The body fell with a sickening thud, striking the stone floor like meat hitting a butcher's slab.
Bones snapped. Flesh squelched. Blood—a dark, almost black ichor—oozed slowly from the hollow chest cavity, forming sluggish rivulets that spiderwebbed outward before pooling around the twisted remains.
Rie let go of the corpse without hesitation.
Her hands, though stained red, moved with the same elegance as always.
She raised them to her lips and wiped away the excess blood.
Her fingers were practiced—too practiced—as though they'd done this countless time.
And her mouth…
Her teeth were still too long.
Predator's teeth.
Her gaze dropped.
As she observed the corpse for a long, motionless moment.
Her expression—blank, cold, calculating—was not that of a child.
The body before her barely resembled the proud maid who once stood tall and cruel in this manor.
Its limbs were twisted grotesquely.
The flesh along its arms and legs bore deep gashes, raked open like paper torn by claws.
Much of the torso had collapsed inward—the heart completely gone—devoured in silence.
The skin was sallow, almost translucent, drained of all blood and color.
Veins that once pulsed with mana had turned black and brittle, curling like burnt thread.
Yet the most unsettling detail was her face.
Untouched.
Pristine.
Eyes wide open, frozen in terror—crystal clear. Skin pale but unblemished. The mouth slightly ajar, as though she'd died mid-scream. It looked as though she might speak again. Plead. Beg.
If someone were to stumble in now, they'd recognize her instantly.
But they can never imagine the horror that had overtaken the body below.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: — New Skill Unlocked —]
The words flickered at the edge of Rie's vision. A soft, golden glow.
She didn't look. She didn't care.
Not right now.
What mattered wasn't the reward.
It was the silence.
The utter, beautiful silence.
And the memory. Oh, the memory—now dripping into her mind through the maid's stolen blood like poison in honey.
She saw herself—bent, bruised, beaten.
Crying silently in cold corridors.
Crawling on cut knees.
Starving.
Obeying.
And that woman—this corpse—was always watching.
Mocking.
Laughing.
But as those memories surged forward, she felt… nothing. No hate. No anger. Not even relief.
This was not revenge.
This was necessity.
She'd killed her not to get her revenge—but because this woman stood in the way of what came next.
Her plan.
Her plan for future were all set all pieces were in the place and now all that remain is the move the last piece…
The dark veins that had once writhed beneath Rie's skin now curled contently around her chest, slipping under her collarbone and disappearing like worms into earth.
--Creak--
They pulsed once—satisfied and full.
Rie stood still.
A moment passed.
With a single breath, her expression shifted.
The cold emptiness vanished.
Her brows softened.
Her lips curled into a gentle, warm smile—like a child caught in a moment of mischief.
The mask was back on.
No one would ever guess what had happened here.
And even if they did, they wouldn't believe it.