Chapter 11: Shadows Behind the Mask

The entire mansion had gone from a cozy library gathering to a scene ripped straight out of a royal crime drama.

Kiara’s scream still echoed in my ears as I scrambled to my feet. My coffee cup toppled and shattered on the marble floor—RIP to my instant coffee. There’d be no moment of silence for it, though, because Kiara was in the clutches of a masked man.

A real, honest-to-goodness villain. Black hood. Face covered. The kind of person you’d expect to see in a dark alley, not the Duke’s expensive living room.

He tightened his grip around Kiara’s shoulders, a knife gleaming in his free hand. “Nobody move!” he barked.

The Queen stood like a statue, her eyes sharp and dangerous. She didn’t need to shout; her mere presence felt like a loaded crossbow. The Duke, towering behind her, clenched his fists, but even he hesitated. The tension was thick enough to slice with a butter knife.

I, on the other hand, had my trusty gun. Yeah, thanks to the system. But even as my fingers twitched toward it, I knew pulling the trigger wasn’t an option. Kiara was too close. One wrong move and—nope, not happening.

“Who are you?” I demanded, trying to keep my voice steady. My heart was pounding like a festival drum. “What do you want?”

The man didn’t answer. Instead, his eyes—barely visible behind the mask—flicked nervously toward the Queen. And that’s when it hit me. He wasn’t here for random chaos. He had been listening.

I replayed the last few minutes in my head: the strange numbers, the SEAL shop, our whispered theories. This guy had been eavesdropping.

Kiara must have realized it too maybe.

The masked man flinched. For a split second, his grip loosened. Kiara tried to jerk free, but he yanked her back instantly.

“Don’t try anything,” he hissed. “I just need to leave. She’s my ticket out.”

Great. A hostage situation. Exactly how I wanted to spend my afternoon.

I raised my hands slightly, trying to sound reasonable. “Alright, alright… calm down. You don’t need to hurt anyone. Let her go, and we’ll—”

He cut me off with a sharp glare. “Silence!”

I clamped my mouth shut. Hey, no shame in self-preservation.

The Queen took a slow, deliberate step forward. “You will not leave this house,” she said, her voice like ice. “Not alive, if you harm her.”

Alicia was silently protecting the books. I see she is lady of cultures as well.

The masked man laughed nervously. “I don’t intend to harm her… unless you force me to.”

And then—before I could even blink—something blurred across the room.

Wham!

The man stumbled, the knife clattered to the floor, and Kiara broke free with a startled cry.

Standing between us and the intruder was a familiar figure in shining silver armor, her long braid swishing like a whip.

Lucy Scott.

The kingdom’s most trusted knight. The woman who could slice a boulder in half while filing her nails.

“Late to the party, as usual,” I muttered, relief flooding through me.

Lucy shot me a look that could melt steel. “You’re welcome.”

She grabbed the masked man by the collar and twisted his arm behind his back in a move so fast I barely registered it. “You thought you could kidnap someone in the Duke’s mansion? Pathetic.”

For a heartbeat, I thought it was over.

Then, the masked man chuckled. A low, eerie sound that made the hairs on my neck stand up.

“You think you’ve caught me?” he whispered. “You’ve caught nothing.”

Before Lucy or anyone else could react, he bit down—hard—on something hidden between his teeth.

I saw the faint glint of glass just before his body convulsed.

“No!” Lucy shouted, but it was too late.

The man collapsed, foam bubbling at his lips. His eyes rolled back, and within seconds, he was gone.

Silence.

Utter, horrifying silence.

Even the Queen’s face tightened, her usual calm replaced by a cold, murderous expression.

Lucy released the man’s lifeless body and exhaled sharply. “Poison capsule. He chose death over capture.”

Kiara, trembling, clung to me like a terrified child. I wrapped my arms around her instinctively, trying to calm her while my mind raced. Alicia also trying to comfort her.

Who sends a suicide agent?

The Queen knelt beside the body, inspecting the mask. “Professional,” she said flatly. “No identifying marks. Whoever sent him is clever. And ruthless.”

Alicia hovered nearby, her hands gripping the book of codes like it was a sacred relic. Her voice shook. “This… this is because of the SEAL shop clue, isn’t it?”

The Queen’s eyes narrowed. “Without a doubt.”

Lucy turned to me, her gaze sharp. “You found something… didn’t you?”

I swallowed hard and explained the coded numbers and the hidden word—SEAL. Lucy listened without interrupting, her face a mask of concentration.

When I finished, she glanced at the Queen. “Then our next move is obvious.”

The Queen nodded. “Yes. We go to SEAL.”

Elsewhere

Far from the Duke’s mansion, in a dimly lit room thick with the smell of damp stone, two figures sat across from each other. The flicker of a single candle cast their shadows long and thin against the wall.

“A,” a deep, gravelly voice spoke first, its tone calm but cold. “B is dead.”

A pause. The other figure—C—shifted slightly, the rustle of fabric barely audible.

“Then what do we do?” C asked quietly.

A’s eyes narrowed, catching the candlelight like two shards of ice. “Who did this?”

“A guy called Erik,” C replied, spitting the name like it was poison.

A’s voice sharpened. “Go to his home. Destroy everything.”

“I tried,” C said, almost defensively. “But… there were two girls. Small. Alone. One with silver hair—if I’m not mistaken, the famous scientist. And another… red wood clan.”

A’s brows lifted. “Then capture them.”

“Impossible,” C said, his voice tinged with frustration. “There’s some kind of barrier. We cannot pass at all.”

A leaned forward slowly, the candlelight revealing the faint outline of a scar across his cheek. His voice was low, dangerous. “What…?”

C’s hands tightened into fists. “It’s true. We threw everything we had at it. The barrier is beyond anything I’ve seen. Even our ancestors couldn’t create something like that.”

For the first time, A’s face flickered with genuine surprise. “Who… is he, actually? This Erik…?”

The room fell silent again, the single candle trembling in the stillness.

Back at the Duke’s Mansion

If anyone had expected calm after the masked man’s dramatic exit, they were sorely disappointed.

Kiara sat beside me, still pale. Alicia paced the room like an anxious cat, clutching the coded book. The Queen stood by the window, her arms folded, staring out at the fading light with the intensity of someone plotting a war.

Lucy, having dragged the dead man’s body aside, finally broke the silence. “I’ll have the royal investigators here within the hour. We need to know who sent him.”

“Good luck with that,” I muttered. “The guy came equipped with his own… uh… permanent exit strategy.”

Lucy shot me a look. “You think this is a joke?”

I raised my hands. “No, no. I’m just saying—dead men don’t exactly leave calling cards.”

The Queen’s lips twitched, almost a smile. Almost.

Kiara finally found her voice, shaky but determined. “We… we have to go to the SEAL shop, don’t we?”

“Yes,” the Queen said firmly. “But not yet. We’ll need to prepare. Whoever orchestrated this knows we are on to them. They will not stop here.”

I glanced at the dead man’s body again and shivered. “You mean… there could be more of them?”

Lucy rested her hand on her sword. “Count on it.”

Alicia finally stopped pacing and looked at me. “Erik… what exactly did you do to attract people like this?”

I shrugged helplessly. “I… decoded a secret message in a library book. That’s apparently enough to ruin my day and get someone to commit suicide in front of me. Typical Tuesday, really.”

Kiara managed a weak laugh, though it ended in a cough. “Only you could turn a royal investigation into… this.” She said in laugh.

“Hey,” I said, spreading my hands dramatically, “I don’t go looking for trouble. Trouble just… has a subscription to my address.”

Even the Queen cracked a small, reluctant smile.

Lucy shook her head. “You’re unbelievable.”

“I prefer the term ‘unexpectedly charismatic,’” I replied with a grin.

The Queen finally turned from the window. Her eyes were still sharp, but the faint smile lingered. “Charismatic or not, Erik, it seems you have enemies in places we don’t yet understand. And they fear you enough to send suicide agents, but its ok once you marry me I will take care of everything.”

I cough so hard and then look at everyone faces. They are curious and shock as well. Except Lucy everyone seems don’t believe queen. She and marry me? Why? Alicia seems looking at me confused way. Kiara seems little angry? Her coffee queen will take that’s why? And Duke also like wants to bow to me or not thinking. I should try to change the topic.

“Lucky me,” I said dryly. “Next time, I’d like enemies who send cookies instead.”

Outside, the sun finally dipped below the horizon, painting the sky in shades of crimson and violet. The Duke’s mansion, once a symbol of wealth and calm, now felt like a fortress on the brink of war.

Somewhere far away, in that candlelit room, A and C were plotting their next move. And though I couldn’t hear their voices, I could feel their intent.

They wanted me gone.

And I had a feeling the SEAL shop was only the beginning