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Chapter 3

They say that when you're truly terrified, you can't even scream. Alexa barely managed to turn her frozen head toward the front door.

"Did I mishear?"

Bang! Bang! Her faint hope was dashed as the pounding, which had briefly stopped, rang out again—even louder this time. Dust shook loose from the old door.

"Is this Baron McDonner's residence?"

At the familiar name, Alexa flinched. They had the right house, but the Baron McDonner they sought wasn't home.

'I'll just stay still. If they think no one's here, they'll leave.'

She wanted to explain the situation, but the gruff male voices put her on edge, and she couldn't summon the courage to step forward.

Sure enough, after a short while, the knocking ceased. Clutching her heart, she strained to listen to the voices outside.

"Hey, let's go. This place is just an abandoned house."

"Hah. I'm an idiot for believing otherwise. What baron—honestly. What do we do now?"

"What do you mean, what do we do? We'll settle it the hard way. Put him on the next ship to Soleney. A rough voyage will knock some sense into him."

At those words, Alexa's head shot up.

'Baron? Settle it the hard way?'

She sprang to her feet and steadied her breathing. She knew instinctively—James McDonner, her older brother, had gotten himself into trouble again.

Alexa closed and opened her eyes, which kept twitching as if about to spasm.

The fragile woman clutching her heart moments ago was gone. In her place stood a woman with sharp, gleaming eyes, striding toward the front door.

"Hoo…"

She realized then: the kind of fury that made her teeth chatter easily overpowered fear.

---

"Ugh!"

"Aaagh!"

The men yelped and stumbled backward in surprise.

From the dark, decrepit mansion, where not a single light had been visible, a pale-faced woman in a maid's uniform had suddenly emerged. They let out strangled, thin groans, their fingers trembling.

Then the maid—her expression utterly unchanged—parted her lips.

"Where to?"

When Alexa asked in a low voice, they finally looked at her again.

Her complexion was sickly pale, her gaze sharp. With that furious look, she seemed like the vengeful ghost of a maid from an abandoned house. The frozen man could only move his eyes downward.

"…Hoo."

He let out a sigh. The maid had legs. Looking again, he could see her breath in the air.

Even after confirming she was human, his voice came out as if swallowed.

"Th-that, ba-baron—does he live here?"

"Yes."

"W-we were told to come here and bring the young lady…"

"Yes, let's go."

The man glanced around cautiously and continued.

"But you're just a maid, aren't you? To repay the debt, it'd be better if the young lady came along."

"Young ladies don't know anything about the real world. Just go."

"But still—"

"Hey, as if any young lady would live here. We found the person, so let's just go. I don't want to stay here any longer."

His companion jabbed him in the side with his elbow and whispered. Alexa, as if indifferent to whatever they said, clanked the heavy door shut and stepped outside.

'Hopefully I'm not seeing things from going into that cursed mansion.'

The two men tightened their collars against the biting wind and glanced back at the maid following them. Walking with her back straight, she seemed to feel no cold at all.

'She is human, right?'

As if sharing the same thought, their eyes met.

Even if she were, there was nothing to be done now.

Nothing was certain, but their one clear goal was to get away from this place.

---

"Give me back my money!"

"It's my money now, my lord."

James McDonner's eyes were bloodshot.

Whether from drink or from the money he'd lost gambling, he had lost his reason and grabbed the collar of a man twice his size.

Scrape. The heavy wooden chair scraped as the man stood. Laughter broke out from all around.

'What?'

James glared at the giggling spectators. He was about to warn them—how dare they laugh so insolently?

"He looks good on you, Sean!"

"I'm not into men… but looking at him, he's kind of cute."

Still clutching the man's collar, he frowned at the incomprehensible words. Then he saw his own reflection in the window and understood.

His smaller frame, dwarfed by the huge man, made it look as though he was hanging onto his neck, ardently making advances.

"Insane!"

James pulled his arm away as if burned. Then he frantically pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and scrubbed his hands.

'These filthy degenerates!'

As he wiped his hands in a frenzy, he slowly raised his head and looked around.

A man with only three or four teeth left was giggling at him, and another with grimy, calloused hands kept gulping down drink after drink.

Scant, dried-up snacks and broken glasses lay scattered across the gambling den—and everyone in it looked just as wretched. Except for him.

His forgotten sense of self surged back, and anger flared within him.

"How dare you mock a noble?"

To think that the head of a baronial house would be humiliated by these brutal, filthy, rough, vulgar seamen!

But despite his words, he couldn't hide the tremor in his voice. Shame, anger, fear—an amalgam of emotions surged through him, reddening him to his fingertips.

"For the crime of insulting a noble, I'll have you all flogged and sent back to sea! I'll make sure you never set foot on land again!"

"Oh dear, my lord! Please, anything but that! Spare us!"

James clicked his tongue at the man's ignorance.

Had he not known what happens when you insult a noble? No matter how long one sails the seas, no matter how the world changes, the hierarchy between noble and commoner remains distinct.

Seeing the huge man bowing before him, clasping his hands and pleading, James felt he was finally recognizing his place.

"My patience has its limits! What if you never return from the sea?"

"We'd be helplessly killed by those terrifying monsters!"

James, feigning deliberation in front of the trembling man, opened his mouth.

"Well then, what shall we do? How can you offset the crime of insulting a noble…"

"Oh, Baron! Please spare us!"

"Tsk. Very well. I'll settle for taking back only the money you won from me. Consider it a cheap price for your pardon—be grateful!"

James cleared his throat a couple of times and was about to sweep all the money off the table. His greedy hand was just closing around the gold coins when Sean's thick hand landed atop his.

James's expression twisted instantly.

"But Baron, I'm a seaman who could die any day—whether I die here or at sea, what's the difference?"

Sean bared his gold tooth in a grin. It was so chilling that James's knees nearly buckled.

But he was a noble. He couldn't cower before a man scraping by at the bottom of society.

"Wh-what did you say?"

He imagined delivering an imposing reprimand, but his voice cracked and came out as a squawk.

Mortification washed over him, but Sean hadn't expected anything noble from him anyway. He paid it no mind—he was just a little drunk and saying what he wanted.

Especially since toying with this dainty nobleman was so entertaining.

"We set sail soon, and once we leave the shipping lane, monsters can pop up anytime. I'd rather spend all this money and die a glorious death at the hands of a noble lord."

Sean's words were half true, half false. Monsters did appear unexpectedly—but only when straying from the established routes.

Occasionally, monsters did appear even on the designated routes, but that was a matter of ill fortune beyond anyone's control.

"You—you scoundrel!"

In front of Sean, who firmly blocked the money, James had no idea what to say.

Threats of immediate death or banishment from the seas were useless. If he might die any day, what kind of warning was that?

As James stood there, mouth agape, Sean exchanged glances with the other gamblers and smirked.

"There is a way for you to get your money back, my lord—but I worry it might be a bit much for a nobleman to handle…"

Sean's tone dripped with exaggerated politeness.

James had a sinking feeling that something was afoot, yet he couldn't help being intrigued. Then, as if to display his noble dignity, he let go of the money without hesitation.

He leaned against the creaky wooden backrest as if it were a plush sofa, striking an elegant pose.

"It doesn't hurt to hear it."

"Well, you see… surely you know that after a long voyage, a man grows lonely. And this place is full of salty old men…"

He eyed James up and down suggestively.

"Why don't we just… let you take his place tonight…"

"……?"

James blinked. The moment he understood the implication, his skin crawled as if insects were swarming all over him. His face contorted with revulsion and wariness.

Yet Sean, still unwilling to withdraw his proposal, added:

"Just one night, and I'll wipe out all your debts. What do you say, my lord?"

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