Chapter 210

Rudi prepared drinks and snacks for Valenciaunos and Tenitia.

“Place the dried fruits on one plate, and slice the cheese as thinly as possible. Fresh fruits should be slightly thicker,” she instructed.

Of course, she was no longer just a maid but the head maid of the palace, so her ‘preparation’ reflected how well she managed the subordinates under her.

“The wine is ready. Both its sweetness and body are rated four stars.”

“For the white wine, I prepared it with two stars for sweetness and one star for body.”

“I’ve sliced just enough salami for the knights.”

Even without rushing, watching her move smoothly like a well-oiled machine, Rudi thought her preparation would surely earn an excellent report card.

“Well done. As I mentioned last time, Lord Valen doesn’t enjoy meat snacks too much.”

Rudi loaded the snacks and wine onto a cart that resembled a large box with wheels and handles.

“Now, please relax for a moment. I will call you again if needed.”

“Yes, Lord Rudi.”

“Thank you, Lord Rudi.”

The servants of the palace were certainly people of clear status and good character, but they were far from the mysteries of mana or heterogeneous bloodlines.

In front of superiors like Valenciaunos or Tenitia, their bodies naturally stiffened, and consequently, Rudi could still serve him directly.

“Here you are, Lord Valen.”

Rudi neatly set down the snacks and drinks on the wide square table, along with pewter and crystal glasses.

Valenciaunos smiled in satisfaction after checking the wine, and the wine lover Tenitia’s red eyes sparkled with anticipation.

One bottle was premium quality sent by the Red Mask, and the other was an imperial tribute.

‘Now it’s done.’

Rudi tried to step back, but Valenciaunos subtly pulled the chair beside him, and Rudi pretended to yield and sat down.

‘…Lord Valen is too generous. It’s an honor beyond my worth. I must not forget this. Lord Valen is not someone who should scold me; I must scold myself. Otherwise, I’ll become an arrogant maid who doesn’t know her place.’

Valenciaunos and Tenitia poured wine into their pewter cups and clinked them together.

“Cheers!”

Tenitia tilted her glass and exclaimed with joy, and Valenciaunos seemed to relax and smiled too.

Seeing that, Rudi straightened her posture even more.

As the drinks continued to flow, Valenciaunos asked Tenitia.

“…Lady Trentia. To be honest, how is the opinion in the capital?”

“Your Majesty, do you wish to hear such matters while drinking this fine wine? Since you are under house arrest, you should act like someone under house arrest.”

Though Tenitia seemed annoyed that the wine’s enjoyment would be tainted by such discussions, she avoided Valenciaunos’s gaze as if it was a troublesome topic.

However, with his sharp tongue, Valenciaunos easily unraveled the knight’s evasiveness.

“If the opinion in the capital is decent, I was planning to tour the high-end taverns and southern specialty stores in the capital with you tomorrow, but if you won’t tell me, I have no choice. I’m afraid of being stoned, so I’ll have to stay in the palace.”

Rudi knew that there was no winning against that verbal skill, so she simply smiled bitterly and remained silent.

After hesitating for a while, Tenitia finally spoke.

“Citizens’ evaluations of your Majesty are currently at rock bottom.”

“Hmm.”

“There have been riots… No, a riot has effectively occurred even in this turbulent time. Of course, it was swiftly suppressed by the Black Iron Knights, so you need not worry, your Majesty.”

“What were they shouting?”

Tenitia hesitated before speaking.

“The bandit Valenciaunos, who controlled the citizens with a fabricated explosion incident by a mad magician. When the truth came to light, he was attacked by Duke Sorelazie, who tried to stop him, and other high nobles who tried to intervene… This is the tone, your Majesty.”

Rudi squinted her eyes tightly.

She knew Valenciaunos’s voice when unfettered and had seen his angelic face.

Once again, her young lord was sure to suffer alone.

Valenciaunos downed his glass in one go.

“Indeed. Yes, it is true.”

His golden eyes stared blankly at the air.

However, that gaze was filled with fulfillment rather than emptiness.

‘Ah.’

It was the gaze of someone who had done what needed to be done.

‘Right. Now that you’ve caught Marquis Marcus, the pledge of allegiance is soon to follow…!’

Rudi pushed away the growing frustration in her heart.

If Valenciaunos believed he had done what he needed to do, it would be arrogant for her to pity him.

* * *

As the glasses emptied and bottles piled up, the plates of snacks rotated two or three times.

Valenciaunos and Tenitia drank at an increasing pace as if wine were water, and a rosy glow began to grace their pale faces.

Yet even amid this, their postures remained unyielding.

Rudi recalled the term ‘superhuman who handles mana.’

“And so, I elbowed that Angeros in the face!”

“Ahaha!”

When Tenitia got slightly tipsy, her grip faltered, and she nearly crushed her pewter cup.

Today, Valenciaunos held an even more superhuman, no, inhuman aura than Tenitia.

‘It’s not something that happened overnight, though.’

Rudi stared intently at Valenciaunos’s face.

His golden eyes and red lips formed beautiful lines.

Naturally, being a mixed-blood with heterogeneous races and having gone through the Dragon Rite, it was expected he would emit an inhuman aura.

But today was even more pronounced.

In an instant, it seemed that the fingers within the thin white gloves were invisible.

“…”

Rudi was a top-tier sharpshooter capable of hitting targets hundreds of meters away without her sniper glasses.

She was not someone who could misjudge things.

Today’s Valenciaunos felt strangely both strong and weak, as if he were mingling with the surrounding space.

‘When you returned, His Majesty took you away. But… I didn’t see any major injuries. What could have happened during those three days?’

Knowing she was crossing the line, Rudi tried to halt her wandering thoughts.

At that moment, a faint presence was felt throughout the living room.

“!”

Rudi quickly drew her revolver, Agathe, with her left hand and stood up sharply.

“Your Majesty!”

The presence was felt in five locations.

The large front window ahead, the main door to the right, the small window to the left, the backdoor for groceries, and even the chandelier on the ceiling.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Rudi pulled the trigger towards the ceiling.

Through her sniper glasses, her red, bloodshot green eyes sparkled, and the revolver Agathe erupted in flames.

Bang!

“!”

The assassin in the ceiling was struck more by the shock of being discovered than by the impact of the blow.

When he had assassinated the son of the nomadic tribe’s chieftain to send a warning, those eyes had pierced through the five shamans in the wasteland.

‘…How could I encounter an opponent with such eyes in the palace?’

Crash!

The assassin fell onto the table.

Plates shattered, and wine glasses toppled.

He was clad in a tight-fitting black armor, wore a mask over his face, and had a turban on his head.

“Goodness!”

“World!”

Evil, and then whoosh!

Tenitia leaped up from her seat, drawing her sword, while flames burst forth from Valenciaunos’s hand.

“Strike!”

Simultaneously, assassins rushed in from all directions.

* * *

Rudi drew her magic dagger ‘Saengdong’ with her right hand and channeled her mana into it.

Whoosh!

A chill spread as a deep blue ice blade elongated, and she swung Saengdong like a crescent moon.

Slash!

This was not solely to attack the enemy, but to secure distance to protect Valenciaunos’s safety.

“Grrr.”

One assassin melded with the shadows and smirked in mid-air.

He clearly thought Rudi’s swordsmanship was pathetic.

Rudi didn’t feel the need to refute that with words.

Slash!

She swung Saengdong again.

“Grahaha!”

As the assassin charged from the air.

“Gotcha.”

She crossed her left hand below her right and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

“!”

The assassin, who had lunged like the wind, didn’t see the barrel that had stealthily taken aim.

“Gah!”

The assassin staggered back, and Rudi smiled as she turned her gaze to the next opponent.

‘Not bad.’

Tenitia was engaged in a brawl with two assassins, while Valenciaunos was incinerating another.

At that moment, a hand shot out from beneath the table, grabbing her ankle.

Pow!

A sharp glass dagger pierced through the vital blood point of her foot and secured her to the floor.

“Ack-!”

Rudi stifled a scream with her extraordinary mental strength and steadied her revolver with her hot heart and cool head.

Bang!

The magic tool erupted and tore through armor like paper.

However, the body of the assassin that rose from beneath the table was like mist, causing her bullet to only pierce through the floorboards.

“You!”

Rudi saw Valenciaunos turning his eyes towards her and the assassin.

Anger glinted in his eyes, and the flames of incantation blazed in his scaled hand.

Boom!

At that moment, the assassin pivoted like a spring.

With the glass dagger aimed directly towards Valenciaunos’s neck.

“Ha.”

Valenciaunos nonchalantly opened his palm and released a jet of fire.

Rudi knew well how tough his scales were.

She thought a dagger would bounce off easily, but the glass dagger pierced right through his palm.

Stab!

“Urk!”

The assassin pressed on Valenciaunos, and the blade that had pierced his palm surged toward his neck.

“Don’t!”

In an instant, Rudi felt her mind turn white.

Today, her lord, the Duke, had returned.

She didn’t think of pain but, as she pulled out the glass dagger piercing her foot, threw herself forward.

“Stop!”

At that moment, silence fell over the palace.

“Hah, hah.”

Tenitia was entangled with four assassins; two aimed for her vital points, one was just about to strike her head, and one held her sword down with his body.

Valenciaunos had his palm pierced by one assassin’s blade and was trying to unleash flames.

The assassin whose hand pierced Valenciaunos was shrouded in its form like black smoke.

Rudi aimed the glass dagger at his nape.

“A dagger made from the teeth of a desert sandworm. The assertion that it can pierce through anything was indeed true.”

“I didn’t think you’d still be standing after I stabbed your foot.”

The assassin’s voice hissed like a snake.

Rudi replied without letting her guard down.

“Are you Lord Marquis Cesare, of the Heat Asylum? Lord Valen has spoken much about you. If it’s fine with you, how about you sheathe your sword now?”

“How rude for a mere maid.”

Rude.

Arrogant.

Putting herself first.

It was an evaluation she had tried to avoid.

Even when challenging the servants of other noble houses who insulted Valenciaunos, she had kept the pretense of it being for Valenciaunos’s sake.

If she made a mistake, it would be Valenciaunos who would be blamed, not her.

But Rudi knew whose maid she was.

‘Bandit Duke, kinslayer, lackey of a tyrant.’

She had sworn to follow to the ends of hell.

There was no need to shrink back.

“You, Marquis, are an unwelcome guest, and I am the steward of this palace who can issue the edict of hospitality on behalf of Lord Valen. If you don’t want to meet your end in this world, put down your sword.”

* * *

Tenitia brought recovery potions from the order and fetched the resident priest to treat Rudi’s foot, while the murderer of Marquis Heat Asylum moved the injured and dead bodies, and Valenciaunos sat across from Cesare.

“Marquis, how on earth did you get this far?”

He asked, feeling a headache, and the marquis of assassins responded with his violet eyes twinkling with mischief.

“I walked hard.”

“While avoiding the detection and alert spells of the palace battle mages? In times like these, when the Silver Knight Order and the Guards are on high alert?”

“Then would I have crawled here?”

Valenciaunos splashed his tea onto the brown, wrinkled face of the old man.

Splash!