The Assassin's Seven Principles of Manipulation

Chapter 353: Chapter 348 — Enough

The memories had begun returning now, albeit slowly. Zephyrion ignored the ancestor’s theatrics entirely and focused on piecing together the events of last night. But despite everything that had happened, his mind eventually settled on something else.

’...She really didn’t come.’

Demorian’s rambling abruptly stopped, followed by a sigh. ’Protege... don’t let one bad night get into your head. You still need to find Ingrid and apologi—’

Zephyrion shut Demorian out, silencing his voice along with every other distracting thought.

’Enough.’

He was done with that.

He glanced towards Lumi, who was still signing, asking what exactly had happened last night.

”Nothing important. I’ll tell you later,” Zephyrion lied.

Another knock came from the door just as he stood up, followed by the quiet, familiar voice of Tobias.

”My lord... apologies for disturbing you, but something’s happening, and... I think you should know about it.”

’Something happened...’

The image of his fist piercing through Horus’ chest flashed through Zephyrion’s mind, and his gaze immediately sharpened.

Ignoring Lumi’s wary look, he quickly examined himself. Someone had changed him into a clean cadet uniform, and every trace of the blood that had leaked from his eyes, nose, and ears had been wiped away.

He glanced towards Lumi before quickly signing with one hand.

What happened to my old clothes?

Lumi’s brows immediately furrowed, and she puffed her cheeks in annoyance at him completely ignoring her question. Still, she raised her hands and responded.

I destroyed them.

Zephyrion stared at her for a moment, mildly surprised she’d taken the initiative without being told. Some of the tension left his body as he reached over and patted her head, then finally made his way towards the door.

Tobias was just raising his hand to knock again when the door suddenly opened. He flinched slightly before quickly straightening himself.

”Ah! My lord. You finally answered...”

Besides him, Fiona, Kaiden, Draven, Kaelith, Nedra, and Lucien were gathered outside, each wearing unusually grim expressions.

”What happened?”

”Ah, right.” Tobias’ expression immediately turned serious. ”My lord, it’s Horus. Something might’ve happened to him.”

Zephyrion kept his expression perfectly calm, merely raising an eyebrow.

”What do you mean something happened?”

”No one’s really sure yet, my lord. The instructors have been questioning everyone, trying to figure out who saw him last. But... but...” Tobias suddenly glanced down both sides of the hallway as though expecting an instructor to materialize from the walls.

Then, lowering his voice, he leaned closer and whispered,

”A friend of mine knows a girl whose brother has a friend whose younger brother is close to one of the instructors.”

Zephyrion frowned slightly at the unnecessarily complicated chain, and judging by the strange looks the others were giving Tobias, he wasn’t the only one.

”...Tobias. The point?”

Tobias coughed awkwardly and finally got to the point. ”Right. Apparently, they found Horus’ severed arm near the academy gate, but the rest of him was nowhere to be found. The academy thinks he fled, and they’re searching for him now.”

Exactly as Zephyrion had hoped. It was good news, and some of the tension within him eased, but Horus was known by everyone here as one of his loyal companions. Showing even the slightest relief would be strange.

Zephyrion instead adopted a grim, thoughtful expression.

”...but the academy is already over. Why would he run now?”

”That’s what we don’t understand,” Fiona said with a frown. ”He made significant contributions during the House Wars, and our results are about to come out. If he wanted to leave, why wait until now?”

”Tch.” Nedra clicked her tongue. ”Fucking pussy. Probably cracked under the pressure and ran.”

”He has been acting strange lately,” Tobias added. ”Snapping at people, keeping to himself... maybe Nedra’s right and the pressure finally got to him?”

”Let’s not decide the man’s entire story before they’ve even found him.” Kaiden glanced around at the others. ”None of us knows what happened. We should keep an open mind until we do, right, Zephyrion?”

”Kaiden’s right.” Zephyrion nodded. ”Whatever happened, Horus fought beside us. We owe him enough not to stain his name with rumors before we know the truth. Until they find him, we assume nothing.”

The others fell silent at his words, even Nedra seeming to recognize the point. After a moment, they gradually nodded in agreement.

”Everyone’s gathering at the mess hall because of Horus,” Fiona said. ”You’re coming, right?”

Weirdly enough, she met his eyes and gave a small smile. She’d been avoiding even talking to him since he told her how he felt, and this was clearly like a major development. At the very least, she appeared happier.

”...Of course.”

The group began to leave, but Tobias had barely taken a few steps when he suddenly stopped.

”Ah! Wait, my lord. I almost forgot. There was something else.”

He hurried back towards Zephyrion and leaned close, whispering something into his ear.

Zephyrion’s eyes widened for the briefest instant before he immediately buried his shock beneath his usual calm expression. A moment later, he gave Tobias a small nod and shut the door.

Leaning against the doorframe, Zephyrion stared at nothing in particular, an uncomfortable twist slowly forming in his gut. Tobias’ news had been quite straightforward. Apparently, the same instructor had mentioned something else.

House Commander Ingrid Calderalth had left the academy.

A moment later, Demorian’s hesitant voice sounded in his mind.

’Protege...’

’Don’t, Demorian. I don’t want to hear it. She made her choice.’

’...I know you’re upset, but she has every right to be upset too. Maybe she just needed some time away to clear her head. If you find her and actually talk to her—’

’I’m not going after her.’

Demorian went silent for a moment. ’...what?’

’This is better.’ Zephyrion slowly exhaled. ’I just discovered that another being possibly on par with Frost exists, and in the same night, I killed his subordinate. I’ve most likely made a major enemy. Getting distracted by attachments now would be illogical.’

His gaze hardened slightly. ’Ingrid leaving solves that problem. Now I can focus on what matters.’

’She’s your sister, Protege. She matters.’

’Not right now. Besides, she’s my sister. She’ll still be there when I decide to apologize. Right now, I have more important things to worry about.’ He clenched his fists. ’I need power.’

Demorian’s silence was quite loud, and though he didn’t speak, Zephyrion could practically feel everything the ancestor wanted to say. Unfortunately, Demorian seemed to realize there was no getting through to the current Zephyrion.

A moment later, Zephyrion settled onto his bed and instructed Lumi to make sure no one disturbed him. Then, shutting his eyes, he turned his attention inward.

’Enough wasting time. We’re doing the next reforging now.’