Chapter 15
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Ambush (5)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
‘Not bad.’
He’d hidden his presence and closed in on me, even managing to grab hold of me for a brief moment.
Not many guilds could train multiple experts of this caliber. This guy had to be the top dog leading the pack.
The other assassins were probably just there to tie up the knights. The real job of taking out the target would’ve been assigned to him.
“Huff!”
“...!”
A ripple of unrest spread through the assassins. My guess had hit the mark—their movements visibly slowed. They’d lost the will to fight.
Putting down assassins without a leader was child’s play for the knights... and for me.
“Aaaagh!”
“Damn it!”
Screams from the assassins began echoing through the forest from all directions.
Thwack! Thud!
In an instant, their corpses started piling up. Once the knights pinned them down,
Whoosh!
I hurled my spear at every one in sight, finishing them off.
Slash!
When I sliced through an assassin’s legs and dropped him to the ground,
Crunch!
I crushed his skull underfoot.
“Just... one guy...”
“It’s over...”
“We’re done for today too...”
In the end, the knights gave up trying to take prisoners and focused on collecting bodies. They lined up the corpses in a row, and
Stab! Stab!
I strolled slowly along the line, piercing each heart with my sword. Making absolutely sure they were dead.
“Don’t leave a single one alive.”
“...Understood.”
Mathias bowed his head slowly, then
Stab!
joined in the mercy kills. Some bodies twitched, while others showed no sign of life at all.
There was more to this seemingly pointless routine than just confirming kills.
“Urgh...”
The assassin leading the group. Blood was pouring from him like a leaky sack, yet he was still clinging to life.
This was more for his benefit—a show. Shoving the sight of his carefully trained assassins dying like bugs right in his face.
“Schmichael!”
He tracked my movements with bloodshot eyes.
Grind.
I could even hear his teeth grinding. That look...
“Haha.”
It was pretty damn funny. I couldn’t hold back the laugh, and the reactions around me split.
“...!”
Mathias quickly averted his gaze,
“...Gasp.”
“Gulp.”
The knights silently swallowed hard.
And,
“What’s so funny?”
The assassin, his rage now at its peak, had actually calmed down.
“Curious?”
I shot back with a smile tugging at my lips. He sensed something and said nothing.
“It was just funny.”
I approached him slowly and wrapped both hands around his throat.
“That you bastards feel anger and grief just like anyone else.”
Ever since my parents died in that carriage accident three years ago, I hadn’t had a single day of real rest.
A massive amount of power and wealth in the hands of a mere 19-year-old boy. Collateral kin weren’t about to leave that tempting prize alone.
Their interference in estate management under the guise of guardianship was almost cute by comparison. Servants were replaced daily, and things I cherished were dying off one by one.
‘I told myself I wouldn’t stoop to their level, that humans shouldn’t be like that.’
Even as the collateral kin resorted to cowardly tactics, I’d sworn to become a lord with honor and integrity.
But that was a naive, shortsighted delusion. The Dane Schmichael who thought that way had died in his previous life.
Enemies come at you without regard for means or methods. They bribe your closest allies, hide poison everywhere, conceal blades in the shadows.
Standing tall and clinging to principles in the face of that was the real folly. You have to roll in the mud with them, hurl it right back.
Make them feel this bullshit too.
‘I’ll make you feel it soon enough.’
Even a mere assassin writhes in agony at losing someone precious. So I’d inflict the same pain on ‘him.’
The thought lifted my mood a bit. I could feel the smile on my lips twisting further.
“Your Excellency, what about the mastermind...”
I ignored Mathias’s regretful whisper and twisted my hands.
Crack!
The assassin’s head snapped back.
“Guh...”
He collapsed to the ground in the pose I’d left him, his upturned whites filled with terror.
“Looks like we lost again today.”
I shrugged at Mathias, who was shaking his head like he’d expected as much.
“No need for a mastermind.”
“But our strategy...”
“I agree with you there. We’ll find another way.”
“Oh? If you put it that way.”
Mathias’s face brightened as he nodded and directed the knights to clean up.
“Hyah!”
We left the piled corpses behind and set off. In the northern reaches of Schmichael territory, bodies don’t rot.
For two reasons. The cold, dry climate freezes them under the snow.
And,
Grrr.
Grrroar!
The mana beasts that swarm in at the scent of blood take care of the rest. A thick stench of blood seemed to chase us from behind.
“Madam.”
Rose, leaning by the window, turned at the voice calling her.
“Selma.”
“The air outside is biting. Please come inside.”
Head Maid Selma and the other maids stood clustered together, their faces all etched with worry for Rose.
“No need. I’m fine. I’ll stay a bit longer.”
“His Excellency won’t return until tomorrow. He usually comes back the next day after visiting the mine.”
“I know... Hm.”
“Come warm yourself by the hearth. If you catch a cold, His Excellency will have my head.”
In truth, Rose’s body was perfectly fine. That day, she’d just flushed from embarrassment. Her complexion changed easily anyway.
Yet Dane had asked if she was alright in front of all the servants, then berated the chief physician mercilessly, practically breathing fire.
‘His Excellency, Madam needs rest.’
Thank goodness Head Maid Selma had quickly shooed him away. Any longer, and Rose would’ve crawled into a hole.
‘I’ll add more logs to the fire!’
‘I’ll fetch a steaming hot bath!’
Selma and the maids had thoroughly misunderstood, thinking Rose had fallen ill after her first night. They fussed and fretted at the slightest cough.
It was all because Dane had worried over her so excessively.
‘It was understandable, though...’
Rose had never seen a grown man’s bare body that close before. And not just anyone—Dane Schmichael. The intimate contact had been dizzyingly thrilling for her.
Whoosh!
Thinking back made her face heat up again.
‘Oh, oh dear.’
Rose hurriedly fanned her face with her hands to cool it. She might get accused of catching a cold again.
“Madam, please...”
“Alright.”
Rose relented and let Selma lead her to a chair by the hearth.
Crackle, crackle.
The sound of logs burning in the fireplace, the pleasant warmth. The cozy blanket draped over her shoulders. Everything felt warm and peaceful.
But Rose knew. This peace was as fragile as thin ice, ready to shatter at any moment.
‘In one month, on his birthday... he dies.’
The collateral kin had exploited that remaining month to the fullest. Scaling the walls to raid the bedroom or poisoning food were basics.
She’d spent every night sleepless, watching silverware turn black. Doubting, verifying, inspecting. Everyone’s nerves on the brink of snapping.
‘He endured it all so well, only to...’
Dane had met victory... and died in the same instant. Over a single glass of wine. Stiffening up like a log.
‘Who uncorked the wine?’
The shock of that final moment made the memory vivid yet hazy. Rose racked her brain, trying to reconstruct the dinner table scene.
‘Me, His Excellency. The butler was there... and Fabry, of course.’
It had been a celebratory feast, like a victory fanfare, marking his 22nd birthday. Everyone gathered to share joy and congratulations.
‘Right, Joel. He was there too. Mat... Mathias? He was present as well.’
Knight Captain Matis—Mathias—was always cold toward Rose. Hostile, even. So she hadn’t even remembered his name properly.
At any rate, pretty much everyone who came and went in the castle that she knew had been there.
Rose pondered how Joel could’ve poisoned him. Maybe the wine itself was tainted beforehand, or he’d coated a pre-prepared glass.
‘We didn’t decant it. Opened the bottle straight.’
Everyone drank from that wine that day. Only Dane showed symptoms. Maybe it was his glass, not the bottle.
That would clear the wine in the couple’s bedroom. Dane had never even touched it, he’d said.
In the end, it boiled down to this: How did Joel poison Dane?
‘What does he consume regularly?’
In her previous life, Dane had never eaten with Rose. She had no info on his habits.
‘No way... Fabry?’
Fabry oversaw all food in the castle. Could he be an accomplice? Or maybe poison in the ingredients.
Then who handled food supplies? With no lady of the house until now, Head Maid Selma managed inner castle affairs entirely.
‘Selma’s under suspicion too.’
Joel was definitely the culprit. But he might have accomplices.
Rose suspected everyone, considered every possibility. She mapped out every conceivable scenario.