CH 33

“…Your Grace?”

The chaotic atmosphere instantly became quiet.

The hallway lights poured in from the open door.

Bloody purple eyes shaded by that shadow were exploring the meeting room with the eyes of a predator.

“Ah, the meeting.”

Did he realize Vallois’ schedule only then?

Cassis, who was looking at the situation with an uninteresting eye, spotted me.

The sound of the white-haired vassals stepping backwards was heard at his unexpected action as he moved without hesitation.

“Anyway, why are you holding my daughter?”

It was then.

A lower-than-usual bass sound fell in front of my nose.

Cassis was approaching us at some point.

He must have been running in a hurry, his black hair was tousled.

Yet there was a strange madness on his calm face, devoid of a strangely rough breath.

“I asked why you’re holding my daughter.”

“Ah.”

Agasa, of course, was hugging me.

He was only protecting me with the momentum to be hit by a knife, yet it was clear that it looked bad in Cassis’ eyes.

“Ah, this.”

Slightly startled, Agasa released his arms, which had clamped me.

My face, which showed my eyes only, was finally revealed.

His gaze was lifted from Agasa and fixed on me.

“T-There was a situation. I apologize.”

“I see.”

Agasa, who was oppressed by the intimidating force, could hardly speak after that.

I can’t help this.

I’ll have to step in.

“Is Dad already here?”

“…Yeah, I came back early because I wanted to see Billie.”

“How about Her Imperial Majesty the Empress? To see her…”

“You’ll need to come to Daddy first.”

“Yesh.”

It was before I could stretch out my hands from being crushed in Agasa’s arms.

Dad’s hands lifted my armpit as if he was picking me up.

He hurriedly had me get up from my seat and put me in his arms.

“You didn’t miss Daddy?”

As the affectionate gaze pierced the friendly voice, a frightened sound rang out from the surroundings.

Surprised eyes began to scan Cassis with me.

“…Do you really care about the Princess?”

“Who is that yellow-headed beast anyway? Weren’t you absent from the regular meeting?”

The faces of the vassals really looked like they had seen ghosts.

“Of course I missed you! How angry I am when you left without a word!”

I tapped my dad on the chest with a small cotton fist with sincerity.

“Why are you asking for an obvious answer! Later, you’ll have to tell me before you go, okay?”

“Hm. I’m sorry.”

Gasp.

Cassis, who watched me hitting his chest with a cotton fist, lifted the corners of his lips happily, and a strange breathing sound came from the surroundings again.

“Billie.”

“Huh?”

However, it was a bit strange.

He seems to be back to normal, though.

There was a strange obsession in the purple eyes that were staring at me persistently.

“I heard you made friends.”

“Aaah, are you talking about Sian?”

“His name is Sian.”

“Yeah! He’s the first friend I’ve ever had, and he’s a very nice guy.”

“Really?”

“He’s the same age as me, and I teach him how to eat steak…”

“A boy.”

He kept the corners of his lips raised.

Dad’s face subtly became bloody, yet I, who was excitedly bragging about my friend, unfortunately didn’t notice that.

“Yeeaaaah, a boy! His hair is golden, but his skin is white. But since his eyes are black, he looks like a doll, you know?”

“…Doll?”

After a moment of silence, he crossed the center of the meeting room while holding me.

“Shall we go to that doll?”

“Yes! Sian is on the 4th floor side of the treatment room! I was thinking of asking Dad to let him be my servant when you’re back, but that worked out well, gooosh!”

“…Gasp, Your Grace.”

“…”

“Your Grace, that’s not the problem now!”

When we really tried to go down to the 4th floor excitedly, Agasa, who came to his senses, belatedly ran out of the meeting room.

It wasn’t long before Cassis returned to the castle.

***

Late night.

After the regular meeting, Cassis and Agasa hurriedly moved to another location.

“The body was kept where it was found.”

The basement of Vallois.

As he opened the door, the body the knights had stored came into his field of vision.

‘An assassin.’

In fact, it wasn’t uncommon for assassins to appear during this time.

300 years ago.

Starting with the flag of victory that was stood by the predecessor family head, the Magi of Vallois was a great weapon to the Rolls Empire.

However, did they say that the bigger the light is, the longer the shadows are left?

Thanks to that, Vallois rose to the top of the four largest families at once, yet the endless assassination attempts right after the war were also solely their responsibility.

Even the assassination has become a daily routine of Vallois due to the evil deeds he had done to revive Vivian.

‘But with Billishia here, things are different.’

Mad.

The muscles in his grimly stiffened jaw bulged.

Has all the atrocities he has done in the past gone to his daughter?

Cassis suddenly had the urge to kill his past self.

“Anything else known?”

He passed through the transparent curtain put on to preserve the scene.

Cassis knelt in front of the corpse.

Before he knew it, the air around him was cold, as if he had entered a freezer.

“Information that an assassin appeared from the beginning of the regular meeting was obtained. However, when the Vallois knights moved, he was already dead.”

He listened to Agasa and at the same time scanned the corpse’s abdomen.

“…He got stabbed in the stomach sloppily. If there had been confusion among the assassins, they would have aimed for his neck.”

“Do you see it as the work of ordinary people?”

“First of all, it’s not a person who handles magic. There is no trace of Magi at all.”

“…That means it’s not a member of the family.”

“That’s right.”

Vallois was a family entwined with the natural blood they had.

Due to the nature of the aggressive family, most of those who followed him were also those who dealt with Magi.

First of all, the culprit is an outsider.

“It’s not even normal people. The culprit didn’t have a weapon. It got solved by stealing the weapon the assassin had.”

“…He doesn’t carry a weapon, yet you’re saying he’s not an ordinary person?”

The wound was sharp, but not very deep.

It was a common feature of a dagger that, even if it stabbed a body part, didn’t penetrate the body due to its physical length.

‘But if the assassin’s abdomen was hit.’

His opponent was more likely to be short men and women.

Yet it was strange.

The wound on the corpse was strangely neat.

Like cutting paper with scissors.

‘Things will get complicated.’

The drowsy expression subtly hardened.

He sighed inaudibly and stood up.

“He’s killed using an aura.”

“…An aura?”

Agasa’s eyes narrowed as he admired the family head’s sharp gaze.

Aura was a sensitive technique which only those who had mastered swordsmanship could handle.

Also, it characteristically didn’t have compatibility with other abilities.

Therefore, no matter how good the swordsmanship was, those who possessed magic or divine power couldn’t approach the aura.

“People with aura abilities are officially registered in the Rolls Empire. So first, search all over the world for the registrants. Make a list.”

“Yes.”

“And also investigate the range of activities of the servants. The same goes for the collateral side. Especially around the area where the assassin died.”

“Yes.”

“And then.”

It was then.

A moment of silence passed.

Sensing something strange, Agasa stared at Cassis.

He seemed to be standing in the middle of the desert.

The air became so heavy that he dared not speak.

“At the regular meeting.”

“…Yes?”

It was then that he heard Cassis’ unfamiliar voice.

“…Billishia was in a dangerous situation.”

Drop, drop.

Water droplets that couldn’t escape from the ceiling fell, creating a gloomy atmosphere.

In the middle of a dark basement.

A pale light appeared on Cassis’ face.

“…Your Grace, I’m very ashamed.”

“That’s not it. I asked if my daughter was in danger because I was away.”

Agasa, slightly startled by the unexpected question, couldn’t answer.

Cassis knew.

The fact that he already knew the answer to the question that Agasa, as a subordinate, couldn’t bear to answer.

Many questions swirled around.

From simple problems to complex problems which he didn’t know how to deal with.

‘I’ve failed all.’

He almost lost Billishia while trying to get Vivian back.

In particular, the moment he entered the meeting room, he saw his daughter, whose whole body stiffened like ice.

Billishia was terrified.

She was shivering like a herbivore in her own castle, which should have been the safest place in the world.

When he saw the white hand clutching Agasa’s sleeve, Cassis felt that someone had hit him in the back hard.

If only he hadn’t gone out of the castle.

If it hadn’t been for Vivian’s death.

If only he had attended the regular meeting.

“…The worst as a father.”

As soon as the objective evaluation was made coldly, Cassis’ brow furrowed on its own.

He was already the worst as a husband before.

He didn’t care if the karma was directed at him, yet he could never open his eyes to see how it affected his daughter.

“…Agasa.”

“Yes.”

After that, he was lost in thought for a long time, passing Agasa and leaving the basement.

“Prepare Vivian’s funeral.”

***

A few hours later.

Clackㅡ

The maid who brought the dinner trolley opened the door and said,

“You kept quiet during the regular meeting, didn’t you?”

She was a little anxious about the assassin, but she was responsible for the boy’s meals anyway.

Like it or not, she was the maid in charge of his meals.

“See how you don’t answer again. You ignore me as a maid…”

It was when her temples throbbed as she tried to forget the memory of the boy ignoring her.

Whooshㅡ

“…?”

A strangely strong gust of wind passed by.

Sensing something odd, the maid widened her tightly closed eyes.

The open window.

White silk curtains fluttering in the night breeze.

And the missing boy.

“…Si, Si…”

At last, he ran away.

As she tried to call the name she couldn’t remember, she immediately crossed the hall.

“Sian ran away! The slave has run away!”

The Duke’s Castle has been overturned.

While Billishia was asleep, the knights and servants started searching inside and outside the Vallois Castle.

An hour after that.

Sian was discovered by a knight walking among the bushes.

He was found collapsed, covered in blood all over his body.