Chapter 341
Chapter 341. The Dark Truth
Isabella sat frozen in front of the spinning wheel, unable to move.
She couldn’t believe it.
Dressed in an incredibly filthy manner, devoid of her usual calm demeanor—this person before her was undoubtedly Officia!
The benefactor who saved them from the brink of death.
So why was she covering Nina’s mouth and holding a knife to her neck?
It was clear from Officia’s wicked smile and the blade pressing into Nina’s throat that this was no sick joke.
“Fufufu…”
Officia deepened her smile at the trembling Nina and the aghast Isabella.
“Good evening. I have come to collect on the ‘favor’ I extended to you.”
What on earth—Isabella opened her mouth to ask, but she quickly remembered Officia’s warning, “Make a sound and I’ll kill her,” and hurriedly closed her lips.
“Come here.”
She whispered in Nina’s ear and forced her to walk. Nina’s breathing was ragged, blowing air against Officia’s hand that covered her mouth, causing a ticklish sensation. It felt as though she was pinning down a laboratory animal for dissection, awakening a sadistic thrill.
Isabella, with no idea of Officia’s intentions as she drew closer, pressed her mouth shut, trembling in silence.
“Don’t worry.”
Officia spoke in a sickeningly soothing voice.
“I won’t hurt Nina.”
For now, she added in her mind.
“If you make a noise, I will kill you.”
After firmly reminding Nina of this, Officia took out a handkerchief soaked with some drug.
Then swiftly—
She used it to seal Nina’s mouth again.
“!? Nn…!?”
Nina was bewildered by the sudden influx of an unknown floral scent filling her nostrils.
It was certainly disguised well enough to be stored in a perfume bottle—this drug smelled nice. However, it took a little time for the effects to kick in. If inhaled too much, it would stop her breathing, making it tricky to balance—
“I’m going to kill your mother now.”
In other words, Nina had just a little time left before losing consciousness.
“Nn!?”
Nina’s eyes widened at such a threatening declaration. Ignoring the knife at her throat, she attempted to struggle, but soon realized she couldn’t muster the strength. The drug was taking effect—
“Oops. If you scream, your daughter’s death will come sooner, you know?”
Officia threatened Isabella, who involuntarily started to rise.
Isabella could do nothing but shake her head helplessly, tears in her eyes. She couldn’t comprehend what was happening. Her husband’s remains had returned, her illness had been cured, and today, she thought, was a good day—so why was this happening…
“St-stop… please…”
Amidst Nina’s pained whispers, Officia turned her knife toward Isabella.
“Now, suffer to your heart’s content.”
With glee, she swung the blade down toward Isabella’s body—
Clang!
The closet next to the bed shook.
A silver light seeped out from the drawer of the closet.
“…Huh?”
Officia’s eyes went wide. If she was correct—there seemed to be a silver hand emerging from the closet, opening the drawer.
Tiny particles of silver light flew out.
“Leave my wife and daughter alone—”
A man’s voice echoed from afar. Isabella’s face snapped up—
“—Don’t touch them!”
Bang! The view was suddenly drenched in silver.
“Gyi—!?”
A searing pain struck Officia’s face and hands as though she had pressed a branding iron against them. Momentarily releasing her hold on Nina, Isabella saw this and stood up, knocking over her chair.
“Nina!”
Shining faintly with silver light, Isabella made a desperate tackle. After destabilizing Officia, she snatched Nina back and tried to escape outside the room.
However, the silver glow was short-lived. The skeletal remains that had rolled to the floor lost their light in an instant, becoming silent bone fragments once more.
“What the—what have you done?”
Afterwards, Officia, with a minor burn on her otherwise perfect visage, swung her knife in anger and confusion.
The knife plunged into Isabella’s back—
Thud!
“Guh!”
Despite not stopping, Isabella struggled terribly, for it was far too difficult to run while carrying a motionless daughter she could barely lift.
Having slowed down, she was stabbed a few more times from behind, leaving blood in her wake as she collapsed.
“Nina… run…”
Desperately, she pushed the Nina, who was beneath her, out of the room, but Nina was unresponsive too.
“Mo-mommy…”
Under the drug’s influence and in a daze, Nina reached out to Isabella, her eyes vacant and stopped moving. Her breaths were shallow, half-conscious, but already lost to awareness—
“Oh…”
Blood trickled from Isabella’s mouth, a hopeless sigh escaping her lips.
“Damn it…”
Grabbing a handful of Isabella’s hair, Officia forced her face up.
“How dare you do this to me…!”
Officia’s expression was that of a true demon. She could no longer tolerate having been tricked by such an insignificant creature with mysterious traps or maybe some kind of magic.
“I’m going to kill your daughter in the most brutal way…”
Her voice oozed with malice as Officia announced.
“I’ll skin her alive, slice her tendons, and leave her in the forest for the wolves to feast on. I’ll make her regret ever being born…”
“Stop… why… would you do such a thing…”
Coughing up blood, Isabella wept with a pale face.
“Ahaha…”
Officia, wickedly.
“I just wanted to see that face.”
So, that was her true intent.
Having quenched her thirst for vengeance a little, Officia banged Isabella on the back of her head with the knife’s handle before standing up.
(Now then…)
What was that silver light just now? Was it some kind of holy attribute magic? Was it a magical tool? If so, why would a poor woman like Isabella have something like that? Questions abounded, yet there was no time to examine it or to extract any information from Isabella before she bled out and died.
More importantly, the ruckus might have woken up other residents. She needed to quickly clean up in the other rooms.
(I can’t make any more noise.)
For the moment, she laid Nina on the bed and intended to act stealthily—
Suddenly, a thunderous crash rang out.
Behind her, the sliding door shattered to splinters, and the floor and ceiling trembled violently. Something came burst through the wall from outside into the room.
“Wha—?!”
Stealthy actions were out the window as a cacophony erupted.
Whipping around as if struck by an invisible force, Officia met the gaze of—
“YOU!!”
A man stood before her, shaking off debris from his hair, his eyes blazing with fury under the moonlight.
Hero Alexander.
Why was he here? Why this guy? Could it really be him?
“…!”
As questions collided with understanding, a chilling sensation ran down her spine.
Like a viscous wind, a dense intent to kill flooded towards Officia—
She would die.
She would definitely die.
Her intuition, which had saved her countless times before, unmercifully told her so.
“Ugh… don’t move. No matter what happens to her…!”
In a last-ditch effort, Officia took Nina as a hostage.
Nina, limp and lifeless, was held tightly against her, a knife pressed threateningly to her neck, just like with Isabella.
Though she understood it logically, she had known all along.
—The fanatics of the Holy Church would not be stopped by something so trivial.
“…”
From a state of fury, his expression became a mask of cold indifference. Alexander glanced down at the bloodied Isabella, who was collapsed on the floor, her fingers subtly moving as though pleading for help.
Drip.
Thick darkness began to seep out of Alexander.
“Huh?”
Officia was left speechless. Was this dark magic? That’s absurd. Why? Impossible; what was the Holy Church’s hero doing—
As if they were tentacles, the dark tendrils of magic entwined around both Isabella and Officia.
Bound together.
“Guh…!?”
In an instant, she felt ice pressing into her spine and back. The metallic scent rushed in. Unable to bear it, Officia retched and watched, dazed, as her blood flowed from her mouth onto the floor.
“Ah… e…?”
She became weak, sinking to her knees against the door, struggling to keep her posture.
Her body heat. It kept draining away. From her back and spine. This was absurd. No way. This was—she recognized this!
The dark elves of the Demon Lord Kingdom must know this phenomenon! This magic—
“Teleportation Spell…!?”
Looking down, Isabella had stopped bleeding and though she was unconscious, her complexion had returned to normal.
They had swapped places! Their states had been exchanged!
Why could the hero of the Holy Church use this bloodline magic?!
In shock, Officia gaped at Alexander before her.
The hero drew his holy sword from its sheath, his face as unflinching as ever as he stared down at her.
Unexpectedly, the impression from earlier in the day resurfaced. “It felt like I was tossed around in the palm of an experienced night elf.” —
She recalled further. The mysterious letter delivered to Paulo. The peculiar message that hinted at the Demon Lord’s prince by disguising itself as Ixel’s name. —
And now, the man standing before her. “He appeared suddenly in Todomarl, wielding dark magic, and somehow utilizing the bloodline magic of the Reiju Tribe.” —
The Reiju Tribe.
No way. No way!
Officia’s eyes widened.
Her instincts connected the dots, forming a line that led to realizations.
Questions flooded her mind, none of it made sense, but it seemed the only conclusion—!
“Zil, Ba—”
Before Officia could utter that name,
“Die!”
The radiant holy sword cleaved through Officia’s head effortlessly.
In her final moments, she arrived at the truth.
And that truth was—
Taboo.
