Chapter 196: Life is cruel but so is living...

Ouch!

Ouch!

Ouch!

That must have hurt like hell but then again, was that mummy capable of handling pain?

Severus wondered.

Huh?

In an instant, the mummy who was earlier buried inside the debris growled in some strange language.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr

"What was it?"

"Scream?"

Bam!

A loud explosion and the mummy emerged from the debris. 

"…."

The mummy looked horrendous and with those expressions of her, Severus was sure he experienced a minor terror attack.

Her eyes turned scarlet as if it was blood in her eyes. At one point Severus observed something moving in those scarlet eyes but it was so fast that he felt perhaps, he was mistaken. Severus didn't have the chance to dig deep into this matter, as the mummy instantly charged towards him. 

Dodging was the only thing Severus could do currently.

Drip!

Drip!

Drip!

Deep thick fluid dripped from her body. The moment Severus scratched her; smoke would appear from her wounds followed by dark liquid. 

It was worse for him.

That liquid was extremely corrosive. Mummy was having both defenses as well as attack stance simultaneously, and this was not favorable for Severus.

Severus managed to dodge but, minute by minute it was proving exhausting for him. Perhaps he needs to opt for a different strategy.  Severus slowed down his movement and concentrated his entire focus on reading her movements. 

Sure, you can find any solution if you are patient and concentrated.

Severus soon observed the odd nature of this mummy. She was actually not using her brain during the battle. She was just fighting purely on instincts. Same as a warrior who was blindfolded. She knew the counter of his every attack, but she never predicted the correct comeback. She even failed to land a strike on him due to the same factor. 

Severus wondered what the reason could be. When it happened the first time, Severus thought it might be his luck, but the same thing was happening again and again. To test his theory, he stealthily picked the book from the nearby shelf and threw it in the other direction.

Funny enough the mummy again worked on her instincts and went in the opposite direction. 

HUH!

Severus scoffed.

Did Minya and Moon really think he was a fool? Severus instantly came to the conclusion that the mummy was blind.  But the question was, was she blind after death, or was she blind for a long time. It didn't take him long to join points. Since the mummy was well versed with the attacks then that means she was trained. However, who was stupid enough to train a blind girl? Not to mention, the training that a soldier needs to undergo is not just some physical exercises. Severus could tell from her trance and the power hidden behind her strokes that she was the one who went through extreme training.

But why?

What could be the possible reason?

Ordinary people wouldn't train their daughters not to mention training their blind girl. With this, commoners were out of the question. 

Nobles?

It can't be possible.

Severus shook his head.

Why?

It was simple. For nobles to have a daughter with defects in her is against their pride. They would be subjected to extreme humiliation if the news came out. It was possible the girl might be the daughter of any Nobel family in the Znye Kingdom. However, according to Rze, the people of Znye were used to heavy gender discrimination. It was still bearable in commoner's society since girls were used as slaves and household chores but in noble's society boring was son was a matter of pride. A family boring the most sons were given a special privilege in several court matters.

Damn!

It was a damn society with frigid and stupid rules but …. Itzzzzzz...What…. Itzzzzzzzzzzz….

Nobles were used to kill their own daughters. Rze also told him that because of this rule, no one from the 10 esteemed nobles' families has borne a girl for several decades. Girls were typically considered as sins in these 10 noble families.

Severus felt pity for all the girls being born in noble families of the Znye kingdom. 

Life was cruel but so was living. 

With this Severus narrowed down his subjects. Since commoners and nobles were excluded, the only family which remained was the royal family. Unlike Nobles, the Royal family had the right to bore as well as raise a daughter. Probably It was for alliances. They could always wed off their princes in return for the favor.  So, this mummy or this corpse belonged to someone from the royal family. It was very possible that he might be wrong with his theory and to check the only possible way was to call them. If they stopped or showed any kind of emotion, he could tell who she was. 

But the royal family was so huge. Not to mention the ex-king had three small brothers who later married several women, so their lineage was kind of messed up. Severus probably cannot remember every one of them. So, who can she be?

Severus saw her coming towards him, "Sigh. She just won't let me take a break."

He ducked and sprinted away using shelves as his blind spots. Sure enough, if he just remains quiet and hides his smell, he can have some free time. He smartly chose the dustiest shelf so that his smell could overlap with dust.

He thought hard about his conversation with Rye but nothing rang a bell. Sweat started dripping from his scalp as he was frustrated about her identity.

Drip!

Drip! 

Drip!

Since it was dead silent inside the room Severus easily heard the dripping sound that the mummy liquid made. Every time it meets the ground, the ground will burn. Just as it would burn from corrosive acid. 

"What sorcery was this?"

Severus mulled over it again and again.

Who was she?

One thing that Severus was sure of was that this was not an ordinary mummy but behind it, was a deadly curse. It rivaled his necromancy arts. 

Strange!