Chapter 10

Iru thought she was prepared for any royal she might encounter here.

Even if the bedridden emperor himself appeared, she would have shrugged it off. But seeing Nergal here left her in shock.

‘Am I seeing things?’

While the rest of the direct royal lineage was caught up in a frenzy to find the Holy Sword, Nergal remained calm, living as he always had. To him, the Holy Sword, which could secure the throne, was nothing more than a bothersome item that added to his paperwork.

‘Besides, I never imagined that Nergal would come to a place like this.’

Those who frequented the palace knew well about his near-obsessive cleanliness.

There had never been any scandal or even a woman’s name mentioned alongside his. Even at royal banquets, where it would have been easy for rumors to spread, Nergal rarely attended. If he did show up at large events like the Founding Festival, he was always too busy managing things as the head organizer to engage in any personal matters.

Iru had even seen it with her own eyes once. When the empire’s most renowned dancer, who had caused quite a stir by being courted by multiple princes at the same time, began stripping off her clothes in Nergal’s office.

Everyone in the room blushed deeply, too embarrassed to even look directly at her. Iru was no exception.

Honestly, Iru had thought, ‘If he doesn’t fall for this, he must be blind.’ She was sure that Nergal would send them all away and close the door, and she was eager to get back to the knight order. But to her surprise, Nergal didn’t even glance at the dancer. Instead, he merely spoke.

“Take her away. She’ll be charged with trespassing in the royal office.”

With that, he never looked at her again. He even glared at Iru, continuing the interrogation he had started before the dancer interrupted.

‘That’s why I was so sure Nergal would never come here.’

Looking for the Holy Sword and buying a woman at a place like this?

Iru felt embarrassed for ever thinking she knew him well, just because they had spent a brief time together as children and saw each other almost daily in the palace.

“This won’t do. Sir, you’re causing a problem.”

The auctioneer, barely able to contain his amusement, feigned concern while half-heartedly trying to stop Nergal. Meanwhile, jeers and taunts erupted from the audience.

“Yeah! This is an auction!”

“Doesn’t the fancy man know the rules?”

“Does this spoiled brat even have a clue how much she costs?”

The people, unaware that Nergal was royalty, scoffed and jeered, telling him to leave since they couldn’t see him clearly.

While the commotion continued, Iru felt around the rope tied to her wrists. In the past, undoing such a knot would have been no trouble. But now, even twisting her wrists to feel the rope was difficult. The sensation of the rough material scraping against her skin was painfully clear. It would have been better not to feel it at all.

‘If only there were something sharp, I could cut the rope.’

Even if she couldn’t cut through the rope entirely, she might be able to loosen it enough to make an escape when the opportunity arose.

As she fumbled around the floor behind her, a bitter laugh escaped her lips. Just a moment ago, she had been thinking that if she could meet any royal, she could explain her situation and offer information about the Holy Sword in exchange for help.

But now, seeing Nergal here in front of her, all those thoughts vanished. Even though she had thought he would be the most helpful in such a situation, the sight of him here made the trust she had in him crumble.

‘Just like when we were children… how foolish of me.’

Cursing herself, Iru continued searching the ground with her hands.

At that moment, she grabbed hold of something. She couldn’t turn her head with all the eyes on her, but the feel of it on her fingers told her it was metal. In her current situation, anything would be useful. If she could just loosen the rope a bit….

Just as she brought the object to the rope, her vision started to blur.

‘Huh?’

Startled, Iru blinked, trying to regain her focus. But it wasn’t just her vision. Her breathing grew labored, and a wave of heat surged through her body, followed by an overwhelming fatigue.

‘Damn it.’

Ever since she had woken from her fainting spell three days ago, Iru hadn’t slept at all. She couldn’t afford to, constantly on guard in case she was moved again by someone. She had only pretended to sleep, never truly resting, and the exhaustion of the past three days now came crashing down on her.

‘Why?’

She hadn’t exerted herself much. All she had done was move her hand slightly to try to loosen the rope with the object she had found. That small effort shouldn’t have caused all the fatigue she had been suppressing to suddenly hit her.

Her body, about to collapse forward, managed to straighten as Iru forced herself to stay conscious. She tried to grasp the object again, but her hand came up empty.

‘Where did it go? Did I drop it?’

Panicked, she fumbled around behind her, but there was nothing on the ground. It was as if it had never been there.

As her vision grew dimmer and her breath became more labored, Iru bit down hard on her tongue to keep herself awake. The taste of blood filled her mouth, but her dizziness only grew worse.

‘No… I have to hold on.’

At the very least, she needed to see how this auction ended. If Nergal really bought her, she needed to plan her next move.

She knew Nergal from the palace, but this Nergal—one who came here to buy her—was someone entirely unfamiliar.

In her fading consciousness, she could hear the cheers and applause from the crowd. Judging by the crude exclamations mixed in, Nergal had probably named an outrageous price.

What should she do now?

While Iru pondered, Nergal approached her again. He knelt down on one knee, looking into her eyes for a long moment before finally speaking. 

“How many days have you been awake?”

“…!”

Even in her fading consciousness, Iru was startled by his question, and she looked up at him in surprise.

She had expected Nergal to approach her with some disdainful remark. Perhaps he’d talk about the price he paid to buy her, or he might make some crude comment about her current state. But as he looked directly at her, his face showed none of the lowly expectations one might have in a place like this.

He asked as if it was only natural, as if he knew exactly who she was.

In that moment, Iru felt a lump in her throat. Ever since she had opened her eyes, she hadn’t been able to trust anything.

Was she really alive right now? Was she experiencing a prolonged hallucination that flashed before her eyes in the moment of death? Or maybe she was already dead, and this place was the afterlife. If that were the case, why couldn’t she exist here as her true self? Who was she in this place? Who… was she?

As her doubts about the situation grew into doubts about her own existence, she felt increasingly overwhelmed.

And yet, here was someone speaking to her in the same familiar way, as if nothing had changed. As if he had no doubt that she was, indeed, Iru.

Just moments ago, she had thought she couldn’t trust the Nergal standing before her. But with that one simple question, she felt the uncertainty that had been piling up inside her collapse all at once.

“I… I am…”

She wanted to speak, but it was as if her voice was trapped in her throat, unable to escape. Still, Iru gritted her teeth and fought to stay conscious. If she collapsed now, who knew when she would wake up again? Or worse, she might never wake up.

‘I’m all alone.’

She was the only one left who could tell the truth, the only one who could avenge them. She couldn’t afford to fall here…

Just as she forced herself to draw on the last bit of her strength, Nergal spoke again.

“It’s alright now. You can rest.”

Those were words Iru had heard countless times before.

Whenever she returned to the palace after a mission, exhausted from days without proper sleep or food, she had to report to Nergal immediately. He was the kind of person who couldn’t be satisfied until he had personally reviewed the results of the 9th Knight Order’s long-term missions.

Yet, to his credit, Nergal would always send her off quickly after receiving the report. And every time, he’d say the same thing.

It’s alright now. You can rest.

She had heard it so often that it became a signal for her body to relax, a sign that she could finally let go of the tension and rest. After saying those words, Nergal wouldn’t call for her for at least a week, allowing her time to recover.

Perhaps that’s why, absurd as it seemed, the moment she heard Nergal say those words again, her body went slack.

As her body collapsed toward the floor, she saw him catch her just before she lost consciousness once more.