—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The girl watched everything.
She watched the new knight, whom the Empress had ordered to monitor his every move, unilaterally toying with his opponent in a sparring match with another knight commander.
She watched him act as if it was only natural, completely unfazed despite being a newcomer who had just joined and defeating a knight commander who served Her Majesty the Empress.
She watched his flawless attack motions, his defense that deflected every incoming attack, and his flowing continuous movements.
And the Empress also watched it all.
“…Did you confirm everything, Your Majesty?”
On a tree that fully overlooked the training grounds, a girl wearing a black hood over her upper body and black leather clothing underneath muttered to the empty air.
Her eyes blinked once involuntarily. The girl nodded her head as if she understood.
Under her eyelids, a pair of sharp golden eyes glowed.
The girl bowed her head towards the empty air as if paying respect, then lowered her head even deeper as if someone had given her an order.
“Yes, I understand, Your Majesty. I will follow Your Majesty’s will.”
This time, the girl blinked her eyes of her own will. When those eyes opened again, the spot where the golden eyes had been was empty.
Literally, there was nothing in the place where the pupils should have been. Only two black, empty eye sockets were visible, giving a chilling feeling to anyone who saw them.
Despite not being able to see in front of her at all, the girl began to slowly descend from the tree with familiar hand and foot movements, stepping on and grasping each branch.
There were no missteps or stumbles. At a glance, her movements seemed even more stable than a person with two normal eyes.
Not long after, the girl gently landed on the ground and quietly lowered her posture. Then she stopped moving and listened to the sounds around her.
The sound of the wind blowing through the trees. The rustling of fallen leaves. The sound of branches swaying back and forth. The sound of the girl herself inhaling and exhaling.
No sounds of other humans could be heard.
Fortunately, there was no need to deal with any witnesses this time. The girl thought to herself as she tidied up the dagger she had hidden under her wrist, ready to draw out if necessary, and put it in her waist.
The girl’s attire was very deformed. She was wearing a black hood pulled deep over her head on her upper body, and a tight-fitting black leather armor as a top.
As for the bottom, she was wearing tight leather pants that were shorter than men’s boxer briefs, making it difficult to distinguish if they were underwear or pants, revealing the lines of her hips.
Despite clearly not wearing shoes, her feet were oddly clean.
‘People… Still none.’
The girl, who confirmed once again through sound that there was no one around, untied her necklace, grasped it in her hand, and activated it. It was an artifact given to her by Her Majesty the Empress.
The clothes she was wearing began to change. The hood and leather armor that had a clean and high-quality fabric feel, along with the leather pants, disappeared. Instead, dirty and very filthy rags appeared.
As the hood disappeared, the hair that had been neatly hidden inside unfurled. Black hair that contrasted with her fair skin and barely reached her shoulders swayed near her neck.
The girl was naked.
Her small breasts, collarbone line, toned abdomen, sides that looked soft, the intimate area of a woman, and slender thighs were all exposed, but there was no sign of embarrassment on her face.
The girl briefly pressed the rags down with a nearby stone and threw herself on the dirt ground, rolling around with all her might to cover her entire body with dust. Dirt and sand stuck to her body.
After rolling around for a while, she got up. The girl’s appearance, which had been clean until just now, was gone, and there was only a dirty girl with messy hair and a body covered in dirt and dust.
‘I need to work on the clothes too.’
The girl, who had instantly turned into a beggar, picked up the rags that had been pressed down with a stone and mercilessly rolled them on the dirt ground. By the time she finished, the rags had become nothing more than rags.
She wrapped them around her body. Covering her thighs, waist, breasts, arms, and shoulders. The last remaining part was wrapped around her head, covering her face and hair.
‘Perfect.’
Although she couldn’t see it directly with her eyes, the girl was confident that her appearance would be no different from a beggar on the street.
True to her confidence, the girl’s current appearance was indistinguishable from those types of people.
It was an appearance that one could never imagine had been wearing the finest leather clothes and flaunting an uncontrollably beautiful appearance while monitoring someone just a moment ago.
The only difference was that despite being covered in dirt and dust like a beggar, her characteristically pretty features couldn’t be properly hidden.
The girl broke off a branch of suitable thickness and length that she found nearby. Then she waved it in the air. This branch seemed sufficient to serve as a cane.
In fact, she could easily walk around like a normal person without such a thing, but for what she was about to do, she had to appear as an ordinary blind person.
‘The last order given by Her Majesty was… to closely observe that new knight without revealing my identity, no matter what it takes.’
The golden knight was merely bait anyway. There was no way such an idiot would really be put in charge of monitoring. He seemed to be excited, thinking he had been entrusted with an important task, but Her Majesty never had any expectations from the beginning.
Just one thing. If he was sent to the Silver Dawn Knights, he would be unable to control his personality and pick a fight with the newcomer, and the Empress’s speculation was spot on.
Thanks to that, she was able to observe the new knight’s skills even more clearly, so she had finished her job.
The girl, who had even covered the lower part of her face with the remaining cloth, started walking forward while deliberately leaning on her cane and fumbling, holding a small wooden bowl in one hand.
She left the small forest inside the city and slowly entered an alleyway, following the path she had memorized while on the tree. Whispers could be heard from the surroundings, talking about the girl.
Of course, she didn’t care at all. She had come down like this to be looked at with such eyes.
‘Here.’
The girl, who had stopped at the end of an alleyway, leaned against the wall and sat down on the ground, curling up her body. She brought her knees close to her chest and placed the wooden bowl in front of her.
It was a posture that anyone would see as a beggar perfectly begging for money, but of course, she hadn’t come with the real purpose of begging.
‘Those knight commanders regularly pass through here.’
It was a conclusion she had reached after observing the entire city for two days by borrowing “eyes.” The knight commanders patrolling the city always passed through the same route. And the path right next to this was that route.
Since they had started their patrol not long ago, they would pass by here soon. The girl kept her head down and felt the small vibrations of the ground whenever people took a step.
She had deliberately chosen a place where people walked the least. Except for a few beggars, there were hardly any people passing by this area.
She had already memorized their gait and voices. Now all that was left was to wait.
‘……’
How much time had passed while she had her face buried between her knees, feeling only the vibrations of the ground and waiting? Finally, the voices she remembered started to be heard from far away.
The girl listened carefully to the voices with her ears even more perked up. They were cold and calm voices.
‘The one on the right is Iris. The one on the left is Erica.’
The girl, who had finally finished identifying them, quietly got up. She was holding a cane in one hand and an empty wooden bowl in the other.
The girl, who had been quietly waiting against the wall for the knight commanders to approach, jumped out in front of them just before Iris and Erica passed the entrance of the alley.
“Kyaa!”
And she deliberately collided with Erica and rolled on the ground spectacularly. While rolling on the ground, she didn’t forget to break the cane and throw the wooden bowl far away.
“Uh, huh? What was thatㅡ”
“I, I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Please forgive me! I’m sorry!”
Before Erica could even grasp the situation, the girl lay flat on the ground, bowed her head, and trembled, trying to look as pitiful as possible.
Seeing the girl bowing her head and shaking like a leaf, Erica froze on the spot, and Iris, who had brought the wooden bowl that had rolled away, also froze.
“Umm… You don’t have to tremble like that. We have no intention of doing anything.”
Erica said cautiously.
The girl raised her head with a tearful expression. Seeing a face with two black holes gaping where the eyes should have been, Erica and Iris’ bodies shuddered.
“I, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I, I haven’t eaten anything for days, I was hungry……”
Erica and Iris looked at each other with a troubled expression. The girl was blind. Of course, Erica or Iris should have noticed first and avoided her. It was clearly their fault.
“…What should we do, Iris?”
“I… I don’t know either. For now, since it’s our fault, I think we should help her.”
“Then should we take her to the castle? Since she said she hasn’t eaten anything for days, let’s tell her to fill her stomach first in the dining hall.”
“That would be the best. I’ll finish patrolling the remaining areas. Erica, you take this girl to the castle.”
“Understood, Iris. Uh… Miss? Can you stand up?”
Upon hearing that they would take her to the castle, the girl lowered her head so they wouldn’t see and curled the corners of her mouth upward.
There was one thing that both Erica and Iris failed to notice, shocked by the girl’s appearance and too focused on comforting her because she apologized so pitifully and humbly.
The fact that no matter how suddenly she jumped out, Erica was not someone who would collide with a mere beggar. The fact that if she were an ordinary beggar, Erica would have noticed first and could have lightly avoided her to the side.
The fact that this accident happened because the girl in front of them had approached so quickly and stealthily that even their instincts failed to detect her.
The two of them failed to notice.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Thx for chapter