Those seconds of silence between us all, with only the quiet whimper-turned-sobbing from Silvien, stretched as if they were an eternity. A poorly chosen eternity, in my opinion, one that I spent in perpetual dizziness, unable to focus properly on anything.

  A dizziness that was finally shattered by a pale, furious vampire.

  “You kingly fool,” Relia muttered as she grabbed my collar, hoisting me off the ground with an offensive ease. “We are eternal, yes, but only as long as we don’t get fucking stabbed through the heart. Why didn’t you react? It felt as if you were pleased with the idea of dying.”

  “Let His Grace go,” Enna whispered. Her voice was steady, but her eyes weren’t. None of them could sense my strength, yet she could feel Relia’s on an instinctual level, and being face-to-face with a Cataclysm was enough to terrify her.

  But her fear didn’t matter to me. Relia’s words did. And despite the harshness, they struck at something uncomfortably true.

  I wasn’t afraid of dying. Not anymore. I’d done it once, and honestly, it wasn’t that bad. I wasn’t seeking death, but when danger rushed toward me, I hadn’t moved. Perhaps because of my exhaustion, or perhaps because my soul wanted it, I allowed it to happen, even though it wouldn’t have been difficult to dodge the attack, even without powers. Yet I didn’t.

  “Put me down, Relia,” I said, resting my hand on hers. “I’m just not feeling well, that’s all.”

  It was both a lie and the truth at the same time. Just like my dying wish.

  I wanted to live, but I wanted to die. I wanted to die, but I wanted to live.

  I wanted to join Julia wherever she was, yet I was working tirelessly to bring her here. I wanted to bring her here, yet I’d nearly let myself be sent to her instead.

  Well… assuming Ephe wouldn’t simply revive me again.

  “Do you swear that is all?” Relia asked, her crimson gaze fixed entirely on mine own. She didn’t look at Silvien, crying quietly beside the corpse. Nor at the blood pooling on the floor. Nor at Enna or Airina, who said nothing, only recognizing that Relia, terrifying as she was, meant no harm to them.

  “I swear on my life,” I groaned back, an exhausted laugh leaving my lips.

  Did you see what I did there?

  After all, Elio wouldn’t be Elio if I didn’t slip in a joke at the worst possible moment. It was a skill obtained by courtesy of an orphanage full of bastards.

  And despite my pitiful attempt at humor, it was enough for Relia. She lowered me back onto my feet, returning the hallway to its uneasy stillness, the only sounds now the distant roar of battle and William’s occasional maniacal laugh echoing through the ruined estate.

  But before anyone could ask questions or drag us back to searching for the second spot, I turned to Silvien. She was still on her knees, trembling, completely undone. And for what she’d done for me… I found I still had at least enough strength and sanity to kneel beside her.

  “Silvien,” I murmured, placing a hand on her shoulder, “Are you alright?”

  “I-I… killed,” she choked through sobs. “I killed a person…”

  Technically, I could’ve gone with the Reddit-special response of: “Well, technically, you didn’t kill him, your sword just impaled him, and then that lady over there with sharp teeth turned his neck into mush, so reallyyyyy...”

  But for her, it made no difference. She felt as if she had. And that was what mattered.

  “You did,” I said softly, giving her head a gentle pat between her ears. “You did it to protect me. Thank you.”

  For a moment, she just blinked, her yellow eyes lifting to meet mine, searching my pale, feverish face for an answer to her question.

  “A-Am I not… dirty now?” she whispered, the question trembling out of her as if it came from the deepest part of her soul.

  And suddenly, Ephe’s stupid Optional Directive made perfect sense.

  This woman, this terrified, trembling, traumatized woman, made me want to protect her just as fiercely as she had protected me.

  “No,” I said with a warm smile. “Not to me.”

  It was the right answer.

  After a few more seconds of utter silence, her ears perked as she nodded rapidly, then wiped her tears with the backs of her fingers before pushing herself to her feet with a small, shaky sniff.

  “Thank you, Your Grace.”

  With a grunt, I wobbled back upright. “Could you… Wake the maids while I handle things here?”

  She nodded, grimacing as she freed her sword from the man’s chest, then hurried to the unconscious maids.

  I turned back to the other two women, forcing a fake smile. “Shall we continue looking for Stevin, then?”

  But the moment Airina’s smile sharpened into something predatory, I knew I had failed spectacularly.

  “Your Grace,” she said sweetly, far too sweetly, “Would you be so kind as to explain who this… lady is?”

  “I would rather not be part of this,” Relia sighed, already exhausted from a proper social event. “Inform me when I can come out to eat.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  And just like that, she dissolved into shadow, slipping back into my clothes, abandoning me like the treacherous little bat she was.

  'You coward. You absolute betrayer. Leaving me alone with these two lunatics? How dare you?!'

  [Is Elio talking about Ephe?]

  'Huh? No, Ephe. Go back to sleep or something.'

  [...]

  “Your Grace…” Enna added, her polite smile somehow gathering magic to it.

  I sighed, immediately regretting ever being saved from the earlier attack.

  “Well,” I said, resigned, “Things stand like this…”

  That damn walking propaganda machine was not in the second spot either. Which meant that we had to go looking for the third one after we spent the better part of an hour looking for it, as I lied my way into not telling Airina that I’ve become the calorie source for the Vampire that terrorized the cattle in their village after I claimed to have killed it.

  Luckily, seeing that I was really not feeling great at all, they gave up quickly and started the search the moment the maids recovered from their fainting frenzy.

  “Where is this third spot?” I asked casually.

  Enna turned her head sideways as she walked through an exit, taking us out into the back gardens near the giant boulders and the crimson painting their bottoms.

  “In a place they would not expect nobles and royals to hide,” Enna sighed before pointing with her chin at a place further away than the guest mansion we had stood in the previous days.

  The answer? A fucking latrine.

  No need to describe the smell of that one or how it took away all my sickness for a few moments, with my brain being overwhelmed on multiple fronts.

  The latrine was placed in a small open building, designed to be used by the people who cared for the gardens or by the servers. With the cesspit next to it and the constant source of underground water washing away both underground structures, it was impossible to find by anyone with half the pride of anyone in this damned place.

  Luckily, it seemed the underground design allowed for enough room so that they could hide in there without actually seeping their skin in week-old shit and dirty water.

  Unfortunately, however, was that the pride in those people had not yet vanished despite the situation they were in.

  “Well, well, well,” I said, lifting the carved stone slab people used as a bench while Enna illuminated the underground with her magic. “Not the place I expected to find you in, Silius. Or you, for that matter, Stevin.”

  “Your Grace!” the shitter gasped the moment his eyes met mine, “You were right, Clara.”

  “Told you so,” the Princess shrugged with a smug expression, before looking upward at me, “Sir- Your Grace, forgive my insolence in the past. I was not aware of your… titles and reputation. How is the battle faring?”

  Even knee-deep in shit, the small bastard was spreading propaganda at me. Not going to lie on this one, it was fucking impressive. The sheer dedication Stevin had when it came to spreading my bloody name was beyond fanatical.

  I could only sigh before replying to the Princess, “I think we had killed two of your cousins and many of your guards, Stevin, as we were looking for you, while Sir William and the Second Legion are holding the others at bay.”

  Craiena appeared in Enna’s light might at my words, looking upward, “Then, allow me to apologize for the same crime of offending you, Your Grace, but could I ask you to get us back up?”

  “But how did you get down in the first place?” I asked.

  “We jumped, of course,” Craiena shrugged, “It was easier than-”

  “Elio!” The Duke appeared in the light, his face a deep crimson, “Get me up there, I swear to the Gods above I will kill you.”

  “Father!”, “Silius!” Stevin, his sister, and the Duchess yelled in unison at him at the casual offence he threw at an apparent king, but only I could understand why Silius was like this.

  Stevin was perhaps too young to be much affected by it, while the ladies seemed to be fine with it, but Silius, a full-fledged man, was but a victim to Craiena’s smell, sight, and magic. Whether it was done intentionally or not, it felt as if this Sage Road lady was just entertaining herself, improving her time in the shitter.

  “Say please, Silius,” I taunted, “Got rope ready, just one word.”

  “Elio!”

  “Wrong answer,” I shrugged, then feigned a sigh, “Fine, don’t apologize to me. Apologize to your son for acting as if he were replaceable. Look who you are with down there, and look at the remainder of your House who had tried to kill not only him but everyone around him. See who is more important. See who is more easily replaceable.”

  An Elio high on fever seemed to be quite the bastard if I do say so myself, but perhaps it was good that I had not a care in the world by this point in time.

  “Just throw the rope, Your Grace,” Stevin waved his hands, awkwardness in his face, “No need for apologies.”

  “I swear to the fucking Gods I will allow every other person in that place to get out while I leave the pair of you down there for a fucking day to reflect on how similarly stupid you both are.”

  “Sounds like a proper deal to me, Your Grace,” the Duchess smiled, “Just send the-”

  I raised my hand, requesting silence as issues seemed to approach in the distance. Issues that were quickly confirmed by an approaching Airina and Silvien, who had remained outside to watch our surroundings.

  “Enemies,” Airina muttered, “Many of them.”

  “Did William lose?” I frowned at her words, only to see her shaking her head.

  “No, they are approaching from the city’s direction,” Airina explained, “They have already spotted us.”

  “It’s my brother,” Silius muttered, “Get us out of here, now.”

  Despite my wish for redemption, I nodded, throwing the rope Enna had taken in advance from the mansion.

  “Help them out,” I said to Enna and Airina, walking past them and going out toward the panicking maids and the trembling Silvien, “Take the maids inside.”

  With a confused nod, Silvien did as I commanded, pushing them toward the latrine as one after another more and more of Stevin’s House joined my side, watching the same sight I was looking at.

  At least five hundred strong soldiers were marching behind Stevin’s uncle as he approached atop a large horse, his grin wildly satisfied with the night so far.

  “What do you think?” I asked, knowing who stood by my right.

  “Well,” Silius sighed, “My little brother has always acted in his own interests. He was always calm and collected, knowing what to do and when to do it.”

  “Is that so?” I smirked just as Craiena and the Princess approached as well, stopping by our side.

  “Good evening, everyone,” said Stevin’s uncle, his tone and smugness making the bastard look as if he were victorious in whatever he set out to do tonight. A pity, really. My feverish mind was curious to see how such a man would look angry.

  As he opened his mouth to speak again, I instantly interrupted.

  “Give-”

  “I killed your son… Did you know that? I stabbed him, digging my sword so deep into his heart, then… I twisted. Poor boy was dead before his head touched the ground.”

  The man’s smug expression vanished with every word I uttered to the point he looked as if he had never smiled his entire life. His face turned blank.

  Then…

  “A pity that I didn’t get to take my time killing him as revenge for you throwing that poor Christof days ago in that canyon… fuckers couldn’t even kill the man properly. But be not afraid, I made sure your son was dead.”

  [Danger.]

  [Subject: Nihil Barta]

  [Species: Human.]

  [Age: 39.]

  [Road: Earth-Dancer.]

  [Reigncraft Classification Detected: Core.]

  [Intent: Skin; Torture; Kill.]

  Easy.

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