Chapter 19
Meanwhile.
“The meeting point is the staff storage room? Where is that located?”
Waaaaaaah—!
Knox’s question was drowned out by the roar of the crowd.
“Now—this is the Giant Orc that Duke Crost, the ruler of the North, is said to have faced!”
“Eek! It—it looks hideous!”
“It looks over three meters tall… How did Duke Calips handle a monster like that?”
Groooar.
Enraged by the shackles binding it, the orc thrashed about. The entire circus tent shook as if an earthquake had struck.
“Damn it… move… let us through!”
Excited by the orc’s appearance, the audience began pushing and shoving us from all sides.
There were no rules here.
Consequently, there were no lines, and people blinded by the sight of the magical beast showed no consideration for a young child.
“Ungh!”
It happened then.
A massive man forced his way between Knox and me, separating us.
Dropped onto the floor like a discarded toy, I—
“Eeeek!”
I used my hamster-rolling skills to tumble around, dodging people’s legs.
“…Phew. These lunatics.”
My legs trembled as I finally managed to scramble out from the spectator stands.
Alright, I’d succeeded in escaping those orc-obsessed freaks for now.
‘It’ll be hard to find Knox, won’t it?’
I stared back at the dark stands, packed with a tangled mess of people.
My best-case scenario had been finding Lucas with Knox at my side.
However, given the situation, it seemed better to prioritize rescuing Lucas first.
‘Now then, shall we go find Lucas?’
I began to explore the surroundings in earnest.
Lucas was likely somewhere my own strength wouldn’t easily reach.
To Ahili’s Circus, Lucas was an S-class product. So, they would have hidden him in the darkest, deepest warehouse…
“Hey there, kiddo.”
It was then.
Just as I was about to slip through a door that looked like a warehouse entrance, a pair of suit pants with a gaudy pattern blocked my path.
It was an employee of Ahili’s Circus.
“This isn’t a place for a little girl to wander into. Are you lost?”
A black and purple striped suit.
An unsettling smile, perfectly matching his questionable fashion sense, loomed over me.
“I’m not lost. I came with my mommy and daddy.”
I answered, tilting my head back as far as I could.
Unlike the people of the Crost family, he didn’t bother to bend his knees to meet a child’s eye level.
In Ahili’s Circus, everything was categorized into two things:
Customers.
Or products.
“Is that so? And what do your parents do?”
Was I a customer or a product?
Well, that would depend on my answer.
“Business! They run a big business! My family is rich!”
Stretching my arms out and even standing on my tiptoes, I expressed the word ‘big’ as best as I could.
“What?”
“What’s this?”
Another employee nearby approached.
The man dealing with me whispered to him.
“Looks like she’s lost. Apparently, her parents are rich.”
“…Well, you can tell just by her clothes.”
“But she says she’s a commoner.”
“A commoner?”
At those words, the uninterested look in the man’s eyes shifted.
Having focused on their quiet conversation, I didn’t miss my chance to jump in.
“Yes! We’re commoners, but my house is reeeally rich!”
The two employees exchanged glances, their lips curling into sinister smiles.
“…What should we do?”
“What do you mean, what should we do? It’s the parents’ fault for losing a child in a place like this.”
“Right?”
“If the parents are rich, they might spend thousands of gold to find her.”
“…There’s money to be made.”
Only then did they seem interested in me, bending their knees to meet my eyes.
“Hey, kid.”
I replied brightly, putting on my most innocent expression.
“Yes?”
“We’ll help you find your parents, so why don’t you rest in a comfortable place for a bit? Want to follow us?”
“Okay!”
And so, led by these strangers, I was able to enter the warehouse naturally.
Following them, I played the part of a naive child from a wealthy family.
“Wow, what’s that?”
My chubby finger pointed to a white fox trapped in an iron cage.
They were native to the North but were relatively common animals.
“That… isn’t as expensive as you.”
Not expensive?
My hands trembled at the way he treated a living thing like an object, but I had to endure this much to find Lucas.
It was then.
“Kyaaaaaaak!”
As we went deeper, an employee opened the door to an inner warehouse, and a piercing scream suddenly tore through the air.
“Little girl, cover your ears if it’s too loud.”
Warning me nonchalantly, they walked among the animals trapped in cages.
“Woof! Bark, bark!”
Wary wild dogs. Small deer that cowered and hid in corners as the employees appeared.
“Ugh, shut up!”
As if fed up with the animals’ cries, an employee kicked a cage, sending the hedgehogs inside screaming as they tumbled over.
‘These bastards.’
They hadn’t just captured magical beasts.
To keep their high-end products—the magical beasts—alive, they had indiscriminately captured common animals to serve as their prey.
‘If I hadn’t come here to save Lucas….’
I closed my eyes as the grim reality of the future flashed through my mind.
‘Once this is settled, I have to free all these animals too.’
Seeing the animals behind iron bars brought back memories of a past I had momentarily forgotten.
The days I spent being forced to suffer without knowing why, simply because I was born a spy.
These animals must have been dragged here without knowing anything, either. Only to become food.
It was then.
“Now, from here on, our little kiddo needs to take a little nap.”
“Ack—.”
A sudden, dull pain struck the back of my neck.
Letting out a short gasp, I collapsed.
How much time had passed since I was knocked out?
Lost in a deep sleep, I felt a chill and furrowed my brow.
“…It’s… cold….”
Feeling the cold, hard floor, I instinctively curled my body.
Why is it so cold?
Sleeping on a floor this cold was supposed to have ended after I was adopted by the Duke.
Amidst a hazy consciousness that felt like a mix of dreams and reality, I heard someone’s voice.
‘You went to the Duchy and brought back something quite interesting.’
It was a voice I didn’t recognize.
‘Don’t dispose of it. This will provide some fun later.’
I struggled to escape the unfamiliar scene, but my body wouldn’t move as I wanted.
Where is this? And whose voice is that?
Don’t tell me Calips really died, just like in the original story?
Like how my parents died in a car accident in my previous life?
Then—then what happens to me?
The anxiety that had been quiet for a while washed over me again.
Do I have to go back to the House of Pose?
No. I hate it.
I’d rather die.
Hot tears pooled in my eyes.
“…….”
If this was going to happen, I shouldn’t have met Calips in the first place.
If I was just going to be left alone again, it would have been better never to have known what it felt like to be loved.
I felt as if I had been dropped into the middle of a dark ocean.
It was then.
As I shivered in the cold and loneliness, something was suddenly draped over my body.
“……?”
It was incredibly thin for something meant to ward off the chill, but it was warm. Soon, a warm palm began to pat my back.
Slowly opening my eyes—
“……?”
The sun seemed to spread out before me.
Red irises that deepened around golden pupils.
The boy who met my gaze like that—
“Whoa, you startled me.”
He pulled back, his hand dropping from my back.
He looked flustered, as if he hadn’t expected me to wake up so suddenly.
The young boy looked about my age, though perhaps a bit older.
This boy, could he be…?
‘In the original novel, Lucas was around eight years old at this time, right?’
I pushed myself up and examined the boy.
Crouched in the corner, he looked more like a frightened animal than a person.
His hair was matted, as if he had been trapped here for a long time. Ability restraints were locked around both his wrists.
His clothes were tattered and worn. Even his gaze was chillingly wary of others.
There was nothing about him that screamed ‘noble.’
But the moment I met those mysterious eyes shining through his disheveled hair, I knew.
That he was Lucas Crost.
‘That’s right. I came to save Lucas.’
Only then did I return to reality, and I rubbed my damp eyes with the back of my hand.
Then, I crawled toward him.
“Rest easy, Young Lord Lucas.”
“What? How do you know who I am?”
“There’s no time to explain. Just a moment.”
Leaving the startled boy behind, I took out the tweezers I had prepared and fiddled with the keyhole of the ability restraint.
Then, with a clack, the restraint came loose.
“…Whoa, it worked.”
It was my first time doing it for real.
They say even a dog’s droppings can be useful; I guess those five years of dog-like training were worth it.
Whew.
“Now, rest easy. I’ve come to save you,”
Having finished the task, I held out my small hand to him.
Slap—
My outstretched hand was brushed away.
“There’s no way I’m taking your hand, so get lost.”
“…Huh?”
Startled, I looked up to find a chilling, terrifying gaze meeting mine.
“First they sent adults, and when I didn’t believe them, they sent a kid like you. You came here to screw me over too, didn’t you? I know everything!”
“Wh-what do you mean…”
“You’re a spy from the House of Pose! Who do you think you’re fooling!”
His blatant hostility echoed through the warehouse.
“…Uh, that’s….”
“Am I wrong?”
“…….”
I wasn’t, but I couldn’t argue. I was indeed a spy from the House of Pose.
‘Greetings, fake Lady.’
Knox’s first greeting to me suddenly came to mind.
‘But it’s different for a five-year-old who’s a “former” spy.’
Words that had been spoken without malice began to resurface one after another.
He was right.
Regardless of Duke Calips adopting me, I was still a spy for the Duke of Pose.
A spy is a spy until they die.
Someone without a name, without a status.
The kind of existence depicted only as villains in fairy tales.
“…….”
When I remained silent, lost in thought, he stood up.
“Well, thanks for taking off the restraints. They’ve been trying to drag me away for five years, and now they’re even providing service. Or is this spy just stupid?”
Dust, dust.
“I won’t kill you, so get lost.”
Having cast off the ability restraints, he brushed past me with light movements.
“You look stupid enough that I doubt you could even do anything to my family anyway.”
Even then, I couldn’t say a word.
‘A spy?’
To think that was the only response to my act of kindness.
To think that was what I was.
“…I’m not a spy. Sit back down.”
I lunged and grabbed the ankle he was trying to move away with.
“What?”
I couldn’t forgive that attitude.
“If you’re going to treat me like a spy, I’m locking those restraints back on, so sit back doooooown!”
“Aack!”
