A master of infiltration. A genius swordsman. For the sake of his missions, he’d never showed his face to anyone but Safiro. This was Safiro’s way of controlling the priceless talent he had cultivated in Uriel.

“What? This isn’t my job.” It was several hours before midnight. Safiro handed Uriel a document listing the instructions for his mission, and Uriel frowned. He brushed his fingers roughly through his hair, and a rare, brilliant silver lock of it fluttered down to the floor.

There were two main tasks that Safiro would typically assign to him. The first was to occasionally infiltrate the enemy’s headquarters, to obtain valuable information for the Liefer family. The second important task was to secretly dispose of members of other assassination groups, i.e. Safiro’s competitors, within the kingdom.

Other than Safiro, the Liefers employed several other people who played similar roles, and the competition was fierce between them. However, only a year after Uriel completed his first mission, each of the other groups who could confront Safiro mysteriously vanished one by one.

Uriel had been only fifteen years old when he infiltrated the hideout of the most famous assassins in the empire, called the ‘Yu Ryeong Group,’ and set fire to dozens of their members. Thanks to him, Safiro was able to remain as the Liefer’s spymaster and leader of assassins.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when Safiro spoke. “The duchess asked for someone who could infiltrate the palace and complete her mission without being caught. You’re the best person for the job.”

“I already said I wouldn’t do it. Are all the other bastards you raised dead? Why can’t you get one of them to do it?”

Safiro raised an eyebrow. In fact, in recent months, several of his agents had lost their lives while attempting Petra’s missions. This was, perhaps, his last chance to regain her trust. Safiro’s anxiety had never been so high.

“Your missions are whatever I say they are. Let me remind you of that, in case you forgot,” Safiro growled.

Uriel had been abducted by Safiro when he was very young, and he knew exactly the pain that awaited him should he disobey his orders. That’s why he couldn’t defy him.

The first thing Safiro had done when he took Uriel was to brand him with a red tattoo of a blade on his back. It was a curse mark that made him unable to defy his master. Even though he was easily able to overpower Safiro, as long as he had that tattoo, Uriel had no choice but to obey him.

“Fine, then. I’ll be back.”

“If you want to live, you need to be successful on this mission.”

“If you want to live, you must hope for my success.” He didn’t forget to fling a sarcastic remark back at Safiro before he left.

Uriel moved quickly through the night. His face and body were obscured inside a black robe, so he was completely invisible. Yet despite the robes, his movements were amazingly graceful.

He glided along the rooftops. His speed was faster than the running speed of most people, yet neither his balance nor his breaths were any different than if he were walking. He slipped through the shadows of buildings to avoid moonlight, and his footsteps were so subtle that they would have been inaudible to any passersby. He was more like a shadow than a human.

The shadow leaped from building to building. In an instant, he soared over the palace wall and headed straight towards the Star Palace. Just like he’d been told, the guards weren’t at their posts. The palace was unguarded.

‘Top floor, third room from the right…’

It didn’t take him long to find the target location. It was the largest room in the palace. The wall was difficult to climb with bare hands, but he was still able to scale it quickly and quietly. He reached the room and hopped up onto the windowsill. It opened easily, just as he’d expected. Uriel held his breath, and swiftly entered the room.

There was a large bed on the side of the window, just as he’d been informed. Without wasting any time, he grabbed the sword at his waist and approached the target.