The Assassin's Seven Principles of Manipulation

Chapter 283: Chapter 278 — Smile

”We need to attack first. Take the fight straight to the cocksuckers. I don’t know where the hell they got those armors, but chances are they don’t have food. Give it a few days of siege and those bastards will crack.”

Nedra made her point by planting the southern piece directly in front of the model of the northern fortress.

The other cadet heads within the war room frowned, considering her words. Then, a moment later, Kaiden narrowed his eyes thoughtfully, trying his absolute best to look intelligent, or more accurately, more intelligent than a particular purple-eyed figure.

”I still think attacking blindly is stupid. Like Zephyrion said, those armors are military-issued. They didn’t just fall out of the fucking sky. They got them from somewhere.”

Nedra frowned. ”And does it really matter where? We know they have them. Wonderful. Mystery solved.”

”Yes, it matters. What if there’s some secret supply route we don’t know about? If they can get armor through it, they can get food through it too. Then we sit outside their fortress starving absolutely no one.”

”Even if that’s the case...” Nedra said slowly. ”I still say we attack. We just shoved their master plan straight up their asses, so they’re probably desperate right now. Sitting around waiting for them to try something else feels like a severe lack of neurons. We need to grab these fuckers by the cock and yank.”

Several of the males visibly winced, a few instinctively shifting in their seats as they threw Nedra uncomfortable looks. Kaelith Korrath glanced sideways at her, his expression briefly twisting, before turning towards Kaiden.

”As painful as this is to admit, I actually agree with Kaiden. Charging in without knowing anything sounds much closer to a severe lack of neurons.”

Nedra’s frown deepened as she slowly looked around.

”Oh, I’m sorry. Did someone ask the donkey for his opinion?”

Kaelith narrowed his eyes. ”Does the opinion of a cocksucker like you really matter?”

Nedra froze. Then, slowly, she turned towards Kaelith, her eyes dropping several degrees below freezing.

”I’m not a cocksucker.”

Judging by the killing intent suddenly bleeding out from her, Kaelith had somehow struck a nerve. Still, rather than back down, he met her eyes, the slightest hint of amusement appearing on his face.

”You mention cocks in practically every sentence that comes out of your mouth. At some point, we have to ask questions.” He tilted his head slightly. ”So which is it? Annoying bitchy feminist or cocksucker? Pick one.”

”You stupid fucking sorry excuse for—”

”That’s enough.”

Kaelion cut in before Nedra could take so much as a step forward. His gaze moved between the two of them, carrying a quiet warning.

After Vaelor and whatever unknown monster Lumi had turned out to be, Kaelion was considered the next strongest among them, having only lost to Vaelor in the semifinals.

It was a reputation he seemed to carry naturally in his demeanor. He rarely spoke during meetings, but on the few occasions he did, there was always a certain authority behind his words. Most of the cadets respected him deeply.

Unfortunately, Kaelith and Nedra weren’t most cadets. The former had a superiority complex large enough to rival his family name, while the latter was simply a wild card.

Kaelion seemed to know this too, which was why he immediately anchored his interruption to the only person whose authority neither of them could easily ignore.

”You can insult each other after the meeting. The final decision still belongs to the Prime.”

Kaelith immediately glanced towards Zephyrion, caution flashing across his face before he cleared his throat and fell silent. Meanwhile, Nedra merely scoffed and turned away, folding her arms across her chest. Just like that, the argument died.

Every eye turned towards Zephyrion, who was silently staring at the map.

However, there was something noticeably absent from his usually intense purple eyes. Of everyone in the room, Lumi and Fiona were the first to notice. The former stared at him worriedly, while the latter was the one who eventually spoke up.

”Zephyrion... is something wrong?”

Zephyrion blinked and looked around, only to find every eye in the room fixed on him. He frowned slightly, realizing his slip-up.

The truth was, his mind hadn’t been entirely on the meeting. Only minutes ago, he’d received a message from Ingrid, his sister, but also their House Commander.

She wasn’t supposed to communicate with them at all. Not even with him.

Yet no matter how much he tried to focus on the discussion, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. What could possibly make Ingrid willing to break the rules just to send him a message?

Realizing he was beginning to drift off again, Zephyrion decided it would be better to excuse himself and get to the bottom of it.

”It’s nothing,” he said, rising to his feet. ”I need to check something. I’ll be back.”

”What...?”

Not waiting for a response, he left the war room. Zephyrion made sure to put a substantial enough distance between himself and the others before finally opening the message. He went through it quickly. Then, a moment later, a smile slowly crept onto his face.

The message itself was quite simple. Malach had someone within the academy helping him. Though Zephyrion had already come to this conclusion on his own, Ingrid had not only confirmed it, but had also identified exactly who it was.

The Northern House Commander, Rhydan Sarakhel.

Still, identifying the culprit was far from the reason he was currently smiling.

’She was... trying to warn me?’

She was literally breaking academy rules by doing this. Ordinarily, Zephyrion wouldn’t have thought much of it, especially considering Rhydan was doing far worse, but he had come to understand the sort of person Ingrid was.

She was heavily principled, the sort who believed nothing worthwhile should come without hard work. For someone like her to deliberately break those principles just to help him meant something.

It meant she cared more about helping him than upholding them.

Zephyrion scoffed. ”Why did she have to do that?” he muttered, even as the smile on his face only grew wider.