Chapter 65

Chapter 65

“Where are you off to in such a hurry?”

Gene, one of the Agrece servants, suddenly stopped mid-step as if his collar had been caught on a hook. However, he noticed almost instantly that the voice he heard from behind belonged to the lethally gorgeous Agrece.

“Oh... Lady Roxana.”

It was clear he was struggling to control his voice. Of course, such a reaction was so commonplace among the men who saw Roxana at the compound that she didn’t give it a second thought.

She tilted her head as she looked him up and down. “All the caretakers and servants were supposed to gather in the annex. As you know, that’s in the opposite direction.”

“Ah! Right! Yes, well... It’s just that I’ve been experiencing some stomach trouble, so—”

“Is that so?”

“Y-Yes, my lady.” Gene’s face had gone so pale, it almost appeared as though he had dipped it in flour. The cold sweat covering his forehead seemed to indicate he was indeed in poor shape.

Roxana nodded as if she understood. “Then you should go rest.”

Her voice sounded sweet to his ear. Feeling both thankful yet guilty at having deceived Roxana, Gene bowed before continuing on his way.

Click, clack.

Oddly enough, the beautiful young Agrece proceeded to walk even closer to him rather than go her own way. To his shock she suddenly whispered in his ear from up close.

“And don’t you worry. When you awake, it will all be over.”

Before he could form a response, she concluded with a syrupy “sweet dreams.”

With a gentle smile, she extended her hand toward him. As he was still in a state of confusion, he mistook the reality of his situation for a dream as her hand touched his cheek and her sugary aroma clouded his thoughts.

His final memory was of her painfully beautiful face nearing his own.

* * *

“How typical. Father stayed true to his tricks until the bitter end.” Roxana smiled wryly as she ruminated on the crumpled note in her hand.

It was unlikely he had been able to establish contact with anyone outside of the compound since his capture, but she wondered what to make of the note. She considered that he may have in fact made preparations for some worst-case scenario upon their return from Yggdrasil.

Moreover, the person tasked with the secret wasn’t even one of his trusted guards, or even one of the caretakers, but a lowly servant. Most of those loyal to Lante had been disposed of, so perhaps relying on someone like Gene was the smartest move.

That is... if he hadn’t been caught.

Roxana’s cold gaze bore into the man who had collapsed at her feet. He had fainted just as her face had come within an inch of his. Unlike in the novel, Roxana had never been assigned to use her sexual prowess to seduce victims and enemies. Or rather, she had never had the chance to try.

Due to playing host to her swarm of poison butterflies, her entire body served as a living poison of its own. Thus, those with little to no immunity against poisons would faint from simply breathing in her scent. She was of course well-trained enough to control the poison in her system, but the effects could not be helped during close encounters. So while the novel’s heroine Sylvia could heal others with a kiss, the current Roxana could equally kill others with hers.

“I see it’s back to the Vertiums then.”

As she continued to stare down at the fallen servant, Roxana tilted her head sideways in wonder. She was well aware that Lante had been keen on establishing an alliance between the Black and Gold clans, but his willingness to go as far as asking for their military intervention was something even Roxana would never have expected.

Lante seemed to think that the two clans had already made enough of a connection to warrant such a cry for help. Unfortunately, that also meant that there may be one that no one had suspected.

Roxana’s best guess was that Lante must have given the Vertiums something important enough to warrant them doing him such a favor in return. She had done her job of making him suspicious of the Gold clan with her false hypothesis about the puppet Blue Heir, but she also realized that since revealing she had been behind the coup, Lante would lose faith in anything and everything she ever claimed.

After considering all this new information, she decided to stop worrying about the link between the two clans. It was a waste of time in light of the fact that even if the Vertiums were to mobilize against them, they were highly unlikely to succeed. But more than anything, Roxana was just too tired to care.

“Hey, sis.” Jeremy had seemingly popped out from nowhere, but he had in fact just come from the training room. He took in the prone figure on the floor as he approached his older sister. “Why are you alone? Where’s Emily?”

“I sent her to Mother.”

Jeremy observed her silently for a moment, then his gaze appeared to darken as he spoke again. “I did as you said.”

Unlike when he had come to join her in the judgment room, or when he led their siblings in the revolt against their trainers and evaluation proctors, he seemed less certain of himself. One might even say he looked confused. It was likely due to his unfailing willingness to readily follow whatever order Roxana gave him.

He truly hated the fact that Deon was always so near to her, but he never dared to lay a hand on his older half-brother over the last three years since Roxana hadn’t wished for him to. Even once he knew he had become strong enough to take Deon head on, he avoided such confrontations for her sake.

The last time he had acted like a wild and immature troublemaker had been the day he allowed Cassis Pedelian to escape from his captivity room. He also knew that Roxana considered him a highly useful right-hand man since he made sure to fulfill whatever any need she desired. That was precisely why he was more than willing to offer his services if her wish was to become the lord and master of the Agrece clan, and why he could lead the way when it was apparent that she wished to subject their father to a heinous death.

However, what she had ordered him to do after they had already succeeded in their coup was more than a little odd to his young mind. He felt as if she had never possessed any desire to lead the clan.

“Thank you, Jeremy. One last thing—could you hand him over to the caretakers?” Roxana pointed casually at the mound of flesh at their feet seemingly oblivious to her younger brother’s troubled mood. But in the face of such blitheness, Jeremy could do no more than suppress the anxiety and questions swirling about in his heart.

“Sure thing, Sis.”

In the end, he knew he would always do anything she wanted. After hoisting the unfortunate male servant over his shoulder, he turned in the opposite direction toward the annex where the caretakers were being gathered.

Roxana only turned to leave after Jeremy had disappeared down the hallway. After walking a ways away, she held the confiscated note over one of the candles along the wall. Just before it could burn up entirely, she took what remained of the burning scrap over to a nearby window curtain.

Fwoom!

In an instant, flames lapped their way up to the top of the damask fabric. With a blank expression, Roxana gazed on as the fire grew in breadth and intensity. When she finally turned to walk away, she was met with the blaring sound of the compound’s intruder alarm.

Before long, she could hear far off noises rushing toward her, but nothing could deter her from reaching the end of her purposeful march. Having received each of their orders from their master already, her butterflies fanned out over the compound grounds.

Behind her, the fire raged on as if imitating the entrance to the underworld itself. The scene of her lovely figure walking with the flames roaring in the background seemed to exemplify the point that every Agrece was on their own in that absurd hell.

* * *

It was the last day of the first month of the year when an army from the Blue clan overtook the Agrece compound barriers and charged their rival clan’s mansion. The frosty winter breeze carried the sounds of weapons and armor all through the silent darkness of that night.

Having surrounded the compound completely, the Pedelian forces launched a relentless attack. The Agrece forces had been caught entirely off guard by the unexpected invasion. But what had made their assault all the worse was the chaos the mansion had already seen in the last twenty-four hours, which left gaping holes in the line of command.

After felling one of the Agrece guards, Cassis hollered at his men. “Do not chase after those who are running away! Our focus is to capture Lante Agrece!”

Obedient to their leader’s orders, the men spared the lives of those who lacked weapons or were simply running away. After all, it had never been their goal to mindlessly annihilate the compound inhabitants. It seemed that someone had opened one of the monster hutches for the compound soon became a brutal war zone in which demon monsters and humans engaged in fierce combat.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Cassis slew every last demon that had been unfortunate enough to cross his path. He then glanced up to see that one of the mansion’s wings was on fire. Deeper thought seemed unnecessary as he had already guessed who might be up in that fire.

Even though they could have stormed the castle’s interior right then and there, Cassis delayed his men as a courteous gesture to the arsonist. Of course, he very much still intended to attack, even if Lante were to come out and surrender himself. Cassis felt as if he was observing what the person who had lit the fire had wished to know about themselves.

Skreee!

Yet another demon monster came flying at Cassis only to shriek its final breath upon meeting the edge of his sword. Then he noticed an Agrece guard coming toward them. Drenched in one of the demon’s blood, the broken warrior trembled after facing mortal peril.

“Tell me—where exactly is Lante Agrece?”