episode_0016

* * *

“No way.”

“Yes?”

“I said no. Russia.”

Russia was embarrassed.

While meeting my grandfather and recounting my experiences from my last mission, I naturally brought up Jodelle and asked her to be my attendant.

Rashia assumed that her grandfather would give it to her.

Given his grandfather’s personality, he would have gotten rid of anything that was an eyesore long ago, but Jodell was still alive.

I don’t know why he sent assassins, but didn’t they disappear as soon as he took Jodell?

So I thought it was nothing special and asked, but my grandfather’s reaction was stronger than I thought.

Why on earth wouldn’t it work?

You didn’t even tell me why….

‘This is going to be difficult…’

When things didn’t go as planned, Rashia pouted her lips in frustration.

“Why~ Grandpa~ Please give it to me. Please give it to me~”

Even though I threw a tantrum like a fool, the look in my grandfather’s eyes did not change.

When you have a grandfather with eyes like that, you have to use a different method.

Eventually, Rasia wiped away the smile that had been on her face like a mask.

The playful face had turned into a doll-like face as if nothing had happened, and the eyes had turned into those of a peacock, completely devoid of emotion.

If the peacock was a great darkness, then Lacia was a small darkness that had not yet ripened, but the gaze of the ruler that was captured in his eyes was not much different.

Rasia said with her red eyes flashing.

“…..If you give me that servant, I’ll give you one thing you want.”

“Because that’s what you want…”

Fortunately, I got a positive response from my grandfather.

As if he had wanted that to come out from the beginning.

“….Yes. We are assassins. Give us a mission. The reward for the mission will be the attendant.”

“……Hmm. Okay. That wouldn’t be bad either.”

After a moment of silence, Rashia’s heart was lifted by her grandfather’s positive answer.

It went as planned!

So far, Rasia has succeeded in every mission. She was confident that she could complete any mission, no matter how difficult it was.

As expected, it was good to give Grandpa a mission with clear rewards and punishments.

“…That would be good. Recently, there was an intruder in our family.”

“Intruder?”

“Yes. It was a great opportunity to educate Remy, but it was lost because of that intruder. The only thing they stole was Remy’s pet tiger.”

“….No, what is that…”

After all that hard work infiltrating, that’s all you stole? A tiger? What are you going to do with it? There must be plenty of tigers out there, so why Remy’s tiger?

“Then suddenly disappeared before my eyes.”

“….In front of your grandfather?”

“Yes. He was a rare and great talent.”

The fact that my grandfather brought up this story…

“How about it, can you catch it?”

As expected….

“….There is too little information.”

“Don’t worry. Luan has already gathered and collected information. Here, take it. It contains information about the suspected intruders. There are three of them.”

Grandfather rummaged through a pile of papers and threw them at Rashia.

Rashia immediately took out the documents and looked at them.

Inside was a piece of paper with the personal details of three women written on it.

Is the intruder a woman?

“Find the real assassin who invaded here and bring him to me. Then I’ll give you what you want.”

Fortunately, they were all located not far away.

One of these is an assassin who infiltrated this family? Missed by your grandfather?

The corners of Russia’s mouth went up.

Wouldn’t this be fun?

If he brought this assassin with him, not only would he gain recognition for his abilities from his grandfather, he would also be able to claim Jodel, and on top of that, he would have fun.

If it was a mission like this, I would have wanted to take on it even if it wasn’t Jodell.

Because it was a job to catch the intruder who had strayed from his grandfather.

“……Okay. I’ll do it.”

I will succeed in this mission somehow.

A spark of enthusiasm lit up Rashia’s eyes.

* * *

I stood in front of the door and waited blankly for Rashia to come out.

Russia’s meal preparation was also perfectly planned, and the training schedule was also completed without a hitch.

What else is left? It’s so damn hard to please.

I wanted to go back down to the basement and look at the animals to heal myself.

“Let’s go out. Jodell.”

It was quite some time before Rashia came out to meet the Duke.

As soon as Rashia came out of the room, she started walking ahead, saying that she wanted to go out.

I hurriedly followed after Rashia.

Going out? What do you mean all of a sudden?

You want me to go too, right now?

“…Are you going out?”

“Yeah! I got the mission. Let’s go together. It’ll be fun.”

Why am I there…?

When I get a mission, I’m supposed to go down to the basement where I was originally. Why am I going with you? This is different!

There was a lot I wanted to say, but I didn’t know what to say first to Rashia, who seemed so excited about going on a picnic.

Then Rashia threw the documents she was holding at me.

I wondered what this was, so I checked and it turned out to be a document containing the personal information of three women and their current residences.

‘They are all strong. A famous wind wizard, a former mercenary king, and a retired knight who lives an ordinary life…’

But why these?

“There’s an intruder in our house… Here are the suspects. How are they all? Aren’t they all amazing?”

My face hardened at the word intruder.

Fortunately, Rashia, who seemed to be in a good mood, didn’t notice. I quickly relaxed my face and asked back.

“….are you talking about an intruder?”

“Yeah. You must have seen it too, right? Check who you are. I said I’d take you with me on that condition. If I find and drag the intruders out, Grandpa said he’d give you to me. You’d rather be with me, pretty and beautiful, than cleaning up the basement and feeding wild beasts, right? ”

If I said no, he would tear me to pieces, so I nodded my head in a trembling manner.

Rashia smiled contentedly, as if satisfied with my nod.

“Okay, then let’s go right now. We should finish quickly and come back to rest~”

Rashia hurried her steps.

I followed behind Rasiah with a complicated heart.

‘…shit.’

There was no way any of these were correct.

Because the intruder is me.

The mission was doomed to failure.

The problem was how Rasia, who had never failed a mission, reacted when she failed a mission.

Clearly, there was one time in the webtoon when Rassia failed a mission.

After that….

Disappointed with herself, Rasia is forced to spend several months in the infamous dungeons of her family.

The problem is that they showed me the information about this mission.

That means….

[“You too failed the mission I received, so you too must go to the underground prison with me, be tortured and starve, and undergo proper mental training while mingling with the prisoners. Follow me. Jodel.”]

I could clearly see Rashia dragging me into the dungeon while saying that.

My face turned pale and hard at the thought of my bleak future.

“What are you doing, why aren’t you coming? Let’s go quickly~”

“…..yes.”

It’s ruined.

This time too, I, who had no strength whatsoever, was unable to refuse and was dragged along.

* * *

Knock knock

“Come in.”

Luan opened the door and went inside, hearing the duke’s voice from inside.

The duke was leisurely drinking tea and looking out the window.

“…..Lady Russia and Jodel just left in the carriage.”

“Yeah. I guess so.”

“But is it okay to send them like that? As you know, all three of them have already been judged as no. Your Highness, you know that the mission to find the intruder is doomed to failure.”

“…..Yeah. I guess so.”

The duke said nothing after those words.

Luan glanced at the duke.

I can’t even guess what he’s thinking.

Why did you give Rashia a mission that was bound to fail?

“Why, are you curious?”

“…..If you don’t mind… Yes. I’d like to hear the reason.”

Luan nodded at the Duke’s words after a long silence. The Duke’s red eyes became even darker.

“I hope Russia fails its mission.”

“….Huh?”

“Lacia is so arrogant right now. She thinks she’s the strongest. That’s because she’s never lost to anyone but me and she succeeded in her missions so easily. That’s why I sent her to those three. They’re all strong. Let them fight each other and find out their limits.”

“Ah….”

“I also wonder how Rashia will react after failing a mission. If she failed a mission with high pride… Rather than me punishing her, Rashia will punish herself and train herself more to make sure it doesn’t happen again. That’s exactly what I want.”

“…..I see, so it was all a decision made with Miss Russia in mind.”

Luan was impressed by the duke’s deep thoughts.

Well, it’s true that Russia has become very arrogant these days.

Of course, Rasia’s skills are excellent, but there are many people in this world who are stronger than her. The Duke wants to make them realize that.

“Well, I don’t know.”

“…..Huh?”

“Rasia can really bring that intruder and make the mission a success….”

Luan tilted his head at the Duke’s unexpected words.

So far, all the assassins have been called in and a search has been conducted across the country to find the intruder.

But I couldn’t find out whether it had flown into the sky or fallen to the ground.

Those three were the ones who were chosen and chosen, but in the end, they weren’t even those three. But then, Rashia came looking for me?

“…..That can’t be happening. Don’t you know that?”

The Duke made no reply to Luan’s words.

I just quietly watched the carriage carrying Rasia and Jodel drift away outside the window.