“…!”
“—Look, pull… together!”
A clamorous voice echoed inside her head.
The more her senses returned, the more her head pounded as if split apart.
‘I’m going to throw up.’
Grimacing, Rodi slowly peeled her eyes open.
The first thing she saw was a floor layered with thick dust.
As she gradually lifted her head, the interior of a worn, ancient warehouse came into view.
‘Where is this…?’
Enduring the throbbing headache, she barely managed to recall what had happened right before she blacked out.
‘The moment I returned home, someone clamped a handkerchief over my mouth and nose from behind.’
She had lost consciousness while inhaling the sharp, pungent smell of some drug.
Gradually taking stock of the situation, Rodi worked through the facts.
‘I was kidnapped.’
It was not entirely unexpected.
Though she had not anticipated such a reckless and hurried move.
‘Must have grown terribly anxious.’
Rodi turned her gaze to the side.
“Have you come to your senses?!”
A young woman with deep blonde hair and blue eyes was tied to a chair.
The memory in her head immediately yielded the woman's name.
“Rafi Violet.”
Rodi felt a touch of relief.
“You’re alive.”
Rafi appeared startled by her calm tone.
“This is no time for that! You’ve been kidnapped!”
“I know.”
“Why are you so calm!?”
“You need to calm down yourself. How did you end up here?”
“Well… I argued with my parents and ran out of the estate. While walking down the street thinking of going to a cousin's house, suddenly from behind…”
Having reached that point, tears welled in her wide eyes.
“Sob… I shouldn’t have said such awful things to my parents…”
“Don’t cry. You can apologize when you get back.”
Rafi blinked rapidly at Rodi’s comfort.
“Why are you so composed? The usual you would already be throwing a fit, swearing to tear your captor apart!”
Rodi smiled wryly.
In the past, Rafi and she had clashed a few times in high society.
“I changed quite a bit after being banished from my family.”
At those words, Rafi spoke as if something just occurred to her.
“Ah, that’s right, you were cast out… Why on earth did they kidnap you, too? There’s hardly any chance House Evant will pay a ransom.”
“Did you see the kidnapper's face?”
“No, whenever he came by to bring food, he wore a mask. He never said a word, so I’ve never heard his voice either.”
“I see.”
Rafi bit her lip anxiously.
“If only my parents would pay the ransom, I could get out soon…”
Rafi seemed convinced that the ultimate motive for this abduction was money.
‘Usually, that’s true.’
The offspring of noble houses faced high odds of being kidnapped. It was also common for both sides to settle quietly once a ransom was paid.
Noble families wished to avoid the scandal of their children being taken, while kidnappers had no reason to turn nobility into active enemies.
‘Rafi must have stayed quiet in the expectation that she would be released unharmed once the kidnapper received the money.’
Rubbing her tightly bound wrists, Rodi spoke.
“Unfortunately, this isn’t a kidnapping for money.”
“Pardon?”
Rafi’s eyes went wide.
“What do you mean by that?”
Her wrists stung, likely chafed by the hemp ropes. Frowning, Rodi continued.
“You might not know, my lady, but recently the capital has been in complete turmoil over an incident.”
“An incident?”
“Yes.”
Eventually giving up on untying the ropes, Rodi sighed and replied.
“The emergence of a serial killer targeting only blonds.”
“…!”
“—To be precise.”
“T-That makes no sense!”
Slowly grasping the situation, Rafi’s eyes filled with horror.
“Besides, you don’t even have blonde hair!”
“There’s a different reason I was taken.”
Rodi gave a small smirk.
“It’s none other than—”
“Because you learned something you shouldn’t have.”
Suddenly, a low voice resonated through the warehouse.
“Eek, ah…”
A startled Rafi swallowed her scream, and Rodi shifted her gaze.
Framed against the light streaming through the warehouse entrance stood a man holding an axe.
Backlit by the glare, his face could not be seen clearly.
One step.
Two steps.
As the man’s figure drew nearer, his features gradually sharpened into focus.
“It was you after all.”
Rodi regarded him calmly.
“Count Heiser Gor.”
“So you saw right through me, just as expected.”
The true culprit, Heiser Gor, curled his lips into a smile.
“And here I thought I had everyone completely fooled.”
At the unexpected identity of the culprit, Rafi trembled violently.
“C-Count… Why…?”
Heiser ignored her question.
“How did you figure it out?”
“Just because.”
Rodi replied with complete indifference.
“One glance was enough to smell the rot on you.”
She was under no obligation to provide a lengthy, honest explanation to a piece of trash like this.
“To tell the truth, I’m a terribly wicked mage, you see.”
Heiser burst into laughter.
“Haha… Are you bluffing with trivial society rumors?”
He wore a sneer.
“I don’t believe such childish gossip. You have no abilities whatsoever; you’re merely a stupid, selfish woman.”
Rodi fired back, entirely unfazed.
“Still a hundred times better than a two-faced lunatic like you.”
Her beloved favorite, the ‘villainess Rodi,’ would never commit such petty, miserable murders.
‘She’s the type to do everything right out in the open!’
Heiser’s expression turned chilling.
“All talk, aren’t you? Is your mind too slow to grasp your current predicament?”
“No, I just make it a rule to say my piece even before I die.”
“Hmph. Stall all you want, but no one is coming to help. There’s no human presence anywhere near this place.”
“I know that much myself.”
Rodi chuckled briefly.
“Still, shouldn’t you be thanking me? I’m the one who alerted the knights to the serial killer's existence.”
She added with cynical ease,
“You were bored all this time, weren’t you? Because no one recognized your ‘achievements.’”
“…”
“Deep down, you wanted everyone to notice you, didn’t you? You wanted the public to realize there was a ‘serial killer’ and tremble in fear of the unknown.”
She pinned him with a piercing gaze.
“That’s why you pretended to help the victims’ families and published articles about the missing persons in the newspaper run by the House of Gor.”
“Ah… So you figured it out from that?”
Heiser grinned.
“That head of yours isn’t just for decoration. You’re far better than those fools in the knight order.”
Receiving his praise brought no pleasure.
Because Rodi despised him.
‘The absolute worst kind of human.’
It was not as though she cherished every villain appearing in Utopia.
‘He murders people to derive a sickening satisfaction, believing he’s superior, cleverer, and standing above everyone else.’
On top of that, an arrogance that led him to believe he could control every circumstance perfectly.
He met every single criterion for the kind of person she detested.
“Let me ask just one more thing.”
Believing he held the upper hand, Heiser was completely at ease.
“How did you realize I used ‘Nakhwa’ to kill Joen?”
“Because you’re an insidious, petty wretch.”
Heiser faltered at the insulting remark.
“…What?”
“Nakhwa was originally an art technique Lord Joen was fond of. That was why you used a poison of the same name to murder him, wasn’t it? Intending to mock him.”
Rodi added with cheeky bluntness,
“That part of you is what makes you pathetic. You vented your inferiority complex toward Lord Joen in the most underhanded way.”
She knew about Heiser Gor.
This man had harbored an inferiority complex toward Joen, who had been the ducal heir, all along.
Wearing the mask of a friend, he had mocked Joen for pursuing art rather than power.
“Once you murdered Lord Joen, you felt as though you had surpassed him, didn’t you?”
Rodi pressed on with composure.
“Every time you killed a victim with the same blonde hair as Lord Joen, you must have felt that exact satisfaction.”
Struck precisely where it hurt, Heiser could offer no retort.
“With the entire capital gripped by dread, you must have felt like a god in total control.”
One corner of her lips tilted upward.
“Just keep this one thing in mind, little boy.”
“…What are you trying to say?”
“You’re really nothing at all.”
Heiser flinched.
“…What?”
“Do you know what people usually call something like you?”
Rodi gave a wide grin.
“A dimwit, an idiot, a loser.”
“…!.”
“And furthermore.”
She added, enunciating each word,
“A coward without the guts to stand proudly in front of others.”
“H-How dare you…”
Heiser was enraged.
Every murder he had committed up until now was a flawless ‘achievement.’
Venerated by fools to their faces, he had never been caught by anyone behind their backs.
It was something he had proudly accomplished after painstaking caution and effort.
“What do you know?!”
To dare insult someone like him…
“I am no coward.”
Face contorted with rage, Heiser raised the axe.
“I will give you the most agonizing death in the world, wench!”
“Oh dear.”
Even in such a dire spot, Rodi smiled brightly.
“Do you still not get it?”
Heiser scoffed.
“Hmph, I won’t play along with your bluffs any longer.”
He stalked forward toward the two women.
“All this time.”
Watching him draw near, Rodi beamed.
“You’ve been dancing right in the palm of my hand.”
Crash!
At that very instant, the warehouse door was ripped clean off.
