27.The Sacrifice

It was a terribly opportune moment. I looked at Keane, feeling cold sweat run behind my back. His eyes were fixed on Azmaria, regardless whether I was there or not.

“Oh, you are Lord Kean.”

She had a look that seemed to already know Kean’s existence. The Black Hawk Knights were well-known in the Empire, so it was understandable.

“I heard people talking so I took the liberty of coming in. But this maid has just entered the Duchy. If you need any help, I can help you.” (Kean)

There was a hint of concern on Azmaria’s face towards me. She seemed to think that I would hear a reprimand because I was goofing around without knowing my place..

“No, thank you for your kindness, but I just wanted to take a break and look around the study in Ingord. I’m going to get going… Oh, thank you for filling the lamp with oil.”

Friendly Azmaria even uttered a false gratitude to protect me. All I could do between the two was bow down gently. After she left, Kean and I were left alone in the dark study without a single light. Thanks to him, my mind got complicated. If he asked me what she talked about, how should I answer it?

“Filling the lamp with oil you say.”

“Don’t get ideas. I’m just making up for other people’s mistakes.”

Keane shrugged lightly. It would have been better to reveal the truth than to hide it in plain sight. There was no reason for me to be Richton’s person for Azmaria. I quietly continued to fill the opposite lamp with oil.

“She asked about madness.”

“Aha, to you? How can she be such a cute girl?”

“I didn’t know anything, so I just about whatever.”

“Huh. Know nothing, you say. I heard you’ve been pestering Mr. Berkne.”

“You know it shouldn’t be me whom you’re telling that to.”

There was no reason to turn the lamp on since we were going to leave this place anyway. Kean called me up when I tried to move to fill the inner lamp with oil.

“Stop your nonsense and follow me. Since His Grace called.”

Those words weighed heavily on both my shoulders. I wanted to say something, but I couldn’t say anything because the words got stuck in my throat. I began to feel nauseous at the thought of meeting with him after what happened at dawn.

“What about the banquet?”

The answer to the question was not heard. I calmly followed Kean into the office. Unlike the banquet hall, the hall leading to this floor was quiet and dreary.

“I don’t know if you remember but it was this brother’s advice that the peace you felt was nothing but fiction.”

Kean’s voice was heard, walking ahead in the silence.

“You’d better take a deep breath before you meet him. Well, maybe you don’t need it.”

“If you want me to be nervous, I’m doing it every day, so don’t be nosy.”

Haha. He laughed with a half cracked dry voice. It was a laugh that caused strange anxiety in the corner of my chest.

“You’ll get used to this soon. You’ve already experienced it, haven’t you? Think of it as a regular mental discipline, Susan.”

“What have you been talking about?”

I paused. Keane, who followed a few steps in front of me, said it’s nothing.

“It’s very easy. If you think of it as favoritism, fear will feel like peace.”

The door of the office opened. It opened smoothly without noise, but to me it felt like an entrance to hell. The room was filled with unknown heat. The door closed, and I closed my eyes. The scene in front of me was a scene that I got used to. Richton, Berkne, Kean, and a sacrifice curled up like a caterpillar wrapped in its cocoon.

‘Say hello.’

The insensitive voice of that time sounded like a hallucination. What kind of mindset was I standing here with? There was only one thing I was certain of, at least now my mouth was not as dry or my fingertips as shaky as they were then. I bowed down with a casual face.

“Master, I heard you called me.”

“Remember, Susan. You have something to finish.”

There was no emotional agitation in Richton’s frosty voice. As if the dawn had never existed in the first place. It was like this that day. Crouching backs of Triviace’s three men were in front of me. My head began to feel dizzy by the sound of my heart beating wildly.

“I’m sorry, Master. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Raise your head.”

The sacrifice was crouched at Richton’s feet, tied tightly. I could tell who it was even if I couldn’t see his face. That’s why I couldn’t understand Richton, and I couldn’t wrap my head around it. His second offering was none other than my own work at Campbell.

“Why didn’t you kill him perfectly? Was all you learned from Berkne nothing but playing with dolls??”

I guess I’m used to it, as Kean put it. When I see him getting angry at this kind of atmosphere.

“I did not dare to deal with those who were in agreement with my master.”

The corners of his mouth twitched upwards. It sounded natural, but there was no joy to be felt with such a smile.

“Those who were in agreement, huh.”

Following the low voice, Viscount Campbell began to tremble as if he were about to have a seizure. But Richton closed his eyes and recited as if he didn’t care.

“Mr. Campbell does his best to not cross any line and is reasonably quick-witted. I like how he tried everything he could to take care of everything my eyes caught. I like passionate people. In that sense, he was a great dog. Except he is Wilhelm’s dog.”

I put my tongue on my cheek inside my mouth at the last part.. There were no more scars of that time when I forcibly bit my cheek. I couldn’t believe it so a forced laugh slipped out of my lips. Did I kiss his (Wilhelm’s) man in front of Wilhelm? I forced myself out of my head because I felt like my senses at the time were coming alive.

“Did he really think I was blind? Can’t tell which dog is mine?

Surreung! There was a sound of the day breaking the wind. I instinctively lifted my gaze that had fallen to the floor. A dark purple decorative sword was held in Richton’s hand.

“It can’t be. You just looked down on me.”

“Ugh!”

With a faint scream, Viscount Campbell twisted. He was already half-dead. All the veins of blood were sprouting from the slender neck that had withdrawn. Under the sword-studded back of his hand, the newly prepared autumn carpet was dyed red.

“How much contempt did he have to have in front of me to covet mine? I’m so curious….. I’m so curious. I feel like I’m going blind.”

Richton leaned down and thrust the sword deeper into the floor.

“Ugh!”

Lunatic

“Ugh!”

Yeah, Richton was crazy from the start. He was so human in the rain that I seemed to be confused for a moment. To Richton, the fact that a man is a tool, or a dog.

“What should I do now, Susan?”

I moisten my dry lips with my tongue. All of a sudden, the strange feeling disappeared into a handful of ashes. It’s scary. It’s scarier than that. Her mouth dried up. I just wanted this moment to pass quickly.

“Answer me. You won’t look down on me, will you?”

“It must be killed.”

In order to do so, I have to give the answer that the other person wants. Richton responded immediately to my answer. The sword with a red tip was pulled from the back of his hand and extended to me.

“Master.”

“You who tried to amputate your legs before my eyes, can’t cut the legs of a hidden rat.”

It’s just like Richton when Triviache’s three sons turned into bodies. He was urging me to follow him and lose my humanity. My eyes were stinging and dry, maybe because my body was stiff and my eyelids were blinking for a long time. Pushing on the third floor and completely cutting my breath with my hands are distinctly different. But I….

“If you don’t want to die, you have to kill. This makes sense, in fact he died to you once. The Viscount is yours alone, Susan. If you start, see the end.”

Viscount Campbell stared at me with bruised, swollen eyes. It wasn’t the eyes begging for mercy. Rather, the Viscount was glaring at me as if I was a mortal enemy, and that put me at ease.

It was fortunate.

At least he didn’t provoke the faintly remaining sympathy. Was I stepping backwards without knowing it? Keane leaned against my back and whispered softly enough that only I could hear it.

“Don’t try to run away, Susan. The current Excellency could kill you.”

The current Excellency? In a space where there was only darkness everywhere, it felt like a thick glass curtain suddenly broke in my head. My eyes widened and he stared at Richton.

A coercive atmosphere that pushes you to the edge of a cliff, and violence that smells like blood. It has no mercy on its prey once it bites. His act of masquerading as revenge is rather like entertainment.

It was this. This was Richton’s madness. Just like the Karold, the madness that may have been passed down through the Ingord generation. A double-edged sword of “that power” that Azmaria spoke of.

‘You’ll get used to this soon. You’ve already experienced it, haven’t you? Think of it as regular mental discipline, Susan.’

It was a moment when Keane’s words, which I dismissed as nonsense, were belatedly understood. Richton’s madness appears periodically. Brutal and inhumane odours beyond description. So what the hell is that power that causes madness?

“The only real mercy for the weak is death.”

The approaching Richton reached out his pale hand and led my arm. He gave me the decorative sword and spoke in a hoarse voice.

“You and I know better than anyone else.”

You know that? I felt wronged when I heard it. There was no way Richton could have felt that way with a cracker, a whip. But I didn’t push his sword away with all my might. Because I have to.

Yes, I have to. I came all the way from Triviace to live with all this. Poisoned and stabbed people to survive. I desperately needed to feel the loneliness left alone on a remote island. I’ve come all the way here, throwing away so many things….

“Susan.”

I can’t just stop like a fool.

I clenched my teeth.