“Minos, I need five men with the best fighting prowess,” Eva said as soon as she swung open the door. It was a private dining room on the second floor of a high-end restaurant near the Vallou Estate, though this place had a secret nobody but Eva and her mother knew.
Inside were Minos and nine of his men sitting around a long table. “My lady, you are back!” Minos said, standing up and hurrying to her. “Five men, you say? I believe the Named men and I will do.”
“I thought so too.” Eva nodded. “Follow me.” She led the men and Sofia downstairs to an unused room on the first floor. There was a waiter who tried to stop them, but a senior manager talked to him first. Eva recognized him as the elderly man who often chatted with her late mother when they came here together when she was young. Perhaps he also knew the secret.
The room had the same layout as any other private dining room, though this one was abandoned, with the furniture either broken or rotting. Eva hurried to the table and pushed it. Minos came over to help, and after they got the table out of the way, Eva grabbed the carpet on the ground and yanked it away, scattering dust all over. She crouched and unlocked the door latch on the ground and opened the hatch, revealing a flight of stairs descending into the darkness.
There was a lantern on the first step down, and Eva picked it up and ignited the oil. She headed down without hesitation, and the others followed.
“My lady, what is the plan here?” Minos asked, walking by her side. “Where are we heading to?”
“We are going for the snake’s head,” Eva said. “This passage was created by my mother, and we will reach the Vallou Estate soon.”
The secret passage was not long, and Eva had only a moment to brief everyone of her plan, but when she finished, the Named men seemed hesitant.
“My lady,” Silas said. “Are you certain of leaving us with such an important role?”
“If I have to rely on someone other than Minos,” she replied, still looking forward. “I will choose you people without a second thought.”
They reached a stairway leading up and ascended the steps. At the top was an opening blocked by the giant wardrobe. She tried to push it but to no avail, so Minos and his men came over and toppled the piece of furniture, making a loud thump that surely would invite the guards over.
“Follow me!” Eva said, hurrying over to the wardrobe and exiting her own bedchamber, the Named men erecting the wardrobe back up to cover their traces. She recalled in her head the guards’ positions and bolted for the safest direction while navigating through the manor to her father’s study. The others caught up to her, and they reached the corner before the study. Eva looked back, and the Named People nodded.
She stood behind the corner while Minos’s men rushed out with their swords. The four of them started wreaking havoc, fighting the guards near the study. Since some of her father’s men were patrolling elsewhere while the rest were checking out the noise in her bedchamber, none was there to assist the guards. Her father’s personal maids were stationed directly in front of the study, and one of them reached for a hidden knife while the other yelled into the study, alerting Thalis Vallou of the attack. They then joined the guards and overwhelmed the Named men.
The guards were not as skilled as Minos’s men, but the maids were adept in handling knives and hidden weapons ranging from bladed shoes and sharp hairpins, pushing them back slowly with their relentless attacks.
“This is not looking good,” Eva said, looking at Minos. “Cover your face and help them.”
Minos nodded, put on a snake mask, and rushed out.
Her husband turned the tide of the battle instantly despite his injury. His skills in swordplay left even his men stunned. The guards were the first to fall, and then the maids were cornered by their number.
Eva made sure to wait until the men had incapacitated the maids before she came out of the corner and headed for the study. She slammed open the door and crouched, dodging a sword swing from her father. The sword went over her head and lodged itself into the wall outside the study.
“Eva?” Thalis said, wide-eyed.
“Capture him!” Eva said, and the Named men lunged forward and pinned him down in a second. She walked into the room toward the desk. “Bring him here.”
The men forced Thalis toward Eva, pushing him while holding his hands behind his back.
“What is the meaning of this, Eva!” shouted the earl, struggling.
“I have no time to bicker with you. Write exactly what is written on here,” said Eva as she received a letter from Sofia and presented it to him.
He looked over the content of the letter, and after a moment, his eyes went wide. “You plan to kill me, don’t you?” he said. “After I write this, you would have no need for me anymore. Don’t think I can’t see through you, Eva!”
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“I won’t kill you,” Eva said. “If you write this exactly as it is said, then I will spare your life.”
Thalis laughed. “Do you think I am a child who will believe in anything you say? You already went back on your words once. Why wouldn’t you do it a second time?”
Eva walked up to him and yanked his hair up, staring him in the eyes with her emotionless ones. “The difference between you and me, Thalis Vallou,” said Eva, “is that I do this due to necessity while you do it just because you can. Don’t speak like we are the same.”
She looked up at the Named men and nodded. They forced the earl into his seat and put a pen in his hand and a piece of paper on his desk.
“Write,” said Eva, slamming her piece of letter down. “Exactly as it says.”
Thalis stared up at her for a long moment. Finally, he sighed and dipped his pen in ink. He started writing, and everyone focused on every letter, though his hand was visibly shaking. The earl was writing at a moderate speed, so it didn’t seem like he was stalling for time, but somehow, Eva felt something amiss.
“Stop him!” Minos suddenly shouted.
Eva noticed Thalis’s left hand in his coat pocket, and everyone seemed to realize at once, though no one could stop the earl anymore. Thalis pulled out a knife and stabbed himself in the neck, blood spewing all over the desk. Eva watched in shock, but her father, in the face of death, only smiled at her.
“If I can’t win…” the earl said. “Then you can’t either, my daughter…” And he slumped over the letter, blood spreading all over the desk, dripping drops of crimson to the ground.
Everyone was speechless.
Eva wanted him to write a confession letter and silence him by sending him somewhere far away. When he eventually came back, Eva would have already consolidated her position, but now that he was dead, she would soon be labeled as both a slave trafficker and a murderer. No amount of evidence could save her now.
“My lady!” Minos said, being the first one to snap out of it. “We need to leave now before someone discovers us!”
“And do what, Minos? People will assume that I am the murderer anyway. My sister has alibis while I do not, and she would get her way sooner or later.” Eva looked around the study. Was there something she could use? Something she missed? She saw stack upon stack of paper around the room, saw the pen soaked in blood, and while she was looking, she also noticed Sofia who was now pale all over. An idea struck her mind. “Sofia!” she said. “You brought it with you, right? Give it to me.”
“Huh? Y-yes, my lady!” Sofia reached into her pocket and handed over the seal stamp that Eva received from her now-deceased father.
Eva grabbed it, then hurried to a stack of paper and snatched one piece of plain parchment. She headed over to the desk and started writing on the clean surface. She didn’t stop writing when she said, “Silas, change into a guard’s outfit. Others, clear the unconscious people out of the way. When you are finished with the task, come back here as soon as possible.”
They looked at each other, but soon readied themselves and did as they were told.
A moment passed, and Eva finished her letter, sealing it with wax. Everyone had gathered back in the room, with Silas dressed in a guard’s outfit.
“What is next, my lady?” he asked.
Eva handed him the letter. “Go give this to Lena. Her whereabouts should be public. Just tell her that the earl is looking for her.” Then, she looked at the other Named men and ordered, “Gather peasants in the city to have a rally near the estate. Include your fellow knights in the plan as well. After my signal, you will storm this manor and go straight for this room. Have as many people with you as possible.” Finally, she looked at Minos and Sofia. “You two are coming with me.” Eva looked at everyone. “Now go!”
They moved the way they had come from and avoided the guards, incapacitating the ones they ran into. They reached the secret passage and went through to the restaurant. The Named men went out to do their tasks while Eva, Minos, and Sofia stayed in the building.
“What are you planning, my lady?” Minos asked.
“I don’t have time to explain,” she replied. “But you are going to be the signal, Minos. You will be the head of the rally.”
They made their way to the rooftop, seeing the sun about to set, people and guards going about below with torches, giving numerous glows and telling Eva how many the Named men had gathered. Since the news about the underground arena surfaced, people discovered their loved ones either dead or crippled inside, and they were furious. They even found where Lena was keeping the slaves, and thus the people demanded answers from the earl and would even join the rally after a few words.
Eva waited for a long while, with the number of people hiding outside the estate growing with each passing moment before she noticed a carriage arriving at the estate. She only saw the silhouette in the dark, but the person that left the vehicle was without a doubt Lena. She waited until her sister entered the manor when she stood at the edge of the building with Minos who was holding a torch.
Finally, he seemed to understand her plan and nodded.
“PEOPLE!” bellowed Minos, his voice reverberating throughout the city. The whole area seemed to quieten down. “My name is Minos Ganakos, and I am the marquis of the honorable house Ganakos! Today I have witnessed the source of evil that has been growing in the dark for years as you all have!” He paused for a moment. “Are you going to accept this? Are you not going to fight back? Are you going to keep your head down forever?” He held his torch up. “I will not allow you to do so! I have enough evidence with me to condemn the perpetrator inside the manor, and I urge you to follow me! For the people you love, and for the beautiful city of Vallou, we will fight!”
There was a moment of silence before the people started cheering. The Named men and the others started leading charge into the manor. Eva raced down the steps while putting on a cloak, with Minos and Sofia close behind. She followed after the rally into the estate and saw Minos’s men stalling the guards while the others led them to the study. They understood her plan perfectly.
Eva reached the corridor where people were already surrounding the door, about to break it open. Silas was at the front, shouting, “The perpetrator is behind this door! We will get an answer from her!”
People cheered, slamming their bodies against the door.
After a few tackles, the door popped out of its hinges, falling over, and the scene in the study made the people freeze in place. In front of them was Lena who sprawled under the door after trying to hold it shut, and behind her was the earl of Vallou, dead, with a knife sticking out of his neck, blood spreading everywhere.
They all came to the same conclusion: She had killed her own father.
And her fate was sealed.