Chapter 62
Chapter 62
Translator: XZY
Chapter 62: Watercolor (4)
***
While maintaining her composure, Elente quickly judged how the current situation was unfolding.
This situation, in which the Duplein mansion was being devoured whole by demonic beasts, was not natural no matter how one looked at it.
This was a family with a 5-Star mage sitting in the seat of the patriarch; if the situation was going to be brought under control, it should have been done so long ago.
There was still no sign of any resolution to this situation, where it seemed even the servants had been devoured whole by something. For the response to be this sluggish, there was a high probability that the family's leadership was involved in this matter from the very beginning.
In a way, it meant that the possibility of this ball itself being a massive trap could not be ruled out.
‘The likelihood that all the members of the Duplein family are in on this seems low. There’s no reason for the most powerful family in the empire’s southwest to orchestrate such a suspicious affair. It’s likely the independent action of one of its members...’
After carefully checking the corridor one more time, Elente looked at Aiseline's expression, who was somehow managing to collect her flustered heart.
If this was truly an affair carried out at the family level, there was no way Aiseline would not know about it. She would not have encountered Elente in a place like this, and that trembling appearance would have to be an act.
Elente’s intuition concluded that was not likely the case.
“Lady Aiseline, you probably don’t know what’s going on, do you? As you can see, the mansion’s servants have been bewitched by a strange power and are not in their right minds. There are plenty of distinguished guests who were dragged to the main hall, but it seems difficult to guarantee their lives.”
“Wh-what are you talking about? What is happening at the Duplein mansion...”
“If you must see it with your own two eyes to believe it, then do so.”
Just by looking at the already collapsed outer wall of the mansion, one could infer that the situation was anything but ordinary.
Aiseline swallowed a dry gulp of saliva. Although she had just regained consciousness, it was a situation where she had to get her head spinning one way or another.
It was the same for Elente.
Now that things had come to this, there was a high probability that this would remain a great stain on the Duplein family.
The Imperial Family would demand accountability, or the various guest families would hold them responsible, and in the worst-case scenario, their title and territory could be confiscated.
The end of a noble who had lost their territory was usually a wretched one.
If they could continue to command their own forces or private soldiers, they might be able to make a living by acting as a mercenary corps, but women with nowhere to lean on often fell into a terrible pit.
Elente quietly looked at Lady Aiseline.
Her appearance, biting her lower lip and looking out the window, was still noble and beautiful. But she was on the verge of ruin.
When she first entered Ebelstein’s high society at the Rosea Salon, she had felt envy at this flawless girl’s appearance and had even tried to bully her.
There were also many times when Elente even felt a sense of awe for Aiseline, who did not even bat an eye no matter how much Elente tried for days on end.
However, even though Aiseline's long-awaited downfall was right before her eyes, she did not feel any sense of triumph in her heart.
Rather, seeing Aiseline's seriously hardened expression, even Elente felt a sense of tension rising. It was a truly strange thing.
“Lady Aiseline, please listen to me carefully. It might feel a bit sudden since you just regained consciousness, but I believe the Duplein family is facing the crisis of a lifetime.”
“...I have to go out and see for myself.”
“...”
“Lady Elente, I think you should first find a way to escape the mansion. Or there’s the option of hiding in the wine cellar in the basement... or a place like the library and waiting for rescue. I know the mansion’s layout well, so I can help you.”
Even in that situation, Aiseline was worrying about Elente and trying to ensure her safety. It was a judgment truly befitting of her.
Elente’s head was spinning rapidly.
Looking at the current situation, the Duplein family was, at a minimum, in decline, and at a maximum, facing ruin.
The mansion was half-destroyed, and the high-ranking vassals and officials in key positions were not even showing their faces in this situation.
It meant that they were all experiencing a crisis in some way or another.
There was a high probability that today would be the last day this girl before her eyes, Aiseline, would exist as a noble, beautiful flower standing at the pinnacle of all aristocratic culture.
She would become a young lady with no value as a connection, without even the backing of her family, ostracized from the world of nobility.
Therefore, it was right to cut off a person who would not be beneficial.
The decline of the Duplein family was a major event that would bring about a huge seismic shift in the aristocracy of the southwest.
If her safety was secured, it would be best to inform her family of this situation as soon as possible.
If she could get out of the mansion and send a carrier pigeon, she would be able to inform the Belmeade main house of this enormous news faster than anyone else.
In a turbulent era where a great change was happening in the balance of power, being able to obtain this important information faster than anyone else was a significant matter.
If Margrave Belmeade learned of this fact, he could dispatch soldiers to gain merit in resolving the mansion’s disaster, or he might be able to legally occupy this mansion and the surrounding territory by stationing private soldiers.
And once they succeeded in legally stationing soldiers, it would be easy to exert influence over the area without withdrawing those soldiers.
A pretext was only difficult to create at first; once it existed, it had a nature of growing, with one thing leading to another.
‘...’
The Duplein family was a great lion that had commanded the aristocracy of the empire’s southwest.
But no matter the beast, its end was the same after it died at the end of its lifespan. It was nothing more than a chunk of meat that all the eagles and beasts of the mountain would rush to tear the flesh from.
Countless nobles would thrust their heads in and rush to tear at this huge carcass. Being able to thrust one’s head in first in that war was a tremendous privilege.
For the sake of the Belmeade family, she had to escape the mansion and run with this news to the Belmeade family.
Her instincts, honed by struggling for a long time in the cold high society of nobles, were whispering so.
However, the sight of Aiseline, who had not forgotten her demure posture even in this situation and had risen from the bed, was anything but ordinary.
“Lady Elente, please find a way to escape. I will give you all the information you need. As the eldest daughter of the Duplein family, I must go to the main hall and see what is happening.”
“Forget it, let’s go together.”
“Pardon?”
Elente did not hesitate for long.
Even in a situation where the Duplein family’s decline was almost certain, she purposely made an inefficient choice.
Aiseline had also heard that Elente’s mind worked fast in situations like this.
Therefore, even Aiseline could not help but open her eyes wide in surprise.
“Why, Lady Elente...”
It was the moment Elente was about to ponder what to say in response to that question.
Kugugung, kung—
There was a feeling as if the earth was shaking.
The entire mansion was vibrating. It was a huge tremor, as if the world would collapse at any moment.
Aiseline, startled, quickly ran to the window.
The main hall, with its collapsed outer wall, came clearly into view.
Through the gap in the collapsed wall, a grotesquely shaped pile of skeletons raised its body. Its body was already so massive that it was breaking through the ceiling of the mansion’s main hall.
“Wh-what... is that...”
An ominous, dark red magic seemed to cover the world.
It was the 4-Star Necromancy-type magic, ‘Skeleton Giant’. Its palm bone alone was large enough to overturn a decent-sized room.
Faced with that brutally massive appearance, both girls could not help but be overwhelmed.
Kugugugung, kung— !
The giant Skeleton Giant gripped the roof of the west wing to raise its body. With just that, half of the western building was smashed and collapsed.
On a rainy night sky, the monster that had raised its massive body began to run towards the garden, and soon, it began to swing its body as if to destroy even the building where Aiseline was.
<><><>
Valerian admitted it in an instant.
In a duel situation where victory and defeat were decided by skillfulness and reflexes, he could never win against Derek.
Against a seasoned mercenary like that, who had developed his senses to their limit, he had to drive the situation into a pure and simple power struggle.
Therefore, Valerian raised his staff and manifested magic with all his might.
Pure and overwhelming power.
He intended to crush Derek with an impact and mass that would not allow for blocking or deflecting.
Soon, the giant Skeleton Giant that had risen at Valerian’s command looked down at Derek, who appeared as small as an ant.
Hwoooong—
Kung— !
Despite its massive body, its movements were nimble.
The sole of its foot, which flew through the rain, directly stomped on and crushed the ground where Derek had been just a moment before.
The marble floor was shattered, and the protruding stone fragments scattered around.
Derek manifested magic to protect the distinguished guests who were about to be buried under the rocks.
It was a 2-Star Combat-type magic, a large-scale protective barrier. Its range was wide, but it was a magic that consumed a lot of mana, as much as it was wide.
Hoodoooodoo—
Having dealt with all the falling rocks, Derek raised his body again and ran out towards the central garden.
If he continued to fight inside the main hall like this, the distinguished guests would start to get swept up and die.
Before the unconscious distinguished guests were sacrificed, he had to subdue Valerian.
Derek jumped onto the fountain in the center of the mansion, then launched himself towards the mansion’s annex.
For now, he could not subdue that giant skeleton soldier with firepower. It was a situation with no answer unless he cut off the mana or subdued the magic user at once.
‘The battle can’t drag on for too long either. If I give him an opening, Valerian will kill all the distinguished guests and try to save the Grand Duke.’
He understood his guilt, wanting to pick up the pieces of the sin of killing the Grand Duke, but his methodology was wrong.
There was no guarantee that he could succeed with a 5-Star Necromancy-type magic, and even if he did succeed, all that would be left for the Duplein family would be the stigma of being a family of mass murderers who had committed a taboo and sacrificed numerous mages.
In the end, only darkness would remain for the future of the Duplein family.
From the perspective of the madness-stricken Valerian, this might be the only way he had left to struggle, but from Derek’s perspective, it was absolutely unacceptable.
Kung! Kung! Kung— !
The Skeleton Giant that had fully raised its body was striding towards Derek.
The huge giant closed the distance that Derek was creating by sprinting with just a single step. It was the moment it brought down its huge fist towards Derek.
Kwang— !
The garden’s fountain was shattered, and half of it disappeared, swept away by the aftermath of the attack.
The displaced soil spread out as if to cover the surroundings. The trees of the beautifully maintained flowerbeds were also floating in the sky.
In the midst of that, Derek slammed a fireball into the tip of the giant’s left foot, where its center of gravity was weakest.
The firepower was somewhat weakened due to the rain, but it was enough to break the giant’s center of gravity.
The Skeleton Giant that fell backward grabbed the roof of the Duplein mansion’s east wing and somehow maintained its posture.
Kuguguk, kwagagagagak— !
However, in the process, the east wing building also began to collapse. Derek, who was running towards the annex, quietly looked at the giant’s appearance, then his eyes widened.
At the end of the east wing, there were a few guest rooms. He had tried to minimize casualties, but if it started to destroy buildings recklessly like that, there would naturally be casualties.
In the midst of that, he saw the figure of a girl being swept away by the aftermath of the collapse at the end of the east wing building.
“Kyaaaaaak!”
That girl with her elegant hair let down beautifully was Lady Aiseline.
In the guest waiting room with its shattered windows and outer wall, she was on the verge of being swept away and disappearing by the aftermath of the collapse.
Quickly drawing out her mana, Aiseline tightly gripped a decorative structure protruding from the outer wall to avoid being swept away by the wind and rain.
However, the outer wall structures, drenched in rainwater, were all slippery.
Tak— !
Aiseline’s slender hand slipped.
Aiseline’s body was about to fall into the night sky.
Aiseline quickly drew out her mana to minimize the impact upon landing, but Wind-type magic was too unfamiliar a field.
Still, it was the moment she was about to release her mana with the thought of at least avoiding a fatal injury.
Tak— !
Pababat— !
Derek, who had nimbly climbed the outer wall, quickly caught Aiseline and rolled through the flowerbed.
He rolled a few times on the mud-caked flowerbed and gently placed Aiseline down on the lawn.
“De-De-Derek-ssi...! Heok...!”
“Get up. There’s no time to ask how you are.”
“Ye-yes?!”
Just as she was about to ask Derek, whom she had not seen in a while, if he was alright, the giant skeleton that had been chasing Derek began to bring down its fist again.
Kwaang— !
Every single blow was a fatal one. If even one hit was allowed, it was clear that he would be crushed, bones and all, and die instantly.
Derek wrapped his arm around Aiseline’s waist, kicked off the ground, and rolled on the muddy ground once more.
The giant’s fist that landed where Derek had been, broke the window beyond the flowerbed and completely shattered a room.
Kugugung! Kung— !
“E-ugh…!”
When Aiseline managed to get up, she was in a sorry state.
Her hair, which was always beautifully combed down to look like ebony, was caked in mud. One side of her elegant dress was torn, and her bare leg revealed through it was covered in scratches.
Heok heok, she managed to get up from the mud, but each and every step felt heavy because of the rainwater, sweat, and clumps of dirt stuck to her whole body.
“De-Derek-ssi...! L-Lady Elente was with me... I-I have to check if she’s safe...”
“Keep running! We don’t have time for that now!”
Derek got up and broke a window beyond the flowerbed. He was telling her to go inside the building.
He intended to run around inside the building for now and get out of the giant skeleton’s sight. They would be able to run away more until the building collapsed completely.
Aiseline quickly climbed over the windowsill and went inside. As she entered, she saw that it was the room from the days when Lady Diella lived in the main building.
It was the room that Valerian had personally taken him to see when Derek first came to the Duplein family.
“Derek-ssi, come over! Quickly! Kyahk!”
Aiseline, who called for Derek and quickly went over the windowsill, felt a pain rising from the hand that had gripped the window frame. Broken glass fragments were embedded here and there in her hand.
Aiseline quickly pulled out a large piece of glass. In the meantime, Derek had also climbed over the window frame and rushed into the room.
Seeing Derek’s state, Aiseline swallowed a gasp.
“De-Derek-ssi... your wound...”
Large glass fragments were embedded all over Derek’s right shoulder.
It seemed to be a wound he got while rolling on the flowerbed while catching and holding Aiseline. Aiseline’s body, which had been in Derek’s arms, was fine, but it seemed Derek was not.
The freely flowing blood mixed with the rainwater and was dripping onto the floor.
“De-Derek-ssi..”
Pak— !
As soon as Aiseline approached, Derek wrapped his arm around her waist and pushed her into a corner of the room again.
Aiseline fell onto the bed that the old Diella used to use. And the giant skeleton’s fist flew in and struck the window frame where Aiseline had been standing until just a moment ago.
Kugugung! Kung— !
The giant skeleton’s face could be seen through the collapsed outer wall. Having found the prey it was chasing, it let out a grotesque laugh as if it were endlessly happy.
As soon as Aiseline saw that sight, a cold sweat broke out all over her body.
Kugugugung— !
Soon, the ceiling, which had lost its foundation, collapsed.
<><><>
Tuk, tuk—
“E-ugh… euk…”
When Aiseline opened her eyes again, Derek was above her head.
The pain she felt all over her body was because she had been hit by the collapsed marble fragments. Nevertheless, there were no fatal injuries.
It was because Derek had been covering Aiseline’s body.
Beside Aiseline’s head, she could feel Derek’s hand, which was supporting his own body, trembling.
The blood dripping from between Derek’s pure white hair trickled down Aiseline’s cheek and onto the floor.
“De-Derek-ssi...”
“Listen carefully, Lady Aiseline. As you can see, the situation is urgent.”
Pushing away the marble fragments that had struck his whole body, Derek, who had managed to get up, looked straight down at Aiseline.
As Aiseline managed to raise her upper body, Derek placed his arms on her shoulders and met her eyes squarely.
“Take a deep breath.”
“Uh, heok... heuk...”
“There’s no time to explain at length, so I’ll just state the key points. Right now, the Duplein family is facing the crisis of a lifetime. If we stay still like this, the family will be annihilated.”
“Wh-what does that...”
“Young Lord Valerian has gathered the distinguished guests in the main hall and is planning to hold a ritual to kill them all.”
“Ye-yes...?”
She would need time to accept it.
Normally, he would have been considerate enough to give her time to chew over this whole situation, but now was not the time for that.
“We have to subdue him while it’s still an attempted crime. In the worst-case scenario, we even have to consider killing him.”
“Va-Valerian Orabeoni...?”
Countless questions must have unfolded in Aiseline’s mind in an instant.
That Valerian was not the kind of person to do such a thing, why the situation had come to this, what had happened while she was away from the mansion... she would want to ask about all those things in detail.
However, Aiseline was quick to understand. She accepted faster than anyone that there was no time to resolve all those questions now.
“...s-s-so?”
The two, caked in mud, quickly exchanged glances in the rain.
“If a situation comes where it must be done, Lady Aiseline, you must kill him. I will help you.”
“...”
What on earth was he talking about right now?
Forcibly swallowing that question, Aiseline looked at Derek with eyes that looked like they were about to cry.
Derek wiped away the blood that was dripping onto Aiseline’s cheek and spoke in a firm voice.
“In any case, now that things have come to this, the decline of the Duplein family cannot be stopped. However, you wouldn’t want the very existence of the family to disappear beyond history, would you?”
“Th-then...”
“There’s no way the Imperial Family would leave alone a family whose eldest son killed the patriarch, dabbled in a taboo, and even massacred numerous distinguished guests. Therefore, now, while an initial response is possible... we have to resolve it even a little bit more.”
“Ki-killed the patriarch, you say. Wh-what in the world... are you talking... about...”
“I understand that it’s hard to keep up with the situation. However, at times like this, you must keep your wits about you.”
The distinguished guests who were unconscious in the main hall were not dead yet. It was because the ritual itself had not begun.
If they stopped Valerian now, they could end everything as an attempted crime.
The difference between whether he actually killed them all, or whether the family stepped in and stopped it at an attempt, was enormous.
In the end, the core of all the damage was the lives of the distinguished guests.
The mansion was being destroyed, but it was all Duplein’s assets. The patriarch was also dead, but that too was a loss for the Duplein family.
All of this was something Valerian had done on his own, bewitched by Necromancy-type magic.
Therefore, if the family stepped forward to subdue him, completely eliminate him, and pick up the pieces of the aftermath, they might be able to prevent the family’s annihilation.
As long as the distinguished guests caught up in the incident did not lose their lives, they could somehow resolve it through apologies and compensation.
Of course, they could not return to the Duplein of their heyday.
They had lost the patriarch, lost numerous high-ranking vassals, lost this magnificent mansion, lost their honor, lost the trust of the Imperial Family, and lost more than half of their soldiers.
The neighboring territorial nobles would not leave the weakened Duplein family alone.
This magnificent territory would be nibbled away at under all sorts of pretexts, and their authority to manage various resources and even their right to monopolize the territory’s tax revenue would be threatened. Most of the servants would also leave, and the scale of the mansion would be reduced.
They would become a duckling in Ebelstein’s high society. They might not even be able to keep their name in the Rosea Salon.
For this girl, who was perfect, beautiful, and noble in every way, perhaps only a path of thorns remained ahead.
Nevertheless, Derek spoke.
“Still, you must avoid becoming a fallen noble.”
Derek’s master, Katia Flameheart, was a person who had lived half of her life as a fallen noble.
Derek, who had heard countless times from her how miserable the life of a fallen noble was, knew well.
Even if they had to sacrifice many things and even give up the glory of their heyday, they had to hold on tightly to the family’s lineage and leave it behind.
If they endured and endured again, a day when the sun would rise might come again someday.
Therefore, even if it was only in name, and it was dirty and miserable, she should not easily let go of her life as a noble lady.
Even if her pockets were empty, she was surrounded by a pack of crocodiles trying to swindle her, and she was ridiculed by all... she had to hold her head high and carry the family name on her back.
That was what noble ladies were.
That pride sometimes acted as a poison and made people arrogant, but one should not deny the meaning that lay at its foundation. It was a pride in the home one had lived in.
There was no such thing as a bad young lady in the world. It was just that they had become tenacious while enduring and living in their own ways in this world of nobility, which was like walking on thin ice.
Aiseline, who had always lived in a noble world looking down on all, now had to understand that fact.
“In this situation, who is there that can take responsibility for the Duplein family?”
Even a sinking galleon needed a captain.
But a strange intuition enveloped Derek’s mind.
If it was Aiseline, of all people, she might be able to tenaciously hold on to even a completely shattered galleon and raise it up again. She was a human capable of that.
And people never forget for their entire lives the connection that helped them when they were at their lowest.
People who have stumbled even once in their long, long lives know.
When all are laughing at oneself, who has fallen into the mud, those who extend a hand at that moment are the true connections.
Derek tightly held the slender hand of Aiseline, who was trembling in the rain.
“To make the world aware of the fact that the Duplein family subdued Young Lord Valerian’s independent action at the family level, a member of the family must become the one to wield the sword. Lady Aiseline would be the right person.”
Swaaaa—
“De-Derek-ssi...”
“If you are going to do so, I will help you.”
Derek’s face, looked up at in the rain, was the same as ever.
Even in the midst of this chaos, his appearance was unchangingly calm.
Aiseline’s pupils, who looked up at Derek, were trembling endlessly.
Even in a situation where everything was chaotic, there was one thing she could be sure of.
Everyone would abandon the sinking Duplein and run off to find their own way to live.
Even in the midst of that, the boy sat in his usual place and did not even stir. That steadfastness was like a great mountain.
It was the reason why the young ladies of the three great noble families were so desperate to hold on to this one boy.
Just as Aiseline, who had been trembling all over, was slowly about to open her mouth.
Kwang— !
With a loud roar, the outer wall of the building collapsed once more. Derek quickly drew his mana and threw his body to block the debris.
Kugugung! Kung— !
Above the broken debris, along with the giant Skeleton Giant, Valerian, clad in large armor, revealed himself.
“...”
The half-destroyed old room of Diella.
All sorts of watercolor canvases were rolling on the rain-soaked floor, and on top of them, Aiseline was sitting, a complete wreck.
Swaaaa—
The pouring rain.
In the eyes of Valerian, who had landed in the room, a more distant madness than before was fully present.
He had already crossed the swamp of his mistake and had left for a place from which he could not return.
Everything had to be finished here and now.