A man, who was wearing a green mask and dressed in white lab coat, was standing in front of him. His arms strapped on both sides of the chairs, he was incapacitated.
"Don't struggle, Adrian. The more you struggle, the tighter the straps will become." The man warned him. "It will only make it harder for yourself."
Where was he?
He looked around to see nothing but darkness enclosing him. Thanks to the man talking, he could make out the shapes out of some objects in the room. A safe with its door open, a table stacked with papers, and a rotating leather chair with someone else silently sitting on top of it.
With rumors flying around that half blood orphans reported missing, he expected this to happen sooner or later. It was just being kidnapped from a bar wasn't something he anticipated from an evil organization.
As soon as he realized the drink was spiked, he tried to make a run for it, nonetheless, he was starting to nod off, nearly drifting off to sleep. He'd never left his spot even after the drink came. That meant the bartender must have been one of their acquaintances. Before blacking out one last time, he could see a vague visage of the figure who carried him out of the bar.
He was too careless to have left himself defenseless.
Anyways, it was strange how he couldn't feel any pain even when he could see the needle pierce his skin, touching his marrows.
Was his ability to tolerate the pain? He wouldn't know since it had been 20 years since he lived and he had never once awakened any powers. He should keep this power hidden for now. In a comic of a mad scientist somewhere, he saw a lab rat bearing an anguished countenance on his visage, thinking it would be better to die than be alive.
Although he imitated the expression perfectly and added some exaggeration to it, the doctor had a cold reaction towards him.
"Doc….urgh…until when are you keeping the needle in there?"
"Until your body absorbs the substance." For once, he answered his question instead of bombing him with threats.
Seeing that he responded only when he was in pain, was this doctor a sadist? Maybe he should act the same way next time he asks something trivial.
"Doc Ifirit! Please come! There is an emergency in Ward 2 with the children!" A woman in a lab coat rushed inside reminding him to absolutely go as soon as he was done with his task in the room. Tossing the injection to the bin, he walked out of the room and headed for Ward 2.
Eh? So his name was Ifirit. What a name for a man in his 30s! Besides, his name and his actions didn't match at all. Did his parents make a mistake in naming him or just had no sense for names? Not that his parents were any different.
He should gradually increase the number of questions so that the doctor would grow used to chatting with him. Until he had a decent chance to escape, he should come up with a plan for the employees to take him out of the room. There should be other facilities aside from this room he should explore, when coming up with his escape route.
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"Welcome the lord!" A servant announced his arrival.
"Welcome!" The vassal and knights all hollered in unison.
"Rise." The duke commanded. His collected voice reverberated throughout the room, establishing his dominance. "Let's start the meeting. First, the matter of me being the culprit…"
Before duke Callisto elucidated anything about the true culprit, his vassals started to defend his innocence.
"You're not the culprit!"
"We believe in you!"
Phrases of their faith and loyalty for the duke filled the hall. Nonetheless, a few vassals stayed neutral, not taking sides until they heard both sides of the story.
Seeing that none of them were surprised to see his face, it seemed they were all made aware of the situation by Alfonso.
How nice…that the duke had people he trusted.
Deep down in her heart, she was always unsatisfied with the fact that the duke had everything she desired in his hands. Love, power, connections, wealth and finally trusted comrades - though she was one of them. After all she had gone through, she hated herself for thinking like this, however, this snide personality was still part of herself.
Soon, the phrases of faith and encouragement had changed to blatantly accusing a person of this crime. Luke, the leader of the first division knights, spoke up. "If only those four didn't tell you about Duke Lecter's plan, you wouldn't have been accused!"
"That's not true! Division 3's leader gave too early of a signal to charge into the mansion. That's why Hans and Becky were caught!" Hugoh, a red haired knight, who was famous for his hot headedness in Division 4 objected. "I am sure he's a traitor!"
"Wait, wait." The Division 3 leader quickly explained himself. "I only gave the cue because I thought the duke was signaling me to start."
"Then, are you saying the duke is wrong!?" Hugoh was relentless.
"That's not what I am saying." Frustratingly unable to explain his situation, he scratched his head, thinking of a logical solution to untangle this mess.
She thought while watching this ridiculous situation that it was hilarious and understandable at the same time. As expected of that person's plans. Rapidly, seeds of doubt were sprowing in their minds, whether there were more traitors hiding in their base.
Then what would be the duke's….?
"And you! Why are you defending those four?!" Hugoh pointed fingers at him. "By any chance, are you one of them? The four that betrayed our supreme lord?"
"Huh?!" Taken by surprise the accusations turned to him, the cute boy with brown hair and green eyes denied it. "No! I am Division 5's knight. I don't possess enough power to win against anyone in revenge if I betrayed them." To convince them, power was the key answer.
"Then, you must at least be acquainted with them to come to their defense so quickly."
The reason why everybody believed his logic was because Division 5 was the weakest group out of all the trained knights. Knights were divided into divisions to pair them with elite soldiers, who were responsible to train them up to Division 1's level in 3 years. This meant Division 5 had the weakest students but had the most powerful and stricter mentors.
Because Duke Callisto's requirements were lackluster, many people joined the division in hopes of being able to earn a high salary. However, due to the harsh training regimen, many dropped out by the first month of training. Only a few who were left were either fledglings in financial difficulties or those who were very determined to be part of the ranks.
Division knights were each given a badge to indicate their level of training. This badge was a blood jade imbued with powers by a wolf shaman. In spite of its ominous name, it served to protect the wielder.
For each year of training, the knights are given different badges of unique designs. The more experienced you are, the more complex the design and the symbolism it held was.
The question of whether they could grow up to become soldiers is determined annually with a test spar and written exam. If they passed with flying colors (60%), they were allowed to move onto the second year of their training. If not, they would have to repeat the year.
Since he was only first year, it was obvious
"I am not?!" As they lashed out accusations at each other, the duke was only watching them play it out, not intervening in the situation as if he was the observer.
All it took was one murderous look from Callisto for the din in the room to hush down. The subjects closed their mouths, awaiting the duke's clarification regarding this matter. "Yesterday, I found out the culprit with definitive evidence to evict them."
Huh? What did he mean he found the culprit? Impossible! He must be lying to reassure It was way too late for him to have found out anything.
"This plan of assassination was a trap I set to kill the traitor. I already informed the imperial members about the plan."
"But their acting was very realistic." Some vassals sighed in relief. "I almost thought it was real." The fact that Estella came close to dying and that Damian sucked at acting if everything in the scenario weren't real, Callisto should keep it secret from them. The royals didn't want their only subjects to panic from this attack and believe that their empire was strong.
Meanwhile, looking around the room, she was desperate to find an exitway. If he really found the culprit, she should make a run for it when they least expect it.
There were 2 exits, which were both heavily guarded. She was certain there were no hidden passageways from the hall to some place outside of the room. Calm down, calm down. There was no way he found out the traitor was her. Pretending to be calm, she went along with the flow and blended in with the crowd.
"Some of you may think it's one of the four informants, but I assure you they're not the slightest bit involved. To prove they weren't culprits, I tracked down their information source to check whether it was reliable or not. It was strange that none of them remembered what they heard. I threatened them to make sure whether they got their facts straight and their testimonies were all the same. Of course, someone could have bribed them to cover a story or used other abilities. But, I am sure it was from one of us. It had traces of a vampire's handiwork."
"Did you have a rough idea of who the traitor was beforehand?"
"Thanks to their meddling several times. They only left subtle traces of themselves when leading us to the wrong information, however, I could distinguish it wasn't a werewolf."
"Is it someone in the high ranks?" Luke hit the nail on the head.
"Yeah." The vassals braced themselves. "Someone in a high position that had the power to influence other people, but wouldn't easily be suspected, and someone that could frame others easily." Callisto asked. "Does anyone come to mind?"
Some eyes shifted towards her and the other lords. She tried not to show her agitation by faking calmness, with a bland smile on her face.
"Some of you guessed it right." Callisto smirked, proud that some were at least using their brains. "Novela. Why don't you stop being part of the audience and start taking responsibility for your actions?"
"Huh…?! Why me?!" Novela acted surprised.
"Don't be so quick to deny it." Callisto hurled a bunch of documents at her. "These are all proof of your misdeeds."
Picking up a document, Novela froze, her eyes quickly scanning all the other papers. What? How did he…?
The other vassals rushed to take a piece of paper to see for themselves whether it was true. As they read the contents, mumbles spread through the whole hall, sharing the news with their acquaintances.
"Do you think you aren't easy to read?"
What did he mean?
"Your complicated emotions for me are so vehemently in turmoil that I can sense your hatred, frustrations, expectations and disappointment from just a glance."
So.
From the start, he saw through her. Strangely, the feeling of being exposed to her true self wasn't as vexing as she thought it would be.
Callisto rephrased. "I left you alone since I thought you had the guts to do nothing, but I was wrong to have left you alive."
That person's plan should be foolproof. So why….?
None of the vassals stepped forward to defend. They weren't that foolish.
It was clear that the evidence was all pointing at her and was too strong to argue against. Pictures of her sharing the information to werewolves, purchasing drugs, and meeting four people on the day Callisto announced the news were attached to each paper, along with a copy of her ledger and a long caption explaining the exact situation and when the photos were taken.
"Please come with us quietly. Or else…" Alfonso, the butler who stayed behind Duke Callisto throughout the whole meeting, materialized behind her.
How did she get found out so easily? Did some assassin guild betray her or a merchant association she was a loyal customer of? It must surely be them! Ebon!! Since they had plenty of other customers, they must have betrayed her without thinking at the sight of more money.
There was no way her master would ever abandon her. Her master wasn't one to desert a pawn just because they had no more use.
Charging towards Alfonso, putting all her weight on this attack, she pushed down her daggers onto Alfonso's butter knife. In response to her swift slashes, Alfonso effortlessly countered all her attacks as if his ability was to negate her abilities.
Damn it! Why was she the one pushed back? Especially by the duke's butler who does nothing but manage paperworks everyday!?
"You should come with us." Alfonso offered her a choice.
"No thanks." She replied instantly. Losing her previous confidence, she analyzed her situation. Right now, her stamina was too low to keep up this combo. She should finish this quickly.
"Really?" His calm smile broke into a wide smirk. "I am glad. My master said to keep you alive, but I am really glad you refused."
Was he this insane when he was working in the castle?
No. He was definitely a different person. Whenever he bumped past a person, instead of reproaching them like a superior, he would say nothing and continue on his way or bend down to pick up his documents which fell to the floor.
Before, his eyes were like a dead fish, his body struggling everyday just to make it out of work, consequently, rumors about him being a sunfish that could die at any moment was reaching everyone's ears through the office. She wondered if by killing a person, his mind would refreshen and his body would rejuvenate.
As expected, rumors couldn't be trusted. Where was the sunfish? Instead, wasn't it a lively shark here!?
Alfonso smiled. Despite the force she used to pressure onto him, from all that dodging and striking back, it was odd how he wasn't out of breath. Was he a monster?
Glancing at him for a brief moment, she broke their eye contact. Taking a moment to recollect herself and calm her shivering body, she faced him head on.
Scary! Scary!
His eyes were oozing utter delight from the excitement to torture her painfully before granting her a merciless death. Terrifying! On the outside, his smile may appear sweet but to her, it hinted at nothing gentle but danger.
From a defensive fighting stance, she made a quick switch to bolting away. No matter what pride she had, it came second to her desire to survive just like any other organism. Looking back, she was relieved to no longer sense Alfonso's thin-like presence.
"I am still here." Alfonso's fruity voice let out an opposite effect on her.
When did he….!?
She was flabbergasted. Before he showed his presence, she didn't hear or detect him coming that close to her despite her perfectly functioning senses.
Alfonso was already in front of her, evidently slowing his pace to a pace a bit faster than hers. Both came to a stop, not moving one bit to not show .
"You can't run from me." Lifting his bangs, which blocked his view, Alfonso looked down on her before speaking out facts. "You are so damn slow."
A split second later, he knocked her out. Lifting her with one hand, Alfonso whistled merrily as he strode down the corridor. "As for the rest, I should leave her to the guild members."