The Tyrant Couldn’t Fall Asleep

The Master ran towards Melanie.

Melanie’s legs trembled from fear, and she fainted.

The moment the Master was about to pierce his dagger at Melanie, something rushed to him with a vicious force.

‘That’s…!’

The Master had no choice but to turn his entire body hastily to avoid it. But then the object brushed against his cheek.

'Damn it...!’

The assassin, with a solid cut on his cheek, glared at Izaya.

Her black hair, which had been fixed with a hairpin, came loose.

He heard from the duke that the Empress learned swordsmanship.

However, what the Empress just did now was not swordsmanship.

‘To throw a hairpin like that? If she was a noble, she would have learned the sword from a knight...?'

Izaya leisurely faced his curious eyes towards her.

“To be a Lauchen, there’s always preparation for an assassination. And to prepare for an assassination, you need to know them well.”

It was her mother's escort knight, who was an assassin, who taught Izaya the sword.

That's why she knew as much about the assassins.

Izaya raised the corners of her lips.

‘He was good at hiding his presence, so he showed up really well.’

Izaya said to the assassin.

“Your purpose must be me, shouldn’t there be no reason to attack others?”

The Master wrinkled his brow at Izaya's provocation.

'It's not my goal to kill you...'

“Perhaps the goal is not to kill me. Are you running out of time?”

The Master's eyes widened at the words that came out as if she had read his mind.

But he made up his mind again and looked at the Empress.

‘Anyway, the purpose has been achieved. Now, if I hold out until the knights come in, the deposit will be in my hands…'

“Did you think you would be able to go back alive from the Imperial Palace?”

At those words, the assassin wrinkled his eyebrows.

“What…?”

She was obviously weak.

“Your use is over, but would your client put up with such a hassle for a useless tool?”

The Empress's words kept turning his insides upside down.

The moment their eyes met, Izaya rolled her eyes.

“I know my father well. If in doubt, how about confirming it?”

"Confirm? Why would…”

"If father's servant keeps his promise, I'll give you a million gold."

The master's eyes widened at the enormous amount.

Izaya looked at him and she spoke her words leisurely.

“Isn’t it the only way to see it? If your client keeps his promise, you can pretend to attack me, take the money I gave you, and run away.”

The Master then looked at her with trembling eyes.

Izaya continued her words with a smile.

“However, if I win this bet, you will only accept my request for three years. Of course, I'll give you a reasonable pay every time you start a job. How about it?"

That would betray his professional beliefs, but frankly, he was moved by the Empress's words.

‘Yeah, it wouldn’t hurt to be prepared just in case.’

Izaya said as the Master nodded.

“Then hide.”

The moment the Master quickly hid himself, Izaya threw the vase.

Clink!

After a while, the door roared open.

“Your Majesty, what is going on?!”

Instead of the two people who were supposed to come in, six other people came.

"A lot of people are coming in. Were you all in front of my room?”

"Since the timing is right, I paid attention to security. But how did that maid...”

Izaya answered calmly.

"She suddenly collapsed while moving the vase. Call a doctor."

As a result, the Duke of Lauchen looked around with a strange face, and soon sighed.

"Alright."

The Master, who was watching this scene in hiding, clenched his teeth.

‘What the Empress said was true! You bastard! You were going to catch me and get rid of me!’

Soon, Melanie was taken away, and only Izaya and the Master were left in the spacious room.

“I won.”

Master smiled bitterly at Izaya's words and opened his mouth.

“Yeah, as you said. But honestly, I don't understand."

“What?”

“Why did you save me even with such ridiculous conditions? What the hell are you going to do to me?”

Izaya grinned at the Master's question.

As expected, the Master's purpose was to make the Empress return to her Imperial Palace.

If that was the case, killing the Empress's maid would have been effective.

However, the Master didn't aim at Melanie's vital point, and aimed at an area where there would be no major problems even if she were injured.

So Izaya decided to give him a chance.

“You now owe me your life, the Empress of this Empire. Right?"

'A lifesaver...'

He couldn't deny it. Had it not been the Empress, he would’ve been dead.

'Furthermore… Her father sent an assassin to his daughter and now his daughter is using it...'

It was clear that the day would come when she would avenge this shame if he was by her side.

Master put down the sword he had been holding and slowly knelt in front of Izaya.

“First of all, your name.”

“Why my name suddenly…”

“For three years from now, you’ll be my henchman, so I thought knowing your name was the first step.”

It was an absurd reason, but the empress's smile was very dazzling.

The Master, who stared blankly at her, lowered his eyes and thought.

‘A name…'

Come to think of it, no one has called him by name.

At some point, he was used to being called by a nickname that was used in the guild, not by his first name.

'It's not like I'm falling for sentimentality.'

But it wasn't a bad feeling.

“Roxanne.”

Izaya was slightly surprised that it was a woman.

After revealing her name, she immediately hardened her expression and asked Izaya.

“Now, can you tell me why?”

Then Izaya answered with a smile.

“Roxanne, when you talk to me in the future, be respectful. Isn't that a courtesy to the client?"

At those words, Roxanne twisted her face.

‘Where the hell is the compliant daughter the duke spoke of?’

Izaya was different from what Roxanne heard from Duke Lauchen.

“Yes, so what is the answer to my question?”

Then Izaya opened her mouth.

“I needed someone. A person who will carry out my orders crossing the Imperial Palace and the outside without anyone knowing. And who will never stand on the side of Duke Lauchen.”

Immediately, Izaya continued with a bright smile.

“You are strong enough to sneak into the Imperial Palace. But since you've already betrayed Duke Lauchen, wouldn't you at least be on my side?"

At that, the Master laughed.

‘Is that so?’

She felt cheated, but oddly enough, she wasn't in a bad mood.

“Okay, if there is anyone that the Empress wants to get rid of in the future, I will…”

“No, you won’t get blood on your hands.”

If you fight monsters, at some point, you become a monster.

Izaya did not intend to beat her father by killing people.

“Even if I don’t, I can win.”

The real enemy was not Duke Lauchen, but the power behind him and the unknown imperial family.

‘Yeah, we need to find that royal family member.’

She didn’t know exactly when he came into contact with that royal family member.

However, a year after Ern's coming of age, the urge for her to have children began to diminish.

'Perhaps around that time. But there’s no clue...'

Izaya stared at the assassin before her eyes.

Assassination and intelligence are very closely related. A person who can interrogate her for information in the shadow.

Roxanne, who had been receiving Izaya's gaze, opened her mouth with a grin.

“Then what you want is something that needs to be secretly hidden. That is, surveillance.”

As if she was actually leading an organization, she was quick-witted.

Izaya nodded her head at Roxanne’s words.

"Yes. I want you to watch the duke."

At those words, Roxanne raised the corners of her lips.

‘I can take revenge on those who took advantage of me to earn money, so there is no reason to refuse.’

“Do I go and watch him right now?”

“No, I have work to do first, so please wait here. I have to go see my maid for a while.”

"Alright."

As soon as Izaya left, Roxanne giggled in excitement.

‘I can't believe I have a clear source of funds. If it gets dangerous, I can take my foot out in the middle…’

Then, a creepy feeling ran up her spine.

Whoosh-

Roxanne pulled out her dagger and wielded it as an act close to instinct.

‘I can’t feel the presence, who are you?’

The Master's eyes widened when she saw the attacker.

It was surprisingly a young boy who wielded the sword against her.

‘Wait, if you have silver hair and purple eyes…'

"No way… The Emperor?"

The moment when Roxanne, engulfed in shock, mumbled the identity of the person without realizing it.

“What did you just talk about with the Empress?”

“There was no conversation…”

At that moment, a creepy glare appeared in Ern's eyes.

“Speak straight. Otherwise, you will die without a trace, just like your comrades.”

The moment she saw the blaze on his sword, Roxanne knew who had killed the other assassins.

‘The emperor must have been a transcendent. It seems that he has been hiding his skills until now.’

The Master decided to speak frankly.

“The Empress told me…”

“Call her Her Majesty the Empress if you value your life.”

At Ern's bloody momentum, the Master swallowed her dry saliva and spoke again.