There’s Something Special About Her Chapter 2 - (Illustration)

My breath caught in my throat, and it felt as if my lungs would burst at any moment.

“Huff… huff!”

The ragged breaths escaping my lips turned white in the frigid northern air, leaving a visible trail through the dark forest.

“Haa… hah. Damn it.”

The world spun before my eyes, forcing me to stop.

With no choice, I leaned my back against a massive tree. The sweat soaking my body quickly turned ice-cold.

My luck had been terrible.

On my way out of the manor, I had run into several members of the elite squad.

They were the ones who had left with Edward for the external inspection.

Dealing with them had delayed my escape, and as a result, the wound on my shoulder had torn open even further, making the bleeding much worse.

“Phew.”

As I lowered my head with a sigh, strands of my black hair—cleanly sliced off—came into view.

“It’s… finally over.”

Exactly one month after the day my family was murdered,

I abandoned my identity as the noblewoman Helena Morton and buried myself in the very bottom of the Wickers organization for the sake of revenge.

Starting as nothing more than a street pickpocket, it had taken me thirteen long years to climb the ladder of power.

And in the end, I had finally completed my revenge.

Boom! Bang!

A deafening explosion echoed in the distance.

The Wickers manor, now nothing more than a tiny silhouette on the horizon, was swallowed by flames once again.

It seemed the fire started by the mana bomb had successfully spread to the explosives I had planted in advance.

“Haa…”

Where do I go now?

Once the commander of Wickers’ assassination and intelligence division, I was now nothing more than a fugitive being hunted by the very people I had served.

“I’ll be safe for now, but…”

Edward would inherit the position of boss and spend some time dealing with the fractured Wickers family that I had spent years carefully driving apart.

Hunting down the traitor would come afterward.

Just then, Edward’s final words before the mana bomb exploded echoed in my mind.

“I’ll find you, Helena. In the end, you’ll come back to Wickers. And when that happens…”

The rest had been drowned out by the explosion.

But I had read his lips clearly enough.

“I’ll break your legs first.”

Edward was exactly the kind of man who would carry out a threat like that.

I’d sooner die than end up in his hands.

“I need to run… far away.”

Just as I had thirteen years ago.

Change my appearance once more.

Make sure no one could ever find me.

But there were very few places on the continent beyond Wickers’ reach.

A place where I could hide from Wickers…

A place I knew inside and out.

“If it’s there…”

A single name crossed my mind.

More precisely, the name of an organization.

Gulp.

Before I realized it, I swallowed hard.

Just thinking of them sent a chill racing down my spine.

“Mm…”

A low groan slipped through my tightly pressed lips.

Suddenly, the wound on my shoulder seemed to ache even more.

Running to that organization…

If someone had suggested it to me a few days ago—

No, even just a few hours ago—

I would have laughed in disbelief.

“If you’re that desperate to die, there are easier ways to do it.”

To earn Benedict Wickers’ trust, I had built the intelligence division and served as one of its executives.

Naturally, I had made plenty of enemies within that organization.

In other words, if my true identity were exposed, I’d be in serious trouble.

“But if I just need a place to hide… there’s nowhere better.”

No matter how clever they were, Wickers would never imagine I’d hide among their greatest enemies.

Especially that infamous group.

The more I thought about it, the more it seemed like the best option.

“As long as that man doesn’t recognize me… I should be fine.”

It didn’t take long to make up my mind.

Nox was stronger than Wickers.

Even Edward couldn’t simply march into Nox territory whenever he pleased.

Now that Wickers was hunting me, there was no safer place than Nox.

I gave the Wickers manor one last look.

“It’s burning nicely.”

The mana bombs from that nameless workshop I had gone through so much trouble to obtain were doing their job perfectly.

The only regret was that I couldn’t watch from up close as the special flames—impossible to extinguish with water—reduced the centuries-old estate to a blazing pile of timber.

Without another glance back, I turned away and continued walking into the forest.

For now…

I had to cross the border first.