We walked across the room, avoiding the swarms that had reduced to dancers. Surprisingly, we managed to maneuver through the side passage on the left side of the pillars. Arabell and her group of friends were out of sight, but Beth had the direction to the music room, or whatever else it was called, ingrained in her. I missed Garlan as we tramped through the crowd, who watched the dancing with admiration and interrupted our smooth passage across the room. Garlan would have pushed everyone aside with his sturdy body.

My lady held my hand until we were no longer stuffed by decorated masses, who were dressed in thick enough garbs to ward the colds.

“You don’t want to watch this,” I said to Beth and Casey as we walked through the corridor that descended to the lower level once we crossed two doors that opened into the dancing hall on our right.

“And why wouldn’t we?” Beth asked, raising her eyebrows at me.

“Because there will be blood,” I said. “A lots of it if my lady speaks the word.”

“I have never watched anyone getting butchered before, so this will be a good experience,” Beth grinned, but Casey didn’t share the sentiment. “Fine. We’ll wait outside.”

The corridor straightened again once we reached the last step, and there was a single door in the entire narrow passage on our right. There were mana lamps on the left wall, the periodic illumination shedding light on the stairs on the other side that must have opened to the corridor on the right side of the hall.

All of us stared at Beth in exasperation. My lady even went as far as grunting and rolling her eyes.

“What?!” she raised her hands in refusal. “I didn’t know there were two routes. Even I didn’t like swarming among spectators!”

“Strip,” we heard the sound of a man from within the door.

“And why is this stupid girl following them around?” Casey asked in surprise as my lady tried to open the door.

“Don’t ask me,” I shrugged. “All I know is she was haughty when the Marquis was still alive.”

“Even we know that much, Ruddy,” Beth rolled her eyes.

The door turned open, and I saw my lady fiddling the keyhole with a thin shard of ice. I stared at her, stupefied, and the two noble girls weren’t any better.

“I just learned it when trying to open Rudolf’s bedroom door,” my lady said nonchalantly and rotated the doorknob before squeaking it open. It was loud enough to attract everyone’s gaze on us. Indeed, Arabell was the one who was more surprised than the other three men. My lady’s step-sister was still dressed, her hand almost on her gown.

“Watch the door for us,” I said and followed my lady inside, closing the door behind me. A [Ward] followed almost immediately because I would savor some good kills today.

“What do we have here?” my lady smiled, the ruthless one that had me grinning with her. The three puny mortals stilled almost instantly, their previous bravado fed to the invisible demons around us.

The one to step forth was my lady’s former brother-in-law, a corpse his new identity.

“Lady Letitia,” he acted confused, oblivious to the tears that were flowing out of Arabell’s eyes. She had controlled herself really well until this moment, but couldn’t she hold out for a tad longer? I sighed and shifted askew, ready to move should he approach my lady closer than an arm’s distance. He didn’t, and neither did I make any unnecessary movement.

“What brings you here?” he asked amicably.

I glanced around the room, my gaze pausing at the tattered cushion for a tad too long. The broken instruments were piled at the left corners, and the right was adorned with weird floating musical notes that were no different than fuel for burning. There were stools, multiple of them, and two were occupied a few moments ago, the seat stealers standing in front of them, nervous but still haughty. They were older, perhaps over twenty, almost the same age as Arabell’s former fiancé.

In age, they were younger than me. In build, they appeared almost similar.

“I’m here to eat bread,” she rolled her eyes, and I burst out laughing, apologizing fervently soon after. Even Arabel’s tears died down, and there was a faint smile on her face. My bread legends spanned wide in the manor, so I wasn’t startled. Though, mortal tears were as fickle as mortals themselves.

My lady, on the other hand, just clicked her tongue and scowled at me. “Don’t interrupt me, mongrel.”

“I am sorry, my lady,” I said, still with a smile.

“Yes,” my lady turned to the boy. “What is this bitch doing here?”

“We were just having a chat,” his lips were curved quite unnaturally. “Weren’t we, Arabell?” he asked sweetly, and I almost laughed again. He was going to have it so bad in a few minutes.

Arabell hesitated, but under the man’s pressure, she nodded perceptibly.

“Did he call you here for an idle chat, bitch?” my lady asked again, this time to Arabell.

She almost shook his head. Isen interrupted her almost instantly, “We were. I already told you, lady Letitia.”

“I didn’t ask you,” my lady said, her steel gaze taking Isen by surprise.

Two unfamiliar men were beside the boy soon. “And who the hell is this lady?”

My lady took another deep breath. “Did her call you here for an idle chat?”

“Yes,” Arabell replied, almost immediately, tears flowing down her cheek.

“All right,” my lady turned around and shrugged. I frowned, but she just nodded and pulled me to the door.

“NO!” Arabell shouted. “NO! Don’t leave me here, Letitia! Isen wanted me to do sexual favors for his friends.”

That earned her a smack across her face from none other than Isen. Both my lady and I smiled in unison, glad at having the girl punished before we resorted to our deeds.

“We don’t need horny men in the capital, mongrel,” she said, leaning against the door.

“We sure don’t need them, my lady,” I grinned, unsheathed my breadknife from my suit, and removed the overcoat. I passed her my coat and loosened my buttons before giving the two mortals a predatory glance. Folding my hands hardly took a few seconds, and the men, or perhaps boys, realized the danger I posed, so they resorted to casting without warning.

[Ice shards] were met twice the number of [Ice shards] of my lady, three of which even pierced the man’s arms and legs. She wasn’t killing them, and I didn’t let the disappointment taint me. She was still young, I reminded myself as I cast [Dispel] on the second mage. Isen was too surprised to even process the situation normally, so he was on his butt before long.

“Can you wait outside, my lady?” I asked.

She just turned around and didn’t go out of the room.

A blade? A rapier? For a change, I forged halberd, the spike of the shaft almost reaching my height. The long blade craved for bread, despite already being filled with blood, and the fluke just wanted to thrum some heads.

I gave them no warning and struck the spike into the neck of the wounded man, his bleary, terrified eyes marking the end of his life in an instant. The second man collapsed on his butt, blood splashing all over him as I pushed the halberd and turned it, the long blade marking a clean cut of his head. The second man shouted as the blood-gushing head fell over him, and he tossed it over to Isen almost immediately, the latter shrieking like a madman.

Blood fountain was a thing to watch, and I felt for people who never witnessed such raw beauty that hadn’t bored this undead even after two millennia.

Amidst the commotion, Arabell had crawled toward me, almost touching my legs, begging for forgiveness. I forged a sword for her, despite his incoherent words.

“Kill that prick, Arabell,” I said, dropping the sword before her. “If you don’t, he will further taint your reputation by spreading the rumor that you are a whore. Do you want to live the rest of your life hiding? I will not kill him, just so you know, because he is not our business.”

She almost puked her innards on my feet, and I avoided her blithely, casting her a disapproving glance. The stench of blood was too strong, and even my lady felt uneasy at the door.

“He’s lying, Arabell!” Isen shouted, and I just smiled at him, to still his pitiful wails.

“I hate liers the most,” I said and walked to the second man who had crawled toward the pile of abandoned musical instruments. The sounds of tools from the outside were still loud and clear, which made the slaughter a bit less gruesome. Thanks to the long shaft of the halberd, my clothes were clean, and my scent was fresh enough to walk through the halls uninterrupted.

I turned around and leaned against the wall, holding a halberd over the man. “Do you want the rumors to taint you?” I spoke again, and my lady turned around, the sight not horrifying her as much as I thought it would.

“This doesn’t look half bad, mongrel,” she said, though her face had changed color. She was holding back the bile in her stomach that would have made her appear less formidable in front of her step-sister.

Arabell got up and took one step toward the Isen. I had frozen his limbs, making him immobile. Arabell fell, and I thurst the spike of the halberd into the mortal’s abdomen, his shouts giving Arbell new resolve.

She got up again and tramped the shot distance on her feet, the detached blood forcing her to vomit for the second time atop Isen. She was fifteen, old enough to kill. Psychological problems were the least of my concern because they would live since my mortal body had lived for two millania after killing at the age of thirteen. No one, not two, my renewed memories told me, but one entire village. So, one kill would only make her more ruthless, tell her that she wasn’t beneath the mortals who belittled her. And perhaps the arrogance would kill her one of these days. That wasn’t my concern, again. If we wanted to shut her up for good, we needed to make her our accomplice in crimes.

The sword that shook erratically took Isen by surprise; the swipe missed and instead took both his eyes. Horrendous screams followed, and she tried one more swipe, now chopping his nose with tears streaming and hatred on her face. The slashes grew sturdier each time she watched Isen cry in agony, and her fear divulged, replaced by hatred. More slashes, now across his abdomen, more cries, and incoherent slashes turned to pierces soon.

“I am a prostitute’s daughter,” she slashed again, “but that doesn’t mean I am one!” More strikes, and somewhere down the line, the erratic shouts had divulged into wails that grew fainter each passing second.

I ended the misery of the second lad by chopping his head off. Cleaning the halberd with [Splash] took more time than I intended, but I absorbed the blood sword after an incision. Arabell was still stabbing the man with a frenzied expression, and my lady had reached beside her to pull the sword out of her hands, though not without a slap. The girl was startled awake, and she collapsed on her knees, her uninterrupted sobs occupying the renewed silence of the room and the music that accompanied her wails.

Letitia ignored her, walked to me, and placed her free hand on my cheek. “You are very accommodating to me, aren’t you?”

“I am, my lady,” I smiled, taking the sword from her hands. “Did I scare you?”

She smiled. “Scared? Did you forget that you groomed me, my mongrel? I just realized that your way of caring for me is different. And I don’t hate it.”

“What is my way, Letitia?” I asked, withholding my uneasiness. I hadn’t developed feelings for mortals, I reasoned. She may have just misunderstood again. Transmigration was my lifeline for now; even though I was undead, that wasn’t living.

“Feel more of that uneasiness, Rudolf,” she smiled and walked to the door. “I might tell you when your magic stops working.”

I saw the knob of the door turn imperceptibly. Without thinking of a reason for such an abnormal phenomenon, I rushed to my lady with multiple [First Step], the speed almost decreasing to nil when I reappeared beside her. My lady scurried in my embrace, and her senses were as keen as mine as [Ice Shards] materialized before the door, trembling with concealed vitality to rush toward the target. We knew it couldn’t be the two girls, which meant we had another person to kill. The door creaked open, Casey and Beth lying on the floor, asleep, and I saw a familiar figure at the door. My lady’s ice shards crumbled when she saw the figure, but her grip around my waist tightened.

“I knew you weren’t a simple mage, Rudolf,” she watched past us into the room. “Now, isn’t that a mess, Letitia?”