Li Ya galloped through the night on horseback, her mind still replaying the conversation from the ancient castle.
‘That maid named Hilda is definitely not an ordinary person.’
She could tell at a glance whether someone was truly respectful or just faking obedience, playing dumb or genuinely stupid.
When that silver-haired woman stood behind Rex, her posture wasn’t one of service—it was protection.
Like a weapon sheathed in its scabbard.
And the way that maid looked at Rex was off too.
It was something more complex…
Like she had finally gotten back a beloved possession she thought she’d lost forever.
‘Those five years of disappearance definitely have something to do with this woman.’
Li Ya muttered to herself.
Then she thought of Rex’s face.
The sharp contours illuminated by firelight, the handsomeness that even mud couldn’t hide.
And the expression he had when he crouched by the ridge, looking at the sprouts—that earnest, almost devout seriousness…
Every detail struck straight at her heart.
Li Ya shook her head vigorously, trying to throw out those messy thoughts.
‘What are you thinking, Li Ya! I’m here for business!’
She looked up at her surroundings.
The Grey Rock Ridge Path was pitch black now, the only sound the monotonous crunch of horse hooves on gravel.
This road, though remote, was never short of night-traveling merchant caravans and wayfarers.
But tonight, there wasn’t a single soul on the road.
Too quiet.
Quiet in a way that felt wrong.
Li Ya instinctively slowed her horse, her right hand pressing down on the dagger at her waist.
On the little finger of her left hand was an unremarkable silver ring—a talisman her father had left her.
A protective ring capable of activating a magic barrier once.
Then, two sounds of wind splitting came from the darkness.
One from the front, one from the back, precisely cutting off all her escape routes.
The arrows were so fast she had no time to react.
But the ring lit up the moment she was in danger, a semi-transparent green barrier expanding out of nowhere like a shield, enveloping her entire body.
Clang!
Clang!
The two arrows struck the barrier with a metallic ring, ricocheting off and disappearing into the night.
“Bandits?!”
Li Ya had no time to think.
She spurred her horse hard.
The beast neighed and charged forward, but the people in the shadows were clearly prepared.
A thick hemp rope sprang up from a snowdrift by the roadside, pulled taut, right in front of the horse’s hooves.
The horse’s front legs tripped on the rope, and the entire animal pitched forward uncontrollably.
Li Ya’s body was thrown by the momentum.
She instinctively curled up in midair, landing on her left shoulder first, rolling twice in the snow.
Luckily, the snow was thick enough to prevent broken bones, but the impact still made her vision go dark, a searing pain shooting through her left shoulder.
Gritting her teeth, she climbed out of the snowdrift, her left hand pressing on another magic gem at her waist.
The gem’s light instantly illuminated the area for a dozen meters.
Under the glow, she finally saw the people surrounding her.
Uniform black outfits, masks covering their entire faces.
Their weapons were exclusively short blades and hand crossbows, their positions sealing off all escape routes.
Not bandits. Bandits wouldn’t have such a disciplined formation, nor such well-trained movements.
They were assassins.
Seasoned professionals.
“President of the Granchester Chamber of Commerce.” The leader spoke, his voice low and raspy.
“Someone paid a hefty price for your life.”
Li Ya suppressed the intense pain in her left shoulder, her mind racing.
She only had a dagger on her, the magic gem was just for light, and the ring’s barrier had already been used—it wouldn’t activate again for a while.
“Who sent you?”
She tried to keep her voice steady.
“A dead man,” the leader slowly drew his short blade, “doesn’t need to know that much.”
The tip of the blade thrust toward her throat.
Ting!
A crisp sound of metal meeting metal echoed through the snowy night.
The lead assassin cried out in pain, his short blade flying from his hand, blood from his grip dripping onto the snow.
A voice came from the darkness, clear as a bell in the deathly quiet snowy night.
“Without my permission, you dare to kill freely on my land?”
Li Ya whipped her head around.
Beyond the light, a tall figure walked out of the darkness.
Rex. In his hand wasn’t a sword, but a withered tree branch, still bearing a few dried leaves.
“Rex?”
Li Ya was stunned.
“How are you here?”
Rex didn’t answer her question.
Instead, he looked at her, a hint of helplessness in his tone.
“The dignified President of the Granchester Chamber of Commerce, and you don’t even have a single bodyguard with you?”
Li Ya was about to retort when her peripheral vision caught two assassins silently circling toward Rex.
“Watch out!”
Before she could finish, Rex’s figure had vanished from its spot.
Truly vanished.
The next instant, he was behind the two assassins.
The branch in his hand moved like an invisible sword, precisely tapping the back of both their necks.
Two dull thuds.
The two assassins didn’t even have time to groan, crumpling to the ground, unconscious.
Li Ya’s eyes went wide.
She hadn’t seen a thing.
From start to finish, she only saw Rex move once, and then two people were down.
The lead assassin reacted first, barking an order: “Kill the man first!”
The remaining five assassins all turned toward Rex at once.
But Li Ya was fast too.
Taking advantage of the leader’s distraction, she pulled her dagger and swung it out in a wide arc, slashing clean across his sword-wielding wrist.
Blood sprayed.
The leader screamed in agony, his severed hand and short blade dropping together into the snow.
“You bastards!”
Li Ya panted heavily, dagger held before her.
“Did you really think this young lady was an easy target?!”
The remaining assassins finally realized that if they didn’t take down the man first, none of them would make it out alive.
Four of them lunged at Rex simultaneously.
But Rex didn’t give them a single chance.
The branch traced an arc in his hand, and in the time it took Li Ya to instinctively blink, all four were already on the ground.
And Rex stood in place, not even a wrinkle on his clothes.
He glanced down at the branch in his hand, muttered “Poor quality,” and tossed it away.
The lead assassin had somehow gotten back up, clutching his severed wrist as he sprinted into the darkness.
He was fast—so fast Li Ya couldn’t possibly catch up.
But he hadn’t run far when a hand suddenly reached out from the darkness and grabbed him.
Then, with a light lift.
Before the man could even struggle, he felt his body go weightless, flung through the air.
He traced an arc through the air, landing heavily in front of Rex and Li Ya, sending up a spray of snow.
Hilda stepped out of the darkness.
Rex planted his foot on the leader’s chest and leaned down.
“Who sent you?”
The leader didn’t answer.
His mouth moved, as if biting something.
Rex’s expression shifted.
He lunged down, grabbing the man’s jaw and forcing his mouth open.
But he was too late.
A stream of black blood flowed from the corner of the leader’s mouth, staining the white snow in a shocking crimson.
His pupils dilated rapidly, his body convulsed twice, and then went still.
Rex looked back at the other assassins he had taken down.
Now, black blood was trickling from every single one of their mouths.
While he had been talking to the leader, they had all taken their own poison.
“Tch… miscalculated.”
Rex stood in the snow, staring at the corpses in silence for a long time.
He hadn’t expected them to go this far.
Disciplined training, flawless coordination, immediate suicide upon failure.
These weren’t ordinary assassins.
These were death warriors.
Li Ya stood in the snow, her left shoulder’s clothes cut open, blood already staining her shirt beneath a deep red.
Her face was pale, her lips bloodless, but she was still standing steadily.
The only thing trembling was the hand gripping her dagger.
“You’re bleeding from your shoulder,” Rex said.
Li Ya looked down at her shoulder, and only then did the searing pain hit her.
It was sharp and violent, like someone had set a fire on her shoulder.
Her legs gave way, her body sliding down uncontrollably.
Rex stepped forward and caught her.
“I’ll take you back to treat the wound first.”
Li Ya wanted to say no, but the words turned into a grunt of pain.
Rex’s arm was steady, his grip firm but not heavy as he supported her.
She looked up at him and saw that his expression hadn’t changed at all—still that unhurried, unflappable demeanor.
Hilda followed silently behind them.
As she passed the bodies, she stopped and looked down.
Her crimson eyes narrowed slightly in the moonlight, then she caught up with Rex.
—
Back at the ancient castle, Rex settled Li Ya into a chair by the fireplace.
Hilda had already brought over a medical kit and hot water, setting them on the table before quietly stepping back.
She made no move to help, just stood silently in the corner, watching Rex open the kit.
He cut away the torn fabric on Li Ya’s shoulder.
The wound was deeper than expected—a diagonal gash from her left shoulder down to just below her collarbone.
Blood had already soaked through her inner shirt.
Mixed in the wound were tiny stone fragments, ground in when she fell.
“Bear with it.”
Rex picked up the tweezers and began cleaning the debris.
Li Ya clenched her teeth.
But the first touch of the tweezers made her gasp sharply.
Those tiny stone chips were embedded in her flesh, and pulling them out brought threads of blood.
Each one felt like salt being rubbed into the wound.
“It hurts…!”
Li Ya’s voice trembled.
“Gently… a little gentler…”
But Rex’s hands didn’t stop.
He knew this couldn’t be drawn out—the slower it was, the more it hurt.
The tweezers flicked out the debris quickly, his movements precise and decisive, like someone who had done this countless times.
“Ahhh!”
Li Ya finally couldn’t hold back a cry, tears streaming uncontrollably down her face.
“It hurts so much! Can’t you be gentler?!”
“Almost done.”
Rex didn’t even look up.
He plucked out two more chips, then set down the tweezers and picked up the powder bottle.
The deep green powder sprinkled over the wound, and Li Ya’s entire body went rigid with pain, her fingers digging into the armrests of the chair, knuckles white.
Then Rex picked up strips of cloth and began bandaging.
His pressure was just right—firm enough to hold the wound, but not so tight as to constrict.
After finishing the last wrap, he secured the bandage, draped Li Ya’s coat back over her shoulders, and stepped back.
Li Ya slumped weakly into the back of the chair, her face streaked with tears.
Her eyes were red, her nose red too, and a faint, bloody bite mark from her own lips stood out.
She looked nothing like the sharp, capable Chamber of Commerce President from the negotiating table.
“Someone actually wants me dead…”
Her voice was hoarse, choked with tears.
“Those bastards… once I get back, I’ll find every single one of them and hang them all!”
Li Ya sniffled, wiping her face roughly with the back of her hand.
After crying, her mind actually felt clearer.
She thought back to everything that had happened in the snow.
The assassins’ discipline, their decisiveness in taking poison, and the way Rex had taken them all down with nothing but a branch.
Firelight flickered across Li Ya’s face, casting shifting shadows over her expression.
Suddenly, she stood up sharply, the chair scraping against the floor with a harsh screech.
“Mr. Rex!”
Li Ya took a deep breath.
Her expression no longer held the sharp calculation from the negotiation, nor the condescending confidence.
It was just her, looking at him seriously, waiting for his answer.
“I’ve seen your strength.”
Her voice was still a little hoarse, but every word was clear.
“I take back my earlier attitude. I’m not speaking on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce now. I’m asking for your help, personally.”
She paused, then said:
“I want you to act as my retainer. Help me investigate and expose the mole in my Chamber of Commerce. Can you do that?”
Hilda, standing in the corner, let her gaze linger on Li Ya for a moment, then shifted it to Rex.
“Alright. I agree.”
“But I have a few conditions.”
Rex held up one finger.
“First, I won’t stay by your side permanently. I have things to do in my own territory.”
“Second, all the supplies I need for the North will be provided entirely by you. And I want nothing but the best.”
“Third—”
Rex raised a third finger and glanced at Hilda in the corner.
“I’m bringing her. She’s my assistant.”
Li Ya followed his gaze.
Hilda stood quietly in the shadows, her expression still that same cold, indifferent look.
“Of course, that’s no problem at all. As long as you’re willing to help me, I’ll provide whatever you need.”
The first two conditions Li Ya could understand.
But the third…
She didn’t get it, but this wasn’t the time to ask.
Her life had just been saved by this man; any conditions he set were more than reasonable.
Rex let out a soft laugh. It was a faint laugh, but Li Ya felt like there was something hidden behind it.
“Aren’t you going to ask me,” Rex said slowly, “why I happened to be there at that exact moment?”
Rex didn’t wait for her to answer.
He simply got up, walked to the window, pushed it open, and pointed out into the pitch-black night.
“When you rode up to the castle, I had already noticed someone was following you.”
“From the castle all the way here, there were at least three opportunities to kill you. But they didn’t. Do you know why?”
Li Ya shook her head.
“Because they didn’t dare.”
“When I put on my coat, I deliberately revealed my badge as an Imperial Duke. I may have been exiled here, but my title is still Duke.”
Rex looked at Li Ya with a sly grin.
“Those assassins wouldn’t be stupid enough to kill a Duke of the Empire on a whim. If they were found out, it would escalate into a diplomatic incident.”
“So they waited. For you to leave the castle. For you to be completely alone.”
Rex closed the window and turned around.
After hearing Rex’s explanation, a chill ran down Li Ya’s spine.
“So you did it on purpose?”
Her voice was shaky.
“Exactly.”
Rex nodded.
“Miss Li Ya Granchester.”
His tone suddenly turned serious.
“Someone in your Chamber of Commerce wants you dead. And that someone is not low-ranking in your organization.”
Li Ya said nothing.
She sat in the chair, her fingers unconsciously gripping the armrests.
Her expression was complicated, but eventually, it all coalesced into one thing.
Rage.
“I know.”
Her voice was soft, but firm.
“That’s why I need you.”
“Then it’s settled.”
He sat back down in his chair, his tone reverting to that unhurried drawl.
“You’ll stay here tonight. When you leave, I’ll come with you.”
Li Ya nodded.
She looked down at her bandaged shoulder.
The cloth was wrapped neatly, tied off in a clean knot.
Then she looked at Rex again.
The silhouette of his profile was sharp and clear in the firelight.
“Mr. Rex.”
“Hm?”
“…Thank you.”
Rex didn’t turn around.
He just waved a hand.
“Get some rest early. You’ve had enough trouble for one day, haven’t you?”
Li Ya slowly stood up.
Hilda walked over silently, gesturing for her to follow to a guest room.
—
Late at night.
Li Ya lay in bed.
The wound on her left shoulder still ached faintly, but her mind wasn’t on the wound.
Those assassins.
The mole in the Chamber of Commerce.
And Rex.
What kind of person was he really?
Li Ya rolled over, burying her face in the pillow.
‘This man… is a hundred times more complicated than the reports said.’
She closed her eyes.
In her mind, she saw Rex crouching by the ridge, looking at the sprouts.
Then she saw him in the snow, taking down all those assassins with a single branch.
Those two images simply couldn’t be reconciled.
But she knew one thing.
This “Waste Duke” was the most dangerous man she had ever met.
And right now, aside from Uncle Victor, he was the only person she could trust.
It seemed Li Ya had completely forgotten that she had only met Rex a few hours ago…
—
In another room on the second floor of the ancient castle, Rex sat at his desk, reading a book on agriculture.
“My Lord.”
“Hm?”
“That woman. She’s tougher than she looks. And she’s full of schemes.”
Rex let out a gentle, warm laugh.
“Maybe that’s just how the Granchesters are. That’s how they built such a vast commercial empire.”
“Are you really going to help her?”
“Helping her is helping ourselves. Once this favor is taken care of, I won’t have to worry about rebuilding the North anymore.”