CH 19

Livia cautiously pushed open the creaking door.

True to its name, Rune Antique Shop was filled with all sorts of old and mysterious items.

“Excuse me…”

“Welcome.”

An employee smiled at me as Livia stepped inside.

She looked at the employee.

He was a young man with green hair, neatly dressed in a suit.

‘A suit to work at an antique shop?’

It didn’t seem like a good combination, but the man carried off the incongruity with style.

“Is there anything you are looking for?” he asked.

Livia glanced around.

An old music box, a pen that had run out of ink, a diary with no clear indicator of who it belonged to….

She didn’t see anything worth buying. But she didn’t really come here to buy anything.

When Livia finished looking, she turned to the employee and said, “I’m here to steal the moon.”

“………!”

The stranger’s eyes widened at her words.

The employee stared at her for a moment, then walked past her and locked the door to the store.

Livia watched him do this in silence. 

Then he spun around and smiled brightly, looking at her more seriously than before. 

“I see we have a special guest.”

“Would you mind showing me around?” Livia responded coolly. 

“You seem like a first time-visitor, but you are knowledgeable. Did someone introduce you to us?” 

” ……… Should I be answering?”

“Of course not. We know the value of ‘information’ better than anyone, and we don’t mess around.”

With that, he pulled back the thick curtain on the wall behind his desk.

An archway appeared.

“Come in. The Master is just inside.”

“…..Lucky me,” Livia replied quietly, following the employee inside.

The hallway was quite long.

She walked behind the employee, trying to remember where she was.

Though it was wearing the mantle of the Rune Antique Shop, this place was actually the number one information guild in the empire.

A password was required to enter the real guild.

There were different levels of passwords, and “I’m here to steal the moon” is the highest level password that allowed the user to meet the guild master immediately.

As such, very few people knew it. It was understandable that the clerk had been surprised when Livia gave it to him.

The reason she knew the identity of this place and the password was simple.

Because it was in the book.

To be precise, the crown prince, the male lead, had often used this place to find out information about the temple.

In other words, you had to be at the level of a crown prince to meet the master.

Livia looked at the back of the employee’s head.

He was pretending to be nonchalant, but he was probably very curious about her identity by now.

‘I can’t tell him,’ Livia thought definitively. 

She was far too ordinary to be compared to a crown prince, so she was sure it would arouse some suspicion.

Fortunately, this was not as rowdy a place as the other guilds. They only dealt with information.

A single piece of information was more valuable than a million gold, and this was the Rune Information Guild.

In such a place, no one would dare to harm someone when they didn’t know how much information that person had. 

“Here it is.”

How many hallways had they crossed?

He stopped in front of a door lined with crimson velvet.

“The Master is inside here.”

Gulp.

Livia swallowed hard, feeling nervous.

This was the most powerful guild in the Empire, no matter how non-violent.

Tension naturally followed.

“Please open it.”

She said calmly, not letting her nerves show.

The employee, who looked at her with a quizzical gaze, opened the door.

“Well, I hope you enjoy your stay.”

As the door closed softly, Livia looked up.

The room was small and unassuming, unbecoming of a guild master. It was stacked with books and maps, and the wine-colored carpet on the floor showed signs of age.

“It’s been a while since I’ve had a visitor.”

As Livia admired the room, she turned, startled by the voice.

A man was sitting behind a wide desk, his face expressionless.

The room was dark, and he wore a half-mask, making it hard to make out his features.

“…You are the Guild Master?”

“Yes, I’m Lemon, the guild master here. Do you like lemons?”

Do you like lemons? That was a strange question.

Livia shook her head.

“I don’t like them because they’re sour.”

“Oh, well, that’s part of the charm. Why don’t you sit there?”

He pointed to the couch in front of his desk. Livia obligingly sat down on the couch, and he served her a cup of tea.

The black tea smelled fragrant, but she didn’t touch the mug.

“Here you go,” he said, “We use only the finest tea leaves.”

“…Unfortunately, I don’t have time. I want to get straight to the point.”

“I see you are busy; perhaps you have an important appointment.”

Livia glanced at him over her hood without replying to his dry tone. He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and continued.

“Now, tell me, what brings you to me in person?”

“I want to sell information.”

“Hmm?”

The man’s eyes gleamed with interest.

Livia slid the scribbled paper from her arms in his direction.

He opened it, looking at it like it was nothing. Then his eyes widened.

“This is…..”

“It’s information on the family that smuggled the poisonous herb, Akavan.”

The man’s eyes widened at the word Akavan. And then his smile deepened.

“Apparently, my guest is aware of recent events in the imperial court.”

Livia lowered her gaze at that.

‘Of course I am aware.’

Livia knew the events that would happen around this time.

The poisoning attempt of the emperor. Someone tried to poison the emperor with a colorless, odorless poison in his food.

The emperor barely escaped with his life after dipping his feet into the netherworld.

Akavan cannot be identified by silver, and continental law forbids its cultivation. Cultivation or smuggling was a first-degree crime, which could lead to execution.

Therefore, a secret investigation was conducted investigating those suspected of cultivating or smuggling Akavan.

‘How could I possibly know such top-secret information that no one but the Emperor’s closest confidants would know about?’

That’s why Livia arrived today wearing a hood. It would do no good for her face to be seen.

If the Rune Information Guild had been a violent guild, she wouldn’t have even set foot in it.

So, this was how she would use the information she obtained from the original.

‘I’ll have to make good use of the information from it.’

It was the only weapon she had right now.

Livia raised her head again and looked at the man, Lemon.

She couldn’t see his face well because he was wearing a mask, but thanks to the distance that was closer than the first meeting, she was able to identify his eyes.

His eyes were green, the color of greenery.

Then the man looked up.

“If this information is true, I’m sure there are conditions, and you’re not here to donate.”

Livia’s shoulders tensed at the words.

He was right – she wasn’t there to donate.

Livia took a quick breath and spoke in a clear tone.

“Please relay the information to Eden Aquilium. In the name of the Rune Information Guild.”

“What? Hahaha!”

Livia stared in silence at the man, who reached inside his mask to wipe away a tear when he laughed too hard.

The man’s laughter didn’t last long.

Rearranging his crooked mask, the man fixed his gaze on me, tilted his head slightly, and spoke.

“Who are you?”

“……..”

“Who the hell are you that you even know that Eden Aquilium is leading the investigation? That’s information that only the Emperor, Crown Prince, Saint and High Priest would know.”

“………”

“Hmm, let’s see. It can’t be the Crown Prince, it can’t be the Emperor, and it can’t be the High Priest.”

The man’s dark green eyes flashed in a strange light.

He smiled deeply and asked, “Are you a saint by any chance?”

It wasn’t a taunt or anything like that. It was a half-hearted, half-sincere question.

Which just went to show how ridiculous it was for Livia to know this information.

‘If I were to reveal my identity, I could be accused of being a spy.’

Unless they were acting as a spy for another country, it should be impossible for a person to know this much information.

But this was an Information Guild.

Even if Livia was a spy, as long as she had information, she was welcome here.

“If you don’t take me up on my offer, I’ll leave now.”

Livia didn’t intend to play games with him anymore.

‘It’s almost time for class!’ She thought impatiently. 

For the first time in his life, Vincent opened his heart and told her he was waiting for her, so she couldn’t be late.

And indeed, as she rose to her feet, the man wavered for the first time.

“I don’t understand – apparently you have a reason for this information to enter the temple, but isn’t that a bit too carefree? What if we don’t accept this information?”

At those words, Livia looked back at the man. She chuckled, and the man frowned.

“Because that can’t be true,” she said calmly.

“………”

Livia lifted her chin in a way that made her look somewhat arrogant.

It was time to get the upper hand.

“Isn’t it the Rune Information Guild that stands to benefit from this information if it leaks to the temple side?

“……Hah.”

The man smirked as though he was amused, and then murmured, “Are you the emperor by any chance?”

“Don’t play around,” Livia retorted. 

“Do you think I’m kidding?”

The man’s eyes darkened.

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