Hopefully, at Your Mercy - Chapter 6

Chapter 4.1

Delinda didn’t respond. She didn’t lift her head to see who it was. She just stayed there, lying motionless on the ground as if dead.

She saw somewhere that if you ever find yourself involved in a crime, don’t even think about looking at the perpetrator—just close your eyes. That’s because criminals don’t spare those who have seen their faces.

“Who sent you?”

“…”

After staring down at her for a while, the man began wiping his shoes on the edge of her cloak, which was lying on the ground.

Delinda didn’t even dare to breathe, even though she bristled with anger at him for using her cloak like a rag.

After wiping off the blood from his shoes, the man then used the tip of his shoe to lift her chin.

“How did you get in here?”

His voice was cold and emotionless, completely detached. It was as if this man hadn’t just killed someone.

Still lying on the ground, Delinda’s head tilted up from the pressure of his foot.

She continued to keep her eyes tightly shut. Even though he was trying to lift her chin to see her face, she refused to look at him.

‘What kind of lunatic lifts someone’s face with their foot? What happened to manners?’

Coming from a country that valued respect, she felt a surge of anger at his actions, but that weak anger was quickly swallowed by fear.

With her eyes tightly shut, Delinda firmly declared,

“Please spare me. I’ll behave.”

“…What?”

Just spare me, and I’ll do whatever you say, sir.

The man seemed caught off guard by her unexpected response and fell silent.

“I didn’t see anything. I’m still keeping my eyes closed, see? I’m just a passerby. I promise I’ll behave.”

Respectful language slipped out naturally. It didn’t matter if she was the daughter of a duke, and neither did pride. When facing death, the strongest and most ruthless one was always in charge.

“I just tripped while I was walking. That’s all. Then I ended up here. I’ll keep my eyes closed until you’re gone.”

So just let me go, you lunatic.

The man remained silent, listening to Delinda rambling with her eyes still shut, as if trying to gauge her true intentions.

Delinda felt it was unfair. She had just been walking down the street, happened to touch a wall, and who could have expected to stumble into a mess like this?

If she had made a mistake, then that mistake was wandering around in the middle of the night trying to learn about spirit stones.

The man finally removed his foot from under her chin, and Delinda’s face fell back toward the ground.

A sharp gust of wind whipped over her head.

Her hair fluttered in the air, and at the same time, she heard the cold sound of metal being wiped clean. The man was cleaning the blood off his sword before sheathing it.

He then bent down, picking up something near her neck. It was the ring she had strung onto her necklace.

She had grabbed it with the intent of pawning it for cash, but now, in the darkness, the ring alone emitted a faint glow.

Clink. With a firm tug, the man easily snapped the necklace chain. As soon as the ring dropped from her body and into his hand, the glowing light suddenly stopped, almost like it had never happened.

The man’s lips lifted into a mocking smirk.

A mage…

He muttered to himself, though Delinda couldn’t hear it.

He tossed the ring back to Delinda, and it landed beside her face.

Delinda glanced at the ring and cautiously reached out to grab it.

‘My precious funds.’

But her attempt to retrieve the ring failed. The man pressed his foot firmly on the edge of the ring.

“Your name?”

“Pardon?”

She said, wriggling her fingers as she still reached for the ring.

“I asked for your name.”

His voice, devoid of any tone, carried the clear threat that if she dared to avoid his question again, he would kill her.

“Del! It’s Del!”

Delinda shouted as loudly as she could.

In her panic, she ended up using a name almost identical to her real one. I should’ve said something like Francesa! Or any other name!

The man pressed harder on the ring beneath his foot.

“Status?”

“Status? I don’t know much about that! I’m just a maid working for a noble family!”

He was most likely asking about her status, but there was no way she could admit to being the daughter of Duke Schultz. No fool would reveal their true identity to a murderer.

Her response made the man let out a scoffing laugh, as if the idea that she were a mere maid of a noble household were absurd.

Delinda had been focusing on the sounds around her to try and assess the situation.

The man shifted his attention away from her and pulled a gem from his pocket, throwing it toward the wall. Crack, the gem shattered, emitting a white light and tracing a circle in midair.

— Yes. Rowton, speaking.

A voice came from the circle of light.

“28 Clancy Street. Three at the left corner.”

— Terminated?

The voice from the light spoke as if they were casually discussing the weather.