"Did anybody see you last night, Kallen?"

I was having my breakfast at Solstice when the ginger guy sat across me as usual and struck a conversation rather furtively like a criminal.

I eyed him indifferently. "No."

"Are you sure?" Ashen whispered while glancing around. "I heard that the imperial knights raided the casino last night. No one saw your face at all?"

"It was dark, and I was disguised as a man. Even if they suspect the coachman as the murderer, they'd be searching for a man, not a woman."

"Okay." He blew a sigh of relief. "Good to hear that. You're my lucky star and you bring lots of money to my business. Gotta take good care of you!"

The corner of my mouth lifted. Yeah, his business boomed thanks to me. On the surface, Solstice is just a regular tavern that serves good food and drinks. In reality, though, it is home to hitmen.

I'm just one of its many hired killers who get paid to eliminate people. We're called hitmen, not assassins, because we do it purely for the money and there's no politics involved in our motivations. We simply kill indiscriminately.

When I first woke up as Kallen, I was mortified.

But that feeling didn't last long. I had a lot of pent up emotions from the previous roles I lived. Guilt, resentment, and sorrow. This job helped me cope.

It turned me into the kind of monster I detested.

Still, I didn't choose this life. The novel chose me.

"Anyway, watch out for your neck." Ashen warned me in a serious tone. "Many trash nobles are wary of you, thinking you might come after their head."

I shrugged. "With the right price, I will."

"Well, you gotta work to eat, alright." Ashen burst into laughter. "I'm simply telling you to be careful. Not everyone appreciates vigilantes, you know."

My brows furrowed. "Don't call me that."

"Aren't you one?" The tavern owner insisted with a sly grin. "You only go after the worst of the lot. Rapists, domestic abusers, and serial killers."

"At the end of the day, murder is murder." I shook my head while stirring my drink. "I'm no different from those scums I kill. Don't be mistaken, Ashen."

He smiled a little. "You're too hard on yourself."

While the ginger was busy rambling across me, we both noticed an unusual customer enter the tavern. It was a woman dressed lightly, but the way she carried herself screamed elegance.

Her black hair was fixed into a neat low bun and she wore huge veil, which concealed her whole face. A tall woman with a slender figure as well.

One look at her and you'd know she's a noble.

"Welcome to Solstice, madam!" Ashen beamed.

"Yes." She purposely made her voice deeper and more raspy. "I am here for the special service."

Ashen and I exchanged meaningful glances. The tavern owner winked at me and excused himself to assist the woman. Look at him overjoyed that a client's here to pay for some random dude's death.

His eyes twinkled. "This way, madam!"

I watched the ginger as he ushered the guest to a private room. Why does that woman look familiar, though? I feel like I've seen her before but I can't remember when and where exactly.

I couldn't see her face clearly because of the veil, but her figure and voice were reminiscent of someone I met in the past. Who could it be?

I was curious, but I decided to shrug it off. Nothing good comes from dealing with nobility, anyway.

Since I had no client for today, I stayed at Solstice to kill some time. As a hitman, I had no permanent home, because my job requires me to go to various places. I just pay for lodging wherever I end up to.

"I can't believe I'm homeless." I blurted out while lazily slumped on my seat. "I'm not even poor."

I can afford to purchase a room, but I'd be too anxious to stay in one place all the time. Not to mention a single woman living alone with no definite job would be way suspicious to others.

"I wish the novel would just give me a rich person's role for a change." I begrudgingly remarked. "I also wanna live a lavish life."

That aside, it was only after half an hour when the client and Ashen came out of the private room. As the woman left without looking back, the tavern owner sat across me, seemingly in deep thought.

"What's up?" I inquired with mild interest, since it's not like this guy to shut up even for a moment.

He sighed. "She made a very unusual request."

I tilted my head, urging him to elaborate further.

"The client told me that she wants to put a hit on whoever gets hired among us to kill her." Ashen explained agitatedly. "Someone wants her dead."

My brows lifted in amusement. Indeed, that's an unusual request. If someone's trying to kill her, she must be trying to outsmart that person by hiring a hitman to protect herself from the murderer who would be employed to kill her.

It's an impressive move, but it's not gonna work.

Because even scums like us have our own rules.

"So," I crossed my arms. "What did you say?"

"Well, I had to explain it, that there is an unspoken rule among hitmen and they're not allowed to kill each other to keep the business fair and running."

"And?" I asked impatiently. "How did she react?"

"She seemed upset then asked if she could hire someone to protect her instead." Ashen blew a long sigh for the nth time. "Of course, I said no. Our job isn't to protect people. We kill them."

It was my first time seeing the tavern owner so confused and penitent. He looked like someone who was regretting his previous life so much.

I frowned. "Why do you look like shit, then?"

Ashen remained silent. He intertwined his fingers and rested his chin on the back of his hands. More than that, I could feel his knees shaking under the table. What the hell is making him so nervous?

"I did the right thing." He said like he was trying to convince himself. "Shit. Did I do the right thing?"

"Make up your damn mind!" I fumed.

In an instant, Ashen acted like the coward that he is and complained in a petulant manner, throwing himself on the floor and flailing his arms around.

"What should I do, Kallen?!" He bawled out like a baby then swung on my body like some monkey.

I kicked him off me. "Be quiet, you moron!"

Jesus, you'd never believe that this guy is the head of an underground organization. He's so immature! I wanna smack the shit out of him!

After a few minutes of screaming and pulling out his hair, Ashen finally calmed down. It felt like I aged ten years older and I was so exhausted. This is why I hate kids and adults who act like kids!

"I'm doomed." He mumbled, dejected.

"Why?" I asked with my rugged appearance.

"After being in this business for years, I've come to know the face of every noble in Muehler." Ashen let out a heavy sigh. "That lady is not from here."

My eyes remained dead from exhaustion. "And?"

"Based on her outfit, she doesn't seem like from the east, either." The tavern owner covered his face, depressed. "The northerners never leave their land, and those who live in the south are warriors, even women. But I don't think she is."

A vein popped on my forehead. "So, what's your point? Are you trying to give me a history lesson?"

"It means that she's from the capital." It looked as if his soul left his body. "And I've seen the face of every noble in the capital, except for one woman, because she doesn't show her face in public at all."

I kept mum. I don't know who the hell he's talking about and I have no energy to think of it anymore.

"Who's the most powerful woman in the empire?" Ashen queried out of nowhere.

"Me?" I answered half-heartedly.

He gave me an unimpressed look.

"It's Louisiana Odette Von Solaris, the empire's black rose, the one and only imperial princess."

My eyes widened. As soon as I heard that name, a passage from the novel came into my mind like a flash of thunder. It's finally here. My first clue about this arc! I've been awaiting it for months!

I sprung out of my seat. "Fuck."

Ashen gawked at me like an idiot, then began sobbing. "Fuck, right? It was Princess Odette! Someone is trying to kill the imperial princess, and I just shooed her away like some stray dog!"

"Shut up!" I smacked him on the head and pulled Ashen by his collar. "Listen, you dumb shit. We're about to have an extremely important guest soon."

He sniffed. "More important than the princess?"

"Way more important." I said with conviction.

The third arc will be starting soon, or perhaps it's safe to say that it already has. Princess Odette came to Solstice as narrated in the original plot, but she made a completely different request.

If she's acting out of character, then it only means one thing: her role has changed. And, based on my experiences so far, changing roles is equivalent to swapping roles, which means that somebody else will come here to hire Kallen, the executioner.

Now, as I have said before, there is no such thing as a coincidence in this world. If Princess Odette is here in Muehler and someone wants her dead, then she must've turned into that one character who will elope with her lover. At least, I think so.

Now, who's the original character with that role?

"It seems that we'll be reuniting soon," I muttered with a devilish grin. "Your Highness, Prince Dion."

Unexpectedly, I bear no grudge for him anymore.

After all, Prince Dion was simply a puppet of the novel like me. He's bound to act a certain way, and he only did what the male lead was written to do.

Ruth Alessia di Camellia is a different story.

She also came from another world and a transmigrator like me. But even with her awareness as a character, she betrayed me.

Technically, it may have already been years for her, but all those days of hell that she and the devil put me through feels like yesterday to me.

Not once have I forgotten my rage.

Every night, I say the names of my friends who died due to their schemes. I remind myself so I won't forget. Leila, Princess Himari, Rumi...

"Haniel." I whispered sentimentally to myself.

I won't be able to forget even if I wanted to.

As much as I want to kill them now, I can't leave Muehler yet. I have to fulfill my role faithfully.

"Once I'm done with my role," I whispered with a sinister smile. "Both of your heads will be mine."

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