Volume 4, Chapter 46 – Dark Clouds Gather

If Edith had any hope of winning before, it could be said that it had all turned to dust now. Having lost the hundred-plus assassins, she had almost no pieces left to play. The four Frost Giants Yisi had mentioned couldn’t actually help much at all.

First, their massive size made it difficult for them to move through the Pescia territory unnoticed. Second, even if they reached an ambush point, their conspicuous size would make them easily discoverable by wyvern knights. Not to mention their custom of pledging allegiance to the strong; if they were to switch sides at a critical moment, it would be like adding frost to snow.

She had nothing left.

Even Mary understood the current situation. Everyone looked at Edith with concern. The latter’s eyes were covered by her white bangs, making it impossible to see her expression.

It felt like her heart was being squeezed.

Yisi couldn’t help but move a little closer to Edith and Refina. It wasn’t just a disaster for Edith, but for Refina as well. A key item that should have been under her control had been taken by a traitor, leading to the ultimate failure of their final plan. With Refina’s personality, her self-blame, guilt, and sense of sin must have reached a point beyond words.

Yisi reached out to Edith.

“You—”

Thud.

Before Yisi could speak, Refina knelt on the ground, facing Edith.

Words could not beg for forgiveness, and even suicide would be of no use. But right now, Refina had no other choice but to kneel. No matter what Edith said now, no matter what punishment she delivered, Refina would surely accept it all. Even though Refina’s back was to Yisi’s group, everyone could feel her resolve.

Like the calm before a storm, the surroundings were completely silent. Even the chirping of insects in summer was inaudible.

After a long silence, Edith spoke with an indifferent tone.

“…Get up.”

“Ma-master?”

Refina looked up, her golden eyes filled with both disbelief and a hint of fear.

A touch of impatience entered Edith’s voice.

“I told you to get up.”

“Yes…”

As Edith said, Refina stood up from the ground.

“This is not your fault, just a flaw in the plan. No matter who was in your position, the wooden whistle would have been taken by Caroline. There’s no need to blame yourself.”

Is this to be expected of Edith…

Yisi let out a small sigh of relief. She had originally planned to step forward and speak up for Refina when Edith passed judgment. Now it seemed that Edith hadn’t taken out her emotions on her subordinate indiscriminately out of despair.

Just as Edith had said, the fact that the wooden whistle had been used by Caroline was just a flaw in the plan and actually had nothing to do with Refina. The whistle falling into Caroline’s hands was an unavoidable event, and the reason Refina hadn’t retrieved it immediately was to rescue Edith sooner. The one who should really be punished was Caroline.

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She must not have punished Refina because she understood this.

But this made Yisi even more worried about Edith. If she had taken her anger out on Refina, she would have felt a little better. In this desperate situation, for her to bear it all alone, it wouldn’t be impossible for her to suffer a complete breakdown.

Furthermore, Yisi had now completely lost confidence in Edith reclaiming her position. She had no usable pieces left, only herself and Refina. No plan could succeed without manpower, unless a god were to send a catastrophe and create chaos with a natural disaster, but no one would pin their hopes on that.

Refina, who also understood this, wanted to reach out and comfort Edith after standing up, but due to the difference in their status, her outstretched hand just hovered in mid-air.

“But Master, you…”

“Are you talking about what to do next?”

There was no anger or dejection on Edith’s face. On the contrary, there was a clarity as if she had figured something out. She waved her hand casually.

“It’s true that we’re in a predicament with no pieces left to play, but it’s not over yet. Having no pieces doesn’t mean I’ve failed. As long as I haven’t reached the day where I can’t move, I will continue to fight.”

She must be alluding to the chess game just now.

But reality and chess were two different things. In chess, when you run out of pieces, you can aim for a stalemate, but reality doesn’t have the same rules. Even if Hetty, as she herself had said, would return the position of the count’s eldest daughter to Edith after her mission was over, what would be left for Edith would be a broken and starving land, a beast with its teeth pulled out.

The soldiers she had raised would be exhausted in the northern expedition. The families that lost their husbands would lose their source of income, and all would become refugees. Then, because the Tower of Pescia would be uncontrolled, the food supply would be insufficient—even [Red Lettuce] has a growth cycle—leading to economic collapse. And because of the scarcity of soldiers, public order would deteriorate. Some refugees who couldn’t get food would become bandits. With Edith lacking soldiers to suppress them, the bandits would further destroy the precarious system, forming a deadlock.

In addition, Edith had lost to Hetty in the struggle for the position of the count’s eldest daughter, so she would become a laughingstock among the other nobles in the territory. Then those long-dissatisfied nobles would unite to make her step down. Edith would surely fight back to eliminate the rebels, and the two sides would continue to wage war, ultimately turning the Pescia territory into a land of conflict.

However, from what Edith had just said—”As long as I haven’t reached the day where I can’t move, I will continue to fight”—it seemed she had given up the plan to attack the army and was preparing to postpone her revenge to the future.

Yisi subconsciously pressed on.

“Then what will you do?”

The problem at hand was, if they didn’t stop Count Pescia’s northern expedition now, there would be no chance later.

Hetty’s goal was to weaken the strength of the Pescia territory. Once its strength was exhausted, she would leave and return to the demon clan’s lair, which no one knew about. At that time, even if Edith wanted revenge, she wouldn’t be able to find her target.

In short, there was no “later.”

Edith’s azure eyes looked at Yisi.

“What are you talking about? Isn’t it obvious what needs to be done?” Seeing Yisi’s uncomprehending expression, Edith added, “Besides stopping Father’s northern expedition, there is no other path.”

“But you have no more assassins.”

“So? Because I have no assassins, I should give up what I believe in? The honor of a noble may be difficult for you to understand, so let me put it another way. I am fighting for my past, my dignity, everything that makes up the person Loiswell Edith Pescia. If I retreat here, continuing to live would be no different from death.” ¹ aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa i want to curse…

If Edith retreated here, the existence known as Edith would completely die, not physically, but spiritually.

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For a moment, Yisi didn’t know what to say.

Just like when Edith had talked about taking back a move in chess, if she had done so in front of her, the image of Edith in her mind would have collapsed. It was the same for her. This didn’t mean Edith lived by others’ evaluations. The real cause and effect was that because she never bowed her head, others had such an evaluation of her. Just as she always believed in her own decisions and was always thinking about how to achieve victory under them, that’s why she was admired and followed by so many people like Refina.

It was a natural charisma, an existence as dazzling as the sun.

If it were in the past, Yisi would have been persuaded by Edith and tacitly allowed her to act. But this time, and only this time, Yisi did not continue to let her be.

“You should know that going to the army alone is suicide. You are not alone now. You still have Refina. Are you planning to have her accompany you to your grave?”

“Onee-sama, there’s no need to talk to this madwoman anymore. If she wants to die, just let her.” ² love you camilla

“I… I think Miss Edith should lie low for a while, go to a place where she won’t be disturbed—”

Before Mary could finish, she was silenced by an exceptionally sharp glare from Edith, her voice laced with anger.

“I said I will not grovel. This is an insult to me. If you weren’t Yisi’s slave, you would be a silent corpse by now.”

Edith’s threat made Mary’s shoulders tremble, and she timidly hid behind Camilla.

Yisi frowned.

“Hey! There was no malice in Mary’s words. You should know that, right?”

“Whether there is malice or not is not up to her to decide, but me. If I said, ‘She’s just a slave, why not just sell her,’ would you be very happy? To me, a slave is just an object. My words also have no malice.”

“Hopeless.”

Her voice filled with disgust, Tiffany rarely expressed her thoughts directly on her face. She frowned and pulled Mary aside.

Being spoken to like this, even Yisi began to get angry.

“If you want to die, then go ahead. But after you’re dead, I’ll mock you thoroughly at your tombstone.” Yisi turned her back to Edith. “If I were you, I would choose to live a life undisturbed, become an ordinary person, and live a happy life.”

“To me, the happiness of an ordinary person is something I can touch with a wave of my hand.”

“Then we’ll see.”

After saying this, Yisi was about to leave with her companions.

Then, a cold drop fell on her face. Yisi subconsciously reached up to touch it.

It was water.

After that first drop, the feeling of water dripping came again from above.

Yisi looked up. The sky was filled with dark clouds.

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It was starting to rain.

Considering it was summer, it would probably turn into a downpour in just a few minutes. An ominous feeling crept into Yisi’s heart.

Refina’s voice came from behind her.

“Master…”

“Do you have something to say?”

Edith’s gaze fell on the hesitant Refina.

“…Leave the task of killing Hetty to me.”

“Reason?”

Very hesitantly, Refina bit her lip. Finally, as if she had made a decision, she mustered her courage.

“I will carry out the plan alone. Please go to a safe place with Miss Yisi. This way, regardless of whether the plan succeeds or not, you will not be in danger. Even if the Count dies in the line of duty, you can still live on and find other ways.”

“—.”

Yisi, who was about to leave, stopped because of Refina.

She finally said it…

Yisi could even predict the outcome.

Back in the abandoned stone house, Refina had told her that if one day it came to the point where Edith was fighting alone, she hoped Yisi would take her to a place where she wouldn’t be involved in conflict and let her live a happy life.

Refina must be preparing to take Edith away now.

Edith’s gaze turned icy, as if she were looking at a complete stranger.

“Don’t get presumptuous just because I have no usable pieces left, Refina. You, who understand my thoughts best, should know what those words of yours just now mean, right?”

Refina swallowed.

Letting Viel escape was equivalent to insulting her will, which was worse than insulting her directly. ³ ***** *** Under normal circumstances, she would have been banished by Viel. No, banishment would be a small matter. Anything marked with the Loiswell label could not fall into the hands of others, so it had to be destroyed, which meant being executed on the spot.

But even so, she had something she had to insist on. Viel was her everything. If she died, she would have nothing left. So Viel had to live. She had to convey her thoughts to Viel.

Forcibly suppressing her long-ingrained obedience, Refina’s golden eyes looked directly into Edith’s, and she spoke with difficulty, word by word, “I… know.”

“Is that so…” Edith muttered in a low voice, then took a deep breath and took out Gungnir from her storage magic. “In the end, you are just like those traitors, not following my will to the very end.”

The red Gungnir thrust towards Refina’s heart.

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—It was blocked by Yisi’s magic shield.

Yisi forcibly inserted herself between the two.

“Are you crazy! Refina is the most loyal person to you. Everything she does is for you.”

“If it were really for me, she wouldn’t have said to let me grovel. Get out of the way. This has nothing to do with you.”

“Miss Yisi, please leave this place. How Master disposes of me is her business. I must convey my thoughts to her.”

“Don’t use the title ‘Master’ anymore. I haven’t fallen so low as to need a traitor’s service. Yisi, get out of the way!”

The force on Gungnir increased, but it still couldn’t penetrate Yisi’s magic shield.

“Foolish woman.”

With Camilla’s cold snort, a muffled sound of physical contact came from behind. Yisi subconsciously turned her head and saw Camilla slowly retracting her hand from the back of Refina’s neck—the muffled sound must have been from her chopping the back of Refina’s neck—Refina’s eyes widened, wanting to say something, but in the end, nothing came out. Her body swayed and went limp, caught by Camilla and Mary.

Then, at Camilla’s signal, the three of them dragged the unconscious Refina out of the forest.

On the other side, Edith withdrew Gungnir, her eyes full of displeasure.

“Where are you taking Refina?”

“You were about to kill her. Where we take her has nothing to do with you anymore, right?”

“She is my property. Whether I discard her or destroy her is up to me. It has nothing to do with you bystanders.”

“But there are things that can and cannot be tolerated in this world. Even if how you treat Refina has nothing to do with me, I cannot tolerate you treating her kindness as betrayal. In the end, you also know that your chances of success are slim. This is no longer insisting on your will; it’s just a headless fly flying into a flame, a martyrdom for your own tragic wish.”

“Refina already knew the consequences of her actions.” A pained expression appeared on Edith’s doll-like, exquisite face. “And you dare to insult me with such words. I really misjudged you. I always thought you could understand my feelings and support me to the end, but I didn’t expect you to be a person who would grovel. From now on, I have no connection with you. After I die, you can take this body.”

By the end, Edith’s voice had become indescribably cold. However, just as she finished speaking, her body swayed, and she had to support herself with Gungnir to avoid falling.

Her voice became abnormally weak.

“I have nothing more to say to you… I won’t appear tomorrow, but the day after, I want double… the time.”

After forcing herself to finish, Edith withdrew her consciousness from the body. Yisi immediately took over, preventing the body from collapsing.

Then, the rain that had been falling finally turned into a downpour. The cold raindrops splattered on the ground with a pat-pat sound. Her clothes were quickly soaked, sticking to her skin, and her body temperature dropped rapidly.

A lingering sense of unease made Yisi click her tongue and curse under her breath.

“Bastard.”