Chapter 26: Rescue in the Shadows

Lucy looked around the ruined room.

The wooden furniture had been completely reduced to ashes by the explosion, and the ceiling had collapsed, blurring the boundaries between the inside and the outside.

In just a few hours, the once splendid bedroom had turned into a desolate wreck.

Amidst the destruction, Rubia struggled to remain upright, staring at Lucy with wide, disbelieving eyes. Blood was dripping from her waist.

The explosion—Rubia was injured.

She could vaguely piece together that some kind of attack had taken place.

“Huh? Lady Lucy? No way, Lady Lucy is definitely…”

Her voice trembled as if she had seen a ghost.

Lucy wasted no time and handed Rubia the healing potion she had brought. Only then did Rubia register the pain, her body flinching as the wounds throbbed. Swallowing once, she quickly gulped down the potion.

A soft light radiated from her wounds, and soon, they were completely healed. Rubia gasped in astonishment, touching her now unscathed skin. It seemed that a ‘top-tier healing potion’ was a rarity, even here.

With the immediate danger of Rubia’s injury taken care of, Lucy turned her focus to the next issue: understanding what had happened and identifying the impostor—’Perry’—who had been impersonating her.

“What happened here? Where is Perry?”

She asked, but Rubia, still in shock, could only repeat, “Is it really you, Lady Lucy?”

With no time to waste, Lucy briefly explained the situation—the existence of Perry’s cloning ability and how he had been using it to pose as her.

Upon hearing this, Rubia covered her mouth with her hand. “Then… Perry was taken away?”

That one sentence was enough to summarize the situation.

Someone had infiltrated the palace, mistaken Perry for her, and kidnapped him.

“Who were they?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“Where did they go?”

“They escaped through the teleportation gate… I couldn’t see where.”

A bad situation—neither the identity of the kidnapper nor their destination was known.

However, there was a way to track them.

Before leaving the palace, Lucy had given Perry a communication ring. Through it, she could not only contact him but also determine his location.

‘In the game, this was called a windbreak item, wasn’t it?’

Setting aside such irrelevant thoughts, Lucy prepared to activate the ring. Just as she was about to do so, she heard heavy footsteps approaching from downstairs.

Arasia and the Knights.

What should she do? Should she explain the situation and cooperate?

No—there was too much to explain, and time was running out. Besides, even if she told Arasia everything, she doubted the princess would let her leave to rescue Perry.

‘Not now.’

Lucy sighed, then lightly tapped Rubia’s forehead with a finger. “I’m sorry.”

Rubia blinked in confusion before her eyelids drooped. Her body slumped forward, falling into a deep sleep.

“Princess Lucy…”

She murmured as she drifted into unconsciousness.

Leaving her behind, Lucy teleported out of the palace.

In a quiet alley outside the city, Lucy immediately used her ring to send a message to Perry.

A red light flickered from the ring before their minds connected.

The fact that it worked meant Perry was still conscious.

[Perry, can you hear me?]

[Lucy!?]

[Don’t show any reaction—just answer in your mind. Are you okay?]

[Yes, but my hands and feet are tied, and I can’t see anything… I’m in a sack.]

Her voice was shaky—frightened.

[Don’t worry, I’m coming to get you.]

[A-Are you sure?]

[Just don’t release your transformation. If they find out you’re not me, I don’t know what will happen.]

There was a brief pause, then Perry seemed slightly reassured.

Finally, Lucy ended the transmission and focused on identifying his location.

The ring’s tracking function activated, sending out a single red beam pointing northward.

“North… That’s where the northern forces are fighting Helatos. Could this be related?”

Pushing aside unnecessary speculation, Lucy flapped her cloak and soared into the sky.

She had to rescue Perry—because she felt guilty that her kidnapping was entirely Lucy’s fault.

After flying for hours—crossing plains, mountains, and frozen rivers—a biting cold wind greeted her. The harsh chill of a midwinter night.

Each breath she exhaled turned into white mist, swirling in the air.

The northern regions were bitterly cold. Wrapping herself tighter in her cloak, Lucy ensured her clothes were secure. Catching a cold now would be the least of her worries, but caution never hurt.

Soon, she reached a massive river cutting across the land like a border. The waters flowed northward, vast and seemingly endless.

Landing at the water’s edge, Lucy checked her ring.

The tracking pointed toward the ferry ahead. The kidnappers were traveling by boat.

From a high vantage point, she swiftly downed two bottles of magic recovery potion. Even as a level 100 player, prolonged flight drained her mana.

“That should be enough. What else…”

She had to be fully prepared—she didn’t know how many enemies she would face.

She set a teleportation point for escape.

She equipped a resurrection item, just in case.

She prepared an evasion item in case of traps.

By the end of it, she was armed with three rings, a necklace, earrings, a bracelet, and four invisible equipment slots.

One sickle—Death Scythe.

Looking at her gear, Lucy smiled bitterly.

‘I spent a fortune on these… nearly went bankrupt. But it’s worth it. If it works, that’s all that matters.’

With a pitch-black scythe larger than her own body, she soared toward the merchant ship ahead.

A wooden ship, seemingly a merchant vessel, drifted across the waterway.

Lucy used her Transparency skill and landed soundlessly on the deck.

There were two men aboard—a helmsman steering and a guard at the bow. Both wore black robes, identical to the mysterious figures she had seen in the underground passage before.

The kidnappers.

Neither of them noticed her presence.

Approaching the helmsman first, she whispered into his ear: “Drown.”

Without hesitation, he leapt overboard.

The guard soon followed, plunging into the river.

A few bubbles surfaced before the water grew still.

With the ship secured, Lucy descended below deck.

The ship’s interior was illuminated by scattered lights, revealing a large, empty cargo hold.

A single sack lay in the corner, faintly wriggling.

Lucy approached, undoing the ropes, and peeled it open.

Inside, Perry—still disguised as Lucy—was tied up, a gag in his mouth.

She pulled the gag off.

“Uuuugh… Lucy… I was so scared…”

Tears welled in Perry’s eyes as he sniffled.

Lucy wanted to reassure him, but something wasn’t right.

Her instincts screamed at her.

She turned her head slightly and smirked.

“Stop watching and come out, Mr. Kidnapper.”

A ripple distorted the air as a tall, thin man materialized, his pale face snake-like in the dim light.

He looked down at Lucy with a dry smirk. “How embarrassing. No one told me the princess had a twin.”

Lucy’s expression darkened.

“So, you’re the mastermind.”

Her grip on the scythe tightened.

She was furious.

After all, this implied that she’d have another sleepless night.