Chapter 112: Queen Maker (12)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 112: Queen Maker (12)
A man who introduced himself as Louis struck up a conversation.
From his phony smile, his intentions were obvious without asking. Neria was slightly annoyed that her training had been interrupted, but she tried to ignore him and continue.
“The bitch who spread her legs so easily for Gis is now playing hard to get.”
That was, until she heard that name—a name she never wanted to hear again.
She turned her head, her icy gaze fixed on Louis.
“What did you just say…?”
Caught in her frigid stare, Louis was momentarily taken aback. Why the sudden change in attitude from a woman who had been ignoring him? He had only tossed out a single comment to vent his own frustration.
‘Hmm? Ah… right, that’s what happened.’
He’d said it without thinking, but it seemed he had struck a nerve.
Louis met Neria’s cold eyes and smirked vilely.
“I said the bitch who spread her legs so easily for Gis is playing hard to get.”
He enunciated each and every syllable, hoping his words would twist the arrogant woman’s insides. Judging by how her already cold gaze turned even more chilling, it seemed he had succeeded.
“...”
Neria took a step forward, her eyes never leaving Louis.
Louis scoffed.
She seemed absolutely furious…
‘What’s she going to do about it?’
Just as Louis couldn’t touch Neria, she couldn’t carelessly touch him either.
He was the eldest son of the Sentry family and one of the key figures in the current negotiations.
If she had any sense, she would stop.
If she had any sense…
‘What the. Why isn’t she stopping?’
Neria didn’t stop walking.
Louis grew tense and bit his lip. Maybe he was overreacting to her just walking toward him. But the chilling sensation that grew with every step she took warned him of the impending danger.
Her escort knights also sensed that something was wrong.
They both placed their hands on the hilts of their swords.
“Sir Neria, stop. If you come any closer, we will consider it a threat against the young master and will attack.”
Thud, thud.
“Sir Neria!”
The escort knight shouted imperiously, but Neria paid him no mind. The moment she took another step, the two knights drew their swords without hesitation.
A slash aimed for her left thigh and a thrust for her right shoulder.
Neria twisted her body to dodge the slash, then parried the thrust with her sword.
“Ugh?!”
The knight’s sword was violently knocked aside, breaking his stance.
‘What is this strength?!’
One of the things swordsmen feared most was having their stance broken. As a knight, he knew this well and always moved with a precise center of gravity in every exchange.
But the sword Neria had just swung had shattered his posture. That was something that shouldn’t happen unless there was an overwhelming difference in strength.
While the knight was still in shock, Neria swung the shield on her left arm.
“Keuk…!”
The full plate armor dented where the shield struck. The knight clutched his abdomen, staggered, and then fell to his knees.
Seizing the opportunity, the remaining knight moved in low on Neria’s left.
Vwoom—
The sword glowed blue.
He swung the blade, now imbued with sword aura, in an upward slash.
He intended to sever her arm, shield and all.
Thunk.
The sword, meant for a clean cut, was stopped by the shield.
And not just any shield, but a mere training shield made of wood with a few scraps of iron attached.
“What is this…”
He wasn’t even given a moment to be surprised. Neria dropped her sword and punched him in the face. Not wearing a helmet, he was knocked out cold.
“Wh-what… What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”
The one most shocked by this situation wasn’t the two knights, but Louis. Two of his family’s top-ranking knights had been defeated with such absurd ease. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
But contrary to his thoughts, this outcome was only natural.
The two knights were level 34 and 37, respectively.
Neria, on the other hand, was level 51.
There was a massive gap in their fundamental physical abilities from the start.
On top of that, Neria had a record of fighting and winning against eight knights simultaneously—and not just any riff-raff, but the royal family’s elite knights. It would have been strange for her to struggle against just two kingdom knights.
Clang—
After incapacitating the knights, Neria threw her shield to the ground as well.
Her frigid expression unchanged, she strode toward Louis.
A terrified Louis backed away, but Neria closed the distance faster.
She stopped right in front of his face and spoke.
“What did you just say? Say it again.”
Her haggard face and icy eyes combined to create an overwhelming pressure that bore down on Louis. An ordinary person would have apologized and tried to move on, but Louis’s pride was far stronger than that of an ordinary person.
Though he was trembling inside, he forced strength into his eyes, pretending he wasn’t.
“I said the whore who does nothing but spread her legs for Gis is acting all high and mighty. What, was I wrong?”
Squeeze.
Neria clenched her fist.
“What are you going to do with that fist? Don’t tell me you’re going to hit me? You’d better not. If you do… Keuk?!”
Louis’s body bent over like a hunchback.
He clutched his stomach, his body trembling uncontrollably. Neria had held back, but he was not a man accustomed to pain.
Just as he felt his consciousness fading, Neria raised her hand.
Seeing this, Louis quickly snapped back to his senses.
“St-stop! I apologize for my earlier slip of the tongue. So…”
SMACK—
But before he could finish, a slap sent him tumbling to the ground.
“I-I’m sorry. I was wrong…”
THUD!
She kicked him in the stomach.
“Kuaargh…”
Getting hit in the same spot again made it feel difficult to even breathe. As he could do nothing but groan, unable to form proper words, Neria stood over him, looking down.
—The bitch who spread her legs so easily for Gis is now playing hard to get.
Louis’s words echoed in her ears.
Gis.
The moment she heard that utterly disgusting name, unpleasant memories, sensations, and voices surfaced on their own.
Aah… I hate it…
Please, just don’t say that name in front of me.
It’s disgusting.
It makes me so angry.
What did I ever do to you?
Why do you bring up that name and make things so hard for me?
Why do you torment me like this?
Why?!
A murky mix of loathing, disgust, unease, and rage clouded her eyes and ears.
Neria lifted her foot.
Just as she was about to bring it down hard on Louis.
“Neria.”
She heard the voice she loved most in the world. Ironically, just hearing that voice once was enough to melt away all the viscous emotions that had ensnared her.
Neria turned toward the direction of the voice.
“What are you doing over there?”
Cloud was there.
…Along with that woman, Lorian’s sister.
Why was he with her, of all people, at this late hour?
Wasn’t his lover Katarina?
Unable to contain her questions, she was about to ask him about it.
“Wow… you really wrecked them. How are you going to handle the fallout?”
Lorraine’s words, uttered in admiration as she looked at the three fallen men, snapped Neria back to reality.
‘Wh-what have I done…?’
She turned back to look at the person she had just been beating.
She couldn’t remember his name.
But seeing him accompanied by two escort knights, he was clearly a noble.
Since she didn’t recognize his face, he had to be part of Lorian’s group, currently in negotiations with Rufus. And she had just assaulted such a person.
What would the consequences of this be?
Could she handle it on her own?
Probably not.
They would surely use this incident as leverage to gain an advantage in the negotiations.
“Ah…”
Cold sweat trickled down the back of Neria’s neck.
The realization that her actions had caused trouble for Cloud made her mind go blank.
As Neria stood there, dazed, Cloud placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Huh? Uh, yeah…”
“Why are you even asking that? It’s obvious she’s the one who beat them up one-sidedly—Ow! D-did you just hit me?!”
“You should shut up. Open your mouth again and you’ll get another smack on the head.”
Cloud raised his fist. After confirming that Lorraine’s slightly parted lips were now firmly shut, he turned his gaze back to Neria.
“What happened?”
“N-no… it’s just…”
“I’m not scolding you, so don’t tremble. What did they do?”
Cloud’s voice was gentle.
In truth, it was more of a flat monotone than gentle, but to Neria in her current state, even that felt like a kindness.
‘…I should tell him.’
She was completely unharmed, while her opponents were all lying on the ground.
No matter how you looked at it, it seemed like a one-sided assault on her part. Even if they had started it and resisted with their swords, there were no witnesses to testify to that.
Most people wouldn’t believe her.
‘But Cloud might…’
He might believe me.
No, he will believe me.
Neria opened her mouth to explain what had just happened.
And then closed it.
Cloud tilted his head.
“What’s wrong? Why did you stop?”
He told her it was okay and to speak freely, but she just shook her head, her lips sealed.
Neria wanted to tell him, she really did.
She wanted to tell him that the noble bastard had mentioned Gis and brought back her painful memories.
But she couldn’t.
She had already inflicted a deep wound on Cloud in connection with Gis.
How could she possibly mention that man’s name in front of Cloud?
Just hearing that man’s name from her lips would make him recall unpleasant memories.
‘Ah… why can’t I do anything right?’
I’ve always tried so hard for his sake.
Why do things always go so wrong?
Am I just a useless existence to him…?
Neria hung her head low and said in a dejected voice.
“I’m sorry…”
As the words left her mouth, emotions began to well up inside her. A sorrow stained with helplessness and guilt. Clenching her fists to hold back the tears that threatened to spill, she said it again.
“I’m sorry…”
*
Neria, on the verge of tears, and Cloud, comforting her.
Watching the two of them, Lorraine narrowed her eyes.
‘She’s the one who beat them up, and now she’s the one crying?’
Is this bitch insane?