Chapter 21: The Road To Demon Realm (3)

In the end, clinging to Butler’s back, I returned to the village.

Butler asked if the Duchess didn’t have her own thoughts and if there was really a need to go, but you never know, right?

Lilac might return with the child’s head in her hand.

Going by carriage was slow, so with Butler’s help, I arrived quickly, and thankfully, the murder incident hadn’t happened ‘yet’.

“Kheuk. Hek.”

Even though it was a short distance, the wind pressure from running made it hard to breathe.

Though being a Saintess’s body, I calmed down quickly.

Returning to the village, I saw all the residents prostrated, trembling, and at the center was the boy who had hit me with the stone.

Everyone was overwhelmed by Lilac’s red aura, unable to move, and it was difficult for even me, let alone Butler, to approach.

Lilac stared down silently at the child for several minutes.

“What are you doing here instead of staying at the mansion?”

As expected, Lilac noticed my return, turned around, and faced me directly.

As the aura subsided, the frozen residents gasped for breath and collapsed.

It seemed they hadn’t fainted.

Glancing at them briefly, I turned my head and walked towards Lilac.

Then I opened my arms and hugged her.

Feeling the soft sensation, I spoke.

“Thank you.”

She didn’t kill him.

Because she thought of me.

Because she worried I would be sad.

Lilac flinched slightly, then hugged me back as usual.

Come to think of it, this seemed to be the first time I initiated a hug during our time together.

“There won’t be a next time.”

Lilac sent a look towards Butler, who was expressionless.

Butler also nodded slightly and smiled.

Of course, it was a signal I couldn’t see, buried in Lilac’s chest.

Having seen nothing, I smiled brightly, lifted my head, and replied.

“Hehe. I’ll come stop you again then?”

Pok.

“Ouch.”

“You’ve been getting cheeky lately? Just because your body’s healthier. Huh?”

A painless tap landed on the top of my head.

Still, Lilac was smiling, so I didn’t say anything and just laughed foolishly.

“Shall we go back?”

“Yes.”

Lilac lifted me from her embrace and shifted me into a comfortable position.

A princess carry.

“This pose is a bit…”

“Should I leave you behind?”

“Sorry.”

As soon as the words left my mouth, I saw Lilac’s face as she ran holding me.

Neither too thin nor particularly plump.

A truly perfect face.

Sometimes, I think the celebrities from my past life couldn’t even compare.

Unlike coming here, I didn’t feel the destructive wind pressure.

Thanks to Lilac’s consideration.

It seems Butler isn’t quite that powerful yet.

Looking at Lilac’s face like that, we returned to the Count’s mansion.

Butler didn’t come with us.

Killing intent boiled within me for the first time in a long while.

Someone threw a fist-sized stone at the granddaughter (not really) he cherished.

Receiving the Duchess’s glance and permission.

He couldn’t stop the corners of his lips from rising.

-There won’t be a next time.

Those words were directed not at Sia, but at him.

Butler, the butler, assassin, and escort.

Himself.

He too would not see a next time.

And a next time would never happen again.

The granddaughter (not really) who wouldn’t hurt even if put in his eye.

Sia’s kind heart he had observed for so long (less than a month).

These barbaric bastards.

Dared to throw a weapon at Sia’s back without even knowing their place.

An intimidating pressure and killing intent, impossible for an old man, spread through the village.

Where Lilac and Sia had left, only the panting residents and Butler with chilling eyes remained.

The killing intent accumulated over a long time was released.

Killing intent strong enough that ordinary Graduates couldn’t even set foot in it.

This was the weight Butler carried, having lived as an assassin.

A hunting dog only submits to its master’s command.

But the master’s ambiguous command.

-There won’t be a next time.

Rather gives the hunting dog options.

The Duchess spared them, but he too was given a chance.

Sia, being too soft-hearted, saved them, and the Duchess spared them out of concern that Sia might grieve.

However.

Since he, who watched it all, was also given a choice.

What need was there to hesitate?

Flinch!

Thick, quiet killing intent washed over the residents.

Killing intent so red it looked black surged.

Had he ever been this angry?

If the stone had hit Sia’s head or neck.

The mere thought made his blood boil.

“P-please, just spare m-.”

Shlick.

The resident who spoke first couldn’t finish his sentence and died.

“!!”

The resident right next to him trembled, then died as his neck and torso separated.

In someone else’s territory.

Even those who didn’t directly harm Sia.

“But does that matter.”

After all, a hunting dog cannot defy the master’s order to bite.

Of course, since the choice was his, some responsibility would arise.

But the Duchess he knew wouldn’t carelessly cast aside ‘her’ people.

Not without a special reason.

Therefore, Butler merely moved his hand with the master’s permission.

It was by no means an act of disobedience.

In 5 seconds, one person died. Limbs severed.

In 10 seconds, the friend next to him died, neck separated from body.

In 15 seconds, the younger sibling next to them died, not only limbs but ears cut off, eyeballs plucked out, teeth

shattered.

Killing in different and varied ways, 20 seconds, 30 seconds passed, and by the time 1 minute was up.

“……”

What remained were.

“The murderer and the murderer’s parents remain.”

The child who threw the stone at Sia and his parents.

To Butler, the child was already a murderer.

One who killed Sia.

More accurately, attempted murder would be correct.

Anyway.

And the child’s parents were sinners who condoned it.

Butler, having branded them murderers and sinners for absurd reasons, spoke coldly.

“What do you think?”

“……”

A leisurely, soft voice came from the old man who had just killed numerous residents gruesomely and cruelly.

The child had already fainted, and the parents were on the verge of losing their minds.

Naturally, rational thought was impossible.

“Tsk tsk.”

Butler clicked his tongue briefly and closed his eyes.

Because he saw the parents tightly hugging the fainted boy, weeping.

“People are all the same.”

His own grandson had suddenly changed and become a delinquent.

Yet, he couldn’t bring himself to hit the grandson who was kind as a child.

Looking at those three made his heart heavy.

So much for being a child; they won’t let him die first.

But he didn’t need to care.

Since when does an assassin get swayed by personal feelings?

Guilty or not, the hunting dog must hunt.

What’s done is done.

Dirty work was already familiar.

No matter how much they apologized and cried, didn’t they throw a stone at Sia and not even apologize?

Moreover, they were commoners who provoked nobility.

Sia didn’t know it, but her name already carried the Ducal family’s surname.

Meaning, Sia is a member of the Ducal family.

A commoner rebelling against a noble?

In the Empire, that meant certain execution.

So this could have been done even without the Duchess’s permission.

When Sia forgave the child, he couldn’t help it.

He didn’t want to show her such a cruel sight.

He didn’t want to burden the child, whose heart was already heavy, any further.

“I ask again. What do you think?”

Even a mere butler ranks far above a commoner.

Especially a butler of the Ducal family.

At my question, the man stopped crying, lifted his head, and shouted.

“What… what! f*ck!! What did we do so wrong!! What should we think, f*ck!!!!”

Well, obviously.

“Shouldn’t you have thought about the consequences?”

An emotionless tone. A chilling gaze.

My gaze towards the remaining family was not good.

The barbarians of the north have strength but lack brains.

“Just for throwing one stone… What? Think about the consequences?”

I silently stared at the man whose eyes overflowed with hatred and killing intent.

The woman who looked like his wife also stared at me with eyes full of hatred.

“Is it not obvious? We are nobles.”

An absolute class society.

For commoners, it was lifelong oppression; for nobles, lifelong prosperity.

The natural order. The natural right.

“If you feel wronged, resent your birth.”

You, who were not born noble.

Sia called him a kind grandpa.

However.

“Fufu. Young Lady Sia. It seems that statement was incorrect.”

How could he, so steeped in noble society, be kind?

Perhaps finding my muttering strange, the couple’s gazes turned peculiar.

Thinking of Sia, who returned to the Count’s estate moments ago, brought a smile to his face.

A different smile from when he received the Duchess’s permission.

“Wh-what…”

To others, it was truly a kind and warm smile.

“I must return quickly. I need to see my granddaughter even a second sooner.”

“Go away… Go away, fucker!”

“My granddaughter would cry if she heard this. That this kind old grandpa is being cursed.”

Fear flickered in the man’s eyes. Beyond those eyes, his own reflection looked truly like.

“A demon.”

The moment the words ended.

The three died, dismembered five ways.

Shhhhhhhlick!

Forcefully gushing red liquid stained the snow-covered village crimson.

“Must hurry. I feel like I’ll go mad wanting to see my granddaughter.”

Thud thud.

His slow walk, contrary to his words.

Was the image of an old man strolling through the village.