Chapter 24
The joy of survival was brief. Mari, unable to endure the stench, began retching.
“It’s all right. It’s over now.”
Lysithea soothed Mari and lifted her head.
The woman, brushing back her coarse black hair, gave Lysithea a nod of greeting.
“Thanks. Thanks to the firewood you threw at just the right time, the fire caught nicely.”
The black-haired mage was motioning with her chin toward the sword lodged in the basilisk’s jaws when—
“Wilhelmina, leave the rest to me.”
A man rushed in right after her and easily finished off the weakened basilisk.
“What’s the big deal about stabbing a hunk of steel into a half-dead beast? No need to make such a fuss.”
The woman, called Wilhelmina, muttered indifferently.
“Hey, don’t forget who cornered it this far. That thing was already half-dead.”
The man tapped at the basilisk’s wounds, bragging.
It seemed the basilisk had already suffered fatal wounds from the knights’ joint assault before crawling toward the annex.
“If His Grace learns that a grand monstrosity was driven into his betrothed’s chambers, do you think he’ll praise you for it?”
“……How was I supposed to know it’d run this way? I just chased it, that’s all.”
The man scratched his nose, mumbling awkwardly.
“Anyway, wasn’t me who started it.”
With a shrug that dismissed all responsibility, the woman strode confidently into the room.
When Wilhelmina saw the corpses of monsters strewn across the chamber, she whistled in surprise.
“Wow, you’ve really been through it. How many did you take down?”
Stepping over the carcasses, Wilhelmina approached Lysithea and held out a hand.
“You’re not hurt too badly, are you?”
Her speech was more fitting for a street ruffian than a noble lady.
But Lysithea knew full well that this woman was no mere thug.
Unevenly cropped, frizzy black hair. Eyes glowing red like embers. And above all, a mage who could freely wield fire.
Such a person was anything but common.
“Wilhelmina Richter?”
At Lysithea’s question, the woman bared her teeth in a grin.
“Oh, you know me? Well, our house is a bit famous. Not the brightest star in the sky, perhaps, but close enough.”
The Richter Margrave, guardians of the northern border of the Kairos Empire.
The House of Richter, whose guiding star was the star of fire, was one of the two pillars of the Empire’s military strength, along with the Dukes of Lowen, who guarded the capital.
There were complicated ties as well, since Diarmuid’s paternal bloodline traced partly to them.
“You saved me. Thank you.”
Lysithea took Wilhelmina’s hand and rose to her feet.
“Lady Aster, are you unharmed?”
The knight who had finished the basilisk with Wilhelmina looked oddly familiar.
Ten days ago, when Diarmuid visited the Aster Marquisate, he had accompanied him.
The younger son of Count Dilton, and Diarmuid’s sworn knight.
“Yes. Thank you as well, Sir Ryan.”
At Lysithea’s reply, both Ryan and Wilhelmina pulled peculiar faces.
“You don’t look all right to me. Here, you’re bleeding.”
Wilhelmina pointed to the gash on Lysithea’s brow.
“No bones broken, no organs damaged. This isn’t the time for fussing over scratches. We can talk later.”
Lysithea wondered how the duke’s knights had known to appear, but now was not the time for questions.
She grabbed a piece of cloth and tightly bound her bleeding forehead.
Blood kept trickling into her eyes, blurring her vision.
Her overly calm demeanor made Ryan and Wilhelmina exchange a glance.
But Lysithea cared little for their concern. What worried her was not her own insignificant wound.
“Mari, can you stand?”
She turned to the maid, who seemed half out of her senses.
“……Y-yes.”
Mari tried to rise but collapsed again, her legs giving way.
Only minutes ago, she had nearly been swallowed whole by a basilisk.
For a mere maid not to have fainted was a miracle in itself.
But there was no time to waste.
From the basilisk’s corpse, smoke hissed as the floor began to melt away.
It was the serpent king’s venom.
“I’ll carry her.”
With Wilhelmina’s help, Ryan hoisted Mari onto his back.
“Let’s get out of here—while the monsters feast.”
Lysithea tore a painting off the wall, revealing the hidden passage behind it.
“……This way.”
Click, clatter, screech, hiss—the sounds of monsters drawing near.
They were swarming, eager to devour the basilisk’s carcass.
Lysithea’s party fled into the pitch-black darkness.
The night stretched on unbearably long, as if dawn would never come.
Creak. At the front, Wilhelmina pushed open a wooden hatch above their heads and checked the surroundings.
Ryan, with Mari on his back, and Lysithea followed out in turn.
After running through the dark passage, they emerged into the woods behind the annex.
“Looks like all the monsters have gathered around the basilisk’s body.”
The forest bore traces of beasts—arachne webs, harpy feathers, satyr hoofprints.
“Where to now?”
Wilhelmina, brandishing a dagger wreathed in bluish flame, asked.
Crossing the forest would free them from this cursed estate.
Ryan and Mari looked at Lysithea, awaiting her decision.
Breath ragged, clutching her torn side, Lysithea rose.
In the distance, the brightly lit main mansion of House Aster shone.
“To the light. To the place where the brightest star in the sky rises.”
The morning star that heralds dawn in the eastern sky.
The star of light that had first bestowed magic upon this world—the guiding star of House Aster.
Lysithea ran toward the home that had never been hers.
With each heavy step, the darkness behind her receded.
At last, she broke free of the woods and stood before the radiant mansion.
“Uh, wha—what?”
The first to notice her was a lowly soldier, rummaging through monster corpses for signs of life.
The battle against the monsters, which had stormed in the dead of night, was nearly over, and the common soldiers had just begun the grim work of cleanup.
“Lady Lysithea—why do you look so—”
The soldier stopped himself, realizing “disheveled” was no word for his master’s daughter.
But her tangled hair, the hastily bandaged wound on her brow, the torn and soiled dress—
Lysithea, who had always appeared impeccably perfect.
Her pitiful state left the onlookers gaping, whispering among themselves.
“Was there a monster attack in the annex too?”
“Looks like it, doesn’t it?”
“Who was sent to help?”
“No one, I bet. With things this bad here, who’d spare troops for the annex?”
“You idiot. Don’t you remember? During the shift change around midnight, there’s a two-hour gap. No guards at the annex at all!”
The more they spoke, the more ashen they became.
When Lysithea had been moved to the annex, the captain of the knights had complained about splitting their forces.
He made his displeasure known, and both knights and guards joined his grumbling.
The men stationed at the annex grew lax, even abandoning their posts during shift changes.
Later, it was revealed this was the captain’s way of ensuring no gap in the main mansion’s defenses.
“So tell me—why do you think I ended up like this?”
Lysithea spread her lips in a bright smile.
For her, this household had never once been home.
Even the servants were complicit, treating her as the single blemish on their perfect family.
She had simply used that fact to her advantage.
To escape without arousing suspicion.
“Th-that’s……”
The soldier faltered, unable to answer.
While Lysithea pressed the guards with her words, the Aster knights finished off the remaining monsters.
Fwoosh!
Pale blue lights flared in the gardens, binding the beasts.
The magic stones planted in the soil turned into snares, trapping their movements.
The magic of House Aster—wielders of starmetal, the relics of fallen stars.
Edward’s golden hair shimmered in the breeze.
From his fingertips spilled azure mana, dissolving into the air.
The beasts immobilized by Edward’s magic were dispatched easily by the knights.
Soon, the ground was clear of monsters, with only a few harpies circling overhead.
“Eddie!”
“Lady Celia!”
The main doors burst open, and Celia rushed out with her guards.
“Eddie, are you all right?”
She cupped Edward’s face, her voice trembling with tears.
“Celia, I told you to stay safe until the beasts are gone. What if you collapse again?”
“You’ve used too much mana. What if you collapse—”
She leaned in, pressing her forehead to his, about to share her magic, when she felt a chilling gaze.
“……Sister?”
Hesitant, Celia turned and paled at the sight of Lysithea, clutching Edward’s sleeve.
“……Sister.”
Edward, too, let out a groan-like sigh.
Her ragged clothes, her tangled hair, the bleeding wound on her brow—
It was obvious she had barely escaped death.
Just imagining the trouble this would stir made Edward’s head pound.
He pressed his hand to his temple and sighed deeply.
