Chapter 35: Arcana

Sigrid looked at Seria. “Are you okay?”

Tears welled up from Seria’s eyes.

“Oh, uh—”

“Shh.. But I’m sorry, Miss Seria. I can’t get you out of here now. Instead, I want to make a request. Please you hear it? Do you think you could also do my request?”

Seria’s body was still shaking, but when she looked at the corpse of Count Oren, she then nodded her head.

But Sigrid couldn’t tell if she nodded or shook her head.

“Sir. Arcana is safe.”

Tears flowed from Seria’s eyes after hearing those words. 

Sigrid could tell that she was barely holding back her wailing.

“Now, all you have to do is scream so that the whole mansion knows that Count Oren had been murdered. Get as high as you could on the ground. Up, to the first floor. Then someone would come to help. He would call you Lady. Do you understand?”

Seria nodded her head again and again.

“And you didn’t see the killer, or you could say you did. You could say whatever Seria wants me to look like.”

—A lie.

Sigrid took out the third card. 

‘It’s a lie that doesn’t harm anyone.’

Seria paused for a moment and nodded her head eagerly.

Sigrid said, “Good,” then cut off the string tied to Seria’s hands and feet and took the ropes. 

“Then count to a hundred then shout.”

“Yes—” Seria could barely answer with her trembling lips. 

Sigrid jumped back to the vent and carefully closed the vent.

Seria stared blankly at the vent. She couldn’t believe a human could do that.

Click—

After the vent door closed completely, Seria staggered out of bed. There was no strength in her legs. But she must do it. She stood in the corner, avoiding the corpse of the fat Count, then began to count. 

“One, two, three, four, five—”

After she counted until one hundred, Seria screamed.

“MURDER! SAVE ME! COUNTESS! THE COUNT!!”

When Seria opened the door and went out, surprisingly, there was no one in the aisle. Well, the Count was worried about the sound of screams being heard by his servants, so he asked no one close to the underground. But right now, it was a fortune for her. Seria staggered up in the aisle while screaming with a burst of voice.

Soon after, people flocked. 

“The count is dead!”

Hearing Seria’s words, everyone ran downstairs without thinking about trying to hold her. 

“Count!”

“Oh my go!”

Seria continued to scream and went up to the first floor.

As the mansion was surrounded by screams, the sound of knocking on the door was heard a moment later. 

“What happened?!”

It was Morris and some of the capital guards who opened the door of the chaotic mansion.

Seria gasped, “The Count has been murdered! Un, unidentified assailant!!”

“Come this way, Lady.”

As Morris reached out Seria hand, she grabbed his hand tightly. Then, she fainted.

***

Provocative stories spread quickly.

So the story of Count Oren spread through society at an incredible speed.

The fans fluttering fast and red lips were constantly spreading rumors. 

“I heard he tried to rape free citizens?”

“Oh my gosh–”

“By the way, do you know? In the basement of that mansion, they said there are all kinds of perverted gadgets.”

“Oh my, oh my, my.”

“I think the young lady is in a big shock.”

“She would be. Oh so pitiful.”

As the champagne and wine were consumed, the rumors intensified. 

The next Count and the countess of Oren could not bear it and decided to leave the capital and go down to the estate for the funeral. 

And the gentle hands of the ladies poured out on Seria. Some even said that Marquis Alsekidna would hire her as a maid. Employees of nobles must have a letter of recommendation. The noble ladies praised the marquis for his kindness and wondered if they could hear the story of that time at least a little. Well, the crimes committed by others were the most exciting gossip anyway. 

In addition, the name of Sir Morris De Forrest was also floating around. 

“So, you’re on vacation?” Alkerto asked with a chuckle and clasped his chin. 

Morris sighed and nodded his head. He poured the wine he brought into a glass. “Everyone asked the same question over and over again. Also, everyone is so excited to make me a hero. The knight who ran into the mansion after hearing the sound of screams and saved a Lady.”

After pouring the wine into Alkerto and his glass, Morris raised her glass. “That’s why Captain Revel gave me a reward vacation. Thankfully.”

“Cheers to our leader.” Morris drank her wine. “Actually, it’s all Sigrid’s doing.”

“But you definitely helped too, right? The knight who kicked into the mansion and came out holding the young lady.” Morris said with a teasing smile. 

“Stop it.” Morris sighed heavily. “Because of this, it’s noisy at home.”

“At home? Isn’t that what your parents like?”

Morris shrugged his shoulders. “There are also several problems.” 

“What?” Alkerto looked at Morris for a moment.

Morris then continued. “Count Oren treated the life of a commoner like a worthless straw. He sacrificed commoner life as if nothing”

“Oh right. That’s a problem.”

“Hmm?”

“Then why didn’t you let her have his tongue cut off?”

Morris furrowed his eyebrows for a moment and looked Alkerto with the expression “what are you talking about,”, then realized what Alkerto talked about.

“Alkerto!”

When Morris looked at Alkerto with a face ‘how could you do that’, Alkerto just looked at him with a “why” face.

“He is the victim. He was oppressed by the Count.”

“But Sigrid would have been suspended if he had stayed the same.”

“It’s been solved.”

“It’s too consequential. After all, it is true that he committed a crime.”

Hearing those words, Morris raised his eyebrows. 

Alkerto said with a smirk. “Neither you or Rowen green—is Rowen green even better? You guys seemed to think that the weak are unconditionally victims…. Both the weak and the victim can be prepetators. The strong are not the only perpetrators.”

Morris was silent for a moment, he hesitated. “But cutting off his tongue is too much.”

“It is.” Alkerto laughed again.

Morris let out a sigh of relief. “It’s difficult.”

“It’s difficult.” Alkerto raised his glass. He was still wearing shoulder blade bandages, so he was still uncomfortable moving around. 

After sipping the wine, Alkerto widened his eyes. “Isn’t this expensive?”

“Yeah, that’s expensive.”

“What a good son you are.”

Not knowing whether it was teasing or sarcasm, Morris laughed bitterly. The only thing that was good for him was nothing. 

“Nah, not that good either. This was given by a kind lady in honor of my heroism.”

“Right.”

Alkerto reached out his hand towards the bottle of wine. After filling his glass, he asked. “So what happened to her?”

“First, Marquis Alsekidna entrusted the recruitment to me, when the situation subsides, I think they would decided on what to do next.”

“That’s great. By the way, the right to dispose of someone on the spot.. I didn’t even know it exists.”

Morris nodded. “I didn’t know either. According to Rowen green, ‘how do you know so well about such a privatized provision?’? The last time that right was used was 100 years ago.”

“How the hell did Sigrid know about the rights of the Imperial Knight? Well, wait, then is she going to move to the Imperial Knight now?”

That’s a bummer. 

Alkerto thought as he turned the glass around. The red wine fluttered in the glass. Of course, Since Sigrid was an aura user, having her in the second knight order was a waste of talent. Still, it was a pity.

“I don’t know either.”

Morris shrugged his shoulders.