If the Countess ask me to surrender in exchange of Sofia's life, then regrettably, I'll have to abandon her and escape.
If only it's my life that is at stake, then I'll let myself get caught and look for a chance to escape later. The Special Task Squad is somewhat related to this matter, and maybe even the Imperial Family played a bigger role behind it. Nope, there's also the contract with the Demon King, so it's also related to the Church. If I get caught, then it might cause more troubles while we've already had so much on our plate. Ortzen has repeatedly reminded me not to make a move on my own. I feel sorry for Silla as well as my dear Sofia, but in the worst scenario, my final decision is I have to escape from here.
Even though Sofia is scared, she is still worried about me, and when I meet her worried gaze, it feels like my heart weakened… this is for the best. I sighed again and looked at the Countess who was smiling at me. If things go wrong, I'll make sure to have my revenge. I live another life at the cost of original Silla's life so my shoulders feel heavy by the burden.
"Countess Epheria."
From this moment onwards, I won't call her with 'stepmother' anymore. Whether she let Sofia go unharmed or not, my relationship with the Count Epheria family is over now at this point. Now the Count Epheria family, especially the Countess, is my enemy. So there is no longer any reason for me to treat her as stepmother in consideration to the original Silla. There wasn't even any mother daughter relationship in the first place.
"What kind of tone is that!?"
The Countess narrowed down her eyes after hearing my cold tone voice.
"I've severed any blood ties between us, so I should also change the way I address you. No, we're not even related by blood in the first place."
"Silla, you–!"
"I'll make it short. If you release Sofia right now, I won't make things complicated and retreat quietly."
The corner of the Countess' lips trembled a bit, then she made a wicked smile.
"And what if I refuse?"
"I can't rescue Sofia unharmed with just my ability for now, so I have to give up."
"…, what?"
I sharply glared at the Countess, without looking at Sofia.
"Countess, remember this, from the moment you hurt her, you won't be able to live comfortably for the rest of your life in return. In the name of the Goddess, I vow to make you live in fear just like how the beast feel the terror of being chased by the hunter until your very last breath."
It's nothing difficult. Both Cain and the two mask men, neither of them worked directly for the Countess. In other words, they won't stay 24 hours besides the Countess to guard her. After those three disappeared, all that's left to guard her were only small fry. It would be very easy to avoid their eyes and ears or properly deal with them based on what I deemed as fit, to approach the Countess. Because I've unintentionally entered an early retirement, I have plenty of time to harass her with all my might. After she can't have a proper sleep for three days straight, her fine skin will dry out. Even if she's not afraid of death, hitting her head once and slowly tightened the grip around her neck are two completely different matter. The latter was actually in fact just the same as being tortured.
"…, That's one such of scary threat you have there."
The Countess met my gaze, then she snorted before finally laughed.
"But for you to make such threat, it proves that this maid is very precious to you."
"If she's not precious to me, then I would have backed off without wasting my breath to talk to you."
And if I did so, Sofia would have been dead. It's impossible for the Countess to let Sofia go unharmed, knowing that Sofia sided with me, and said something like 'ah, you are worthless as a hostage– it's my fault for capturing you, I've no use of you anymore.' Only by intimidating and threatening her like this, I could possibly help Sofia to raise her chance of survival… for like 1% or so. In most dramas, the best outcome for the hostages are finally having their freedom back at the end after successfully persuading the bad guy, but it's unlikely the case for the woman in front of me. Besides, I don't have enough ability and more importantly I'm short of manpower to rescue Sofia. If only I have at least 2 people with me, one of them can divert their attention while the other can move stealthily to rescue the hostage, but unfortunately I'm all by myself. Even if I was inside my original body, saving Sofia without her getting hurt is something hard to do.
'I should have insisted on bringing Captain Jullius along with me.'
The men who were holding onto Sofia, were just ordinary servants so even if Captain Jullius wasn't the one who assisted me, but instead any skilled member of Special Task Squad, that was more than enough for me and it's worth to try out my plan. Inadvertntly I gulped down when I took a glance at Sofia. Her big teary eyes straightly looked at me. Her small lips quivered before finally said,
"I'm fine, Miss…"
The moment I saw her like that, I felt like my chest tightened, it felt really stuffy to the point it frustated me. She doesn't have to endure it. It's alright to be afraid. Right now, the one who is fine is me, not Sofia. That's why you can cry or feel sad. It's all because of me that you went through this mess. You can blame me and resent me, I deserve it. It's alright if you beg to be save or if you want to swear at me. After all, I can't even help you. That's why, Sofia…
"I'm sorry."
"…, yes."
She lightly nodded her head. The Countess coldly raised the corner of her eyes, but she had not try to harm Sofia yet. Instead, she called for me with excessively tender voice and this sudden change of attitude was really odd.
"I never have any intention to harm someone who is important to you. Why don't we just calm down for a moment and have a proper conversation?"
"Will you release Sofia or not? All you have to do is make your choice. Countess Epheria."
I have no need for any long conversation with you. Hearing my answers, the Countess mouth became crooked again.
"If I release her, you are going to leave right away. Don't be like that, let's go inside first. I swear I won't do anything to the maid."
"Are you going to put some drugs into the tea again?"
"Why do you keep on framing me? You've misunderstood. Silla, the Special Task Squad is deceiving you!"
In my mind, I wanted to ask her whether if using me as a sacrifice for the Demon King was also a misunderstanding. I was really curious on what kind of excuses would be told by that woman, but unfortunately there were too many ears here. Meanwhile, I slighly raised the tip of my long sword from the ground.
If I threaten her with more intimidating words then directly run away, perhaps Sofia won't die. If she couldn't refrain me from running away, she might keep Sofia alive to use her as a bait for later time. The Countess is someone who is reasonable and act based on the given information than using her own feeling.
'Should I shout to Sofia that not matter what happened, I'll definitely come to save her?'
If I promise her that I'll come back and save her, then the Countess will keep her alive for sure. I lifted up my sword and pointed it at the Countess while contemplating on what I was going to say when suddenly I noticed someone was moving quietly.
That person was none other than Cain Silac.
"…, Countess Epheria."
I said something while trying hard to stop my eyes from following his movements. Damn it! What is he trying to do? I felt nervous enough that my body tensed up, and at the same time, my intuition told me that I shouldn't let him get caught in action. Looking at the direction he was heading, he shouldn't be attacking me. But there's no way he's helping me, right?
"I'll never back down."
The Countess looked very eager by the words I nonchalantly said.
"That's right. Rather than running away, it would be better to reach an agreement."
"I feel bad for running away."
"You have returned now, so it can't be considered as running away. You don't look like you're willing to do it either."
"What I want right now is dess–"
No, that's not right. I almost had a slip of tongue. After I have set my mind and wanted to continue with the conversation,
"Kyaaa!"