SBTS 07

Chapter : 07

Surviving in the Marquis’s Household ( 3)

Ainhar arrived at the Marquisate of Rues’s mansion in the imperial capital.

Although smaller than the castle on the marquisate’s estate, the mansion was every bit worthy of a family that had helped found the Empire. It was a masterpiece designed by a renowned architect.

The beautifully maintained gardens, tended by a first-rate gardener, were dotted with sculptures carved from pristine white marble. The grounds were both beautiful and luxurious.

All the nobles residing in the capital eagerly awaited the day another party would be held at the mansion. But without a mistress to host them, House Rues no longer held parties.

Ainhar cherished the small glass greenhouse tucked away in a corner of the estate.

It was a place filled with memories of his mother, who had passed away when he was still young.

Flowers bloomed there in every season, creating the illusion that time had stopped in his childhood.

A quiet, peaceful place.

A place where he had been consumed by the desire to master swordsmanship and earn his mother’s praise.

A fleeting period of peace when he could train until he was drenched in sweat, playing without giving a thought to the murderous intent of his demonic sword.

That was why, whenever he returned to the mansion, he always made his way to the greenhouse, no matter how busy he was.

But today, he climbed straight into the carriage bound for the Imperial Palace without even taking time to recover from his journey.

“Won’t you stop by the greenhouse before you leave? It’s already spring, and the peonies Her Ladyship loved are in full bloom.”

“I’ll see them later.”

“Then I’ll have everything prepared for your rest by the time you return from the Imperial Palace.”

The mansion’s butler, whose white hair had grown thin and patchy, found Ainhar’s unusual behavior puzzling. But he simply assumed his master had some urgent business and thought nothing more of it.

Indeed, Ainhar was not himself today.

However, he made such an effort to maintain his usual composure that no one noticed the impatience he was concealing.

He wanted to finish his duties as quickly as possible and return to his estate. For some inexplicable reason, the silver-haired girl they had rescued during the recent campaign against the black magicians kept occupying his thoughts.

[Hey, Master. What am I supposed to do? I can’t stop thinking about that delicious girl. When we get back, let me have just one drop. I won’t kill her, I promise. I want to keep eating her, so let’s not kill her. You know this is the first time I’ve ever said something like this, right? But let me have a little more than last time.]

“Tartanus. Are you saying you want to keep cutting down a living girl, over and over again?”

[Why? Can’t I? I’m not going to kill her.]

Ainhar sighed inwardly. There was no reasoning with the thing.

[Come on, Master. Be honest. You liked it too, didn’t you? I can feel what you’re feeling. When you tasted her blood, it was delicious, wasn’t it? Wasn’t it?]

At Tartanus’s question, Ainhar felt his heart sink.

It was as though a shameful secret he’d wanted to hide had just been exposed.

That day, when he let Tartanus taste her blood…

When he casually brought her finger to his lips to stop the bleeding…

That was when he realized something was wrong.

A soft fragrance that swept through his entire body.

An inexplicable thirst.

Longing. Satisfaction.

The sensation of recovering something he had long since forgotten.

And… a desire to keep drinking her blood had slowly begun to take root inside him.

But he didn’t want to give in to that desire.

“No, Tartanus. That’s your influence, not my own will.”

[Hmph. Have you still not accepted that you’re me and I’m you? You should take after your ancestors. Suppressing your instincts is bad for your health. Don’t you think?]

Tartanus began rambling again. The sword had always been talkative, so Ainhar paid it little attention.

[Your father was especially impressive. Ahh, I remember it well. Back when your father carried me around, I feasted every single day. Those were happy times! But you, his son… How many days have you made me go hungry now?! You horrible master!!! That man raised his son all wrong!!! He should’ve raised you to be much more ruthless!]

The demonic sword shrieked again, as though lamenting its miserable circumstances.

“There will be a monster extermination soon. I’ll let you feed then.”

[Hmph! Hmph! …But seriously, can’t I eat her? Just a little. You won’t be satisfied with anyone else anymore, either, you know.]

“…She’s not food.”

[Then what is she? We see all humans as food, don’t we?]

“…”

Ainhar couldn’t refute the sword’s words.

Ever since inheriting his family’s power, the curse had made humans appear to him as prey, filling him with an unpleasant sensation. It was the same feeling humans had toward livestock. He felt it toward his own kind.

This was true of all five great families of the Empire.

Even his father, the former Marquis of Rues, had never loved his mother, who was an ordinary human. Their marriage had been solely for the purpose of producing an heir. For generations, the Empire’s five great families had repeated the same practice.

If they had known that the power they so desperately desired would come with a curse like this, would they still have made the contract?

Whether they had known what they were agreeing to or not, it was wrong.

Ainhar had struggled, again and again, to resist those instincts. But in the end, he had never been able to stop himself from consuming human blood. The more he tried to suppress his instincts, the more violently they seemed to erupt.

But this time, it wasn’t hunger.

Adelia Pasha.

She was different. He wanted to believe she was different.

He wanted to understand exactly what made her different.

He wanted to hurry back to his estate and find out for himself.

Suppressing his curiosity with all his might, Ainhar quickened his pace toward the Emperor’s audience chamber.

As the enormous golden doors swung open, a throne embroidered with red silk and golden thread came into view.

Carved into it were the Imperial Family’s emblems: a blazing sun and a silver balance scale.

A magnificent, imposing throne.

A seat reserved for the ruler of the Empire alone.

Beside it, however, a woman sat idly in a plush chair.

She was the Imperial Princess, Eliza Amantaria.

She had been twirling a lock of her elegant, long, wavy brown hair around her finger. But when she spotted Ainhar, her face brightened with satisfaction.

Ainhar approached her, knelt, and offered his formal greeting.

“I am Ainhar Rues, the Immortal Sword. I pay my respects to the rising sun of the Empire and the master of its new balance.”

“You’re here! Ainhar! I thought I was going to suffocate to death. Kylen is too much for me to handle on my own.”

Across from the princess, a man dressed in black stood watching. It was Kylen Duranche, Duke of Duranche. When he noticed Ainhar, his brows furrowed.

“I see Duke Kylen Duranche is here as well.”

Ainhar greeted him with a slight bow. But Duke Kylen didn’t even look at him. He simply turned away.

It was an extremely rude gesture by aristocratic standards, but Ainhar didn’t take offense.

“I never expected to see that man here. I’ll be taking my leave.”

“Aw, why? You two are old friends who haven’t seen each other in ages. Must you really snarl at each other like that? Why don’t we reminisce about the old days?”

“Friends…”

Kylen twisted his lips into a faint smile. The tips of his sharp fangs showed.

“I suppose the princess calls someone who drove a knife into her family’s heart a friend.”

At his words, Ainhar didn’t so much as flinch. He continued staring straight ahead with an impassive expression.

Eliza looked troubled by the atmosphere, which had turned cold in an instant, and pressed her fingers against her temples.

“Umm… Kylen. Are you still holding on to that? It was an accident.”

“Isn’t that simply what the Imperial Family wants to believe?”

“Haah…? How insolent.”

Kylen’s blood-red eyes and Eliza’s golden eyes, bright as the sun, clashed like two beasts preparing to fight.

Looking thoroughly displeased, Kylen strode toward the exit of the audience chamber.

“Stop right there, Kylen Duranche! This is the last time I’ll ask you as a friend.”

“Friend.”

“Yes. I don’t know whether you still consider me a friend. Actually, perhaps you never did in the first place. Maybe I was the only one who thought of us that way.”

Kylen stopped walking.

When they were very young, Kylen, Ainhar, and Eliza had all been friends who graduated from the Imperial Academy together.

Their relationship had become hopelessly tangled after various incidents, however.

The two families had already been political enemies for generations. But after Ainhar killed Kylen’s younger sister, the relationship between them deteriorated beyond repair.

Still, Eliza had a duty to untangle those knots, even if she had to force them apart.

Because she was the Imperial Princess.

Because she was an Amantaria.

It was her position that required her to deal with such troublesome, complicated matters.

“This is my last request. Remember that. Soon, I will become your master. I won’t forgive this kind of disloyalty.”

The princess placed both hands on her hips and gestured toward the throne with her chin.

Kylen stared at Eliza with cold, red eyes.

“Not yet.”

“That’s right. I can’t sit there just yet. But Father’s health is poor, and my turn will come soon.”

After the Emperor’s health had deteriorated recently, the princess had taken over most of his duties. However, according to the Amantaria Imperial Family’s tradition, the throne could not be inherited until the previous Emperor had passed away.

The Emperor was gravely ill, though, and it would probably not be long before she ascended the throne.

Imperial law allowed women to become Empresses as well.

“The reason I summoned you both today is to establish my authority as the next ruler.”

As the center of the Empire’s balance, Eliza needed to show the nobles that she had complete control over all five great families.

The Amantaria Imperial Family had become the rulers of the Empire despite having a small territory and relatively little power for one reason alone: they could control beings that were practically monsters.

If the two most powerful families among the five kept fighting like this, her right to rule would inevitably be called into question.

She had to mediate somehow.

Ainhar, who had remained silent until then, placed his right hand over his heart and bowed to Eliza.

“The Immortal Sword shall obey your command.”

“Yes, yes. Such a good boy. Kylen, how about trying to be even a fraction as well-behaved as Ainhar?”

“Hah.”

Kylen ground his teeth, making no effort to hide his displeasure.

“I’m not asking for anything difficult. It’s spring now, and it’s time to clear out the monsters that have appeared on the farmland we’ve left unattended over the winter. This time, I’d like your two families to work together to exterminate them.”

“Work together? With Rues?”

Kylen’s brows drew together as though he could barely contain his anger.

Cold, sinister black mana churned around him.

“Just pretend to get along. That’s all. When the hunting horn sounds and I announce that the hunt has begun, you can split up and exterminate the monsters separately. Once the hunt is over, come back to the same place, let me praise you, and then go home. That’s all I’m asking.”

“You’re asking us to do something troublesome.”

The princess rose from her seat and approached Kylen.

She was rather short, standing nearly two heads below him.

“I find you troublesome, too. But as long as you’re a Duranche and I’m an Amantaria…”

The princess smiled sweetly.

“I’m asking you nicely. Obey my command. I trust in the loyalty your family has shown the Amantaria for so long. Don’t force me to become harsh. Don’t make me use that power. It would pain me to do so.”

The future ruler of the Empire made her demand in a gentle voice, but there was steel beneath it.

Kylen was overcome by the urge to twist the neck of the woman standing before him.

He wanted to deal with that golden-haired man as well.

He wanted to kill them.

Those hypocrites who pretended to be so noble.

But he couldn’t disobey the Imperial Family.

The shackles placed upon his family at the founding of the Empire were an absolute divine power, something he couldn’t break even with his own strength.

Kylen clenched his right fist tightly.

What kind of guardians of the Empire are we? We are nothing but powerless, miserable creatures.

“Of course, I’ll praise you, too, and give you gifts. I’ve also prepared plenty of blood. We’ve selected quite a number of death-row prisoners. I trust I can count on you.”

With those final words from the princess, Kylen left the audience chamber.

Against his own will, just as the princess wanted, a joint monster-extermination operation between the two families would soon begin.

[Whoa, that was intense. Duranche’s mana is as terrifying as ever. Even I, a demonic sword, felt intimidated. Anyway, his little sister’s blood was delicious, wasn’t it? It was the most delicious blood I’d tasted before that silver-haired girl we had recently.]

Ainhar silently glanced down at the demonic sword, Tartanus.

The memories and friendship they had shared at the Imperial Academy had ended the moment he took up this sword.

All that remained between them were monsters.