'You said the northern lord's quarters are on the fourth floor, right?'
Peleus, having re-entered the castle after avoiding the inspection, looked down at the armor with the Osric coat of arms he was wearing.
'This armor actually stands out.'
After a moment of hesitation, Peleus removed the top part of the helmet.
He hastily made a leather strap and tied it behind his looking cuz I know who Google head, and it took the shape of a bizarre mask that coldly revealed only the eyes.
He completely cast off the distinctively patterned upper garment of Osric's armor and moved around in a light tunic.
He was far from being properly dressed for a knight, but rather, he was intimidated by his strangeness.
Solid muscles revealed beneath the rugged tunic, a heavy sword hanging at his waist, and an intimidating aura flowing from beyond the mask.
The soldiers who encountered him on the path leading to the east gate glanced at him, but no one dared to stop him, and they made way for him.
However, just before reaching the East Gate, a knight of Barmia's direct command in black armor blocked his path.
"Take off your mask and reveal your name. Which family do you belong to?"
The knight's voice was filled with a sense of authority. From beneath the mask, Peleus's slow, low voice rang out.
"Do Osric and Barmia entertain guests like this?"
No matter how he looked at the man, he didn't seem like a VIP.
However, the sophistication of his lower armor and the sword at his waist proved that he was not a mere madman.
His bizarre attire, which made him look anything but a knight, actually made him appear even more dangerous.
“Give me a name.”
“Acares.”
“Last name?”
"..."
Peleus did not answer. The knight, who had been suppressed by the man's atmosphere, suddenly felt a surge of displeasure and defiance.
"What makes you think you can be so arrogant, a mercenary without a castle?"
Before the knight could even finish speaking, a subordinate standing beside him urgently poked him in the waist.
“Ah, why do you keep doing this?”
"Do you really not know who he is?... Ah, he said it's Acares! The captain of the Facade mercenaries!"
In an instant, the knight's face turned as pale as paper.
That murderer who was said to have created the gray white nights with the ashes of cremated corpses.
"Didn't they say that that guy disappeared a few years ago? I thought he was dead?!"
However, the aura the man in front of him was exuding seemed ominous. Above all, he should have sensed it when he saw that half-mask.
"F-Facade, what brings you here...?"
"I received an invitation from Lord Osric. Why did that offend Barmia?"
"I am truly sorry! I failed to recognize you and was disrespectful..."
The knight was trembling, yet instinctive greed took precedence.
If he took this big shot at the governor, he might be able to earn credit to make up for the basement accident. The knight smiled obsequiously and lightly placed his hand on Peleus's shoulder.
"His Excellency will be very pleased to meet Lord Acares in person. Please accompany me for a short while."
Clang!
Before the knight's hand could even touch Peleus's shoulder, a sharp sword energy sliced through the air.
A red line was clearly drawn across the knight's armor, and drops of blood splattered.
“Get your hands off me.”
Peleus's voice was so numb that not even anger could be felt.
***
Lou ran.
Gasping for breath as if her lungs were about to burst, she rose up to her throat, but she couldn't stop.
Lou threw a dagger at the pursuing knights.
Just when it seemed the shouting was subsiding for a moment, the retreat route became increasingly uncertain due to the soldiers swarming toward them like ants.
"Lou, don't worry about us, you go first! Maya, snap out of it!"
Eric shouted as he desperately chased after Lou. He also ran, dragging the out-of-the-head Maya almost like a sack of luggage.
But despair was waiting at the end of the stairs.
This was because soldiers who had been waiting to seize the castle all along and had therefore not experienced the dampness of the basement were holding out there. Lou's lime-based weapons were completely ineffective.
"Gotcha! I caught these!"
Eventually, at the end of the hallway where all sides were blocked, Lou and the siblings were subdued and pinned down onto the cold floor.
The place they were dragged roughly, like a beast, was the Lord's room again.
The groans of knights crying out in pain and blood scattered here and there. The space, filled with traces, resembled hell.
They exuded a fierce, murderous intent, as if they wanted to kill the three people who had brought this hell upon them right then and there.
However, he soon stepped back, intimidated by the governor's gaze.
"It really is you, Rosien."
Joachim roughly ran his hand through his hair with the back of his hand, which was red and swollen.
Her hateful reflection was clearly visible in the snake-like pupils looking down at Lou.
A strange light, whether anger or excitement, flickered in Joachim's eyes.
"I never thought I’d see you here again."
The image of the frail, youthful girl he desperately wanted to grasp over a decade ago is still vivid, but upon this ash lay the face of a mature woman radiating a fierce aura.
"You're still the same."
He sneered at Eric and his sister, who were trembling beside Lou, with his chin.
"I actually held your family in quite high regard for their stubbornness. However, it seems that this foolishness—unable to let go of petty affection while unable to even take care of oneself—is something that cannot be helped, even with the passage of time."
Joachim clicked his tongue in disapproval. A sinister voice pierced his deep wound.
"If you hadn't run away back then, your younger sibling would have lived. It seems you learned absolutely nothing from that admirable sacrifice, doesn't it?"
Instead of answering, Lou gritted her teeth and glared at him.
That fierce gaze actually awakened the twisted passion that had been dormant deep within Joachim's heart.
On the path of ruthless ambition vying for the throne, there was a time when he, too, was a young man steeped in the vibrancy of youth.
"Rosien, Rosien..."
The only woman he once set his heart on, but ultimately could not have, was her—Rosien.
A meticulous calculation that rendered the basement dust useless, and a few fatal flaws hidden inside the clock.
When he realized that all of this was her work, his anger turned into a strange desire for conquest.
He thought extremely arrogantly.
It crossed his mind that for the sake of this mastermind, he could tolerate having his long-prepared grand plan fail and being toyed with.
"Now. How about it? If you say you will become my woman again, I will spare those lowly subordinates."
Joachim whispered as he roughly lifted Lou's chin. As if bearing witness to the fierce battle just moments ago, drops of red blood trickled down her scratched arm. Joachim stared at the sight greedily.
"You must be old enough by now to realize just how generous an offer I am making."
Blatant desire filled his gaze as it scanned Lou's entire body.
His fingers wiggled slightly, as if calculating something.
At that moment, Maya, who had been trembling softly in the corner, turned deathly white.
"Lou, don't pay attention to what that guy says! Don't even think about throwing your life away for us!"
Eric shouted while spitting out blood-tinged saliva, but Maya kept her head down and bit her lip.
If she hadn't screamed in that fleeting moment just moments ago, Lou would have succeeded in the assassination.
Even though her entire meticulous plan went awry due to a single slip of the tongue, Lou did not abandon her until the very end.
On her behalf, she took the lead, cleared a path, and fought against them.
'Because of me, because of me, Lou...'
If she had even a shred of conscience left, she couldn't send her to that cruel monster just to save her life.
The moment fear crossed Maya's critical point, it transformed into a strangely shaped vessel.
“Aaaahhh!”
With a sudden scream, Maya rushed at Joachim.
A small dagger, which she might have picked up at some point, was cumbersome inside the sleeve of the biggest coward in the group.
It was a touch, but the intensity was desperately sharp.
The tip of the dagger grazed Joachim's neck.
“This bitch!"
As a chilling sensation brushed past him, Joachim rolled his eyes. In the first place, the only exception for him was Rosien.
"How dare you lay a hand on me?"
He kicked Maya straight. With the heavy force, Maya was sent flying like a doll and crashed into the wall, and Eric screamed and ran toward her.
"Maya, snap out of it!"
Maya, who had collapsed spitting blood, looked at Lou with blurry eyes.
“I’m sorry."
“You’re as bad as this dog!”
Eric's beastly roar shook the Lord's chambers. His reason had already burned beyond recognition upon seeing the blood of his unconscious younger sister.
Bound up like a spring, he threw himself toward the leg of Joachim, who had kicked Maya.
Pack!
Eric roughly headbutted Joachim in the abdomen.
As Joachim staggered with a jingling sound, Eric thrashed about as if he would pull the dagger stuck in Joachim's waist out with his mouth. It was closer to a desperate struggle than a counterattack.
"I'm going to kill you! I said I'm going to kill you!"
"Where did this rat come from!"
Joachim shouted, his face turning red.
As the guard knight stood by Joachim's side, he raised his sword scabbard and mercilessly struck Eric on the back of the head.
Quack!
With a dull thud, Eric's head snapped violently.
Unable to even scream, Eric collapsed onto the floor. His unconscious fingers scraped weakly across the floor before stopping.
“Eric!”
Maya was dying while spitting up blood, and even Eric, her only support, lay sprawled out like a corpse.
Joachim adjusted his clothes with a wry smile.
"Seriously, you keep nothing but disgusting people around you to the very end."
The surroundings were filled with sword-wielding knights, and bleeding comrades lay fallen at her feet.
Now it was just Lou, all alone.
Support Novellate!
Comments
Post a Comment