In the dim light of the family head's office,
Cecilia sat quietly, her fingers resting lightly on the armrest of her wheelchair as her mind churned.
'Kwon. You finally showed your hand.' A faint, bitter smile touched her lips before vanishing behind her usual mask of ice. 'You never noticed the guards increasing, did you?'
The truth was, she had been preparing for this moment for a long time.
The encounter with Kwon had shaken something loose in her, and now, with certainty, it was finally taking shape.
For a long time, she had doubted her own suspicions.
Maybe it was grief.
Maybe it was paranoia.
Maybe it was simply desperation.
But from the day the tragedies began, one thing had stood out. And once she noticed it, she could never unsee it.
It began with a pattern—small at first, easily dismissed as a coincidence. But coincidences do not repeat so perfectly.
Unlike Baines, who clung to every scrap of family warmth with desperate faith, Cecilia had learned long ago to trust no one. The first tragedy had taught her that lesson, and the ones that followed only sharpened it.
That was why she noticed Kwon.
He had always been the loyal retainer, the kind advisor who stayed when everyone else fled. He offered comfort, acted as family, and stood beside them through every loss. He was the steady figure who held their collapsing world together.
However,
He was never there during the losses.
When their brothers vanished in the night, Kwon arrived the next morning, shocked and sympathetic. When their father was dragged away, Kwon had been "away on urgent business." When their mother collapsed into a coma, when Cecilia herself was crippled, he appeared only after the damage was done, full of apologies and excuses.
Kwon made it a habit of never being present during the misfortunes.
At first, she told herself it was a chance.
But the pattern held too perfectly in other situations.
Then came the attempts to rebuild the family business. Every time she pushed forward, disaster struck. Whether it was bandit raids, sudden brawls breaking out, or even rivals moving against them with unnatural precision. And every time a plan was made, Kwon had taken leave a day or two before the trouble began several weeks later.
That was when suspicion took root.
So she tested it.
Quietly. Secretly.
She brought in guards from outside the manor, men who had no history with the Baek household and no reason to trust or fear Kwon. She rotated patrols without announcement. She changed gate orders without warning. She altered schedules to see who reacted.
And every time something unusual happened…
Kwon was gone. Not late. Not delayed. Just gone.
Then came the final push.
She placed a discreet watcher on him —skilled, disciplined, and cautious.
Weeks later, news returned.
He was dead.
Killed before he could send the full report.
Her hands trembled when she learned it.
No evidence. No culprit.
No chance to recover the truth he'd died trying to bring back.
But the timing spoke for itself.
Her doubt hardened into certainty.
And so, she waited.
Quietly.
Patiently.
Just as Kwon watched them, she watched him. She hired loyal guards in secret, paying them from hidden funds, keeping them out of sight until needed. Whenever Kwon left the manor, her protection doubled.
Tonight, fate had handed her the opening to strike first.
Who was he?
Was their misfortune really fate's doing or a scheme?
Why had fate singled them out?
'I will make you spill out everything you know.' She thought coldly. 'We just have to wait for the outcome.'
Across the room, Baines stood frozen, his chest rising and falling in shallow bursts as Cecilia's earlier command silently echoed in his ears.
Catch Uncle Kwon before he escapes.
His uncle.
The words felt unreal.
How could she suddenly turn on the man who had been there their entire life—who had held them both as newborns, who had taught him breathing techniques to ease his grief, who had stayed when the world abandoned them?
Then Cecilia's warning from hours ago resurfaced.
Don't trust anyone. Especially not anyone in this house.
He lifted his gaze to his sister, heart pounding.
'Was she talking about Uncle Kwon? Was… he the spy?' his thoughts whispered. "But how…?"
"No. It can't be."
He shook his head fiercely, memories flooding him—Kwon's gentle smile, his steady hands that always reassured him, and his quiet presence through their darkest days.
He had never questioned Kwon. Had never even considered the possibility.
'He can't be a traitor.'
But doubt gnawed deeper.
'Then how does she know?'
"S-Sister, why are you doing this?" He asked.
Cecilia looked up to meet his gaze.
His naivety gnawed at her; however, she couldn't blame him.
Then she explained it briefly, every suspicion, every pattern…and her conclusions.
Baines' posture got stiffer the more he heard.
The world around him began to tilt—the walls stretching and narrowing, air thinning until every breath dragged painfully through his lungs, while the distant clash of steel and shouts filtered through the walls like ominous background voices.
"…no. It can't be." Baines muttered.
A tense silence followed.
Then Cecilia murmured, "It's over," her eyes fixed on the door.
Just as she said, a guard stumbled in.
He collapsed immediately.
His black uniform hung in tatters, blood seeping from multiple wounds. One hand clutched his side where a deep slash had torn through to the organs beneath.
He gasped wetly, blood bubbling at his lips.
Cecilia's composure cracked for the first time—eyes widening, breath catching.
"What happened?" she demanded.
The guard tried to speak. Only blood spilled out.
The two remaining guards rushed to support him.
With his last strength, he forced out a single word.
"…e-escaped."
Then his body went limp.
Silence crushed the room.
Panic rose like bile. Unease coiled tight. Fear followed, cold and final.
The guards she hired were elite. These guards were elite — yet all that remained was a single, dying survivor."
'This…unexpected.' Cecilia's mind churned. Though her expression did not change, her hands tightened, and her knuckles whitened against the armrest.
She hadn't accounted for the fact that Kwon could overpower her secret elite guards.
'Luckily, we still have time to move.'
In the tense atmosphere, she exhaled slowly, steadying herself.
"What is happening?" Baines asked with a trembling voice.
"We can't stay here anymore." She replied as her gaze snapped to Baines—sharp, calculating, the look of a player moving a piece across the board.
Baines flinched, stepping back.
"W-What?"
The remaining guards turned toward him as well.
His heart thundered. Panic surged to a breaking point.
'I'm really sorry, but this is the only way.'
Then Cecilia's voice cut through, calm and merciless.
"…We're moving to Plan B."
Baines' heart lurched.
Plan?
What plan?
One of the guards moved while he thought.
His vision blurred before he could ask.
"Huh?" His thoughts unraveled.
The room tilted and swayed, and his knees buckled.
The crimson haze flickered at the edge of his vision—then darkness swept in.
And he collapsed.