There’s Something Special About Her - Chapter 55

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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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Chapter 55.
I heaved a sigh and whispered to the blockhead.
“Look, I’ve done my part, haven’t I?”
I’d pretended not to notice several times and tried to slip away, and after that I even gave him a chance to escape.
But with witnesses present now, I couldn’t let him go.
Somehow he understood what I’d said, because the blockhead thrashed like a live fish and cried out.
“Let—let go! You traitor!”
“Traitor? That’s not it. This won’t work.”
If I let him keep talking, people might actually mistake me for his accomplice.
To shut him up before he said anything else useless, I gagged him.
I didn’t carry handkerchiefs around, so I rummaged through my pockets and found an empty Cookie Bag.
It was the one Gisela had left hanging on my door handle some time ago.
And the Action Squad members who arrived a step too late saw this and erupted in excitement.
“Rook—Rookie caught him!”
“He subdued the intruder!”
“Our little hero did it again!”
And so I ended up catching the spy masquerading as a trainee.
“What the hell did I trip on?”
If I hadn’t fallen at the very end, I could’ve let him slip away clean!
After threatening to break his spine, the blockhead had quieted down. I pressed him once more and scanned the surroundings.
Then I spotted what had caught my ankle among the tall weeds.
“A tree stump?”
It was exactly the right height to sit down on and rest your rear.
Of all places, there had to be one right here.
My luck was absolutely rotten.
“God, I’m done for.”
As the Action Squad members finally came to their senses and pulled out Restraint Ropes to bind the spy tight, sigh after sigh poured out of me.
***
Once the commotion was over, the moment I stepped into the Nest, I planted my face first into the ground.
It seemed they’d already pieced together everything that happened at dawn, because not a single Raven tried to stop me.
Shortly after, when Gisela arrived, everyone just held their breath and focused on their work.
That’s how big a mess I’d made.
“Hey, Rookie.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Is it impossible for you to just let things pass quietly even once? Is it?”
“No. I’m sorry.”
“Ugh, this is driving me insane.”
The sigh Gisela released was so heavy.
I almost felt grateful I was pressing my head into the ground.
“You understand this is serious, right?”
“…Yes.”
“Right, so you knew it was serious, which is why you started by burying your head.”
I wished she’d yell something sharp at me like usual.
The weakness in her voice hurt more.
“Things are going to be chaotic for a while. You’ll have to be interrogated, dragged back and forth here and there. Wherever you go, people’s stares will follow.”
Gisela plopped down hard into the chair across from me.
“As your mentor, I can’t overlook the possibility that the Secret Passage or the location of the Nest might be exposed because of you. So for now, don’t come to work—focus only on Action Squad duties….”
Tap-tap.
The small sound made Gisela stop mid-sentence.
It sounded like something was knocking, but all I could see was the wooden floor of the Nest and my own golden bangs hanging down—no way to tell where the sound came from.
Tap-tap-tap!
This time the sound was rather insistent.
I wasn’t sure if it was proper to describe a sound that way, but that’s how it seemed.
“Oh, for crying out loud!”
Gisela jerked up from her chair in annoyance and walked toward the window.
What was that?
I wanted to know.
Unfortunately, the window was outside my current limited field of vision.
……
After hesitating for a moment, I kept my head on the ground and swiveled my legs to the side.
Like a compass pivoting to draw a circle, I rotated my body, and the situation by the window came into view clearly.
‘A Raven?’
Perched right on the windowsill was a Raven.
Not a Raven as in a member of Nox’s secret intelligence network, but an actual bird—a single real Raven looking up at Gisela as she approached the window.
Judging by how well-fed it was, its body was plumper than the other Ravens around the fortress, and its black feathers gleamed with a lustrous sheen.
Its forehead and round yellow eyes in particular were distinctly round and cute.
Rat-a-tat-tat!
……Its personality, though, was rotten.
Staring at Gisela while tapping its sharp beak against the glass—the bird seemed irritated that she was making it wait.
“I can see you coming and you still act like this!”
She furrowed her brow hard and opened the window.
“Get in here, you pest!”
But the Raven didn’t obey Gisela’s command.
Instead, it simply extended one of its long black legs.
“Stubborn little thing.”
Gisela didn’t seem to expect it to come in anyway, and she muttered while reaching her hand toward the bird’s leg.
‘I can’t see anything from here!’
I eventually dragged my forehead across the floor and took a big step toward the window.
Then I saw a small pouch, about the width of a pinky finger and elongated like a tiny bag, tied to one of the Raven’s extended legs.
The temperamental, fussy Raven turned out to be a Messenger Raven.
I knew that in Nox they trained Ravens to send and receive messages, but this was the first time I’d actually seen one.
Curious, I tilted my head slightly to look more closely, and my eyes met the Raven’s yellow gaze.
The bird then tilted its round head slightly, just as I had.
‘…Did it just mock me?’
It didn’t have lips that could move freely like a person—all it had was a hard, pointed beak—yet this creature clearly mocked me.
Looking at those slightly narrowed eyes, I was certain.
“This feathered brat…!”
I was muttering indignantly when the Raven, with one final smug expression aimed my way, fluffed its wings and flew off.
I let out a bewildered laugh at having been laughed at by a bird, and that’s when Gisela approached me.
“Rookie, get up.”
“Yes!”
I’d made a huge mess, so I’d better obey orders.
I quickly got to my feet, and she waved a small Note pinched between her fingers at me.
From the circumstances, it seemed to be brought by that arrogant feathered brat from just now.
“The Captain is calling for you.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. Go right now.”
Though the sun was high overhead, my night of trials was far from over.
***
“I knew there’d be a dedicated passage.”
When Gisela opened a wall in one corner of the Office to reveal a new Secret Passage, I didn’t show surprise.
I’d never assumed the person the Raven served only used the passage behind the portrait she’d shown me before.
Besides, I’d grown accustomed to these unexpected discoveries, however many times they’d happened now.
Up to that point, things were fine.
Every time I was surprised by yet another passage in Nox that I hadn’t mapped out, I managed to preserve what little pride I had left.
And when I realized the passage led directly to Dupon’s Office, I only flinched for the briefest moment.
But the low, cool voice that came flying the instant the passage door closed nearly made me cry out.
“You came.”
I startled and pressed my body flat against the wall, scanning the interior.
I’d judged it empty since no one was visible, but from the opposite side of the entrance, someone was rising from an easy chair with its back to me.
“Rookie Eins.”
I caught sight of clean silver hair first, striking in contrast against the black robe.
Even though he wore far lighter clothes than usual, he was a man I would recognize at a glance even if I met him on a battlefield where thousands clashed, not in an empty Office.
The one waiting for me was Killian Nox.

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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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