Chapter 95: What Happened One Night XIII (part 2)

Soon, as if they had agreed upon it beforehand, they stopped walking at the same time.

Standing before them was a girl with snow-white hair, blocking their path.

“What a quiet arrival, rude guests. What business do you have in such a lonely forest on a night like this?”

It was a surreal sight, as though they had stumbled into a dreamlike wonderland. 

A girl with a lovely appearance—so out of place in the gloomy forest—stood welcoming them with a sweet, almost innocent demeanor.

…It wasn’t a feeling one should have in a place like this, yet her appearance was undeniably beautiful. 

She looked like she stood between the freshness of youth and the maturity of womanhood, exuding an elegance befitting a noble lady or even a royal princess. 

Despite being alone, her presence was charismatic enough to command the entire space.

“My name is Aria,” she said. “I am merely one of the many insignificant maids of House Estel, one of the Empire’s four most prestigious ducal families. Of course, the one I serve is anything but insignificant.”

“…Duke Estel?”

For a moment, the hounds were completely baffled. 

Why would a maid of the Estel Duchy be blocking their way here?

“Oh, and by the way,” she added with a playful smile, “Aria is the name my master personally gave me. Don’t you think it suits me perfectly?”

There was no sign of hostility in her lovely smile or lighthearted tone. 

In fact, her attitude was more—relaxed.

“…I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, girl. We couldn’t care less about your master’s pitiful status. Quit your nonsense and start praying—”

Unfortunately, the man’s words were cut short.

At that very moment, his entire upper body vanished—gone, as if swallowed by an invisible monster. 

There wasn’t even time to react…

What was left of him lost its balance and fell to the ground with a dull thud.

Thud!

No one present had sensed any danger beforehand. 

One moment, he was speaking; the next, he was gone—erased without a trace.

“…How rude,” Aria muttered, still wearing a faint smile as she looked around at the remaining intruders. “Where did you learn the bad habit of interrupting when someone else is speaking?”

Despite the gruesome display, Aria didn’t show the slightest trace of fear. 

In fact, in a disturbingly innocent way, she didn’t even seem to see them as enemies.

…Because the moment they set foot in this forest, only Aria held the right to decide who would live and who would die.

Still, it wasn’t their intrusion that angered her—it was their insolent remarks about Young Lord Cain that stirred her ire.

“It would benefit both of us if we could just talk business and go our separate ways, don’t you think? In that case, I have something to offer you.”

Aria let out a light giggle, as if genuinely amused by the situation.

“I have only one task—to prevent you from reaching my master. He has entrusted me with your lives. But I’m in a good mood today, since he praised me. So rather than kill you all, I’ll make a suggestion.”

She raised her index finger and wiggled it playfully, mockingly.

“I’ll let one of you live. Just one. Who will it be? Do you want to settle it with rock-paper-scissors? Or perhaps draw lots?”

“You insolent…!”

Unable to endure her taunting any longer, a middle-aged man drew the sword at his waist.

That weapon was none other than Carbella—the Lightning Sword—one of the eight major relics of the continent. It had been recently acquired at an astronomical price from Count Cernard, the wealthiest noble on the continent.

“Attack! The enemy’s just a girl! No matter how great a mage she is, stick a sword in her and she dies like anyone else!”

Spurred on by his shout, the three hounds lunged toward Aria, daggers drawn. Regardless of how strange or powerful her magic was, they were battlefield-hardened killers. Even a powerful mage could be taken down with a well-placed stab.

Fwoosh—

But there was no resistance.

Aria accepted the attack without moving. 

Then—

Crack—

There were no screams. 

The bodies of the hounds who stabbed her began to crumble, turning into salt and falling apart in silence.

“…..”

Everyone was left speechless at the horrific sight.

Aria, still smiling, spoke again.

“Oh, come to think of it, I forgot to mention something. What you see before you is just an illusion. I’ve already devoted my body and soul to another, so I can’t carelessly show myself to other men. Don’t you think that’s only proper?”

Then, with a languid motion, Aria’s illusion traced a finger through the air. 

The next moment—

Snap—

The two hounds closest to her turned into statues of ice.

Crash—

And like fragile glass, they shattered into pieces.

“I can take at least one life with ease.”

…It was a miracle that defied everything they knew. 

Inside this forest’s barrier, Aria could perform feats that bent reality—miracles without cost. She could transcend space, bend the laws of magic, and wield devastating power.

Within this forest, Aria was more powerful than any mage in the world.

“Do you understand now? You will never leave this forest alive.”

She had never intended to let them go. 

From the very beginning, they were marked for death. Because they dared to speak of killing Young Lord Cain—they had even dared to even consider it.

‘If I do this well… will he praise me again?’

Aria smiled brightly, recalling the warmth of Cain’s hand when he had last praised her.

And with that thought, a deadly force began to ripple through the forest.

It was the signal to hunt—the death sentence passed by the merciless mistress of the forest upon those who dared trespass.