Chapter 170 - The Negotiation

“What have you done to my knight-”

“Take him. I have no use for him since you’re here.”

I became confused by his sudden change in attitude and looked at him. The Guild Master grinned, showing his teeth. “I’m actually making a deal. Between the client who asked to get rid of you and the client who asked me to keep you alive.”

That made me curious. Was there a client who asked him to keep me alive?

“He yelled at me to save your life, telling me that you’re going out on fieldwork with the Crown Prince. I envy you, pretty. You’re loved by so many people!”

“Who asked you to save me?”

He grinned at my question and spat, “That’s your job to find out. Don’t try to freeload.”

He was right. So I nodded and asked him instead, “Then are you going to let us go?”

“No. My job is to save your life. Meaning, if I take you as my bride, then I can fulfill both of my clients’ wishes.”

I didn’t expect too much from him anyway. So a smirk appeared immediately. I then opened my mouth to answer him sternly, “That won’t work. I’m not planning to be captured, actually.”

“Huh? Such big words! You do know that your servant girl is no match for-”

“I picked up something interesting by the riverbed yesterday. It was a diamond cuff with daffodils. It’s a unique design that’s hard to find in the countryside or even back in the capital. Who do you think dropped it there? Hmm?”

He then went through his pockets at my words, and made a troubled look. “Shit.”

As he acknowledged his mistake, I continued. “Yedah. You probably dropped it while you were hiding at a place easy to strike. But this isn’t yours. It belonged to the client who asked you to attack. There aren’t many boutiques out there that deal with such an expensive cuff, nor carry one. If I ask big boutiques who requested them to craft this, I think I’ll be able to get the client easily. Don’t you think?”

He began to clap at my theory. I felt very uncomfortable by his exaggerated actions, but I had to keep myself straight to get us out of his grasp alive.

“So what? You know I can take that cuff away from you right now.”

That’s right. Only if I had it in my hands. “That’s impossible. I’ve already given it to my cousin. If I don’t return, he’ll hand that over to the Crown Prince, and it’ll be a piece of cake for him to find those traitors.”

The Guild Master turned very cold, as if he was ready to rip me apart, at my words. “What do you want?”

“Let us go. If you do that, I’ll place the cuff anywhere you want once I get back to the capital.”

He began cracking up like a maniac at my offer, then he looked intrigued as he turned to me. “Amazing. Most people would think they’ve picked up a fortune. I usually like dumb girls, but I think I’ll come to like a smart girl like you too.”

“That’s enough with the nonsense. So, what is it going to be?”

“Alright. I’ll let you go. But this will be the last time. I’ll send a pigeon out to tell you the location to drop the cuff off once you return to the capital. Send it there.”

He was about as strong as Lumi, so it wasn’t going to be hard for him to kill us right here. That answer seemed to be true. I was relieved by his reply and began waking Rey up.