Chapter 71: Shadow (Part 2)
Lafael was still blissfully unaware.
Three years ago, Edward’s plan flopped because I made a run for it. He didn’t tell a soul and whisked everyone away overnight. I ended up being listed as missing, and no one at Shanter Castle knew what he had done—until I spilled the beans to the Duke yesterday. But the news still hadn’t reached Lafael.
Now, listening to Edward’s words, he suddenly looked like a deer caught in the headlights. The usually stoic guy, whose face could withstand splatters of bl**d without flinching, turned as pale as an overcooked noodle.
“What does he mean—! Pepé…”
Bella leaned over and whispered in his ear. After that, Lafael’s eyes turned red faster than a tomato in summer.
“What did you say?!”
Clang!
Without even thinking, he unsheathed his bl**d-soaked long sword and took a step toward Edward. But Bella swiftly blocked his path.
“Lafael, wait…”
Lafael glared at her, but Bella’s face remained calm, simply gesturing toward me. “Just hold on a second.”
Lafael seemed to catch her drift.
After a moment of hesitation, his face darkened as he reluctantly sheathed his sword. His sharp, hawk-like eyes seemed to want to drill holes right through Edward. “Edward, you’re dead meat today.”
Edward seemed deaf to Lafel’s threat, his face losing the last hue of color. I noticed his Adam’s apple twitch slightly as he nervously licked his cracked, dry lips.
“…Pepé, don’t… you’re just trying to scare me… right…” His eyes were shaking, his smile quivering, “You wouldn’t dare… you wouldn’t k*ll me… you can’t k*ll me…”
I crouched down.
“…Who knows?”
In the next moment, I swung the sickle in my hand without a hint of hesitation.
“Ah—!!”
The blade, infused with icy frost, pierced through Edward’s palm, pinning his right hand to the ground. He jolted and let out a howl that resembled nothing human.
Just before the bl**d spurted, it froze, a dark blue color spreading from the wound, rapidly crawling up his hand and toward his arm.
I released the sickle’s handle and calmly regarded his agonized face as I stood up and moved toward his other side.
“Pepé, don’t—! Don’t do this… ah…”
Hiss—
A new sickle appeared in my hand.
Hiss, hiss—
Edward was breathing heavily, realizing exactly what I was up to. Pain, fear, and anxiety bombarded his fragile nerves. He straightened his legs, desperately pressing his left hand down, pleading with me.
“Enough already, enough… I’m in so much pain… don’t… please…”
I locked eyes with him and crouched again.
“I’m begging you, where were you?”
Swish!
The sickle stabbed into his right leg, piercing through.
Edward’s body trembled as he half-sat up, letting out a muffled grunt before slumping back down.
He passed out.
But so what?
“Pepé…”
Someone seemed to be calling out to me… but whatever, I’ll ignore it for now.
I grabbed Edward’s unconscious arm and yanked his left hand from under him. A flash of blue light appeared in my hand as a third frostbitten sickle materialized, plunging downward without a moment’s pause.
It penetrated his left hand.
Edward jolted again, his eyes snapping wide open, straining to let out a hoarse animalistic cry.
“Ah!”
“Ahh—!!”
He turned his head, eyes bloodshot and wild, face contorted in madness.
“Peilo—!”
“No! Peilo wouldn’t do this to me, you’re not her!”
“You’re a demon—!!”
“You’re not her! You’re a demon—!”
I looked back at his eyes, completely unfazed.
“This is your payment.”
“It’s not cleared yet.”
Upon hearing this, Edward’s mouth quivered as he burst into tears.
“Waaah… don’t k*ll me… I still have to be the Emperor… please don’t k*ll me…”
Fear engulfed his reason, his hands trembled, his legs quaked.
Dark, swollen wounds covered in deep brown bl**d turned into chunks of ice, so he shouldn’t d*e too suddenly… right? I wasn’t entirely sure.
But his life was in my hands.
If I wanted him dead, he was toast. Yet, he was terrified of dying, so even being tortured like this, all he could do was tear up and look at me like a little child.
He must be scared and maybe even furious, but he wouldn’t dare make a move against me… or rather, he couldn’t.
What a…
I furrowed my brow.
In the next instant, a grin crept onto my face.
“Hehe.”
How amusing.
Creak, creak.
A fourth sickle appeared in my hand, and in the next moment, the blade flashed before my eyes.
Thud.
“Uh— cough… you… ugh…”
bl**d spilled from Edward’s mouth but he swallowed it down again, only for more to surge forth.
I glanced at the sickle still secure in my grip, then at the long sword embedded in his chest. I lifted my head in a daze, and there stood Lafael, his face stone-cold, slowly pulling the long sword from Edward’s chest.
“Uh… uh…”
Edward began to froth at the mouth.
With all his might, he lifted his head, bulging eyes locked on Lafael’s face, seemingly wanting to say something, but no sound escaped. The light in his pupils faded, and with a dull thud, his head dropped down.
Silence fell.
I stared at Lafael’s face.
He was splattered with who-knows-whose bl**d, wiping away beads of gray sweat. He lifted his left hand, which wasn’t holding a sword, as if wanting to pat my head, but noticed it was covered in grime and bl**d, so he pulled it back, wiping it on his leather armor. He looked at me with a warm smile.
“This isn’t something for you to handle. I’ll take care of it.”
“…Yeah.”
I nodded obediently.
In that moment, it felt like the first clear day after a heavy snowfall.
“Let’s go home.”
“Yep.”
Lafael sheathed his sword, turned toward Edward’s corpse, and pointed at it, directing the guards. “Take his body back.”
“Understood, Lord Count.”
“Pfft, this softy is finally dead! Did you see his face just now? Hahaha—”
“Lord Count, that was a beautiful stab!”
“Hey, hey, what are you all talking about? That’s not the point! Did you all see Lord Count smile just now? You saw that, right?”
The guards clustered around Lafael, chatting and laughing, throwing knowing glances at me.
“Saw it—! Hahaha, who said before that if he could see Lord Count smile before his d*ath, he’d be satisfied…”
“Lord Count, that girl, is she your fiancée?”
“Get lost.” Lafael playfully punched the guard who spoke, “What a way to talk! That’s my sister.”
“Oooh~”
“So beautiful— and fierce! I like it!”
“…Pepé, what are you just standing there for? Let’s go?”
“…Oh, coming!”
I glanced down at Edward.
His eyes were wide open, face twisted in a frozen expression, mouth slightly ajar, black hair marred with dirt and snow. His hands and one leg were pinned to the ground by the sickles.
Looking back at the frostbitten sickle still in my grip, it was still releasing thick white smoke.
I tossed it aside carelessly, but as I raised my foot to walk away, my brows knitted together.
In the next moment, the sound of rolling wheels echoed in the distance.
I turned to look, and a dark war chariot was slowly approaching, an all-too-familiar style, with a crescent moon symbol shimmering through the clouds—the family crest of Winter Moon.
In front of the chariot, Hoover was holding the reins with one hand and raising the other high, waving at us from afar. Behind him, dozens of hunters rode on sleek dark steeds, marching triumphantly toward us.
I recognized many faces among them; they were from the Shanter Army’s third squad.
“Caw—”
A raven screeched in the sky again, and I looked up.
Whoosh—
The massive black bird with crimson eyes flapped its wings and flew towards me.
