Chapter 11
Chapter 11
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: Poison at the Table
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The carriage came to a stop, and Enoch got out first. About to habitually escort Rachel, he checked his outfit and froze. Rachel handed him the luggage bag.
"Come on in! It feels like it's your first time here with Rachel, right?"
Rachel, having stepped down from the carriage, peered at the approaching man's silhouette through her hazy vision before switching to a smiling face.
*How repulsive.*
"Hello."
"It's been a while. You've become a proper young lady now!"
Rachel simply smiled. Dealing with people she didn't want to see was familiar.
"Thank you."
Words she didn't mean came easily.
"This is your first time here at the estate, isn't it, Rachel?"
"Yes."
"By the way, little brother, you're awfully quiet today?"
"I'm just tired."
"I should have considered that. You both must be exhausted, so rest until dinner is ready. Butler, show them to their rooms."
Paris Emporus didn't spare a glance at Enoch, dressed as a woman. He clearly took him for an ordinary maid.
They were then led to a room. Up to this point, nothing was much different from before.
But once inside the room, Enoch scanned the surroundings and lowered his voice.
"I can sense the aura of Black Magic."
"So does that mean my uncle has dabbled in Black Magic?!"
"No. I didn't sense the distinctive aura of a Black Sorcerer on him."
That meant he wasn't a Black Sorcerer himself, but he was connected to one somehow.
"Rachel's premonition might actually be true."
"Why?"
"Because sacrifices are needed to perform Black Magic."
Black Magic involved contracting with demons and borrowing their power. Thus, sacrifices had to be offered to those demons.
Blood, hearts, souls, emotions of joy. The offerings varied depending on the contracted demon, but generally, human sacrifices yielded far greater power than those of animals.
"I've heard that the power is maximized when killing someone harboring emotions like fear, sorrow, or anger rather than someone happy."
"Do you think my uncle plans to kill me to use Rachel as a sacrifice?"
"It's possible."
Time passed even as he wrestled with confusion.
The butler came to inform them that dinner was ready and began leading them to the dining hall.
The butler tried to send the maid-disguised Enoch to the servants' dining hall, but Rachel whined like a spoiled girl.
"I don't want to be separated from Eni."
"Understood. Her meal will be sent to the room later."
Ordinarily, masters and servants didn't dine together. The butler glared at Enoch as if to remind him of his place, but Enoch ignored him.
*I've come back to this place.*
Rachel clenched her fists.
The dining hall where Henri had been poisoned to death. The pure white statue of the woman and the feast on the table didn't register in her eyes.
Only the face of Paris Emporus, sitting at the head of the table with a smiling expression, was crystal clear. The way he smiled right before killing his brother sent chills down her spine.
She and Henri sat in their assigned seats as guided. Enoch stood in line with the other waiting maids.
"Eat up, plenty to go around."
Steaming soup was placed before them.
Henri, who until moments ago had insisted his brother wouldn't do such a thing, stirred his soup with a spoon. He lifted the spoon as if to bring it to his lips, then opened his mouth.
"Brother, is this mushroom soup?"
"Yes, why?"
"What kind of mushrooms?"
"Do I need to know that much?"
"I got a stomachache recently from eating mushrooms. You there, come here."
Henri suddenly called the maid standing behind him. The designated maid approached quietly.
"Take a bite."
"Pardon?"
"What are you doing, Henri?!"
Paris Emporus raised his voice. It wasn't common sense to offer food to a maid during a meal, but getting angry about it was odd too. Especially since he had seemed in such a good mood until just now.
To his brother's question, he replied.
"Just curious. What are you waiting for? Eat it. If you can't, I'll feed you."
He shoved the spoonful of soup into the maid's mouth. At that outrageous sight, Rachel was speechless. The baron shouted.
"You scoundrel!"
*What did that maid ever do to deserve this!*
As Rachel feared, the maid clutched her chest and collapsed. Henri squeezed his eyes shut as he watched her fall before him.
"I hoped it wasn't true...! How could you do this to me, brother?!"
He shot up from his seat and cried out. The anguish pulled from the depths of his heart echoed through the vast dining hall.
"It's all for the revival of the family. You could have just eaten the soup and died peacefully."
Paris Emporus mentioned his brother's death as if it were nothing.
"What does the family's revival have to do with me dying?"
"Well, you'd feel wronged dying without knowing anything."
The baron rose from his seat and approached his brother. Rachel focused on the situation while glancing at Enoch. He was checking the paths through the dining hall.
The baron's footsteps stopped in front of Henri. About three steps away. Then he shrugged and said.
"It's nothing much. Just doing now what I should have done 15 years ago. You're in the way, so I'm killing you, that's all."
"The year Rachel was born... Don't tell me you've been targeting her since then?!"
The circumstances clearly pointed to his brother targeting his daughter. Henri pieced together the timing and gasped at the realization that his brother had been after Rachel from the moment she was born.
"That's right. Rachel was born to be offered as a sacrifice. Hand her over, Henri. Do that, and I'll spare your life."
"Don't talk nonsense!"
At the offer to spare only him in exchange for his daughter's death, Henri's face twisted in rage as he shouted. The baron shook his head as if he had expected as much.
"That child was originally supposed to die unnamed. Hasn't she lived an extra 15 years by luck?"
Henri's hands trembled. He could no longer tolerate such drivel.
He grabbed the plate of poisoned soup from the table and hurled it at his brother. But the baron tilted his head to dodge it. Though splashed with soup, he brushed it off casually.
"Insolent fool. Seize him at once!"
Five waiting maids moved to grab Henri and Rachel. But someone reacted even more swiftly. Enoch.
He dashed right up to the table and snatched all of Henri's forks and knives. Then he hurled them at the maids.
The flying forks and knives pierced the hem of the maids' skirts into the marble floor. The maids' uniforms, made of sturdy fabric to resist stains and damage, didn't tear easily, pinning their feet in place.
"Run for now!"
Rachel was already prepared to flee. Henri snapped to attention at Enoch's shout.
"Brother, you will regret this."
"No, I won't regret it. Offer Rachel, and wealth and glory are guaranteed. Seize her!"
Paris Emporus shook off his brother's gritted words and bellowed.
Soldiers waiting in the corridor burst through the door. Six in number. Not many, but a threat to the powerless Henri and Rachel.
Enoch drew the sword strapped to his leg beneath the loose skirt and charged into their midst. Like a wolf rampaging among sheep? His sword gleamed white as it cleaved two soldiers.
"I'm sorry."
His immature body swung the sword fluidly, looking precarious at first, but his stance soon stabilized.
"Go on ahead!"
Hearing Enoch's shout, Rachel and Henri bolted toward the narrow door.
"You can't escape this place. Even if you make it out of the castle, the walls will stop you."
The baron's mocking voice came from behind. Rachel gritted her teeth and followed Henri.
Clang!
Another soldier swung his sword, but Enoch, having cut down his current opponent, blocked it.
Under his protection, the two passed through the door and raced down the long corridor.
Henri gripped Rachel's hand tightly with his sweaty, slippery palm. As if he wouldn't let go.
Their breaths grew ragged. Especially Rachel's stamina was abysmal, her legs giving out before they even cleared the corridor.
*Damn this body!*
Henri scooped up his daughter's weakening form.
"Father."
"I'm sorry for not believing you."
He apologized while heaving for breath. At his desperate struggle, Rachel felt her nose sting unexpectedly.
Rachel clung to his neck and shoulder, looking back. No pursuing soldiers. Enoch was running toward them, having sliced his skirt hem with his sword.
"Keep running!"
But Henri's stamina wasn't great either. Just basic adult fitness, nothing more. He eventually leaned against the wall, gasping.
Enoch caught up immediately and infused divine power into him and Rachel. Their bodies recovered, regaining vitality.
"Thank you."
"It's not over until we escape this castle."
Dong, dong, dong!
No sooner had Enoch spoken than the bell tolled. Normally a signal for intruders, but with none present, it was surely a call to capture Henri and Rachel.
They started running again. Rachel got down from Henri's arms and ran on her own feet. But guards appeared from the opposite direction.
"There they are!"
"Kill the man, capture the blonde girl!"
No longer treating him as a brother, the guards called him crudely.
Enoch hunched his upper body and leaped into the guards, just like before.
Clang!
"Urk!"
"The intruder's stronger than expected!"
Enoch's pure white sword claimed a soldier's life. Red blood splattered on his white face, but he had no time to wipe it.
"I sense a large number of presences ahead. Even I can't protect you two while fighting them."
Enoch said in an urgent tone. He could handle enemies alone, but now burdened with Henri and Rachel, he couldn't fight while guarding them.
"The more we head to the exit, the more soldiers there'll be."
Henri finally realized and muttered. The baron would block the exits to prevent their escape.
Only one here could fight, but the enemies were many. Breaking through head-on was impossible.
At that moment, Rachel sensed something from the corridor behind where they had come.
Thinking enemies had already caught up, she hurriedly looked back, but no one was there. Instead, a black rabbit hopping away came into view.
"A rabbit?"
Rachel murmured unwittingly.
And for good reason—the black rabbit appeared in the original story too. Rachel's pet rabbit named 'Blackie,' with its white paws.
In the game, whenever Rachel wandered the mansion, the black rabbit with white feet would appear. When she chased it, it vanished suddenly.
Jung Yu-ri, regressing repeatedly as Rachel, had never even seen the pet rabbit. Yet now, the white-pawed rabbit appeared before her.
*Should I follow it?*
The rabbit disappeared beyond the corridor in an instant. Footsteps of many approached from ahead. With no choice, the three turned back the way they came.
"There was a fork in the road on the way, so head that way first."
Rachel said. No other options. The three turned their steps and ran back the path they had come.