On the black carriage, Anna looked at the elderly man in front of her, a man she found both utterly familiar and yet puzzling. Her expression was complicated.
“So, it really is you.”
“What’s wrong? Are you scared?”
“No, not scared. It’s just hard to reconcile. To think that my adoptive father—someone who ran a quaint little shop that barely had any customers, someone who always seemed sleepy and harmless—has suddenly turned into one of the most powerful men in this country... and not just that, but someone infamous enough to silence crying children, the legendary Swordsman. It’s… a bit hard to believe.”
“...”
The old man was silent for a moment. He half-opened his murky eyes and replied, “Do you still take me as your adoptive father?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
Anna bowed her head slightly and replied in a soft voice, “After all, weren’t you the one who raised me?”
“Even if my reasons for adopting you weren’t out of kind from the start?”
“I guessed as much... but doesn’t that have nothing to do with the kindness you showed me while raising me?”
Anna looked up and smiled.
“I’m not the ungrateful one. And when I think about it, even if you had other motives, you never harmed me. Even when... that time, when the Silence Agency suddenly detained me. Looking back, it could have been seen as an act of protection. Of course, you probably didn’t expect those fanatical cultists to be so insane as to directly attack one of the Silence Agency’s branches.”
She continued, her voice calm but clear, “And most importantly, without your guidance, there wouldn’t be the Anna Kablin of today. No matter what kind of intentions you held when adopted me, I’m eternally grateful.”
“...”
The old man went silent again.
He looked at the girl in front of him, whose eyes brimmed with endless tenderness. His thoughts drifted back ten years.
Back then, his intention had been to kill this girl.
The intelligence he had received indicated that this abandoned, pitiful child, abandoned by her parents, exhibited traits of serpentification from the moment she was born. Historically, the longest recorded incubation period for serpentification was ten years. And that serpent born after such a decade-long incubation had wrought catastrophic disaster upon an entire city.
So, when the girl stepped out of the orphanage, barely eleven years old, he appeared before her.
His purpose was to kill her and eliminate any potential unknown threats.
For him—an Executioner, whose blade had ended countless cultists over the past century—it was supposed to be an easy task.
But.
On that windless night, under the cool glow of moonlight, he noticed the girl’s eyes. They were just as they were now—brimming with tenderness and strength.
And he hesitated.
Perhaps it was because the weather that day was just too good. The moonlight was exceptionally bright, illuminating everything with clarity.
Or perhaps it was because, in the twilight of his years, on the brink of descending into hell, he felt an unconscious urge for redemption.
And so, on that night, this old man—whose hands were drenched in blood, whose path was paved with corpses—experienced his first moment of hesitation.
That single moment of weakness, like a budding sprout after a spring rain, began to grow deep within his heart. On that barren, frozen wasteland within his soul, he felt the emergence of a gentle meadow.
“No, it should be me thanking you.”
“Huh?”
Anna tilted her head in confusion, unsure of the meaning behind his words.
“It’s because of you that I, who’ve fought against the Dark God and cultists all my life, always living as a sword meant for killing—finally understand what it means to be human.”
“Really?”
Anna’s eyes curved into a smile. “How does it feel?”
The old man looked down at his thin and withered hands, smiling faintly.
“Not bad.”
Sunlight filtered through the carriage’s sheer curtains, spilling into its narrow interior. The old man and the young woman sat across from each other, their faces soft with smiles. They looked, in that moment, no different from a genuine father and daughter, their expressions warm and serene.
“By the way,” Anna leaned against the carriage window, resting her cheek in her hand as her voice softened. “You didn’t call me here just to reminisce, did you?”
“What is it you need? Please, go ahead.”
“You’re as perceptive as ever.”
The old man chuckled helplessly. Tossing aside the speech he had carefully rehearsed, he went straight to the point.
“Actually, it’s simple. I want you to join the Silence Agency. It’s the place most suited to you.”
“The Silence Agency…”
There was no surprise in Anna’s gaze as she said, “But that’s not the kind of place I like.”
“I know.”
The old man seemed to have expected her response and spoke with calm resolve. “But I’m not asking you to start at the bottom. With your current abilities, you deserve a much higher position.”
“So…” Anna raised an eyebrow.
“...I’m old now.”
He paused, his voice heavy.
“So old that I don’t know when my time will come, when I’ll suddenly be laid to rest. That’s why... I need a successor.”
“What…”
A trace of genuine surprise finally crossed Anna’s exquisite face. Her slightly parted lips gave her a rare, youthful charm.
“Me? Your successor? But I’m not even a member of the Silence Agency yet.”
“You don’t need to worry about that. The Silence Agency isn’t the kind of bureaucratic institution where rank and seniority matter. What matters here is strength. If you’re strong enough to suppress everyone else, then everyone will obey you without question.”
“But I’m not strong enough.”
“Not yet. But someday…”
The old man gazed at Anna meaningfully, as if he could see straight into her very core.
“I believe in your potential.”
“...”
“And besides,” he added, his tone lighter, “I’m not dead yet. I’m not about to kick the bucket until I’ve taught you everything I know.”
“...”
Anna remained silent. Her gaze dropped, as if deep in thought.
After a while, she clenched the fabric of her dress tightly, her fingers betraying the turmoil in her heart. In a quiet voice, she murmured, “But I still…”
“You’re reluctant to leave that boy huh?” the old man interrupted, his tone sharp. “You can flirt as you like at Santa Maria College, but you’re afraid joining the Silence Agency will put an end to that, aren’t you?”
“...”
Anna didn’t respond, but her intentions were clear enough.
At a time when her feelings for her junior were overflowing, how could she bear to leave him?
“Silly girl…”
Looking at the young woman he had raised for ten years, the old man sighed in helpless frustration. It felt like his carefully nurtured cabbage had been snatched away by a pig, leaving him both irritated and resigned.
“Actually, I’ve come to this decision because of your relationship with that boy.”
“Hmm?”
Anna cast a puzzled glance at him, confusion evident in her eyes.
“Heh.”
The old man scoffed lightly, turning his gaze toward the window.
“Have you forgotten his identity?”
“His identity…”
Anna froze for a moment, then the realization hit her immediately.
The boy she held so dearly in her heart—Moen Campbell—was none other than the sole heir of the Campbell family, destined to inherit the title of Duke.
And most importantly, due to the family’s single-line legacy and inability to expand beyond one heir per generation, the Campbell lineage was naturally the staunchest supporter of the royal family among the Empire's great nobles.
As such, he bore a royal marriage contract, tying him to the Empire’s illustrious princess.
“A royal marriage…”
Anna whispered, her expression distant as she glanced out the window, following the old man’s line of sight.
Not far from them, on the rooftop under the soft morning light, stood a figure clad in silver.
She stood there, still and poised, as if the spotlight of the heavens was destined for her alone. The princess needed to do nothing more than stand quietly, and all who saw her would be captivated.
“So beautiful,” Anna sighed softly.
As if sensing something, the silver-haired young woman turned, her gaze crossing the gap between rooftops and streets, meeting Anna’s eyes in the carriage.
It may have been the first time their gazes locked. There was no malice in their exchange, nor any discernible meaning.
It was calm.
As calm as a vast, windless sea.
But the old man’s grin took on a teasing edge.
“Girl, as I said earlier—Moen Campbell, as the future Duke, will definitely have a few lovers. That’s nothing unusual.”
“But—”
“The position of the Duke’s only Duchess…” He looked at Anna, laughter glimmering in his eyes.
“Don’t you want to fight for it?”
