Chapter 103: He who holds the horn. (8)

Perhaps as was to be expected, the temperature within the dining room dropped a few degrees after Alice gave her casual statement. Duchess Giselle still maintained a mostly normal expression, but the knights who were to serve as protectors were naturally fairly insulted by her insinuation. But they did not get the chance to say anything, the Duchess raising her hand to keep them in line.

“You speak with a great deal of certainty, young Countess. Are you so sure that the Crown Princess will discover your location and be willing to launch a great crusade to reclaim you? Or does your trust lie with the Vritara family?”

The duchess tilted her head slightly, a pair of black eyes inspecting Alice with a measure of curiosity. It wasn’t a question asked out of malice, or to bring her spirit down, it was genuine curiosity about where her confidence came from. But her question wasn’t answered, being met with a smile from Alice.

“So, since I took the trouble of letting myself get dragged all the way here, mind telling me what this is all about? Seeing as you even used such a small child in an attempt to lighten my mood, I take it that you have something you want my cooperation with?”

As Alice spoke, the little Maraya followed some other maids into the room, pushing a cart topped with several trays of food that were quickly scattered across the table. The little girl did her best to stifle the smile she wanted to flash Alice, they were currently in the presence of the lord after all. Once they retreated again, the duchess raised her fork and got to work on eating what appeared to be a pie.

“I am glad that you are quick-witted, I wish negotiations were always this easy.”

The duchess spoke with what was almost a small sigh. Sometimes it was nice to beat around the bush when you spoke with others, but for negotiations it would always be preferable when you could go directly to the topic, the meat of the conversation. But Alice merely scoffed at Giselle’s relief.

“Negotiations? Now now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Did you never consider the fact that you bringing out someone like Little Mara like that may prove to have the opposite effect?”

She raised an eyebrow, wearing something that was almost a smirk as she cut into a steak, evidently not even worried that the food might be poisoned. Sure, Alice had a soft spot for small children, especially orphans. But would her soft heart still be pointed at the duchess when she knew what role Maraya was meant to serve?

“I do not believe that it should cause any friction. According to our investigations, does the Vritara family not partake in the same tradition?”

Giselle raised an eyebrow in response, still slowly chewing on the pie she had picked out. The tradition of training servants that you would send to others, it was one followed by just about every noble family within the three countries, what was so wrong with them following it? Alice did not bother retorting much, returning a question while maintaining a casual raised eyebrow.

“Does that mean that I need to be fond of it?”

This was why older people could be a pain to talk with, they were all so deeply entrenched in their traditions that they rarely ever considered that others might not feel the same about them. Really, it was just an annoying waste of time.

“I see, that was a blunder on my part, forgive me for that. Shall we add her into the negotiations then? If you desire to take her away then I am more than willing to give up on her.”

Giselle only gave a slight nod as she acknowledged her mistake of not properly understanding the thought-process of the one she spoke with. But honestly, Alice just felt it half-hearted. And it seemed like this duchess really was slow-witted.

“Ah, still speaking of negotiations. Must I repeat myself?”

Alice could only shake her head. The duchess spoke so highly of her being quick-witted, yet she herself could not understand the situation even when it was unfolding in front of her. It would be a pain if she had to go about explaining everything multiple times.

“You may speak as if you do not wish to engage in negotiations, but if you speak truthfully, and did indeed allow yourself to be brought here while knowing it was a trap, then I believe it is only fair that you too seek to gain something. Thus, would negotiations not be the proper result?”

Alice had repeated herself just now, but this damn duchess still didn’t seem to catch on to what she was trying to say. Ahh, fine, she would just have to explain a little for this imbecile.

“In some situations, that would be correct. But Giselle, do you even know what I seek?”

How could one negotiate if they weren’t on equal footing? How could one hope to establish a relationship based on interests if they couldn’t provide what the other party sought? Alice felt that she made it rather clear, but Giselle still didn’t seem to take the hint, tilting her head as she spoke of worthless things.

“Given your current situation, I would wager that you seek either land, allies, or wealth to acquire both. Or perhaps all three? I will not hesitate to admit that our kingdom does not match your empire, but we should still be able to satisfy you.”

Ah, Alice felt like she would get a headache. Giselle was even slower than Francis, she might even be slower than Leonardo had been. She probably wouldn’t understand until Alice explained it in simple terms. But first, she may as well hear why the duchess tried to engage in such a travesty.

“Hmmm. So, what is it that you’re trying to have me help you with?”

It was a pointless question really, especially if you thought about the situation. Gabriel had just dealt with Kaden Sorin, the one who had been working with Duke Quinterius, who could be said to be Giselle’s rival duke. Naturally, she had brought Alice here with regards to that situation, she probably wanted her to help drive the last nail into the coffin.

“The investigation into Duke Quinterius and his ties to Duke Sorin’s third son, I wish for you to postpone it. Your previous knight, Gabriel Sakra Indra, will be part of said investigation, so I wish for you to have him slow it down. It need not be for long.”

Oh? What a surprise, she was actually smart enough to aim for something else. But calling Gabriel her previous knight… Hmm, no that one didn’t sit quite right with her, she’d have to straighten that out once the duchess was done talking.

“Explain why.”

Alice finished her steak and started working on what looked like a duck, resting one elbow on the table as she placed her head in her hand, looking as if she was barely listening. The knights behind were less than enthused with her actions and attitude, but it seemed like the duchess was quite eager to get her help so she let it slide.

“There are, at the moment, but two dukes in our kingdom. Should Duke Quinterius be caught, our King will have no choice but to protect him, leading to a small war. The empire will not make it too large, but it will be enough to harm the kingdom, and it will most assuredly end in the death of the duke. In his absence, as he has yet to produce any official heirs, the resulting power vacuum will cause the rest of the noble faction to eat into itself in a scramble to take over the seat. Our kingdom cannot afford such instability. As such, we hope that the investigation can be slowed or postponed until we manage to bring out one off Duke Quinterius’s illegitimate heirs. Do this favor for us and we will reward you with whatever you wish.”

Ah, so it was a bit better than wanting to drive the nail into the coffin, but not really that much better. In the end, she just wanted to be able to choose when she drove the nail in. And being the one who dragged out the illegitimate child, she would obviously have a great deal of control over him when he took over the duchy. The end result would be the same, it’s just that one was slower and more methodical. Well, no worth there, as expected.

“I see. But Giselle, you cannot give me what I want.”

Alice swallowed a bit of meat before she spun her hand, pointing the fork at the duchess, wearing an expression as if she had given up on bothering with the situation.

“You see, Giselle, I want to get married.”

Yeah, how could the duchess possibly help her with that? She just wanted to go on back and get married to Gabriel and spend a lot more than just a handful of years in peace on the land they claimed for themselves. Naturally, that land would be everything under the sun.

“Ah yes, I had heard that Gabriel Indra had proposed to you. So it is love you seek, it is something I understand quite well.”

The duchess was not offended by Alice’s actions, or least she didn’t look offended, nodding her head in understanding. No, it was actually Alice who looked offended after Giselle spoke, almost grimacing as she scoffed in apparent disdain.

“Please, you have two husbands and at least three concubines, don’t insult my love by comparing them.”

Alice hadn’t done an extensive search on duchess Giselle, but she knew at least enough of the surface level information. Two current husbands, plus one that had died in the past. Three known concubines, but a handful more men had been seen entering her estate and leaving a few days later with some additional funds to their name.

“It seems you do not fully understand love. Worry not, once you age you will understand.”

Giselle still did not look offended, but one of her brows was starting to find it hard to remain stable. Alice however, still looked offended, her lips curling back as she irreverently waved her fork in front of Giselle.

“No, I don’t think I will. Because what you feel is not love.”

The knights, and Giselle, reacted when Alice almost spat out the words, voice dripping with disdain. She brought back the fork and stabbed it down, cracking the bone in the duck thigh that she struck.

“Think about it, Giselle. If you loved your first husband, would you take another? Would you bed other men?”

Really? How laughable was this old lady trying to be? How insulting? Did she really think that her pitiful emotions were anything close to what she and Gabriel felt for each other?

“What I feel for Gabriel is not something so shallow. I will care for other people, I will feel for them, but my heart will only ever hold him. And I will teach him how to care for others, how to let others into his mind. But his heart is mine and mine alone. There can never be another, for that place is my property, my territory.”

It was insulting really, that she’d think they were anything similar. There would only ever be a single face in Gabriel’s heart, a single name, Alice would allow nothing else.

“I will not allow there to be another within my territory, nor will I ever allow there to be another within his territory. I would burn the world before I would even let such a thought exist.”

Her heart was already marked, her body imprinted so that nothing else could ever touch it. And she would ensure that Gabriel became the same, she’d burn the world before she let anything else be true. And this harlot really thought that she could understand her love?

“So do not compare my love to that disgraceful travesty that you call love, you may as well be nothing more than a common whore in comparison, it is pathetic that you would even try to think such a thought.”

Alice didn’t hide her disdain for even a moment as she spat out her words. Not only was this woman trying to waste her time, she was even insulting her in the process.

“You will hold your sinful tongue!”

Perhaps as was to be expected, the knights could bear her attitude no longer, a blade finding its way to her neck. The voice belonged to the one the butler called captain, Alice cocking her head slightly to look at him as his blade rested against her neck. He was rather slow, Gabriel would have already taken the head of anyone who dared to speak to her the way she had spoken to Giselle. Really, the knights here were quite trashy.

“Captain Arana, enough.”

Even in this situation, the duchess spoke up for Alice, dismissing the captain with a wave of her hand. But her eyebrow was twitching quite furiously so she was clearly starting to lose her patience.

“Please forgive me, My Lord, but I can bear to hear her insulting nonsense no longer. Please allow me this one frivolity.”

Ah, so the captain did at least have some sense about him. If he’d just pulled back his blade and stepped back after hearing things like that then Alice really would have to say that there was no hope left for him. Well, hope for his sense at least, his life was already without hope.

Well, Alice had listened to them enough, so she’d done her due diligence in being polite. It was just about time to move on.

“You see, Giselle, I want to get married. But there’s so many stupid gnats all about doing their best to get in the way. Now, my husband, he’s a really careful type, he won’t rest until all these stupid gnats are dealt with. That way, we can have our perfect wedding and live a nice and peaceful life.”

Alice repeated what she said earlier, but delved deeper into the topic. Some were trying to get rid of the both of them, some gnats were trying to kick up a fuss, some gnats were trying to make a ruckus that made it hard to find peace. Really, so many gnats that had to be dealt with.

“Now, the best way to go about it, and undoubtedly the way he would choose, is to just hop into the mud and slowly but surely dig out each and every one of you little shits and squash you until the waters are nice and clean.”

Yes, Gabriel would be very methodical when it came to dealing with things relating to their safety and future peace. Bit by bit he would drag out and strangle every last little shit that may be a problem. But in that was the problem.

“But I mean, there’s plenty of shits here in the Kasarias Kingdom that can’t sit still, there’s probably a sea of shits over in the Yverial Empire, hell, there’s more than enough shit-stains in our own empire who’d love to gnaw at us, or just cause too much of a ruckus in general. If we dig all of you out one by one, how long will I have to wait for our wedding?”

Come on, just in their own empire they had to deal with princes and people belonging to ducal families, just how many layers of shits were there for them to strangle? But while Alice had been dealing with that conundrum, a solution knocked on her door.

“And then your little goons showed up at my doorsteps, and I got the perfect idea! Why should I patiently search out all the little shits one by one? Why don’t I just play along and have all the little shits come swarming on their own?”

Right? Wasn’t that the best idea? Just take a nice little stroll and let them all come for her neck. Why bother dragging them out when they would crawl out from the dirt on their own?

“If we harm this place, don’t you think the third prince will come to protect his investment? And with the chaos here, don’t you think Duke Quinterius will come to get a piece? It’ll be a lovely bit of chaos where all the little shits will come to get their piece of the cake.”

This was such a wonderful opportunity to deal with so many of the shits in one go, they would all gather like moths to a flame. And just like moths who reached the flame…

“And then we can just burn them all in one go. Ah, we’ll be so much closer to our lovely wedding once you’ve all become cinder.”

The third prince, the people of the Sorin ducal family that remained tied to the third son, the people of the Kasarias kingdom that were trying to kick up a fuss. Ah, she could see the light of dawn that hid just behind that great big pyre.

“…I see the source of your confidence is insanity.”

The duchess spoke with a slight drawl, evidently feeling like she was finally starting to understand a bit about Alice, whose eyes blazed. But nay, she only felt like she understood, Alice knew the truth that much better.

“Not at all. You see, my husband once told me something. I am unparalleled. He said such charming words to a little girl, such comforting and warm words.”

Alice could not forget that day, her first birthday. She could still feel the slight heat coming from the lightning, the light that filled her eyes when Gabriel taught her about magic to prove his words.

“My husband does not lie, Giselle. The seventh tenet of being a good person is to not lie to your allies. Thus, whatever my husband has told me is the truth.”

His every word, his every action. Alice had engraved them all onto her very being, they would never be forgotten. And they would never be wrong.

“I am unparalleled, Giselle. My husband has said so, and so I will make it, for I won’t let his words be anything but an undeniable truth.”

Of course they wouldn’t be wrong, of course they wouldn’t be lies. If they were, then she would just have to make them the truth. She wasn’t unparalleled because of her magic affinities or strength, she was unparalleled because Gabriel had said so.

“And yet, you became shackled.”

Giselle spoke, feigning confidence. But Alice could see the slight twitching of her lips, the quivering of her pupils. She could feel the knights behind her step closer, trying to quietly enter the dining room. But she did not care, grinning as she thought back to that first birthday of hers.

“Okay, and?”

Alice raised her arms as she spoke, rattling the chains that connected her wrists. So what if these things sealed her magic? She knew how they worked, and even if the duchess had upgraded them with the newly released knowledge, it wouldn’t be enough.

“Giselle, do not make me repeat myself again. I am unparalleled.”

Not a belief, not an idea, not an insane theory. Indisputable fact.

Alice placed a hand on the blade that rested against her throat, her other hand touching the table as it moved about in a lazy manner.

“Fenrir, could you remove his head?”

It came with a roar and a crushing pressure. A black wolf with sharp crimson eyes materialized out of thin air behind Alice, the figure of the knight captain crumpling to the ground as pressure akin to the deep sea bore down on him. He fell flat with a grunt and a gush of blood from his mouth, but the paw that descended crushed his head into paste before he could utter another sound. Fenrir, the first of Alice’s twin spirits.

“Quetz, please block the door so that they can’t leave. Just lop of their heads if they still insist.”

It came with a violent whistle and the endless crackling of thunder. A large green serpent with a plume of red feathers akin to a mane around its neck, the thin feathers covering the rest of its body making it look surprisingly soft. A pair of feathery wings sprouted from its back, golden feathers adorned with red and green veins, with two more sets of nubs on its body just waiting to sprout.

The wind howled as the serpent spread its wings, the doors slamming shut as a violent yet sharp wind formed a solid wall. Of the knights that got close to the wall, not a one was left with their head. Quetzalcoatl, the second of Alice’s servants.

But Alice did not stop there, the chains tying her hands together rattling once more as her hand finished trawling across the table. She looked directly at Giselle, still grinning as she spoke.

“Anak, Fomor Elan Ka’e Teran.” (Blood, Fall Under My Control.)

The magic formation formed beneath her hand, a wave of red light spreading out and rippling through the room, vanishing through the walls. Giselle couldn’t feel anything, but just the fact that Alice had been able to cast magic, while also summoning her spirits, was enough to make her heart beat faster than it ever had before. No one knew better than her just how strong those shackle and spirit sealing beads were. And yet… It didn’t even seem as if they existed when Alice acted.

But of course they didn’t, the sealing shackles could only stop magic using the words programmed into them, and Anak was a word that had yet to surface in this world.

“Giselle, you need to watch this before you move.”

Alice raised her hand from the table as she spoke, she had noticed that Giselle was about to take action. This was a smaller kingdom than her own empire, but Giselle was still a duchess so she didn’t want to take her own right away if she could avoid it. Besides, she promised Gabriel that she would wait, it was what she said to him when they last saw each other.

One of her hands stretched out, pointing at one of the knights that remained, all of them unsure how to proceed after over half of them had ended up dead.

“Devak.” (Burst.)

It was a simple word, sounding ever so slow as it fell from her lips. But the moment the sound left her throat, the man who was once a knight became blood. From his eyes, from his mouth, from his ears, from his nose, from his hands, from his throat, from his chest, from his legs. There was not a spot on his body that did not suddenly burst out with blood, wounds appearing across his body as the very blood in his body tore itself out of his veins.

The droplets didn’t even get to hit the floor, gathering in the air for a moment before they arrived next to Alice. The blob wiggled for a moment before it fell, turning into the shape of a stark crimson sword that stabbed into the stone floor. Alice’s hand naturally came to rest on the hilt of that sword, her gaze returning to the duchess.

“That spell has been cast on everyone in this estate, Giselle. I don’t even need a thought to have them all end up like that. I’ve heard you care a lot about those around you, so I’m sure you won’t forsake all of them, right?”

The duchess’ fingers quivered quietly as she saw the effects of the unknown magic. Her knuckles turned white from restraint, how agonizing it was to be able to do something yet completely trapped at the same time. But would Alice care about her thoughts?

“So, shall we have a nice little time while we wait for my angel to come burn it all down?”