~Chapter 17~
“You’ll be seeing this kind of thing often from now on.”
My body jolted forward as I walked carefully, holding my skirt, following Jin’s lead.
“Thankfully, they didn’t mess with the horse. But there’s no need for you to strain yourself walking yet.”
Jin gently turned my head to the right — probably to keep me from seeing the coachman’s dead body.
Neigh!
The horse’s whinny rang in my ears.
Jin glanced at me, then calmly took off his jacket and draped it over my head.
Then he easily lifted me up by the waist and placed me on the horse, saying casually,
“When a group of 10 travels between cities, they have a 30% chance of running into monsters. And while you’ve probably stayed within the estate most of your life, Lady, you might not know this — but coachmen, despite being a civilian job, are surprisingly high-risk. That’s because most monsters roaming around human roads are annoyingly smart and tend to target the most intelligent-looking person first.”
Jin chuckled lightly as he looked at me.
“Now, close your eyes. It’s not something you’d want to see, trust me.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. The horrible stench burning my nose already made me dizzy.
As he said, I hadn’t been outside the estate much in this life.
Even if I’d seen brutal scenes in media during my past life, seeing it in real life was bound to be shocking.
“You’re a noble, so I doubt you’d get too hung up over a commoner’s death, but still — just in case — I’ll say this…”
Jin suddenly jumped up and sat right behind me, practically hugging me from behind as he grabbed the reins and started riding.
“You’ll see this kind of thing a lot. It’s just part of everyday life now.”
He leaned in right next to my shoulder and smiled brightly.
I was definitely not in the mood to smile, but Jin looked way too cheerful.
With the nasty smell and the whole awful vibe, I seriously felt like throwing up.
Maybe he sensed how I felt because he started patting me on the back cheerfully from behind.
“Count must be a nicer guy than I thought, huh? I mean, for the Lady to be so upset over a dead commoner… Most nobles I’ve met don’t care if a peasant starves or gets sold into slavery right in front of them. Granted, I’ve only seen male nobles though.”
“I taught myself manners, so don’t expect much from Estella.”
I sighed deeply. If only the Count really had been a decent person.
But he wasn’t — that’s exactly why I got kicked out and ended up on the streets.
If my brothers had even been remotely normal…!
Leaving home for ‘study abroad’ out of frustration with my messed-up family… was that even a real excuse?
And to top it off, the eldest brother doesn’t even make it back into the Empire — just gets murdered overseas by an assassin sent by the male lead.
Hopeless.
“Lady, is something on your mind?”
I flinched and looked back at Jin.
What the hell — how’d he know I was thinking about my brothers?
Not that I hadn’t considered it before.
Sure, my brothers were fugitives and totally irrelevant in the original story, but still — even a bug knows how to wriggle, right?
And two heads are better than one.
If the three of us — completely useless siblings — teamed up, maybe we could at least protect the male lead… I mean, my nephew?
“Just… think I’m gonna have nightmares tonight.”
I tried to change the subject and avoid looking toward the corpse.
“Are we really just gonna leave the body like that? He was driving the carriage we were in.”
Jin looked genuinely baffled.
“Are you serious, Lady? From what I know, even the Estella territory has a fair amount of monster attacks. This guy was just unlucky. I hired him at a high rate precisely because it was dangerous — all according to standard practice.”
I just stared at Jin as he complained to himself like I’d made a big fuss.
“I didn’t think I was that upset about this situation.”
Neigh!
The horse neighed loudly as Jin quickly turned us onto a side path, pretending like everything was normal.
“I’m just quick at picking up on things! Hahaha!”
Clip-clop, clip-clop.
I knew how to ride, but this bumpy ride definitely wasn’t good for the back.
My mind started wandering again. Poor horse — carrying two people like this.
“Well then, let me ask you something.”
“Sure, ask away! I, Jin Blake, the Golden Badge Mercenary of the Golden Frog Guild, am practically a walking encyclopedia!”
I cut off his nonsense and got straight to the point.
“If you’re so good with intel, then explain Estella’s current position in politics. And tell me how likely it is that I can get my oh-so-wonderful brothers involved in my plans.”
“…”
Jin froze up on the horse.
“Uh… haha. Wh-what are you talking about? Y-you mean your brothers? The Estella heir and second son…?”
“Yeah. Those fugitives.”
“…Oh, hahaha!”
Jin suddenly burst out laughing — then dropped his voice and shouted right behind me,
“Lady! How big are you planning to make this?! Weren’t you just going to find your nephew and quietly go into hiding?! Why are the Estella heirs suddenly part of this?! Huh?!”
I glanced back and saw his face had gone pale.
“Why the panic? Isn’t your contract over in a year anyway? Should be easy for you to slip away when it’s time.”
“It’s not about getting out or not…!”
He looked like he was about to yell at me but then remembered I was a noble and barely held himself back.
He sighed and rubbed his face.
Then, back to his usual smirking self, he said,
“Lady, I know I’m just a lowly commoner and I don’t really have the right to give advice, but since you seem like someone with a big heart, I’ll just say one thing.”
He brushed his hair back and spoke in that smooth, trustworthy voice of his.
“I can tell you’re trying to think big and find a smart way out of all this. But, with all due respect — your nephew? He’s like a ticking time bomb. Nobody wants him. Except his father, maybe. If he stays under the weak Crown Prince, then being the first awakened in 300 years or whatever won’t matter. He’ll die. They’ll find out through the temple as soon as he awakens.”
The horse stumbled slightly — probably because the rider was feeling uneasy.
“And if the Estella family gets involved? Even if you didn’t mean for it to happen, the moment your brothers step in, it becomes an ‘Estella family issue.’ The royal family might think you’re using your nephew as bait to grab power — and that’ll bring serious heat.”
Jin was starting to sweat a little but tried to hide it. No way could he let Roen Estella notice his weak spot.
From everything he’d gathered so far, it was clear now — his teacher was way more involved with the Crown Prince than he’d thought.
Honestly, until recently, Jin just assumed his teacher handled random jobs for the Crown Prince — but now, he knew he’d been totally wrong.
Those mysterious documents he used to read…
The regular personal assignments that came like clockwork…
The way he hid everything so well…
It all made sense now.
And come to think of it, most of the sword techniques he’d taught were those typically used by royal guards.
Up until a few days ago, he’d believed his teacher was just ridiculously talented and picked things up during mercenary work — but now, he could only laugh.
The more he connected the dots, the clearer the image became.
“Was he part of the royal shadows?”
If that were true… everything would make sense.
Why his teacher got involved with this woman’s sister.
Why only the head was returned.
And why things were spiraling the way they were now.
