Chapter 133

Chapter 133

“Um, Lady Sylvia...”

“What’s the matter?”

The dungeon guard pleaded with great difficulty against Sylvia’s request to visit the puppet he had been charged with guarding.

“Was there an order given saying that I specifically am not allowed to go in there?”

The question forced the guard to pause for a moment. As much as he was personally against the Blue princess being anywhere near the Pedelian dungeons, he hadn’t received specific orders to prohibit her entry.

“I’m simply curious since I’ve never seen a Vertium puppet before. But I won’t get too close.I won’t even go near the metal grates. I’ll just take a peek from ten— No! Twenty paces away. Or if you’re that worried, you could come with me. How does that sound?”

There wasn’t a Pedelian around who didn’t adore the young Blue lady. She was known throughout their territory for her bubbly and lovable nature, so it was only natural that all who met her couldn’t stifle their smiles. As the guard continued to waiver, she decided to change tactics rather than stubbornly insist on having her way.

“I’m sorry for putting you in an awkward position. It was never my intention to be so pushy. Please forget that I asked.” She apologized as if her entire being was the embodiment of remorse. Such a miserable expression on such a lovely face proved that much more difficult for the unwitting guard to ignore.

As she bowed her head to turn away, he burst out in an attempt to console her. “No, no, my lady! There’s no need for you to apologize. Your curiosity is perfectly understandable, so I don’t think just getting a look at that thing should be a problem. Please just be careful on your way inside. And I humbly beg your pardon, but I shall accompany you.”

“Oh my! Would you really do that?!”

“But of course, my lady. If you’ll please just follow me.”

Her grim disposition brightened immediately as the two advanced into the dungeon, but as Sylvia scanned the interior her face was noticeably riddled with even greater curiosity. It was, after all, her first time to actually visit the underground prison in her home.

As she took everything with her wide eyes, her gaze finally fell upon the ghastly figure she had originally come to see. Compared to how he had appeared when she first saw him writhing atop her brother’s shoulder, Nix looked much cleaner and almost presentable. She, of course, had no way of knowing that the guards had been ordered to clean the prisoner up after Roxana’s visit.

It was a courtesy of sorts, and Nix had yet to act out since. He was evidently too busy deliberating what the Agrece could possibly be after.

Damn it. If I still had my magic eye, I could have found out easily. He had reflexively jerked away from Roxana Agrece’s attack as her claw-like hand rushed toward his right eye, but the action had caused an even greater loss as she successfully gouged out his far more important violet, left eye.

The shuffling sound of footsteps outside of his cell broke through into his thoughts. He had familiarized himself with the heavy footfalls of the guards, but this time there was someone with a very light gait accompanying him. He could also tell that whoever it was wasn’t the Blue Heir or the Agrece woman either. Before long, Sylvia turned the corner just in front of the puppet’s cell. Their eyes met almost immediately.

“Oh my...” Sylvia was in awe the moment she properly set eyes on the youth.

His gaunt face was painted in the soft, orange candlelight hanging overhead, while his golden tresses fell over his missing left eye and shimmered in the way the setting sun did as it melted into the horizon. The solitary eye that bore into hers was so blue in hue that it gave her the impression she could dive into it like the crystal clear lake just outside of Pedelian territory. His serene gaze was so elegant and beautiful that it was hard for her to believe he was the same person who had been thrashing so violently when she had first seen him.

While Sylvia studied him with bated breath, Nix was also carefully assessing his unexpected visitor. Her long, sterling silver hair and golden eyes were both hallmarks of her pure Pedelian lineage.

Could she be the Blue princess? With that thought came a flash in his eye that neither she nor the guard could have detected. Perhaps... She can be of some use to me.

After quickly calculating how he might put the naïve, young Pedelian to work for him, the puppet donned the mask of Achille’s softer and more charming appeal.

“Who... are you?”

A clear yet hesitant voice called out to Sylvia from behind the cell door. Thus marked the first official meeting between the Pedelian’s princess and the Vertium hostage who had returned from the land of the dead.

* * *

The Vertium estate had more or less settled down compared to the uproar from days prior. Even so, that wasn’t an indication that its young leader had successfully put out all the fires in his kinsmen’s hearts. Whenever thoughts of the true Gold clan members driven back to their cottage-like manor in the rear garden encroached upon his thoughts, Dante’s head began to ache dreadfully.

The unhappy steward had always suspected they were all ticking time bombs, but with the unceremonious end to their riot, he feared the time until the next explosion had only become shorter. All the same, he was grateful that they had chosen to retreat for the time being in order to tend to their injured bodies and calm their troubled psyches. Of course, no one was foolish enough to believe there was any way to heal the bitterness in their hearts.

In truth, the Vertiums appeared to become even angrier at the fact that their young clan leader had dared to use dolls to suppress their outrage. Meanwhile, Noel had been plagued with despondency every day since losing both Nix and Roxana. He had only managed to fall asleep a mere few moments prior to Dante’s emergence from the Gold Master’s chambers. The steward had spent most of his time going back and forth between his master and his clan’s unhappy people in hopes of appeasing each side little by little.

After ensuring his master was finally properly asleep, the white-haired man was quietly making his way to the main hall. Although Noel was still young, the distraught look on his face as he sobbed and wept over his beloved Luna and Nix had been a rather disturbing sight to see. An observer might mistake his level of despair for the world itself coming to an end. On top of that, there was still so much that needed to be taken care of.

“You there, should Master Noel wake while I’m gone, give him this message.”

Due to the havoc the Gold clansmen had wreaked throughout the main manor, it had taken some time before he came upon a doll to pass his orders on to.

“Inform him that he need only make a doll with similar facial features to Nix since making a perfect replica is simply impossible. Make sure he understands that it need only be recognizable as Nix to an untrained observer, so he shouldn’t spend too much time putting it together.”

The steward had devised a plan to somehow intercept Nix while the Pedelians were en route to Yggdrasil. If there was one thing he could not allow, it was for that specific puppet to stand trial at that gathering. Especially after having been ferried there by the righteous Blue clan. Thus, he had instructed his distraught young master to create a stand-in as a countermeasure.

More than any other citizen of Vertium, Dante knew the Gold Master well. If their leader put his mind to it, he could easily put together a Nix impersonator within the few days prior to their departure for the neutral territory.

“Ah! And remind him to give up any thoughts of pursuing Roxana Agrece since the Pedelians have stepped in. All he needs to know is that I will do all I can regarding Nix in the meantime.”

“Understood, sir.”

After relaying his words of advice and warning, he left the doll to stand guard outside of Noel’s room. He knew that things were about to become especially chaotic for them, which meant he didn’t have a second to waste trying to play peacemaker between Noel and his kinsmen anymore.

He needed to pull all of his focus toward getting rid of any and everything that linked the Gold clan to research involving human puppets and retrieving his master’s beloved puppet somehow. To his relief, the rear garden residents had remained quiet for some time, so with Noel finally putting his tears to rest, Dante was confident the young man would deliver the results they would need once he realized that it would ultimately benefit Nix.

Of course, he did leave out the unhappy truth that he would resort to killing the blond youth if rescuing him proved too difficult. After all, he remained to be the most damning evidence the Pedelians could present against them.

“Damn it all! If only the Blue Heir hadn’t suddenly shown up when he did.”

He swore at no one in particular as he turned the corner to continue down the hallway, but just then...

Snatch.

Crash!

“Argh! Kegh!”

The white-haired man was sent hurling into the stone wall by a rough hand that retained hold of his neck while crushing it into the hard surface. His face reddened before slowly turning purple as his airway was restricted.

“What exactly did you mean by ‘the Pedelians stepped in’?”

The voice was eerily low and grating. Dante tried with all his might to dig his fingernails into the stranger’s arm and hand, but the offending man didn’t so much as flinch from the clawing sensations. The steward was at an utter loss and losing strength by the second.

How could this man get this far without anyone hearing him?! Even the attack had come at him with such speed and force that Dante hadn’t been able to get a proper look at his assailant’s face.

“H-How... did you... ge—?” He did his best to squeak out what little sound he could manage to interrogate the intruder, but he couldn’t complete the question.

“Just answer my question. Are you saying Roxana Agrece left this place with the Blue Heir?”

The stranger’s question left Dante at an even greater loss than the sudden attack. Why is he asking about those two?

As close as he was to losing consciousness, Dante was certain he had heard the man utter the names of the very couple who had brought ruin to the Gold manor merely days prior. He tried to peer through his blurred vision at the dark figure pinning him to the wall by his throat.

Once his sight was clear enough to see a short distance in front of him, his eyes met a set of burning crimson orbs glaring down at him. That was the very moment recognition washed over him.

“D-Deon Agrece?!”

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes.’”

Snap.

With the one hand he was using to grip the unlucky steward, Deon crushed the life out of Dante’s neck, then released the man’s motionless body to crumple to the floor like a puppet whose strings had just been cut. He gazed at the lifeless figure for a moment while a raging fire roared within him like a cauldron boiling over. But then just as suddenly, everything inside of him seemed to freeze over.

He turned away without a second glance back at his victim. All that was left in his wake was his ominous shadow. It grew like a specter swallowing everything up in its darkness.