Chapter 75
What appeared in her line of sight was a monster with black horns. Ren pulled the trigger without the slightest hesitation.
The sound that crawled out of its throat scattered into ashes.
Regretfully, even those who were already half-transformed into monsters vanished the moment they were caught in the path of her gun.
Had they faced Rix, Mabel, or Scarlet, who carried ordinary firearms, perhaps they could have returned to being human. But that, too, was their fate.
Each time their bullets crossed paths, Ren apologized inwardly.
But if they didn’t die, the ones alive and untainted behind her would.
There was no way to measure the weight of either side, but she had to choose.
After a few more rounds of gunfire and eerie screams, silence descended.
Rix raised his hand. Everyone lowered their guns.
“……”
Ren looked around.
No monsters remained alive.
The people clinging to the windows like an audience let out sighs of relief.
The cluster of glowing shells in Ren’s hand dimmed, floating upward into the sky. She watched as the glimmers blended with the moonlight and disappeared, when Rix’s low voice resonated behind her.
“Mabel, Scarlet. And you four.”
“Yes, sir!”
The Count Mafla’s attendants, who had been trembling with guns in hand, quickly snapped to attention.
Rix gestured to Mabel and Scarlet.
“Each of you, take one of them and circle around the mansion.”
“Understood.”
“Yes.”
The replies came not from the attendants but from Mabel and Scarlet themselves.
The count’s men exchanged uneasy glances, clearly unwilling, but a prince’s order was absolute. With grim expressions, they followed Mabel and Scarlet.
Rix then turned to the two remaining attendants.
“Burn those.”
He paused briefly, then added,
“As far away from here as possible.”
They were monsters who had survived Ren’s gun but met death anyway. Their numbers surpassed twenty before Ren stopped counting.
It was agonizing to see some that had so recently turned.
At last, Ren turned her back and entered the mansion.
Rix followed silently behind.
Shouts to bring wagons could be heard as attendants carried out their orders.
“…You did well.”
Rix spoke to her back.
Ren stopped walking. In that fleeting moment, Rix noticed the faintest flinch in her shoulders. But he couldn’t reach out and place his hand on her.
Instead, he clenched his cold fingertips into his palm.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
At that moment, the sound of two sets of footsteps and one heavy cane echoed dully.
Count Mafla descended the stairs with the aid of a servant. Behind him came Viola, Grace, and Sophia.
Victor was absent.
When capable hands with firearms were already so few, why hadn’t he come down?
To protect his family?
The Victor Mafla in the novel wasn’t such a coward. He was entirely unlike his father, unlike the side-character he was supposed to be.
Much like the difference between the emperor and Rix.
Ren furrowed her brow.
“Truly, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. And I beg your pardon, Your Highness. And you as well, Saintess.”
Count Mafla placed a hand on his chest and bowed.
His massive body meant he could only incline his head, but Ren could not refuse the courtesy.
“It’s fine.”
“I don’t know how this could have happened…”
His words trailed off as he looked past Rix toward the devastated garden.
Then—whoosh. A searing heat, unforgettable, flared from behind. Rix instinctively turned his head. Behind the thick trees, smoke blacker than night rose into the sky.
Though the attendants had tried to follow Rix’s order to burn the corpses far away, Ren, sensitive to fire, sensed it instantly. She wrapped her arms tightly around herself.
“We will investigate—”
“No.”
Rix cut him off.
His golden eyes were colder than ice.
“Tomorrow, I’ll send Mabel to investigate.”
“But this—”
“Monsters breached the heavily guarded count’s mansion. That warrants an investigation. So cooperate.”
It was phrased as a request, but the compulsion behind it was unmistakable.
The count realized further argument was pointless and nodded.
“…Very well.”
“Prepare a carriage. The saintess must be returned.”
At those words, Ren turned her head sharply.
Caught off guard by her gaze, Rix stiffened.
Ren sighed, her lips parting as if to speak, but then she only smiled awkwardly.
“Thank you. But for tonight—”
She turned toward Count Mafla.
“If it’s not too much trouble, may I stay here?”
The count, clearly not expecting that, blinked in surprise before quickly nodding.
“Of course, of course. It would be an honor.”
“Thank you.”
“Prepare a room for the saintess at once!”
The hidden servants scurried to obey.
Rix frowned and stepped closer, leaning in to whisper near her ear.
“Why are you insisting on staying here?”
Ren hesitated, then sighed wearily.
“My legs… won’t move.”
“…What?”
“My legs are stiff. I can’t move them.”
Rix’s eyes widened as if the words refused to process, though he had heard them clearly.
Heat flushed up Ren’s neck to the tips of her ears.
Swallowing dryly, she repeated with deliberate clarity:
“I can’t move.”
“…Why?”
How should I know?
Ren almost snapped but caught herself. Count Mafla and the others were watching her intently.
She searched for words but found nothing. Nothing except one truth.
That she was scared.
That she was terrified she might have killed people tonight—people who could have been saved.
But she’d rather bite her tongue than confess that.
No one must ever know.
“So you’ll stay here, then?”
“I have no choice.”
“Here? As in… here in the hall?”
“…What?”
Rix chuckled.
Relaxing at last, he wore his usual mischievous smile and tapped the floor with his finger.
Ren glanced down, then shook her head firmly.
Just then, Count Mafla spoke with great courtesy.
“Please, come upstairs. Follow this maid.”
He gestured to a maid who stood waiting.
Ren released her arms from around herself. At least she could manage that much.
But strangely, her feet refused to lift.
It felt as though invisible hands were gripping her ankles tightly. Even raising her knees was impossible.
Her body wouldn’t obey.
Damn it. Please, move. Move, move, move.
No matter how desperately she pleaded, her petrified body stood like a statue.
Count Mafla noticed and asked cautiously,
“Saintess…?”
“……”
“Are you all right?”
“…Yes. I’m fine.”
“Shall we assist—”
“No! I’m fine. Truly.”
Ren squeezed her eyes shut. Her fingertips and toes tingled.
Why, of all times, now?
Embarrassment burned through her; she wanted to sink into the floor.
From behind came the sound of stifled laughter, utterly unbothered.
It made her want to cry. Why did her body have to betray her now of all times?
“Are you unwell, my lady?”
Even then, Count Mafla kept asking unnecessary questions.
From upstairs, people began descending the stairs to watch.
Finally, she spotted Victor. Pale-faced Sophia clung to his arm like a vine.
Ren’s eyes met his.
Victor averted his gaze and turned back upstairs.
Seeing him, the fever of her humiliation cooled.
And just as her emotions sank—her body suddenly lifted into the air.
“Ahh!”
Startled, Ren instinctively grabbed onto the nearest thing.
“Urk!”
A strained groan answered.
Her wide eyes locked onto Rix’s furrowed brow.
Their eye level was…
“…Huh?”
The same.
He should have been a head taller, yet his eyes met hers straight on.
“I know I’m being forward, but grabbing me by the collar might be a bit much, don’t you think?”
Ren realized at last what her hands had seized.
She was gripping his collar so tightly that the fabric was wrinkled.
“Wouldn’t it be better if you wrapped them around my neck instead?”
Before she could process the situation, her body moved.
Her legs dangled loosely in the air.
The feet that had been rooted to the floor were now suspended.
“If I get accused of royal murder for this, don’t blame me.”
Rix spoke casually.
He nodded at the maid who had been ordered to lead her to a room.
Everyone froze, stunned, at the sight of Rix carrying Ren in his arms.
Even Count Mafla’s eyes widened in disbelief.
The maid quickly hurried upstairs, and Rix followed with Ren cradled against him.
Ren buried her face in her hands, mortified.
If she let out the scream building inside her, it would echo all the way to the temple.
Her shame was suffocating. As Rix climbed the stairs, her stomach lurched as if she were on a roller coaster.
Before she knew it, her arms had wrapped tightly around his neck.
Even as whispers rippled through the onlookers, Rix’s heartbeat remained steady and unshaken.
