Chapter 168

Feb 10, 2024

In the beginning, Roxana had planned to start the fire in the Red clan’s wing of the castle, then have as many people as possible discover their secret. Doing so would have put the Castros at such a disadvantage that her clan could exploit them any way they saw fit.

It wasn’t that she had any sort of personal vendetta against them. It was simply that such a course of action would likely prove most beneficial for the Black Agrece. But when the time had come, she had a change of heart. She was also still at odds with her decision to come to Yggdrasil under her Agrece name.

After all, only one season had passed since she had burned down her home with her own hands because she never wanted to set eyes on the Black mansion ever again in her short life. But the moment she had confirmed Jeremy was still in Agrece, then saw her late brother Achille’s corpse being used as Nix’s puppet shell, she understood that rather than desert her homeland as merely a shameful remnant of her past, it was instead presenting itself to her as a possibility for a new future.

What she couldn’t bear, however, was the fact that even after his death she could still see just how deeply Lante had left his mark on everything around her. Thus, she decided to go back to the start by returning to Agrece once again. She intended to wipe every trace of her father from her clan’s name and territory until it was as if he had never been born an Agrece.

In the end, that was how the late Agrece ruler’s kingdom would disappear from this fictional world. Of course, she never considered herself to be above reproach. She had no intention of making an impossible promise to herself to suddenly start living a righteous life.

At the very least, she made up her mind not to drag innocent people through the mires of corruption in order to use their desperation as a weapon to exploit them. That was why she and Jeremy had reached the decision to attempt forming a new, amiable alliance with the Castros rather than threaten them.

Of course, that didn’t mean they couldn’t allow the scales to tip slightly in their favor. As memories of the burning building began to resurface, her mood began to ice over as it had before. Indeed, though she hadn’t been the one to set the fire, the truth remained that she had at one point plotted to do so. And despite her hesitation when the critical hour had finally come, the incident had occurred without her involvement.

The timing of it all was simply too convenient to be a mere coincidence. On top of that, the face of the one person who would resurface whenever such things took place had also revealed itself in the depths of her heart yet again. She could practically feel those crimson eyes that had followed her from Agrece still on her as she sat at the table. But it was a ridiculous notion since she was truly the only person inside her tightly curtained and sealed room at Yggdrasil castle.

The only red eyes staring at her at that moment were her own as she observed her reflection in the mirror off to her side. As she studied the glint in her own crimson eyes, she pondered whether she would have ultimately followed through with the deed had the Red wing not mysteriously gone up in flames.

The answer seemed to reflect back out in her gaze. In the end, I’m still... an Agrece. It doesn’t matter if innocent people get hurt. The only way forward is to use any and every means necessary.

There was no denying that part of her actually embraced her clan’s ideology. After all, the very plan she had devised even before reaching the neutral territory was just the sort of thing Agreces were expected to do. Even in that moment, she was pondering what sort of trap to set to repay the Fipellions for their... kindness toward her siblings.

The juice that flowed from the fruit she had since crushed beneath her fingers began to soak her pale hands and the tabletop, then slowly dripped to the floor.

Red eyes are truly detestable no matter who they belong to. With that final thought, she turned away from her reflection, then rose from her seat.

* * *

That night, Roxana chose to leave the castle under a blanket of stars. She had delayed feeding her killer butterflies for long enough. Cassis had offered to accompany her, but she immediately declined since she thought it would be best for him to remain at the castle on the off chance unforeseen trouble arose while she was away. Thus, after seeing off, the Blue Heir climbed to the top of one of the castle’s towers alone.

Whoosh.

The view from that high up allowed him to see every detail of the castle’s grounds, as well as some of the scenery beyond its borders. Just moments before reaching the tower, he had caught and prevented Orka Fipellion from attempting to sneak out after Roxana.

The White Heir had initially tried to resist and argue that he was merely out for a stroll, but eventually conceded and returned to his room with a noticeably dissatisfied expression on his face. As an added precaution, Cassis ordered even more Pedelian knights to stand guard outside of every opening to the blue-haired man’s quarters afterward.

He did his best to push away the unhappy memory by staring into the distant darkness stretching out before him. Before long, both Isidore and Olin came up to join him. The brown-haired lieutenant was the first to approach their captain in order to give his report.

“Sir, the subject under surveillance just set out from the castle.”

An ominous thought flashed behind the young man’s golden eyes. If Deon Agrece had chosen to leave at such a time, there could only be one direction he was heading in. Ever since their last encounter in the greenhouse, the dark-haired Agrece had begun to trail her like a shadow.

The very thought made Cassis subconsciously clench his jaw. He wanted nothing more at that very moment than to sprint out of the castle toward his beloved. But he suppressed his urge and did his best to settle his enraged spirit.

“Very well. You’re relieved for the night.”

Isidore bowed his head before leaving quietly.

Olin then stepped forward to give her report. “Lady Sylvia finally turned in for the night. Due to her reduced interactions with the other clans, there is nothing more to report on that front. The target under Baron Winston’s surveillance also did not attempt to make contact with her, and I have yet to detect any other significant threats, sir.”

Since arriving at the castle, only a few Blue knights including Olin were serving as Sylvia’s personal guards. Per usual, their primary mission was to ensure their princess’s safety and guard against any and all potential dangers. To their great displeasure, Deon Agrece happened to be one of them.

“I’ve noticed that she seems to be less energetic and social than usual. Check to see if there are any other issues that may be troubling her.”

“Yes, sir. Leave it to me.”

Shortly after sending those two on their way, Cassis made his way back down the tower as well. The remainder of his night was spent restlessly awaiting Roxana’s return. In order to try to keep his mind preoccupied, he decided to take another look around the castle grounds under the pretense of checking the security measures. It was during that time that a floating white figure suddenly flew past his vision. He then noticed a man around his age staggering down the corridor toward him.

“Noel Vertium.”

But the Gold Master continued to stumble toward the Pedelian as if he hadn’t heard the other man utter his name. Just then, the Pedelian knight who had been assigned to stand guard outside of the young clan leader’s room anxiously trailed behind the carrot-top. He had been shut up inside of his room by the Blue Heir almost immediately after his arrival to await his trial regarding the puppet. Despite needing to remain in good condition for the hearing, there appeared to have been next to no concern over his treatment.

From the looks of his unfortunate state, he hadn’t had so much as a single drop of water for several days. Cassis signaled the knight discreetly before matching the stride of the Vertium leader himself.

“Gold Master, why are you wondering about the castle at such an hour?”

But rather than answer the Blue Heir’s inquiry, Noel remained silent and continued to move forward aimlessly. The Pedelian couldn’t help frowning at the overt snub. At first, he had suspected that the Vertium was attempting to contact Nix in secret, but at that moment he appeared to be moving toward a different objective entirely. Upon taking a closer look, he saw that very few traces of sanity remained behind the gaze of the green-eyed man.

“By the way, why isn’t your right-hand man Dante here with you?”

Hearing the assistant’s name seemed to finally trigger a reaction from him as he soon whispered, “Dante...”

Then his faltering steps came to a halt. Although his eyes remained unfocused, his spirit seemed to return for the time being. Cassis’ face, however, only hardened upon meeting the orange-haired man’s gaze directly.

“Gone. Dante is... No more...”

The ambiguity of the response aside, the Pedelian sensed a most peculiar sensation sweep over him.

“Nix... I need to see Nix.” Noel once again reignited his frantic search for the puppet. “I... I need to see Nix! Only then will Dante...”

Cassis only listened to the young leader’s ramblings.

“Dante...” As odd as it was, the Vertium master then began to speak as if he had no recollection of speaking only moments prior. “Hmm... Come to think of it, why isn’t he here?” Noel took another few steps, then once again cried out for Dante. “Dante? Dante! Dante, where are you?!”

It was a bizarre scene rife with unexpected anxiety and chaos.

“Dante...”

Noel finally slumped to the floor as if his legs had suddenly given out. His emerald eyes, which had been continuously and frantically searching the empty space before him, began to slowly well up with tears. But just as his vision had misted over, he soon refocused his gaze until the light gently reflected off of it. He almost appeared to have just awoken from a dream as he stared off into the unknown like that, but then the tears rolling down his cheeks and hitting the floor with a heavy “plip” sound seemed to shake him from his daze.

“D-Dante is... gone. Is... Is Dante really... gone?”

As the white of his eyes and the tip of his nose began to redden, Noel, at last, abandoned all inhibition to cry out loud. He had long since forgotten of Cassis and the Blue knight‘s presence. The Blue Heir glared at the Gold Master coldly as the young clan leader continued to wail without any regard for his personal dignity or even a shred of humility.

“What’s the meaning of all this?”

A smooth voice sounded from behind the Pedelian. Cassis turned to see the one person he had been anxiously awaiting all that night. Although her blond hair remained covered by her cloak’s black hood, Roxana’s aura was undeniable. The orange-haired man was evidently too preoccupied to sense her arrival as he remained sprawled on the floor while she quietly drew closer.

“So you’ve returned. I’ve been waiting for you.”

Cassis moved to block her view of the undignified scene, but her eyes simply followed his movements. “Escort Noel Vertium back to his quarters.”

After giving the knight the order to remove the Gold Master from the hallway, the silver-haired man proceeded to close the distance between him and his beloved. He then glanced around but could not detect any trace of Deon Agrece.

“We should return to our chambers as well.” He then took her hands in his to lead her away. Even as she followed him, her eyes continued to stare at the Vertium leader’s shrinking figure a bit longer.

“Were you out here all this time? I told you I wouldn’t be back until quite late.”

“I planned to go to bed after seeing you had returned.”

She did not inquire any further about the manic Vertium and simply assumed that he had thrown a fit after getting caught trying to sneak out to meet with Nix. Cassis decided not to tell her about what he had heard the Gold clan leader say either.

Instead, the name Deon Agrece remained pinned down in his mind. He was the same person listed in the report his spy had sent back to Pedelian after surveilling the Gold estate and the Gold clan members’ movements. His intuition had already been twisted into knots in his mind, but as he listened to Noel’s cries it slowly wrapped around him in massive coils.