Episode 9
“Guh… uuh… ugh….”
The gagged assassin couldn’t bear the pain. Spit dribbled from his mouth and thick blood ran from his ears.
Every limb was broken or twisted; his body was a mess. Pus and blood soaked him, stinking up the room.
He begged to be killed — anything to end it — but he couldn’t. Even when death felt close, the torture didn’t stop.
“You’ve got that tattoo again.”
Asterion’s voice was cold.
Behind the assassin’s right ear was a small tattoo, mostly hidden under hair — a triangle and an inverted triangle overlapped to form a star. Not just any star, but a red six-pointed star.
None of the other assassins had that mark. The five who were killed and the one who’d died under torture didn’t have it either.
“You’re not one of Donovan Marquis’s agents, are you?” Asterion asked.
The assassin just groaned — it wasn’t an answer.
Asterion had seen that same star at the scene of Former Crown Prince Nathan’s incident.
“You lot were the ones who killed Nathan Marquis,” Asterion said flatly.
For a moment, the assassin’s eyes trembled, then went still again. But he couldn’t hide from Asterion, a Sword Master.
“Tell me who’s behind you. Who are you?” Asterion demanded.
The assassin refused — he shook his head weakly, unwilling to reveal anything.
Asterion signaled one of the knights beside him. The knight came forward and removed the gag.
“If you confess willingly, we’ll make this easier. If you have a family, we’ll return the body to them.”
Even with the gag off, the assassin said nothing.
“If you don’t attack House Kailani, your family won’t be harmed. I swear, as Duke of Kailani and a Sword Master, I will ensure the proper compensation.” Asterion’s voice left no room for doubt.
The assassin lifted his swollen, barely-open eyes and looked at Asterion. There was a faint glint in them.
Asterion leaned in.
“…Th”
The assassin’s lips moved, barely forming sounds. Asterion’s eyes widened, then darkened.
“…ra.”
At the last syllable, the assassin began to convulse.
Asterion reflexively pulled back and erected an invisible mana barrier around the knights, like building a wall.
Then, from behind the assassin’s ear — where the tattoo was — a deep red light burst out. In an instant, a fierce blast of light exploded.
BAM!
The assassin’s head literally blew apart; blood sprayed everywhere.
The blood hit Asterion’s mana barrier and ran down, corroding the protective wall. Wherever the blood hit, the interrogation room’s walls melted.
“What the hell—!”
The knights and Captain Sergio, who had been watching quietly, were stunned.
“Duke, this is the same thing from ten years ago…!” Sergio gasped, remembering what they’d seen at Nathan’s accident.
“That’s right.” Asterion nodded heavily.
It was now certain: whoever was behind this assassin was connected to Nathan’s case.
The assassin’s head was gone; only the lower neck remained tied to the chair.
Promises mattered.
“Clean up the body properly,” Asterion ordered.
“Yes, sir.”
They gave the assassin the minimum respect possible, considering what he’d revealed.
Asterion left the dim dawn and went back to his bedchamber.
Khalid followed him, carrying fresh clothes for him to change into.
“How many first-class informants are left in the duchy?” Asterion asked as he headed for the bath.
“Five,” Khalid answered.
“Call them all.”
Asterion said it before the bathroom door closed.
“Understood.”
He stripped off the bloodied clothes and sank into the tub, sinking deep into thought.
Thinking about the assassins who’d been creeping into the duchy made his blood run cold.
The attacks had gotten stronger and more frequent; worry about Roxana came at him like a tide.
‘Is it safe to keep her by my side like this?’
He wanted to hide her so completely that not even a single hair could be seen. But until her Elf Vein condition was cured, he couldn’t do that.
Still, the thought that he didn’t have to send her away brought a strange sense of relief.
‘At least it’ll take three years to fix this. I can stay by her side until then,’ he thought.
The contradiction made him smirk briefly, then the smile faded.
After he cleaned up and changed, Asterion reached his office. The informants were waiting, along with Captain Sergio, Vice-captain Hector, First Secretary Trevor, and Khalid.
He shared the clue they’d gotten from the dead assassin.
“He said something like, ‘Rozarellionite Roporellerasite, Stella,’ right?” Hector repeated, puzzled.
“If you strip away the repeated ‘Lorelei’ bits, it becomes ‘Giant Forest — Stella,’” Asterion explained.
“I think ‘Lorelei’ was the assassin trying to hint at a family name. He couldn’t say the name directly, so he mixed it with his family’s name as a workaround.”
“Oh!” The people in the room nodded at Asterion’s clear interpretation.
“The Giant Forest is very close to Marquis Lowell’s territory. And ‘Stella’ seems like a roundabout way to refer to the red six-pointed star,” Secretary Trevor added.
The room fell silent.
“We suspected it, but that slippery Marquis Lowell is hiding something there,” Captain Sergio said.
They started piecing together what Lowell might be concealing and discussed plans.
Soon after, within hours, the duke’s best undercover agents left the Kailani domain under secret orders and headed quietly into Marquis Lowell’s land.
Meanwhile, Roxana sat across from Asterion in his office.
“As the Duchess, what exactly should I be doing?” she asked.
“Appear with your husband at social events sometimes,” he said.
“And beyond that?”
“You can handle tea times and invitations however you like. Parties too. Domestic affairs will be managed as before.” He meant she wouldn’t be given real power.
“I understand.”
Roxana lifted her teacup and glanced down, stealing a quick look at the cup across from her.
Asterion hadn’t touched his tea the whole time they talked.
“Anything else you want to ask?” he asked.
Roxana fiddled with her cup, hesitating, then glanced at his face. He’d been cold and businesslike outside the bedroom; inside, he still acted the same.
“Um…”
Asterion didn’t push. He crossed one long leg and leaned back on the sofa.
Roxana seemed to gather courage and opened her mouth. There was something she wanted to hear from him.
“Why me?” she asked.
“Because I didn’t want you tied to another noble family. You have nowhere else to go,” he answered casually.
His words felt like a thorn in her chest.
‘I thought so,’ Roxana thought.
She’d had her suspicions.
“Give me a lot of money,” she said.
Money and negotiation were usually settled before marriage. For some reason, they were hashing it out now, after the fact.
Maybe that’s why Roxana hadn’t seemed eager for wealth earlier — she’d been resigned, or simply not used to asking.
He muttered something to himself — wife. My wife. The word rolled in his mouth and sounded oddly sweet.
His gaze deepened without meaning to, and Roxana felt it hover on her in a way that made her nervous.
Her heart beat faster. Trying to steady herself, she spoke again.
“I don’t think I made my terms clear enough. If we ever divorce, I won’t be able to stay in the duke’s house. I want to save enough to open my own respectable shop later.”
Asterion finally spoke.
“How much do you want?”
Roxana thought of the former Duchess Eleanor, who’d spent about 2,000 gold a month.
“Two thousand five hundred gold a month,” she said.
“Is that all?” Asterion asked, surprised.
Roxana blinked those bright emerald eyes at him.
“All right, I’ll give you five thousand gold a month. You don’t have any separate property as a duchess.”
Roxana’s mouth dropped open.
She didn’t know this, but the usual budget for a duchess was at least 4,000 gold per month.
On top of that, the duchess typically got private property — buildings, land, jewels — as personal assets when she married.
So 4,000 was already a modest number for House Kailani’s size. Five thousand was Asterion’s own consideration for Roxana, who had no private assets.
“Not enough?” he asked, a little teasing.
“No! Please give it! Five thousand!” Roxana blurted out, relieved.
‘Five thousand a month! If I save that for a few years… even without alimony, I could buy a small fief!’ she thought.
“We’ll draw up the contract,” Asterion said.
“All right!”
Roxana agreed quickly, fearing he might change his mind.
She might not get much love, but at least she’d have money. And, frankly, his pretty face to enjoy too.
A little over a month after the wedding.
Deep within the Kailani estate, past the avenues and fountains, stood a massive old tree.
Roxana had spread out a picnic mat beneath it and was sitting quietly. The thick leaves made a cool shade.
In the distance, she could hear the soft sound of water trickling.
She breathed in deeply, feeling peaceful. The fresh, clean scent of nature filled her chest.
This had been the place she’d found soon after coming to the estate — a quiet corner where she could hide from people. It became her own private rest spot.
Even though she was now the main woman of a huge house, she didn’t have many duties, so she often took time alone here.
