Liu Biao (15)
Having received the reports on the state of the battlefield, Liu Biao had sunk into contemplation as he always did, wrestling with some problem or other.
"……Something…. ……yes…. a stratagem……."
Lost in thought, he kept muttering the same fragments over and over to himself, and the sight bore an uncanny resemblance to a madman.
A gnawing fear consumed him — that the General-in-Chief's army might smash through the castle gates at any moment. Wracked by worry, he had not managed a proper night's sleep in days, and the fatigue showed plainly on his face.
Liu Biao lifted his head and spoke.
"…Is someone there?"
"You called, my lord."
At his summons, a servant who had been waiting on the far side of the door stepped into view. Watching the man offer a respectful bow, Liu Biao said evenly,
"It has grown rather noisy outside just now. Is something the matter?"
The hurried patter of feet rushing back and forth, and here and there the low murmur of voices — an atmosphere unlike anything he could place, and puzzlement crept across Liu Biao's face.
The servant answered with due deference.
"The warehouse has become filthy, so we are merely cleaning it out. Pray do not trouble yourself, my lord."
"…If that is so, then it is no concern of mine."
Though Liu Biao nodded at the answer, something about it continued to nag at him.
"You are dismissed. Take your leave."
The servant bowed once more and withdrew. Liu Biao stared for a moment at the spot where the man had stood, then sank back into thought.
Thus a short while passed.
"I cannot get it out of my head. This is unbearable."
As the commotion outside showed no sign of dying down, Liu Biao at last rose from his seat, unable to endure it any longer.
"I shall go and see for myself."
Had there not been a report, recently, of a group showing suspicious movements? Ever since he had heard it, Liu Biao could feel his already frayed nerves wearing thinner still. Striding with long, heavy steps, he flung open the door of his chamber in a burst of irritation.
A servant waiting close at hand came up to him.
"Has some problem arisen, my lord…?"
Of late, Liu Biao had been behaving strangely, his moods lurching this way and that as though he were stricken by some illness. How many servants had already lost their heads at his hand in these few short days? Sensing that his master was in a foul humor indeed, the servant asked with painstaking caution.
Liu Biao shrieked.
"There are limits to how much commotion I will suffer!"
"……."
"You have been grating on my nerves since moments ago, and I can bear it no longer!"
At the roar, the servant attending him shrank into himself.
"F-forgive my disgrace, my lord. I shall go this instant and bid them stop the cleaning…."
"Enough!"
Liu Biao cut him off mid-sentence, sharp as a whip-crack.
"I will speak to them myself. You will lead the way!"
"…As you command."
Whatever Liu Biao said, the servant only kept his head bowed.
With the servant out in front, Liu Biao strode along behind his guide. But not for long.
"…Hm."
Liu Biao's footsteps came to an abrupt halt.
"Is something the matter, my lord?"
When his master stopped dead in his tracks, the servant asked in puzzlement.
"You there. You are up to something."
"…I do not understand, my lord."
"Spare me the innocent act."
So saying, Liu Biao fixed the man with a look of open suspicion.
"You have been leading me in circles this whole time."
"That is…."
"What exactly are you playing at, stalling like this?"
"……."
The servant held his silence for a breath, then slid a hand into the breast of his robe.
It was an act that would have looked suspicious to anyone; Liu Biao's eyes flew wide and he stumbled backward, putting distance between them. From his breast, the servant drew a dagger.
"The moment you sensed something amiss, you should have run for your life."
"……."
"Had you done so, you might have clung to life a little while longer."
"You wretch—!!"
Grasping the situation in an instant, Liu Biao let out a bellow and hurled himself forward.
"Did you think I would die to the likes of you—!"
"Wh-what in the—?"
Liu Biao bore down on him like a maddened boar. The servant had taken it for granted that his master would simply bolt; that the man came charging at him instead left him utterly flustered.
"Oh, damn it!"
Cold sweat pouring down his face, the servant slashed out with his dagger — and Liu Biao met the blow in kind.
Clang!
"N-no. Where in the world did you get that?!"
"Did you think you were the only one who carried a blade?!"
Liu Biao, who had drawn a dagger of the finest craftsmanship from his own breast just as the servant had, parried the man's strike and drove his weapon home.
Shunk!
"Gahk!"
Unable to answer the blow, the servant retched blood around the dagger buried in his chest. He crumpled with a strangled cry, and Liu Biao did not pause — he swung again, and again.
"You ungrateful cur! Die—! Die—!"
"Guh… khh…."
Stabbed through the chest over and over, the servant foamed pink at the mouth and finally went still.
"Haah… haah…."
Gazing down at the man who no longer breathed, Liu Biao let out rough, ragged breaths. Then, leaving the corpse where it lay, he returned to his chamber and took up a sword.
"These damned wretches… daring to turn against me…."
If even the servant who had attended at his side could turn traitor, then not one soul among the underlings left in this place deserved his trust. Bloodshot threads crawled across Liu Biao's eyes.
Betrayal.
The moment the calamity he had always dreaded became reality, the slender thread of reason he had been clutching by his fingertips snapped clean through. Mind abandoned, Liu Biao stepped out of his chamber and began cutting down every servant who crossed his sight, without rhyme or reason.
"Gyaaak!"
"Aaaargh—!"
The servants, who had truly known nothing and given themselves wholly to their labors, died where they stood, unable to offer even the slightest resistance to the sudden onslaught.
"Cough — what in the world is… Father?"
When the screams of servants began ringing out from every corner of the mansion, Liu Qi stepped out of his room. Liu Biao looked upon his eldest son, sickliness written across his frail features, and smiled with what seemed like fatherly kindness.
"This place is dangerous now. Return to your room."
"……."
Robes soaked through with blood. A sword dripping red. And servants lying dead across the floor. Taking it all in at once, Liu Qi cried out.
"Father! You are slaughtering servants who have done no wrong! What in the world is the meaning of this!"
"What was that? Done no wrong?"
At his son's words, Liu Biao's face contorted savagely.
"You dare defend the wretches who plotted to kill me! Then you must be the architect of this whole scheme!"
"F-Father?"
Sensing that something had gone profoundly wrong with his father, Liu Qi backed away.
"A child who would raise his hand against his own parent?! This I shall never forgive!"
"Come to your senses! I would never do such a thing!"
"Silence!"
As if there were nothing left worth hearing, Liu Biao advanced on Liu Qi with his blade raised.
"Why?! Did you mean to kill me and seize my power for yourself?!"
"Father!"
"To think I raised this beast of a child with such indulgence — I can scarcely believe it!"
With heavy, thudding strides, Liu Biao closed the distance before his son could even react.
"How could you do this!"
"……."
Realizing that anything he said now would only be twisted against him, Liu Qi held his tongue. But silence, too, proved no better a choice.
"Struck to the quick, are you? Nothing left to say!"
"…Father."
"Quiet! Do not dare call me father with that filthy mouth!"
Liu Biao, his mind gone entirely now, shrieked.
"Die──!!"
"……??"
The general who, in accordance with the plan, had led her soldiers all the way to Liu Biao's mansion — Wei Yan — could not hide her bewilderment at the scene before her eyes.
"No, seriously — what the hell happened here?"
The moment she passed through the main gate, corpses lay strewn in every direction. She had already found it odd that the gate, always kept barred fast, stood wide open — but never in her wildest imaginings had she expected things to have come to this.
"Uuugh…."
"Hm?"
At the sound of a groan nearby, Wei Yan hurried her steps. A man with a deep gash laid open across his chest was bleeding out, his life hanging by a thread.
This one is beyond saving.
Wei Yan clicked her tongue and crouched down beside him.
"Hey. What in the world happened here?"
"U-uuuh…. Liu… Liu Biao…."
"Liu Biao?"
This was Liu Biao's mansion, true enough — but why would that name come up now, of all moments?
Just then, the aide who had marched to war at Wei Yan's side shouted out.
"General! Look out!"
"I know."
Clang—!
Wei Yan turned aside, with practiced ease, the sword that came rushing at her, catching it on her spear shaft. She had noticed long before that someone close by was watching her — hoping that a show of carelessness might bait her watcher into some move, she had deliberately left an opening in her guard.
Having deflected the attack without so much as turning her head, Wei Yan said,
"Now then, let's have a look at the culprit's fa……?"
At the appearance of the last person she had ever expected, Wei Yan stopped mid-word, rooted where she stood.
"It's you! It was you all along!"
"……?"
"You dared to poison my servant's ear and plot my death! This is beyond all forgiveness!"
"……."
For an instant, the question how does he know? climbed all the way up to the tip of Wei Yan's throat. By rights, the servant's role had been to keep Liu Biao confined to his residence until she herself arrived. It seemed the man had tried to attempt something on his own and bungled the whole affair.
Wei Yan opened her mouth.
"You seem to be laboring under some misunderstanding. First, calm yourself, and…."
"Silence!"
Clang!
Liu Biao swung his sword once more. Wei Yan deflected him without the slightest effort, her brow knitting.
…It seems he really has lost his mind.
He could no longer form a single rational judgment, and his strength had swelled to something frankly abnormal. It was only because she was the one taking his blows that it looked easy — anyone ordinary would have been crushed beneath them.
Truth be told, Liu Biao had been giving off a strange air for some time now. She simply had never imagined he would tip over into madness this suddenly.
Well… perhaps this is all for the best.
The maddened Liu Biao had swung his sword first; she had merely answered in kind. Having improvised a serviceable excuse, Wei Yan readjusted her grip on her spear and spoke.
"Well then…. I shall send you off without pain."
"You bitch──!!"
Spear and sword met in a violent clash — and the maddened madman went hurtling through empty air.
And that was the end of it.