Chapter 120

Chapter 120

Nix had never been injured so badly in all of his life. He truly was in a sorry state, but he couldn’t give up just yet. As long as he continued to draw breath, he knew Noel could fix him up. Even so, he was in excruciating pain.

“Sh*t! This really hurts!”

Unlike the other dolls, Nix also felt pain. It was evidently a drawback of having been created from a real human body. Although Roxana was standing over him and glaring down at his bloody form, what really troubled him was the commotion growing even louder in the distance. He began to cough up blood as he attempted once more to delay his impending doom.

“So is your goal to make this body unusable? If that’s the case, you’ll have to destroy its heart since that’s where the spell keeping me alive took root.”

She assumed he was telling the truth because she had already noticed that all the fatal injuries she had inflicted on him had yet to take full effect. Thus, she resolved that her next attack would need to be straight to his heart or brain as they were the most vital organs.

“Of course, the real question is if you’ll be able to go through with it. After all, your brother was the original inhabitant of this body, and that was the exact manner in which he died, was it not?”

The puppet smirked with smugness dripping from the corners of his bloodied mouth. “Poor Achille... Looks like he’ll have to die a second time at the hands of his brutal, merciless sister.”

The sunlight seemed to bounce off the white petals as they softly fluttered down to him.

I should’ve gouged out his right eye instead. Roxana lamented to herself since the removal of his unsettling violet eye caused her to see Achille even more in the impostor’s features. She had actually been aiming for his blue eye, but Nix had instinctively turned away, which resulted in her hand plunging into his left eye socket.

Even so, the violet eye had been the object containing his sorcery, thus her actions had not been completely wasted. Although she was indeed conflicted about the situation, she felt the need to ensure the doll’s life was snuffed out before she left the Gold manor.

Without a trace of emotion in her expression, she swiftly flexed her hand. Nix tensed before lodging his final plea.

“Xana, please!”

The delicate whine of his voice wafted toward her ear on the breeze and caused her to hesitate. It had truly only been for a moment, but it was enough time for the puppet to try to strike her once more.

Swoosh!

Unfortunately, his hand had failed to make contact with her.

“Get that dirty hand away from her!”

That voice... Just as she noticed blood spurt out of her opponent’s wrist, a familiar cadence took her by surprise. Before she had fully registered who had called out, she felt herself getting drawn into a familiar embrace. She immediately turned toward its source to behold a welcomed face.

“Cassis!”

Everything had happened so quickly that every question in her mind faded into obscurity. After moving her to a safe distance, he scanned her thoroughly and frowned at the blood he noticed spattered here and there on her clothes. But to his relief, her wounds did not look serious. Even so, the first matter at hand was to rid them of the obstacle before them.

“Isn’t that...?” Cassis began to question before abruptly falling silent. He looked back and forth between the bloodied body writhing on the ground and his beloved while taking note of every similarity in their features.

“Aaargh! Gaaah!” Nix was rolling about while clutching the injury Cassis’ had dealt him upon his sudden arrival. Fresh blood rained over the white blossoms around him from the gash where his hand had nearly been sliced off. The irony should not be lost that the doll crafted from human flesh seemed to be experiencing more pain than an average human would be in that situation.

Roxana returned her focus to him without a glimmer of warmth or sympathy in her gaze. For whatever reason, Cassis had chosen to refrain from attacking the puppet any further as if he had noticed something more urgent in her that she remained unaware of herself.

“Nix! Lady Roxana!” Dante was racing toward them. He had managed to get away from the chaos on the other end of the manor somehow but was bleeding profusely from a wound on his forehead. Upon noticing Cassis Pedelian, he unwittingly stumbled as he drew nearer. “Young Master Pedelian? What are you doing here?”

The steward couldn’t work out what the Blue Heir’s sudden appearance could possibly mean. It didn’t help that the Pedelian cast a piercing glare at him once he finally arrived on the scene.

“I think I should be the one asking questions here. Just what is the meaning of all this?!”

The gray-haired man appeared to go rigid from being on the receiving end of such an accusatory question.

“Why has Roxana’s life been threatened since her arrival in Vertium?!”

“‘Th-Threatened’?”

“I saw this man attack her with my own eyes!”

The steward’s focus shifted from the Blue Heir down to the bloodied puppet back up to the Agrece in rapid succession. Just as Cassis had said, she was marked with small injuries here and there, while Nix was trembling on the floor in a most sorry state.

“Blast. I was only gone for a moment.” Dante couldn’t be sure, but it seemed the plan to trap Roxana at the Gold manor had failed. But what in the world is Cassis Pedelian doing here? And why now of all times?!

“What I find even more unsettling is that whoever that is, his face bears a striking resemblance to hers!”

Dante could not help but flinch as Cassis’ observation cut at him like a razor.

“Luna!”

Noel was the next to come running toward the bloody scene. He appeared to have successfully subdued the rebellion with the help of the combat dolls but was also visibly spent from even that minor exertion due to his constitution being better suited for long hours fashioning new dolls in his laboratory. While his retinue of dolls trailed behind him, he gasped in shock upon getting a good look at Roxana.

“What happened?! Are you hurt?! Oh my, you’re bleeding!”

The Gold Master questioned her so thoroughly, it was as if he had failed to notice the other men staring back at him. Seeing the Vertium fawn over her in such a familiar manner chilled Cassis’ expression that much more. But to his relief, she slapped away the young clan leader’s hand as he reached out to her.

“L-Luna?!”

It was only after her dismissal had shocked him to his core that he noticed his beloved puppet lying in a pool of his own blood behind them.

“Oh my word! NIX!!!”

With his master's arrival, Dante sensed the situation going sideways quickly. The Blue Heir’s presence would undoubtedly make matters worse. With an outsider bearing witness to the attack, there was no chance they could simply disregard Nix’s misconduct.

“Nix, did you really attack Lady Roxana?”

Reduced to tatters, the blond puppet merely groaned in response. Casting an icy gaze toward the pathetic figure, Dante’s tone became cynical. “I’ve always had my concerns, but you truly are hopeless.”

Pow!

“Aaaagh!”

The steward struck the doll with his ungloved hand, which caused his head to slump lifelessly to the ground. Dante hadn’t killed him, but merely rendered his body immobile for the time being.

Since Nix wasn’t an ordinary doll, the action would be likened by most to having been knocked unconscious. Much like Roxana’s steward Emily, there was a pattern on Dante’s right hand. Not only did it similarly serve as the source of his sorcery, but it also signified the special power his master had entrusted him with due to his role.

“N-Nix!”

The devastated look on Noel’s face would have made a passerby mistake the blond youth for being dead.

“Lady Roxana, I apologize for this truly unforgivable offense.” As he spoke, the steward was busy holding his master back from reaching out to his precious doll. “As you know, Nix is not human but a puppet. Therefore, he is far from perfect in many ways. I fear he exhibits these unexpected glitches from time to time. I’m sorry to say that must have been what occurred while he was having tea with you today.”

Cassis’ lips twisted upward in a mocking manner. “So your excuse is that this puppet attacked Roxana because it’s faulty rather than as a result of following the gold clan’s orders? Don’t you even find that excuse lacking?”

“I don’t know what else to say, young sir. I can only offer my sincerest apologies on its behalf. And I assure you we will deal with this defective doll.”

Roxana eyed the gray-haired man coldly as well. It was clear the crafty steward was seeking to get away with blaming their entire failed scheme on their now-defeated puppet. Knowing better, she smiled wryly as she had already formulated a way to turn this new ploy on them as well.

“If I’m not mistaken, you’re saying you all allowed a puppet you know could act out at any moment to spend time alone with me? I had already felt uncomfortable since my arrival, but is this how the Vertiums have always treated their guests?”

Taken aback by her icy remark, Noel anxiously attempted to mumble an explanation. “No, no, Luna. That was nev—”

“Do NOT call me by that name ever again!” Her glare was as sharp as jagged glass as it sliced through the Gold Master and caused his words to fall short as he involuntarily stopped breathing.

As silence fell over the group, Roxana and Cassis met each other’s gaze. He then nodded slightly to indicate that she had free rein to do as she pleased.

“Dante, didn’t you say a moment ago that this was an unforgivable offense?” she said.

Evidently, it was now the steward’s turn to suffer her acidic wrath.

“If the Vertiums are indeed remorseful and feel responsible for what that doll has done, may I take that to mean you are prepared and willing to take the necessary measures to make amends?”

At being questioned directly, the gray-haired steward’s expression almost automatically became more rigid. He seemed unable to offer a definitive answer for what seemed an eternity before finally addressing the Agrece again.

“I... suppose so. Yes.”

“Then you’ll agree to offer me whatever is in your power?”

Dante closed his mouth again as he was growing all the more wary of what she might be after. Their plan had strayed so far off course, but since Noel’s only true interest was in pleasing his Luna, the Gold leader chimed in.

“Yes, yes! We’ll of course do whatever it takes to make you happy. Whatever you desire, just say the w—”

“That doll.”

The green-eyed leader stared at her slack-jawed as her demand reverberated against his eardrums.

“I want that doll.”