The boy stood trembling, staring at the two emotionless middle-aged men in front of him, trying to guess his fate. In Nankang, he had heard stories of thieves tying stones to the feet of traitors and throwing them into rivers to drown. Perhaps he was about to meet a similar fate, becoming food for the fish. The thought made him shiver uncontrollably.
Eckert remained silent, but the other man pulled a necklace from his pocket. It was a cheap necklace, the kind found everywhere in Nankang.
"Do you recognize this?" the man asked. The boy, terrified, took two steps back and nodded.
"I got this from your Aunt Betty in Nankang. Taking it off her neck was easy for me. I could just as easily take something else from her—something far more valuable than this necklace. Do you understand?"
The boy's eyes widened in fear as he nodded rapidly, his face pale and his nostrils flaring with the effort of holding back tears. Eckert, satisfied, said, "Good. I think you know what to do now. You can go back to bed, but before you rest, there's one last lesson."
The boy understood perfectly well what this meant—he would be punished for what had happened. But oddly enough, the certainty of punishment brought him some comfort. At least his life was spared.
The boy obediently lay on the bed, but he was unprepared for the severity of the beating. Each stroke of the whip made him cry out in pain, his voice hoarse with agony. He tried to rise, to escape, but Eckert's foot pressed firmly on his back, pinning him down. The boy could do nothing but endure the torment until he finally lost consciousness.
When the boy awoke, it was midday on the third day. He had been unconscious for two days, and his body was still weak from the injuries. Eckert mercifully excused him from the physically demanding lessons like horseback riding and swordsmanship, as well as from the final punishment session each day. This, at least, was a small blessing for the boy.
Much of his time was now spent on academic studies, especially language learning. Eckert spoke to him in different languages throughout the day. Now that the boy knew this was a den of thieves, Eckert no longer hid anything. The so-called "mechanical lessons" naturally evolved into lessons on lock-picking and the use of thieves' tools.
Additionally, the boy was introduced to a new subject—heraldry. To the boy, this felt like nothing more than memorizing endless family trees. France was home to over three hundred ancient noble families, with more than half tracing their lineage back to the time of Emperor Leduca, a period that predated the founding of the French kingdom by three hundred years.
Over nearly a thousand years, these families had intermarried, creating a web of complex lineages. If not for the wise decree of Francis V, which mandated that titles could only be passed down through direct lineage and could not be split or merged, these genealogies would be even more convoluted.
During this period of memorizing family histories, the boy gradually came to accept his new identity. He was Rebo Bayndit, a direct descendant of some noble lineage, though the exact family was unknown. Given the surname Bayndit, he guessed he was from an ancient noble family in Westbay, which explained why Eckert insisted on him mastering the Westbay language.
Rebo thought to himself that he was fortunate to only need to learn about the noble families of France and not those of Westbay.
France was a relatively young nation on this continent, while Westbay had a long history, with many families active since the days of the ancient Rolleta Empire, a period spanning fifteen hundred years. The genealogies of these families were as tangled as a ball of silk in a cocoon.
After a month of recovery, Rebo finally regained his strength, but since that disastrous day, he hadn't seen the mysterious middle-aged man again. The man never appeared at the dining table and, like Paim, probably didn't live in the house.
Although Rebo would have preferred not to encounter this dangerous stranger again, it was inevitable.
Rebo had to retrieve the necklace because it was the only memento left by his parents.
When his father died of the plague, their house was set on fire by the sheriff and his men. The family had little of value, and what wasn't destroyed by the fire was taken by the sheriff's men, leaving only this worthless necklace.
But to Rebo, this necklace was priceless. It represented the love of his parents and his Aunt Betty. It was the most important, valuable, and meaningful thing in his life. He had to get it back, even if it meant facing a killer more dangerous than the devil himself.
Finding his mother's keepsake seemed an impossible task. Rebo didn't know where the assassin lived, and even if he found him, he had no idea how to retrieve the necklace from such a cold-blooded killer. When Rebo discovered that the assassin's name was Kayler and that he lived in another wing of the house, he was even more troubled by the second problem.
Kayler was a brooding and solitary figure. Although they lived in the same house, Rebo rarely saw him. Kayler almost never left his room, not even to dine in the downstairs hall with the Boss and Eckert. The housekeeper personally delivered all three of his daily meals to his room.
Rebo noticed that no one in the house wanted to be around Kayler. Eckert had chosen a room far from Kayler's for Rebo, and most people lived on the western side of the house, away from Kayler. Even among thieves, Kayler was a person of extreme danger.
Rebo's heart wavered between his love for his mother's keepsake and his fear of the assassin. Love eventually triumphed over fear, and when Rebo finally stood at Kayler's door, he didn't even know where he had found the courage. He knocked gently, a habit of politeness he had always had, one that didn't require Eckert's teaching.
"Let yourself in," came a raspy voice from inside. It sounded like the growl of a dying wolf, panting and howling, the harshness of it grating on Rebo's ears.
He opened the door. It was heavy, and the room beyond was dark, with only a small amount of sunlight filtering through tightly drawn curtains. There was a bed, a chair, and a table—these were the only things Rebo could see.
"What do you want?" The raspy voice came from behind him.
Rebo jumped, spinning around. In the darkness, only a pair of glowing, beast-like eyes were visible. He had never seen a person whose eyes could shine like a wolf's.
The killer in front of him was clearly as dangerous as a demon. Even though Rebo had planned how to approach this cold-blooded assassin, when those green, glowing eyes got close to him, his mind went blank.
"You didn't knock just to waste my time, did you?" The impatience in the man's voice was unmistakable.
"It's usually time for swordsmanship and horsemanship training now, but I've finished those lessons. Eckert thinks I'm ready for more advanced techniques, and you're the master in this area..." Without even thinking, Rebo lied flawlessly. The idea of asking for the necklace never crossed his mind in the presence of such a terrifying killer.
"Eckert sent you to me to learn how to kill?" Kayler sounded skeptical. Although Mr. Hyde had mentioned that Eckert was planning something unprecedented, Kayler wasn't entirely clear on the details.
"Wait here. I'll ask Mr. Hyde what's going on," Kayler said.
"Oh, if you're too busy, I can practice on my own," Rebo said hastily, not wanting the situation to escalate.
"Stay here until I return. Do not leave, understand?" The raspy voice was firm, leaving no room for negotiation. With that, Kayler slipped out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Standing alone in the pitch-dark room, Rebo was filled with anxiety and regret. Perhaps retrieving the necklace from a demon-like assassin wasn't a task he was up to. Perhaps he shouldn't have entered the room at all.
Rebo was almost certain that his lie would become the epitaph on his tombstone, with a line underneath reading, "A foolish boy who told a foolish lie to a killer, ending his foolish life."
Rebo prayed silently, begging the gods for mercy. If only he could escape the wrath of the demonic assassin, he would gladly accept any punishment, even if it meant lying in bed for another month as he had before.
Rebo knelt there, praying fervently, hoping for divine intervention. Meanwhile, in the lounge, Mr. Hyde was deep in thought. Eckert sat beside him, and Kayler stood in a shadowy corner of the room. This lounge was where Mr. Hyde spent most of his time, and its decor was very different from that of the study.