Everyone inside the large room were startled by my voice and immediately bowed respectfully.
"Greetings, eldest lady." They all said in sync.
"Be at ease everyone." I said as I let my eyes scan the entire place before landing on the two on the furthest area of the room.
Haktor visibly swallowed when our eyes met.
"General Haktor, Seb, both of you come and report to me." I ordered.
The two of them walked towards me with nervous eyes and they kept glancing at each other.
On my side, Miss Bloom also scanned the room, most probably looking for Karciel. She frowned when she did not see him.
"Greetings, Lady Mel." Sebastiene smiled as if nothing happened.
I gave him a one sweep look and nodded. He was clean. Too clean to be exact. Not a drop of blood on his body, not bruises or injuries. His uniform looked as crisp and clean as it did when he went off.
"Where is Karciel?" I asked forwardly.
The two of them pointed somewhere on the floor where they stood earlier.
Miss Bloom and I narrowed our eyes to see but there were bodies everywhere and everyone on the floor looked dead.
I raised a brow at them.
"Dead?" I asked.
The two hung their heads in shame before nodding.
"Sorry, my lady, Karciel is dead." Haktor reported.
"Did you kill him?" I asked calmly.
"No, my lady." Haktor shook his head lightly. "A white haired demon suddenly popped out of a portal and slit his throat."
"What?!" Miss Bloom exclaimed beside me.
I was surprised by her and immediately looked at her.
"Do you know anything about it, Miss Bloom?" I asked her with a slight frown.
"A l-little, my lady." Miss Bloom answered. "But I am not sure if it is the same demon. Could you describe the demon you saw?"
Haktor furrowed his brows and nodded.
"White hair, red yes, pale skin. She was wearing a black hooded robe but the hood was slightly pushed back. She had a stunning appearance." Haktor gave a quick description.
"It is him." Miss Bloom said. "The demon you saw was Dusk. He always comes to meet with Karciel from time to time. They serve and followed the same master. I don't know all the details but Karciel and he would talk about their old times, when they were both following their master with the others. I don't know who the others are but there are about five of them. There also seems to be competition among them."
"Dusk." I whispered.
"M-miss Bloom." Sebastiene called awkwardly. "Did you just refer to the demon as 'him'?"
"Yes." Miss Bloom nodded and a knowing smirk bloomed on her lips. "Dusk is a male. He has a dingdong in between his legs, just like you and Sir Sebastiene."
The expressions on Haktor and Sebastiene's faces were something that would have come off as a meme on Earth. It was so funny that even I had to crack a smile.
"Tell me, did you two let your guards down when you saw a beautiful girl?" I asked them with a cold smile. "Is that the reason why he easily killed Karciel in front of you two?"
The two flinched at what I said.
Bullseye!
"I apologize, my lady." Haktor kneeled down. "I will accept any punishment."
"We'll talk about it when we return home." I answered and turned to look at Sebastiene who was trying to act like he was not a part of the conversation. "The same goes for you too, Seb."
"Okay." Sebastiene replied with a nonchalant smile.
"So where is Karciel?" I asked. "Or his body, that is."
"He is over there, my lady." Haktor pointed and guided us to where Karciel's body is.
We passed by a body cleanly split in half. Vertically.
Miss Bloom took one look at the bloody gore and snickered.
"I guess she deserved this." She said and continued to follow me. Behind her, Sebastiene let out a sinister smile that also immediately went away.
Looking at Karciel, I realized why Miss Bloom never loved him. He was damn ugly. How could anyone actually fall for someone like him?
'Disgusting.' I thought.
On the side, Miss Bloom covered her mouth in shock. Her eyes roamed at the body of her ex-lover and ex-master.
"What happened to him?" Miss Bloom asked in shock. "Why does he look like this?"
I raised a brow at her. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, this is not what Karciel looks like." She replied with a hand gesture pointing to the dead body on the floor. "His blond hair, his blue eyes, golden skin, they are all gone."
"You mean he isn't what he looked like before you left?" I asked.
"No, my lady." Miss Bloom shook her head lightly. "He was one of the most handsome men I have seen."
Handsome? This? How?
My mind was trying to digest what Miss Bloom said when a hand suddenly grasped my leg.