as he approached the boy with slow, deliberate steps.
“I thought it suspicious how you were glancing around like a little rat all day long, watching my every move.”
“…….”
“What is that you are hiding in your chest?”
“I-It is nothing, Lord Jason.”
Kai wrapped both arms tightly around his chest in a defensive posture.
Jason let out a contemptuous laugh. Then, with a single hand, he seized the scruff of Kai’s sleepwear and hoisted him clean off the ground.
As Kai thrashed about, gasping in agony under the suffocating grip, the letter storage box hidden inside his clothing fell onto the floor.
Checking the item that had fallen to the floor, Jason burst into a cold, derisive sneer.
“As I thought.”
“……Ugh. Argh……”
“Did you open even a single letter inside there?”
Terrified, Kai shook his head back and forth. However, there was no way Jason would believe his words.
Letting out a sinister snort, he thrust the box into the roaring fireplace in the entryway. Before long, the letters began to burn away into nothingness inside the flames.
“N-No! Please! Is anybody there? S-Save me……!”
“Shut your mouth. If you don’t want to die right here.”
Jason muffled Kai’s mouth and hoisted the boy onto his back before striding across the hallway.
Kai resisted frantically. He had to inform everyone of this situation no matter what. The boy desperately fumbled inside his sleepwear pocket and slipped a fingernail-sized sphere onto his finger.
And when Jason carried him out into the garden attached to the building, Kai twisted it with his fingers and dropped it onto the ground.
“……!”
In that moment, accompanied by a sound akin to an arrow cleaving through the air, a thick teal smoke billowed out from the split sphere.
It was a signal flare developed for knights to broadcast their location and request reinforcements when isolated by enemies.
“Dammit! This wretched brat, to the very end……!”
Scowling fiercely, Jason violently slammed Kai’s body onto the ground. Then, drawing the sword strapped to his waist, he pointed it directly at the boy’s neck.
“Over there!”
In that instant, accompanied by a woman’s shouting from the opposite side of the building, the sound of approaching footsteps echoed.
Discovering those running toward them from afar, Kai’s face lit up as he shouted.
“Marchioness! Lord Lake!”
It was Marchioness Agnes Winterton and Lord Lake.
[It seems we arrived just in time, fortunately.]
“……Indeed.”
Answering softly to the words spoken by the ghost of Ash Winterton, I approached Kai’s side.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes, I am fine!”
Kai bravely pushed himself up to his feet.
In the meantime, Lake knitted his brows and demanded of Jason.
“What is the meaning of this situation, Lord Jason?”
“……That is the question I should be asking, Lord Lake. Why on earth are you here at this hour?”
“A few hours ago, Marchioness Winterton came to me and stated that she had discovered someone leaking the knighthood’s secrets to the outside. She said an apprentice knight named Kai was scheduled to come to her tonight with the evidence.”
“……!”
“However, no one came no matter how long I waited. Just as I was beginning to think the Marchioness was mocking me…… a signal flare went off in this direction, did it not?”
Glaring at the flustered Jason, Lake continued to speak.
“Now then, it is your turn, Lord Jason. What reason could you possibly have for dragging your direct apprentice knight to the garden in the dead of night and even drawing your sword on him?”
“T-That is…… Ah, yes! I caught that brat stealing confidential secrets of our knighthood from my bedchamber! So to punish him on the spot……!”
At that moment, Kai cut Jason off and shouted.
“That is not true, Lord Lake! It is all a lie! The one who leaked the knighthood’s secrets to the outside is Lord Jason! When I found the evidence, Lord Jason destroyed it and then tried to murder me!”
‘What?’
To think he destroyed the evidence in the meantime. We should have come a little faster.
Flustered, I turned an anxious gaze toward Lake. My heart was in my throat, terrified that he might not believe us.
Right then, Lake, who had been staring intently at Kai’s face, spoke up.
“What was that evidence, and how was it destroyed?”
“A storage box disguised as a book was filled with letters leaking secrets to the outside! Lord Jason threw it into the entryway fireplace!”
“If we extinguish the fire right now, we might still salvage whatever little evidence remains. Kai, have the servants extinguish the fireplace immediately and search inside.”
“Yes!”
Kai answered loudly, nodding his head.
In that moment, Jason’s face twisted into a demonic contortion. Then, swiftly, he struck the back of the rising Kai’s neck with his sword hilt, knocking him unconscious.
Following that, he rapidly snagged the hem of my dress and dragged me into his embrace.
“……!”
[Princess!]
Taken hostage in the blink of an eye. Seeing this, the ghost bellowed at the top of his lungs.
Jason pressed his sharp blade against my neck. Thereupon, Lake rapidly drew his sword and shouted at Jason in a menacing voice.
“Drop your sword and release the Marchioness, Jason!”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that. Not until I safely escape this estate, that is.”
Jason sneered villainously.
How could I escape from this villain’s grasp? Just as I was frantically racking my brain, Jason whispered into my ear in a low, sunken voice.
“To think that of all people, the daughter of Grand Duke Midelharnis would expose me. ……His Grace the Grand Duke will be exceedingly surprised when he hears of this.”
“……!”
“Heheh, the moment I break free of this place, I shall inform the Grand Duke of your betrayal. Then His Grace will turn a blind eye to my blunder as well.”
Saying so, Jason tightened his grip on the arm holding me even further.
In the meantime, lights began turning on one by one in the Knights’ Quarters. Keeping his sword aimed at Jason, Lake cautiously narrowed the distance step by step.
Jason, who could not possibly miss his movement, yelled out loud.
“Do not come any closer! Unless you wish to see the Marchioness die right before your eyes!”
Lake knitted his brows. Jason’s sword drew closer and closer to my throat.
I trembled all over from the fear that the razor-sharp blade might sever my neck at any second.
Right then, the ghost of Ash Winterton spoke to me.
[Princess, do you trust me?]
‘What kind of out-of-the-blue question is that in a situation like this!’
Suppressing my urge to scream that out loud, I gave a large nod for the time being. Right now, I was in a state where I would clutch at any straw.
In that moment, the ghost of Ash Winterton grabbed both of my hands. A cold, eerie energy gathered in my hands, and it felt as though both of my hands were hardening like stone.
[Grab Jason’s sword and push it away! And the moment you break free from him, run toward Lord Lake!]
‘Are you telling me to grab this razor-sharp blade with my bare hands right now? Are you insane?’
Surprised, I shook my head with wide, round eyes.
Thereupon, the ghost shouted urgently.
[Did you not say you trusted me! Hurry!]
‘Ah, seriously! Fine! I get it!’
I squeezed my eyes tightly shut for a moment before snapping them open, gritting my teeth. And just as he commanded, I grabbed Jason’s sword blade, which was aimed at my throat, with both hands.
“Ugh!”
“……!”
In that moment, the blade shattered into pieces like thin glass with a loud crash.
Flustered, Jason stumbled backward.
Without even having time to be surprised or dumbfounded, I simply dashed blindly toward Lake right before my eyes.
