* * *
Carlyle slowly turned the doorknob and entered the room.
However, he was greeted not by Eren, but by someone else.
“Hoo… this is quite unexpected.”
Helid, who had been leaning against the wall near the door, unfolded his arms and waved his hand.
Eren, who had been lying in bed, was now trembling in the corner of the room, as if trying to avoid Helid.
At the sight of Eren looking terrified, Carlyle’s eyes instantly changed.
The tart in his hand dropped straight to the floor.
Carlyle grabbed Helid by the collar, shoved him against the wall, and glared at him.
“It seems you’re desperate to die. How dare you enter this place.”
“That’s what I want to ask. Why are you here, Ashard Fridit? You’ve been moping ever since Eren disappeared. When exactly did you find him?”
“That is none of your business. Get out of here right now.”
When Carlyle growled in a low voice, one of Helid’s eyebrows shot up.
Seeing that Helid showed no intention of leaving the mansion, Carlyle drew his sword and aimed it at him.
Helid, who carefully examined the way he held the sword, let out a sarcastic chuckle as if dumbfounded.
“Ha, look at this?”
Upon closer inspection, the face that had been utterly haggard just a few days ago was now completely neat.
Just two days ago, when Helid saw him at the banquet, Ashard looked like he could die at any moment.
Putting those things aside, what caught Helid’s eye the most was something else.
The posture with which he held the sword was extremely familiar.
Although Helid had never seen Ashard use a sword properly, the basic sword stances in Trovien and Epentel were very different.
A stance taken when one loses reason appears instinctively, according to habit.
But this was clearly the form Helid knew.
“You’re Carlyle Firentium, aren’t you?”
Helid’s eyes lit up with triumph as he looked at Carlyle.
Helid lightly knocked away Carlyle’s sword and sneered.
“I only had a suspicion, but I never imagined you’d be looking like that.”
“Shut up.”
Carlyle warned him with bloodshot eyes.
Helid, however, clutched his stomach and chuckled at the situation unfolding before him.
To think that the noble Duke would be impersonating Ashard.
“Hahahaha! This is truly a rare sight!”
“I clearly told you to shut that mouth.”
Carlyle’s sword instantly slashed right across the center of Helid’s face.
It was fast enough to genuinely split his head in two if he had been a moment slower.
Helid, who barely dodged it, stiffened his expression.
Carlyle’s gaze briefly shifted to Eren before returning.
Helid keenly noticed this and smiled provocatively.
“If you draw your sword first, you shouldn’t take your eyes off me.”
Helid’s purple eyes were tinged with blood.
Despite the murderous intent in his eyes, Helid wore an amused expression as his sword cut diagonally.
Carlyle’s sword stood in the way, as if refusing to be hit easily.
Clang—!
The sharp sound of steel echoed in the room.
Then, Eren’s desperate voice was heard from the corner.
“Ashard-nim!”
Ashard Fridit, not Carlyle Firentium.
As that name was heard, Helid suddenly understood and curled the corner of his mouth.
“Eren doesn’t know, does he? That you are not Ashard Fridit.”
“…”
“I wonder what Eren’s reaction will be when he finds out.”
“Shut your mouth before I tear you apart.”
“Aren’t you curious?”
Carlyle ground his teeth.
He had held back for so long.
It took only a moment for him to lose his reason when the lowly bastard ran his mouth so freely.
Helid could know, the whole world could know, but Eren alone had to remain ignorant.
Kwakwang—!
A huge roar that shook the mansion, and the heavens seemed to scream.
A light bright enough to swallow the darkness flashed, enveloping Carlyle’s back.
“You are hurrying your own death.”
The rain that had been falling steadily began to swirl violently.
A ferocious, sharp wind and a roar that felt like it would tear eardrums could be heard.
Black scales covering a massive body large enough to eclipse the entire sky shone.
Blood-red eyes, the same as Carlyle’s, gleamed and fixed on Helid.
“Shit, what the hell is that now!”
Helid, tensing up under the overwhelming pressure that felt like it would pierce him to death, tightened his grip on his sword.
He clearly hadn’t misjudged that day.
The gargoyle’s attacks had cleverly weakened only when they were aimed at Carlyle.
He thought it was just a coincidence, but now it was clear.
There were clearly three beings in the room.
But the monster was staring only at him, as if he had been the sole target from the start.
Carlyle showed no reaction, as if he had anticipated the monster’s appearance.
‘Can he really control monsters, or what? Damn it, I’m seriously going to die here.’
Helid’s eyes twitched with tension at the situation that defied all common sense.
At the same moment, a wyvern flew in through the open window and rushed toward Helid.
Its sharp claws, moving with the speed of an arrow shot from a bow, ripped through his clothes.
It was aimed precisely at his neck.
If he hadn’t dodged, it wouldn’t have been his clothes but his skin that would have been torn.
Blood trickled from the slightly opened wound.
Wiping the warm liquid flowing down his neck with the back of his hand, Helid stepped forward with his right foot and leaped.
Kyyyaaaak—!
It was a hideously high shriek.
The monster, which swiftly evaded Helid’s attack, charged at him again.
At a glance, it looked like an even match, but Helid was actually gaining the upper hand over the wyvern.
Nevertheless, Helid was not in a completely dominant position.
Helid was fending off the wyvern, and there was an eye watching him.
It was Carlyle, radiating a fierce aura.
His eyes were calmly subdued as he watched Helid fight the wyvern.
“Damn, I almost died for real! Are you seriously insane?!”
The standoff did not last long.
Just as Helid seemed to be slowly gaining control of the monster, his sword precisely pierced the wyvern’s neck.
As he pulled the sword out of the monster, blood sprayed over Helid.
Wiping the blood, as if he was accustomed to being covered in it, he lunged at Carlyle.
The attack was instantaneous.
It was so fast it seemed as if he had been there all along.
But his sword did not reach Carlyle.
Kaaang—
The backlash from Carlyle’s swing sent Helid flying far across the room.
Under normal circumstances, Carlyle and Helid were evenly matched in skill.
However, Helid was already exhausted from dealing with the wyvern.
Therefore, Carlyle had the overwhelming advantage in this duel.
Helid pulled back his forward-leading foot.
The feeling that he couldn’t win in this state was an instinct.
But Carlyle, determined not to let him escape, used his rotational power to slash the air with his greatsword.
A residual image of the sword remained in the air, and before it vanished, he swung the sword again.
The scattered air was displaced.
The sharp blade cut across Helid’s shoulder.
“Ugh, are you seriously trying to kill me, Carlyle Firentium!”
“You should have been prepared for that when you snuck into my house like a rat. I told you repeatedly, Helid Yulta. That vulgar language of yours would eventually be your downfall.”
Carlyle’s elegant swordsmanship seemed to command the wind.
Every time their swords met, rain fell outside, and red blood rained down like raindrops inside the room.
Helid and Carlyle attacked each other relentlessly.
Eren leaned against the furthest wall, silently watching the scene.
At some point, Carlyle had shed Ashard’s appearance and returned to his original form.
The mansion, which had been identical to the Fridit Duke’s residence, had also reverted to an unfamiliar structure.
Though it wasn’t certain, it seemed that receiving a physical attack caused things to revert to their original state.
“Ugh…”
Is it almost over?
Eren looked at the two with bored eyes.
Helid’s sword, which he seemed to have lost his grip on, was already lying far away.
Carlyle’s sword sharply pointed at Helid’s neck.
It was as expected.
From the moment he summoned the wyvern, Carlyle had no intention of fighting him fairly.
The fact that Helid didn’t use any special ability suggested that, unlike the other two, he hadn’t gained any powers yet.
In other words, out of the three, he was the least deviated from the original plot.
‘It doesn’t matter anyway. They’re all going to die.’
As if he had no intention of sparing him, Carlyle’s sword sliced right across Helid’s neck.
His head was separated from his body, and the severed head rolled to a stop in the middle of the room.
It was not a pleasant sight, but Eren kept his eyes wide open, taking in the scene.
There was a story he had heard when Julius was at the Fridit estate.
The former Emperor of Epentel had his head cut off by the hand of Helid, his most cherished subject.
‘That is a truly fitting end for you, Helid.’
It was a gruesome sight.
Disgust and fear rushed over him at the sight of the headless corpse, yet Eren’s eyes did not waver even slightly.
Instead, the fact that he had only managed to deal with one person was the truly horrifying thought.
* * *
