There’s Something Special About Her - Chapter 39

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 39.
The Raven conducting the trial removed his mask.
It signaled the end of the test.
“This one’s got some backbone, doesn’t he?”
Gisela Roth followed her senior’s lead and removed her own mask, letting out a hollow laugh.
“Kid doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut.”
An orphan with nothing to lose.
Dimarck Schren regarded Runelc Ains with complicated eyes, then gestured toward the back.
Noah Benton, who’d been shifting his weight anxiously as he waited, came sprinting over with the Antidote.
“What? What the hell are you—? Losing my mind, I—ugh!”
“Here, medicine. Drink up, Runelc.”
Noah Benton pried Runelc’s mouth open and shoved the bottle in.
He was quick enough to pinch that sharp nose as well.
“Ugh!”
As something suddenly entered his mouth, Runelc struggled at first, but when his air cut off, he had no choice but to swallow the liquid medicine.
“Ack! What exactly did you—? Wait?”
The Antidote worked fast.
They’d deliberately made it liquid for exactly this purpose.
“Benton… sir? Roth, Ms. Roth?”
“Your vision’s back, huh? You remember me, Runelc?”
“Yes… but what is this place exactly, sir Benton?”
“The Underground Prison! We borrowed a solitary cell for a bit!”
“Runelc Ains.”
When Dimarck Schren spoke the name, Runelc looked up at him with eyes now regaining focus.
Despite obvious confusion, his gaze clearly showed wariness toward this stranger.
Behind that face, which looked even younger now that the drug’s effects were fading, the image of him degrading himself moments before overlapped, leaving a bitter taste in Dimarck’s mouth.
Dimarck Schren swallowed his sigh and spoke to Runelc.
“The Action Division has notified you that you have passed the final trial to become a Raven.”
“…Pardon?”
“Congratulations on becoming a true member of The Nest.”
“Hooray!”
Noah Benton threw the medicine bottle aside and cheered.
“Seriously, congratulations! Welcome, Runelc!”
“The… trial?”
“The final gate to becoming a true Raven, you could say.”
At Gisela Roth’s answer, Runelc clamped his mouth shut.
After a moment of silence, he muttered in a sullen voice.
“Now I’m a Raven, but you said the same thing a week ago.”
“You think I enjoyed torturing you?!”
Guilt made her voice sharp as she snapped back.
Irritation seeped into her hands as she wiped her sweat-dampened face beneath the mask.
“You passed! That’s what matters!”
“What would’ve happened if I’d accidentally revealed something about the Ravens?”
“Why do you need to know?”
Even as she shouted, Gisela Roth turned away, avoiding his gaze.
She couldn’t bring herself to say that he would have been marked for Disposal.
It was Dimarck Schren who changed the subject, drawing his Short Sword as he approached Runelc.
“Going to stay bound?”
“Oh, thank you.”
As the rope fell away in quick cuts, Runelc rubbed his sore wrists and asked belatedly.
“Who are you, exactly?”
“A Raven working in the Administrative Department. Dimarck Schren. Come find me if you need anything.”
After cutting through all the rope binding Runelc’s ankles, Dimarck Schren sheathed his Short Sword and stood.
“There’s one thing I want you to know.”
“Yes, please.”
“Ravens never abandon one of their own, Runelc Ains.”
His calloused, rough hand tapped Runelc’s damp hair lightly.
“No matter what form you take, your place in The Nest doesn’t change.”
……
Runelc clamped his mouth shut again.
He simply nodded without speaking.
Though he did stumble partway through, wincing slightly.
“Still dizzy, Runelc?”
“A little.”
“You seem sensitive to medicine. I’ve never seen anyone have breathing trouble from this. You had a rough time, so drink this and get some real rest.”
Noah Benton pulled another bottle from his pocket and handed it over.
“What kind of medicine is this?”
“Just something to help you sleep well.”
“I think I’m taking too much medicine today…”
Runelc muttered with a blank expression, but opened the cap and swallowed it anyway.
By the time the others had finished tidying up the interior of the cell, Runelc was already asleep.
Seeing him slumped against the back of the chair with his head tilted, Gisela Roth gave Noah Benton an order.
“Take him to the Nest Sleeping Quarters.”
“Me?”
“Should I do it? Or maybe Schren wants to?”
Noah Benton glanced between Gisela and Dimarck, then sighed heavily.
“…Yes, I suppose I should.”
“Get him settled and prepare for the report. Don’t let anything leak.”
“Yes.”
Rolling up his sleeves with a formal “Hup!” Noah lifted Runelc effortlessly into his arms.
However small Runelc might be, he was still an adult past his growth years.
Currently limp and unconscious as a drunk man.
Noah was taller than Runelc, though equally lean.
His visible muscles were, if anything, even more sparse.
Yet no one was surprised to see him carry Runelc so easily.
Dimarck glanced at the sight and even threw in some parting advice.
“Noah, his head’s slipping. Support it properly.”
“Yes, sir!”
Following his senior’s instruction, Noah shifted Runelc’s head to rest on his shoulder and answered cheerfully as he left the cell.
Walking lightly toward The Nest, Noah hummed to himself as though his earlier glumness had never existed.
“Hmm, I’ve got a junior now too.”
***
The blanket against my skin was soft and light as a cloud.
The bedding issued to the Action Division wasn’t cheap, but it wasn’t luxury either.
The unfamiliar texture pushed sleep away.
My eyes snapped open to complete darkness.
“…Where is this?”
In the darkness, my eyes found empty beds.
The room, which held six beds total including the one I lay on, was pleasantly warm.
This second space I’d woken in after sleeping due to some unknown medicine was quite comfortable.
Out of habit, I touched my neck to confirm the Necklace was in place, when I heard voices.
“Senior Gisela, I’m hungry. Can’t I eat something?”
“Didn’t you just eat a pile of jerky?”
“That was just a snack.”
“Where does all your food go? I’m not hungry, so figure it out yourself.”
“Noah, bring me some too.”
“Yes? Will three sandwiches be enough, Senior Schren?”
“Four.”
Voices I was growing familiar with now.
‘Inside The Nest, then.’
Knowing I was in a safe place, I could afford to relax a little.
‘First, let me check my injuries.’
I moved the hand gripping the Necklace and felt across my body carefully.
Contrary to what I’d endured for so long, my body was intact.
No bandages anywhere, no stitched wounds.
‘Whatever it was, that Medicine was something special.’
They’d definitely stabbed me while I was bound to that chair.
I hadn’t had time to check how much I bled, but the pain was real.
Even someone like me, who’d experienced everything, found certain moments almost unbearable.
But now I understood—it was all just the medicine’s effect.
Pulling down my collar to inspect my shoulder where I’d been stabbed last, only a faint bruise remained.
‘They really didn’t torture me, though.’
In a group where secrecy was essential, it was common to test whether someone had the mental strength to keep those secrets.
There had been signs.
Gisela Roth, who kept Noah Benton—a junior she cared for—from becoming attached to me, and who didn’t give me proper training.
Her strange behavior had been the biggest clue.
She seemed to be withholding emotional and temporal investment until something was certain.
The second sign was Graf Mueller from the Information Department.
Would he have visited the Action Division purely of his own will?
In the dead of night, past midnight?
Hadn’t someone leaked to him that I’d been called aside by Dupont, using it to provoke him?
Of course, there was the maid, who’d acted strangely when she said Dupont had visited to give me Medicine but found me away from my quarters.
Her questions that day were far too persistent and relentless.
‘…Riene Berk, wasn’t it? The one working in the kitchen.’

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