Chapter 12

Chapter 12

With his usual smile on his face, Reinhart carefully fastened the robe onto Valeta. If it wasn’t for the blood stain on his cheek, this would have made any woman’s heart flutter.

“We can’t have you getting dirty as you look around,” he said as he slowly swept his thumb across her cheek. “I blocked your sense of smell, so you won’t be able to smell the blood anymore,” he continued with a gentle smile on his face. His voice was sweet but, as usual, his eyes weren’t smiling. That made her feel even more anxious.

You don’t have to do all that! Just let me go back to my room! Valeta screamed in her head. Why the hell did he give me his robe? Is he trying to warm me up before he kills me?

Valeta suddenly thought of the scene from the novel, the grotesque image of the birthday cake made up of corpses and her own torn smile. She tried to shake the thought.

“Come, master.”

Reinhart wrapped his arm around her shoulders and tried to lead her into the room, but she refused to take a step forward. Instead, she doubled down and braced herself.

She heard a low chuckle come from Reinhart before he snapped his fingers. Immediately, Valeta’s feet started moving on their own.

“No, wait!”

“You tried to get rid of me.” He held the struggling Valeta in his arms as he whispered in her ear. Her legs moved toward the dining room on their own, but she was as stiff as a board where Reinhart had his arm around her shoulders. She couldn’t say a word as she continued to struggle. “And my poor little heart was so hurt.”

As if! she cried out in her head. Her mouth was so firmly shut that she couldn’t make a noise. She bit her lip, glaring down at her feet that were moving against her will.

“You tried to get rid of me, saying that I was useless.”

His voice seemed colder than before. All she’d said was that she had no use for a slave. However, while begging her father to kick him out, she realized that she might have said some other things in the heat of the moment.

Was he listening to me the entire time? Valeta’s face paled.

“So, I thought I’d prove to you my worth, master,” he said in a low voice. He leaned over, brushing a strand of Valeta’s hair behind her ear, then met her gaze. “Pay close attention...”

Reinhart’s eyes folded into the shape of half moons. His gaze, tinged with madness, lingered over the girl’s left wrist. He was looking at the repatriation bracelet.

“To the way I… take out the trash,” he finished.

Slender fingers tapped the bracelet once. Twice.

Crack.

The gold bracelet fractured into numerous pieces before crumbling, sending dust all over the floor. Astonished, Valeta lifted her head to look at Reinhart, but his attention was elsewhere. Still holding onto her shoulders, he opened the door to the dining room, revealing a sea of red. Although a few people were still alive, none were left with intact limbs. Groans echoed throughout the dining room.

Valeta grimaced as her gaze fell on someone sitting at the head of the long dining table, his body adorned with knives. She frowned.

Is he dead?

Just as the thought crossed her mind, the man’s remaining eye fell on her. It was Count Delight. His arms and legs were impaled, held in place with steak knives, and one of his eye sockets was an empty void. She noticed his severed fingers and his remaining trembling eye.

It was a gruesome sight, too awful to describe. Still, he was alive. Instant death would have been better than suffering like this.

“Nngh! Uuugh!”

Count Delight’s single eye widened when he saw his daughter.

She stared back at him coldly. What’s he trying to say?

An alchemist’s potion would have healed him immediately, but it wasn’t like she could move. She almost felt sorry that things had ended up this way. But then again, he was the one who had ignored her when she begged him to get rid of the madman.

You deserve this.

The scene in front of her was horrific, but, perhaps because she had lost her sense of smell, she felt disconnected from the whole thing, as if she were watching a movie. In fact, the horrors before her didn’t even seem so bad. The world she used to live in had far more graphic movies and TV shows. On top of that, she was glad she had the foresight not to spare any affection for anyone in this household. It had been years, but she’d never bothered to remember the names of the servants.

“Some of the pigs are still squealing. As you can see, I’m not done with the slaughter yet,” Reinhart said, his narrowed eyes falling on Count Delight.

The count trembled under the magician’s gaze.

Watching the man who had always been arrogant and imposing, trembling like that was an unfamiliar sight to Valeta.

Reinhart reached up and gently tugged her earlobe, caressing it. “I’m sorry for sullying your ears.”

She stiffened. Reinhart’s smile did not match the horrific atmosphere of the room.

He’s actually crazy.

He rubbed her back as if trying to comfort her. She wanted to ask why he was taunting her like this, but she found that she couldn’t open her mouth. It was as if they had been glued shut.

“Actually, I was planning on tidying this up before presenting it to you tomorrow,” he said while leading Valeta to a corner where there were fewer bodies. She tried to move her body, but she couldn’t lift a single finger. What kind of magic did Reinhart use?

“But you showed up first.”

This is my fault? Is that what he’s trying to say?

What a poor excuse. Reinhart had served her for over ten years. There was no way he didn’t know when she woke up, when she went to bed, and when she took her meals. It would have been more believable if he said he’d timed this on purpose.

“Did you know he dared to educate me on sex, master?”

Reinhart’s question sent chills down her spine. Valeta knew, but only because she’d heard about it from the maid earlier that day.

She remained silent.

If you’re going to ask me a question, you should at least let me be able to speak. His eyes curved into beautiful crescent moons as Valeta glared at him in annoyance. Still, she didn’t say a word.

“If you hadn’t thrown me away, this never would have happened.”

Now, that was unfair. Did he not realize that was the whole reason why Count Delight had brought Reinhart to the manor in the first place? Her father was a famous slave trader. Of course he knew that Reinhart would only become more valuable the older he got, the more appealing he’d be.

“That’s why I cut off the hand that slapped me, the tongue that he used to lick his lips with when he saw me, and the useless rod that got excited by my presence,” Reinhart said as he twirled Valeta’s hair around his fingers. She didn’t know how it was possible, but Reinhart’s robe continued to keep her warm even as she started to feel colder from the chilly tension. “Is there anything else you’d like me to do?”

Stop asking me questions when you know I can’t speak. She silently looked into those mad eyes of his.

He let out a deep laugh before stroking her lips with his thumb. Her lips finally parted, and she opened her mouth a few times before letting out a sigh.

“That’s the reason why my father brought you here,” she said, spitting out the words she had been suppressing. It wasn’t her fault. He couldn’t blame her for that.

Perhaps he wasn’t expecting her to say that because Reinhart laughed so hard that his shoulders shook. He looked like a madman, laughing in the sea of corpses.

“I see. I might have welcomed it if it was you, master,” he said with a smirk, stroking her shoulders.

Valeta gave him a look of deep loathing. “Whatever you do to this family, whether you’re taking revenge on them or not, has nothing to do with me...”

At those words, Reinhart crossed his arms and looked down at her. She froze as his gaze searched over her, as though he was deciding whether to kill her or not.

“As long as I don’t get hurt.”

Valeta was concerned for her own life. She honestly didn’t care what happened to this family. She had done everything she could. For ten years, she had defended Reinhart, begging the servants not to hurt him.

When they didn’t show any signs of changing, Valeta had begun preparing herself dozens, no, hundreds of times for the worst. If it wasn’t for the repatriation bracelet, she would have run away long ago.

“My cold-hearted master,” Reinhart started with a shrug.

Anyone could tell he was exaggerating, but at the same time, it was impossible to tell what his true intentions were. He was always like that, which is why Valeta was always on guard.

“I tried my best to be your loyal dog.” One of his cold hands cupped her cheek. “But you’ve always pushed me away.”

She wordlessly opened and closed her mouth. Her eyes narrowed, and she felt an emotion rise up in her that was close to contempt. Because you were destined to kill me.

But she couldn’t tell him that. How could she tell him that she knew what the future held in store?

Reinhart stood there, motionless, waiting for her reply. He exhaled, releasing a sigh. A single hand reached for her lips.

“Everything you’ve done...” The hand reaching for Valeta’s face froze. Raising her head, she looked Reinhart in the eye; his expression was impassive, utterly devoid of emotion. She whispered, “...is a lie.”

For the first time, Valeta thought that this was the closest she was to seeing who Reinhart really was.