Chapter 27. A Bad Deed
“How far can I see? What, you think I can make you an emperor or something? That’d be a scam. And I’m no con artist.”
“Pfft, really?”
Bella sneered and took a step forward.
The mercenary, caught off guard and lowering his guard, suddenly narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip on his sword. Bella tilted her head slowly and curled her lips into a smirk.
“Let’s see… maybe I can catch a glimpse of Count Threshi’s face?”
“W-what…!”
As soon as Bella spoke, Kalt shot to his feet in alarm. A cold gust swept past Bella’s side, followed by the thud of a heavy sword striking down.
But Bella had already leaned her upper body back, dodging the attack as if she’d anticipated it. She instantly sliced the mercenary’s side.
From the start, the mercenary had been at a disadvantage — Kalt had distracted him, and now he had to fight with an injury to his side. He sensed his defeat from the beginning.
In battle, nothing else mattered. Only winning, surviving — that was strength, that was victory.
That belief had driven the mercenary his whole life. As he saw the sharp blade flying toward him, and the long silver-gray hair trailing behind it, one final thought crossed his mind:
She fights not for survival, but beyond it.
Bella pulled her sword from the mercenary’s chest and stood still, silently staring at Kalt.
Blood still wet on her face, not blinking once.
Kalt instinctively felt fear. He stumbled back and quickly stuffed the key to his vault into his coat, glancing nervously around.
Would Bella spare him? Negotiate? Kill him? His frantic thoughts were written all over his face.
“Why so quiet? I asked you something. Can you take me to Count Threshi?”
Bella’s voice was calm and ordinary, as if she were asking a friend how they were doing.
Kalt quickly nodded, desperately trying to save himself.
“O-of course! Who do you think I am? I manage the biggest gambling house under the Count’s name!”
“Really?”
Bella paused, dragging her sword toward him with a scraping sound. A wave of dizziness hit her, her face losing color.
That never used to happen before. Bella tilted her head, muttered to herself, then kept walking toward Kalt.
“Then answer me. Why is Count Threshi doing this crap?”
“H-he’s a dog of the royal family! Maybe… maybe the royal family needed money, so he—”
As Bella drew closer, Kalt glanced between her and the dead mercenary. His face showed he couldn’t believe she had taken down that large man alone.
They’d never know.
That pathetic man who once clung to gamblers’ pant legs begging for one more game… had once been a knight honored for his achievements and made a baron.
And Bella — she had learned the sword from that same proud father.
They’d never know.
That everyone had a life before everything fell apart.
“The royal family extorted money through gambling? But not from high-ranking nobles, just local or lower nobles? You really think that makes sense?”
“Well, that—”
“What’s the purpose of this gambling house?”
Bella tilted her head, and her silver-gray hair slid off her shoulder.
Kalt, briefly hypnotized, stared at her before snapping to attention and folding his hands respectfully.
“I-I don’t know the purpose, but I do know the target!”
“Target?”
“The gambling rings target nobles, but not high-ranking ones. Only barons or viscounts. And even then, if they have land or ties to high nobility, they’re excluded.”
“That’s the rule?”
“Y-yes, exactly.”
“When do the gambling houses open, and where? You guys must have a schedule and locations set up, right?”
“Well…”
As Kalt hesitated, Bella marched up and kicked over his desk. The contents spilled out all over the floor.
Kalt’s eyes locked on one thing:
The safe where today’s earnings were stored.
“If you die, who do you think is going to get all that money?”
“…!”
Bella mocked his greedy thoughts, planting a foot on top of the safe.
“Who cares once you’re dead? Survival comes first, doesn’t it?”
“H-here it is!”
Under clear threat, Kalt finally handed over a notebook he’d been hiding. Bella flipped through it slowly, then nodded and slipped it into her pocket.
“Hmm. It’s all here. Who else knows I broke in here?”
“No one but me.”
“So if you disappear, no one will know I attacked this gambling house.”
“W-what?”
Before Kalt could fully grasp the situation, Bella’s sword sliced through the air without hesitation.
By the time she dropped her blade, Kalt had already taken his last breath.
Even in his final moment, he clutched the vault to his chest, as if unwilling to let go of it.
But Bella wasn’t there to rob him. She didn’t care about the filthy money he’d made.
She was after the one at the very top who orchestrated all this filth.
After searching the room, Bella grabbed a few more documents related to the gambling house’s operation and walked out calmly.
She peeled off her bloodstained staff uniform, changed into a dress, left the gambling house, and headed for a small tent to change back into her regular clothes — the transition so seamless that Chei almost suspected she worked as a spy for a living.
The forest path back to their lodgings was quite dark. Strangely, Bella had been feeling lightheaded for a while now, her vision spinning and her body stumbling slightly.
“Bella.”
Chei’s quiet voice reached her, and Bella let out a faint, wordless breath, eyes closing for a moment. It was strange. She hadn’t been poisoned, and she’d eaten properly too.
Struggling to stay conscious, Bella barely made it back to her room.
“If you’re thinking of giving me a lecture about not killing people or lying… it’s best if you don’t say anything.”
Bella muttered weakly, collapsing onto the bed, drenched in cold sweat.
“I’m just glad you’re safe.”
“…”
Bella felt something tap lightly against her heart — a sensation she couldn’t name. She said nothing.
How ironic that the warmest presence in her life… was a ghost with no body.
It felt like her soul was being enchanted.
“I’m just glad you’re okay, Bella.”
Why did he always say the exact words she wanted to hear?
Bella raised her arm to cover the slight smile creeping up her lips, then frowned at the faint scent of blood still lingering.
“I came here to do bad things, remember? With this childish resolve to take revenge on the ones who ruined my childhood.”
“It’s not childish.”
“How can people say things get better with time? Maybe they’re all just better people. I’m not like that. Even now, as a fully grown adult… I still can’t let it go. Just that one thing.”
Bella spoke in a weary voice and stepped into the bathroom. She started filling the tub with warm water, and the heat rising from it helped soothe her chilled body. The dizziness also began to subside.
Once the water level was high enough, Bella untied her outer garment and removed her top without hesitation.
“Bella!”
“Yes?”
“I—I used to be a man when I was alive.”
Silence hung for a beat inside the bathroom as Bella awkwardly pulled her top back over her chest.
“…Oh. Chei. You can see in here?”
Her voice was more awkward than with a total stranger.
Chei, trapped inside an ornament with nowhere to hide, tried his best not to sense Bella’s presence and answered calmly.
“Of course. I’m a spirit — pure energy. That’s how I could pass through walls.”
Chei’s “vision” wasn’t the same as a living human’s. It was more like perceiving someone’s soul rather than physically seeing them. That’s how he could tell whether someone was behind a wall.
After hearing his explanation, Bella pouted, wrapped a large towel around herself, and got into the tub.
“That’s kind of unfair. I can’t see you at all.”
The warm water enveloped her body, and the fatigue of the day melted away.
“The way I appear to you — is it weird? Like, do I look like a corpse or something?”
“Not at all. Don’t you know what you look like?”
“I can’t perceive myself. I’m a spirit, remember.”
A spirit couldn’t reflect in a mirror. Spirits couldn’t see each other — only perceive each other faintly.
And that was why spirits longed for the living.
Because they could be seen — vividly.
