The Regressed Son of a Duke is an Assassin

“Wow…”

Regardless of age or gender, all eyes were focused on one scene.

People couldn’t help but exclaim in amazement, their faces spellbound.

“She looks so cute! Is she the daughter of a noble family?”

“But why is she wandering alone? Doesn’t she have a guardian?”

“She doesn’t seem to be lost…”

With her rare pink hair and clear, adorable eyes, she looked to be around ten or eleven years old—a cute girl freely roaming the streets of Brenu.

Her cute appearance made anyone looking at her blush, unable to take their eyes off her.

However, the girl seemed completely unaware of these gazes, busy looking around.

‘Heehee!’

Everything around her was fascinating and astonishing.

Though Cyan had taken her out occasionally, those outings were mostly to desolate wilderness or mountains, so she hardly had the chance to experience the lively atmosphere of people.

This was her second time exploring the city after the royal banquet, but the first time she had ventured out of the house without Cyan, making the experience all the more novel.

“…!”

Suddenly, a sweet smell that stimulated her appetite wafted over from ahead.

Without hesitation, she immediately ran towards the source.

“My goodness! Welcome, little lady! Would you like one?”

“Yes, please give me one! Mister!”

The shop owner, with a pleased smile, handed her a crêpe loaded with fruits.

Nana thanked him and received the crêpe, paying with a coin.

As she finally took a bite of the crêpe, her face was filled with bliss, as if she had obtained the world.

“It’s delicious~!”

Though it was her first outing without a guardian, she faced no problems.

She understood the basic concept of economics, that one must pay for things (she had stolen the coin from Emily’s purse), and she knew to avoid attracting too much attention with excessive behavior, which she had learned from books.

“I wonder what Papa is doing?”

Naturally, enjoying something delicious made her think of Cyan.

Cyan once said…

Cyan had always told Nana that there was nothing beneficial for her outside yet, that it was safer inside, and that once she grew up and became an adult, she would be free to roam as she pleased. Until then, she was asked to be obedient.

Nana wasn’t particularly upset by these words; she had lived her life well, following them closely. After all, why would she be? These were the words of her favorite person in the world, her Papa. Knowing that she was loved and cherished, she had lived without any significant complaints until now.

But today, she couldn’t resist.

While leisurely taking a nap, she was awakened by a strange voice calling her in her dream. Unlike usual, she felt a melancholy tinge in her heart.

A claustrophobic feeling she had never experienced before changed her heart, and eventually, she took the chance to sneak out while Brian and Emily were away.

She planned to return before they came back, but engrossed in eating her crêpe, she didn’t notice the sun setting in the western sky.

“Oh no! It’s about time for Brian and Sister Emily to come back!”

Nana, stuffing the remaining crêpe into her mouth, hurried home.

Believing it to have been a perfect outing without any incidents or special happenings, she was running back when suddenly,

“…!”

Two burly men blocked her way.

With their sinister appearance, they were clearly not the type to give off a good vibe. To Nana, these were completely unknown individuals, the likes of whom she had never seen before in her life.

Maybe sensing the negative aura from them, Nana’s previously joyful face stiffened in an instant.

At the corner of a street alley, oddly shielded by the shadows of the setting sun, and momentarily out of the public eye, the two men smirked meaningfully at Nana.

“Sniff sniff!”

Nana briefly sniffed, trying to catch their scent, but then,

Swoosh!

Another man appeared from behind and covered her face with a mask.

The two men who appeared first quickly grabbed Nana and ran off into the alley.

Where Nana stood, only the lonely dust swirled in the air.

* * *

As the men entered their hideout, they couldn’t contain their excitement and let out shouts of joy.

“Jackpot! We really caught something big today!”

However, those who saw her for the first time couldn’t hide their astonishment and confusion.

“Huh? What’s this? Did we actually kidnap a noble’s daughter?”

While there wasn’t anything explicitly noble about her appearance, her delicate features could easily lead one to think she was of noble birth.

“Who cares? Once we’ve erased her identity and sold her off, who’s to know who she was! Hehe!”

“Don’t worry! We’ve already checked, and there have been no nobles coming into Brenu recently. She’s probably just a merchant’s well-off daughter!”

Gradually, other men in the vicinity started to gather around Nana, examining her with interest.

“Wow! This one’s gonna cover all our losses and then some, eh? Those old, balding rich guys will especially love her!”

Amidst the unrefined conversation and swearing, Nana remained unresponsive, her eyes blank as she observed them.

Curious, one of the men approached her.

“But why’s she so out of it? Is she in shock or something?”

Despite waving a hand in front of her face and even tilting her chin to look at her from different angles, she remained unmoved.

“Leave her be! If she’s out of it, she might even be more popular!”

“The more I look, the more interesting this kid gets. I’ve seen plenty of slaves in my time, but a girl with pink hair? That’s a first. She definitely doesn’t seem like she’s from the empire, does she?”

While curiosity and interest were evident, it went no further than that.

To them, Nana was nothing more than a premium commodity that would fatten their wallets, nothing more, nothing less.

“Hey, little miss! No need to be scared! We’re not bad people! We’re just going to help you find a nice place to live, that’s all!”

Knowing full well that their words would not affect her, Nana remained unresponsive.

However, her gaze was firmly fixed on the man in front of her.

“Come on, give us a smile! Our customers love that! Like this, see? Eh? Like this!”

The man grotesquely widened his mouth, attempting to coax a smile from her.

The others, far from intervening, chuckled and watched the spectacle.

“Hehe…”

Nana, who had been in a daze until now, suddenly grinned broadly, surprising everyone.

Briefly confused, the man doubted what he saw.

“What the…?”

Within her wide-open mouth were two sharply pointed fangs, utterly unnatural and bizarre to any human.

“The smell…”

Her once dull black eyes began to shift into sharp, predatory red.

“Yikes!”

The man stumbled backward in disgust, but only for a moment,

-Crunch!

A horrific sound of flesh being torn apart filled the air as blood spurted in front of the man.

“Aaaah!”

Screams echoed as the faces of the onlookers turned to stone.

“Save… me…”

The man on the ground, now missing an arm, writhed in agony.

“The smell- the smell… I can’t resist it… It’s just too delicious…”

Her eyes half-closed, her lips smeared with blood.

That alone was ghastly enough, but there was more.

“What in the world did we bring here?!”

Some collapsed on the spot, their legs giving out from under them.

Two horns protruded from her head.

Wings unfurled from her back as if stretching out.

And a mysterious tail that gently swayed, humming along.

It is said that humans fear the unknown more than anything else.

To them, she was no longer human.

Where she came from, why she existed, what purpose she had—all were unknown.

Only a predator stood in their midst.

“I’ll enjoy my meal…”

As always, Nana’s face was suffused with ecstasy, having prepared her meal.

* * *

“Indeed. I remember that pink-haired young lady! It would be odd not to remember such a cute face!”

Tracking down Nana’s whereabouts was not particularly challenging.

From a merchant who was tidying up his shop, they were able to learn that she had bought a crêpe.

“No way, where did this kid get the money to buy something like that?”

Emily clicked her tongue in disbelief, amused yet impressed by the audacity.

It never occurred to her that the money had come from her own pocket.

“When did she come by?”

“Not too long ago. Maybe a little less than an hour? It was about time for the sun to start setting, so I thought I’d be heading home too.”

Although they had acquired some small clue, it was insufficient to determine where Nana had gone.

As the sun had already set, there wasn’t much time left to gather clues from people.

“What sudden whim has gotten into a child who has been so well-behaved up until now? What will we do, Brian? Are we going to keep asking around like this?”

Considering the possibility of something having happened, continuing to search in this manner felt like a waste of time.

Pondering for a moment, Brian suddenly manifested mana as if he had an idea.

“What are you going to do?”

“I plan to use magic to find her.”

When Brian began his training with Cyan and was able to control mana to a certain extent, Cyan had taught him a spell. It was well-suited to Brian, who also had an affinity for wind attributes, and Cyan had mentioned that it could be useful for finding people from time to time.

-Ding

A small green sphere of mana emerged and suddenly generated a wind that enveloped Brian’s face.

“Sniff sniff.”

As if a dog smelling its food, he began to sniff around with his eyes closed.

Emily watched with a puzzled look. At a glance, it might seem like a magic spell that provides a refreshing breeze for a change of mood, but it was actually a sort of detection magic that carried the scent of blood in the air to the nose with the wind.

If there was a smell wafting from a place, it indicated that something unusual had occurred there, making it a useful spell for tracking traces.

“…!”

Brian’s eyes flashed as if he had caught a scent.

“Did you find something?”

“Ah, no. It’s a bit difficult to say….”

Brian found it difficult to continue speaking.

The faint scent of blood carried by the breeze was piercing his nostrils, but one thing was clear: Nana’s scent was not among them.

Instead, it seemed as if a terrible massacre had taken place, with the mingled scents of blood from at least a dozen people assaulting his senses.

Brian hurried towards the source of the smell.

“Ah, let’s go together, Brian!”

The location was not far away.

It was in the middle of a slum, a short distance off the main road, where the sunlight never reached.

A foul stench of blood wafted from beyond a firmly closed wooden door.

Taking a deep breath, Brian opened the door.

“Ugh!”

As the door creaked open, the repressed smell of blood suddenly overwhelmed them.

Instinctively covering his nose, Brian cautiously looked inside.

“Chewing…”

There was no one in sight, but a chewing sound could be heard from somewhere, eerily similar to the noise Nana made while eating.

Driven by urgency, Brian stepped into the room, and

“…!”

He was rendered speechless by the horrendous sight that unfolded before his eyes.

“What is it, Brian? What’s inside…?”

But then he quickly covered Emily’s eyes as she followed him in.

“What, what is it? Why are you doing that?!”

“It’s better if you don’t see…”

Yet, Brian’s gaze remained fixed on the presence before him.

Noticing the arrival of new people, the source of the sound finally turned its head.

“Did you come, Brian?”

Brian was unable to respond.

The moment was as brutal and bizarre as his first encounter with Cyan, and it felt as though today had refreshed that memory anew.

“I think I can skip dinner tonight…”

Her eyes, filled with satiety, were brimming with happiness.

(To be continued)