Chapter 28

Chapter 28

My ability to finesse this sap is getting quite good, if I may say so myself.

In truth, Roxana had almost blurted out the thought. She knew full well that everything she had said about Cassis was complete nonsense, but Lante seemed to be eating it up all the same. On the one hand, her father’s giddy reaction had pissed her off, but it also meant that her performance thus far had been satisfactory. At the very least, it had certainly been good enough to deceive the head Agrece.

“When you were younger, you were just a weak, little runt with no special talent to speak of.”

Lante spoke as if the mere recollection of Roxana in her youth was unsavory.

“Come to think of it, what was the name of that brother of yours? You know, the one who had absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Arle or something?”

Having taken entirely after their mother Sierra, Roxana’s brother had possessed saint-like good looks, but nothing else that satisfied Lante.

“I can’t do this, Father.”

Of the few times Achille had spoken to him, the boy had said those words while clinging to his father. As he recalled his dead son, Lante continued. “No one ever came close to how careless that boy was. I always thought he was a bad influence on you.”

“If you are referring to the brother who was disposed of, his name was Achille, not Arle,” Roxana replied, finally deciding to speak up.

Lante’s gaze immediately flashed from his wine glass to Roxana.

“Of course, someone who died so dishonorably doesn’t even deserve to be remembered. Certainly not by you, Father. Mother and I also thought him rather shameful.”

Roxana made sure to smile just enough as she spoke.

“And as you said, I have indeed progressed a great deal since his death, but I like to think the timing of that was just coincidence.”

There was no way Lante Agrece could imagine the frost growing in Roxana’s heart as she continued to bad-mouth her late brother.

“I simply mean to say that he never meant anything to me—dead or alive. I would still be where I am today even if the circumstances had been different.”

There wasn’t a note of hesitation in her voice as she spoke, which made her sound almost arrogant. Of course, in the Agrece clan that was far from a bad quality.

“After all, I am a proud Agrece and a daughter who takes after my father—the man I respect—more than anyone else.”

As if he couldn’t agree more with everything Roxana had said thus far, Lante drained his glass happily. He had obviously not suspected in the slightest just how much she was sneering at him internally.

* * *

“Emily, you can go on ahead.”

“Yes, my lady.”

Once back in her room, Roxana drank the daily dose of poison Emily had brought her. She had been feeling more tired than usual and considered going straight to bed, but she knew she couldn’t end the day just yet.

Flutter.

A pair of butterflies appeared out of thin air and approached Roxana as she reclined on her sofa. They were the two she had sent to scout the western border.

“You’re finally back.”

She offered her hand to them as she spoke, which they softly lit upon.

“Well? What have you discovered?”

One of the butterflies began to recollect everything it had seen to her. A dark, silent forest. The red moon. A large murder of restless, cawing crows. Grass stained red from bloodshed. A number of corpses that had been brutally hacked to death. And standing tall among all this gruesome scenery, a man with crimson eyes.

Gasp.

Roxana suddenly sprang forward to sit bolt upright. Her sudden movement had caused the butterflies to float upwards. The connection between her and the butterflies was immediately severed, but she could still recall the images they had just relayed to her. The man they had seen in the midst of those piles and piles of cadavers was none other than Lante’s most treasured son, the perennial superstar of their monthly evaluations, and a man who was less human than he was monster.

Deon Agrece... had returned.

Who’s being groomed?

I was anxious from the moment I woke up. I had been like that since receiving the news of Deon’s return, but that morning I had been especially on edge. Since there were several days between the time my butterfly had witnessed all that carnage and when it had returned to tell me about it, my guess was that I would run into him later in the day or within the next 24 hours.

As I replayed the scenes my fluttering servants had shown me, I couldn’t help loathing him all over again. All those people he had slain had likely belonged to the Pedelian clan, which meant they had most likely been out searching for Cassis, but were all nothing but cold, rotting corpses.

Damn it. I had been one step behind. Had Lante given Deon a mission to launch a preemptive slaughter? But in that vast area we simply referred to as the West, how had it even been possible for him to have spotted them? I figured it had just been bad luck on their part.

“What’s wrong? Tell me what’s on your mind.”

Cassis must have noticed the anxiety in my stare, yet his voice remained as cool and calm as ever. For some reason, he kept rubbing the back of his neck.

After seeing just how stoic he looked, I responded. “Cassis...”

But then I stopped almost as soon as I started. It just didn’t seem like the right time to tell him about what I had discovered. The Pedelians weren’t likely to give up searching for him, so I planned to wait before sending my envoys again. I had hoped that the next time I did it would coincide with the blue clan’s ability to man their border better.

“Hurry up and get better.”

That was all I managed to say to him before leaving. And just as there had been before, there was something inexplicable in his stare.

* * *

Drip, drip, drip.

As I left the incubation chamber after feeding the egg, I noticed the thick clouds that were overhead earlier that morning had turned into a steady drizzle. I looked up at the dark sky for a moment. It hadn’t begun to pour yet, so I had figured I could chance it. Had Emily been at my side, I’m certain she would have volunteered to get me something to cover my head, but I was alone. In general, the Agreces were a very individualistic lot, and so we hardly paid any mind to do things on our own. That was all the more reason someone like Maria, who never went anywhere without her retinue of servants, was considered such an anomaly.

Soon I passed the green field, leaving behind the soothing smell of wet vegetation as I entered the mansion. I abruptly stopped myself once I realized where my feet were taking me. Oh, right. This isn’t the time to go see Cassis. After I had spoken with Jeremy the other day, I decided to change what time I would visit the incubation chamber and when I would go see Cassis. My mind had definitely been wandering. If not, I can’t fathom why I would have automatically traveled toward Cassis’ room without thinking. Not to mention I was already soaked from head to toe at that point, so I was truly in no state to visit anyone, much less Cassis. Having come to my senses, I decided to return to my room. Deon had been to blame for all my daydreaming, and knowing that fact only added to my depression.

Clack.

Someone was behind me. As I felt the presence closing in, I swiveled quickly to take a look. However, by then whoever it was had nearly overcome me. A faint smell of grass much like the one I had noticed while outside wafted toward me. Then before I knew it, the hazy figure of a man clad from top to bottom in black appeared.

Plip, plip.

The clear raindrops rolled off our shoulders to form a large muddy puddle at our feet. As the man stood blocking my view, he resembled a lonely oak in the center of a sparse field. The temperature felt as if it had dropped suddenly. It gave me the impression that I had been whisked away into a frosty winter scene. The man who had lost all traces of his youth stared down at me frigidly. His chiseled face was like a carving and seemed especially pale against the jet-black of his hair.

The heaviness of the air surrounding us was almost palpable, but I finally managed to open my mouth.

“Deon.”

His crimson eyes suddenly sparkled with a strange glint. I almost took a step back instinctually, but in that fraction of a second he had grabbed me by the wrist. A gust of cool air flowed through me as my eyelids began to tremble. The feeling was akin to having a snake placed on top of my head. Meanwhile, Deon’s gaze traveled down from my face to the arm he was clutching.

“So...” He paused before continuing in a near-whisper. “How did you get hurt?”