Aurrghk-kh…
With a muffled groan, Lythian tried to suppress the…
Pain.
That single word described everything he had experienced ever since transmigrating to this world. Pain here, pain there, until he got used to it thanks to the torture.
But just like the pain he felt when he re-experienced the trauma of his body, the pain he was experiencing now was all directed at his forehead where a coin embedded itself inside it.
Hff…
Lythian took a deep breath to ground himself as the pain began to fade.
If this was the pain of the oath, then surely both of them had felt…
"Fuck!"
Lythian trashed, as he remembered a detail in the novel and realized what just happened was not a shared oath where two persons offered both of their blood to reach an agreement, but…
"…Enslavement Seal?!"
A forced subjugation in which the conjurer would state a price and place a Zevi coin on a target's forehead before infusing it with Zaen.
He realized it way too late.
If he had not skimmed the most boring and long parts of the novel, then perhaps he was able to avoid this predicament and just accepted the oath or the deal Seven first offered.
He raised his gaze towards Seven.
"Slave."
Seven said.
"...I need food."
"You fucker! Undo the fucking—"
Thud.
But before he could finish, Seven fainted and suddenly dropped to the floor.
"...?"
Unsure whether to help or attack, Lythian froze in place though he was no longer locked with Eternum Cuffs as Seven freed him right after doing the seal.
Lythian decided to do the latter.
Step.
He quickly grabbed the dagger (knife) used to torture him and stabbed Seven without any hesitation. But to his surprise, the dagger halted just an inch away from Seven's heart and…
Arghhh!!
Lythian immediately screamed as pain struck his entire body like getting hit by a lightning.
It was because of the seal.
It did not allow the slaves to lay a hand on their masters, unless permitted to do so as there are a lot who find pleasure in pain.
'This… fucker, I'll kill—'
Lythian thought, as he tried to stab Seven again as he infused the dagger with his zaen.
AAaaahh!!
Pain.
Even more painful than the previous one. A kind of pain that rendered his immortality useless.
"Fuck!"
Lythian exclaimed as he hurled the dagger across the cell.
He considered locking Seven here, but that would be also useless given that Seven could just order him to open the door and free him and such.
Also, Seven had already gave him an order before he passed out:
Food.
"Tch!"
Thus Lythian had no choice but to carry him upwards from the basement and give him food.
"Fuck thi—"
Growl.
Seven's stomach growled, followed by Lythian's as both of them had not yet eaten for a week, and his stomach must have grown sick of digesting his internal organs.
Step,
Lythian carried Seven outside by dragging him through his shoulders.
He made sure to grab the dagger first though, and the scabbard on the table and tied it on his waist inside his clothes.
Step. Step.
By the time they reached outside, Lythian immediately dropped Seven's body on the ground without a care.
The entrance was tucked away at the rear of the mansion, so Lythian made his way toward the backdoor only to find it locked.
Irritated, he circled to the front gate and picked up Seven's body along the way and dragged it, but it too was sealed shut.
Breaking a window was not an option either; each pane was reinforced from within by paired obsidian steel bars and left no gap wide enough to slip through.
Lythian rubbed the bridge of his nose as he glanced down at Seven's unconscious body sprawled across the ground.
He was a culinary student back on Earth, so he knew that even the plant leaves would be edible if there was no option left altogether.
Or fruits.
Glancing towards the forest, the trees were thick and were next to each other, but the leaves were covered with snow and they bore no fruits during the winter season.
"Do I really have to feed him my flesh?"
Lythian muttered.
Being immortal, he could afford to cut a piece of himself off and watch it grow back, rinse and repeat.
But the idea of feeding another person from his own body made his skin crawl.
Still, the thought lingered.
For a moment.
Then his lips curled into a slow, cruel smile.
No.
He would not use his own given that there was another way.
There, in the main gate were bodies of four knights and just outside were two bodies of what seemed like mercenaries.
But all of them got their heart carved out, and Lythian did not consider them.
Instead, he looked towards the middle of a training ground, a girl was lying limp nearby dressed in a maid's outfit and motionless on the bloodstained training ground.
"Perfect."
Lythian muttered.
***
In the Main Hart Duchy
The twins, Zack and Zach, kneeled before a man that shared the same features with them but slightly older.
The third sibling:
Atreus Hart.
Despite his twenty-one years of age, he already reached the first stage of the fourth zaen gane, evident from the four white bracelets tattooed on his wrists.
He also had aristocratic features.
And to the outside, he was a very well-mannered person.
But the sight before the twins now was a complete opposite of that claim.
"Fools!"
Atreus exclaimed as he threw a porcelain cup that shattered exactly at Zack's forehead.
"Useless, braindead, god-damned imbeciles!
"What in the rotting hell were you both doing, fumbling around like headless chickens while the youngest got assassinated?!"
His hand swept everything off the nearby table with a crash.
None of the twins responded, as in the first place it was Atreus who sent them to the exiled mansion as an excuse of a visit but to actually check if the missing Archduke, their father, was there.
And they just reported what happened now, given that they were scared of the judgment Atreus would befall upon them.
But since Atreus wanted to send them again, the twins just told him the events hesitantly; from how they suddenly fainted only to wake up with Seven already dead.
Atreus sat down on a sofa and rested his chin against his knuckles.
Truthfully, Atreus was not usually like this. The rumors of his refined, well-mannered demeanor were not lies but just conveniently forgotten in moments like this.
But since the youngest— the one whose their father was sent to the exiled mansion yet protected from them, and the favorite of the first sibling, Eden Hart— only means trouble.
"If Eden finds out about this…"
He mumbled, thinking countless possibilities about what Eden Hart would do if she found out that her favorite younger brother was assassinated at the same time Atreus sent the twins to visit without the Archduke's permission.
…Whatever it is, it means nothing but trouble.
Haah…
He let out a frustrated sigh and looked at the twins.
"Get out and inform the knight outside to enter."
Atreus ordered.
The twins followed and immediately rushed towards the door, only to be replaced by a knight wearing a full set of armor and kneeled before Atreus.
"I greet the Young Master."
The knight said.
Atreus did not bother returning the gesture.
"Skip the pleasantries. Go retrieve the knights' bodies from the exiled mansion."