Chapter 42: The Blood Marquis Arrives

After the magical burst, the moving carriage swiftly halted its advance.

Pong!!

With a resounding crash, the carriage door was kicked open. Mitis, drenched in blood, slowly descended from the carriage, dragging Xiamiya’s gruesome, half-shattered corpse.

After casually tossing Xiamiya’s remains onto the ground, Mitis, still panting, directed her gaze forward.

Moments later, under Mitis’s anxious gaze, a streak of blue flame abruptly descended from the sky. Like a celestial meteor, it landed directly in front of the convoy.

The fiercely burning blue flames seemed to tear through space, emerging from another realm.

Accompanied by a powerful energy fluctuation, the entire scene trembled. The flames rapidly spun, forming a massive vortex, and within its center, a human figure gradually coalesced. As the light and fire slowly dissipated, a white-haired man calmly stepped forth.

He possessed magnificent silver hair and was clad in a black robe, over which a layer of white armor rested. The armor was intricately engraved with complex, delicate runes, each mark shimmering with a subtle glow, lending him an aura of both mystery and majesty.

His silver hair swayed gently in the wind, and his eyes were deep and chilling. The man exuded an inviolable presence.

“Marquis,” Mitis said, respectfully lowering her head as she faced the silver-haired man.

Indeed, the man before her was none other than Beham-Roberitz, the head of the House of Roberitz, famously known as the ‘Blood Marquis’.

With the arrival of Marquis Roberitz, the tension in the air intensified. His gaze swept over Mitis, his crimson eyes holding an authoritative and profound stillness. Mitis involuntarily shivered, an indescribable pressure filling the atmosphere.

“Marquis, why have you come as well?” Mitis asked reverently.

Beham did not directly answer the Countess’s question. Instead, he indifferently cast his gaze upon the princess lying in a pool of blood.

Upon glimpsing Xiamiya’s corpse, now missing half her head, Beham’s lips curved slightly, revealing an expression of ‘as expected’.

Simultaneously, a strong hint of contempt and disdain flickered in his eyes.

“Hmph, to be so easily headshotted. And she still had the audacity to contend for the throne? Utterly foolish.”

After a cold laugh, Beham turned a look of approval towards Mitis:

“I had originally intended to see if you would encounter any mishaps, but it seems I worried needlessly. You’ve done excellently, Miss Mitis.”

“Thank you for your praise, Marquis. And what about what comes next?”

“You need not concern yourself with what comes next. There are plenty of bandits near the Holy Capital; it will be effortless to fabricate a story of her dying in a bandit attack.”

“Understood, Marquis.”

“Killing an old friend? How does it feel?” Beham asked playfully.

Upon hearing the question, Mitis let out a few helpless, self-deprecating chuckles:

“Please don’t tease me, Marquis. What ‘old friend’ was she? Who would consider a Child of Curses, a low-born from the slums, a friend? At best, she was merely a toy from my childhood. What feelings could there be in disposing of a broken toy?”

As she spoke, Mitis waved her hand with an air of nonchalance.

Having a toy, or rather, a pet, with the status of a princess had indeed brought her much amusement.

However, if this toy refused to follow the rules and sought to seize the throne, then Mitis, as a member of the noble faction, had no choice but to discard it.

Family loyalty was paramount.

‘At most, I feel a little regret. Such an interesting toy will be hard to find again.’

To this, Beham nodded noncommittally. “Heh, indeed. Oh, by the way.”

“Marquis, yes?”

“What about the maid who was with Xiamiya earlier? What’s her situation?”

“Her? Heh heh~” Mitis’s lips curled into a proud smile at the mention.

“No need to worry, Marquis. She has already been captured by us.”

“Oh? Is that so?” Beham raised an eyebrow playfully.

In truth, as the Blood Marquis, he had personally come here to avenge his daughter, Beni. His beloved daughter being slapped and disfigured by a lowly maid was something Beham simply could not tolerate. Coupled with Beni’s incessant distress, Beham intended to come himself, sever the limbs of that foolish woman who dared to bully his daughter, and bring her back so Beni could vent her anger without restraint.

Mitis had already anticipated Beham’s intentions.

“Of course, that maid was always meant to be presented to you, Marquis.”

For the foolish person who dared to insult the Marquis’s daughter, she had already instructed her subordinates to prepare tea laced with a potent sedative and had the maids administer it. By now, Xiamiya’s maid should have been drugged and bound by her subordinates.

Thinking this, Mitis confidently turned her head to look behind her.

“Annie, bring that woman out for the Marquis… Hmm?! ! !”

However, before she could finish her sentence, Mitis’s eyes suddenly narrowed. A look of utter bewilderment instantly appeared in her rosy eyes.

“Wh-what?”

It wasn’t just Mitis; the surrounding Ashir family guards reacted the same way.

Because, reflected in everyone’s eyes, a tall, perfect doll-like maiden with golden hair and a veil had, at some unknown point, descended from the carriage. This maiden, who should have been sedated and disgracefully dragged from the carriage, had instead calmly walked down. And inside the carriage, the two maids responsible for capturing her remained motionless…

However, judging by the crimson liquid continuously seeping from the carriage’s seams, those two maids were likely beyond saving.

“H-how could this be?” Mitis muttered, utterly stunned.

She knew that the two maids she had sent to deal with the other woman were top-tier assassins specially trained by the Ashir family. They had successfully assassinated even sixth-rank powerhouses. How could this have happened so suddenly?

****

However, compared to Mitis’s grave expression, Beham merely let out a cold snort with an air of indifference. After sensing the dense bloodlust lingering around the doll-like maiden, Beham’s expression shifted to one of ‘so that’s it’.

Duke Leipzig had mentioned it before.

Xiamiya alone could not have evaded the Blazefrost Nation’s assassins. Someone from the Holy Sanctuary must have been secretly protecting her. And this person, who suddenly appeared by Xiamiya’s side, must be someone arranged by the High Priest, he surmised. Although her face was obscured, her elegant yet sacred aura certainly resembled that of someone from the Holy Sanctuary.

But, heh heh, what if she was from the Holy Sanctuary?

Thus, under Mitis’s puzzled gaze, Beham blocked Mitis, who was about to order her subordinates to attack. Raising his head contemptuously, the Blood Marquis mockingly feigned regret:

“Only coming out now? What good is it? Xiamiya-Seraphiel is already dead. With your mission failed, how will you explain this to the High Priest?”

However, the golden-haired maid offered no reaction to Beham’s provocative words, seemingly completely ignoring the Blood Marquis. She simply walked slowly to Xiamiya’s corpse.

“You…” Seeing his words ignored, Beham, already intensely displeased, felt a chilling killing intent surge in his eyes. His right hand slowly grasped the hilt of the sword at his waist. The powerful holy energy, a symbol of a Saint’s high status, instantly erupted, enveloping the entire area. Terrifying energy fluctuations spread rapidly in all directions like crashing waves.

Mitis and the assembled retainers of the Ashir family, upon feeling the torrent of energy, all involuntarily knelt to the ground, their faces filled with undisguised terror.

After all, the formidable aura of a Saint was not something ordinary people could withstand.

Clearly, Beham intended to unleash his power to intimidate this Holy Sanctuary subordinate who had dared to ignore him.

Unfortunately, even with such a formidable and terrifying aura released, the golden-haired maiden did not shift her attention to Beham. Instead, she stood quietly beside Xiamiya’s corpse, gazing at her master’s remains.

After a moment of silence, the golden-haired maiden slowly spoke. Her words held not a trace of sadness or self-reproach for her master’s demise; instead, they were devoid of emotion, even carrying a faint hint of mockery.

“Master, wasn’t I right?”

…

??

Hmm?

What nonsense was this person speaking?

As Youka’s words reached their ears, Beham, Mitis, and the others all simultaneously displayed bewildered expressions.

This person? Talking to a dead body? Had she gone mad… Hmm?! Wh-what was that?!!

However, in the very next instant, the perplexed expressions on everyone’s faces were abruptly replaced by disbelief. All of them widened their eyes in unison, staring forward with incomprehension.

“Wh-what’s happening?!”

Under their bewildered and incredulous gazes, Xiamiya’s corpse, lying in a pool of blood, trembled slightly.

Then, Xiamiya’s head, the shattered remains that Mitis’s magic blast had pulverized, began to impossibly twist and rotate within a mass of dark energy. It floated away from the carriage, continuously converging back towards Xiamiya.

Enveloped by a black mist that resembled the eerie aura of the abyss, these fragments of Xiamiya’s head seemed manipulated by an unseen hand. They gradually drew closer, beginning to reassemble. The sound was almost imperceptible, yet the process was astounding to every watching eye.

Just as Mitis almost believed she had fallen into some hallucination, Xiamiya’s face began to clearly appear within the black energy. Her eyes, nose, and lips—every detail was gradually and perfectly reconstructed by the dark energy, until her head was restored to its original state, as if it had never been damaged.

Having completed this incredible rebirth, Xiamiya’s head gently settled back onto her neck, perfectly rejoining her body.

Immediately after, Xiamiya slowly opened her eyes. Her rainbow-colored irises shimmered with a completely different light than before… a hollow… and disappointed light.

Staring at Mitis’s astonished face not far away, the Demonic God murmured emotionlessly:

“You were right, Youka… She simply isn’t to be trusted…”