140. The Hidden Villain Who Rolled Right In?
“……!”
When the steward turned around, the man tailing him quickly slipped into the shadows of the alley.
Did he notice I was following him?
The man clutched at his wildly pounding heart.
He wanted nothing more than to run straight back to the Order of Knights, but he couldn’t possibly ignore Marquis Balton’s command.
Aiden Carter.
A probationary knight of the Imperial Guard, he was a distant collateral relative of Marquis Balton.
With the name of the marquisate behind him, one would think he had a solid foundation to rely on—but unfortunately, he was only half a noble.
Born the illegitimate child of a noble father with a fiancée and a mother who was a maid, Aiden had never once been acknowledged as part of the family.
Even after he entered the Imperial Guard, his lowly birth clung to him like a shackle.
Then one day, Marquis Balton sought him out.
[I’ll acknowledge you and your mother as members of the marquisate.]
Along with that, the marquis handed him a portrait of a man.
If Aiden would just run a few errands related to this man, he would be welcomed into the family.
It was an offer he could not refuse.
From that day on, Aiden shadowed the man’s every move.
Usually, someone else did the tailing, but on days like today, when he was off duty, Aiden himself followed the man outside the palace.
But no matter how I look, there’s nothing suspicious about him.
The man was a servant of the Duke of Serteia’s household.
His tasks were simple, and he rarely stepped foot outside the estate.
Other than his unusually tall frame and delicate features, he looked no different from any other servant.
So why in the world did the marquis order him to keep track of this man?
Curious though he was, Aiden diligently continued his surveillance.
“……”
Sensing something, the man paused and glanced around for a long while.
Aiden held his breath and stayed still, ready to knock the man unconscious and flee if he had to. Just as his hand drifted toward the hilt of his sword—
The man turned away without finding him and resumed walking.
When the servant finally left the alley, Aiden sighed in relief.
I should call it a day and withdraw.
The moment he turned back toward the mouth of the alley—
“……!”
A cold edge brushed against his throat. A finely honed dagger was pressed against his neck.
“Who are you?”
The very man he thought had gone was suddenly right in front of him, staring down with sharp, piercing eyes.
“H-how…!”
Aiden’s shoulders jolted.
He hadn’t sensed a thing. When had he gotten this close?
“Who the hell are you to stalk me?”
The man’s brow furrowed. When Aiden gave no answer, the dagger pressed closer.
A sting of pain cut into Aiden’s neck.
“Tch!”
After a moment’s hesitation, Aiden shoved the man back with his shoulder.
Thud!
Caught off guard, the servant stumbled back.
“Ugh.”
The hand holding the dagger slammed hard against the wall.
Seizing the opening, Aiden wrenched the dagger free and disarmed him, then swept his legs out from under him.
In an instant, with Aiden straddling him, the tables had turned.
“Haa… haa…”
The servant was surprisingly quick—enough to shock even a trained knight—but his natural build couldn’t overcome Aiden’s superior strength.
With the dagger poised over his chest, the steward raised both hands in surrender.
“Wh-who the hell are you?”
But the steward only shrugged.
“That’s what I’d like to ask. Who are you, and why are you tailing me?”
“……All I can tell you is that I was sent by someone very important.”
“Is that so?”
The steward replied indifferently, then reached out and flicked back Aiden’s hood.
“What do you think you’re doing!”
“Well, well. So you’re related to Marquis Balton. He’s the one who ordered you to tail me, wasn’t he?”
“H-how could you possibly…!”
As Aiden paled, the steward gave him a mischievous smile.
“Reading people’s faces is something of a hobby of mine.”
At the same time, a translucent system window appeared before him.
【WARNING! Abnormal interference detected!】
[Mission failure penalty is being delayed.]
[‘Cayenne’s’ ‘death’ event remains suspended.]
The unresolved death flag from the Hunting Festival.
The time was approaching when the forcibly halted regression timer would begin moving again.
“……!”
The steward grabbed Aiden’s wrist, the dagger in his grip glinting ominously.
With terrifying strength, he thrust the blade into his own chest.
“Wh-what are you doing?!”
Panicked, Aiden frantically yanked the blade out, and blood spurted from the steward’s chest.
The man’s pupils dimmed.
“…Hurts.”
The world spun, and his strength ebbed away.
“H-hey! Stay with me!”
Aiden shook him desperately, but the steward’s face grew paler by the second.
“Ahh!”
In a fluster, Aiden tore off his robe, revealing the silver uniform of the Imperial Guard beneath.
He tried too late to staunch the wound, but the man was already cold and lifeless.
“Quick, untie Baron Blaine!”
“Yes, my lady!”
At my command, the duke’s knights hurriedly moved.
They cut the ropes binding Baron Blaine, who collapsed weakly to the floor.
He looked as though he hadn’t eaten or drunk anything in days.
Half-delirious, he could only gasp for breath.
“Father!”
Seraphine burst into tears at the sight of her father.
“Father, are you alright? What on earth happened to you?”
“…Let’s move him somewhere safe first.”
His complexion was far too poor.
At this rate, he might die, so we quickly transferred him to a carriage.
Even after being carried to the ducal estate, he remained unconscious for a long while.
Seraphine clung to his side, watching over him with growing anxiety.
Finally—
“…Seraphine?”
A faint voice escaped Baron Blaine’s lips, and Seraphine’s eyes widened.
“Father!”
She shot up and scanned his face.
Compared to when he’d been locked in that freezing storage room, his color had improved.
Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief.
“Are you alright, my lord?” I asked.
“And you are…?”
Baron Blaine blinked at me in confusion.
“You’re Lady Serteia, aren’t you?”
“You know me?”
“Of course. You’re often in the papers. Recently, I’ve even seen your name mentioned alongside my daughter’s.”
“I see.”
Taking Seraphine’s place while she still choked back tears, I pressed him for details.
“How did you end up in a place like that?”
“I was separated from my daughter and about to leave the capital when I was attacked.”
“Attacked?”
“Yes. I remember being struck with a blunt weapon… When I came to, I was in that warehouse.”
“How dreadful. And you have no idea who did it?”
“When you live as a vagrant, you often run into nasty sorts.”
Baron Blaine shook his head bitterly.
He had wandered without a clear identity, far from safety.
In the original story, he had died without a trace, so perhaps he had become entangled in crimes like kidnapping or trafficking this time as well.
—Or so I was about to conclude.
“But there is one thing that makes me suspicious.”
“What is it?”
“I recently quit my line of work. Someone might have held a grudge because of that.”
“What?”
Kidnapped and imprisoned just for quitting a job?
Baron Blaine darted a glance at Seraphine.
“What kind of work were you doing?”
“It wasn’t exactly respectable…”
“What was it?”
Pressed, he reluctantly confessed.
“I worked as an errand boy for a secret organization I had been part of for many years.”
“…What?”
What kind of villainous backstory was this supposed to be?
“My debts piled up like snow, and with nowhere else to take me in as a fugitive, I had no choice but to drift into the underworld.”
Baron Blaine calmly laid out his story.
In short, he had made a living as a runner and information-gatherer for a shadowy underground group.
That was how he scraped by and managed to conceal his identity.
Well… If he wanted to survive with an imperial warrant out for his arrest, that kind of desperation makes sense.
“But once you join, leaving means putting your life on the line. That was the rule.”
“My goodness. Then…”
Seraphine covered her mouth in shock.
“I barely escaped, but the organization will never truly let me go.”
“Then it’s highly likely they were behind this incident.”
“Most likely.”
His face grew more haggard.
Hmm.
After listening in silence, I suddenly asked:
“This organization—you said it’s based in the south?”
“Yes, my lady.”
“Then tell me—are they connected to the slave traders?”
