Pretending to Be Human Is Exhausting Again Today - Chapter 134

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Pretending to Be Human: Episode 134
It was something I couldn’t easily comprehend. Why would such skilled individuals appear in a meager city like Monos?
I tilted my head and spoke.
“Are they after me, then?”
“That’s what’s strange about it.”
Ivan scratched his head irritably.
“If the Princess were the target, they should be going after the Servants or us. All the people who’ve gone missing are residents born and raised in Monos. To be blunt, their practical value doesn’t match the effort involved.”
True enough—if Ivan hadn’t reported it, I would have discovered their disappearance much later.
“So that means there’s a reason to abduct the residents instead of me… Does anyone have any idea what it could be?”
Everyone in the Office shook their heads.
Since there was no great treasure hidden in Monos, there was no obvious reason that came to mind.
“That’s why I’m asking, Princess—I know you’re busy, but could you lend me Ruslara? If this is the work of a sorcerer, it’ll be difficult for me to investigate alone.”
I nodded readily. Though soldiers were scarce, preventing loss of life was the priority.
And if it were Ruslara, a Baobhan sith, she would see through the matter quickly, even if the opponent were a sorcerer.
“Of course. Ruslara, I won’t be leaving the Manor for a while, so help Ivan.”
“Understood.”
Part of me wanted to investigate directly, but my position didn’t allow it. I concluded the meeting, hoping the situation would resolve quickly.
As people were leaving the Office, Ivan approached me.
“Princess, take this.”
“What is it?”
What he offered was a bracelet adorned with wildflowers. Ivan fastened it around my wrist and chuckled softly.
“Remember the child I met when you first came to Monos? The little one who pinned that brooch on your chest?”
“Ah… yes, I remember. Did that child make this?”
“Yes. Her name is Lili, and she was grateful that you always wore the brooch, so she made this bracelet too.”
Though our meeting was brief, that child had continued thinking of me.
Looking at the bracelet, more beautiful than any jewel, I spoke to Ivan.
“…Would you tell Lili it’s truly beautiful?”
Ivan laughed, promising he would deliver the message.
Gone was any trace of the Assassin who once emanated killing intent—his smile was as innocent as that of a true village youth.

* * *
Ivan had begun to notice the changes in himself lately.
He carried less killing intent than before, and his temperament had softened considerably. Viscount Gorden had even laughed, saying, “Now you finally look your age.”
Though Ivan had grumbled at the time about being treated like a child, he himself recognized that this transformation was not unwelcome.
He had discovered that living as a Knight who protected people was far more comfortable than existing as an Assassin who took lives.
‘My former self would have shuddered at such words.’
Since meeting Deina, these small changes had brought him genuine joy.
Now he could scarcely recall his life before her.
Those days of meaningless assassinations, that era when the identity of Black Hand had mattered more than the name Ivan—it all felt like a distant past.
“In the end, I made the right choice following the Princess that day.”
Ivan murmured the words he could never speak before Deina, stretching as he surveyed the nighttime streets of Monos.
“Well then, shall I begin tonight’s patrol… Ah, but first I should stop by Lili’s house.”
Before making his rounds, he needed to let Lili know that the bracelet had been delivered safely. By now, Lili was surely trembling with anticipation, wondering if Deina was wearing it.
As Ivan pictured Lili’s radiant smile, a soft laugh escaped him as well.
As he walked toward Lili’s house, a resident of Monos greeted him.
“Oh, Knight Ivan. Night patrol again?”
“Yes, another all-nighter tonight. Uncle Pippin, you seem quite drunk—why don’t you head home and rest?”
“Haha! Don’t you worry!”
The resident called Pippin waved his hand broadly before disappearing back into the Tavern. After that, more residents passing along the Road greeted him one by one.
“Count Ivan! Thank you for your hard work tonight!”
“Knight Ivan, stop by before you finish your shift! I’ve dried some fruit for you to eat when you’re hungry.”
Thanks to the rapport he had built through months of unfailing patrols, the residents welcomed Ivan with the ease of family.
While accepting their greetings appropriately, Ivan struggled to suppress the smile threatening to break across his face.
‘These villagers are all so innocent, I tell you.’
Was it because they had endured long years of poverty, or had the cruel ones already fled the Village long ago?
The residents of Monos were generally simple-hearted and virtuous.
They did not envy one another or hire assassins, nor did they spread vicious rumors behind closed doors.
For Ivan, who had grown up seeing only the darkness of the Capital, it was an unfamiliar world.
Perhaps because of this, the more patrols he conducted, the more affection he developed for this Village.
‘It’s absurd. An Assassin becoming a Knight, befriending villagers…’
Even during patrols, his heart tingled with the thought. He wondered if perhaps Deina had orchestrated all of this.
Lost in such musings, he suddenly found himself standing before Lili’s house.
Ivan shook his head to clear it, then made his way not to the front entrance but toward the rear window where Lili’s Room was located.
‘Lili’s parents welcome me far too grandly when I visit… I’ll just deliver the news through the window and leave.’
It was Ivan’s way of being considerate.
He softened his footsteps and tapped on the window.
“Lili.”
He knocked gently, but there was no answer. Even after knocking several more times, the silence persisted.
‘Is she not inside? No, the light is on…’
The moment he thought something was amiss, he sensed movement from within the house.
The problem was that the footsteps didn’t belong to just one or two people. It sounded as though dozens of individuals were moving in perfect synchronization.
“…!”
Ivan immediately, yet silently, opened the window and threw himself into the house.
The room glowed brightly with candlelight, but Lili was nowhere to be seen.
‘Could it be a kidnapping?’
Ivan crouched low and suppressed his presence entirely, then peered through the crack of the door into the living room. Masked Agents moved through the space with mechanical precision.
‘Assassins? No—I can hear their footsteps, but their presence is blurred. They’re using magic.’
Ivan assessed the situation rapidly.
Magic that obscured presence in a way he’d never encountered before, combined with an alarming number of operatives… and faint bloodstains lingering on the floor.
‘That is….’
The men were unfolding a large cloth bundle, wrapping something inside. For just a moment, he glimpsed what lay within.
‘Lili’s Father.’
If that was the case, then what these men were doing now was….
Ivan drew the dagger from his waist and kicked the door open in one violent motion.
Reason—whether he should observe longer, whether he should track where they were headed—meant nothing to him now.
Protecting Lili, protecting that child’s family, was his absolute priority.
“Listen here, would-be assassins. What are you doing?”
“…!”
In that instant, the men assumed combat stance in unison and rushed toward Ivan. Every movement was flawless, honed to perfection, with no wasted motion.
Ivan’s lips curved upward at the sight.
‘They’re radiating killing intent without hesitation… then I have no reason to hold back either.’
If the opponent was no amateur, then he would simply conduct himself as a professional.
Ivan shed his Knight’s face. The instincts of his Black Hand days resurged within him.
He lowered his stance, drew forth his mana, and plunged through the enemy ranks in a single breath.
“Don’t cluster together! Keep your backs to the wall!”
Someone among them shouted at the sight of Ivan’s movements.
They had judged that one must never expose their back to an assassin.
‘There’s one with a sharp mind. Is he the leader?’
But sound judgment was a blunder when voiced aloud. By speaking, that man had marked himself as Ivan’s primary target.
‘I don’t need to fight them all. If I take that man hostage, it’s settled. As the leader, he’ll certainly have information. If I cause enough commotion, my subordinates will come….’
Just as Ivan, having rapidly assessed the situation and assured himself of victory, was about to accelerate further.
“…What?”
He saw it—there in the corner of the room.
The people wrapped in the cloth bundle were alive. Though soaked in blood, he could hear them breathing.
But that thing in the corner of the room… that child was different. There was no sign of life whatsoever.
‘Sir Ivan! Would you give this to the Holy Maiden as a gift? I made it….’
The child who had smiled brightly while handing him a flower bracelet.
Lili lay cold and still, as though merely sleeping.
“…!”
In that moment, the mana within Ivan’s body began to rage violently—powerful and savage enough to incinerate the entire house.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————