RAMHM Chapter 93

Not friends

The reason I remained at the Grand Ducal Estate without Novian was simple. The reason I'd deliberately attended Epero and Viktor's welcome ceremony. The reason I'd needlessly provoked Doris by announcing I'd become the Crown Prince's assistant. I still hadn't found Doris's person. Butler Gaspar was the Crown Prince's man. Maid Annie was Duke Castagna's lackey. But Doris's person? I'd have to provoke Doris to make them reveal themselves. Though the sudden attack had rattled me, I'd essentially met the ringleader of the Grand Ducal Estate's demons.

"...You're smiling?"

Her already wrinkled face crumpled in disbelief. As Sophie's hunched body slowly straightened, Yona's low scream rang out. Having confirmed my face, Sophie was no longer the frail, dying old woman she'd appeared to be. Still squat, but with her bent back straightened, she stood about Marge's height.

"Good gracious!"

Marge recoiled in shock. Strange brown hair streaked with blond, eyes glittering black. The wrinkled face remained, but the woman standing there no longer looked ill. The woman's eyes gleamed with amusement as she jerked her chin at one of the men. A blade missing several teeth—making it even more terrifying—sliced through the rope binding my ankles and dress hem like sacking in one stroke. My legs screamed with pins and needles, blood flow restored after the agonizing constriction. As those sinister gazes lingered on my exposed ankles, Yona hastily covered them with my skirt.

"Bliea, let me... untie the rope."

As snickering laughter rippled through the room at my pained expression, Yona whispered urgently. Untie it how? With this many people around, what could we possibly do...? Instead of elaborating, Yona shrank back behind me with a frightened look, hiding herself. Simultaneously, Sophie laughed lowly and threw off the robe wrapped around her body. A leather belt studded with several daggers circled her waist, and she gripped a sword similar to those the surrounding men held.

"A fox-like thing who dared offend her noble mistress should naturally atone with her life."

This wasn't the wheezing voice I'd known. It was the voice of a witch muttering ominously from deep within a mountain cave, from somewhere even deeper still. One of the nearby men roughly untied the gag's knot at the back of my head. I worked my parched mouth and staggered to my feet. The moment I stood, I flinched—it felt like the bindings on my wrists behind my back had come loose. Yona pressed close against my back, utterly nonchalant.

"There's no one here higher than me, so hearing that is quite amusing."

"Insolent bitch."

The cursing came immediately after I spoke, my throat feeling like it might tear from dryness.

"Did Doris Castagna order you to kill me?"

Sophie's eyes widened dramatically. Something about that expression made me feel oddly deflated. I'd kept three maids—Marge, Yona, and Marie—stationed at the Grand Ducal Estate to monitor the servants. Those unaware of the situation must have thought I was throwing tantrums alone at the estate, replacing servants one by one. But no. I'd merely sent away temporarily those least likely to be Doris's people. No one paid attention to the head maid who existed in name only, always shut up in her room. I'd been the same.

"A lowborn thing daring to speak that noble lady's name so freely...!"

"Doris must have been in quite a hurry."

Doris had moved faster than expected. According to Nora, today was her consummation night with Bardenaldo, and she'd be frantic preparing for the Emperor's upcoming birthday celebration...

"As you said, since this lowborn thing has climbed this high, I've always been prepared."

"What?"

A bald-faced lie. All I could count on was Neil arriving late at the Count's estate, confirming my absence, tracking the wrecked carriage traces here—or going to the Grand Ducal Estate, noticing my absence, and searching the vicinity.

"Meaning I anticipated Doris would make this move and took measures so she'd be suspected whether I died or went missing. They're probably tracking my trail to find me right now."

"That's impossible! Stop wagging your three-inch tongue!"

"How dare you!"

The shrill scream didn't come from me. Surprisingly, it was Marge who blocked Sophie as she advanced with gleaming blade.

"...Marge?"

Marge stood trembling yet blocking my path firmly.

"Even if she couldn't become Grand Duchess! You served her, and you might continue serving her! How could you do this! What did the Madam ever do to you? Even after the Grand Duke was sent to the frontier, she didn't dismiss you dead weight cluttering the estate—she respected you! How dare... how dare...!"

Ah, Marge! Everyone except us was mocking Marge's every word, but I wasn't.

"Don't do something you'll regret—back off! Don't touch a single hair on our Madam's head!"

The scream-like admonishment torn from terror was heartbreaking and simultaneously deeply moving. The pale middle-aged maid stood barehanded, eyes bloodshot red.

Marge, shorter than me, had never seemed so tall. She wasn't Bliea's person, had even treated me like a lunatic at first—which made the moment all the more profound. The thought that had filled my head—provoke them to death if necessary, learn even a scrap of truth—immediately scattered. An impulse surged through me: I didn't want to stupidly lose these precious people I'd gained since entering this body. My heart pounded rapidly. Thump-thump. Since entering this body, I'd consistently marveled at Bliea's health, but this was the first time I'd felt such strange excitement, such strength flooding my hands. My gaze kept getting pulled to the daggers lined up at Sophie's waist.

"Go easy, Bliea..."

Yona's voice whispered light as wind, yet it pulled confidence from the ground all the way to the top of my head, setting my blood boiling. Something felt off.

"Lowborn thing, move aside."

Sophie spat coldly and pushed Marge aside without hesitation, closing in on me rapidly. The woman who wasn't sick was clearly a former active assassin. Those eyes filled with killing intent didn't belong to an ordinary person. The wickedly honed blue blade surged directly at me. And then a miracle happened. As the ear-splitting scrape of metal rang out, rather than breaking into goosebumps, I thrilled.

"This...!"

Was the old woman still an old woman, lacking sufficient strength? Or had Bliea's miraculous health overflowed especially severely today? My hand, which had dodged sharply to the side, truly miraculously drew a dagger from the old woman's waist and met that vicious sword. Not only that—following what this body remembered, the hand gripping the dagger firmly stabbed the old woman's hand without hesitation and brought the blade to her throat. Everything happened in an instant. Like seeing an oncoming carriage and dodging urgently before thought. An utterly natural, reflexive action. The old woman's gleaming eyes bulged as if they'd pop from her pain-twisted face. Simultaneously, my hand not gripping the dagger seized the old woman's collar tightly and pressed the dagger close. The situation reversed in an instant.

"The one who's going to die isn't me—it's you."

I spoke coldly to the old woman's eyes, but simultaneously my heart stung. Something felt off.

'Bliea, what exactly... are you?'

Even the men who hadn't drawn swords all assumed combat positions at once. What was even stranger—rather than fear, a bizarre confidence welled up that without Marge and Yona here, I could easily take down three or four of them. That's when it happened. Faint vibrations rippled through the warehouse where only thin light streamed in. The sound heard in that hair-trigger tension put everyone on edge.

"Someone's coming. No time to waste. Kill the women and the head maid too—massacre them all."

"Wh-what?!"

Bang! The moment Sophie's flustered voice sounded, a tremendous crash brought winter's cold wind flooding directly into the warehouse. Not just the approaching men's expressions but mine turned pale. Someone stood backlit by moonlight, having shattered the heavy wooden door with a single kick.

"Adrienne!"

It was Rhodness.

Seeing the carriage wheels lying brutally scattered, the knights barely clinging to life and writhing, Rhodness screamed soundlessly.

'I'm your friend too. You don't use the perfectly fine friend you have, and you keep making other friends, so I'm angry.'

Impatient hands roughly swept over his completely bloodless face.

"Crazy bastard."

'Friend is fine. Knowing the truth is all fine. However we end up in the future, being those damned friends right now is all fine. But... today is a bit difficult.'

"Can't be satisfied with just one..."

The anxiety boiling in his core exploded like a volcano when flooded with regret. He wanted to shove every word he'd spewed from his own mouth just hours ago into the garbage.

"For me to say such things..."

Recalling that face, desperate to soothe him yet not knowing what to do, made his head feel like it would burst. Vicious self-loathing dominated his entire body. When he finally found traces and rode toward the search party, discovering numerous hoofprints, his heart teetered on the edge of stopping.

"Your Highness, Your Highness! We don't even know how many they are—don't rush ahead so recklessly!!"

When investigating Baroness Kuroseida's disappearance, he remembered those who'd left traces this way. Wasn't Baroness Kuroseida's death practically a foregone conclusion?

'Am I even your friend?'

Remembering that that was the last conversation he'd had with Adrienne, he could no longer control himself.

In the warehouse filled with killing intent, Rhodness's gaze was fixed sharply on me. His eyes showed first something close to rapturous relief, then fury rising vividly afterward—for someone who'd found the person they were seeking, those eyes held enough killing intent to make my whole body shudder. His gaze moved slowly over my burst lips clearly bearing gag marks, my pale wrists vividly marked from bindings. Naturally, before his knight brigade could even arrive following noisily behind, his military boot trampled the man closest to me first, crushing his face with grip strength alone. He didn't even draw his sword. Not just me but the men instantly recognized the person glittering in the darkness. They couldn't possibly face someone who'd survived battling dozens of monsters alone. Though he hadn't even drawn his sword yet, those who'd lost all fighting spirit saw their comrades being crushed by bare hands and fled the warehouse in utter panic. Even they would be suppressed by the encircling knight brigade rushing in. Rhodness dealt with the four or five men around me who hadn't managed to escape, then lifted Sophie's head—whom I'd been restraining—with one hand like dangling trash and threw her into a corner. My hand gripping the dagger with trembling strength was immediately enveloped by his rough hand. Clang— The dagger fell with a sound, and my tense body collapsed with it. With the light behind him, I couldn't see his face well. But I was pulled into an embrace so tight I couldn't breathe.

"Adrienne, Adrienne..."

Smelling alcohol, sweat, and that lavender scent always on him mixed into his body's fragrance, I could finally release the tension in my body.

"It's all my fault."

A rough, low voice ground to pieces emerged like a lament.

"For me to say such things to you... I should have taken you to the estate..."

Rhodness's body trembled far more than mine as he pulled my collapsed form into his arms while crouching down—I who'd just suffered terrible treatment.

"Because of idiotic me, you..."

It's not your fault. I knew Doris would move eventually. This is a trap I set. I just didn't expect her person to reveal themselves this violently. The timing just moved up slightly.

"Rho..."

My throat felt completely blocked—I had to close my mouth momentarily.

"So I can't hold back anymore."

Was it because I was pulled so tightly I couldn't breathe? Even trying to push away that firm, trembling chest, it absolutely wouldn't budge. Like a swamp that pulled harder the more you tried to escape, he bound me.

"I'm not doing this friend thing with you."

I stopped struggling in his arms. His sudden declaration struck me as shock. Feeling like a blood clot surged up my throat, I steadied my breathing momentarily. What did he mean? Recalling Rhodness who'd been angry with me just hours ago, it didn't sound like a good thing. Our chests pressed together, both heaving—yet held in his hot body, I suddenly felt cold. A growl resembling a beast's whimper seeped directly into my ear.

"Not friends. I'm not doing that anymore."

I froze solid. Meeting those wavering red eyes, his declaration seemed to mean not that he was disappointed in me... but something else entirely.