"Little miss… I'm not sure I understand what you're talking about. The thing in your hand is dangerous. Why don't we put the knife down first, and then we can have a proper talk…"
Grey's voice trembled slightly, as if she were genuinely worried that the blade in the girl's hand might hurt her.
As for Eblana, she watched the vivid expression on the woman's face—the concerned, harmless little act, as though she were truly afraid the child might injure her by mistake.
But acting like that might fool other people.
Zuo Jian might believe it.
Loughshinny might believe it.
Even her dead parents probably would have believed it.
But Eblana would not.
As a red dragon touched by violet fire, the girl was almost born able to see things other people could not.
Like this woman in front of her, for example—the one wearing that fake, harmless mask. Her body, her very surroundings, were wrapped in such dense deathly aura that Eblana nearly felt nauseated just looking at her.
For someone as young as Eblana, she had never seen anyone with such terrifyingly thick death-energy clinging to them.
Even the assassin who had murdered her parents would have looked like a shallow puddle crashing into a boundless ocean beside this woman.
The difference was beyond description.
At times, Eblana could even catch a faint, sweet-metallic scent coming from her, like flesh steeped in a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
To be honest, the situation had gone beyond what she had expected.
At first, she had guessed that, with so much death clinging to her, the woman's true identity might be some sort of professional killer. At worst, Eblana had assumed she'd be around the same level as the assassin she'd killed with her own hands before—maybe one or two levels above that.
But judging from the pressure radiating off her now…
Her guess had been completely wrong.
This woman looked nothing like the kind of dangerous person Victoria could produce.
Even the bravest Victoria soldier probably had not killed one-tenth as many enemies as she had.
Just who was this woman?
"Drop the ridiculous act. That pathetic mask can't hide the death practically spilling off you."
Staring straight at her, Eblana asked the thing she most wanted to know.
"How many people have you killed?"
Grey seemed to realize then that the girl's eyes—or perhaps some other ability she possessed—could perceive the abnormal things wrapped around her. She gave up pretending.
Resting one hand against her cheek, she stuck out the tip of her pink tongue and licked at her dry lips, answering in a lazy voice,
"How am I supposed to remember something that happened so long ago? After all, for me, the first thing I do every day after opening my eyes is kill."
She smiled faintly.
"Miss, do you keep count of how many slices of toast you've eaten in your life?"
Eblana drew in a slow breath, realizing she might be facing the strongest enemy she had ever encountered.
But…
There seemed to be no way out now.
In that case, good.
Under her control, the violet fire burned brighter and fiercer. The girl's turquoise eyes locked on the woman's reflection without wavering. If this was the strongest enemy she had ever met, then all the more reason to bring her down, kill her, and climb higher atop her corpse.
Within Eblana's blood, the red dragon's primitive hunger for struggle and strength began to blaze fiercely—fueling her fighting spirit, igniting her weapon, setting aflame her thirst for victory.
Grey, meanwhile, remained where she stood, showing no sign of moving at all. Instead, she studied Eblana's stance with visible curiosity.
"Nice fighting spirit. Nice eyes. But your form is amateurish, Miss."
"Then you'd better be careful."
In answer to Grey's assessment, Eblana gave a cold sneer.
"Be careful not to die at the hands of an amateur. Maybe if I'm in a good mood after you're dead, I'll turn you into my puppet and let you tell me what it feels like to be killed by someone beneath you."
Grey only smiled warmly at the threat.
"How scary. Still, I'd advise you not to worry so much, because—"
She had only gotten halfway through the sentence when she tilted her head slightly. A flash of purple fire swept past her pale throat, slicing off a few white strands of hair. It missed opening her windpipe by the narrowest margin.
"You're very weak, little girl."
The instant Eblana realized her sneak attack had failed, she moved again.
Using her small body, she darted into the blind spot beneath Grey's field of vision. Then she sprang upward, gripping the knife in both hands and driving it toward the woman's back—straight for the heart.
And yet, in Eblana's eyes, it was as if Grey had eyes on the back of her head. Just as the blade was about to sink into her heart, Grey lifted a hand and, without turning or even looking, caught Eblana's wrist in a crushing grip, stopping the knife dead just short of her body.
"Going for vital points is a good habit, but your intentions are way too obvious, little miss. A fight isn't just about being ruthless. You need a little scheming too."
Then, in an almost cheerful tone, she added,
"Got you, little miss~"
She had not even turned around.
But at that very moment, with Grey believing she had completely pinned her down—
Eblana suddenly threw her body backward, using the inhuman flexibility of a child's body to whip one leg straight up and kick hard at Grey's wrist.
"Hss!"
The force of the strike sent the kitchen knife flying upward, and with a dull thunk, it buried itself deep into the ceiling above them.
As for Eblana herself, she used the opening to wrench free of Grey's grip and immediately put distance between herself and the dangerous woman before her.
Sweat had already soaked Eblana's brow as she stared at Grey, who was finally turning to face her fully.
The gap between them in combat experience was simply too great.
The woman's familiarity with fighting utterly surpassed her own—far beyond even the assassins Eblana had faced before. To her, this sort of life-and-death struggle seemed as ordinary as breathing.
Where in the world had this woman come from?
Victoria could not possibly produce monsters like this.
Compared to the alarm bells screaming in Eblana's mind, Grey was far less calm inside than she appeared.
The woman turned and, for the first time, properly sized up the girl in front of her.
A faint, burning ache still lingered in her wrist from that upward kick.
At that moment, she thought she could finally understand why Earl Warwick always looked like a madman whenever he talked about the so-called red dragons.
What terrifying strength.
That physique truly lived up to what he kept muttering about—the finest among the "divine bloodlines."
By appearance alone, the girl was definitely no older than fifteen.
Probably only twelve, at most.
And at such a young age, she already possessed strength this monstrous?
The body really was horrifying. If the girl had been the same age as Grey—or given another ten years, until her body matured fully—even if she knew absolutely nothing about combat techniques, Grey suspected she still would not necessarily lose in a direct fight.
This land really was unfair.
Honestly, killing the girl would not have been difficult.
But that was the problem. Warwick had specifically demanded a living red dragon-blooded target. Bringing back a corpse was unlikely to satisfy him.
And if Grey wanted to subdue her alive, there would inevitably be a lot of violent movement.
This basement was packed with fragile bottles, jars, and complicated medical equipment. Any real fight would send half the room crashing to the floor, and the noise would be impossible to hide.
And on top of that, they were underground. She had no idea what time it was outside, or what the others upstairs were doing. If the commotion drew that man down here…
Grey thought back to the owner of the manor—the man who was, at least in name, the girl's adoptive father.
Zuo Jian Leforte.
A man made of mysteries.
Based on all the information Grey had gathered, he ought to have been nothing more than a somewhat softhearted doctor running an ordinary private clinic. But the moment she had met him face to face, she had gotten nothing useful from him at all.
It was as if he were wrapped in some kind of veil, rendering all the experience she had gained from a lifetime of reading people completely useless.
Put simply, she couldn't see through him.
And for someone like her, the unknown was the greatest threat of all.
If he noticed the disturbance and joined the fight…
The entire situation might spiral into something completely unpredictable.
And worse—
The thought had only just crossed Grey's mind when a sweet, metallic taste welled up in her throat again, and the places on her body where Originium crystals had grown began throbbing with pain.
Looking at the girl still burning with energy in front of her, Grey could not help cursing bitterly once more.
"Damn it. This godforsaken land really is unfair as hell."
After muttering the curse under her breath, Grey spread her hands helplessly and looked at Eblana.
"Miss, do we really have to keep fighting? Bullying a sick patient like me—be careful your adoptive father doesn't come over and spank you for it."
The moment Eblana heard that, her face turned red at once, as though the words had struck a nerve. But she forced herself back under control almost immediately and let out a cold laugh.
"What, begging for mercy already?"
"Yes, actually. I'm just a weak, pitiful Oripathy patient right now. But if I die here, the next person they send after you might be even harder to deal with."
Eblana froze.
A visible flicker of hesitation passed through her.
The instant Grey saw that, she knew she had succeeded.
Of course, Eblana had no way of knowing that Warwick's people were a pack of useless idiots. If Grey had anywhere else to go, she never would have worked for that deranged count in the first place.
Without her, Warwick probably could not find a better hound if he tried.
But…
This girl clearly thought too much. Careful, calculating people like that always made it easier to exploit an information gap.
"What are you trying to say?" Eblana asked with a cold snort.
"What can I say? If I told you I'm actually not very fond of using violence, would you believe me?"
"Heh."
Eblana's sneer made her answer abundantly clear.
Believe you don't like violence?
Even Loughshinny probably wouldn't buy that.
Grey sighed lightly.
"Well, if you don't believe me, so be it. But there is one thing you should understand."
"I truly cannot make a move against you."
"After all, the one above me wants a living red dragon, doesn't he?"
"There's no benefit in killing you. And the reverse is true as well. If you kill me, the next one who comes after you might be far more troublesome."
"I think we can talk. There's no need for this to turn into a fight to the death."
"Of course, you can refuse. But there's something I have to remind you of, Miss."
Grey's voice lowered, growing softer.
"There are far, far more people interested in red dragons than just us. Even if I disappeared, even if everyone behind me disappeared, other factions would still set their sights on you sooner or later."
"Maybe you really don't care."
"But—"
She paused, then smiled.
"What about your father? That Mr. Zuo Jian?"
At that, Eblana's heart jolted. Gritting her teeth, she said coldly,
"You think you can use that man to threaten me? What a joke. As far as I'm concerned, you lot are all in the same nest of snakes."
"Really?" Grey asked softly. "But even I can tell that man truly loves you."
She looked straight into Eblana's eyes.
"Miss… can you really bear to drag him into this endless whirlpool of conflict?"
....
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