~Chapter 20~
Meanwhile.
“Is the contact point the employee storage room? Where is it?”
Waaahhh—!
Knox’s question was swallowed by the shouting of the crowd.
“Now—this is the giant orc that the North’s ruler, the Duke of Crost, once fought!”
“Eek! I-It looks disgusting!”
“It’s over 3 meters… How did Duke Calips deal with that monster?”
Urrrgh.
The orc, angered by the shackles restraining it, struggled violently. The entire circus shook like an earthquake.
“Damn it… move aside a little!”
Excited by the orc’s appearance, the spectators began pushing from front and back.
There were no rules here.
Therefore, there were no lines, and people, whose eyes had gone wild watching the monster, didn’t care about a child.
“Eek!”
That was when it happened.
A huge man separated Knox and me.
I fell to the floor like a discarded toy—
“Eiiik!”
Using my “rolling like a hamster” technique, I rolled around to avoid people’s legs.
“…Huff. Crazy people.”
After barely escaping the spectator seats, my legs felt weak.
Okay, first escaping from the orc perverts was a success.
But…
‘I probably won’t be able to meet Knox easily.’
I stared at the dark spectator area tangled with people.
The best scenario I had imagined was finding Lucas together with Knox.
But in this situation, it might be better to rescue Lucas first.
‘Alright, shall I go find Lucas?’
I began exploring my surroundings in earnest.
Lucas would probably be in a place difficult for me to find.
From the perspective of Ahilly’s circus, Lucas was an S-rank product. So he would be hidden in the darkest, deepest storage…
“Hey, kid.”
That was when it happened.
Just as I was trying to sneak into a door that looked like a storage room, striped dress pants blocked my view.
It was a circus employee from Ahilly’s circus.
“You’re not supposed to come in here, little child. Did you get lost?”
Black and purple striped suit.
The unpleasant smile that didn’t match the somewhat chaotic fashion sense covered the top of my head with disgust.
“I didn’t get lost. I came here with my mom and dad.”
I raised my head as much as possible and answered.
Unlike Crost family people, he did not kneel to match a child’s eye level.
At Ahilly Circus, everything was divided into two categories.
Customer.
Or product.
“Really? What do your parents do?”
I wondered.
Would I be a customer or a product?
Well. That depended on my answer.
“They do business! Big business! Our family is rich!”
Stretching my arms and standing on tiptoe, I tried to express how ‘big’ the business was.
“What?”
“What is it?”
At that moment, another employee nearby approached.
The man I was talking to whispered to him.
“It seems she got lost. Her parents might be rich.”
“…Well, just by her clothes, it looks like it.”
“But she’s a commoner.”
“A commoner?”
At that, the man’s previously indifferent eyes changed.
I, who had been listening to their small conversation, seized the moment and interrupted.
“Yes! I’m a commoner, but our family is super, super rich!”
Hearing that, the two employees exchanged glances, and the corners of their mouths slowly rose with a sinister smile.
“…What should we do?”
“What do you mean? It’s the child’s parents’ fault for losing her in this underground place.”
“That’s true, right?”
“If the parents are rich, they might spend thousands of gold to find the child.”
“…That’s profitable.”
Only then, as if they had become interested in me, they knelt down to make eye contact.
“Kid.”
I answered brightly, pretending I knew nothing.
“Y-yes?”
“We’ll help you find your parents, so go rest in a comfortable place for a while. Want to come with uncle?”
“Okay!”
So I was naturally led by the strange employees into the storage area.
While following them, I acted like an innocent rich child.
“What is that?”
A chubby finger pointed at a white fox inside a cage.
It was an animal found only in the northern region, but relatively common.
“That… isn’t as expensive as you are.”
Not expensive?
At the words treating life like a commodity, my hand trembled, but I had to endure this much to find Lucas.
That was when—
“Kyaaaa!”
When the employee who walked deeper opened the inner storage door, suddenly a scream that could tear eardrums apart rang out.
“Little girl, cover your ears if it’s loud.”
Saying it casually, they walked between the cages holding animals.
“Woof—! Woof, woof!”
Guard dogs. When the employees appeared, they shrank back and hid in corners.
“Hey, shut up!”
Tired of the animals’ screams, an employee kicked the cage door, causing the hedgehogs inside to scream and collapse.
‘Crazy bastards.’
They hadn’t just caught monsters.
To maintain the lives of high-grade monster products, they had indiscriminately captured animals that were their prey.
‘If I hadn’t come here to rescue Lucas…’
The future tragedy that suddenly came to mind made me close my eyes.
‘Once this is resolved, I should release all these animals too.’
Seeing the animals trapped behind iron bars, forgotten memories suddenly surfaced.
The days when I was born as a spy, and had to suffer for reasons I didn’t understand.
These animals were probably dragged here without knowing anything.
Just to become prey.
That was when—
“Alright, from here on, our little girl needs to sleep for a bit.”
“Kek—.”
Suddenly, a dull pain struck the back of my neck.
Letting out a short gasp, I collapsed with a thud.
How long had I been unconscious?
From deep sleep, I felt a chill and frowned.
“…C… cold…”
Feeling the cold, hard floor, I instinctively curled my body.
Why was it so cold?
Sleeping on such a cold floor was something that ended after I was adopted by the uncle.
Half-dreaming, half-awake, I heard someone’s voice.
‘You brought something interesting after going to the duke’s place.’
A voice I didn’t remember.
‘Don’t dispose of it. It might be fun later.’
I struggled to escape the unfamiliar scene, but my body wouldn’t move as I wished.
Where am I? And who is that voice?
Could it be that, according to the original story, Calips died?
Like how my parents died in a traffic accident in my past life?
Then… then what about me?
Fear that had been quiet for a long time began to swallow me.
Do I have to return to the Pose Duke family?
No. I hate that.
I’d rather die.
Hot tears gathered at the corners of my eyes.
“……”
If this was going to happen, I shouldn’t have met Calips in the first place.
If I was going to be left alone again, it was better not knowing what being loved felt like.
It felt like falling into the middle of a dark sea.
That was when—
In the cold loneliness while trembling violently, something suddenly covered my body.
“…?”
Although it was too thin to endure the cold air, it was warm.
Then I felt a hand with body heat patting my back.
Slowly opening my eyes—
“…?”
The sun spread before me.
Golden eyes with deepening crimson irises.
The boy who met my gaze then said—
“Whoa, you scared me.”
Pulling his hand away from my back, he stepped back.
Probably not expecting me to suddenly wake up, he looked flustered.
The young boy seemed about my age, maybe slightly older than me.
This boy… could it be…
‘In the original novel, Lucas should be about 8 years old now.’
I raised my upper body and examined him.
Crouched in the corner, he looked less like a human and more like a frightened beast.
Messy, matted hair from being imprisoned for a long time.
Ability suppression restraints around both wrists.
Worn, aged clothing.
A gaze that was extremely wary of people.
There was nothing about him that could be called noble.
But when I met the mysterious eyes shining through his disheveled hair, I realized.
He was Lucas Crost.
‘Right. I came to save Lucas.’
Finally returning to reality, I rubbed the wet corners of my eyes with the back of my hand.
Then I pulled my knees close and approached him.
“Please be at ease, Young Master Lucas.”
“What? How do you know me?”
“There’s no time to explain. Just a moment.”
Ignoring his shock, I used a prepared pair of tweezers to pick at the keyhole of the ability restraint.
Clink—, and with a sound, the restraint unlocked.
“…Holy, it worked.”
It was my first time doing it in practice.
As the saying goes, even dog shit has its use—years of hellish training for 5 years was worth it.
Hooh—.
“Now please relax. Since I came to rescue you—”
I held out my small hand to him.
Thud—
The hand I extended was pushed away.
“I have no intention of holding your hand, so get lost quickly.”
“…Huh?”
When I raised my head in confusion, a terrifying, bone-chilling gaze met me.
“First they sent adults, and since I didn’t believe them, now they send a kid like you. You’re also here to cheat me, right? I know everything!”
“Th, that’s not—”
“You’re a spy from the Pose Duke family! Who are you trying to fool?”
The blatant hostility echoed inside the storage.
“…Uh, well…”
“Aren’t you?”
“……”
I couldn’t refute it, even though it wasn’t true. I was indeed a spy from the Pose Duke family.
‘Spy?’
The first greeting Knox gave me suddenly came to mind.
‘But it’s different if it’s a former spy five-year-old, right?’
Words spoken without malice began echoing.
That was right.
Regardless of being adopted by Duke Calips, I was still a spy of the Pose Duke family.
Spies are spies until they die.
Nameless. Without status.
Like villains in fairy tales.
“……”
As I fell silent in thought, he stood up.
“Well, thanks for unlocking the restraint. After 5 years of trying to drag me around, the service is better now. Or is this spy just stupid?”
Tap, tap—
“I won’t kill you, so get lost.”
Throwing away the ability restraint, he passed by me with light steps.
“You look stupid enough that you probably can’t do anything to our family.”
Until then, I couldn’t say anything.
‘Spy?’
So that was all the answer I got for acting kindly.
Was I that kind of existence?
“…I’m not a spy. Sit down again.”
I grabbed his ankle as he tried to walk away.
“What?”
If he was going to treat me like that, I couldn’t forgive it.
“If you’re going to call me a spy, I’ll lock the restraint again, so sit down properly—!”
“Ahhh!”
