There’s Something Special About Her - Chapter 57

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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 57.
It was a gamble.
The stakes were my life, and my opponent was Killian Nox.
But there was nothing quite as effective at driving out boredom as the peripheral thrill of gambling.
Of course.
A glimmer of something flickered across Killian Nox’s eyes.
“When you threw yourself in front of the warhorse, you knew you wouldn’t die?”
Killian Nox’s horse was not some bloated, useless beast raised solely for its master’s vanity.
It was a properly trained warhorse.
And that training included never sidestepping obstacles unless ordered to do so by its rider.
In a chaotic battlefield, a horse that jumped at will couldn’t conduct proper combat, and worse, it could endanger the rider’s life.
A horse trained that way did not leap over obstacles—it trampled them.
On that day, the obstacles were Hanno Becker and me.
Yet I answered regardless.
“Yes, sir. That was my thinking.”
“Fairly bold of you.”
Killian Nox spoke with an unmoved expression.
Then, without hesitation, he reached out and tilted my chin sharply upward.
“But what are you to me?”
It was a low, heavy question—as if he were angry.
But I couldn’t back down here.
If I’d held even a fraction less resolve, I wouldn’t have taken this gamble at all.
“I believe I am your plaything, sir.”
I pressed on, buoyed by the sight of Killian Nox’s pupils dilating slightly with what looked like excitement.
“An untested plaything whose true purpose you haven’t yet discovered. A toy whose potential for amusement remains unexplored. You can’t let something like that die, can you?”
For an instant, I thought I saw a smile flicker across Killian Nox’s lips.
But I couldn’t be certain.
A man in his right mind wouldn’t smile, and besides, his large hand slipped away from my jaw and moved toward my ear.
“You’ve got a wound.”
It was from the Letter Knife he’d thrown—a raw gash—yet he spoke of it as if it were none of his concern.
Drip.
The blood that had begun to clot resumed flowing under his touch, which could hardly be called gentle.
Killian Nox paid no mind to soiling his hand with the blood.
If anything, he tapped my cheek with his bloodied fingers as he spoke.
“There’s a certain appeal in raising troublemakers.”
Then he added, almost as if tossing the words aside.
“You certainly caused quite the spectacle while I was away.”
“I apologize, sir.”
“Well, you’ve already gotten a taste for needing constant attention.”
It seemed I had become his “amusing little toy” in his eyes.
At least for the foreseeable future, I wouldn’t have to worry about losing my head.
To kneel and volunteer myself as a plaything—what a thing to do.
My pride was wounded, but I had no complaint about buying my life. Not really.
Without the strength to defeat Killian Nox yet, pride was nothing but recklessness on my part.
But if a chance ever came my way in the future……
“A rat that sneaked into the Training Academy made some strange claims. That Runelk Ains of the Action Squad was in league with you.”
“What?”
My senses snapped to attention.
“You’re saying I was conspiring with that blockhead—that spy?”
“Weren’t you?”
“Absolutely not, sir!”
I shot to my feet, my voice sharp with indignation.
“There’s no basis whatsoever for—”
“You pretended not to hear the spy’s signal and tried to leave the area. Apparently, that was a warning that other Action Squad members were nearby.”
“But that wasn’t—”
That ingrate, that blockhead!
Dizziness washed over me at the sheer ungrateful treachery of it.
I’d turned a blind eye to him time and again, and in return, he blurted everything out, causing this entire mess!
Besides, if I really had been in league with him, I certainly wouldn’t have set up a signal so absurdly conspicuous as what he’d done.
Nor would I have smuggled in such an unprepared, green recruit as a spy in the first place.
Fury churned in my gut, but first I had to extinguish the fire at my feet.
“I have no connection to that trainee whatsoever, sir. Same as with Hanno Becker. I saw him for the first time that day.”
“But you knew there was a rat in the trees.”
“That… that was……”
I had to lie my way through this.
I had to insist I’d known nothing of the spy’s presence in the forest at all.
But my opponent was Killian Nox.
Killian Nox, who could see through deception itself.
If I got caught in a lie, no amount of acting could save me—I’d lose the trust I’d bought at such cost by becoming a plaything.
“I have no excuse, sir.”
“I thought as much.”
His calm reply sent ice water through my veins.
If I’d lied, I really would be dead by now.
“Was that also… overstepping?”
“Yes, it was.”
“Then it serves a purpose. There’s no need to be lenient with rats.”
Despite deserving a beating—perhaps several—Killian Nox was surprisingly willing.
“This time, I’ll let it slide. And Jipheongbu won’t pursue the matter any further either.”
“Thank you, sir!”
“Once you’re enrolled, be more careful.”
“Yes, I’ll be mindful…… Did you just say enrolled, sir?”
At my question, Killian Nox nodded while pulling his Robe back on.
“That trainee wasn’t working alone. He was a pawn I deliberately left in place to catch another rat.”
Bait……
“You didn’t think I was unaware, did you?”
Suddenly, Gisela Roth’s words came back to me.
“There are good Safety Mechanisms in place besides the Intelligence Bureau to filter out spies.”
So they really were there—the Safety Mechanisms.
As I stood blinking at him stupidly, Killian Nox spoke coldly.
“And you ruined it all, Runelk Ains.”
A deep sigh nearly escaped me.
He was saying I’d severed the thread he’d been dangling to catch multiple spies at once?
How much he must have suffered from men who couldn’t see the larger picture and acted hastily, ruining everything.
Such men were moles.
Moles that thoughtlessly burrowed through a garden someone else had meticulously cultivated.
And that mole was me.
Of course, I had my reasons.
No one had told me there was a spy deliberately left behind at the Training Academy. The blockhead had appeared right in front of me during a routine patrol. And above all, I’d tried to extricate myself from that situation multiple times.
But all of that was mere excuse.
The truth was, I had cut the fishing line while the bait was still on the hook.
Killian Nox watched me, shoulders sagging in defeat, and fastened the silver clasp of his Robe before giving his command.
“So you’ll go into the Training Academy and find them yourself.”
His golden pupils gleamed with cruel light as midday sun poured through the window.
“You’re going to be the bait instead.”
Chapter 6
Rumble—
I muttered as I gazed up at the Drawbridge descending with a deafening roar.
“I never thought I’d walk into this place on my own legs.”
Even now, standing before the Moat with my Luggage Bag in hand, I couldn’t believe this was happening.
Just last night—no, this very dawn—I’d been patrolling nearby, spouting nonsense about the place being a fortress.
By the time my meeting with Killian Nox ended, I’d gathered all my things from the Quarters in a blur and arrived at the Training Academy.
“Sigh.”
I exhaled long and bitterly.
Rumble, rumble, rumble.
The noise from above would drown out everything anyway. What did it matter?
“Damn thing’s slow.”
I watched the Drawbridge, still far from touching ground.
I hadn’t even set foot inside the Training Academy yet, and I already hated everything about this.
“That bastard Killian Nox.”
While no one could hear, I vented my fury at the source of all this.
“Filthy-tempered reptile, creature that plays with people’s lives, a madman hiding behind a pretty face.”
As I spent some time spewing words I could never voice to his face, the rage that had been boiling began to ease somewhat.
Whoever had made that decision was clearly out of their mind. Very much out of it.
Sending a foot soldier from the Action Squad to the Training Academy, where Nox’s elite were forged.
Bang!
The Drawbridge touched ground with a heavy shudder.
Now I had no more excuses to delay.
I muttered as I watched the massive gate begin to open beyond the Moat.
“Well, let’s give this a try.”
I hefted my modest Luggage Bag once more, then stepped forward onto the bridge.

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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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