CH 120

Late at night, Azela moved alone.

Dressed in casual clothes, not her pajamas, she quietly slipped out of the bedroom with her sword at her waist. The darkened mansion was quiet. As she walked quietly down the steps and opened the front door, she swiftly turned her head to the right.

“…Even though I didn’t show any signs.”

Benjamin, who was trying to climb the wall, was surprised by her sudden appearance. Azela, who drew the sword from her waist, tilted her head and replied.

“Because I’m very sensitive right now.”

There was no fear or hesitation in her sword, unlike before. Azela, aiming her sword at Benjamin’s neck, uttered with a grave face.

“I will ask, Benjamin. This is a cliché, but.”

“….”

“Your answer will determine whether or not you will be able to see Findar.”

“That’s really cliche.”

“Did you come to kill Duke Ferial?”

Benjamin stopped trying to climb the wall towards Zagnac’s bedroom and glanced at her as she asked so.

Unlike the last time, Azela had the intent to kill someone without hesitation. Benjamin could see the sword hanging from her waist. If this sword were drawn, it seemed like one of the two would surely die.

“Dressed like this right now, and at this late hour.”

“….”

“You wouldn’t believe me even if I said I came to talk with Duke Ferial. Doesn’t that question make no sense?”

“Go back.”

She nodded to him to go back.

Seeing that, Benjamin lowered his head and smiled. The woman in front of him was exuding such murderous energy that the hands hidden behind his back were trembling.

“Are you sending me back because you don’t want blood on your hands?”

“….”

“Or is it the guilt of not being able to cut someone you know? Or sympathy for me?”

Azela just snorted and put on an unconcerned face.

“It’s all wrong.”

“….”

“I have no guilt or sympathy for those who came to kill my master. Having blood on my hands is natural for anyone who decides to raise a sword.”

“Then why?”

“I just…”

As she pressed the tip of her sword against Benjamin’s neck with a nonchalant gaze, blood flowed from the small cut on his neck.

“I just don’t want this mansion to smell like blood at night when my master is asleep.”

Was she originally this kind of woman? Was she someone who knew how to intimidate others with a sword…?

Benjamin gazed at Azela with a surprised look.

She was obviously dying like a rotting dry branch the first time he met her. Far from threatening others, he was worried that she might die.

“I want to make it happen.”

Benjamin smiled and pulled out the sword hanging from his waist. The curved tip was not an ordinary sword.

“Since I’ve already accepted the offer, if I don’t draw my sword, I’m in danger as well as my sister’s life.”

“Benjamin.”

“Duke Ferial also said that he would kill Findar if I took out my sword, but I think the Emperor will do it first rather than the Duke.”

There was a lot of blood on the handle of his sword. A rough job. It seemed that he indeed did a rough job, as Findar said. Was the rough thing she was talking about bloody? As Benjamin drew his sword, Azela also gripped the hilt of her sword.

The cold wind of dawn blew.

“It will be over soon.”

“I guess.”

“Miss or me, one of us will die.”

“Yes.”

There was no time to feel guilt or pity, because she was determined to protect Zagnac. Azela frowned and stabbed her sword first. It was a move without hesitation aimed at Benjamin’s neck with the feeling that she would finish it with a single blow.

Benjamin, who took her sword with a startled look and struck it off, gripped his handle tightly.

“You’re really trying to kill me with no mercy.”

“I told you. No guilt or pity.”

He gritted his teeth and swung his sword.

His opponent was Azela, who was said to have a natural talent for swordsmanship in the Empire, and who made her name widely known for her splendid swordsmanship. For Benjamin, she was an opponent he could barely defeat, only by swinging his sword with everything he had.

As his sword was bent and aimed at Azela’s heart, she struck her sword back as she dodged his sword to the left.

The sound of two bladed swords slicing through the wind could be heard.

At this moment, Azela didn’t think about anything… the fact that the person standing in front of her was Benjamin, the man who gave her the delicious bread, and the fact that he was Findar’s brother who helped her.

“I can’t even do this lightly.”

However, Benjamin’s sword was too monotonous for her.

Unlike before, she did not feel much intimidation from Benjamin. On the contrary, he was nervous, unlike his relaxed appearance the other day. The hand holding the sword was trembling involuntarily.

‘…It will be over soon.’

Azela thought coldly as she lightly dodged his sword. Conversely, Benjamin seemed to have difficulty avoiding her sword, and that was when Benjamin swung his sword wide at her.

A deep, flesh-piercing sound that gave goosebumps spread loudly through the entrance of the quiet mansion. Neither Benjamin nor Azela moved. After the merciless sword pierced Benjamin’s heart, the two remained still.

“…I lost.”

Benjamin lowered his trembling head and looked at his chest where the sword was stuck. The breath of two people’s rapid breathing spread into the air and disappeared.

Following the sword, his red blood drenched Azela’s hands.

“Yes, you lost. Benjamin.”

She did not raise her gaze as she answered his words.

Perhaps to respond to her words, he let out a passionate cough. Blood poured from his mouth like a fountain and splashed onto her face. Azela stretched her shoulders and forcefully drew her sword from his chest.

As she drew her sword, the recoil caused Benjamin to fall forward as blood spurted from his wounds. She quickly supported his shoulders and took him into her arms.

“…You are so amazing.”

His breath was faint as if it would soon die out. Azela, covered in Benjamin’s blood, did not answer.

“Certainly, I think I know why… people praise you.”

“I was better in the past.”

Benjamin, who closed his eyes at the mischievous sentence, smiled softly from the corner of his mouth. Then, he placed his hand weakly on the back of her hand, stained with blood.

“Do you still have any guilt or pity?”

“….”

“Even if you have it, get rid of it… It was me, blinded by greed, who tried to kill Duke Ferial first. Miss, you did what you had to do.”

“Benjamin.”

“I couldn’t refuse even though I knew that holding the Emperor’s hand was a double-edged sword.”

As Benjamin’s voice grew quieter, the breath he exhaled gradually diminished.

“I was consumed by greed, even though I knew that to hold it would be to cut my hand.”

“…Because that is human.”

“I was truly a human being.”

He laughed out loud at the bottom of his futility. Blood dripped continuously from the corner of his mouth when he smiled.

“Duke Ferial saved me, but he gave me a new life.”

“Benjamin.”

“I said I would make delicious bread with my hands, but in the end, this was the only thing I knew how to do, so I took up the sword again…”

“…If you had formally learned swordsmanship, I wouldn’t have won.”

“It is an honor… Miss, save Findar.”

“….”

“The Emperor will try to kill Findar. Please, my sister.”

“…Don’t worry. I will not let Findar die.”

Benjamin nodded his head with a relieved look, hearing Azela’s confident answer.

“I can believe what you say.”

Azela said nothing.

She didn’t apologize or ask for forgiveness and just held him in her arms and stayed still until his breath was over.

Even when his shortness of breath disappeared and his shoulders stopped moving, even when the blood coming out of him hardened in the cold wind, even when no breath came out of his mouth, Azela just stayed still.