When Virel woke up, she did not move.
Professional assassins never moved immediately.
They observed first.
Her senses returned in layers.
Stone floor.
Sunlight warmth.
Magic suppression hum.
The faint smell of… baked bread?
She opened one ruby eye.
Then the other.
The world sharpened into focus.
She was tied to a chair.
A very solid chair.
Not decorative.
Functional.
Enchanted ropes wrapped around her arms and waist with insulting efficiency. A glowing circle beneath her feet pulsed gently — containment rune.
Her long blue hair cascaded forward like a waterfall of silk.
She lifted her chin.
Across from her sat the target.
Reno.
Alive.
Holding a pastry.
He was chewing slowly while reading a document upside-down.
"…You're awake," he said.
Virel stared.
"…You are still alive."
He nodded.
"So far. Early reviews are mixed."
Silence.
A guard near the wall turned his face away. His shoulders shook once.
Virel's pride hardened.
"I will not answer questions."
Reno lowered the pastry.
"…Okay. That was fast. We didn't even start."
She glared.
"You are male."
"…Correct."
"You have no authority."
"…Also correct. I barely have confidence."
"Then release me. So I may kill you properly."
He considered that.
Then slowly reached beside his chair.
Virel's body tensed.
Hidden weapon.
Poison dart.
Magic seal.
He pulled out…
A very old flip-flop.
Time froze.
Even dust stopped moving.
It was blue.
Cracked near the heel.
The strap looked like it had survived three economic crises.
Virel blinked.
"…Explain."
Reno stood up.
"I don't know how interrogations work in this kingdom."
He walked toward her cautiously.
"But where I come from… this is considered advanced negotiation."
One maid audibly inhaled.
Another whispered:
"Is that… the legendary punishment artifact…"
The guard whispered back:
"My mother had one…"
Virel's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"You dare mock me."
"Not mock," Reno said nervously. "Culturally condition."
He raised the flip-flop.
She smiled coldly.
"You will regret—"
FWAP.
The sound echoed like divine judgment.
Not painful.
But spiritually catastrophic.
Virel froze.
Her brain attempted to classify what had just occurred.
Sword strike? No.
Martial technique? No.
Psychological warfare?
…Possibly.
Reno stepped back quickly.
"Okay good. Test hit successful."
The guards turned around completely now.
One was silently crying.
Virel's chair creaked as she strained against the ropes.
"You struck… my face… with footwear. How dare you humiliate me. "
He nodded.
"Respectfully."
Her ruby eyes began glowing.
"You have signed your death warrant."
"Yeah that happens a lot."
He raised the flip-flop again.
She went completely still.
The maids grabbed each other's sleeves.
Aleana, by the window, had stopped pretending not to enjoy this.
Reno hesitated.
"…You're not going to dodge right."
"I am tied."
"Good point."
He leaned closer.
"Look. I need cooperation."
She remained silent.
He gently tapped her forehead with the flip-flop.
Not a slap.
Just… tap tap.
The entire room spiritually collapsed.
One guard slid down the wall.
"This is beyond military doctrine…"
Virel's voice trembled with murderous dignity.
"…Untie me."
"Promise not to stab."
"No."
"Okay then."
He slapped again. again and again.
FWAP. FWAP. FWAP. FWAP
But this time slightly off-angle.
The flip-flop spun.
Hit her shoulder.
Bounced back into Reno's own face.
PLAK.
He staggered.
Everyone froze.
He held his cheek.
"…Okay. Friendly fire."
Virel stared.
Then, very slowly…
Very faintly…
Her lips twitched.
Reno saw it.
[Lucky Bastard triggered]
Confidence +3.
He straightened dramatically.
"See? We're bonding."
"Kghh.. Just kill me already.. "
"Nah ah no way i would do that after you sneaking into my room in the middle of the night try to assasinate me. Now listen."
He crouched in front of her.
"You failed your mission."
Silence.
"Your guild will punish you."
Still silence.
"You probably have nowhere safer than here."
Her eyes flickered once.
He continued softer.
"I'm not asking you to kneel."
He lifted the flip-flop.
"I'm asking you to not make me use this again."
The threat was ridiculous.
Which somehow made it powerful.
Because she could not predict him.
Assassins thrived on predictability.
This man was… statistical nonsense.
"…If I serve," she said slowly, "I obey no humiliation."
Reno thought.
"…Can I still threaten?"
"…Verbally."
She says that as if she's enjoying this interogation, her eyes as if it filled with hearts and her body tremble with joy.
"Deal. wait what?.."
" Wait that does mean, she secretly a masochist..? " says Reno in his heart.
Aleana stepped forward.
"If she enters your household, her contracts dissolve."
Reno blinked.
"So HR really works."
The ropes loosened.
Virel stood.
Tall.
Elegant.
Dangerous.
She looked at him.
Then at the flip-flop.
"…Destroy that verocious thing !.. i didnt like it"
But her body says otherwise, she seems like it.
He hugged it protectively.
"This is my only crowd control."
For the first time in years…
The elite assassin did not know whether to kill… or to laugh.
Outside the chamber, rumors were already spreading.
The male strategist who subdued a killer using unknown anti-assassin technique.
The royal asset whose weapons defied logic.
[ Skill Unlocked: Asia Style Interogation ]
[ Achievement Unlcoked: The Echoes of Childhood ]