BRRC CH 04

Chapter 4 – “Kill Her”

“Unfortunately for you, you can’t take any child from my land.”

Sharon Abner’s voice was calm, almost lazy.

Lambert Longton’s expression hardened instantly.

He took a step forward, his tone low and threatening.
“Are you planning to get in my way, then?”

He held out his hand.
His butler immediately placed a thick stack of documents into it.

“I’ve already spoken with the Imperial Court about whether I can take the child or not,” he said through clenched teeth.

“We came here through legal procedures, without any armed forces.
And as you well know, there’s no imperial law saying that nobles need permission to travel through another’s territory.”

Sharon smiled like a snake, her violet eyes glinting.
“Yes, yes. You’re right. Adopting a child from an orphanage in my land—even if we hate each other’s guts—is technically allowed.”
Then she tilted her head slightly.
“But that’s only true if the child still belongs to the Ivhill Orphanage.”

Lambert’s face stiffened as if a bad premonition had struck him.
“What do you mean by that?”

At that moment, Sharon turned her gaze elsewhere.
“To answer your question—thank you for the letter, little one.”

She was looking straight at me.
Half hidden behind the barn, I froze.

“You write better than most of my secretaries,” she continued casually.

For a moment, I couldn’t move.
Our eyes met—no hesitation, no mistake.

“Wendell. Bring me the child.”

At her command, my body suddenly lifted off the ground.

The bundle I’d been clutching fell and rolled away.

“Anelia! Why were you—!”

Miss Anne’s frightened voice echoed behind me as I turned my head.

A tall man—easily two meters—was holding me in his arms.

Before I could react, Sharon Abner spoke again.
“All that information you gave me in your letter turned out to be very useful.
Thanks to you, I caught and executed every rat hiding in my territory.”

Rats.

She meant the Longton spies hidden around Ivhill.

‘Right. How else could Lambert Longton have known I was here?’

He had spies all over Abner territory.
They were the reason he knew which orphanage I was in and what kind of child I was.

In my letter, I had to prove that I was worth saving—
so I gave Sharon a small taste of what I knew, naming a few of Longton’s spies.

Thankfully, she’d liked what she read.

“You even called yourself a genius in that letter,” Sharon said with a faint smirk.
“Abner’s always been short on talents like you.”

Snow still clung to the hills around us.
As Lambert Longton stood there, frozen in disbelief,
Sharon reached out her hand to me.

“I’ve already signed the papers to become your official guardian,” she said lightly.
“What do you say?”

* * *

“Someone explain what’s going on,” Lambert Longton growled.

“Y-Yes, Your Grace…”

The tent was tense—quiet enough to hear the crackle of the brazier.

Lambert sat behind a makeshift desk, his brow deeply furrowed.

“That insane lioness—what the hell is she doing here?”

His tone was polite, but his voice trembled with rage.

Anelia from the Ivhill Orphanage.

An orphan, nameless, born in the slums.
But to him, she was a rare pearl found in the mud.

“The anti-tracking magic worked properly, didn’t it?”

“It did, sir. We used the scrolls three separate times—
before the portal opened, during the teleport, and after arriving in Abner territory—”

Lambert let out a short, bitter sigh.

Normally, nobles could travel freely between territories.
As long as they didn’t bring an army, no one cared.
So there was no need to use such expensive stealth and anti-tracking spells.

But they had anyway.

They had torn up almost ten scrolls—each worth a small fortune.

All just to avoid one person’s notice.

Sharon Abner.

A woman you never wanted to cross paths with.

When Lambert first decided to adopt Anelia,
the only thing that bothered him was her location—
the fact that she lived in an orphanage within Abner territory.

‘Still, how could I give up such a brilliant child because of her?’

Lambert’s gaze drifted outside the tent.

In the distance, surrounded by Abner soldiers, was the small child.

“How old did you say she was?”

“Four years old, Your Grace. She’ll turn five in a few months.”

“Found abandoned in the hills right after birth?”

“Yes. She’s lived in that orphanage ever since.
Only started visiting the city’s bookstores a few months ago.”

“In those few months, she memorized dozens of books on magic and alchemy.”

The butler fell silent.

“She’s far too valuable,” Lambert muttered darkly.
“Someone like that doesn’t appear by accident.
But what bothers me is how quickly Abner got to her.”

He looked around the tent, eyes sharp.

“And what was that talk about a letter?
Sharon mentioned the child wrote to her.”

A young aide hesitated.
“Sometimes the children write thank-you letters to the local lord…”

“So you’re saying Sharon Abner actually reads every single one of them?”

“O-of course not, Your Grace.
But since the girl is famous in the area for her intelligence,
perhaps Sharon read it out of curiosity…”

Another aide added,
“According to the orphanage teacher, the letter was strange.
Apparently, the child wrote something about catching mice…”

Lambert’s eyes narrowed.
“Catching rats… so that’s what she meant.”

“Yes. It sounded childish, so we didn’t think much of it.
It’s odd that Sharon Abner took it seriously.”

Lambert shook his head.
“No. She’s not an ordinary child.”

He cut the man off.
“That girl read and memorized texts that even scholars struggle with—
all before her fifth birthday.
Does that sound normal to you?”

His gaze gleamed with obsession.

“That girl must belong to Longton.
A brilliant mind like that, and a girl at that—she’s perfect.”

“But, Your Grace… what should we do now?”

Lambert rose from his seat.
“Do whatever it takes.
She must never fall into that lioness’s hands.
Abner must remain what it has always been—a barren land for magic.”

“But, sir… you heard Sharon Abner.
She’s already been registered as the child’s guardian.
There’s no way for us to proceed with the adoption anymore—”

“Then kill her.”

The aides exchanged horrified looks.

But Lambert’s expression didn’t waver.

“A talent like that can’t be left in Abner’s grasp.
If we can’t have her, it’s better to kill her than risk the consequences.”

His tone turned cold, almost reverent.

“Have you all forgotten what happened because of Isabel Abner?”

Isabel Abner.

Sharon Abner’s daughter—
a brilliant prodigy in magical studies.

Lambert’s eyes darkened with memory.

Until her untimely death, Isabel had always been a threat to him.
He’d known better than anyone how talented she was.

“If that woman hadn’t died young,” he muttered, “Longton would never hold the power it does today.”

Isabel had been far more intelligent and capable than her brother, Jayden Abner.
Even Sharon had seemed ready to pass the family title to Isabel instead of him.

‘It was a blessing she died when she did.’

If Isabel Abner had lived,
she would’ve easily secured a seat at the Imperial Academy of Alchemy.
And with her, the Abner family would’ve flourished—
perhaps even risen to rival the Longtons in magical science.

Lambert clenched his fists.

“That lioness won’t miss her second chance,” he hissed.

Anelia—
that child could be the spark that reignites the Abner legacy.

A child who might finally bring magic back to that barren land.

Lambert’s voice was a low growl.
“Yes. Killing her is the only way.”