38 – 2. The Path of the Dagger (19)

19.

Alicia von Ruber, the only daughter of Count Francis. She was a beautiful noble lady who turned 16 this year.

The length of a life of 16 years is a young age that has not yet lived half of half of the average life span of the human species. But to anyone who knew anything about her, it would be nothing short of a miracle that she survived to that age.

A life that was cursed by someone from birth and was destined to be short-lived. In order to find the person who dared to put such a curse on the only daughter of the count, the mansion was flooded with blood at the time, but neither the culprit nor the method to cure it were revealed. In the end, a future that is certain to die within the age of seven, let alone the age of sixteen. Still unable to walk on her own two legs, she clearly remembers the days when her servants clung to her.

But now she managed to survive. She survives, and she roams the streets on her two legs and roams freely within her mansion. Even if her complexion was a little off, everyone had her beauty to look up to.

Has the curse broken? Did her god take pity on her and reap the seeds of evil that crept into her body? At least the servants seemed to believe in such miraculous words. No, even if you didn’t believe it, you wouldn’t dare to say no to the lord himself.

But——Alicia knew. She said that the curse still resides in me. She said that nothing was actually resolved. Then how could she herself be so alive that she was this old? Her question started from there. She was only nine years old when she was her age.

Alicia, who has a better brain than others despite her weak body, read mystery novels as a hobby. In particular, she enjoyed imagining herself as a detective who synthesizes all the information and draws a conclusion based on very few clues. She made a maid, and she only had books of that genre, and she had them packed in one corner. And the year she turned ten, she saw through the curtain a strange carriage in front of her mansion.

I’m not sure how far she was, but she was definitely her own nanny. She said she was going back to her hometown because she was concerned about her family, so he’d borrow her carriage and drive her there? Although she was only ten years old, Alicia was not naive. Her carriage was made of ominously black cloth, and her family crest was not visible. Guided by the hand of a man clad in her robes, her nanny fearfully climbed into her carriage. She and she later sent letters back to her hometown but never got a reply from her.

Even after that, servants often quit their jobs and returned to their hometowns. Whenever Alicia did that, she secretly watched them leave so that the owner or servants wouldn’t notice her. Each time she disappeared with the servants she was fond of in the same wagon. Even when she was 11 or 12, Alicia knew at least that they were not going to her hometown.

Her doubt turned to certainty when, at some point, she realized that her father was too old. His father, who was only close to forty, had a wrinkled face that was over fifty. It was an incomprehensible change to Alicia that she remembered clearly the face she had seen when she was young. It wasn’t her aging, obviously caused by her heart’s troubles.

Alicia made her conclusion. Because by the time she turned fourteen, all the puzzles had been put together. As he led the owner and servants to the royal capital, Alicia escaped surveillance and hid in his office. She had a strange piece of paper stuck between the papers that should only contain information about the estate.

It was a list of the employees Alicia had left her mansion from the year she was seven years old until now. Clear faces without forgetting anyone with Alicia’s extraordinary brain. Next to the list were details of payments to their home addresses. Too many silver and gold coins for retirement pay. Alicia hurriedly searched her office.

And I found it. I had to watch it. He finally realized what his father had done to save him, what he had sacrificed and sacrificed. They didn’t just go back home. It was just a handful of coins that went back home. In order to extend the lifespan of only one Alicia, along with the years of the count, dozens of human beings died on the pagan sacrificial altar. It was when she was only fourteen years old.

Alicia changed around that time. As if she was a rebound from being sick, she acted like a typical tomboy, acting out an overly bright side. The Count of her age-stretched face was just delighted, and her servants did not doubt her. When she learned the whole truth, she realized that it was because she was afraid to stay in her mansion all day.

She followed the adventurers and admired them half-heartedly. The other half needed a reason to go out. She was genuinely envious of those who lived completely different lives from her own. She and she prayed that one day she would emerge from her own powerlessness.

She earnestly prayed for a body that could survive without a life chain, a status that would allow her to escape the cage-like outbuildings, and that she would be able to overcome even the fear of death. However, all of them were things that she couldn’t achieve with her own strength now. Her only family, her one and only, were the hard bars that held her back.

The blue bird prays for the day it will fly over the iron window. If that happens, I will surely plummet toward the ground, but I hope nonetheless. May the rain of condemnation wash away all sins pour down through the bars.

*

The sky was gloomy. The guard standing in front of the front gate of the count’s residence yawned and licked his lips before suddenly looking up. It was about to pour down at night, but he vaguely thought as he looked at the thick, overlapping dark clouds.

He took his old watch out of his pocket and narrowed his eyes. It was a supply provided to the soldiers guarding the main gate. There were still two hours left before shift. He puts on the same sleepy face as last time and closes the watch, promising that if he comes twenty minutes late, he will draw his sword and stab him in the butt this time.

He looked up at the overcast sky and thought about what would happen next. When you’re done, imagine disarming yourself and going down to a nearby village for a drink. Even though there is work tomorrow, there are not many people who don’t know that a glass of wine after work is the pleasure of life.

Although the atmosphere is somewhat disturbed due to the thief imprisoned in the mansion, I thought it was a virtue to take a break at times like this. Recalling the breastbone revealed by the bartender at the bar he frequents, this time, before he gets too drunk, he gets wrapped up in a lukewarm delusion that he should even invite him on a date when he gets moderately drunk.

As I was spending time alone like that, I suddenly heard the sound of horses hooves kicking the ground in the distance. There must be no other visitors coming today, right? He questions, adjusts his helmet, and hurries across the garden.

The wagon was of normal size and was no different from any other wagon except for a large tent over it. In fact, as soon as the three men got off the tent, the coachman turned and left the mansion without regret.

However, the appearance of those who got off is not normal. The guards were shocked to see a knight wearing full plate armor that felt more aura than the knights residing in the mansion. Before I had time to guess what it was, two people appeared behind me.

He is a man with short-cropped gray hair, a dry but solid build, and glasses. As soon as he found the church’s pattern on the clothes he was wearing, the guards belatedly recognized their identities. They were definitely from the Cathedral of the God of Order, who had visited the mansion alone a while ago.

I remembered the words of the head of the guard, who would dare to enter the count’s mansion, but refuse all visitors. However, it was doubtful whether even these people could block entry. At least the guards didn’t have the courage to stand in the way of the cathedral knight and the heretic inquisitor. There was no justification for shutting down the clergy at the door, and no matter how hard he tried, the knights of the cathedral, who were only 20 in the kingdom, were staring at him.

Maybe we’ll see how this side responds. He swallowed dry saliva and decided to go out in a low position. What does it have to do with having a bounty in the mansion and shutting out the door to those who come out of the church? He didn’t want to create a situation where he was responsible for something with this incident.

And another figure appears behind the Heretic Questioner. Is it another pair? The guard, who was checking his appearance while tilting his head wearing his helmet, was immediately startled.

She was a woman. She’s that, she’s an incredible beauty I’ve never seen in my life.

A small white face with dense features; I’m sorry to the person who served her, but she was more beautiful than any other woman I’ve ever seen in my life, including Lady Alicia, whom I ran into a few times while passing by.

Besides that elegance. She covers her body except for her face with a thick robe, but even so, her noble lineage above Alicia is clearly felt. She must have been more noble than the priests before her! It had been a long time since the guard’s mind had already erased the gaping front of the bartender at the bar.

Whatever her identity, the guards were already fascinated by her beauty, and bowed more than necessary to guide them to her mansion. The Heretic Inquisitor looked back and slightly raised the corner of his mouth, and the cathedral knight looked somewhat admiring. And… ….

“… ….”

She

Even on the way she went, several times she smirked at herself. Feeling the guard’s gaze looking back at her, the woman twisted her eyebrows. Wrinkles form on the fine forehead. ‘She’ muttered inwardly, fiddling with her leather belt, which was draped over her wide pelvis, below her thin waist.

‘Dogs.’

It is said that in a harsh world, you can survive even if you have to do things you don’t want to do, but is this true?

Jin, who had become a woman, moved in front of her, tears welling down her deep double eyelids…….

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