There’s Something Special About Her Chapter 8

A Few Minutes Earlier.

“We received information about Helena Morton.”

Dupont approached and reported.

Killian raised his eyes and checked the time.

It was almost time for Deacon Gold to bring one of the Knox Trading Company’s business partners to meet him.

The man had repeatedly asked to meet Killian in person, saying that he could help with the recent problems in their dealings with the Kingdom of Krollin.

If this had been the usual Killian, he would have told Dupont to come back in about an hour.

“I’ll come back in a little wh—”

Dupont realized that Killian already had an appointment and was about to step back when he stopped.

Killian had reached out his hand toward the report.

The Intelligence Department’s report, which had become Dupont’s responsibility as of yesterday, was passed into Killian’s hands.

Knock, knock.

“Duke.”

Around the same time, Deacon knocked on the door of the office.

Instead of Killian, who was absorbed in reading the report about Helena Morton, Dupont allowed them to enter.

“Helena Morton is dead?”

Killian asked with his dark eyebrows drawn together.

“Yes. Apparently, Wickers held her funeral a week ago.”

It was information from an informant planted inside Wickers.

After spending the past year searching for Helena Morton, Wickers had finally found and killed the person who had murdered the former count.

“A coffin was carried out of the estate, and a new gravestone was erected in the Wickers family cemetery.”

“A gravestone?”

“Yes. It had the name ‘Helena Wickers’ carved into it.”

“They held a funeral for the traitor who killed my boss and even gave her the Wickers name and put up a gravestone for her.”

Killian twisted his lips as though he found it ridiculous.

“The new alpha of those wolf cubs.”

The new alpha of those wolf cubs.

It was a mocking reference to Wickers’ symbol, the red wolf.

“It seems he wants to mark Helena Morton as his territory.”

Killian’s eyes grew cold.

“But it seems highly likely that Helena Morton’s death itself is a lie.”

“Of course.”

Helena Morton was not a woman who would die that easily.

The funeral Edward Wickers held was probably a kind of declaration.

A declaration that he would no longer hold Helena Morton responsible for killing Benedict Wickers.

So if the day came when Edward Wickers went looking for Helena again, she would no longer be Helena Morton.

Since her funeral had already been held, the name Helena Morton now belonged to a dead person.

‘Edward Wickers probably hid Helena Morton somewhere only he knows about….’

Killian moved as he reached that thought.

As he turned around and took a step back, a figure came into his shifting field of vision.

A foot was raised high.

A sharp blade about the length of a finger gleamed at the end of the foot, flying straight toward his chest.

Clatter!

Beside him, Dupont released his weapon, a chain.

‘Too late.’

Killian made his decision in an instant and looked toward the Green Merchant’s ankle as it flew toward him.

The insect had been leaking murderous intent toward him ever since it appeared at the office door.

All Killian needed was a mouth that could spit out information.

An unnecessary leg could easily be separated from its body.

Bam!

Unless the assassin had suddenly been shoved hard by someone and staggered.

“Gah!”

Along with the scream, a sharp crack echoed through the office.

An organizational member who had suddenly appeared struck the assassin’s jaw with his elbow, causing him to lose his balance.

The Green Merchant’s eyes rolled backward from the powerful blow to his lower jaw, where the nerves were concentrated.

The organization member immediately moved again.

Crash!

The figure looked especially small as they firmly stepped on the blade protruding from the tip of the assassin’s shoe and snapped it.

Killian’s eyes narrowed.

“Duke!”

“Your Grace!”

Deacon Gold and the knights who had been nearby rushed over with pale faces.

“Argh! Let me go!”

While Dupont’s chain wrapped around the assassin’s leg and the knights put handcuffs on him, the assassin screamed and struggled violently.

But if his surprise attack had succeeded, it might have been different.

Now that all four limbs were firmly restrained like a pinned insect, his struggles were meaningless.

“Killian Knox! I have to kill you! I swear, I swear!”

The Green Merchant’s eyes quickly became bloodshot, and saliva dripped from his mouth.

“You devil! You’re going to burn in hell! You’ll soon—!”

Killian listened expressionlessly to the curses directed at him before kicking the assassin in the head.

Thud!

“Grrgh….”

The Green Merchant soon rolled his eyes back and passed out.

A gag was stuffed into his mouth so that he could not kill himself.

“Take him downstairs and keep a close watch on him.”

At Dupont’s command, the knights carried the Green Merchant out like a piece of luggage.

“Your Grace, are you all right?”

Killian did not answer.

He was simply staring intently at something.

“Your Grace?”

Puzzled, Dupont followed his gaze downward.

Beside the spot where the assassin had fallen moments ago, a young boy was sitting on the floor.

Killian’s golden eyes were clearly fixed on the small figure.

A boy sitting on the floor of the Duke’s office.

Rip—

A small tearing sound reached Dupont’s ears.

The boy, who still looked young but clearly appeared to be a member of Knox, had torn a long strip from his clothes and was tightly tying it around his arm below the elbow.

“Huh…? Aren’t you the one from yesterday?”

Dupont finally recognized him and widened his eyes.

But the boy remained hunched over, completely focused on tying up his arm.

“What are you doing so….”

Dupont frowned and approached the boy.

Apparently, the boy had been injured while subduing the assassin.

There was a cut above his wrist from the blade.

But the color of the wound was strange.

“Poison?”

The skin around the bleeding wound had already begun turning black.

Startled, Dupont remembered the emergency antidote that should be somewhere nearby and began to get up.

“Ah, damn it. I’m too la—”

The boy muttered something under his breath before slowly collapsing to the side.

 

 

****

 

 

 

When I opened my eyes, I saw a high white ceiling.

Where am I?

“Are you feeling a little better?”

I raised my head at the unfamiliar voice and quickly assessed the person in front of me.

Mid-thirties. Platinum-blond hair. Dark blue eyes. A refined-looking face.

His clothes looked neat, but they were made of the finest silk from the Ruman Province of the Western Continent.

He was also wearing a star-shaped badge on his collar, the kind that only Knox executives were allowed to wear.

‘Why is Deacon Gold here?’

My last memory was getting injured and poisoned while knocking down the Green Merchant.

So this must be the Knox infirmary.

As one of the only seven executives, Deacon Gold could enter almost anywhere except the Duke of Knox’s bedroom, so there was no reason he could not come to the infirmary.

“What are you doing?”

“I was waiting for Runelk to wake up.”

That’s the problem.

“Why is the merchant lord waiting for me….”

“Well, that’s because….”

Just as Deacon Gold was about to answer, light footsteps came from the end of the hallway.

They were so soft and light that an ordinary person would not have heard them.

Deacon Gold was in charge of the merchant company, but he was also skilled enough to become one of Knox’s executives, so he seemed to notice the approaching footsteps as well and looked toward the door.

Slide.

A young woman with brown hair loosely tied up entered.

She gave Deacon Gold a slight nod before approaching me.

“Are you Runelk Eins?”

“Yes, I am.”

I answered and tried to sit up, but it was difficult because Deacon Gold was still sitting so close to me.

“Um, Merchant Lord Gold. I need to sit up.”

“Oh, would you like me to help you?”

“No, that’s not it. I’d appreciate it if you could move back a little.”

“…I see.”

Only then did Deacon Gold understand the situation.

With an awkward smile, he moved to the chair beside the bed and sat properly.

I quickly sat up and pretended to straighten my clothes while checking my condition.

I could not see any black hair, my chest was still flat, and my clothes were unchanged.

Fortunately, it seemed that the artifact had not stopped working.

Well.

If a low-ranking male soldier had suddenly turned into a woman, I would have woken up in the interrogation room rather than the infirmary.

Just as I was secretly relieved, the doctor spoke.

“That was almost dangerous, Eins.”

“Yes.”

“I said it was almost dangerous.”

Of course it was.

I had subdued a crazy man who charged at Killian Knox intending to kill him, and I had even been poisoned in the process.

I tried to figure out why the doctor kept repeating the same thing to me after I had regained consciousness.

Then I realized.

‘Ah. She wants me to thank her.’

There were people like that sometimes.

The type who wanted recognition even after simply doing what they were supposed to do.

I politely bowed my head toward the doctor.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, I survived.”

“No, that’s not what I mean!”

The woman slapped her chest in frustration before glaring at the innocent Merchant Lord Gold.

“This is Dr. Valeska Heintzel, the person in charge of the entire infirmary.”

I already knew her.

‘The Hand of God,’ Valeska Heintzel.

A young and highly skilled physician who was said to possess the ‘Hands of God.’

She was also an old friend and personal physician of Killian Knox.

She was so thorough and meticulous with her work that I had once struggled because it was impossible to obtain even a single piece of information through the infirmary.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Runelk Eins, a me—”

“Eins, don’t you understand what the problem is right now?”

……Could she have undressed me while I was unconscious?

A cold sweat ran down my back at the horrifying thought.