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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: A Sudden Attack
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“If you’ve been here all this time, Lady, then you must have heard what I said.”
He stepped a couple of paces away from Vittori, walking toward me. I saw Vittori startle, reaching out, but another one of his companions pulled her arm back.
“We don’t leave witnesses. Which means…”
I slowly backed away, but was quickly stopped by the wall. The moment I halted, a cruel smile spread across Ivan’s lips.
“Your life ends here, Lady. This is the price for meddling in adult affairs.”
“Does Chairman Igard approve of this?”
He flinched, stopping when I retorted.
“…What did you say?”
“You want to get rid of Callista, don’t you?”
I spoke clearly, making sure everyone could hear.
“You need to use me as a shield first, don’t you? If I’m gone right now, Callista becomes Father’s only daughter.”
The Elder Council Chairman and his followers didn’t want a capable and legitimate Duke. The heir they most wanted to avoid was Callista, and the alternative they considered was the young second daughter, born of a maid: me.
Later, they’d side with my maternal uncle who managed another family, but that was a story Ivan Naitra didn’t need to know.
“…You know a great many dangerous things, Lady.”
Ivan muttered, running his hand along the blade of his sword. His calm facade seemed to hide a flurry of calculations.
“Hey, wait a minute, won’t we be in trouble if we kill her?”
“The cleanup would be tricky.”
“What about taking her?”
Sure enough, the men behind Ivan murmured, each offering their own opinion.
The Naitra, who were said to be as swift as the wind and as silent as shadows, seemed to lack a bit of decisiveness. Or so it appeared, given their inability to reach a conclusion.
“Stop!”
After murmuring for a while, they fell silent at Ivan’s furious voice. Ivan’s face was contorted, and his whole body trembled.
“There’s no time to waste. Since that child knows too much, there’s nothing else to consider.”
Before I could evade him, Ivan’s hand gripped the nape of my neck.
“Lady Harper!”
“Grab that woman too! Kill them both right now, then we leave.”
Ivan’s harsh voice echoed in my ears. I caught a glimpse of one of the Naitra assassins pointing a sword at Vittori’s throat, and at the same time, Ivan Naitra raised his dagger above his head.
“Farewell, insolent brat.”
*Whoosh—*
Just as the silver blade glinted, slicing through the air.
*Click—*
With the sound of the door opening, three thin, thread-like blue flashes of light shot in from the hallway, extending towards Ivan.
It was an Aura of a familiar shape. One that could be created even without a sword.
*Thwip— Thud!*
“Ugh!”
Before anyone could react, the light pierced through both of Ivan’s legs and his right shoulder. As if stabbed by long needles, he screamed, dropping his dagger.
“Wh-who…”
As if ignoring his words, a flash of light, identical in shape, now pierced the wrist of the assassin who had drawn a sword on Vittori. He, too, dropped his weapon and collapsed to the floor.
“Argh!”
Two figures who had been standing outside the door walked into the room. The door, which had been open for a moment, slid shut with a soft sound and vanished again.
“Lady Harper, are you alright?”
One of them, Theon, called out to me urgently, but my gaze was fixed on the other person walking in behind him.
*Thump, thump.*
A blue dress, symbolizing the Luperne. Lustrous silver hair, gracefully unbound, and beneath it, blue eyes like a winter sea.
It was Callista.
Her eyes held not a trace of the warmth I’d seen just moments ago, when we’d shared cake.
“Naitra trash.”
Finally stopping, she spread her palm, manifesting a blue Aura, and stared at Ivan.
Callista’s gaze glowed eerily in the dim light. A heavy killing intent filled Lailly’s Room, accompanied by her low, chilling voice.
“If you don’t get away from the child, next time it’ll be your forehead that gets pierced.”
“H-H-Hee!”
Ivan, seemingly forgetting his pain for a moment, recoiled with a jump. Callista turned her body towards Vittori and the other assassins.
“The same goes for you. All of you, get away from Vittori.”
The assassins around Vittori exchanged bewildered glances but didn’t move obediently. Callista didn’t wait any longer and extended her palm towards them. A faint blue light shimmered above it.
*Thwip— Thunk.*
A flash of light, just like before, shot out. This time, however, it was blocked by something in the center of the room and stopped.
As Callista frowned, Ivan let out a low chuckle.
“Hmph… It seems you think we’re easy targets, Lady.”
By now, one of his companions had helped Ivan to his feet and pulled him to the other side of the room.
Now, in the empty room, I, Theon, and Callista were gathered on one side, while Vittori and the Naitra assassins were grouped on the other.
Between them, a transparent, membrane-like barrier glowed faintly. It was where Callista’s Aura had just been stopped.
“None of the seven people here are incapable of wielding barriers or Aura. You won’t be able to face all of us with thin Aura created without a sword.”
Ivan raised his uninjured hand and gestured to his companions. The men, who had been divided in their opinions just moments ago, now scattered to both sides, forming a formation as if they were one body.
“Go ahead and try to face us without a weapon. We wouldn’t mind killing both direct heirs of Luperne.”
He and his companions grinned simultaneously, each drawing a hidden dagger and pointing it at Callista. She frowned once more.
*Click.*
As tension filled the room, Callista took a step forward instead of retreating.
“Then.”
Callista said.
“Go ahead and try.”
Her cold voice and the murderous glare she directed at the assassins held no waver. Ivan bared his teeth as he replied.
“Such skill and spirit, not shameful for your family’s name, but this is as far as you go.”
With his sneer, Aura coated the blades of eight swords. Callista remained still in the center of the room, simply gazing at them.
Standing close to Theon, I felt goosebumps prickle all over my body.
“I don’t know how you found this secret room so quickly, but it’s actually better this way. No one else can enter here now, so we can slowly…”
*CRASHHHHHHH!*
Before Ivan could finish speaking, an ear-splitting roar echoed from one side of the wall.
“Wh-what was that?”
His eyes, and those of the assassins, widened as they turned their heads towards the sound. Mine did too.
*CRAAAACK—*
One wall of Lailly’s Room—a room whose entrance was difficult to find even with magic, tucked away in a corner of the hallway—was cracking apart as if an earthquake had struck.
‘Someone… broke through the wall…?’
*Rumble— Thud—*
Chunks of plaster piled high on the floor poured down, and amidst the debris and dust, a large figure became visible.
Blood-red hair and black eyes, a face very similar to Vittori’s, yet bearing a cruel and savage killing intent.
“You worm-like bastards…”
Aramis gritted his teeth, glaring at the Naitra assassins.
As if he had just swung it, crimson Aura, like surging flames, emanated from the longsword held horizontally along his outstretched arm.
“Who dares to point a sword at her?”
He spoke with an expression that looked as if he was about to chew up and swallow every assassin in the room.
*Gulp.*
I could hear the sound of Ivan Naitra swallowing dryly. He couldn’t even manage a scream.
Aramis didn’t wait any longer and swung his longsword once more.
*Whoosh—*
*Fizzle—*
As Aramis horizontally slashed with his crimson sword, the barrier instantly split in half and vanished.
“Th-that monster…”
The assassins’ faces turned pale, and some instinctively recoiled, backing away. Aramis gave them no time to evade, raising his sword upwards this time.
*Whooooosh—*
“Ugh!”
“Argh!”
“Gah!”
As Aramis’s sword moved a few times, blood spurted everywhere. From his beast-like eyes, madness flowed, surpassing mere killing intent.
*Thud—*
“Aaaargh!”
His sword pierced the neck of the last assassin who tried to flee to the corner. Barely a minute or two had passed, yet Vittori was the only one left standing on two feet on the other side of the room.
“S-save me…”
Ivan Naitra pleaded, blood gushing from his entire body.
“Shut your damn mouth, you worm-like creature, still alive.”
Aramis’s eyes gleamed eerily. He pointed the longsword, with fresh blood running down its blade, at Ivan again.
“Leave one alive, Aramis. We need to interrogate him.”
Callista, who had remained silent until then, finally spoke. Aramis’s expression, which had been like an enraged lion’s, instantly turned docile.
“You’re an idiot.”
Callista spoke calmly, as if the corpses before her didn’t even exist.
“…Pardon?”
“Didn’t I tell you to use your sword a little more gently indoors? Blood splattered on the dress.”
“…I tried to keep it from splattering on My Lady’s clothes.”
“Not mine, Vittori’s. Aren’t you worried about your sister?”
Only then did Aramis glance over at Vittori. She stood alone among the fallen assassins, her flowing clothes soaked with a red, sticky liquid.
“Before it splattered or now, there’s not much difference…”
“What a heartless relative.”
Callista paused for a moment, then turned her head to look at me.
In the brief moment our eyes met, I had the illusion that the warmth that had vanished from her gaze had returned.
“You…”
Callista took a step closer to me, about to say something.
*Whizz—*
From a shadowed corner at the back of the room, which no one had paid attention to, something emitted a faint light towards us, catching the edge of my vision.
A transparent light; it felt similar to the Aura the Naitra assassins had created earlier. A cold sweat instantly trickled down my spine.
“Dodge!”
Without thinking, I pushed Callista, who was half a step away. At the same instant, a whip-like beam of light shot from the back of the room towards where we stood.
*Thwack—*
“Gah!”
I thought I could dodge, but my short legs were too slow. My body felt like it had been heavily struck, floating backward before landing on the floor at the back of the room.
“Lady!”
Theon’s urgent voice reached me, and I saw Callista’s and Aramis’s startled faces. However, all three were too far away to reach.
“Ow…”
*Grab—*
Before I could fully regain my senses in my dazed state, a thick hand roughly yanked the nape of my neck.
“Damn it… why did they have to grab such a useless hostage.”
