Find the One Who Abandoned Me - Chapter 90

Even as she thought those things, Calliope smiled in her sleep, gazing at the past version of Isaac who appeared in her dream.

“I missed you so much, my love.”

She wondered if her memories had become idealized over time. From the perspective of an outsider, it looked as though Isaac had loved her deeply, so deeply that even in that distant white eye of his, affection still lingered.

Then why did you betray me?

Isaac… I still don’t know.

As always, no answer came. She asked a question that no one would ever answer—and soon woke from her dream. Quietly, she pressed a kiss to Isaac’s forehead, who was still fast asleep, then returned to her own room in silence.

In the weeks that followed, Isaac remained in recovery, and Calliope, while slowly healing herself, began her own investigation—searching for the assassin guild behind the attack on their lives.

Calliope was filled with poison—not in body, but in her heart. With a colder expression than ever before, she began collecting every piece of information she could find on assassin guilds operating within the capital. The Glayderth family also lent their help.

“I have a favor to ask. Please use your network to gather information on every assassin guild in the capital.”

“You’d be fine without me.”

The Duke of Glayderth had said that, oddly enough, but Calliope had replied not with denial, but with logic.

“One source isn’t enough. Cross-checking is the best way to ensure accuracy.”

“True enough. But is this really one of your two promised favors?”

“Yes. That’s why I can’t allow any errors in the intel.”

“You really think we’re that easy, huh? Fine. I’ll get you the best, most accurate information.”

“Please, as soon as possible.”

With the combined intel from the Glayderth and Marquess households, they identified a total of eight active assassin guilds within the capital. It was a number that felt both small and overwhelming. Fortunately, Circe was fully on board with Calliope’s efforts, and her enthusiastic support made the work much smoother.

“Grind them all into dust.”

Circe’s purple eyes had flashed with fury when she said it.

“Until there’s not even bone powder left.”

Calliope had replied with a smile.

When her recovery was complete, she acted as if she were simply going out for an outing. She led a squad of knights—dozens strong—along with Jack, and launched a direct raid on one of the hidden assassin guilds. She’d deliberately chosen a guild with fewer people in their main headquarters, a trait common among such organizations.

And she didn’t hide her actions.

“Run if you want to. I’ll take that as an admission of guilt—that you accepted the hit order—and I’ll chase you all the way to hell if I have to.”

Her declaration spread quickly through information dealers and reached every assassin guild in the city, word for word. The result? They were trapped—unable to act, unable to stay idle.

Still, many underestimated her.

“She’s just a young noble lady. Let’s lie low for a while. She’ll get bored eventually.”

But the situation didn’t unfold the way they expected.

In a dark underground room.

Almost as if coordinated, most assassin guilds had burrowed into underground dens. Their headquarters were often disguised as normal taverns or restaurants, but their real operations started from hidden doors in the floors—where the filth truly began.

Because of that, Calliope’s mood hit rock bottom. She had to personally step foot into one of those stinking holes.

She sat on a worn-out chair, quietly inspecting the length of her fingernails. Her eyes twitched slightly as the silence was broken by a piercing scream.

“Gaaah—augh!”

“So… you’re saying you didn’t take the job to assassinate us?”

“N-No! We didn’t! R-really—augh!”

The man, bound to the chair, had two daggers driven through his thighs, the blades buried deep into the wood beneath. His arms and the tops of his feet were soaked in blood.

Calliope gave a cold, mocking smile. Around her lay the corpses of assassins who had tried to strike first. She sat calmly among them, overseeing the interrogation with the help of her knights.

“And why should I believe that?”

“Th-the ledger! There’s a ledger…!”

“No need. We’re done here.”

At her words, the bloodied guild master’s face lit up in relief. Even among the most infamous assassin guilds, few dared to lay hands on high-ranking nobles, especially in peacetime. Assassination attempts had drastically decreased, and most guilds knew better than to provoke powerful families.

Of course, they had still been one of the few foolish enough to try.

“Th-Then… does that mean…”

Will you spare me? The words barely formed before Calliope flicked her finger.

Whoosh—crack—shlk.

A knight’s sword pierced the man’s throat.

“Gkk—grrk…”

Blood frothed from the already bloodied man’s mouth. His eyes burned with resentment, but Calliope only scoffed.

“Oh, please. You’ve made a living off killing others—and now you’re bitter?”

She rose from her chair with elegance. The hem of her white dress had been stained here and there with blood, yet somehow, it looked more like decoration than anything grotesque.

“Hang his corpse in the street.”

“Yes, my lady.”

The knights swallowed hard. It crossed their minds that this young noblewoman might be the most ruthless master the Marquess’s household had ever produced.

When the disfigured body of an assassin guild master was strung up for all to see, the remaining seven guilds went into full alert. They had scoffed before—how much damage could one little noble girl do?—but they hadn’t expected this.

She was more brutal than most assassins.

They began contacting one another in a panic.

“How can it be that not a single guild admits to taking the hit job?”

“Would you admit it? That’s instant death. The entire guild would be torn apart.”

“So what, we’re all just going to die?”

“If you ask me, yeah. We might as well all die together.”

“We’re already losing assassins left and right these days. Now this? What the hell is going on?”

“Oh—right, come to think of it…”

One subordinate suddenly remembered something.

“The guild master from the west mentioned something like that too. Said there’s been an uptick in defectors lately.”

“What?”

In assassin guilds, once you joined, the only way out was death. There were always a few who tried to quit, but the standard response was to hunt them down and eliminate them.

The problem was, over the past couple of years, assassins had started vanishing without a trace—almost like they’d evaporated. Not a single lead, not a single trail. It had caused guilds no end of headaches, and now a new disaster had struck.

The guild master of the Eastern branch, Thomas, began to suspect something.

No… could it be…?

Just as he was starting to piece things together, a subordinate burst into the room, shouting,

“Guild Master! Knights from the Marquess Anastas household are here!”

The devil in a lady’s form had arrived. In that moment, Thomas wanted nothing more than to collapse foaming at the mouth and pass out.

And she had brought even more knights than last time.

Thanks to the growing rumors, the guilds hadn’t dared flee and had instead increased their internal manpower. That decision now came back to haunt them.

Thomas, the Eastern guild master, made his choice—he surrendered.

He ordered his men not to resist and personally escorted the pale noblewoman to their underground headquarters like she was royalty. Though she looked like a decorative noble lady, every accessory she wore—necklace, earrings, rings, bracelets—was made from enchanted magic stones.

They were crafted by Circe, but to Thomas, they just looked terrifying.

“W-Welcome, Lady Anastas.”

“Oh my, such a warm welcome! I’m so flattered,” Calliope smiled, settling naturally onto the couch.

Compared to the last guild’s hideout, this room was at least tidy. A sofa. A table. Not bad.

She crossed one leg over the other and asked smoothly,

“So, what’s your angle?”

Instead of sitting across from her, Thomas knelt in front of the table.

Calliope chuckled.

“We’ve confirmed that none of the other guilds admitted to receiving assassination requests targeting Lady Anastas or Young Lord Esteban.”

“Of course they didn’t. If they did, they’d be annihilated on the spot.”

“That’s true. But I believe something else is going on.”

“Oh?”

Calliope tilted her head with a sweet smile. The knight beside her shlinged his sword from its sheath and pressed the cold steel under Thomas’s chin. Thomas stiffened, sweat trickling down his back.

“Speak. Don’t even think about lying.”

He swallowed hard.

“Recently—or rather, starting about two years ago—assassins from guilds across the capital have started disappearing.”

Her brow rose.

“Disappearing assassins?”

“Yes. At first, we didn’t think much of it. It happens from time to time, and we tried to track them… but that’s where the problem began. We couldn’t.”

“That’s unusual. An assassin avoiding guild pursuit is nearly impossible.”

“Exactly. But it kept happening—more and more frequently.”

“And so?”

Her red eyes gleamed—Say it. Say your conclusion.

Thomas felt his shoulders tense under that gaze, and slowly, but firmly, he answered,

“I believe someone is intercepting the assassins… and using them for something else.”

“Assassins don’t get ‘intercepted.’ That’s not how they work.”

“I know. It’s incredibly difficult. But it’s the only explanation left.”

Calliope leaned back, thoughtful.

“Hm. I agree. But can you stand by those words?”

“If I don’t… I’m going to die anyway, aren’t I?”

At his grim but honest reply, Calliope laughed innocently.

“Ahaha, that’s true. You’re clever. Unlike that last guild master. Sir Milton.”

“Yes, my lady.”

“Take this man. Lock him in the Marquess’s underground prison. If what he says checks out with the other guilds—release him.”

“Yes, my lady.”

“If not… cut off his arms and legs and bury him alive.”

“…Understood.”

She brushed the hair of the much older guild master back gently and whispered,

“This is me being kind, you know. The last guild master was sliced apart head to toe. Compared to that… isn’t this merciful?”

“Ah… ahaha. Yes, absolutely…”

Kind? Kind, my ass. She’s insane…

Maybe I should’ve just run.

But if what his subordinates said was true, then yes—assassins really were slipping away from every guild.

And if that was the case  maybe, just maybe, he’d live to see another day.

Support