Chapter 12 – Thunder And Lightning
He remembered being surprised at seeing someone slide into the mansion, like a haze seeping through a gap in the window. Of course, he used all of his power to subdue the intruder. If he hadn’t, he would have failed the very reason he was hired by the family and would be kicked out.
“We need information about who is behind this plan, so make sure to keep them alive.”
Although the difficulty of his task had become several times harder because of Leticia’s orders.
The intruder put up a fierce resistance, and the bedroom had become a little—no, very disorderly. The clean white carpet and ivory-colored wallpaper became smeared with blood. There was some blood on Leticia’s skirt, and even her porcelain face was splattered with a few droplets.
A vicious sword fight had ensued, and the room looked like a disaster zone. It all ended with the assassin, unconscious, leaning against one wall with one of their arms cut off.
A normal woman who laid her eyes upon this grotesque scenery would have immediately started screaming. However, upon Leticia’s first sighting of the assassin and all the way until the assassin’s death, her expression remained calm and composed. She even hummed to herself towards the end as if she were enjoying the chaos around her.
After the struggle was over, Leticia ordered her underlings to move the assassins to the underground floor of the Western Pavilion.
“From here on, you needn’t do anything further.”
Leticia stopped Zed from following her, and a smile split on her face like a venomous snake. The droplets of blood splashed onto her face made her look even more terrifying. She informed Zed that he had done a good job today and told him to rest. Afterwards, she went to the underground floor along with several other knights.
A few days later, news reached Zed that Count Peter’s successor had died from someone stabbing his heart in his sleep.
“The Lady has given permission.”
The point of the long rambling story was this…
“She said that you may work in the corner of her bedroom.”
For Leticia, having bodyguards was a necessity. No one could predict where the assassins could come from and when.
She had no small collection of enemies as well and, presently, she was suffering from memory loss. Would someone waste this opportunity and only send one or two assassins?
The total number of knights that guarded her were four. However, one went on a long vacation home two days prior to the accidental poisoning incident, and another was currently hospitalized due to an ankle injury during training. Finally, the only other knight that Leticia had left was Jack, but since he had just tossed his letter of resignation and said he couldn’t work any more even if it killed him, he was no longer reliable.
The only knight left to guard her was Zed. Even so, he couldn’t afford to abandon the duties he was doing in Leticia’s stead, such as taking care of the reports and budgetary documents.
He had no other choice. He had to do both duties simultaneously.
Just now, he was given permission from Leticia to Anna that he was allowed to work on the documents while in Leticia’s room. Zed gave a sigh of relief.
Flash! Rumble…
“Looks like the weather will be dreadful outside,” Anna commented as the rain began to patter against the windows. The sky would become even darker once it became night. She would need to bring out plenty of candles to make sure Zed would have plenty of light to work with later.
Anna was supervising the maids carrying the documents out from the home office to Leticia’s bedroom, when she turned her gaze to Zed.
“Is your health alright? How about taking the occasional break, even if you’ll take longer to finish your work?”
“That depends on whether the documents I need to process grows even more while I rest,” Zed answered, rubbing his aching shoulder.
In the ten days he waited for Leticia to wake back up, contract forms, budgetary documents and reports had been steadily piling up. He was a little late in starting to process them.
After working through half of the giant pile, a new stack of documents that were one third of the original pile was stacked on top again. When it was known that it was Zed who would stand in for Leticia, even more documents came flooding in. Those who were afraid of Leticia looked down on Zed and kept sending in more demands. One store even doubled its trading prices after finding out Zed was in charge. Because of that, he had to fiercely bargain with them through mail.
“Even if it is quite difficult, it is better to show what you’re made of early on,” Zed said. “If you keep taking breaks and work with a relaxed attitude, people will think that you are a much easier target than Lady Leticia.”
Therefore, Zed had to show the same speed and quality of processing documents as if he were a complete clone of Leticia.
He tilted his aching neck left and right. Each time he did so, his bones cracked in complaint.
“I’ll just suffer a few more days, I guess,” he said.
Anna stared pityingly at Zed as he resigned himself to his fate, and she addressed him again.
“I heard there was a fresh delivery of tea that’s good for easing exhaustion. I’ll order a cup to be brewed for you.”
“Tell them to blend it together with something that wakes you up as well.”
As the last maid took the remaining documents and left the office, Zed stood up from his desk. He then walked to his destination with slightly hurried footsteps.
Not long after, Zed saw Jack standing in front of Leticia’s bedroom, pacing nervously and shaking like a dog needing to relieve his bowels. Zed quickly approached him, and Jack spoke with a hurried voice.
“You said you would be here soon, so why are you so late?”
“… I had only taken ten minutes though.”
Jack was not seriously going to say he was late for taking ten minutes, was he?
Zed glared at the other knight for his tone, and Jack chewed on his lower lip. It split and blood started to ooze out, but Jack didn’t notice it. Zed took another look at Jack’s bloodshot eyes, then gave a sigh.
“You are free to go back to your dorm and rest.”
As soon as Zed finished speaking, Jack immediately began walking away without a look backwards. The only thing that he did to maintain his dignity was to walk quickly rather than run at full speed.
“So he’s running away,” Zed muttered to himself. He watched Jack’s retreating figure, then cautiously knocked on the bedroom door. At the sound, Leticia’s voice replied from the inside.
“Come in.”
Zed opened the door, and found Leticia standing in the middle of the darkened bedroom. Her yellow eyes seemed to shine brightly in the gloom. He felt like he was looking at a reptile, and a cold shiver rippled down his spine.
Flash!
At that moment, lightning forked across the window and threw a dark shadow on Leticia’s face. In that instant, she looked so cold and menacing that Zed’s blood ran cold.
One thought passed his mind. It was a crazy idea, but perhaps…was the reason why Jack looked like he was dying was because Leticia had done something to him this whole time? It was only Jack that had been close to her side this long after all.
In the end, even a snake in their young age was still a snake. Zed had heard plenty of stories of geniuses showing signs of brilliance at a young age.
Flash! Rumble!!
“Kyaaaaaaa!!”
She rushed forward and tightly gripped onto Zed’s clothes, and she let out an ear-piercing scream right next to him. He stood there with a numb expression.
Leticia, the woman who didn’t blink once even as she watched an assassin invade the house, or looked upon a scenery filled with blood and wounds all over the place…
Rumble!
“Eeep!”
Was someone who was very, very scared of thunder and lightning.