MMFHRK-Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Yesterday’s Grudge Is Like a Thorn in the Back!

Lilinai’s judgment was quite accurate.

When the two of them returned from their stroll by the lake, the mansion’s maids quickly noticed:

after nothing more than a single stroll, their mistress looked considerably refreshed in body and spirit.

In contrast, the slave girl Lilinai was panting for breath and trembling all over.

Someone who didn’t know better might have thought she’d carried the Witch on her back for a lap around the lake.

“Has the hot water for the bath been drawn?”

“It has. The temperature is being maintained.”

Airiya’s first words upon returning were this question directed at Aoleila.

Having received the maid’s affirmative reply, the Witch nodded and turned to the girl behind her, who looked thoroughly drained.

“Lilinai, would you like to bathe together with your master today?”

“Ah… I-I wouldn’t want to disturb you.”

Lilinai waved a hand with an awkward smile.

“I’ve sweated quite a lot, so I’d like to wait a while before washing.”

“Is that so? Suit yourself.”

The Witch shrugged.

She asked nothing further, leaving the purple-haired girl behind and heading on her own to the bathroom on the mansion’s east side.

Once Airiya and the maid had left, Lilinai secretly hurried toward the storeroom in the rear courtyard.

“Ssss, ow ow ow…”

After hiding herself in the storeroom.

She immediately leaned against one of the racks, bracing her lower back.

Just as she’d said, hadn’t she?

This Witch thought of nothing but taking advantage of her every single moment!

The two of them had spent a total of one hour by the lake, and for forty minutes of it, what they’d been doing had nothing whatsoever to do with strolling!

This insatiable creature! How on earth had she ever become a Witch?

“Nngh… I can’t even stand steadily.”

Lilinai braced her knees and slowly adjusted her center of gravity.

Complaints aside, she still worked to catch her breath and pulled the practice longsword from the rack.

Under normal circumstances, Airiya’s baths took roughly an hour—this was the pattern she’d summarized after observing many times.

Please—given how luxurious that bathroom was, if it were her, she could soak in there for an entire day.

But she couldn’t indulge herself. She had to make every second count and recover her strength as quickly as possible.

“Come to think of it, that woman has never once forced me into the bath with her…”

Lilinai felt somewhat puzzled.

Considering that the places they’d done it even included the balcony, it was actually rather strange that the Witch had never dragged her into the bath.

“Enough, enough! Why am I even thinking about this…”

Lilinai shook her head, banishing the images of suds and skin that had surfaced in her mind.

Calm down—wasn’t this exactly what she wanted?

Don’t make it look like she was the insatiable one!

She took a deep breath and settled her slightly restless heart.

“—”

The sword rang softly. The girl began entering an assassin’s flow state.

…

In the final years of Luolunbao’s previous dynasty, the entire country was ablaze with war and endless strife, and even in regions not burned away by the flames of war, clashes and killings hidden in the shadows emerged in equally endless succession. Political conspiracies, bloody conflicts, and vast numbers of displaced refugees… these conditions together brought about the rise of a violence industry in the gray areas, and above all brought about the professionalization of one particular occupation—the “assassin.”

And 5 years ago, Lilinai, in order to survive, had thrown in her lot with a certain assassins’ organization.

During wartime, private organizations everywhere would take in orphans and recruit drifters, as this was the fastest way to build up an organization.

By the same logic, assassins’ organizations were no exception.

Lilinai was one of those who joined an organization to survive. Though she was already 15 at the time, and thus somewhat old for a child receiving training—the organization’s leader back then recognized the fire of anger and hatred burning in this girl’s heart, and so passed on his skills to her without reservation. Lilinai lived up to expectations, and over the course of 3 years not only mastered every technique but also completed many missions with distinction.

In Lilinai’s plans, these techniques would one day bring her a return: she firmly believed that she would be able, with her own hands, to drive an assassin’s blade into the enemies who had persecuted her family.

Unfortunately, fate was fickle, and while carrying out her final mission, at the site of the job, she unexpectedly ran into the very noble who had once framed her family.

At that time, anger got the better of her, and disregarding the mission’s requirements and the risks, she attempted to carry out an assassination on that noble.

As a result, she overlooked the circumstances at the time—a full 50-odd members of the kingdom’s guard were stationed there.

By playing the fool, she was sold into slavery and thus kept her life.

Counting the time her family was destroyed, this was the second time she had escaped from the hands of death.

As the saying went, never a third time.

Lilinai understood clearly that she probably wouldn’t get another chance.

She had to treasure this life of hers—before her revenge was complete, any degree of forbearance was necessary.

“Hyah—!”

Gripping the sword in both hands, Lilinai stepped forward and delivered a standard sword-opening form.

She swept the blade in a half-circle through the air, thrust once to the right, then with unmatched speed assumed the high second form, flashed to the side, shifted into the first form, and brought a cleaving strike down onto a rack in the storeroom—where a long-rotted set of leather armor hung, which served perfectly as an imaginary enemy for practice—then she swiftly withdrew the blade, spun with another strike, performed the third form, and precisely sliced through the joint between the leather armor and the helmet.

Afterward, she spun a flourish of the sword at her side, brought it back beneath her arm with a reverse grip, and held it level with her body.

Perfect.

She could feel her movements growing ever more practiced.

Though she wasn’t quite sure what level a Witch was at when it came to combat, she somehow felt that even as she was now, she could go a round with one!

“Then again…”

During a brief rest.

Lilinai recalled what she had heard beneath the desk in the study that day.

“Airiya said she’s holding a tea party next week… and that someone’s coming to visit?”

By the looks of it, Airiya took this matter quite seriously.

Airiya’s outing today had probably been to arrange related affairs as well.

And judging from the information Lilinai had overheard, the visitor, like Airiya, was a member of the “Witches.”

“A second Witch, huh… tch.”

Lilinai pressed a hand to her forehead.

One Witch was already more than enough for her to handle, and now another was coming.

Considering Airiya’s dreadful personality, that visitor who was likewise a Witch was, in all likelihood, no gentle soul either.

“Still, this might be an opportunity.”

Lilinai fell into thought.

Airiya’s guard against her was very low right now, and the Witch visiting next week would certainly be an honored guest whom she’d need to attend to seriously.

In other words, once next week came, the Witch’s attention would be focused on the tea party—the time when her vigilance toward her would be at its lowest.

“Perhaps I could try to ‘assassinate’ her at that moment…?”

The instant this thought surfaced in her mind.

Lilinai’s breathing quickened. She hurriedly soothed herself and grew calm once more.

Her current strength, while not back at its peak, had at least recovered to sixty or seventy percent.

But using blade and sword against a Witch was still a bit too reckless.

Setting aside whether she could successfully kill Airiya, even if Airiya really were assassinated by her, the other Witch would certainly notice and would seize her before she could flee.

She needed a delayed assassination.

The act of assassination had to occur when Airiya’s vigilance was at its lowest, while the result of the assassination had to occur when the other Witch had departed…

Thinking it over and over, there was only one conclusion.

Indeed, the best method was—

“…Poisoning.”

Lilinai murmured.

Back at the assassins’ organization, they had taught her herbology and toxicology.

Even from some very ordinary herbs or spices, she could produce poison.

Perhaps out of confidence, perhaps out of arrogance, Airiya had never issued her any command along the lines of “you may not harm your master.”

Though even if she really did assassinate the Witch, her collar still couldn’t be removed—a collar that lost its master would have its permissions automatically transferred back to the trading house that had sold it. Once someone discovered that she had fled as a slave, and the slave trading house learned of it, they could issue an order to recall her at any time, and her freedom would be stripped away once again.

But…

“If the collar can’t come off, I can find another way later.

“But to escape Airiya’s clutches, this may be my only chance.

“At worst, I’ll complete my revenge before the trading house finds out… and after that, what does it matter?”

In any case, this life of hers existed only for revenge.

Lilinai made up her mind.

Setting psychology aside, at the frequency Airiya was currently using her to vent, a few more months of this and her body would be wrecked as well.

Enough!

Never mind all that!

Yesterday’s grudge was like a thorn in the back!

What’s more, the last time Airiya had humiliated her was a mere half hour ago.

“Airiya, I told you, didn’t I?

“The Kaoenxier family’s sharp blade has now arrived as promised.”

Lilinai stroked the coldly gleaming blade and said in a low voice.

The mansion was utterly silent. No one knew of the girl’s whispered words.