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Chapter 40
“Viola!”
The hallway rumbled.
Thud! thud!
Someone came running with a heavy footstep—almost the only person in the Duchy Castle who can wander around freely.
It was Hickson, the Duke’s comrade and close friend.
“You bastard!”
Hickson was very angry.
“Sir Hickson, long time no see.”
“Hey, what’s wrong with this dumb beast!”
Hickson loves animals. It is known that he likes animals more than people.
“Do you want to die?”
Among them, he especially loved dogs and cats, and he was called Cat Mom because he always gave food to stray cats roaming the streets.
Kundo looked at Hickson with a slightly puzzled expression.
“Sir Hickson?”
“Follow me.”
No violence was allowed inside the Winter Castle. However, it was a different story when it comes to the training.
“Why? Are you afraid?”
“You are insulting Veratoux.”
Kundo nodded his head without much agitation.
He knew Hickson was much stronger than him, but he couldn’t refuse. If it was Veratoux, it should have been. Even if Hickson was stronger than himself, he couldn’t avoid the oncoming fight.
“Let’s go to the room.”
He arrived at the training room. Of course, Kundo was beaten by Hickson in the training room.
“A weapon is a waste for someone like you.”
He didn’t use any weapon. He just hit with his bare fist.
Kundo’s cheekbones collapsed, and two of his fingers were fractured. He spread out on the floor and took a deep breath.
On the other hand, Hickson seemed okay.
“This guy. Pick him up and take it.”
Kundo’s butler frowned slightly.
“You’ll have to take responsibility for this.”
“Huh! What responsibility?”
Hickson poked his nostrils with his index finger.
“What is the responsibility for being hit by me because he was weak?”
“…Prince Kundo is only nineteen years old now.”
“Then?”
“The potential for growth is endless.”
As time goes by, Kundo will get stronger, while Hickson will be weak. He pointed that out.
“I wish a guy like that grew up.”
“I hope you will not regret today.”
Kundo’s butler carried Kundo on his back. If he was treated by the priest, he would be healed without any aftereffects, but what about his broken self-esteem?
Kundo’s gaze turned to Viola.
“Coward.”
Viola shrugged her shoulders. “Thanks for the compliments.”
White Veratoux uses resourcefulness.
It’s all right to draw power other than her own.
“If possible, it would have been better if it was expressed as mercenary art.”
Eventually, Kundo lost consciousness, and Hickson came closer.
“Are you okay, Viola?”
“I’m fine.”
“I was shocked.”
“What?”
Hickson raised his wrist. On his wrist was a magic-calling bracelet. It was a bracelet that formed a set with the bracelet on Viola’s wrist. It looked like an ordinary silver bracelet, though it was an artifact with warning magic.
An artifact that beeps from the bracelet on Hickson’s arm when Viola injects magic.
“You mean the call was too loud?”
The strength of the call varies according to the concentration of the injected mana. Nonetheless, the call’s strength exceeded its maximum volume and almost exploded.
“It almost broke the bracelet.”
“Hmm. Is it because it’s old?”
Hickson smirked at Viola tilting her head.
‘It’s probably not because you don’t really know.’
Actually, Viola really doesn’t know. She knew that the purity and amount of magic she possessed far exceeded the universal level. So, the fact that she almost broke the bracelet, even though she didn’t use much force.
“Anyway. You’re okay right?”
“I’m okay.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Tundra. You come and bury this child well.”
Viola handed over the dead cat to Tundra.
“…Yes.”
Tundra accepted the cat. However, he was a little strange.
His eyes were red.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“It’s nothing.”
Tundra took her cat and trudged away. An empty lot far away from the training ground. There he dug with his hands.
Tears dripped down the back of Tundra’s hand.
‘I didn’t do anything…’
If only he was really strong. If he had been strong enough that it wouldn’t be a problem for him to say something like that.
‘The master would not have had to suffer such humiliation.’
Cats have a special meaning. For some people in 〈 Shadow of Veratoux 〉, the cat means a devil or a fallen person.
Throwing a dying cat…
It was also an act of ridicule and denunciation of an unclean person. It made him so angry and upset.
‘If only I had been really strong.’
Drop, drop.
Just then, it started to rain.
The rain in the winter castle was cold.
Tundra, who had buried the cat well, was in the rain for a long time.
“I have to be strong.”
He did not know exactly what the master meant. But, it was clear that the master had decided to become a white Veratoux. He himself had to be the one who supported her.
‘That’s… I’m of no use.’
Three years ago. Viola held out her hand.
Having lost his father and sister, he offered to stay by her side.
‘I have to be strong for the princess.’
However, suddenly he couldn’t feel the rain. Still, the ground around him—Drop, drop!
It was still raining…
Though it didn’t rain on him.
With that thought, Tundra turned his head and looked up. He saw an umbrella. And, he saw Viola’s face…
“I knew you were going to be like this.”
She seemed to know what Tundra was thinking and why he was down.
Viola held out her hand.
“Get up.”
“However…”
“It’s an order.”
Tundra hesitated for a while, then grabbed Viola’s hand. Her hands were still small and warm.
“You did your job well.”
Saying so, Viola stroked Tundra’s hair.
“The one I called was Hickson, not you.”
No more rain fell on Tundra’s face. But, something like thick raindrops dripped down his chin.
“I’ll get stronger.”
Tundra made a firm commitment. “I will become strong enough that even trash like the third Lord won’t dare look at me.”
“….”
His eyes turned red.
“So, I will take away everything that insults the master. Surely.”
Water, whether it was tears or rain, was mixed and ran down Tundra’s face.
Hickson sat cross-legged and rolled his eyes towards Viola.
“Monster like bitch.”
“Why are you saying bitch to the Princess, no dignity.”
“How did you know that the third Lord would come?”
“Is the third Confucius one who longs for me to become a Black Veratoux?”
So, she prepared ahead of time.
That’s why she gave Hickson a magic bracelet.
“And, my father knows that, too, right?”
“So you and Heron both predicted the situation?”
“Hmm.”
Viola drank banana milk instead of black tea. Maybe it was because she was ten years old, so she liked sweet milk more than tea.
“My father would have wanted to see my response.”
“A response as a white Veratoux?”
“Yes. I had to show mercenary skills, not force. So I called in uncle, and you got angry with the third Lord. There was a good cause, too.”
“Is there a reason?”
“He pissed off the cat mom.”
Viola shrugged her shoulders.
“Will your father not take any trouble at all?”
“Why?”
That’s right. Her father is also a hedgehog butler.
“My father also likes animals.”
“…Huh? What?”
“He hates people who persecute animals.”
“I’ve never heard it before.”
Of course, that would be the case. It was because it only exists as a setting in the book.
Hickson trembled once more.
“Anyway. You were expecting the third Confucius to come, and you set the stage.”
“Yes. Perhaps the report is already up right now?”
Viola’s prediction was correct.
She expected the report itself to go up straight away. However, she did not know that he would be sharing this story with the First princess, Medea.
The First Princess, Medea.
The most likely successor candidate as the next duke, she opened her mouth.
“It really happened just as father said.”
“Yes.”
As the Duke said, the Third Prince returned with blood.
Viola did not use her own power, but an external figure named Hickson to bring down the third Prince. It was an action unsuitable for a black Veratoux, but it was an understandable action for a white Veratoux.
“I met Kundo.”
“How is he?”
“He is recovering through the priest’s recovery prayer, but I think it will take a few days.”
“Right.”
There was silence for a moment.
Heron and Medea were not friendly together.
Medea opened her mouth again. “But there’s something strange about it.”
“Strange?”
“Sir Hickson said he only used his fists, but there was a scar on Kundo’s chest.”
Medea didn’t describe it as a wound to the extent of a slight scratch.
“Probably the inside of the skin was cut first, and the skin split open during the battle with Sir Hickson.”
It is much more difficult to cut inside the skin than it is to cut the outside. It needs sharper energy, and must be able to handle magic to the utmost. It was a high-level sword that destroyed the body from the inside.
“There wasn’t a sign of Sir Hickson.”
“Then?”
“I think it was probably Viola.”
“I see.”
A faint smile appeared on Heron’s lips.
Of course, Viola herself was completely unaware of it.
“Father.”
“….”
“I’ve often been told that I’m the first on the continent, the first in history, the first in the world.”
“Yes, it was.”
Her combat prowess is comparable to that of the Duke of Heron as a child. Based on her overwhelming talent and steady hard work, Medea has risen to that level.
She was also known by the nickname ‘white wind’.
The wind refers to a cold wind blowing from the north.
The white wind meant a huge snowstorm that blows once in ten thousand years, among other winds. According to the Imperial Records, it was recorded that as many as a hundred thousand people died when the white wind blew.
“I couldn’t even do that when I was ten.”
Her smile deepened.
“It’s against someone stronger than her. Even Kundo has learned the Veratoux swordsmanship. I didn’t know that she would inflict damage on Kundo. While proving her ability as a white Veratoux, she lacks the qualities of a black Veratoux. It must have been intentional to let you know that she wasn’t.”
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“Are you a little interested?”
“Yes.”
Medea asked.
“Is it okay if I meet the child?”
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