# 74
---
After muttering Grace's name dozens of times, the fortress came into view in the distance. It was silent, and soldiers stood guard beneath it. It was at the very moment the river was about to lower its water level that the anxiety, which had been welling up to engulf my entire body, finally subsided.
Clang!
At the same time as the sound of something breaking pierced my sensitive hearing,
Is anyone there!!!
A sharp scream shattered the faint sense of relief that had welled up inside me.
Seeing red flames shooting up through the window of the office where Grace was, Ares ran at superhuman speed and climbed the giant tree in front of the main castle. There was no time to go through the inside of the castle.
His surprisingly resilient and strong muscles enabled him to perform movements that ordinary people could not imitate, and by the time Crimson and Jesse arrived beneath the castle, Ares was already leaping from the top of a tree toward the office window.
The sharp edges of shattered glass scraped across his cheek and the back of his hand, but Ares did not feel it.
“Grace!!!”
At the same time as his call, an anxious voice was heard from somewhere in the room.
“My Princess!!!”
Grace was where the silver-haired man who had broken down the door was heading. Covered in blood, she was glaring straight ahead while shielding someone with her body.
Just then, Flora Rinko, who had collapsed behind her, stood up. Flora, with her pink hair disheveled, appeared to have already lost her reason. Holding something sharp, she raised her hand toward the back of Grace's neck.
* * *
“Is anyone there!!”
As the soldier was called, flames shot up from the pile of documents. Grace pulled Flora by the nape of the neck with her left hand, which was not holding the shards.
“Aargh! You, you! Aren’t you going to let go?! Let go!!!”
Grace cornered the struggling Flora between the wall and the pillar and stood in front of her.
“If you don’t want to die, stay still.”
Marquis Rinko will want it to appear as if Flora died by my hand here. The soldier and the maid will testify that only she and I were in this room, so the blame for Flora's murder will fall entirely on me. The Inspector General will side with Marquis Rinko, and the Marquis will feign being a father who has lost his daughter, declaring that in the worst-case scenario, he will secede from Richmond entirely.
Grace blocked Flora with her whole body while holding a shard. Her best weapon was her own body. They must have been ordered not to kill her. This was because the desired outcome would not materialize if both she and Flora were dead.
I felt no fear whatsoever.
You can never get what you want.
A sense beyond the five senses had already blocked the flying knives several times. Something that felt lukewarm flowed down my arms and legs.
It was when I clenched my molars tightly, gripping the fragment in my hand even tighter.
The front door, which had been banging but not opening, opened as if being smashed, and at the same time, the balcony window shattered with a tremendous noise.
“Grace!!!”
“My Princess!!!”
I could see a pitch-black man running toward me through the flames in my wide field of vision.
“The back!!”
Just as I was about to turn around at Eric's warning, he shouted.
“Don’t move, Grace!!”
I froze reflexively, but Ares threw something. The moment stretched out long. While I gasped and muttered, "No," a dagger grazed past me and struck something.
"100 million-"
I was struck by the death groan.
When Grace turned around, Flora was still in the same position, holding a sharp blade and aiming at her neck.
“Uh, uh—”
Flora blinked her eyes several times as if in disbelief, then her body gradually crumbled. She fell to the ground like a withered flower finally unable to bear its own weight. Her tear-filled pink eyes remained fixed on Ares, behind Grace, until the very end.
Flora, whom Count Rwen had tried to protect even at the cost of sacrificing everything, died right there without even being able to close her eyes.
Meanwhile, Ares ran straight over and swung his sword into the air. To others, it might have looked like he was slicing through nothing, but the tip of his blade clearly cut through something.
Ares calmly swung his sword, relying once again on his intuition, and flames soon shot up at his feet. It was the same fire that had consumed the Duke and Duchess of Richmond and eight-year-old Walter in the past, and the same fire that had consumed the Duke and Duchess of Taylor. Ares kicked with all his might the man gripping his ankle tightly with his burning hand.
Eric ran to Grace, who was checking on Flora. Her cream-colored dress was a mess, stained with red blood. Eric roughly tore off the hem of her shirt and grabbed her arm.
Stay still.
Only then did Grace realize that she was quite badly injured. But what mattered right now was not something like her arm.
"are you okay."
As I hurriedly stood up and turned, Crimson was telling something to Ares, who was standing in front of me like a mountain range, with a serious expression.
"dismissal."
Ares, who had been talking with Crimson, finally turned to look at Grace. His eyes, with their backs to the flames, felt as cold as lead and as indifferent as a mineral.
“The Marquis’s faction will try to leave the castle using Flora Rinco’s death as a pretext. As for the Inspector…”
Grace trailed off at Ares's sudden action of grabbing her right hand. His brow furrowed as he looked down at her clenched fist.
Open your hand.
The shard of the teapot he had been desperately clutching dug into his right palm, leaving a deep wound. As he opened his hand, Ares carefully removed the shard embedded in his flesh.
The flames behind him, the soldiers scrambling to put them out, the corpses at his feet. Amidst the chaos and commotion surrounding everything—including the troublesome predicament that was imminent—he remained strangely calm. He acted as if the only task at hand was to remove the fragments from his palm.
This hurts. Bear with it.
With a quiet word of advice, he took something out, but strangely, only the warmth of the large hand gripping the back of my hand was felt.
The restless emotions gradually subsided. The chaotic noise faded away, leaving only him and her. Just as always.
However, the only difference was that while the one by her side in the past was the figure of a boy whose face she did not even know, now he was a man with eyes as large as a mountain range and even harder than hers.
Grace slowly let out a long, deep breath.
I protected the important documents.
"good job."
The commotion outside grew louder. Judging by the sound of people running, nobles must be on their way.
"But now that Flora Rinko is dead, the Marquis faction is clearly,"
Don't worry.
His jet-black eyes were like jewels born after enduring heat and pressure for a very long time. Ares released the back of Grace's hand and turned around.
Step back and treat me.
His back blocked my path like a barrier holding back the mud and debris.
“Miss. This way.”
Sensing the situation, Eric led her. Only then did Grace see him. His hood was a mess, as if he had rushed over.
“Put your hood up properly and stay out of the way, Eric.”
“…….”
"hurry."
“…Then please at least tie your right hand.”
“No, it’s better this way.”
She felt Ares turn around immediately, and Eric's red eyes also contorted, but she would rather have been covered in blood herself.
“Aargh!!!”
A nobleman who had rushed over first shouted in surprise at the sight of the office, which had become a complete mess.
“Ga, ga, gak…… Heo.”
He, who had been stammering severely, sighed as he saw the body lying on the floor. The scattered pink hair was so distinctive that it was impossible not to recognize it.
“P-Flora Rinko…….”
“Why, why! What on earth is going on?! Get out of the way, get out of the way!”
The Marquis, having pushed his way through the crowd of nobles surging in like mud, opened his eyes wide at the scene unfolding before him.
Grace watched Edward Rinco, who stood beside him. Edward also stared at her, and their gazes crossed in the air. Now it was time for the play Edward Rinco had prepared to reach its climax.
“What are you talking about?! Why, Flora? Move aside!!”
The Marquise appeared with a scream. Stopping abruptly at the doorway, she shook her head in disbelief before screaming with all her might.
“Flora!!! Oh, Flora!!!”
As the Marquise slumped to the ground, the Marquis supported her, and Edward approached Flora in place of her parents. Ares stared intently at him. Edward passed by the man who looked like a grim reaper and knelt before Flora. He then laid her down flat and confirmed the death he had arranged.
“Aaaargh!!! Aaaargh!!!”
The Marquise lost her reason and screamed, causing a stir among the nobles. Pushing through the crowd, Inspector Ivanka Tyrien's large eyes gleamed with curiosity.
Flora Rinco is dead.
“Did she die? Who, Flora Rinko?!”
Strangely, Edward couldn't put any strength into his left knee, so he stood up by supporting himself on his right knee. Then, he drew his sword toward Ares.
“Why did Flora of the Marquis Rinko meet such a death here?”
In any case, the bow has already left the string. A whole 13 years ago.