Chapter 05
Black Wolf (5)
“We’ll stay here tonight.”
The cabin they reached through the darkness stood apart from the village, isolated.
Despite its somewhat weathered exterior, the inside was unexpectedly cozy.
“You found time for this kind of preparation? So not every ‘Black Wolf’ is like you, it seems,”
Joseph remarked with a satisfied look as he glanced around.
Hans only nodded, face indifferent. He’d grown used to Duke Side’s ways—finding fault when things were good, acting ready to bite when they weren’t.
“If everyone were like me, the ‘Black Wolf’ organization would’ve gone out of business long ago,” Hans replied shamelessly.
The duke gave a short, derisive laugh. Hans might have some skill, but by the duke’s standards he was insignificant.
Perhaps the only reason he’d survived this long was his quick wits. Still, with that thin frame, how long could he endure such a life?
Joseph clicked his tongue inwardly as he studied Hans’s slender features. Not out of concern, of course.
Elliot’s letter had introduced Hans as some exceptional information broker, but Joseph wasn’t impressed.
Even if the description had been true, Hans was nothing more than a disposable tool.
Joseph had lived on battlefields where hundreds, thousands, died each day. Death, in all its suddenness, no longer surprised him.
Losing comrades had left deep scars, so he’d trained himself to stay detached.
Especially from someone who wasn’t even a subordinate—just an informant.
Still, Joseph had to admit Hans’s sharp instincts were real.
“Be wary of that old man. He’s more devious than he looks.”
“Eat nothing unless it comes from me. Be careful with everything else.”
Ha! Cooking was the only thing Hans wasn’t good at.
The food Hans prepared was some of the worst Joseph had ever tasted.
And along the way, Hans had been no help at all—just a mouth that never stopped nagging.
Joseph had more than once been tempted to abandon him to the enemy.
Even so, he’d kept Hans close for his knack for quickly grasping the enemy’s identity and sensing danger.
“How did you notice, earlier?” Joseph asked.
“Notice what?” Hans replied, bored.
Women across the kingdom might swoon over Duke Side’s wealth and looks, but they’d change their minds after a single week with him.
Most wouldn’t last even a few hours.
Hans could tolerate the duke’s hidden barbs and icy tone.
He even accepted being left behind in enemy territory when danger came—after all, the duke was the client and Hans had been paid to protect him.
But criticizing his cooking? That was too much.
Hans chewed a strip of jerky and glared.
After all, the provisions Joseph was eating were all arranged by Hans’s own network. And yet the duke ate alone, stingy as ever.
“When I get back, I’m firing Elliot,” Joseph said suddenly.
“……”
“Sending someone like you for the ‘Black Wolf’ job? I have to hold him accountable.”
“……”
“But if you tell me how you figured out that man would betray us, I might reconsider.”
Acting as if granting a great favor, Joseph took a sip of wine he’d somehow produced.
It wasn’t up to his usual standards, but it was drinkable—a judgment Hans found irritating.
“I’ll ask again. How did you know he was going to inform on us?”
Hans’s eyes cooled as she—Hans—tended the fire.
The last stop before crossing the kingdom’s border had been the estate of Count Fret, lord of the frontier, whom Joseph insisted on visiting.
Hans frowned slightly.
“Truth is, Your Grace already knew, didn’t you?”
Joseph had gone to Fret knowing what to expect—perhaps seeking specific information, or just to probe him.
Still, visiting a key military figure of the enemy while on the run was recklessly bold.
Hans had doubted the whole capture story from the start.
How could someone of Joseph’s rank have been taken prisoner?
Considering the damage he’d caused, the kingdom had every reason to kill him outright, yet they’d merely proposed negotiations and kept him alive.
Even the treatment he received was odd.
Though guards were posted outside, the watch was hardly strict.
Convenient for the Black Wolf’s mission, but it left Hans uneasy.
“I stayed by Your Grace’s side the entire time you spoke with the count.
It was impossible not to notice. He spoke ill of the king, yet his house was filled with gifts from the crown, all meticulously cared for.”
By his birth chart, Count Fret was a man of earth—secretive and tight-lipped.
Yet in Joseph’s presence he’d been oddly cheerful and talkative.
Hans chose not to explain further.
“Good thing you’re quick-witted,” Joseph said.
“So, did you get what you wanted?” Hans asked suddenly.
Joseph stopped mid-stride, turning a cold gaze on her.
Hans sighed. One small comment and the duke looked ready to bite.
He, who spoke freely himself, was glaring over that?
“No one ever taught you to watch your tongue?” Joseph said.
If anything, Hans usually lectured her own subordinates about that.
But exceptions always existed—like when someone paid 420,000 gold and you had no choice but to face them.
“Sometimes, if you want to live long, you have to pretend you don’t know even when you do.
Surely an information broker understands that.”
“Yes, yes. Of course.”
It should have ended there, but Hans couldn’t resist adding:
“I’m sure Your Grace knows, but you shouldn’t trust too much in what you heard from the count or in the intelligence from the capital.
It could all be for show.”
“I know,” Joseph said, nodding unexpectedly.
It made sense. This war itself was a grand game the Emperor had set to destroy House Side.
Driven to desperation by famine, the kingdom played along.
But neither kingdom nor empire truly trusted the secret pacts they exchanged, which suited Joseph well.
He had never trusted emperor or king.
Even staying behind as a “prisoner” had been his choice.
The kingdom had more weaknesses than the empire, and he intended to exploit them.
That was why the kingdom, even after capturing the infuriating Duke Side, had neither killed nor released him outright.
Joseph wondered which side had sent the assassins chasing him now.
He clicked his tongue in the direction of the imperial capital.
“So this is what the ‘Black Wolf’ brings me,” he thought, suddenly finding Hans more valuable.
He tossed a handful of dried rations toward her.
What’s gotten into him? Hans thought, suspicious.
Gazing toward the distant ridge, the duke muttered,
“Tomorrow we’ll likely cross the border. At last, my tiresome association with you will end.”
Tiresome? As if it isn’t mutual, Hans thought, lips pressed tight.
But really, she’d chosen this job for the money.
Her insolent glance went unnoticed.
Without the faint hope that it would soon be over, she might not have endured.
“I know. My task ends at the border,” she said.
And once the mission was complete, the Black Wolf’s rule was clear: Hans’s current identity would “disappear.”
It had been a false persona from the start.
“‘Mission,’ you say? You haven’t done anything.
The rest of the Black Wolf team did all the hard work—starting with securing this house.”
“Sure, sure. Let’s go with that,” Hans said calmly. Technically, he wasn’t entirely wrong.
“Anyway, Elliot will be waiting once we cross.
We leave at dawn, so get some rest. I’ll stand watch.”
“You even make stating the obvious sound like a favor,” Joseph scoffed.
It seemed he found even her breathing annoying.
Too weary to argue, Hans donned her coat and stepped outside.
“Your Grace, wake up!”
Joseph’s eyes flew open at Hans’s whisper.
Outside, darkness still reigned.
“A pursuit squad,” she said softly, wrapping his cloak and mantle around his shoulders.
She handed him the sword that had been propped beside the bed and hurried to the window.
Faint lights flickered beyond the hill.
Hans steadied her breath and checked the day’s fortune.
As always since meeting the duke, today promised to be eventful.
“We can’t be sure this house is their target, but caution won’t hurt.
We should leave early,” she said.
Joseph, already dressed with a soldier’s speed, listened at the door.
The distant drumming of hooves grew louder.
Damp dawn air carried a hint of dust.
He eased the door open—
An arrow slammed into the frame, inches from his neck.
Hans flung open the opposite window and gestured sharply.
“This way, Your Grace!”
