Chapter 134
“That really would have been your plan, wouldn’t it? Given your past, it’s not even inaccurate. Grandis is going to come for your throat, by the way, so you’d better watch yourself.”
Viviana was inwardly startled but managed to maintain her composure.
In reality, she had used her charm ability to seduce other people’s lovers and close friends, luring them away, regardless of gender. To her, it was a form of amusement. The thrill of stealing someone’s most cherished person gave her a rush of pleasure and superiority.
On top of that, she even had a record of trying to seduce Grandis’s fiancé, and when that failed, she killed him.
But it had been ruled an accidental fall, and she’d pinned the blame on Kido—who was already on bad terms with Grandis. A perfect cover.
There’s no evidence. How could she know? It’s just a bluff, surely.
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
“Your reason for approaching Enoch in the first place was exactly that, wasn’t it? After marrying him, you planned to siphon off my fortune, kill me, and then seize the inheritance from my uncle as well. You’ve had sticky fingers since childhood, always coveting and secretly taking what was mine, and now you’ve grown into a greedy adult on top of it all.”
Kido was right. Viviana had wanted everything Kido possessed, and she wanted to steal it all.
She had obtained Enoch, but his status and title alone weren’t enough to satisfy her.
After all, he’d only ever professed his love with words and never once taken decisive action to break off his engagement with Kido.
Kido raised both hands, shrugged, and asked.
“Did you think I didn’t know your true intentions?”
“Even if you point fingers now, there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Viviana held her head high with brazen confidence and continued.
“This place runs on hierarchy, doesn’t it? As long as I’m Number 10 and you’re Number 49, you’ll suffer every single day. You and I are noblewoman and maid. That’s the difference between us.”
“So you’re not planning to kill me outright?”
“Do you really think I’d let you die comfortably? Don’t you dare die too soon. I intend to work you like a personal servant for the rest of your life.”
“What a shame, truly… I miss the old days when your eyes would gleam with killing intent every time you looked at me…”
Kido murmured as though reminiscing, wearing a genuinely wistful expression.
This bizarre reaction made Viviana’s skin crawl.
‘What? It’s as if she wants to be killed. Has her life become so miserable that she’s lost her mind?’
After a moment of private deliberation, Viviana smiled haughtily.
“I heard you called Prisoners Number 1 and 2 your ‘loyal dogs.'”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
When Kido responded with such brazen confidence, Viviana, who had thought she’d seized a weakness, found her momentum faltering slightly.
“I deliberately didn’t pass that on, thinking it might shorten your lifespan.”
“Go ahead and tell them now. They’re right over there, as it happens.”
Viviana looked in the direction Kido indicated with a tilt of her chin.
Fearless as Kido might be, Johann and Enrique were the kind of beings you didn’t dare meet eyes with.
The terror surrounding the top-ranked Wielders had been further warped by lurid rumors that they ripped the limbs off prisoners, that they were cannibals, and the like.
Over by the extrusion and molding equipment, the two men stood with grave expressions.
Silhouetted against the sparking flames, they looked all the more menacing, but it was the rumors doing half the work.
A nearby prisoner could be heard muttering to the one beside him.
“They say those two shove any prisoner who annoys them into that red-hot blast furnace. They’re probably deciding who to throw in right now.”
“Is it true that someone got incinerated at the crematory just for making eye contact?”
Their demonic tales made Viviana’s face go slightly pale.
Moreover, through Clara, she had already learned the unspoken rule that one must never address a higher-ranked prisoner first.
If she tattled carelessly and they found it annoying, she and Kido might both end up tossed into the incinerator or the blast furnace.
“Enrique, why does the cooling take so long? It’d be faster if you just froze it.”
“If you rapidly cool a heated stone, it shatters.”
“Scientific basis, confirmed.”
In reality, the two men’s conversation was both informative and perfectly wholesome.
Watching Viviana cower from their appearance and rumors alone, Kido snickered.
“You don’t actually have the guts to tattle, do you? People who try to steal what others have are usually the cowards who never had the courage to claim anything for themselves.”
Viviana’s expression crumpled as she stepped forward, closing the distance.
“Cow—what? And you had the courage to earn everything you’ve got? You were just lucky enough to catch Marquis Farsene’s eye. Do you know what everyone said behind your back? That the Marquis never married, and the fact that he gave succession rights to you—someone who couldn’t even Awaken by adulthood—meant he had… other feelings for his niece—”
CLANG—!
“AGH!”
With a crash like a pair of cymbals, stars burst across Viviana’s vision.
The canteen struck from nowhere, square against her skull. Viviana’s eyes rolled back and she crumpled to the ground.
The surrounding prisoners turned in shock to stare at Kido and the fallen Viviana.
In Kido’s hand, as she stared coldly down at the woman, was a canteen.
Insubordination and rank-advancement fights among prisoners were common enough, but it was entirely unprecedented for the lowest-ranked Number 49 to crack a canteen across the skull of Number 10—someone vastly above her in the hierarchy.
Kido tugged the corner of her lips into a cold smile.
“It’s not courage. It’s audacity.[1]“
Translation Notes:
[1] ↩
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