Chapter 35: Me, Fight the Knight Commander? For Real?
“Origins?”
When the man said this, Tina felt Irene’s grip tighten on her hand, a clear sign of nervous unease.
Was she worried? Afraid Tina would abandon her once her past was revealed?
Pretty innocent, huh.
“Exactly. This blonde miss seems to have amnesia, and you don’t know her either. Aren’t you curious about her past?” The man blew on his tea, swirling it lightly.
“I can tell you everything you want to know, no charge. How’s that?”
Tina glanced at Irene. Though her eyes were hidden, her demeanor was clear—she didn’t want to know, nor did she want Tina to know.
“No need.”
Tina enveloped Irene’s hand in both of hers, conveying their resolve with warmth.
“Thanks for your help, but I don’t need to dig into old stories. They don’t matter to who she is now.”
“Haha.” The man’s brow twitched subtly, then he gave an awkward smile, spreading his arms without pressing further.
“Alright, miss. My apologies. Until we meet again.”
Before leaving, Tina had him mark the mansion’s location on the map, then took Irene and left without looking back.
In the office, a masked figure emerged from the man’s shadow.
“Boss, you’re letting them go just like that?”
“Did I say that? We finally found this sinner—how could I let her slip away so easily? You, infiltrate her side, wait for the right moment, kill them both, and bring back the sword.”
“Me, fight the Knight Commander?” The masked figure’s fear was palpable.
“Are you blind? Can’t you see she’s a wreck after losing her memory? Show some guts as an imperial assassin, or I’ll kill you now.”
“Yes, Boss!”
The masked figure vanished into a streaking shadow, slipping into Irene’s shadow as she zoned out, trailing the pair to the suburbs.
On the city’s main road, Irene finally relaxed, free from the investigation bureau’s chaos.
“Thank you.” Her voice was mosquito-soft; only someone beside her could hear.
“Why thank me? Everyone has secrets and the right to keep their past hidden. It’s what I’d do.”
Tina didn’t think it was a big deal.
Take herself: if she didn’t hide her past and laid it bare, Althea would probably show up to arrest her on the spot.
Hiding was human nature—a necessary means to survive.
“I just think… Tina’s nice, cares about me… dependable.”
In her years of scraping by, no one had cared for Irene like this. Even kind strangers only gave her food a few times, never tending to her every need.
“So… I want to stay by your side… protect you.”
“Huh?” Tina caught something wild.
Irene, rarely fluent, spoke this vow like she’d rehearsed it a thousand times, another instinct.
It gave Tina déjà vu, but they’d just met—she couldn’t have heard Irene swear this before.
“It’s too early for that kind of talk.”
Tina gave a wry smile, tiptoeing to pat Irene’s head.
Promises were the cheapest currency in life—at least for her. She’d heard and made them, but none had come true.
Maybe they would someday. Maybe never.
She was just a liar who didn’t deserve such sincerity.
“I believe… my instincts. Following you… I can protect you.” Irene’s childlike mind focused only on the present, not the future.
“Alright, stick with me then.”
Tina glanced at Irene’s shadow, thoughtful.
After some travel, they reached Valencia’s suburban outskirts, where a brown mansion stood, as marked on the map.
But it wasn’t abandoned—lights glowed inside.
They’d been misled.
“We’re here. Might as well check it out.”
Tina eavesdropped at the door. The mansion was lively, with at least twenty voices on the first floor alone.
“I’ll form the head!”
“I’ll do the feet and legs!”
“I’ll take the torso and arms!”
They seemed to be playing some bizarre game.
Peering through a window, Tina saw knights in armor gathered around a massive suit, trying to climb inside to “combine” into a giant knight.
But glancing to the side, she caught a bound girl on a chair signaling her with her eyes.
Tina recognized her—Vanessa, the noblewoman she was searching for.
“That man was right—our target’s here, but guarded. Did he lure us here to take us out too?”
But these guards seemed too dumb. How did he think they’d stop her?
As Tina prepared to act, a shadow beat her to it, hurling a poisoned dagger at her head. She dodged, but it grazed her shoulder.
“Hiss—” Clutching the wound, she staggered back, the commotion alerting the knights inside.
The shadow, failed in its assassination, emerged from Irene’s shadow and slipped among the knights.
“Brothers, hold off the blonde. I’ll take the poisoned one first, then help you. Big rewards if we pull this off!”
“Got it!” The knights snapped from leisure to combat mode, drawing swords.
But seeing their target, they froze.
“Hold off… who? Her?”
“You go first.”
“No, no, you go.” Older knights pushed each other to avoid acting.
A clueless rookie piped up, “Why’re you all so scared? I’ll go!”
The others gave him thumbs-ups. “Bold move, brother. Wild.”
The rookie charged—and was kicked back like trash in a second.
“Buddy, no sleeping here.”
The shadow, seeing the knights cower, lost it. “Imperial curses!”
“You useless lot! Cover me with magic—I’ll do it myself.”
Smoke filled the cramped space, an imperial assassination technique rendering the shadow untouchable.
By now, the poisoned target should be weakened, ripe for capture to use against Irene.
“Gotcha!” The shadow grabbed an arm in the smoke.
But looking closely, it was Tina, smiling.
“Fooled ya. Poison doesn’t work on me.”