SWY 146

Sharhan, now fully outside, scanned the surroundings as he waited for the others to emerge. Lestel, Rael, Kuph, and Adam followed him out of the stable one by one. They didn’t move right away, instead taking a moment to look around the castle interior.

“So this is inside the Ailun Castle. It looks… peaceful.”

Rael murmured quietly, his tone tinged with bitterness. The silence within the castle was entirely different from the tense, death-choked stillness that hovered outside. Here, it felt genuinely calm and serene.

Sharhan also took another look around with fresh eyes. The ground was clean and well-maintained, and there was no trace of the stench of blood or rotting corpses.

Bathed in soft moonlight, the castle stood tall and quiet, as if untouched by the devastation outside. The contrast was so stark it felt almost eerie.

“Fuck. It’s just like before I was kicked out. Out there’s a living hell.”

Adam spat on the ground, and Kuph’s face twisted with conflicted emotion as he too took in the stark contrast. Sharhan glanced at Lestel.

Maybe it was the moonlight or maybe the exhaustion, but Lestel looked unusually pale. The expression on his face was one of thinly veiled contempt.

“Should we leave the secret passage open?”

Rael looked back at the stable and asked. They had left it open to make a quick return after rescuing Iris, but now he seemed worried it might be discovered.

Sharhan had been concerned about that too, but even during their short rest, no one had been able to find the mechanism to open the secret passage from the outside.

They could probably find it if they spent enough time searching carefully, but the problem was, they didn’t have that time. If they closed the entrance now and couldn’t open it again later, they’d be trapped.

After weighing the options, Sharhan decided to take the risk and leave the passage open.

“Let’s just hope no one comes poking around this abandoned stable.”

“Hopefully we can get back with Miss Iris before anyone notices.”

Sharhan nodded at Rael’s words. The best outcome would be rescuing Iris and her nanny without a trace and escaping quietly through the passage.

The main gate was not an option. Guards would be stationed there, and slipping past them would be nearly impossible. The top priority tonight was safely rescuing Iris and her nanny.

“Let’s go.”

Sharhan tapped Lestel’s shoulder. Lestel, lost in thought, nodded and let out a short breath. With Sharhan and Lestel in the lead, the group melted into the shadows and moved silently.

The defenses were lighter than expected. It seemed they were relying heavily on the firmly shut gates and high walls.

“This way.”

Kuph’s old room was about halfway down the first floor of the inner castle. Sharhan, keeping low and pressed to the wall, peeked inside. In front of the window was a desk, and across from it, a lump under the covers on the bed.

It was likely the current butler, fast asleep with the blanket pulled over his head. Adam muttered a curse and spat again at the sight of someone resting so comfortably.

When Sharhan moved to open the window, Kuph stopped him with a gesture, then stepped forward and tapped the left corner, not the handle.

Sharhan’s eyes widened as the sealed window silently cracked open. Kuph grinned smugly and pushed the window inward, just wide enough for a person to slip through.

Sharhan climbed in first, stepped onto the desk, and dropped to the floor. Silently, he approached the bed and pulled the blanket down.

‘Him…’

It was one of the stewards who had served under Kuph and always looked down on Sharhan with contempt.

“It’s Jean, as I suspected.”

Kuph muttered bitterly. He had already guessed Jean would be the one to take his place.

“Jean? Wasn’t he the one always sucking up to Claire?”

Lestel sneered as he recognized the man. Jean, a textbook opportunist, had latched onto Claire and managed to snatch the chief butler’s position.

Jean, a deep sleeper, hadn’t noticed the intruders. Feeling cold, he scrunched his brow and reached for the blanket.

“Mm, cold…”

Sharhan raised his sword, aiming the tip at Jean’s neck. Only when he felt the sharp steel did Jean finally sense something was wrong and opened his eyes, freezing as he saw the intruders.

“Wh-who…”

“Shhh. Be quiet. Make a sound and you die.”

Lestel pressed a finger to his lips.

“Wh-who… Wait. Lord Lestel?!”

It was too dark to see clearly, but he recognized Lestel’s voice. A bead of sweat formed on Jean’s forehead as he swallowed hard.

“It’s been a while, Jean.”

“Butler Kuph?!”

“That’s right. It’s me.”

“H-how did you get in here?!”

“Did you forget the part about staying quiet?”

The tip of Sharhan’s sword pierced Jean’s skin. A stream of blood ran down his neck. Jean’s face twisted in pain, but he bit back his groan and darted his eyes around, trying to count how many intruders there were.

“Don’t try to be clever. Where is Iris?”

At Lestel’s question, Jean hunched his shoulders and answered.

“Iris… You mean the young lady from the Kaios family?”

“Yes. Where is she?”

Though Jean was baffled as to why Lestel would be searching for the daughter of the Kaios family, the cold blade pressing against his neck made him answer honestly.

“She’s in the second room to the left at the end of the stairs on the third floor.”

“You’re not lying, are you?”

“I-I swear I’m not.”

“What about her nanny? Is she with her?”

“Yes. T-they’re together.”

Sharhan quietly let out a breath of relief. Thankfully, the nanny seemed to still be alive too.

“The Marquis…”

Sharhan was about to ask about the Marquis but stopped himself. He hadn’t forgotten his desire for revenge, but now was the time to focus on rescuing Iris safely. Meanwhile, Jean was still frantically rolling his eyes, watching for an opening.

The young master, the former steward Kuph, and a few others. Who are they? Should I shout?

As Jean hesitated, he opened his mouth wide, preparing to scream and alert the fortress to the intruders. It was a risky move, but he wrongly believed that Lestel, heir of the Ailun family, wouldn’t kill a steward.

“Ch…”

But Sharhan moved faster. With a swift thrust, his blade pierced Jean’s throat. Jean died with his eyes wide open. As Sharhan withdrew the sword, blood gushed out, soaking the bed. The thick stench of blood filled the air.

“Here, take this.”

Adam, who had quietly entered last and watched everything unfold, offered a piece of rye bread. It was dry, rough, and a little hard, but edible.

“Where’d you get that?”

Kuph asked, and Adam pointed to the desk.

“It was on top. Looks like he left it because he didn’t feel like eating it. Must’ve been full.”

Adam sneered and split the small loaf into five pieces. It wasn’t much, barely enough for a single bite each, but it was better than nothing. They each ate their piece and quietly left the steward’s room.

The corridor was silent, so quiet they could hear the faintest sound of dust settling. Luckily, a carpet muffled their footsteps.

They were just about to head from the first to the second floor when–

“Hasn’t the food gotten worse lately? I haven’t seen any meat in days.”

“Meat only goes to the higher-ups now, apparently.”

“Tch, and our mouths don’t matter? Bread’s getting rougher too.”

“Stop whining. Think about those outside. At least we get two meals a day and, more importantly, we’re safe.”

“Yeah, I suppose not having to fight corpses is more than enough. Ugh, just thinking about those things biting into living people makes me want to piss myself.”

“Same here. But it’s lucky they didn’t number too many. We managed to get rid of them all and throw them out of the castle. Now let’s finish our round and head back.”

They were soldiers on patrol. Hearing footsteps descending the stairs, the group quickly followed Kuph’s signal and ducked into the nearest room. It was a linen storage room filled with bedding.

“Did you hear something?”

“What? I didn’t hear a thing.”

“Thought I heard a door close…”

The soldiers’ footsteps drew closer to the linen room. Sharhan clenched his jaw and stepped toward the door, sword raised. If the door opened, he was ready to strike the soldier down immediately. A glance behind him showed the others holding their breath, all focused on the corridor outside.

The footsteps came right to the door.

“Come on, you probably imagined it. Night patrol’s the worst, getting up from sleep is a pain. Who’s going to break in through the gate anyway? And why do we patrol every dawn? Let’s go. You keep this up and I won’t get any rest!”

“Fair enough. Guess I was mistaken. Let’s head in.”

“Right. Krill and Doran are next, right?”

“Yeah. They’ll patrol in an hour.”

The approaching footsteps retreated. The group inside let out a quiet sigh of relief and waited until the soldiers’ presence vanished entirely. Only after a long silence did they gently open the door. There was no sign of the soldiers returning to their rooms.

“They said there’s another patrol in an hour.”

Since this was the inner castle, where the Marquis and his bloodline resided, the security was tighter than outside.

“Yeah. Let’s hurry.”

Sharhan and Lestel quickly moved through the second floor and up to the third. Kuph remained on the first floor, while Rael and Adam stayed behind on the second to keep watch.

Second door on the left at the end of the stairs, right?

With two steps left before the top, Sharhan lowered his body and stretched his neck to peer left down the hall.