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chapter 24
As the blade flew toward me, I instinctively rolled to the side. My mind didn’t even process it; it was almost a reflexive action.
The black blade grazed the right side of my waist, making a violent sound, and embedded itself in the floor where I had just been standing.
If I hadn’t moved earlier, it would have struck my heart.
“What… what is happening?”
I froze as I looked at the dagger stuck beside me.
What if I had been even a moment slower?
The thought made the hair on my body stand on end.
“Stay calm. Stay calm.”
I trembled quietly, trying to keep my focus, when Mari suddenly swung her bow in a wide arc and deflected the blade.
The flying blade’s trajectory bent and it fell out the window. Mari scanned the area with sharp eyes.
“Six.”
One fox, three boars, two bears.
One boar ready to charge at her, and—
“Tsk.”
An assassin leapt toward her, pushing off the wall.
“One fool charging in.”
With a swift motion, Mari’s arrowhead pierced the charging assassin’s stomach.
Without hesitation, she twisted the shaft, ripping through the assassin’s internal organs.
“Ahhh!”
The assassin collapsed, blood gushing from his mouth.
It seemed to signal the others, as more assassins dropped from the air.
Clink. Clang. Ting.
Clang!
Blades flew from who knows where, swarming the room.
“What do I do?”
I clenched my teeth to focus, my vision blurring.
“What can I even do right now?”
What should I do? What can I do? Can I survive this?
The shapeless, murky monster called panic crept closer.
A moment of despair would be the end.
“Focus!”
I struck my own cheeks with both hands to snap myself out of it and looked forward.
No matter how I thought about it, there was nothing I could do.
“Who would be stupid enough to send assassins to the Kadelion household?”
I had been planning a quiet day reading fairy tales with a kitten, and yet an assassin had dared to storm the Kadelion estate. They wouldn’t die neatly. Were they completely brainless?
Tsk, Mari clicked her tongue.
She grabbed the kitten with one hand, leapt high off the ground, and stomped the assassin’s legs with her shoes.
“Or maybe they’re crazy enough to want to die.”
Her voice was icy, almost frosty.
Without a moment’s delay, Mari thrust another arrow into the assassin in front of her.
Thud.
A giant body collapsed to the floor.
“One bear down.”
Whoosh. Another assassin swung their sword, the sound cutting through the office like thunder.
The strength of the pheromone-enhanced bears was no joke; it was on a whole different level from anything before.
Crash! Clang!
The sounds of breaking furniture were deafening.
Chairs were thrown against walls, neatly arranged documents were crumpled and torn, scattered everywhere.
My head spun as if the wheels of my mind had frozen in place.
Currently: four assassins, one Mari.
Bow and arrows in close combat, blades, overwhelming odds.
Desperate.
Yet Mari’s fluid movements hadn’t been stopped. Not yet.
Clang. Clang!
Blades collided sharply, and at the same time, one assassin fell dead.
“Three.”
“They’re skilled, at least. If they could breach such sloppy guards…”
Mari spoke with a cold, sarcastic tone.
They knew they were going to die but still came in; their brains weren’t completely gone, but why even come?
“With that skill, they could have been high-tier knights in another family.”
Their movements, though chaotic, had a certain pattern, like trained warriors.
Not like a knight, but not like ordinary assassins either.
“Ugh, this is annoyingly troublesome.”
Mari swatted at the charging boar with irritation.
Clang!
Sword met bow; the sword flew off.
Mari stared blankly at her bow and arrows.
“Wonder how long before it breaks.”
Even though it was a bow meant for battle or missions, surviving this chaos without breaking was a miracle.
It wasn’t even designed for close combat.
The boar accelerated toward Mari.
“Ah, damn it.”
I rolled, dodging left and right, but tripped over debris on the floor.
Sharp shards of glass cut into me, one by one.
Yet there was no time to feel pain; I was too tense to notice it.
Blood flowed from the cuts, warm and unfamiliar, as if it weren’t even my own.
Reality didn’t exist.
Squeeeeek.
Mari knocked two sharp blades away with her bow and drew an arrow from the quiver at her waist.
She lazily threw the arrow to one side.
Fwoosh!
The arrow pierced the neck of a fox beast perched on a pillar.
Blood gushed, and the fox staggered, dropped its sword, and collapsed.
A pool of blood formed instantly on the floor.
A thin crack appeared on her silver bow.
“This bow’s done. It was a good friend, though.”
Squeeeeek. Clang!
Until now, Mari seemed dominant, but now the fight was evenly matched. A razor-sharp blade flew through the air, piercing Mari’s abdomen.
“One more, maybe?”
She pulled out the blade from her stomach, clutched her bleeding abdomen, and stood, ready to fight again.
BANG!
The door opened, and a tall woman entered.
She quickly subdued the remaining assassins.
Her movements were fluid, natural, elegant, precise, composed, yet fast.
It all looked effortless, like breathing.
I just stared, dumbstruck.
“So, you’re the child Ian brought.”
Her eyes curved gracefully.
Her dark chestnut hair, tied high, whipped around.
It was Ian’s older sister, Louise Kadelion.
When Louise arrived, the situation quickly stabilized.
Her arrival was sheer luck.
“Grab some ropes and tie them up.”
She dragged the remaining living assassins and corpses outside the office, clearly annoyed.
The hallway was a mess of bodies and blood.
“Revive only those who are still barely alive, enough for them to survive.”
Some people tied up the scattered assassins with ropes.
“Send the dead and the living to the underground prison.”
Servants briefly bowed and dragged the bound figures away.
“That should be enough; the rest she can handle.”
With that, Louise returned to the office.
She glanced at the kitten in front of her, expressionless.
“You come back to say hello, and what greets you are rats and a mess.”
Louise slowly scanned the ruined office.
“If they had any sense, they wouldn’t have entered the Kadelion estate.”
The office was thoroughly trashed.
“Especially that one’s office.”
Ian hated anyone entering his space without permission—whether physically or through contact with others.
“Those rats won’t die comfortably. I can already imagine how painfully they’ll go.”
Tsk.
Louise clicked her tongue, looking at Mari holding her bloody chest.
“What’s your name?”
Her dark purple hair, tied high, was matted with blood of unknown origin.
“Mari Angelus.”
“Hmm—what? A leopard?”
She laughed pleasantly. Her usually indifferent, chic face looked genuinely charming with a full smile.
Mari’s expression shifted slightly.
“You fought six elite knight-level enemies in close combat with just a bow and arrows, killing three of them? Not bad. Your skills aren’t lacking.”
Not just good—exceptionally good.
Louise smiled warmly.
“Thank you.”
Mari bowed slightly.
Louise, surveying the office behind her, spoke with a pleasant tone.
“First, go to the infirmary, treat your wounds, then come back to me.”
Her gaze shifted back to me, eyes narrowing.
“Both of you.”
“Ariel, you didn’t see the infirmary last time you toured the estate, right?”
The elderly butler, who resembled a teddy bear, carried me while moving carefully.
I blinked slowly once, and he continued speaking.
“Good. Blink once to acknowledge, and twice if you find what I say interesting.”
Was he trying to ease my tension?
His jacket was slowly soaked with my blood, yet he didn’t care, walking while talking nonstop.
“Our infirmary has our chief physician, Dr. Helkin. He is…”
A faint scent of herbs wafted past as he stopped.
I slowly surveyed the room.
The right wall was lined with drawers filled with medicinal herbs; the opposite wall had a desk.
Everything else was unmistakable—needles, knives, syringes, and various drugs.
Terrible memories resurfaced.
“This… isn’t this the same place as before?”
A place where flesh was cut and torn.
My pupils trembled. My body hairs stood on end; my muscles stiffened.
Chills ran across me, cold sweat dripping.
Inescapable, ominous thoughts gripped my mind tightly.
