174: Rats

Rats

"You were—" From the moment that they had met in her second life, he had been there just when she needed him. The cliff, in the maze, and those times when she thought her life was going to end, he showed up.1

"We made a deal," he said.

Indeed. This was all because of the deal.

"I am going to bring you out of the Aster Empire while you— you will become my person," he added. "And I always protect my people, Lady Rosie. You should remember that."

"Then where do you want me to sleep?" she asked after a few seconds of silence. He would protect her but that did not answer her question. Where did he want her to sleep?

"Next to me. Unless you want to sleep on the floor."

She swallowed. Memories of the 'incident' where she 'accidentally' teleported into the bathhouse appeared in her head.

"Is something the matter?"

"What?" she flinched and wondered if he recalled that thing too. "No. I was just thinking."

He narrowed he eyes. He knew! He must have known what she was thinking about.

"Would you mind sharing?"

"Well—" she cleared her throat and avoided his intense gaze. She knew that she was extremely red as she could literally feel the blood on her face boiling. "I thought about what we saw in the forest and… the Thun Family. I just… I had some information about them and it did not show anything about that woman named Lurea."

"Oh?" he lifted an eyebrow. She thought he would ask her about the source of the information. He didn't. Instead, he looked at the cackling fire not far away from them. "You are playing with fire, Lady Rosie."

"Am I?"

"I suggest you leave it alone before it burns you."

"You know something."

"I know enough."

"I want to know."

His eyes sprang back to hers and she could feel him scrutinizing her, searching, probing. Was he wondering what she was up to?

"The seven families…" he leaned back, his eyes still on hers. "Are not something that you can handle on your own. Many people have tried and all of them have disappeared, one by one."

"You speak as if you know everything about them."

"What are you up to?" he asked, totally catching her off guard. She did not expect that he would be so direct.

"I—"

"How annoying," the Duke suddenly got up and threw something towards the wall. His movement was so fast, she did not know what he had done until she heard a loud thud on the other side. She got up, alarmed.

She did not sense anyone around the room.

"Rats," the Duke walked towards the wall. He removed something that looked like a dagger but was longer. It looked like a short sword except it was too sharp and its blade was circular instead of the traditional flat one. He pulled it from the wall and used a handkerchief to wipe the blood off the blade. "Indeed… people seemed to have forgotten."

"Your Grace, should we tell the others about this? I mean… the Countess and—" Rosalind swallowed. Earlier, Lucas and her did not meet the Countess as she was not at home when they arrived. However, the sky had already turned dark and it was time for dinner. She was certain that the Countess would be back soon.

"No need," Lucas said. "She will come when she arrives. Although, her husband is currently ill, she would surely see her husband first." Finally, he looked at her and asked. "This— everything that you have seen so far is nothing compared to what will happen if the seven imperial families know of your existence and intention to fight against what they preach."

Her lips thinned, he was telling the truth. However, she wasn't exactly intending to fight against those people. All she wanted was knowledge and information, she needed it if she wanted to live.

The information that she had gotten from the black market wasn't exactly enough. Although some secrets were not known by many people, the things that were included in the list were not as nasty as the things that Dorothy and the Lux Family did in her past life. It was not enough.

Perhaps the Duke could…

"If I am not wrong, the Thun Family want to attack Cirid very soon." The Duke interrupted her thoughts. Cirid was the third kingdom that was apart of the Northern Alliance.

"Then… what are you planning to do?" she asked.

"Nothing."

"What?" Was he not going to help them out?

The Duke went back to his seat and poured himself another glass of wine.

"The beasts… will soon start to rampage and a beast tide will happen. The Thun family is not prepared for that."

"A beast tide… " Rosalind recalled a beast tide in her past life, but at this time it would be too early. She recalled the beast tide happening when Dorothy was already the Empress. She wanted to ask him how he seemed so sure that a beast tide would happen very soon.

If she was right, then this should be because of her reincarnation. Life is give and take. She could not just keep on taking without giving. There has to be a balance somewhere, a life for a life.

A beast tide would surely take a lot of lives. If this was going to happen earlier because of her then…

A knock on the door interrupted them. Then the young son of the count walked in, distraught.

"We have a problem…"

"What is it?" Rosalind asked. She could smell blood from the man.

"Father— Father is— There is something wrong with my father's wound! Please help him!"

"Impossible!" Rosalind said. She healed him! She used her dark Blessing to absorb the curse and used her light Blessing to remove the poison from his body. She then used her light Blessing to heal his internal wounds. There were wounds on the flesh, but none of them were considered life-threatening.

She immediately looked at the Duke. "Something is wrong," she frowned.

To his surprise, he only chuckled and said, "Ah… is it already time?"

...

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