Chapter 20
<22화>
“…….”
This was no ordinary warehouse that one could simply pass by.
It was the meeting place written down by that little spy.
Knox looked at the staff member near the door, who was dressed in a garish suit.
‘A fellow spy?’
Knox tucked his monocle into his jacket pocket and approached him.
“Have you seen a five-year-old girl? She has blonde hair tied in pigtails.”
“Ah. You mean the girl with blonde pigtails wearing a dress?”
As expected, the staff seemed to know Aisha.
‘So they are spies.’
Knox let out a dry laugh to himself.
He couldn’t believe she had actually come here to play spy. He had expected as much, yet for some reason, he felt a twinge of bitterness.
“I’m glad you know her. I’m her guardian. Where is she?”
However.
“Five thousand gold.”
The staff member, wearing an unsettling smile, abruptly demanded money.
“?”
Knox raised an eyebrow, not understanding the situation—
“Give us five thousand gold, and we’ll hand the brat over. We have her right now.”
The man whispered with a ghoulish grin.
“…….”
They weren’t Aisha’s comrades?
Knox bit his lower lip hard.
“…Are you saying you’ve kidnapped the child?”
“We’re just looking after a lost child, so pay up. Why are you being so difficult…”
Boom!
It happened then.
With a thunderous roar that made the ground shake like an earthquake, the warehouse doors burst open. A terrified man collided with Knox’s shoulder as he scrambled out in a panic.
“C-Crazy… T-The ability restraint broke! It’s an emergency!”
An ability restraint?
Knox, though startled, furrowed his brows at those words.
“What? The restraint broke? Why would it break!”
The man screamed, confirming Knox’s suspicions.
“Where are the other employees? Did you release the monsters?”
“If we release the monsters, everyone here is going to die, you idiot!”
“The—the brat!”
As the staff continued their frantic exchange, Knox listened closely to every word.
When it came to special abilities in this kingdom…
There was only the Ice Ability of the House of Crost.
Though he maintained his professional expression, the hair on the back of his neck stood on end.
‘…Could it be?’
A realization struck Knox, and his eyes snapped wide.
Drawn to a familiar energy, he stepped into the warehouse entrance.
The moment he did, he saw ice crystals covering the walls.
Crash!
“D-Do something about this monster!”
“Who let the ability restraint break?! Dammit!”
After I freed Lucas from the ability restraint.
The precarious situation turned in our favor so quickly it was almost anticlimactic.
“Dandelion, stay right behind me.”
I never knew a young boy’s back could look so dependable.
“Okay!”
I nodded vigorously, pressing close to Lucas’s back, and stood on my tiptoes to peek over his shoulder.
The situation seemed to be over already.
Ice pillars had erupted everywhere in the dark room where the staff had been lurking.
The scene looked exactly like the inside of an ice cave.
‘…Is he a powerhouse? Why is he so strong?’
In the original story, he was a character treated as already dead, so I didn’t have much information on him.
‘Is this the Crost Ice Ability? This is insane.’
Tex’s ability—even for a branch family member—was strong, but Lucas seemed to be on an entirely different level.
Just then.
“Shoot her with a sedative! Just put her to sleep!”
At someone’s command, a large man jumped out from behind the iron bars.
He aimed an arrow laced with a sleeping potion at us.
“Dandelion, get down!”
Lucas, who hadn’t realized someone was behind us, belatedly jumped in front of me—
Thwip—
“Gah.”
Right before he could pull the bowstring, the man suddenly collapsed. A long needle was stuck in his neck.
I watched Lucas, who stood protectively over me as if he’d been prepared to take the hit himself.
His eyelids, which had been squeezed shut, slowly fluttered open.
“…Dandelion?”
He had instinctively tried to protect me, but a trace of fear he couldn’t hide lingered in his gaze.
His personality might be terrible, but he’s brave.
He really does take after Calips.
“Young Lord. Were you protecting me?”
When I tilted my head, feeling genuinely grateful—
“…Of course! It’s only natural to protect someone weaker than… Huh?”
He muttered with a bright red face, then suddenly stopped.
He looked at the fallen man.
“Wait, why did he go down?”
He soon discovered the needle embedded in the man’s neck.
“I’m a former spy. I carry poison darts for self-defense.”
I hadn’t had a chance to show them off until now.
“Ta-da—isn’t it cool?”
Now, take a look at this quality.
A grip perfectly sized for a toddler’s hand.
A sleek black color that doesn’t stand out!
It’s a children’s poison dart!
“…You.”
I was trying to brag a bit since I’d saved us from a dangerous situation, but his brow furrowed slightly at the sight of the dart.
Oops. Maybe bragging about being a spy wasn’t the best move.
“Um. I know I said I wasn’t a spy anymore, but it was an emergency… Survival is the most important thing, right!”
I flusteredly tried to make an excuse—
“I’ll… pay… back….”
But then—
“Huh?”
“…I’m definitely going to pay back this debt!”
Lucas suddenly yelled and scrambled to his feet.
“Oof.”
Unable to withstand his momentum, I tumbled over and landed on my face.
“Are you okay?!”
“Yeah. I’m fine…”
I was about to say I was okay when…
With my ear pressed against the cold floor, I felt the vibration of people running, and then…
Whimper—
I thought I heard a pained moan.
“…Ugh.”
I heard it again. This time, it was definitely a faint, fragile whimper.
‘What is that?’
I snapped my head up like a coiled spring and saw one of the men Lucas had knocked down.
And beneath his body—
“…….”
A pair of glowing purple eyes was watching me.
“Meow—.”
It was a kitten.
“Mew—.”
The kitten was pinned under the man.
“Dandelion!”
Lucas chased after me in a panic as I suddenly dashed toward them.
But I couldn’t take my eyes off the cat as I asked.
“Can you move this man?”
“What?”
“This man! There’s a kitten trapped under him!”
“Huh?!”
Startled by my words, Lucas turned his head and saw the cat.
He slowly raised an ice pillar beneath the man’s head.
Thanks to that, the man’s head was tilted up as if resting on a high pillow.
“Thanks!”
Lying flat on the floor, I reached out toward the kitten.
“Here, come here. It’s okay now.”
But the kitten only trembled and wouldn’t come out.
It seemed like its fur was still caught under the man’s body.
I moved a little closer, reached in with my small hands, and carefully pulled the kitten out.
Soon, a tiny ball of fur was cradled in my arms.
The moment I locked eyes with those purple pupils in the darkness, my whole body froze.
‘Aisha.’
When I had fled into the garden drain.
The desperate voice of the man calling for me in that dark hole echoed in my mind.
I wondered if this was how he felt when he found me.
“…….”
I pushed the thoughts aside for a moment; the kitten came first.
Shaking my head, I thrust the kitten toward Lucas.
“Young Lord. Save this baby kitten.”
“What?”
“You said you’d pay me back. When we go back to the castle, make it so this kitten lives.”
Lucas’s mysterious eyes stared at me intently.
He scratched the back of his neck.
“…I’ll protect all weak living things, whether they’re animals or people. That’s what the House of Crost is supposed to do.”
It was a positive answer, but his tone was a bit ambiguous.
Was he surprised that I asked him to save a cat as a reward?
Did he not like that?
‘Why is he acting so lukewarm when he said he’d pay me back?’
Regardless of how Lucas felt, I checked on the kitten.
Its life was fading, but I could feel a faint warmth in my palm.
They must have brought this kitten here as monster bait, too.
‘What could there possibly be to eat on such a tiny thing? Why would they kidnap it?’
The kitten was skin and bones, as if it hadn’t been fed at all.
There was a hint of wariness in its crusty purple eyes, but it seemed too weak to even hiss.
“Instead of that wish, how about you stay at the castle as my subordinate…”
“Young Lord! The baby looks really cold.”
“Whoops.”
He flinched as he tried to pet the cat and hid his hand behind his back.
It was probably because his body temperature had dropped due to his ability.
“I’m cold, so you keep holding it.”
“Okay.”
I tucked the tiny, barely-breathing ball of fur into my clothes.
“Mew—”
A faint whimper escaped as if it were uncomfortable, but once it felt my warmth, the kitten stopped resisting.
It looked peaceful, as if it were feeling such warmth for the first time.
If I hadn’t found this kitten, it probably would have lost its life on that cold floor.
Just like I would have, shivering all alone before Calips found me.
“…….”
Seeing the tiny creature made me think of my past.
“Anyway, Dandelion.”
I looked up at Lucas’s call, snapping out of my thoughts.
“Let’s keep going. You protect the cat, and I’ll protect you.”
He nodded as he spoke.
Or rather, he tried to.
A massive shadow loomed behind his small shoulders.
At the same time, something rose into the air—a sword.
“Just die, you freak!”
Lucas, caught off guard, widened his eyes.
In that split second, dozens of scenarios swirled through my head.
Lucas dies, and I survive.
Then I lose everyone’s trust and end up alone again.
I save Lucas, and I die instead.
If I do that, I won’t lose their trust, and I won’t be alone.
“Young Lord!”
If I had to choose between the two—
‘He might have adopted you out of pity, but he won’t trust you. After all, you were the one who lied first, My Lady.’
May’s accusing voice pierced through my mind like an arrow.
That gave me the resolve I needed.
Even if I die, I will save him.
“Aisha!”
