Tergio stood before the secret underground storage where he and Flynn had entered earlier.
He narrowed his eyes and picked up the location tracking sensor hidden beneath the fallen leaves. Then, glancing at the blinking light on the device in his hand, he turned his head and called out.
“Come out quickly. It’s dangerous here now, too.”
His words seemed to vanish into the empty air. Still, no response came from the surroundings.
As the person he awaited remained silent, Tergio brushed back his brown hair and frowned in annoyance.
“Do you want to get caught here? If that’s your choice, then suit yourself.”
His frustrated voice scattered again. Suddenly, from the quiet ground, a wooden board under the leaves lifted slightly, and a trembling female voice came from inside.
“Y-You... who the hell are you?”
At the soft voice, Tergio looked down at the gap in the wooden board. Kneeling on one knee before it, he said,
“Does it matter? Like I said, I’m just a low-ranking member.”
“A member? You’re a member?”
The half-open board slammed shut again. From within, the woman’s muffled shouting echoed,
“Get lost! The guys who were with me all ran off, abandoning me to save themselves! You’re probably leaving me here to hand me over to the Council, too!”
At her screams, Tergio stared at the closed board door, sighed, and rubbed his dry face. Massaging his stiff neck, he muttered,
“...It’d be disappointing to be treated like those bastards.”
“...”
No answer came from behind the tightly closed door.
After a long moment staring at the wooden board, Tergio pulled out a watch and checked the time. Sensing °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° he could no longer wait, he grabbed the board with one hand and tore it off, tossing it aside.
Revealed was the grand master crouching just inside the entrance. As the board was removed, she looked up startled, her deep chestnut eyes slightly moist.
Seeing this, Tergio softened his tone, speaking gently as if to reassure her.
“Grand master, I’m sorry, but we don’t have time. It’s a miracle this place hasn’t been uncovered yet. We need to move somewhere else quickly. Come out now.”
She looked at his outstretched hand with a weary expression.
She wasn’t sure whether to trust this man.
****
That morning, after speaking with the fake Blaine, she had left the Count’s residence to find the low-ranking member who had secretly entered her room last night.
But upon stepping outside, merchant group executives suddenly approached her, whisked her away to a secluded spot, and urgently informed her that the Council had arrived in a nearby town.
She had already heard this at the Count’s residence and tried to dismiss it. Yet they acted as if hunted, making unreasonable demands: they insisted she steal the contract from the Count’s residence to survive, urging immediate withdrawal.
Of course, she refused. Count Servia was meticulous with contracts—cowardly and indecisive—so it was obvious he wouldn’t surrender it easily. More than that, she couldn’t understand the executives insisting on retreat simply because a few Council members appeared nearby.
These executives were close aides to Filione Delberg and tasked with evaluating the new grand master, so perhaps they could speak of withdrawal lightly. But for her, the coming days and her recent efforts all depended on this job.
Moreover, their plan ignored the other members. Leaving now meant abandoning those she had worked so hard to gather.
Even if she’d been involved in illegal activity as the merchant group’s representative and grand master, she would never abandon her members like severing a tail.
The terrified executives strongly opposed her, then fled, abandoning Frost.
As they truly deserted the merchant group, panic surged inside her amid the spiraling chaos.
Barely holding herself together, she ran on her feet to gather scattered members. At that moment, the man now standing before her appeared.
He was also the low-ranking member who had informed her last night about two outsiders searching for Leonardo Blaine—the very person she sought.
When he encountered her wandering the town, he first looked at her as if witnessing something forbidden and said,
“You... why are you still here?”
“What do you mean?”
“Those scumbags should have all left by now... Why are you still here?!”
Last night, he’d been impolite but courteous. Now, however, he spoke informally and confronted her, questioning why she remained after he’d supposedly given her a ‘chance.’
She couldn’t keep up with his sudden attitude.
She suspected he wasn’t merely low-ranking, but had no idea how he knew the executives had just fled, nor what ‘chance’ he meant.
Before she could ask, his confused and angry face silenced her. His demeanor was starkly different from his relaxed smile last night, evoking an indescribable fear.
As she silently met his gaze, he took a deep breath to steady himself and said,
“Listen carefully. The Council will storm in soon. Leave here now, even if it’s late.”
At his words, the grand master frowned in confusion.
“What are you talking about? Suddenly telling me to leave? The executives said that, and now you’re too? Why are you all like this?”
“Stop talking and leave.”
When he cut her off, repeating his order, she shouted, choking on her words,
“I can’t abandon my merchant group. No, I won’t leave!”
She was near breaking, overwhelmed by the responsibility thrust upon her. Yet this unknown man telling her to flee made her feel insane.
As she stubbornly refused, screaming, he looked around uneasily, avoiding others’ eyes, then led her to a secluded spot.
With a grave look, he gripped her shoulders tightly and said,
“Is this the time to worry about the merchant group? It’s not even fully yours.”
“Hah, so what if I leave like this? Do you even know what will happen to me?”
Her neck veins bulged as she spoke. The man bit his lip, staring intently before continuing, tired and frustrated, running a hand through his hair.
“You chose this. To stay here.”
“Yeah, I chose it. So what?”
“Hah... I deliberately leaked info on all those I caught to try to get you out with them...”
“...What?”
She blinked, disbelieving. The ‘guys caught’ he referred to were clearly the merchant group executives. Her voice trembled as she sought confirmation.
“Don’t tell me... you’re the reason the executives fled in such a hurry?”
“That’s right.”
“You... you!”
She grabbed his collar, eyes blazing.
“What the hell did you do?”
Her murderous glare met his unwavering eyes as he replied calmly,
“It’s useless to vent your anger at me now.”
“Venting? Do you think I’m venting? Because of you, those bastard executives ran away, the middleman vanished, and you say it’s just venting? Isn’t it normal to want to tear you apart right now?”
Her grip tightened, bones in her hand trembling white.
He caught her wrist and easily removed her hand from his collar. Powerless, her hand dropped, and when she tried to slap him, he caught that too effortlessly.
“There’s no time to lose your temper.”
His cold, piercing eyes bore into hers.
“If you want to live from now on, listen to me.”
