Black Crow Society assassins!
At the sound of bowstrings snapping and blades sinking into flesh, Roy quickly realized what was happening. She instinctively ducked, ready to hide in the darkness, but a pair of strong arms pulled her close and carefully carried her toward Federo.
“Captain, it’s me.”
Roy had just started to struggle free when she heard the familiar voice by her ear. She immediately stopped fighting and gritted her teeth. “Why are you holding me? If those rats spot us, we’ll die even faster!”
“It’s all right. The governor can control the situation.” Kain ignored his captain’s feeble struggle and led her step by step into the iron wall formed by the crowd.
Once her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Roy realized that nearly a hundred sailors who were supposed to be standing by outside the estate had appeared in the hall. They were the ambush the major had set up in case of an emergency.
But it didn’t matter if there were fewer than a hundred sailors—or even five hundred guards in this hall. In the darkness, they had no chance of defeating the Black Crow Society’s assassins!
Sure enough, it took only a few breaths for the wall of soldiers to nearly collapse. More than a dozen sailors on the outer edge had their throats pierced by poisoned arrows, while many more died in the brutal close-quarters fighting.
“Don’t be stupid. There aren’t enough of them to hold the line.”
Roy watched the situation unfold, her expression gradually settling into calm. She slipped neatly out of her first mate’s protective grasp, her dark golden eyes gleaming in the shadows. “Kain, listen carefully. Here’s what you need to do.”
Kain was silent for a moment. Knowing there was no way to talk his captain out of it, he lowered his voice and said, “Go on.”
“Tell the sailors to forget the other nobles and get Federo out first. Once the Black Crow Society’s people choose a target, they won’t waste a single second on anyone who doesn’t matter. Right now, the others will only slow you down.”
Roy spoke quickly, her gaze sweeping across the dim hall. The flashes of lightning through the skylight soon showed her how things stood.
The maids who had served the food, the attendants who had looked after the clothes, and even the young steward had all become merciless killers the moment the crystal chandelier shattered. Almost indifferently, they cut down the sailors who’d been caught off guard. More and more crossbowmen and assassins emerged from secret passages on every side, closing in like sharks that had caught the scent of blood.
“Stay close to the governor. He may be annoying, but wherever he is will be the safest place right now. I don’t want to lose a first mate over something this stupid.” As she spoke, Roy began taking off her restrictive formal gown.
The white gown slipped to the blood-soaked floor. In its place, the pirate captain wore her practical coarse-linen shirt and fitted trousers.
Kain frowned at her words. “What about you? Where are you going?”
Roy didn’t answer her first mate. She simply asked, “Where are my cutlass and pistol?”
“Under the seat in the carriage. It should be parked on the west side of the hall.” Kain answered automatically, then added, “The pistol only has one shot.”
“That’ll be enough.”
Once she was ready, Roy patted Kain on the shoulder. “Get your people ready. We’re breaking out through the main entrance.”
“Why the—” Kain began, but Roy cut him off with a cold voice.
“That’s an order, first mate.”
Roy saw the doubt still on Kain’s face and explained, exasperated, “If you reacted like this on a pirate ship, ours would’ve been shot full of holes by now. I’ve already figured out who the Black Crow Society’s operative is. It’s your beloved Duke Darren. Go!”
The captain shoved the officer into the sailors’ formation, then sprinted toward the main entrance, swift as a leopard.
Knowing the breakout had begun, Kain stopped watching her retreating figure and pushed through the packed sailors until he reached Federo. Much like Roy, the governor’s first order had been to break out—not to wait for rescue and rely on the hall’s defenses.
“Governor, please follow me. We’re breaking out through the main entrance.”
Kain took the pistol and saber Meri handed him. There wasn’t a trace of hesitation left in his deep blue eyes—only an authority and presence that allowed no disobedience.
From that moment on, he was no longer the hesitant, indecisive first mate to a pirate captain. He was once again the imposing, untouchable lion of the Orlan Empire.
“Oh? How did you reach that conclusion?” Federo showed no displeasure at receiving orders from someone younger. His green eyes were full of admiration as he looked at Kain.
“Duke Darren is the Black Crow Society’s operative, and this is his palace. The emergency passageways he showed us earlier must be full of ambushes. That makes the main entrance our best chance of escape.”
They didn’t slow down as they spoke. The moment Major Meri heard Kain’s order, she didn’t hesitate for an instant—not even to ask the governor for confirmation. Clear, concise commands poured from her mouth one after another.
“Sixth squad, watch the rear! Third and fourth squads, cover the flanks! Everyone else, break through the front with me!”
As the surviving sailors smashed aside tables and shoved past the panicked nobles, slowly making their way toward the main entrance, a slender figure had already rushed ahead of them toward the massive doors.
Roy dodged an incoming arrow and used a military-issue silver saber she’d picked up to deflect a Black Crow Society rapier. One slash opened the throat of the assassin blocking her way. By then, she’d already killed at least five of them.
These professional killers had nearly driven the Imperial Navy to collapse, yet before the young woman, they seemed like toddlers barely learning to walk. The sight was so shocking that both the nobles struggling to escape and the resolute sailors willing to lay down their lives to clear a path stared at her in amazement.
No one could’ve guessed that the commander’s fiancée was so powerful.
As the path to the main entrance gradually cleared, Federo, struggling forward with Kain’s support, narrowed his eyes. He studied the young woman’s retreating figure as if appraising a treasure, and at last, a flicker of surprise and delight rose in his green eyes.
It wasn’t the joy of seeing a chance to escape death. It was the thrill of seeing the Empire’s mortal enemy with his own eyes.
So it really was you…
The doubts and suspicions that had lingered in Federo’s mind since their first meeting finally faded. The corner of his mouth lifted in a barely perceptible smile, and even the sound of his cane striking the floor took on a cheerful rhythm.
With the young woman’s efforts, the hall doors burst open—and a dense rain of arrows greeted them outside.
Only a little over twenty assassins had entered the hall. Most of the others were hidden in its many secret passageways, and there were probably only a little over thirty in the courtyard.
Roy threw herself aside to dodge the arrows, then rolled across the ground and into a pond in the courtyard. The fish scattered in panic beneath the water. As for the sailors who’d charged too fast and been shot full of arrows, she didn’t spare them a thought.
That should do it.
Roy had done everything she needed to. Now it was up to the Imperial Navy and the Black Crow Society’s assassins to fight it out. The assassins’ main force hadn’t been stationed at the main entrance, and it would take them time to get there. Kain and the others should be able to seize the opportunity.
As for her…
Once Roy was sure she’d escaped the assassins’ sight, she emerged from the other side of the pond, burst through the curtain of rain, and made her way toward the west side of the hall. Before long, she found the carriage that had brought her here, along with the four startled warhorses.
“Don’t be scared. It’s me.”
Roy soothed them in a low voice. When the horses recognized her, they stopped pawing the ground and snorting in warning, letting her swing open the carriage door and slip inside.
She felt beneath the seat and found her beloved cutlass, which had been away from her for far too long, along with the pistol painted with the image of a goddess. Rainwater ran down her face as her signature smile appeared.
Now the game was just getting started.
