/
The sword, which was held loosely in Ayla’s hand, fell to the ground helplessly.
Blood, from a deep wound, dripped on to it.
After a long moment, in voice that sounded dry and scorched, Ayla opened her mouth as aksed,
“How…?”
How did he know her name, how did he know about the bird shop or how he was already on the path of a sword master.
It was a question that asked many other questions but Calian, who understood her many questions, had no intention of answering a single one.
Instead, he immediately took a step forwards, looking into Ayla’s eyes, he reached out and grabbed her chin harshly. Ayla let out a gasp without realizing it.
“Ugh!”
Calian was trying to find the poison, that was always hidden in the teeth of Secretian spies but he couldn’t find the poison in Ayla’s mouth. He smirked at the realisation that she hadn’t already swallowed the poison – rather, she was wondering around having taken the poison out herself.
“Ayla,”
When Calian spoke to her again, Ayla’s shoulders flinched back – Calian spoke to her in a low voice.
“Tell me. The evidence.”
‘Should I lie and I say there wasn’t any from the beginning?’
‘Should I say I’ll hand it over if he lets me get away from here?’
A thousand thoughts crossed through Ayla’s mind – she was looking for a way out of here, since she knew that the only other option would be die, either here or in Secretia.
“Are you going to release me if I tell you?”
“After coming this far?”
Calian responded with an expressionless face.
She was the one who had displayed her bloodlust and attacked first, and now she was asking him for a chance ot live – so what chance could he give her?
“Everyone says that the Secretians are strong – but I guess you’re an exception?”
The next part of what Calian was said, was almost a mutter – as though he was talking to himself,
“Or you became an exception?”
It was difficult for Ayla to understand what Calian meant, however, looking at Calain’s face, it didn’t seem like he had any intentions of releasing her.
Soon, Ayla straightened her waist and stood upright, facing Calian. She glanced around, looking at the fragments of his shattered sword – since Calain had no intentions of releasing her, she would have to find another way to survive.
“A Swordmaster’s blade broke at once. Carrying a sword that seems to be worse than your escort knights’ – why is it that?”
When had she seen Kyrie’s sword, to be able to mention it? Calian stared at Ayla without answering her and Ayla, who interpreted his look in her own way, opened her mouth and said her next words curiously.
“People around you don’t know. You’re hiding your skills right?”
She observed Calian, and felt like her shot in the dark had paid off, there was a smug look on her face. Even though his face was expressionless, she noticed the way Calian clenched his fist.
Ayla continued speaking,
“It’d be better to just let me go, otherwise, I’ll tell all the knights out there what I just saw,”
Calian had definitely given her a chance.
He had offered her the chance to get on his good side and give him the evidence.
A chance to save herself somehow.
Calian stood silently, and then slowly, a soft laugh came out of his mouth.
“- Argh!”
There was no warning to his movements, in the blink of an eye, he had grabbed Ayla’s collar and pulled her forwards. Looking closely at Ayla’s face, he spoke fiercely, through clenched teeth.
“If you wanted to live so badly- if you were going to beg me to save you – then you shouldn’t have done anything worth killing you for in front of me!”
Calian’s bloodlust exploded out of him and pressed down on Ayla like a physical wall pushing on her chest. Those red eyes flashed as though they were about to swallow her whole.
The instinctive fear on Ayla’s face showed her youth.
“Don’t hold any expectations or hope – you’ve come too far for that,”
No one could know how Calian felt right then. No one could dare to empathise or imagine. He gazed up at the ceiling fro a moment, and then turned his head, and looked at the rain still pouring.
It was after a long while, that the bloodlust finally dispersed.
Calian, who returned to his usual expression, and his usual tone of voice, spoke while looking at Ayla,
“It’s not a big enough secret to trade your life for, so give me the evidence, and I’ll make sure you won’t have to answer any other questions,”
Attempting to assassinate the royal family – of course the result would be beheading.
Wehther it was a spy who attempted it, or just a hired assassin, they would naturally be tortured to spit out every hidden thing regarding the assassination – Calian was saying he would make sure she could avoid this torture.
Ayla smiled.
She had never considered that she would be caught like this – she hadn’t even considered that she would be killed.
Which was why, she decided that she would resolve her resentment at dying by never revealing where the evidence was. That would at least make her feel better.
As though he had read her mind, Calian opened his mouth once again,
“If we do have to resort to interrogation, we won’t do it. I’m thinking of bringing someone else in for that,”
Ayla frowned, looking at Calian questioningly,
“White Eagle. He’ll do the interrogation,”
He meant what he had said.
Since she had betrayed both Kyris and Secretia, he should share the authority of the punishment.
It was only then, that a deep rooted fear entered Ayla’s eyes. It was the same expression as when he had faced Calian’s bloodlust.
Calian knew well of the cruelty White Eagle showed to traitors. Chase, who saw the body of a traitor that White Eagle had once tracked down, hadn’t been able to eat for three days.
Ayla also seemed to be aware that to those who turned their backs, White Eagle showed them the deepest pits of life because the next words out of her mouth was –
“The building next to the bar. There’s a space in the third stair going down to the basement,”