Translator: Nox

Chapter 24

About thirty minutes later, the carriage arrived at the hotel.

It was late, nearly midnight.

The moment they saw their master return carrying the scent of metallic blood, the Wolves instinctively shrank back and moved aside. Among them was Abel Sting, who had come at Oscar’s summons.

With his thick, brilliant blond hair slicked back, Abel was as handsome as any leading actor. At a subtle nod from Simon, Abel quickly fell into step behind them.

Entering the suite, Oscar glanced briefly at the room where Seo-ah was staying before heading straight to his own quarters. Once Simon and Abel followed him in and closed the door, Oscar picked up the contract resting neatly on the desk. He leaned against the edge of the desk, stretching out one leg. He was about to beckon Abel closer, feeling too weary to even speak, when—

“…”

Oscar froze. Simon and Abel stopped in their tracks as well, their eyes following Oscar’s gaze toward the door. Holding their breath and monitoring the presence beyond the door was an act of pure instinct.

Did I kill that many last night only for another assassin to appear? Even if there were one, shouldn’t they have been dealt with at the end of the hallway?

However, the presence they felt was not sharp like the edge of a blade; it was faint, like a thin pencil line.

A small, light presence approached neither slowly nor quickly, stopped, then approached again. Hesitation—whether to come or go—was etched into every footstep.

The footsteps stopped a few paces from the door.

Abel and Simon shifted only their eyes to look at Oscar.

Slumping slightly against the desk, Oscar stared at the door with hooded eyes. Just as he was about to step back, thinking the presence beyond the door was leaving, he tilted his head and let out a dry laugh. He stood up, stretching his long limbs like an elegant wolf, and walked leisurely toward the door.

The presence on the other side remained frozen, unable to retreat or advance any further. Oscar pulled the door open.

Before she could run away.

Standing a few steps from the door, the woman looked exactly like someone who wanted to flee.

Last night, her eyes had been wide with a daze, unable to even look away; now, they were pinned firmly to the floor. The way she looked yesterday was quite a sight, too. Oscar let the trivial thought pass as he studied her bowed face. She seemed expressionless, but her eyelashes trembled incessantly. Though her body didn’t shake, her hands were clasped so tightly that the bones and veins on the back of her hands protruded.

Since she had come to him first, she must have a reason. When he remained silent, her gaze, which had been fixed downward, flickered upward, and a strained voice emerged.

“I heard you coming in…”

“…”

“Welcome back.”

She bowed politely and lifted her head with a serious expression. Oscar laughed, findng her gravity absurd. She really must be the illegitimate child of some noble house. To offer a greeting with a face so pale with fear.

“Yes. Have you been well?”

His shallow laughter vanished, replaced instantly by a gentle tone.

Clasping her hands in front of her, she nodded slightly and spoke quickly, as if reciting words she had been rehearsing.

“I went to the bank, and as you said, they told me it would take at least six months.”

“The bank must have taken your identification, then?”

“Yes. They said they needed to verify it.”

She nodded and stole a glance at him.

“I look forward to your help. And…”

She trailed off, looking down at the clothes she was wearing.

“Including these clothes, thanks to you, I was able to buy the things I needed comfortably. Thank you.”

Oscar’s gaze met her light brown eyes for a moment before following them back down.

It was a white dress embroidered with delicate little flowers.

His first thought was whether such a modest dress could have even existed in the product list of the merchant summoned to the Ritz Hotel’s Royal Suite. None of the women he knew wore such plain clothing, so he was almost impressed she had managed to find it.

“It’s pretty.”

He tossed out the absurd compliment, perhaps because he had been bored all day.

As expected, the clumsy and peculiar stranger’s eyes widened slightly, and she looked flustered, unsure of how to respond. Her lips parted and then pressed together.

Oscar leaned his shoulder against the doorframe. He took a long, languid drag of his cigarette and spoke casually.

“Give me a spin.”

“Pardon?”

“Ah, you don’t know about that? Usually, when someone buys you clothes, they ask you to turn around so they can see if it looks good.”

“Oh…”

This is why people cheat those who don’t know any better.

Embarrassment slowly spread across her elegant, humorless face. She looked to the right, then to the left. She stole another glance at him, but Oscar merely flicked his brow as if telling her to get on with it.

He simply knew she wouldn’t be able to refuse. Then again, how many people on the Norfolk Continent could ignore the will of Oscar von Reinhardt? Even the kings of nations walked on eggshells around him; a world-ignorant stranger was no exception.

Finally, the woman turned. As she moved close to him, a unique scent wafted from her. It wasn’t perfume. It wasn’t the scent of flowers, nor was it the artificial smell of soap. The only word that could describe the scent was ‘greenery.’

As he exhaled the mouthful of smoke, the fleeting thought was swept away by the smoke along with the scent. And the woman, moving with that indescribable fragrance, acted completely different from what Oscar had expected.

He had thought she would make an awkward turn on the spot. Instead, she turned away from him and stepped out diagonally, as if walking in a large circle.

She clearly hadn’t understood what ‘give me a spin’ meant. It was certain that no one had ever teased her with such a joke before.

As she moved away with light steps, she gradually turned her body sideways. The moment her profile was visible after showing only her back, Oscar, who had been watching her the whole time, burst into laughter with the cigarette still in his mouth. It was because her face was filled with a look of resignation, as if wondering what on earth she was doing.

At the sound of his laughter and the sight of him scratching the back of his neck, the woman, who had completed half the circle, stopped dead in her tracks.

Oscar, who had been laughing with his head down, lifted his eyes to look at her, and their gazes locked in the air for a moment. But the woman turned her head away as soon as their eyes met.

Unable to stop himself, he continued to laugh. In proportion to his laughter, her face grew redder and redder.

“I meant for you to turn once on the spot. I didn’t expect you to walk a full lap like that.”

At his laughter-laced words, the stranger from across the sea blinked in confusion. It was as if he could see right into her small head.

The woman stood frozen, biting her lip. Oscar, after laughing for a long time, ran a hand through his hair and pushed himself off the doorframe. He decided he had laughed enough at her clumsy behavior.

“That’s enough. Go get some rest. We’ll be leaving for Luxen early tomorrow morning.”

The woman, who had been blinking with a flushed face, gave a short bow as if she had been waiting for those words and turned around. As she walked away, her neatly braided hair and exotic red ribbon swayed behind her.

A red ribbon decorating the end of her braid. Oscar watched the ribbon with narrowed eyes until the woman disappeared behind her door.

Oscar watched her go, then quietly closed his door and turned around. He leaned his back against the closed door and faced Abel.

“Is that woman my target this time?”

“If you succeed, I’ll strip you of that ‘homewrecker’ title. You said you wanted to stop doing that.”

At Oscar’s languid proposal, Abel shrugged.

“I feel like I’m aging rapidly every day.”

Despite his words, Abel Sting was a talented operative who had never failed to secure a target.

“I heard the gist of it from Simon. I just need to make that woman want to marry me, right?”

“Exactly.”

“And it doesn’t matter if we get intimate first?”

“As long as there are no side effects.”

Oscar smoked his cigarette as he strolled back to the desk and leaned against it. He reached back and opened a drawer, where a small box sat. Opening the box to confirm the vault key was inside, Oscar recalled the face of the naive stranger and clicked his tongue softly.

“She doesn’t seem to know the key has been swapped.”

The key had been duplicated before the stranger had even opened her eyes; the key she currently held was a fake. Simon, who had been silent, finally spoke.

“I heard they couldn’t replicate the internal pins of the key, but that’s impossible to distinguish with the naked eye anyway.”

Oscar crushed his cigarette in the ashtray and spoke to Abel.

“As you’ve heard, the best way is for you to marry the woman and inherit the ownership of the key entirely.”

That was the cleanest way and served as insurance against any unforeseen circumstances.

“Well? Think you can do it?”

At that, the eyes of Abel Sting, who was second to none in espionage using seduction, curved mischievously.

“One month.”

Recalling the gentle afterimage of the woman he had seen over Oscar’s shoulder, Abel spoke with absolute confidence.

“Just give me one month.”