Chapter 55

Chapter 55

* * *

“That took you longer than I expected.”

A quiet voice met Roxana just as she returned to her room and caused her to hesitate for a moment before shutting her door. With a click, the room was once again sealed off to the rest of the mansion.

“I hadn’t realized you had so much to discuss with Father.”

The owner of the voice reclined comfortably on her sofa as if he were in his own room. It wasn’t yet evening, but due to the snowstorm, hardly any light was coming through the windows into the room.

Although he was mostly cloaked in darkness, Roxana could see that the young man sat with his elbow propped up on one of the sofa’s arms in order to support his chin in his hand. She of course did not need much light to make out who the intruder was. What’s more, she had actually been anticipating such an unwelcomed encounter for some time.

“Has it not even occurred to you that I took my time coming back because I knew you’d be waiting in here for me?” Roxana shook her head as she rebuked her older half-brother. “I had already heard of your return, though I can’t say I missed you, Deon.”

Back from his joint mission with Fontaine, Deon continued to lounge on Roxana’s sofa as he watched her walk toward him.

As she reached her hand out to touch him, he sat transfixed to his seat.

“I heard that the task I assigned you went well. Of course, Fontaine was irate. I knew you could do it, my clever mutt.” Despite the warm and gentle hand caressing Deon’s face and the equally gentle and sweet voice flowing into his ears, the eyes that bore down on him were as cold and fierce as the snowstorm outside. “Then again, you can be rather foolish as well. Haven’t I told you time and time again that there is no need for you to report to me directly?”

She scolded him caustically while her cruel smile was still fixed on Deon’s face.

“I’m certain I made it clear how sick I get whenever I have to see your disgusting face.”

That seemed to have roused him to finally wrap his large, hardened hand around Roxana’s. As he began to firmly squeeze it, he smiled back at her with the same cruel expression she had given him.

“Still the same Roxana, whose words and actions always seem to be at odds. Shall I pretend to be grateful for even a frigid homecoming like this?”

The two sets of scarlet eyes glaring at one another in that dark room seemed to be burning. Due to his countless missions away from the compound, it had been quite some time since she last saw him. Even so, their encounters never stood a chance of ever being amiable.

“What, is it not to your liking?” She spoke slowly as she allowed Deon to retain hold of her hand inside of his without sparing him a hint of warmth. “Well, you know I can’t help it. I honestly and truly despise you.”

Despite how softly she said the words, there was no ignoring the thorns lining them. Thorns that were intended to torment the person in front of her.

“Yet despite that, you still pine for me. Pitiful really.” Roxana’s smile deepened as her golden, wavy hair bounced around her lovely face. “I mean just look at you—running here to see me at the first chance you had after returning home.”

Deon sat quietly for a moment to simply behold the beautiful creature before him. Then the silence in the room suddenly felt dense. A density that was almost stifling.

“You always try to rile me up like this.” There was a chill in his voice when he finally spoke. His gaze on her had become equally icy. “It isn’t to your benefit to anger me, Roxana.”

Deon’s threat hardly seemed to bear any meaning to her, however, as she continued to smile at him cynically. Just as he had said in the past—he would have much rather seen her cry than have to look at that wry smile of hers. But Roxana derived great satisfaction in seeing Deon get angry each time they met.

“Now, now. Don’t look at me like that. At least I’m honest with you, unlike how I am towards Fontaine.” In the blink of an eye, she had gone from goading him to consoling him. “Fontaine is several degrees lower than you in many respects, but I do wonder if it wouldn’t have been easier for you if you had simply lusted after me the way he does.”

She continued to taunt him with the calm gentleness of an angel. It was then that Deon saw clearly that she was still mocking him.

“Of course, there is that small matter of me not even allowing you to lick the bottom of my boots clean no matter how much you begged to.”

The pressure around her hand began to increase. He imagined that she had to be in pain, but she continued to look as calm and unbothered as ever.

“You see then, Deon, how difficult it would be to get what you’re really after, don’t you?” Then with a quick twist of her wrist she slipped her hand out of his grip, while he made no attempt to recapture it. “Still, you shouldn’t give up just yet. Who knows? Perhaps you’ll impress me enough that I might even condescend to sparing you a tiny corner of my heart. An act of charity, if you will.”

This time her voice rang in his ears as purely and perfectly as her beauty. If he could disregard all else to focus on her appearance, she would have easily passed for an angel. But the truth remained that she was more likely a close relation of the devil.

“So do keep trying to amuse me.”

Yes, she was a beautiful demon whispering sweet venom into his ears. Her honey-laced words had encircled him and were slowly dragging him down into a swamp he could not hope to escape on his own.

* * *

At the beginning of each year, the five clans held their annual gathering to garner goodwill. That year’s event was already only three days away.

Since the Blue Pedelians, the White Fipellions, the Red Castors, the Black Agreces, and the Gold Vertiums would all be in attendance, the event always took place at the center of the continent in a location designated as a neutral, battle-free zone called Yggdrasil. The main purpose of the event was just as the name suggested—to promote goodwill between the five clans.

That year, Jeremy and I were slated to attend the event with Father. Deon would also attend, but due to an urgent matter, he wouldn’t join us until later. I had thought it would be just as well if he didn’t show up at all.

“Hmm... I’m curious to see the sort of idiots who come to these gatherings.”

As Jeremy spoke, his eyes twinkled with excitement as it was his first time attending the event since becoming old enough to embark on such an adventure away from the Agrece compound. Of course, as someone who had already gone a year before him, I could say unequivocally that contrary to its grand title, it really was a lackluster occasion. Still, I had no desire to burst his bubble, so decided to keep my thoughts and feelings on the matter to myself.

Our journey to Yggdrasil took us almost two full days. Almost immediately after entering the neutral territory, we encountered huge stone columns and archways shaped like the world tree Yggdrasil was named after. As our carriage passed beneath the structure, a strange yet familiar sensation passed through me. I knew Jeremy must have felt it as well because he immediately frowned.

“What was that?!”

My own knowledge was limited to what I had learned the previous year, but I told him as much as I knew.

“Since this territory is neutral, there is a magic circle surrounding this land.”

Along with the use of special powers, the possession of weapons was also banned in Yggdrasil. As the story went, roughly 500 years ago, a Fipellion supposedly conferred with a fearful beast, then laid waste to the region using their combined powers. Soon after, the massive magic circle was cast in order to prevent any such calamity from ever happening again. I had learned the previous year that even communication with a demon or servant creature was blocked by the circle while trying to summon one of my butterflies from inside of it. And although I hadn’t confirmed it yet, I imagined special powers were curtailed in a similar fashion.

“Are you prepared to fulfill your role, Roxana?” Lante stared at me seeking assurance that I would still be of use to him, and in return I nodded.

“Of course, Father.”

Before long we arrived and departed from our carriage. It was still early on the first day of the three-day long spectacle. I was basically playing the role of spy by serving as Lante’s eyes and ears. Whoever the original architect of the magic circle had been hadn’t seemed to have anticipated special demon monsters like my poison butterflies.

I say that of course because while it had been impossible to summon my butterflies from inside the neutral territory, I learned through trial and error that I could bring them into the circle by synchronizing our entries just before crossing over. But honestly, even that was a lot of work. Not only did it require a ton of concentration just to maintain contact with my winged companions, the pain... It had felt as if my every vessel was being pinched, which as their host was beyond excruciating. Had I not already become accustomed to enduring such pain, I would have likely fainted a few times.

Anyway, my point is it was work that took a lot out of me both physically and mentally, so I had to keep the number of my beasts to a minimum. On top of that, since such special powers were banned, I could only utilize them as messengers. But that was more than enough to satisfy Lante’s needs, which in turn closed the issue for me.

Since I knew that all the clan members in attendance were highly alert and sensitive to the most minor of deviations, I didn’t risk attaching any of the butterflies to them directly. Instead, I decided to strategically place them in various spots around Yggdrasil. They would see and hear everyone who passed by them, then relay the contents of their conversations to me, which I would then in turn report to Lante.

They had performed so flawlessly the previous year that my father actually commended me. In truth, it made me laugh to see him so happy about the tiniest bit of information I passed on to him. Especially since I had kept anything truly important from him entirely.

So contrary to Fontaine’s opinion that Lante only took me along to serve as decoration, I fulfilled a rather crucial need for him. Most of the tasks I had been assigned at other times were also fairly covert in nature, so in truth it was easy for others to be mistaken about what I actually did for the clan. However, the real irony was that my butterflies proved to be most useful when it came to spying on my father. And of course, my honorable father didn’t have a clue.

“Father, may I go rest in my room? I’m a bit tired from the long ride.”

“Sure, go right ahead.”

“Wait up, sis. I’ll go too,” Jeremy said.

Lante had demanded we move with great haste to Yggdrasil in order to allow time for me to plant my butterflies, and the rush had paid off since we seemed to have been the first clan to arrive.

So with Jeremy in tow, I entered the tall castle that loomed ahead of us.