“Angela, promise me one thing.”
The girl kept her eyes on the window beside her, sitting in her seat with so much elegance and looking calm, even with the cold pair of eyes boring into her.
“When the day comes that your life is in danger...” the boy stared, not surprised when the girl still looked unbothered as always, just like when she drew so passionately on her cursed canvases. “...sit and wait.” He noticed how her eyes blinked at the unexpected words, looking surprised for a second before slowly turning her head to look back at the robotic face of the boy with the purple hair, “Just like you sat in your seat and waited for the crimes done by your canvases.”
Her eyes had a rare glint in them as her lips slowly tugged in a small smile, “Is that your revenge, dear Neron?”
The boy didn’t look bothered by her heartless question and answered calmly, “That is the least you could do for all the lives you've ruined.”
She kept staring at the closed door, the same door the boy had left from a while ago, as calm and silent as he always had been. “...you're too kind.”
The young lady sat in her seat with the flames surrounding her, smiling fondly at the memory of the person she oddly missed for all those years after everything she’d done.
[https://i.postimg.cc/bvBZJHsx/1.jpg]
“Truly, too kind.”
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The Red Flower
Chapter. 32
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Albern walked closer and stared down at Elois, who had his mouth open still in a silent cry with the veiny thing pierced into his chest; his body twitched and trembled at the feel of something slithering and spreading slowly inside him. The emperor’s eyebrow twitched, holding back a frown. “Ah, you're quite messed up inside, you poor thing.”
Bang—!
He easily blocked an attack from behind with a transparent shield out of nowhere, sending Ellmer flying against one of the trees without even turning around or so much moving.
“Tch…” Ellmer knew he was no match for the bastard, but he couldn’t stand and watch as Elois slowly died before his eyes. Now he couldn’t even move an inch if he wanted, not with the transparent cage surrounding him and keeping him in place.
Albern slowly turned his head to glare sharply from the side of his eye, “Did I not say I mean no harm to you, kid? Be good and stay still.” He turned to look back at Elois, not minding the other glaring back at him. He hummed after some silence and explored the orange head’s body in an uncomfortable way with the veiny thing. “If it weren't for the Cowndrel blood, you would've died from the mix of three Noble blood in you, good grief.” He shook his head a little at the kid’s state. He silently stepped aside and pushed another veiny thing from his finger straight into Javi’s chest as well, making the limp body jerk violently before going still as if he was dead.
‘Javi—!’ Ellmer gritted his teeth with his lips shut as he was forced to be useless and watch the man heartlessly play with the two friends. He focused on the bastard’s face when it frowned a bit after some time exploring Javi’s body the same way he did with Elois.
“Cursed Cowndrel blood...” he looked back at Elois, “One of the Alastair siblings saved your life,” then he turned his head to look at Ellmer slowly, “And the other Alastair is your parent.” His eyebrows raised a bit in surprise with a little smile, looking amused. “Interesting, both Alastairs are alive...”
The silver head’s eyes slowly looked down in thought, silently grasping everything he discovered in mere seconds, “...this changes many things. Coming here might be the right choice after all.” He mumbled before looking down at the still Elois, “Whoever had conducted the experiment on you must be a vampire...” Narrowing his eyes with a cold smile, “So, the tale could be true after all...” he silently scoffed with a shake of his head in disbelief.
He smiled kindly at Elois even if the kid couldn’t look up at him with the veins still roaming around his organs, “Do you know you've got only two days to live now?”
Ellmer widened his eyes at what he heard, ‘Two days...?’ he knew he had to look for a way to help Elois recover his heart, but what would he be able to do in only two days? He knows he shouldn’t believe a possible enemy, but… ‘It doesn't feel like he's bluffing... shit...’
Albern sighed elegantly with a gentle smile, “Since you poor kids seem oblivious to your conditions, here's a little help from me.”
“uh… a— aeg…” Weak sounds came from Elois as the veins suddenly moved faster, and it was like his guts and heart were getting flipped and played with relentlessly; he couldn’t even describe in words how disturbing it felt. He trembled violently before he was finally let go; the veiny disgusting thing slowly retreated and disappeared into the man’s gloved hand like it wasn’t even there. He panted and kept his teary eyes looking down at the ground as his body had yet to calm down.
“I healed your heart. As for your other friend, my spell should help weaken the curse in his blood.” Albern said with a subtle hint of amusement in his tone before turning to face Ellmer, “You.” He took several steps toward him, “I never heard of Davante having a sibling.”
Ellmer’s eyes grew impossibly colder, ‘So he was in the castle, confirmed.’
Albern’s eyes looked amused as Ellmer glared fiercely at him, “Different fathers. Davante didn't have any of the Alastairs' blood, and he isn’t completely a human either, and so was Kaven.”
“......” Ellmer wasn’t sure if he should keep on glaring or blink dumbly as the bastard poured all kinds of unexpected information on him.
“So, Ebele Fixsen was a Cowndrel vampire. A Granovsky, maybe? Ah…” the look on Albern’s face wavered for a second, looking somehow hurt, upset and shocked before he regained his composure.
‘How do I manage to keep getting surprised after everything...?’ Ellmer blinked and felt his body relaxing instantly when the cage around him disappeared, and the vampire turned his back to him, walking calmly away from him.
“I suppose questioning you three would not be of much help to me, so I'll be taking my leave for now.”
“Hold on.” Ellmer pushed himself to his feet, waiting for the man to look back at him before finally asking with a glare, “Did you torture Davante in the castle?”
The man blinked as he wasn’t expecting the question at all. He smiled at Ellmer with entertained eyes, “Oh, it's so not kind of you to mistake me for that clown right after I had just saved your two friends.”
Despite the amused eyes, Ellmer could see that the vampire was not pleased with the question, as if he had falsely accused him. However, he might as well ask to be sure now. He doesn’t want to be grateful to an enemy after all. “That clown is your minion, is he not?”
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Albern stared for a while with an unreadable smile, “I'm afraid you're mistaking something here, but perhaps I'll let you figure out everything on your own with time.” he chuckled lightly and walked away, ignoring the daring glare from Ellmer behind him.
After a long silence, Ellmer looked at Elois to check on him from a distance, noticing the other finally calming down with the vampire gone at last. “Haaah, are you okay?”
“Yeah...” Elois moved to stand up, blinking at how easy it was, looking blankly down at his body, “Maybe even better than ever before...” something had changed. It was true that the vampire had healed his heart, but something else… it felt like something heavy had been lifted after so, so long. He couldn’t put his finger on what it was…
Ellmer observed a bit before he sighed again, pushing his hair back with a tired face, “Good to know. Unfortunately, we should be grateful for that bastard vampire...” he smiled a bit when Rewind suddenly glowed again and came to his side.
“Vampire…” Elois stared dumbly at the other, “......my head is not able to comprehend anything anymore.”
“Huh, not so unexpected.” Ellmer shook his head with a smirk, glad that the orange head was back to himself again. “We'll figure everything out later. Let's just go back before we come across another lunatic.” He hurried toward Javi, who was still passed out. He thought perhaps he had hit the idiot harder than needed with one of his weapon’s balls to make him sleep through all that had happened.
Thud—
“Shit, what now?” Ellmer stopped midway and turned to follow the source of the sound behind him from a distance.
“...something fell over there...” Elois hesitantly pointed to something on the grass in the dark.
“...is that... a canvas?” Ellmer stiffened, his heart beating faster and louder with every passing second the clearer the object got in his eyes as he observed.
“It looks like it...” Elois tensed up when he noticed the fear in the other’s eyes.
“Fuck—! That witch!!” Ellmer was about to run to the canvas, cursing at the black ink slowly fading away to show a detailed, drawn picture of a scene he didn’t have time to understand. However, the world around him wobbled and danced in his eyes, making him stumble and struggle to stand straight, catching a glimpse of Elois in the same state and clutching his head. He blinked his eyes numerous times and tried to search for the canvas again, but his vision changed…
Slowly, he felt his body, no, his soul dragged somewhere else, finding himself in a familiar body like his own but still foreign to him, and someone was in front of him, but it wasn’t clear yet like he was drifting back and forth from fever dreams…
Crack—!!
It felt like he was instantly wide awake at the sound of something breaking.
He looked toward the canvas and found it broken in half, looking blank as the picture was no longer visible. He caught a glimpse of something quickly yet stealthily retreating back in the dark. He was somehow relieved at the thing, looking at it until it disappeared. He glanced at Elois, who looked similarly puzzled and blinking at him.
“You felt it too...?”
Ellmer nodded; he understood what the other meant without having to put it into words. Somehow, it wasn’t even describable. “...she had never used her canvas like this before...”
“Who...?” Elois asked.
“Angela Anfinrud...” Ellmer looked down at the canvas again, feeling… restless even after escaping a disaster. He slowly looked toward the direction the weapon retreated back into after breaking the canvas a moment ago, ‘That was... Neron's whip, right?’
.
.
“Hah...” Neron sighed lowly and hid his whip under his suit jacket, hiding cautiously between the bushes and observing his surroundings in complete silence. The spirits suddenly calmed down and left him alone. However, he was the restless one now. He knew this presence, he hadn’t noticed when he was chasing it aiming for the canvas, but it was clear now whom he had chased a while ago.
He stayed in place for long minutes with nothing happening or showing up so far, yet he still couldn’t shake off the uneasy feeling.
-LITTLE NERON!
“—!” his body jumped in place and froze at the evil bear stuffed toy floating in front of his face.
-So, it was you chasing me! Angela wouldn't be happy to know you broke her canvas! You naughty little brother!
“......” he couldn’t bring himself to say anything to the voice of his stepbrother coming from the evil-looking stuffed toy.
-I told you to live peacefully, so why are you in the academy? You sure like to trouble this poor big brother.
“......”
-Or, are you our enemy, Neron?
“......” he kept quiet even when the playful and light tone lowered darkly within a second.
-aRE yOU?
He tensed up at the voice that didn’t sound like a human anymore.
-ArE yOU?!!
He closed his eyes at the sharp shriek, causing an echo to travel along the forest.
“You're scaring our little brother, Chronos.”
Neron snapped his eyes open at the familiar voice coming from his side.
[https://i.postimg.cc/YCX9nfN5/2.jpg]
-OH! IVAILO!
Ivailo sighed at how happy his brother sounded, as if he wasn’t yelling at their youngest a second ago. “Are you sure you'd want to waste time here? You know the family is under attack, and Angela is still at home, right?”
Neron slightly widened his eyes from the news and carefully looked at the stuffed toy when it suddenly turned gravely quiet.
-No... I sent the notice to everyone to get to the secret base......
Sounding unsure, the toy rushed to leave the forest and out of the academy, leaving Neron alone with a smiling Ivailo, who walked calmly and offered his bandaged hand to his little brother, “Heard all the commotion so I came over. Are you okay?”
“Ivailo...” Neron ignored the hand and glared up at the other.
“Ah, even after saving you from our brother, you still look at me like that.” Ivailo’s face looked playfully hurt before standing straight again with an easy smile that looked uncomfortably fond to Neron.
“...you were behind this, weren't you?” Neron slightly frowned at the other, an expression rarely shown to anyone since he almost looked like a robot most of the time.
“I'm not sure what you mean, but I always do what's best for my family.” Ivailo smiled kindly at his brother, “I've brought you here to live safely for the same purpose, dear brother.”
“I'm not your brother. I'm not an Anfinrud.” Neron calmly stood up with clenched fists.
“Then, why did you hesitate to answer Chronos just now?” Ivailo raised both eyebrows at his silent brother. He sighed while shaking his head with a smile, “Dear Neron, it would be best if you stop denying yourself.” He turned to leave, but Neron stopped him.
“What you are after... is it Davante Fixsen?” Neron took a step with a hopeful look; he wasn’t aware of it himself.
Ivailo turned to look at his little brother, smiling at the look he found, thinking that his brother could be cute sometimes. “Whoever and whatever is considered a threat to my family.”
Neron frowned slightly again, “He is a kid—”
“Father wants him dead. That's enough reason for me to know he should disappear.”
Neron stilled at the thoughtless words coming from the person in front of him. “...this is so irrational...”
“Then, are you our enemy?” Ivailo waited with a cold smile.
“......”
He sighed with a smile that said, ‘what am I going to do with you’ before turning to leave again, “The irrational one here is you, dearest brother.”
Neron stood in long silence alone in the gradually lightening forest as the sun slowly rose in the sky at last. He slowly looked down at his feet with saddened eyes.
“How do I become an enemy to a nobody...?”
.
.
Gasha blinked as she was carried over someone’s shoulder, moving and jumping fast until reaching above the academy’s gate.
Bren stopped with a sigh, “I think you're done with your mission, and your crows are back to normal again, so time to leave this place, miss.” He let the young lady down with a huff and stepped back to respect her personal space.
Gasha widened her eyes upon seeing his face before smiling happily, “Wow, thank you, cutie!”
“Huh?” He blinked with a straight face, “Anyway, you should leave soon and try to hide from the Anfinruds for a while, especially Chronos and Ivailo.”
“You're Bren Carson, yes?” Gasha took a step closer to him with a playful smile.
“Did you hear what I said?” he kept staring at her with blank face.
“Yep, and you were watching me the whole while, right?” she tilted her head with her hands behind her back.
Bren didn’t seem shocked or bothered at getting caught as he shrugged, “Yeah, because you weren't supposed to be here. Who sent you?”
“Guess.” She smiled childishly at him.
“Baldy?” he didn’t take a second to think.
“Wahaha!! So it was you who used to bully him over his forehead!” she leaned back a little as she laughed loudly, even more when his face remained unmoving and blank. She gradually stopped and wiped her teary eye with a smile, “Right, I'd like to ask how you know he's still alive and chat a lot more, but I guess I should leave quickly.” She stretched her arms above her head, looking refreshed for some reason.
“Yep, go.” he shrugged again and looked at the view outside the academy.
She chuckled at the blunt reply, “Okay, thank you again.”
[https://i.postimg.cc/Kvx8ms0X/3.jpg]
She kissed his cheek and stepped back immediately, grinning at the blank face as he kept blinking dumbly at her.
“...you like me or what?”
“Have been for a while, lovely.” She winked at him before she walked away.
“Huh? We haven't even talked before...” he looked at her as she called for her crows to surround her before lifting her up.
“Bye, bye~ I'll confess properly next time!” she waved her hand with a teasy smile before finally leaving the place, barely catching his last words to her.
“Just focus on staying alive, seriously...” Bren blinked blankly when the lady laughed as she was taken away and down somewhere outside the academy. He shrugged and turned to face the inside of the academy, looking then at the sky as the sun slowly came into view. “Haah, the night ended well... kinda.”
“Is someone getting married soon?”
He huffed like a chuckle at the teasy remark of the woman sitting beside him. “Wait and see, I think?” he shrugged, “Anyway, good to know the emperor is still noble after all, right?” he smiled to himself, feeling happy deep down.
A chuckle came from Karl, “There was a reason why Emerie Granovsky loved him of all people, you know.”
He glanced down at her with observing eyes, “Despite setting your brother's puppet free from the spell and not just healing his heart, you don't seem happy with the change.”
She shook her head with a soft smile before looking at the sky, “No, what he did to Elois Iriart is great, that kid is free of my brother's clutches at last. And Davante wouldn't be followed by watchful eyes anymore, at least not by his friend. But...” she hesitated.
“It must have been better for Albern Verick to stay ignorant and be the evil, so no one would feel remorseful when the game's conditions are met?”
She looked taken aback for a second before laughing a bit with a shake of her head, “You were named Hawkeyes for a reason, hah. But no, that would be the cruel side of the reason. However, the main one is...”
“Davante Fixsen would hesitate to kill him?”
She chuckled again, smiling sadly at the mention of the teen, “Correct, he is an affectionate kid, after all. He is becoming softer the more he stays in this place as well, makes me wonder if he could even bring himself to kill Baldrick in the end...”
“Are you sure?”
“What?” she raised her head to look at the smiling man beside her, looking at the bright sky with knowing eyes.
“Are you sure Davante Fixsen is just a softie kid, Alastair?”
She stared long at Bren, trying to understand the hidden meaning behind his question. “...what do you know?”
He smiled confidently at her with deep eyes that held hundreds of years of knowledge and experience. “Davante Fixsen, you should fear him.” He jumped away from the gate and into the academy, leaving the woman to her thoughts.
“...haah, he sure likes to talk in riddles.” She sighed with a smile, shaking her head a little before looking at the sun again. Her eyes had a distant look the more she stared at the peaceful scene in silence, “I wonder what would happen now... the end feels so close.” She closed her eyes with a sad smile, taking a breath before standing up, taking one last look at where she knew the teen was resting before leaving the place.
.
.
Meanwhile, at the fallen and burned Anfinrud mansion, Chronos stood still with the stuffed toy in one hand while looking down at a small piece of paper with one word written in an unfamiliar writing style, ‘Sorry :)’
He stared silently at the letter that was clearly meant to mock him.
[https://i.postimg.cc/X7s44NZF/4.jpg]
He moved his head to look at the chair his sister always used to sit on with poise and elegance, now empty and with no trace of her in the burned room.
“Angela…”
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The End of CH. 32