GAMBIT - Vinsmoke Ichiji x Reader

22 - Underbrush

The moon wasn’t full. That was the first stroke of luck.

Too much light, and I’d be spotted before I even cleared the outer garden wall. Too little, and I’d break my ankle in the underbrush and they'd find me half-eaten by peckish critters by morning. But tonight? Just enough silver to see the path, just enough shadow to vanish in it.

Nyasha, who had been lingering around the castle since Ichiji had brought her from Germa, lifted her head from the garden where she was curled up like a warm boulder. For a moment, I swore she was going to yowl and blow my cover, but no. She gave a lazy blink, then flopped her head back down, unimpressed.

Good girl.

My boots were packed with mud by the time I reached the treeline. Beyond that, the neat paths of the castle grounds gave way to the uneven, wild underbrush of Fell Wilds. Trees here grew so close they almost whispered to each other, roots twisted like warning fingers.

The villagers had marked the land in subtle ways, a bent branch here, a strip of white bark there. Signals. Warnings. Shortcuts. I followed the signs to the western bluff, where the engineers had begun Judge’s quiet little apocalypse.

They weren’t there now, of course. Only the foundations of their greed remained. Wooden scaffolds, half-built pulley systems, crates of metal tools tucked beneath tarps like they were sleeping.

I crouched beside a crate and unrolled the cloth bundle I’d hidden under my cloak, rusted nails, an old mallet, a little jar of pig grease from the castle kitchen. All innocent items on their own.

But sabotage was always in the arrangement.

First, the pulley system. I popped a few key pins and replaced them with slightly bent ones that looked identical but wouldn’t last under pressure. Next, the scaffolding. Pig grease between support beams, enough to weaken them when the morning sun warmed the wood. They’d collapse with just the right amount of weight.

I wasn’t trying to kill anyone.

Just delay. Frighten. Make them think the mountain itself was cursed, or that the site was too unstable for continued work. Anything to slow Judge down.

I wiped my hands on the inside of my cloak and took a step back to survey the damage. Small, quiet, perfect.

That was when I heard it.

A twig snapping.

Not loud, but deliberate. Controlled.

I froze.

One breath. Two.

Then that damn voice.

“You missed a crate.”

My heart nearly exploded out of my chest.

I spun around, already reaching for the smallest hammer like I’d actually stand a chance in hell, only to find Ichiji leaning against a tree a few paces away, arms crossed, one boot resting on a root like he’d been waiting.

“You’re following me?” I hissed. “Are you insane?” Ichiji head tilted ever so slightly to the side.
“No,” He said, voice dry. “but you might be. Grease? Really?”

“Subtlety is a virtue.” I mumbled, a hand still on my chest to try and calm my poor little heart. It wasn't just hammering from the sudden scare, but because of the stupid, shitty bond. My body always tried to betray me.

“I noticed.” He muttered, face turning to the now-glimmering beams behind me. “You’re great at causing trouble.”

“I’m saving people!” I snapped. “Or trying to. Something your family has never understood.”