Waking up abruptly, the silver-haired girl frantically looked around, a dreadful feeling of loss engulfing her. However, quickly realizing the lack of connection to the boy, she calmed down, only to hear another knock on the doors.

‘They must have gone to the dungeon already.’

“Young lady? Can I come in?”

The old maid’s voice reverberated inside her ears, to which she promptly replied, a slight undertone hidden in her tongue.

“Please do, Judy.”

The old maid didn’t hesitate to enter, however, once she saw the same look Julie had been giving her recently, a guilty expression filled her own eyes.

“Young lady, the duke is waiting for you at the table. There is a guest today you’re supposed to meet.”

“I see, thank you. I will prepare and go down in a minute.”

“I will help you, my lady.”

Julie had already turned around, but hearing the old maid, she couldn’t help and turned around before looking at her with blank, practically dead eyes.

“I told you already. You don’t have to come here if you’re scared of the monster inside me.”

Once again turning around, she left the house maid frozen in place, unable to respond properly, mainly because Judy knew deep down that what the girl said was true.

Leaving the room while closing the doors silently, Juliette was finally left alone, searching through the closet inside her room from which there seemed to be a leak from above, water droplets falling to the ground in the gloomy space.

Choosing a formal dress and preparing herself, she left the room about ten minutes later. Walking through the corridors of the mansion in a light dress that matched the color of her ponytail, Julie ignored the contempt hidden in the eyes of the servants, quickly making way to the dining room.

Staring at the long, extravagant table filled with dishes, yet lacking in participants, her eyes quickly ventured at the table’s end, two certain men sitting there. Her father sat at the very end, symbolizing his status, while to his left, a tall man donning academy robes of a professor was there.

Juliette knew very well who that calm face belonged to. The slicked back, dark green hair along with ominous, red eyes. It was her very own professor that used to teach her back at the academy, as well as during her earlier school years. Most of the sword she knew belonged to this man.

With a brisk and exemplary bow, she greeted the two people she hated the most.

“Good morning, Father, Professor Vilathe.”

“Why did you take so long?”

A composed, yet stern voice reached her ears, the blue eyes of her father’s aged face seemingly glowing, at least to her. She knew what he meant. The sudden leave she hadn’t announced to him. He must have heard about it from the Professor, she mused.

“I took as much time as my disciple needed, Father.”

“It almost seemed as though you tried to evade the Atrophy Mountains, but maybe I was just wrong.”

‘You’re completely right.’

She stared at him, keeping the emotions hidden deep inside.

“Come, take a seat.”

He gestured, making her walk through the room while she gazed periodically at the tall windows letting droplets of water slid down on them.

Before long, they started to eat, everybody having gathered.

With an appetite that of a person with food poisoning, Juliette stabbed her fork into the small, red potatoes before slicing off the smallest of pieces.

Bitterly cold, she thought inwardly. No taste could fix the atmosphere she was surrounded in, and the lack of proper seasoning made it even worse.

“Dear Julie, may I ask where you ventured out together with your disciple?”

Finally, the man in front of her spoke up. Even though it was supposed to be her professor over the years, she didn’t feel like welcoming him at the very least, but the girl still replied, albeit reluctantly.

“We were training near the border of Vyscarr, north of Hermengrod.”

“Did you have any success with that student of yours? I heard his results weren’t the best. Though, he did surprise everyone in the point hunt.”

“He’s getting better each time, you don’t have to worry about that, Professor Vilathe.”

She felt a threatening glare from her left, but she did nothing about it. However, something unexpected happened. Unlike him, the duke showed some of his interest in the disciple, though she didn’t think that was a good thing.

“Who is he, Vilathe? Is he so untalented that no other professor wanted him?”

“You don’t need to trouble your mind with him, duke. He will be forgotten about in less than a month. He was the last to enter the House of Knights, so he probably bought some questionable pills to win the event.”

Biting on her lip, Juliette couldn’t do anything in front of them, who were both Grade Ex. She was only able to hear as they belittled and laughed Conall off in front of her.

In hindsight, she should have known this would happen, but she hoped they would simply not care about him. To calm her mind, she quickly thought about what the boy would think and do in this situation, but the attempt may have been too successful.

Almost uncontrollably, Juliette released a snort under her breath, knowing Conall wouldn’t care about the two nobles in front of her.

“Is something funny, Juliette?”

Her father asked, but she quickly played it off by coughing a few times.

“I’m sorry, a piece of food was stuck in my throat.”

“Have you not learned how to eat properly?”

He wanted to berate her, but she only lowered her head, putting on a smirk before raising it back to her emotionless self.

“I’m sorry, father. It won’t happen again.”

The duke stared at her for a moment. Once again, his deep blue eyes proceeded to look at the lackluster face she was giving them, only for the man to eventually turn at their guest, leaving Juliette to ponder about whatever he was speculating.

“There was another issue the boy had been involved with, if I remember correctly. Apparently, he brought a special artifact that allowed him to leave a golden heavily injured. If not for another student that helped him, who knows what might have happened.”

Hearing him speak, Juliette tightened her fists under the table, the face as blank as a second prior. Even if they wanted to make her angry, she wouldn’t fall for the tricks.

“And he hadn’t been executed yet? What is the king’s nephew thinking?”

“I truly have no idea, though there are speculations that he might be Lurius’ bastard.”

Juliette couldn’t hear it anymore.

“It was Eyneir. Conall didn’t even defend himself.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Hmm?”

The duke gazed at her, with his usual look she nothing but hated. Always the same, stoic look that judged everyone beneath him. She wanted to grit her teeth in anger, being subjected to them, but there was a matter she needed to defend here, despite knowing very well what the truth was.

Conall told her all about it, even that it was him who slit the elf’s neck.

Vilathe also looked at her with those dirty, red eyes of his. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up while feeling the cold gaze surrounding her.

“Then, are you saying that the boy conspired with someone to kill the golden? Julie, I frankly don’t see any other way it could have played out otherwise.”

Somewhat of a smirk appeared on his face, making her even more infuriated. Not letting the boiling rage influence any thoughts, the daughter already poised herself for this.

“Unlike many of the students, he actually trains to reach a higher grade. He doesn’t meet with others because he’s so focused on his training.”

“So it seems like you make a perfect match between two pathetic creatures. I don’t want to hear anything about him anymore.”

Finally, the duke stepped in, ending the insignificant topic. There were more important matters they gathered here for.

“Juliette, I’m sure you already know why I came here.”

Vilathe spoke up while cutting a piece of meat on his plate. While waiting for the prolonged reply, he had already finished eating the one he had on his fork.

“I am aware.”

“Let’s not wait any longer. Come here.”

The duke gestured for her and Vilathe to stand up, in order to create the ceremony of connecting their souls into a party.

However, just before the smile on the Professor’s face could fully bloom, the girl released shattering news, making them doubt if they saw a half-smirk on her blank face.

“I’m already in a party.”

A silence spread throughout the room while she immediately felt a pair of murderous eyes glaring at her. Looking at the face she had only seen once from her father, goosebumps embraced her whole body.

The duke stood up abruptly, making the chair behind fall. Raising his hand, he was just about to slap the pale face of his daughter, but, before the arm could connect, he stared back and saw Vilathe spread his mana around him with a puzzled look on his face.

“John, you don’t have to resort to this. I have a way for her to leave the party.”

“What is it?”

Juliette stared at them with widened eyes, her breath ragged. Breathing uncontrollably, she felt something hot inside of her spread out before cooling away as John’s hand hadn’t reached her.

The angry tone of John ar Talise, her father, as well as the conversation with Vilathe quickly reached her, a deep fear caressing her soul.

“A transcendent artifact, for the exact purpose of erasing parties.”

From an inventory ring, Vilathe quickly brought up a dark urn with a face on it. The creepy, open mouth of the creature entrapped inside gave her chills, but she steeled herself, recalling what Conall told her back in the dragon mountains.

“Your hand is going to prick slightly, but you can’t do anything about it. Since you wanted to get away, you will have to deal with this.”

For a fraction of a second, Juliette thought she saw an enraged face appear on Vilathe, yet, once she blinked, startled, it had already disappeared.

With a long breath, she put on a serious look and stood up, putting her right hand inside the urn.

…

Ever since they left the baths, they spent time exploring what seemed like the most interesting parts of the mansion. However, in the end, after almost three full days, they found nothing of importance while going all the way to the second floor, defeating both mini bosses that guarded the stairs.

They scoured through most of the floor, going through almost all of the noble rooms, leaving one before the main boss fight.

Lorine and Conall quickly moved away from the room’s entrance, a slash of magical, blue energy swirling right past them.

The enemy was already waiting at them from beyond her elegant doors, clearly representing her high status in the dynasty.

In a large, transparent dress embellished with glistening armor around her vital points, the undead lady danced along with her sword. Her gaze always at the newcomers, she wasn’t some weak enemy they could simply omit or destroy immediately.

The room they were inside was just before the final corridor and stairway, and the duo couldn’t evade it.

Lorine sent out a magic circle to intercept and disperse the new, flowing slashes, but it wasn’t enough. The sharp, spiral blades sliced and cut through the witch’s mana. A dangerous sensation spread through their bodies, observing the unexpected, chaotic movement of the spiral slash.

Exerting mana from her body, the witch set up a thick barrier while constantly pouring mana inside. Only after shredding through the barrier did the slashes fianlly stop, making the undead noble retreat through the regal room.

Without any unnecessary movements, the girl daintily, with a soft grace encompassing her rotting muscles, stepped back before spinning harshly, releasing a thunderous attack that almost ate through the air.

Putting more force than ever inside of her barrier, she heard Conall speak from the side.

“After this room, there is only a corridor and a long stairway before the throne room. I’m leaving, so fight freely. Good luck and don’t worry about me, I will be waiting patiently.”

Leaving the room so she didn’t have to worry about him dying in a crossfire, Conall lied.

Although he would be waiting, it certainly wasn’t going to be with patience. Quickly running through the corridors with pain spreading around his whole body, he cared not for the usage of aura, all to speed up his descent through the mansion.

There were hundreds of corridors on each floor, all disconnecting each other when you left them, but he still remembered all of the paths from when he played the game. It was ingrained in his mind like the calypian he was speaking.

Going through shortcuts, as well as rooms where the enemies were already dealt with, it took him about ten minutes to reach the stairs down to the first floor and another teen to reach the ground floor.

Only five minutes were needed until he finally reached certain, hefty doors that were simple and understandable in their design.

Crude and heavy, with black iron going around it, the dark brown, wooden doors were guarded by two, plain knight ghouls.

Not stopping in his advance, Conall poured even more aura into his feet, outspeeding their slow reactions. From his inventory ring, he took out the same item when he flooded the goblin dungeon.

Jumping over one of the two moving guards, he put the mana disruptor on his head, only to watch him crumble to his knees.

Throwing the monster away from his knight companion, he promptly dealt with the ghoul by stabbing fang through the helmet all the way to his beast crystal.

Doing the same with the other ghoul, he stored the mana disruptor and went toward the doors.

Although they were heavy, he was still able to open them, but what was inside would have deterred any one from moving any further.

A dark space engulfed the boy, ferocious energy coming from the depths. The nefarious feeling only intensified with time, but Conall didn’t care.

With a certain engraving on it, a rune appeared in his hand, and the boy didn’t hesitate to crush it. A sign appeared right at his forehead, only for it to fade away back into slumber.

Looking at the slimy, pusling, and blue veins that started spreading out onto the red carpet, Conall quickly went inside, shutting the doors before the grotesque tentacles could do any real damage.

He didn’t have any torch or lamp, but the dim glow of the liquid pulsing through the veins was just enough to see through the dark space.

While Conall traversed through the dark cellar of the mansion, a few minutes prior, the fight between the queen and Lorine had truly begun.

Streaks of bluish-white, agonizingly sharp energy cut through the room every time the queen swung her sword. Lorine quickly escaped the grasp and sensed the attack cut through the enormous bed, only for it to be mended back together in less than a second.

She was given no time to breathe, a barrage of magical attacks constantly coming at her. Of course, she wouldn’t just stand by. In the time it took the queen to release another, perfect slash, Lorine released a few magical missiles.

Yet, as they neared the royal, she quickly dealt with it using her pure white blade. Cutting apart through the spells as though they were bundles of straw, the queen quickly realized her mistake, putting the metal in front of her rotted face.

As soon as the magic circles inside the spells were cut apart, the mana inside exploded, blinding the nearest enemy.

The monster was halted, and she wouldn’t lose this opportunity. Spreading out a few magic circles to enhance her physical properties, more effective than just pure mana, Lorine moved, leaving a few broken planks behind her.

A blue fire made of mana appeared in her right hand, ready to burn down the blonde queen that regained her vision.

Her sharp blade already began to move, in a horizontal slash designated to cut the witch in half. With content eyes, Lorine moved her hand, the fire instantly unveiling into a magic circle it was to begin with.

Feeling the heavy pressure alongside slightly stinging pain in her hand, it quickly stopped when the blade fell to the ground, sticking into the wooden floor.

Mana circles immediately strengthened her right arm. Lorine felt the jaw of her opponent crush when a firm coating of mana appeared around her arm and she punched the opponent’s mouth.

Flying straight at the mirror on the wall, the queen shattered it, making the rotting blood quickly smear across the wall. Since the weight of the sword had increased, she didn’t possess it anymore, but that didn’t stop her.

Mana swirled around her before stopping in her right hand, a long sword made purely from the energy.

Yet, before she could stand up properly, Lorine sent out a lethal spell at her already, a sharp magic circle going at her throat.

The mana inside the regal bedroom instantly halted, going back to its usual flow and density. Her fingers were already being healed up because of her giant body, so she didn’t create any magic circle to enhance the healing, in order to preserve as much of the energy for the final boss.