A high profile group of armour-wearing, horse-riding people wove their way inside the forest without rest. Their destination was the place directly below the cliff where the eldest young lady of the Rosenbell House tragically fell from.
As soon as they closed in on the location, the group of highly experienced knights detected the presence of many monsters crowding the place.
“Prepare for battle. Ready, charge!”
In a uniformed fashion, the knights gathered into a formation, and with the order by the person of the highest status, Viscount Rosenbell himself, the knights charged into the horde of beastly monsters, slaughtering all of them without fear.
“Sweep the whole place; see if we can at least find her corpse.”
“””Yes!”””
However, as soon as they arrived, they already understood that there was no good news to tell.
A large spot covered in blood, with bits and pieces of torn cloth could be seen surrounded by the monster corpses.
Some of the corpses were rather mangled; their wounds were evidently caused by the claws of another beast.
A knight examined the patch of blood thoroughly.
“Milord… I fear that you must prepare for the worst.” He shook his head, picking up a few strands of blood-soaked hair. “This is human blood. Milady has lost too much of her blood; she is unlikely to have survived the fall. It can be assumed that… the monsters have already…” The knight did not have it in his heart to finish his sentence.
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The viscount who stood in front of him emitted a cold aura that was beginning to grow sombre by each passing moment.
“…I’m sorry for your loss, milord.” The knight choked out. The knight had been in service at the Rosenbell household for many years and he knew how cherished Young Lady Leila was to the whole family as well as the servants.
“…” Viscount Rosenbell picked up one of the larger pieces of torn cloth. At the corner of the cloth he could faintly make out a beautifully embroidered blue lily. The design matched with the blue lily embroidered on the collar of Leila’s dress. His grip tightened around the piece of cloth, his face darkening.
“…Cut open all of the bellies of the monsters.”
The knights lowered their head, tacitly accepting his order without any complains. They knew that he intended to salvage what was left of his daughter’s corpse—assuming that she had been eaten by the monsters—but it was highly doubtful that the body was still in one piece.
The knights began working quietly, not daring to disturb the viscount in his mourning.
Hours later, the monsters in the area have all been dissected.
However, they were unsuccessful in finding the young girl’s body. All that was left of her was a few more pieces of cloth and the girl’s most favourite necklace that she had been wearing that day, salvaged from a monster’s stomach.
From this, the knights deducted that by the time they arrived at the scene, the girl had already been digested by the monster.
The knight responsible for giving the conclusive report to the viscount trembled. He did not want to become the bearer of bad news, but it was getting late and it was clear that the girl was a goner. There was no use in sugar-coating their words.
“Let us return.” The viscount spoke succinctly, but it was clear from his heavy tone that he was grieving over Leila’s death.
“May she rest in blissful peace…” A knight whispered. The other knights quietly parroted his words, silently mourning the loss of the gentle and charming white-haired young lady.