He was a lunatic. After all, how could a carriage hijacker be anything but a bad person?
Claisey threw her perfume bottle at him without a word. However, the blood-soaked man caught it with ease.
This time, Claisey pulled a small knife from her handbag.
The man looked back, his eyes wavering before he gritted his teeth.
“Damn it. What on earth is in that handbag? Is it a kit for weapons?”
As Claisey removed the cap from the knife and held it up, the man quickly added, “I am a knight of the Palace Guards. I had to hijack the carriage due to urgent business. I will apologize officially later, so please, stop pulling weapons out of your handbag! You’re scaring me!”
Claisey did not lower the knife. Instead, she gripped it tighter and asked, “How can I trust your word?”
The man rummaged through his pocket with one hand, pulled out a black wallet, and tossed it toward her.
Claisey didn’t bend down; she just reached out and picked it up. When she opened it, she saw the emblem of the Palace Guards on one side, topped with an anti-forgery seal.
On the other side was a black-and-white photograph.
However, since the photo was monochrome and the man’s face was covered in blood, it was impossible to tell if the person in the ID was the same one standing before her.
‘Kishin Hiard.’
Claisey memorized the name firmly and closed the wallet. But instead of returning it, she shoved it into her own handbag.
The man noticed her action, but rather than stopping her, he let out a short sigh of frustration.
* * *
The carriage stopped only after traveling for quite some time.
Claisey, still clutching the knife, peered past the driver’s seat. If the man decided to turn into a robber, she intended to stab him right then and there.
“Stay inside the carriage. Wait for me.”
But the man didn’t even look at Claisey; he jumped off the driver’s seat and ran off somewhere.
Claisey leaned out the window. The man had stopped the carriage in a forest. He was heading deeper into the woods, seemingly chasing someone.
However, as far as Claisey could remember, there had been no one on horseback or in a carriage ahead of them. Who on earth was he chasing?
Confused and realizing this was no time to sit idle, she quickly exited the carriage. The man’s request had long since vanished from her mind.
Claisey climbed onto the driver’s seat and shook the coachman.
“Wake up. Hurry. Quickly!”
But however he had been knocked out, the coachman wouldn’t budge.
‘He’s still breathing, at least.’
With no other choice, Claisey gave up on waking him and took the reins herself.
If she could have confirmed that the man’s face matched the one in the ID, she might have mustered the courage to stay in the carriage and wait for him.
But that basic verification was impossible. Under the circumstances, she shouldn’t risk waiting; she had to leave immediately.
After all, she didn’t know if he was a real knight, a robber, a carriage thief, or something else entirely.
“Gee up!”
As Claisey flicked the reins, the horse began to move. She urged it on, nervous that the man might return.
Fortunately, the man did not appear by the time she arrived home.
“Miss? Huh? Miss?”
The coachman only woke up after Claisey had stopped the carriage, looking around in bewilderment.
“Miss? Why are you in the driver’s seat? I clearly remember being on the street just before…”
“You fainted, so I drove.”
“Did I faint?”
The coachman seemed to have no memory of the blood-soaked man at all.
Claisey wiped a bloodstain off the driver’s seat with her hand and nodded.
“You fainted suddenly.”
Back in her room, Claisey took the man’s black wallet into the bathroom.
Sitting in the bathtub, she stared at the name and photo in the wallet and suddenly realized something.
‘This man in the photo… he’s incredibly handsome, isn’t he?’
She hadn’t been in the state of mind to judge his face earlier, but the man in the photo was a rare beauty.
No, “rare” was an understatement. He was as beautiful as a painting.
In her twenty-five years of life, Claisey had only seen someone this handsome twice.
Claisey suddenly felt a pang of regret that she hadn’t waited for the blood-soaked man to return.
If that man in the forest was the same one in the photo, this incident could have been the start of a good relationship.
‘…No. Claisey Kalasi, don’t think such stupid thoughts. It doesn’t matter if it’s the same person or not. How could a carriage thief be a good person?’
Claisey shook her head, folded the wallet, and tossed it into the clothes basket.
* * *
Dernic was still in the forest.
‘I lost him.’
He scoured the forest in every direction, but when even the faint sense of presence disappeared, he gritted his teeth. He had even hijacked a passing carriage to follow him, yet he had lost him again.
‘Marie, Noona…’
Dernic bit his lip, glared in the direction the target had disappeared, and turned back.
Time was on his side. He was young, and he was growing stronger. He would catch that guy, even if it took his entire life.
Dernic sheathed his sword and returned to the spot where he had left the carriage.
“Ha.”
But when he arrived, the carriage was gone. The carriage, the coachman, and the strange woman were all gone.
He hadn’t misremembered the location. He had a keen sense of direction. More than anything, the tracks where the carriage had stopped were clearly visible in the mud.
The wheel ruts in the dirt showed it making a turn on this very spot and cleanly heading back out.
Dernic looked down at the tracks and clicked his tongue.
‘She ran off even after I left my ID with her. It wasn’t my ID, though.’
Dernic remembered the woman taking the knife out of her handbag and shook his head.
Due to the darkness, half of her face had been in shadow, but her fierce eyes were quite impressive. She definitely didn’t seem like the type to wait just because she was told to.
Eventually, Dernic began to walk slowly along the road the carriage had taken.
‘Damn it. What now? That woman took Kishin’s ID. That guy Kishin will absolutely not let this slide.’
It took nearly three hours for Dernic to return home. Dragging his heavy legs, he entered the house by climbing through a window.
It was sad to be climbing through his own window, but he didn’t want to cause a stir.
However, as soon as he crossed the threshold, the person he found was his friend Kishin, leaning elegantly against the wall.
As soon as Kishin saw Dernic, he pulled the lamp string.
With a click, the soft light illuminated the room, and the blood covering Dernic became clearly visible.
Dernic smiled sheepishly and waved a hand.
“Hey.”
Without waiting for Kishin to ask, ‘Why are you in my room?’, he ran toward the bathroom.
But as soon as he reached the bathroom door, a long arm appeared and blocked his path.
Dernic stood still, clutching the doorknob, and squeezed his eyes shut. When he opened them, Kishin was looking at him with a terrifyingly expressionless face.
As their eyes met, Kishin skipped the pleasantries and asked, “My ID.”
Dernic stammered, his mouth agape, before finally apologizing.
“…Sorry.”
“My. ID.”
Kishin did not accept the apology and repeated his cold, flat statement.
Dernic gave up on washing up and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his face. As the clean silver cloth passed over his bloodied face, his straight nose and eyes were revealed.
Dernic moved the handkerchief one more time, revealing a face so beautiful that if he asked a hundred people, all hundred would have their jaws on the floor.
That face was distinctly different from the Kishin in the ID that Claisey had been looking at.
Dernic threw the bloodied handkerchief onto the floor. Then, pretending to retrieve the ID, he reached into his clothing and began rummaging around.
“Hmm. Your ID, you say…”
But this was a diversion.
After moving his hands a few times, as soon as the other’s guard dropped, he immediately…
Dernic jumped toward the window.
However, he had to stop after only one step when he was grabbed by the scruff of his neck.
“Your ID.”
Kishin pulled Dernic with great strength, forcing him to stand in front of him, and asked persistently. He had looked angry before, but this time, his voice was truly furious.
Kishin’s voice was always cold, but Dernic knew there were several levels to that coldness.
“I’m sorry.”
In the end, Dernic confessed honestly.
“A woman stole it.”
Half-honestly.
“Try to make some sense, Dernic. You aren’t so unskilled that you’d get pickpocketed.”
But Kishin didn’t believe him and gripped the scruff of Dernic’s neck even tighter.
Dernic coughed and patted Kishin’s arm.
“Has this guy only lived a life of being deceived? It’s true! A woman carrying a weapon disguised as a handbag threatened me with a knife and took my wallet—no, *your* wallet!”
“I’m going to have to tell your parents about this.”
“No, I’m sorry. I’ll tell you the truth. Actually, because I was in a rush, I took it out to show her first. But I gave it to her so she could verify my status, not so she could take it. But that woman didn’t give the wallet back and just took it! This is the truth.”
Kishin dropped Dernic as if casting him aside.
Dernic pretended to fall for a moment, but not wanting to roll on the floor, he quickly regained his balance and held his hands out defensively.
Kishin tried with all his might not to say anything worse to this troublemaker friend, but it wasn’t easy.
The day after tomorrow was the public sparring day, which happened once every six months. He had to submit his ID on this day, even if everyone in the palace already knew his face and his skills.
“Then go get it back. My ID.”
At the lowered tone of Kishin’s voice, Dernic gave an awkward smile.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know who she is. She seemed like a noble lady, though.”
“Dernic!”
Dernic said urgently.
“The Laberton family party is being held this afternoon, right? She was all dressed up and riding in a carriage late in the evening, so she must have been on her way back from that party. Look into the women who attended that party. No, *I’ll* look into it.”
Kishin turned away coldly.
“How can I trust you? Forget it. I’ll find it myself.”