Chapter 157: Dragon's Eye, Human Heart (21)
Chapter 157: Dragon's Eye, Human Heart (21)
Ian fell fast asleep right then and there.
Confirming this, a faint look of disappointment flickered in Neris’s eyes. She had just started to get fired up, but the conclusion was unexpectedly dull.
With a lukewarm expression, Neris withdrew the Aura she had spread around. As she did, the senses she had planted throughout the space were cut off one by one, and the dim surroundings brightened.
Several daggers were embedded in the ceiling. In truth, the nature of Neris’s Aura was simple.
By spreading her mana, she could perceive the objects within that space in minute detail. This applied to humans as well, and she could even distort the senses of living beings.
By applying this, she could perform a few parlor tricks.
She could pretend to keep her hands behind her back while actually embedding daggers in the ceiling, dropping them whenever necessary.
It was a simple feat if she momentarily distracted her target's senses. To drop a dagger, she only had to throw another one at it.
Of course, an agent of the Imperial Intelligence Bureau would never leak such information.
Her skills, her abilities, and even her very identity were a web of lies. Neris, too, harbored many hidden secrets.
She shifted her light-green eyes toward Ian.
She was about to begin the torture.
She had to find out exactly who he had received his information from. The Imperial Intelligence Bureau was not such a pushover that the second son of a rural viscount could see through their cover.
Granted, the Academy branch was not an official branch, and the agents stationed here were merely trainees who had yet to complete their full training.
In the first place, the official branches of the Imperial Intelligence Bureau moved their headquarters and changed their covers periodically. It was impossible for them to masquerade as a club with a long history and tradition spanning hundreds of years.
Even so, the Imperial Intelligence Bureau was still the Intelligence Bureau.
Even if it was established for the purpose of scouting talent from the Academy, its secrecy was absolute. If information had been leaked, it was only natural to dig out the source.
Otherwise, Neris’s bright future might be jeopardized.
"Sigh," Neris let out a deep breath.
It seemed she would have to apply even more rigorous torture. His crime: offending her mood.
It wasn't a bad prospect. Listening to the pleas of arrogant nobles was one of Neris’s secret hobbies.
It was then that Neris’s eyes flew wide open.
Suddenly, a chilling shiver ran down her spine.
It was something that shouldn't be happening. Behind her back, she felt the presence of someone staggering to their feet.
Impossible.
His mana had been restricted. The anesthetic poison her subordinates used was a potent toxin capable of toppling even a mammoth from the Northern Moss Zone in seconds.
Her gaze, filled with disbelief, slowly drifted toward the man.
Indifferent golden eyes were staring back at her.
The moment she met those eyes, Neris’s body froze. it was a reaction of pure instinct.
It was as if he had become a different person.
With a leisurely air, the man pulled the dagger embedded in his thigh.
As the dagger rolled across the floor with a cold clatter, the man finally spoke.
"…Neris Findleston."
The shock was like a bolt of lightning. Neris’s body shuddered violently.
Commoners did not have surnames. Therefore, it was only normal for Neris not to have one.
But in reality, she did have a surname. It was a name she had discarded a very long time ago.
It was information that no one should know, save for those within the deepest reaches of the Imperial Household.
How on earth… Her mind went blank, but Neris immediately bared her hostility, tightening her grip on her dagger.
"That name… who did you hear it from?"
The man let out a long exhale. A frigid chill now resided in his once-hazy eyes.
"I was trying to listen quietly, but you really are doing the most… I wish you were a bit more tight-lipped."
"…I’m asking you who you heard it from!"
The hand holding the dagger she thrust forward was trembling. Neris’s eyes began to be dyed with a terror whose source she could not identify.
It was a secret no one could know. Naturally, this man shouldn't have known it either.
Neris’s sharp mind immediately made a judgment.
I have to suppress him again, right now.
She felt no trace of mana from the man. That meant the poison was still in effect.
Even if the anesthesia had worn off, if he couldn't use mana, he was no match for her.
Having reached that conclusion, Neris immediately kicked off the ground.
Thump. With a small vibration, Neris’s figure shot forward like an arrow.
The time it took for her to reach the man’s immediate vicinity was a mere heartbeat.
It was a speed that could not be countered without mana. Just as Neris expected, the man stood there without moving an inch.
I’ve got him. In terms of raw power, she still held the overwhelming advantage.
Just as she was certain of her victory, right before she could plunge her dagger—
Her eyes widened once more.
An unbelievable sight had entered her field of vision.
The air itself was bleeding.
Mana, shimmering like crimson blood, carved a path. Along that path, a bizarre and mysterious pattern was being drawn.
It was a character of complex form.
If it hadn't been for Neris, it might have been impossible to identify its nature immediately.
But the moment she saw it, Neris had no choice but to recognize it. She knew exactly what that character being etched into the air was.
Any agent belonging to the Imperial Household would. Because that secret inscription was no different from the authority of the Emperor himself.
In that slowed-down moment of time, the moment the blood-red character took its complete form—
Whoosh! A wick of flame ignited, burning fiercely around the pattern.
What would happen next was obvious. Neris wanted to pull back immediately, but she couldn't retract her body, which was already mid-swing.
A dark despair flickered in Neris’s eyes. Her body was blown back immediately afterward.
BOOM!
An explosion erupted.
Flames swirled through the room. Documents caught fire and scattered. Furniture was half-destroyed around the epicenter, and Neris was sent flying, slamming into the wall.
Neris gasped at the dull impact. That was actually the lesser of her pains.
The flames enveloped her body.
A searing agony scorched her skin. She was resisting with the mana she had left, but it was clear as day that her skin would soon melt under the heat.
A scream tore from Neris’s throat out of the sheer terror of being burned alive.
"Aaaah! Aaaaaaaagh! H-Help! Save me!"
However, in the middle of the devastated room, the only man who remained unscathed simply walked toward her with a leisurely pace.
Hope flickered in the eyes of Neris, who was rolling on the floor trying to extinguish the flames.
Surely, he wouldn't intend to burn her to death. Death by fire was a punishment reserved for the most heinous of criminals.
Because it inflicted the most horrific pain.
Neris believed the man would have a shred of mercy. And as if responding to that expectation, the man pulled out a canteen from his waist.
He’s opening the cap to pour water on me.
The flames had only brushed her for a moment. Even so, the room was already filled with numerous flickering fires.
In such a situation, one might wonder what a mere canteen of water could do, but Neris, engulfed in flames, had long since lost her ability to reason.
The man tilted the canteen just as Neris hoped.
Trickle. A strange scent wafted from the falling droplets. Even amidst the burning, Neris’s sensitive nose caught the smell.
The smell of alcohol?
Neris’s eyes went blank for a moment. And in the next instant, the flames surrounding her grew even more intense.
"Aaaah! Aaaaaaaagh! S-Stop! Please, stop!"
Neris’s thrashing became even more violent. Without a word, the man let out a deep sigh and then kicked her away.
Thud. Her body was sent tumbling out of the Department Head's Office. Immediately after, the man picked up a water bucket that had been sitting with a mop.
Splash! The dirty mop water was sprayed over her, and steam billowed up.
The intensity of the flames surrounding Neris died down. She lay curled in a ball, shivering uncontrollably, until the moisture finally extinguished the fire completely.
A foul stench filled the air.
It was the natural result of being doused in mop water. Neris slowly lowered the arms shielding her head and looked up at Ian with eyes drenched in terror.
This man had intended to kill her.
Pouring the alcohol from the canteen was the decisive proof. No sane person would pour alcohol on a woman about to burn to death.
A cold-blooded man among cold-blooded men. Yet, Neris inwardly thought it made sense.
He was a man from the deepest part of the Imperial Household, a place no different from a den of demons.
Trembling violently, Neris staggered onto her knees.
She asked in a shaking voice.
"…W-Where did you come from?"
The man turned his indifferent gaze to the side for a moment. He seemed to be contemplating.
Soon, he spoke in a low, sunken tone.
"Neris Findleston… I will give you one piece of advice on how to treat me from now on."
Neris bowed her head like a drowned rat. It was the proper etiquette to show a representative of the Emperor.
However, a faint suspicion still lingered in her eyes.
The tables had turned far too suddenly. Even for someone as quick-witted as her, the situation was bewildering.
Neris’s gaze flickered upward. It was an attempt to read the man’s eyes.
But in the next moment—
Crunch! The sound of shattering cartilage echoed. Neris’s eyes blankly drifted toward her shoulder.
It was a hand axe.
Neris, already confused, had no choice but to let out another shrill scream.
"Ugh, aaaah! Aaaaaaaagh!"
But soon, Neris’s scream was cut short.
The man grabbed her by the hair and forced her to meet his eyes.
The moment she met those frigid golden eyes, Neris clamped her mouth shut. her pupils shook violently.
She couldn't read his gaze. He simply looked as though he were always in earnest.
It was then that the man’s mouth spat out a low warning.
"…Do not question me."
Neris could only nod her head frantically.
She didn't even realize that tears were streaming down her face.
* * *
Ian thought as he poured the liquid from the canteen.
Oh, right. This was alcohol.