Chapter 04
Black Wolf (4)
“No.”
Gray’s face was set in stone as he cut Elliot off without hesitation.
Elliot frowned at the unexpected answer.
“What?”
Why on earth…?
Eighty thousand gold was no small sum. Gray himself had looked surprised when Elliot first named the price.
Elliot quickly replayed the conversation in his head, wondering where things had gone wrong.
“Is the amount too low? Then…”
He pulled out his checkbook, scribbled a number with his pen, and slid the slip onto the table.
“I’ll add forty thousand more.”
“You seem to be under a misapprehension,” Gray replied, not even glancing at the check.
“Whatever the job is, the Black Wolf will not take your request.”
“Why not?”
“The Black Wolf’s leader is a wise man. He knows that if someone throws that kind of money around without a single question asked, there’s always a reason.”
Elliot’s eyes narrowed to slits. Gray had hit the mark.
Elliot did indeed have a reason for offering such a large sum up front.
Rescue Duke Side from enemy territory.
Given the duke’s influence, Elliot calculated that the enemy kingdom wouldn’t dare harm him. But the real problem lay within the Empire itself.
Ever since the newspapers reported the duke’s capture, uninvited “concerned” visitors had swarmed the Side estate.
They all mouthed worries about the duke while circling Lady Mariana and the madam with ulterior motives.
The household staff had been run ragged for days.
Elliot could swear most of those visitors were secretly hoping Joseph Side wouldn’t return alive. If he died and someone managed to marry the lady or the madam, the Side power and fortune would—
Elliot rubbed his temple, a headache flaring.
He could bet some of them might even send assassins to ensure the duke’s death.
“As you know, nothing in this world is free,” Gray said.
Elliot found himself growing genuinely curious about the Black Wolf.
With a faint smile, he lifted his pen and scrawled another figure. If this could bring the duke home, writing a few more zeros was nothing. He’d get an earful later, of course, but only after the duke returned alive.
“Another hundred thousand gold.”
Two hundred twenty thousand in total.
Anze stared blankly at Elliot, stunned by the unheard-of amount.
Wise, my foot!
To Anze, who had always lived under the thumb of poverty, such a sum was worth all the foolishness in the world.
Noticing Anze’s glittering eyes, Gray quickly stepped in front of her.
“We don’t need it. Please leave.”
“Wait—just a moment!”
Anze slipped in beside the table, her trembling hand already checking the check.
“Anze.” Gray’s voice was sharp with warning, but Anze was too busy counting zeros to notice.
After double-checking the number of circles on the check, she looked at Elliot as though entranced.
A well-bred man, intelligent and neat. At the very least, this check isn’t fake…
Thinking of her lingering debts and the house she’d been eyeing in Primrose Hill, Anze broke into a sly grin.
She’d completely forgotten the gloomy fortune she’d read that morning.
After yet another careful glance at the check, her eyes sparkled.
“Add another hundred thousand, and the Black Wolf will handle anything for you!”
Elliot tilted his head at her bold declaration.
“Can you stand by those words, miss?”
“I may not look it, but I’m quite capable. The captain favors me. I’ll make sure it’s accepted.”
Gray yanked Anze back and glared.
“Do you even know what this is about? You’re crazy! Nobody offers that kind of money without a reason—”
Gray ranted, but no one paid him any mind.
What an amusing young woman, Elliot thought, his eyes bright on Anze.
Her black hair framed a face that was cute enough but not striking. Her plain gray office dress was practical and unadorned.
Lately, with men away at war, more women were working to support their families. Perhaps she was one of them.
Elliot gave her a warm, charming smile.
“You seem rather young…”
Trying to charm her, is he? Gray’s brow furrowed. But he knew well enough: the only thing that could sway Anze was money.
Anze simply reached out, pushing Gray’s face aside with a small hand.
“Do I look like someone who would leave important decisions to an errand boy? Talk to me.”
Elliot’s smile widened as he watched Gray get pushed back without protest.
So that’s how it is.
He opened his checkbook again, scrawled another figure, and tore the slip free.
“An additional two hundred thousand gold.”
Anze snatched the floating check, her face glowing with satisfaction. With this, she could pay off every last debt!
“You fool! You can’t spend gold if you’re dead!” Gray tried again, alarmed.
But Anze ignored him.
Clutching the check in one hand, she extended the other for a handshake, her small face radiant with greed.
The moment she learned the details of the job, however, Anze realized she’d just shot herself in the foot.
“As the saying goes, a man must beware pretty women and strong drink… and my fortune warned me against greed. How did I end up here?”
And that wasn’t the only bad sign.
Just to be sure, she’d asked Elliot for the duke’s birth sign—of course, it was the absolute worst match for hers.
With a heavy sigh, she pulled the hood of her robe low and muttered to herself,
“Life is never easy…”
The soldier who had accepted wine and snacks from a Black Wolf mole slept so deeply he didn’t stir at her murmuring.
“I hope Gray’s doing all right…”
Gray was keeping watch around the estate while she rescued the duke. Worry crept into her expression.
If he was fine, it meant she could roam this enemy safe house so freely.
The Black Wolf was mostly made up of mercenaries scarred by war—many with wounds so deep they could hardly function in ordinary life. Literacy was rare among them.
They worked because they had to eat, nothing more. Their best efforts lay in invisible operations from the shadows.
Which left direct contact with the duke entirely to Anze. Thinking of her comrades, she sighed again.
This mission was huge, a burden even for the Black Wolf.
“This is my karma. I’m sorry, everyone,” murmured Hans, the neat brown-haired boy Anze had disguised herself as.
Hans checked the secret letter meant for the duke. It was surely because of this letter that Elliot had hired the Black Wolf instead of ordinary mercenaries.
Damn it!
Moving like a shadow, Hans searched the house and grumbled,
“I should’ve been suspicious the moment he offered hundreds of thousands so easily…”
Clicking her tongue, Hans nudged the drugged guard with her boot. The body slumped sideways against the wall.
Her heart leapt, but the guard didn’t stir.
She exhaled and listened carefully.
Silence.
Hans hesitated at the door handle. Should she knock? He was Duke Side, after all. Surely he wouldn’t kill her for skipping a knock… right?
She recalled the duke’s cold, unsmiling face from the time she’d seen him in a cheering crowd.
“Your Grace?”
A light tap, and Hans pushed the door.
Just as Gray had said, the door was unlocked. For a captive of his stature, the duke was treated almost like a visiting dignitary.
“Who goes there?”
Hans froze, head half-turned. A candleholder was aimed at her throat, ready to strike if she’d moved a fraction more.
Good heavens.
She swallowed hard.
“…Lord Elliot sent me.”
The pressure of the candleholder eased for a moment, then tightened again.
“Elliot?”
The duke’s sharp gaze swept over Hans—short, slight, with a delicate face that could be mistaken for either sex. He frowned and tilted his head.
“I’ll have him dismissed when we return.”
She gave a wry smile.
As if I’m not used to that reaction.
She held out the letter and instinctively glanced outside.
“We don’t have much time. I’ve hidden horses outside. We need to be far away before the guard shift changes.”
“Did you come alone?”
Hans met the suspicious stare calmly and lifted the curtain to check the corridor. All was still.
“Of course not. Everyone else is performing their roles where they won’t be seen. My job is to escort you out, Your Grace.”
She shrugged, opened the door wider, and peered into the hallway again. Still quiet. She beckoned.
“Please, come quickly!”
Watching her, the duke gave a dry laugh. For someone so frail, she was surprisingly nimble.
Should I find this absurd, or commend the courage it took to sneak in with that body?
He knew men were scarce because of the war, but still—such a weak-looking rescuer?
Getting this far was one thing; getting back out was another. He’d rather rely on himself than entrust his life to this slight stranger.
With a scowl, the duke pushed past Hans into the corridor.
She bumped against his shoulder and scowled at his back.
Cold, unpleasant man.
“Where did you hide the horses?”
His sharp voice stirred the guard, who twitched awake. Hans clenched her fist, but the duke was faster. Without even looking, he gave a light kick that knocked the man out again, then clicked his tongue in annoyance.
“Really, who’s rescuing whom here…”
Hans stared off in exasperation.
Does he think I came here for fun?
It was only after she’d stamped the contract—lured by the promise of gold—that Elliot revealed the job’s details. By then, it was too late to back out.
“The penalty for breach is ten times the advance,” he’d said.
“But I haven’t taken the money yet,” she’d protested.
“Then what are you holding?”
Elliot had smiled, jerking his chin at the pouch she was hugging.
Remembering how she’d once dropped the check and pouch in delight, she grimaced.
Curse you, self!
No matter how big the payout, she should have listened to Gray’s objections. Then her subordinates wouldn’t be risking their necks, and she wouldn’t be here gambling with her life.
Now bearing the alias Hans as part of her penance, Anze sighed.
“The horses are tied behind the estate.”
