Resourceful Victoria ~Former Operative Rebuilds Her Life~

Chapter 50 Mary

Translator: Tseirp

It was time for breakfast.

The third floor of the building is used by the Haggle Kingdom Special Forces. Mary’s meal was brought into the drab and cramped room. A young man brought it.

(Thinking of which, I haven’t seen Lancome recently.)

“Mary, your breakfast.”

“What happened to Lancome?”

“…”

“I said, what happened to Lancome?”

“…”

“What? Are you going to get punished if you talk to me?”

“Lancome is busy.”

“Why is he busy?”

The man hesitated but he decided that she could not leave the room anyway.

“Lancome is no longer the section chief. He is helping out at the training school.”

The man placed the tray with the food on the table roughly and slammed the door shut as he left.

Mary decided to eat anyway. She couldn’t afford to lose her physical strength. She got up and moved to the table, and the chains made a heavy jingling sound.

She dropped her gaze to the chain that was, by now, completely familiar. An iron ring was attached to her ankle and a long chain was connected to it. It was long enough to live in the room, but she couldn’t leave the room. The iron bars on the windows spoke of her position.

It had almost been two months since she started living in that condition. None of the people from the Kingdom of Randal, who were supposed to come to save her, came.

(I have been abandoned. No, I guess I wasn’t accepted from the beginning. At this rate, I’ll be killed.)

They probably still had a use for her as she has not been executed.

Immediately after their marriage, Lancome ordered her to analyze documents. She was tasked with reviewing a mountain of documents and an elderly would perform all the errands that involved going out, such as shopping. Whenever that elderly left the home, another elderly would take their place to run errands in the home. She was confined to the house and forced to analyze the documents.

One day, during the daytime, she sneaked out to meet someone, and when she returned, she was put in chains.

“I finally caught evidence of you. Did you think you weren’t under surveillance?”

Lancome said with a cold expression and left the room where Mary was locked up.

Mary was twenty years old when she became a double agent.

She was impatient because she was only tasked with small jobs for a long time. Her juniors were sometimes assigned larger tasks than she was.

It was then that a person from the Kingdom of Randall approached her.

“Tell me what you see and hear. If someone from the Special Forces finds out, you can just flee to Randall. In our country, we desperately need excellent agents like you.”

Randall’s agent was a handsome man. She was approached in the royal capital of Haggle and was asked to drink with him.

“If you give me information on the Special Forces, someday you will be able to work as an agent for Randall.”

His words were extraordinarily charming. As long as she remained in Haggle, she’ll get nothing but menial jobs. It was an unfair and disgusting workplace where only Chloe was favored.

“But what if the organization finds out and I get caught?”

“In that case, we will do everything in our power to rescue you. There is no reason to waste precious human resources.”

How foolish she was to take those words without questioning.

No organization would accept a person whose true identity is discovered by an agent from another country and whose comrades know that they are a double agent. Even though she hadn’t been able to contact him for two months, no one has come to rescue her.

Randall’s agent was overjoyed when she managed to get closer to Lancome and got married.

“I knew I was right to count on you. I am looking forward to your future activities.”

She was just used. Both by the Kingdom of Randal and by the Kingdom of Haggle. Perhaps she was not even formally married to Lancome. It must have been nothing more than an act by Lancome, who was suspicious of her.

Until the next meal was served, Mary immersed herself in thinking of ways to escape.

With Lancome out of power, time was running out. If the new chief says, ‘She’s not needed. Dispose of her.’ She would be killed immediately.

“Hey! Hey! What’s wrong!”

The man who was bringing dinner to her hurriedly put the food to one side and ran to Mary. Blood spilled from Mary’s mouth and she was lying on the floor with her eyes closed.

“Hey! Mary!”

The moment the man who shook Mary’s shoulder was about to stand up to call someone, she opened her eyes, grabbed his ankle, and pulled hard. The man managed to avoid hitting his head on the floor but panicked as Mary wrapped her chain around his neck.

After making sure the man had passed out, Mary quickly stood up, tied the man’s hands and feet with strings made from ripped sheets, and gagged him. She then stood up as she watched the man and ran her tongue inside her mouth. She had scratched her gums with her nails so deeply that she frowned in pain and at the taste of iron. She then calmly searched through the man’s clothes for her key but found only the key to the room.

Reluctantly, she tackled the lock to the iron ring around her ankle with a silver toothpick that was in the man’s pocket.

Halfway through, the man regained consciousness, so she kicked him in the stomach to silence him, and then continued working on the lock on her fetters. Eventually, with a click, her ankle lock came off. With blood around her mouth, Mary stood and looked down at the man.

“You were going to kill me someday, weren’t you?”

She laughed as she kicked the groaning man on the head.

“I won’t kill you. An underling like you isn’t worth killing.”

Saying that, Mary kicked the man in the stomach again, moistened the remains of the sheets with a cup of water, and carefully wiped away the blood around her mouth.

Leaving the room, she locked the door with the key taken from the man. In her right hand was the knife that the man was carrying and she also wrapped a belt around her waist as a substitute weapon.

She had nowhere to go, but if she stayed, she would be killed.

(I’ll run away, outrun them, and disappear. I’ll never trust anyone again.)

Mary descended the stairs to the second floor and jumped to the ground through the second-story window, avoiding anyone’s presence. She chose a dark spot to run through, avoiding the guards and quickly climbed over a high wall.

Edward Asher was reading a letter that Hams of the Duchy had sent on a fast messenger. It had been eight months since he tasked him to inform him with all haste if his younger brother comes in contact with a woman with a child.

“I see. So he found her? I would love to take some time to talk to her, but before that, I have to secure her safety.”

His Majesty and the First Prince probably want to keep Jeffrey as Prince Cedric’s assistant, but as the Administration Manager and as an older brother, he didn’t wish to keep Victoria and Jeff together near Hayden. He wanted to eliminate any possibility of danger.

“I guess that’s the best place.”

After saying that, Edward quickly left the room and went to the west tower where the medical team was.

“Oh, Administration Manager. How can I help?”

A small man with black eyes and black hair greeted him.

He was born to a merchant from a faraway land and a woman from Ashbury.

He grew up in his father’s country, but just before he turned 30, he came to this country with his medical knowledge, saying, “I want to see the outside world.” Because of this man, Ashbury could buy valuable medicines that other countries could not afford.

“There is one thing I wish to ask of you as a favor.”

“Okay okay. In return?”

“Don’t say that. Aren’t we on good terms? But sure, how about I negotiate with the prime minister so that you can freely use that medicine you wanted?”

The small man widened his eyes and lifted the corners of his mouth.

“The anesthetic used in surgery? But the price is mind-boggling?”

“Leave it to me. In exchange, I want you to let my brother and the person who will be his wife live in your country for about five years. Ah, there’s one child as well. Of course, I will pay for it.”

(Is it that easy?) Thought the doctor.

“My parent’s house is a large mansion. There’s an annex as well. Three extra people will not be an issue. They have a ton of servants too.”

“Good. It’s decided. Then, will you write a letter to your father? I believe your home country’s ship will dock next month and will return immediately. I want to put my brother on that ship.”

“Keep your promises, okay?”

“Have I broken my promise even once? If there are any other drugs you want to use other than the anesthetic, please list them as well. I will negotiate to get as many approvals as possible.”

Yes, the Administration Manager has never broken a promise. And for some reason, both His Majesty and the prime minister usually accept his requests without hesitation. The man from the medical team quickly wrote a letter to his father and then filled out a list of the medicines he wanted.

Edward Asher passed a letter for the foreign captain to the man and returned to his dark office.