#17. This Is What I Wanted to Do.
“Yeah.”
He tapped his own temple with a finger and added,
“It keeps whispering in here, nonstop.”
“What?”
When Olivia asked again, Cryer repeated his answer as if it were no big deal.
“It keeps reminding me to see blood. Without a moment’s rest.”
He said it lightly, but the topic was far from light. The voice whispering in Cryer’s head was undoubtedly that of an ancient god. And the fact that it never stopped…
“No wonder you can’t sleep.”
What he endured when he closed his eyes wasn’t a mere nightmare. It was the whisper of a god. If someone walked into any temple on the continent and claimed they heard the god’s voice every second without pause, people would kneel in awe and say, “A divine messenger. A chosen one.”
But in reality…
“I’m just a slave.”
It was more like a curse than a blessing.
Olivia reached out to him. His hand was unconsciously touching the brand on his collarbone again. Her much smaller, softer hand gently covered his. Olivia said nothing. Cryer didn’t speak either.
At least it wasn’t unpleasant enough to make him want to cut off his own hand. It was just… warm. They say small animals have higher body temperatures—maybe that was it. The princess’s hands were always warmer than his.
And at the same time, the sharp pain from the brand on his collarbone flared up. As he stared down at their overlapped hands, Cryer finally spoke.
“You’re just going to let it slide again, huh.”
To that, Olivia gave a faint smile and shook her head.
“No.”
She patted the back of his hand and added softly,
“This time, it’s what I wanted to do.”
Facing Olivia’s bright, sincere smile, Cryer didn’t utter the pain that throbbed from the brand on his skin.
The next morning, early dawn.
The Emperor, who had barely slept due to political matters, rubbed his weary face and looked at Olivia.
“A martial arts tournament?”
“Yes.”
It was yet another sudden suggestion. Just like the unexpected idea of hastily holding a previous tournament. But it was a proposal from the princess. Even though the last tournament caused a bit of commotion afterward, it did have the effect of quieting down a few nations that had been loitering near the border beyond their place.
“There must be a reason.”
“I want to silence the annoying rumors buzzing around Your Majesty’s ears.”
The Emperor gave a bitter smile and tilted his head. There was more than one or two things buzzing in his ears lately. To see all, hear all, and decide all—that was the duty and privilege of one who sat above all.
“Foreign knights, you mean. It’ll be a way to deal with them.”
When Olivia added that, the Emperor finally showed interest.
“Knights and a tournament, hmm. What are you thinking?”
“If everyone acknowledges the strength of the Norden knight, at least half of the rumors about him being a spy will die down.”
“Even half would make my ears itch less.”
“Yes.”
The Emperor asked, watching her nod.
“That knight… is he strong?”
“To be honest…”
Olivia smiled radiantly and stated the truth.
“Soon, he’ll be strong enough to bring down an entire empire by himself.”
“Hoho, if you believe in him that much, then I’ll take your word.”
The Emperor chuckled, dismissing it as Olivia’s excessive faith—but it wasn’t an exaggeration or a joke. It was a cold fact she had witnessed through regression, four times. But she couldn’t exactly start talking about time reversal or ancient gods, so she just smiled back.
“Alright. I guess I’ll be able to see this powerful knight for myself.”
With his approval to hold the tournament, Olivia bowed her head slightly.
“Princess.”
“Yes?”
“I meant to summon you anyway.”
The Emperor pulled out a document from the stack that filled his massive desk and handed it to her.
“It’s a letter brought by a messenger from the Kingdom of Norden.”
“Norden… sent a messenger?”
“Yes.”
As Olivia brushed her fingers along the seal of the letter, her mind raced. The Kingdom of Norden should currently be busy preparing for the funeral of their late king, who had died in an unexpected accident. But if this was simply about the funeral arrangements or attendance, the Emperor wouldn’t have handed it to her like this.
Olivia cut through her thoughts and asked the most important question.
“What does this case have to do with the Kingdom of Norden?”
The Emperor’s tired face brightened with satisfaction and joy. How could he not be pleased when the crown princess, future heir to the throne, could infer so much from a single clue?
“Go ahead, read it.”
With his permission, Olivia unfolded the letter without hesitation and quickly scanned it from beginning to end.
“They can track down the culprit?”
Startled beyond mere confusion, Olivia read the letter again and then froze.
Ah, of course. Norden. That’s where the sorcerer is—the one who awakened the ancient god and branded Cryer as a slave.
“It’s the mark of the ancient god.”
The twisted symbol carved on the corpse’s forehead. To an untrained eye, it could just look like a scratch. Easy to miss. But Cryer and Olivia hadn’t overlooked it.
This case being tied to the ancient god made it unsurprising that it could link back to the sorcerer in Norden.
The Emperor asked as Olivia stood stiff, staring at the letter.
“Do you think there’s a connection between this case and the Kingdom of Norden?”
“We’ll have to find out.”
The sorcerer might be involved, but she couldn’t be sure the entire kingdom was complicit. Probably connected, yes… but Norden was merely a puppet in the sorcerer’s hands. Even the king who had declared war multiple times was nothing more than a marionette. Not even a crucial one in the grand scheme of the continental war…
Her mouth tasted bitter. But this could be a chance to dig up something on that “sorcerer.” Every time she asked Cryer about him, the only answers she got were:
“A middle-aged man who looks like a goat.”
“His laughter makes my skin crawl.”
“When I asked what he was doing with the ancient god, he just smirked and said it was a secret.”
That was about all he ever said.
“Will you accept Norden’s proposal to send people?”
The Emperor stroked his chin and reached for another document.
“Ever since we found that empty lot, there’ve been no more victims.”
He grimaced as he said “empty lot.” It wasn’t really empty—it had held countless broken corpses. Some were so mutilated that even gender and age were impossible to determine. While many matched names on the missing persons list, many did not.
“Yes. It seems to have stopped for now.”
“For now… You mean it might not be over.”
“It’s dangerous to assume it is.”
“Can you solve this without them?”
He pointed to Norden’s letter, and Olivia answered immediately.
“I can’t say for sure.”
The decisive reply came without hesitation. The Emperor rubbed his aching temple.
“Do you have any clues?”
“Not nearly enough.”
“Hmmm…”
With a long sigh, the Emperor brought up something unexpected.
“The Taren family has made an appeal.”
“Taren?”
Olivia raised an eyebrow but then nodded in understanding.
“Right, their trading company is in the area where the incident occurred.”
“Yes. They say public anxiety is starting to impact their business operations.”
“If it’s Taren, they’ve probably poured money into investigating.”
“They’ve already compiled what they found and sent it over with their independent investigation team.”
Olivia fell silent at that, and the Emperor didn’t press her. After a moment, she finally said,
“If they say they can track the culprit, then we should accept their offer and let them send people.”
They had no better options. Even if it was suspicious, she had to accept. If not for the Taren family’s appeal, she would’ve hesitated more. But this was Taren. A pillar of support for the imperial family and a merchant group that actively worked for the empire’s peace.
“If the Marquess of Taren—who hates being indebted—has spoken up, then we must resolve this swiftly.”
Of course, it wasn’t just because of Taren. She had a far greater desire to confirm the sorcerer’s schemes. But she didn’t bother saying that out loud.
“I’ll send a messenger to Norden. And Princess…”
Before the Emperor could even finish, Olivia nodded.
“I’ll go meet the Marquess of Taren.”
Later that day.
As the scorching sun climbed toward noon, deep within the shadowy alleys of the capital—even though it was broad daylight—it felt damp and dark. A man walked slowly through the most secluded part of the backstreets, searching for someone to be offered as a sacrifice to the ancient god.
A pouch full of coins, gifted without hesitation by Anbruch, clinked inside his coat. The sound made the eyes of the backstreet dwellers glimmer. One quick-handed child crouched low and began stalking the man.
The moment the child stepped from shadow into light—
“Hey.”
A rough hand gripped the child’s neck. It was a man who usually treated the boy like dirt. The child flinched, and the man yanked him back into the shadows.
Still pressing the boy’s nape down, the gloomy-faced man raised his voice loud enough for others nearby to hear.
“Don’t mess with that man. Don’t even think about it.”
The others didn’t understand, but at the next words, they slowly withdrew into the darkness.
“There’s a stench of blood on him. So strong, it twists your nose.”
No one who’d survived this long in the underworld dared ignore such a warning. The man with the jingling coin pouch soon vanished from their sight.
Looking just like an ordinary person, he walked casually until he stopped in front of a small house. It looked like any other shabby shack.
Knock, knock-knock-knock.
He knocked in a specific rhythm and waited. After a while—
Click. Creeeak.
The grating sound of rusty hinges filled the air as the door opened. Without hesitation, the man stepped inside.
In the dim room lit only by a few flickering candles, a voice echoed.
“What are you here to buy?”
Though the face was hidden, the voice belonged to an older woman.
“…I’m here to buy someone. Someone with all their limbs intact.”
