Graves stiffly pulled back his leg, turning around slowly like a puppet pulled by strings. When he stepped heavily back through the gates of the Kastian Manor, his entire demeanor was unnaturally rigid.
He hadn’t taken two steps back inside when he ran right into Lady Elsa, who was heading back, by the front courtyard’s fountain.
Their eyes met, and a faint awkwardness hung in the air.
“Mr. G?” Lady Elsa looked at the mysterious expert who had returned with some surprise. “Did you… forget something?”
“Ah… yes, ma’am.”
Graves forced a cough, his mind racing as he scrambled for a reasonable excuse for his humiliating return.
“It suddenly occurred to me that I left a very personally meaningful charm in the guest room. It’s extremely important to me. I must go back and retrieve it.”
“I see.” Lady Elsa didn’t press further, just gave a tolerant smile. “If it’s an important item, it certainly can’t be lost. As long as you’re a guest of the estate, you’re always welcome.”
“Thank you for understanding, my lady.”
Graves forced himself through a few perfunctory words, then hurried his steps, slipping into the main building’s corridor as if escaping.
Following the mental link’s guidance in his mind, he twisted and turned, eventually sneaking into a storage room at the corner of the first floor.
Click.
The door had barely closed when a silver dining knife, glinting coldly, slid smoothly against his neck.
Gulp.
Graves swallowed, feeling the chill on his neck, not daring to breathe.
Among the brooms and mops, Ailiya stood in her black-and-white maid outfit, surrounded by cleaning tools. She held a rag in one hand, while the other hand held the knife steadily, her icy blue eyes calmly fixed on him.
“That was quite a run,” Ailiya said, her tone flat.
“I wasn’t running! I was just taking a walk… a walk…” Graves raised his hands above his head.
“Oh, really?” Ailiya withdrew the knife and casually wiped the blade with her rag. “What did you two talk about in the guest room last night?”
To show his loyalty, Graves sold Cedric out like spilling beans: “That bastard not only settled the final payment but also gave me a hefty deposit. He told me to keep an eye on you in Fengyue City, find an opportunity to capture you alive, and send you to the Royal Capital for him to… train.”
At that, Graves quickly added, “Of course, I took the money purely to keep him steady. I never had even a hint of improper thoughts about you! I swear!”
“I know.”
Ailiya wasn’t surprised by Cedric’s disgusting intentions. She only focused on the key point in that speech.
She extended her white-gloved hand, palm up, in front of Graves.
“Gold coins. Give me some.”
“What?!”
Graves froze, blinking under his mask, thinking he’d misheard.
She called him here just to… rob him?!
“Didn’t you hear me?” Ailiya raised an eyebrow slightly, the knife twirling nimbly in her fingers.
“You took the job to capture me alive. Since I’m the target, it’s only fair that I get a share of that bounty—my appearance fee. That’s reasonable, isn’t it? Without me, you wouldn’t get a single coin.”
A freaking appearance fee?! What kind of bandit logic is that?!
Without you, I’d be having a good time in some tavern!
Graves had imagined Ailiya would be angry, furious, or even tell him to go kill Cedric. But he never expected this woman’s focus to be… money.
Is that something a human would say?!
Someone pays to buy you, and you still want a cut?!
Graves glanced at the knife spinning rapidly, then reluctantly pulled out the heavy coin purse from his chest, planning to grab a few gold coins to get rid of her.
“Give me half,” Ailiya added coldly.
Graves’s hand trembled, nearly dropping the purse on the floor.
Half?! That was a full hundred gold coins! Do you know how many heads an assassin has to cut off to earn that much?!
Under Ailiya’s emotionless death stare, Graves, on the verge of tears, untied the purse and began counting gold coins one by one into a small pouch Ailiya had inexplicably produced.
“…Forty-seven, forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty. Okay, half the gold coins is enough.”
Graves could barely breathe hearing that.
Ailiya weighed the small pouch full of gold coins with satisfaction and tucked it directly into the seemingly bottomless pocket of her maid uniform.
Even though she had room and board at the estate and a salary, in this world, money was often one of the most effective ways to solve problems.
Free stuff was free.
After taking the money, Ailiya finally got down to business.
“So, what are you planning to do in Fengyue City now?”
Her tone turned serious.
Graves sighed, putting away the remaining half of the gold coins: “There’s been a situation within the organization.”
“One of the members responsible for gathering intel has been out of contact for a long time. The organization suspects she might have defected or been co-opted by another faction. So headquarters sent a few people to investigate.”
“And since I’m nearby, I got assigned to clean up this mess.”
Graves gritted his teeth, a hint of malice flashing in his eyes under the mask: “And I suspect that the person who’s been out of contact for so long is the same one who sold out my hideout info, getting me chased through the streets by the city defense army.”
“We need to confirm it. If she really is a traitor…” Graves made a throat-slitting motion, “kill her.”
Ailiya listened quietly, and the image of the seductive woman who had escaped using a substitute paper doll in that rundown warehouse immediately came to mind.
“No need to look.”
Ailiya spoke flatly: “I roughly know where that person is, and whose side she’s on now.”
“You know that too?!” Graves was shocked, his face full of disbelief.
He, an insider, had run his legs off looking for clues. How could this maid, who stayed at the estate cooking and cleaning every day, know?
“Scent.”
Ailiya pointed at her nose and explained simply.
“It’s faint, but I never forget a smell once I’ve caught it.”
Graves looked at Ailiya’s delicate face and couldn’t help muttering inwardly—Too sharp for a human… Deep down, this woman must be a…
Demi-humans do have sharper senses than humans, but her nose…
Just as he finished that thought in his head, Ailiya’s icy blue eyes swept over him coldly, sharp as a knife.
“I don’t know what’s going on in that barren mind behind your mask,” Ailiya’s hand gripping the knife tightened slightly, her tone completely flat, “but based on my observation of you these past few days, right now your brain is definitely thinking something bad about me.”
“No! Absolutely not! You’re wise and heroic!” Graves, terrified, immediately stood at attention and shook his head frantically in denial.
“Your organization’s people won’t be here anytime soon, right? You need to stall them somehow.”
Ailiya couldn’t be bothered to argue with him. She threw the rag into the bucket and turned to push open the storage room door.
“Pick a time. We’ll go meet her in person.”
Must be who? A dog? I don’t get it