The Noble Lady of Lust

Chapter 411: Little Incident

Art of Lust

We were facing each other, and I began to discreetly gather power in my hand; it would be a quick and precise blow. I sensed her anatomy beforehand, and she was a mage.

Even so, she is not far behind the powerful ones of her generation, such as Celestine or Maximilian, and it is very likely that my attack will not be effective, even more so because I am only a doppelgänger.

Not to mention that, being who she is, she will clearly have defensive artifacts and other things; but I’ll try anyway.

I’m going to finish her off.

Even if I fail, it will serve as a warning that I’m not afraid to kill her, that she will have to pay a price if she wants to mess with me, and that her life may be included.

”What, now you’re the one who has nothing to say? Did the mouse bite your tongue? Or are you just all talk?”

I tried to provoke her; it would be better if she was the one who lost her temper and attacked me first. That way I would have more leverage in my alibi if I succeeded.

I sensed my surroundings and there was no one close enough or powerful enough to interfere, so I had room to make more follow-up attacks, giving me a better chance of finishing her off.

Fifth Stance

’W-wait, Chris... ugh—fine, whatever-.”¿’

Only Silvia, who was next to me, seemed scared because she noticed my movement. She seemed to want to stop me, and she spoke to me mentally, but then she stopped, and for some reason, I felt her strengthening me.

It seems she silently cast some powerful strengthening spells on me.

I don’t know why she’s helping me do something like this, but I appreciate it, although I’d rather she step aside a little so she doesn’t get involved.

”No, but I’m asking you: you said you’d line up our heads, would that include my sister?”

”No, why would I include Rowyn in something her suicidal sister is getting herself into?”

It was a shame, because if I eliminate this dwarf, I’ll lose a potential friend, but as with Evangeline, I’m not going to cling to friendships that haven’t even begun.

I’m not going to try to protect the future by sacrificing my present. If Rowyn seeks revenge later, I’ll take care of her too.

’Okay, I convinced Elena to cover for us, and Alice will also attack discreetly... I’m almost there too. I’ll self-destruct with that bitch to get the job done. Let’s be quick.’

My doppelgänger was as focused as I was on getting the job done. This woman, in my eyes, was no different from someone who was already dead, and she brought it on herself.

Tempting—

”Oh! Perfect... junior, you did very well. That was another lesson from your elder.”

”...”

I’m not going to believe any nonsense. Even though I don’t have the eyes of lust, I could clearly sense that she was being honest; otherwise, I wouldn’t immediately consider her a potential dangerous factor that needs to be eliminated.

She seemed to realize that I wasn’t believing her words and kept talking.

”It was to see if you would be intimidated. If you were, I would teach you not to let yourself be intimidated, as that could be fatal. But I see that it’s not necessary. Ahem. So you can stop looking at me like that, and I’d also appreciate it if you could withdraw that thick murderous intent. Ah, why are you holding me so tightly?”

”Stop playing dumb. I know you were serious. I don’t know if you noticed what I was about to do, but tell me: are you planning to do something against the people close to me?”

She was very close to me, so I reached out and put my hand on her shoulder. She wanted to cover up her previous words with a silly excuse, but I also noticed that she seemed to want to backtrack on what she said.

If she was just saying that to buy time, I would attack; if she really changed her mind, I won’t do anything.

”You know what you’re doing is dangerous. If I weren’t controlling several of my attack-type defensive devices, they would have been activated.”

”To the point. And I would recommend you not lie.”

”Haaah~ I see you’re very similar to me in this regard, no, you’re much worse. I touched something I shouldn’t have, huh? Fine, I’ll be honest. For starters, I only threatened you half-seriously. I just want to know where you heard about it and who else knew.”

”...”

”I thought that would be enough to scare a junior. In the worst case, I was just going to send someone to beat you up and get the truth out of you.”

”That’s all?”

”I don’t know what you think of me, but I’m not that extreme... well, at most, if you continued to be stubborn, I would use those close to you. Hey, but don’t hold me so tight, it hurts; ugh! Let me finish.”

”Go ahead.”

”Uff... I would use them, but with my favorite method, which is to give them a lot of money to betray you and get the truth out of you or something like that; it always works. But if that failed, I would keep trying other methods, but I wouldn’t kill; personally, I feel like that’s a bit too extreme just for a possibility.”

”...”

”

”Well, I understand why you misinterpreted it because I said it that way on purpose... But I see that with you, I can’t do that kind of thing without consequences. You know, for a moment I felt a chill down my neck when you said that about the heads; you really meant it, and I realized that wasn’t the right way to go, so I backed off.”

”That was good judgment on your part.”

”Yes, a lot of my work depends on that. Besides, as far as I know, you have nothing to gain by spreading that information, and you don’t seem to have anything against my sister, or am I wrong?”

”No, in fact, I have a certain fondness for her and her personality.”

”That’s a good thing. I really don’t want to make an enemy of a junior who, according to my research, is a monster in her generation. But I still want to know, and this is not a threat, just a request. I just want to know where you heard it; it’s a very important secret and I don’t want it to spread.”

She went back to acting as she had before, and as if understanding that I was evaluating her honesty, she was very explanatory, and she wasn’t lying. What she said was true.

If I think about it, I did fall into her trap, of course; at no point did she say she was after our lives or those close to me, she just hinted at it a little and threatened to put a price on my head, although she didn’t say it was to kill me.

It was clear what she wanted to achieve, but I didn’t act as she expected, and she realized that I was serious.

In the end, as she said, it seemed that it was all just to intimidate me, to protect her sister’s secret, although I know that it will eventually come to light.

I guess I escalated this on my own; when I think about it, it’s a bit like Rosy’s case.

When it comes to a potential danger, and on top of that, one that is totally unknown in terms of its scope, I tend to become very drastic and immediately give it the highest priority.

I don’t think that mentality of decisively eliminating unknown dangers is wrong, but I must assume that I shouldn’t be so hasty.

If I think about it, I could back down and return to words without resorting to threats; I’ll try to be calmer if a similar situation arises again.

It’s better to calm down and find another possible resolution.

Well, in the end, it was a false alarm, and what I was preparing wasn’t necessary, so I canceled it.

Now the thing is, even though she backed down in that sense, she doesn’t seem willing to give up, because for her it was already a fact that I knew about her sister, and I feel like it won’t end here if I don’t give her an answer.

’I have to stop acting like this in the future; it could get me into trouble.’

If, in hindsight, I was the one who got myself into this, I guess I have to resolve it peacefully.

”Haa~ okay, I’ll tell you. Yes, I know about your sister, but no one told me anything, so you don’t have to worry about any leaks and it being paid for somewhere you don’t know about. I found out on my own. I’m not going to give you any details, but something in me allowed me to notice that about your sister.”

”Ufff~... so that’s all it was. I was a little paranoid after all, with so many people waiting for me to slip up... Junior, you’re not going to go around spreading it around or anything, right? And it’s not a threat, no; it’s more of a request.”

”I had no plans to do so... well, beyond my acquaintances, but I’ll refrain.”

Well, it doesn’t matter if I don’t tell the girls; after all, Rowyn isn’t a potential member.

I guess if any of them ask me why, I’ll just say that I see her as a friend, like Silvia or something.

”Same goes for you, another cute junior, who cooperated with that dangerous attack.”

”I... I won’t.”

”So you did notice.”

”So you were up to something, lucky I backed off.”

This girl was just testing me and I gave myself away; no, Silvia was to blame. I guess we need to have a few more classes so we don’t expose the flow mana.

She, who has an ability that allows her to see it, should be the most skilled, so it must be because she neglected her training; I’ll give her an intensive class later.

”Well, it wasn’t just that, I kind of knew; I have a rare device that detects mortal dangers, but I didn’t think a junior could do something that my generation couldn’t; but it seemed like it was serious. Junior, were you really going to kill me or something because of what I said?”

”You’re very direct and curious, huh? And I’ll tell you just as directly that yes, after all, problems must be eliminated at the root, don’t you think?”

”Wow, what a mindset you have when you haven’t even graduated yet. But tell me, were you sure you could do it?”

”Why are we still talking about how I wanted to give you a deadly attack?”

”Well, I’m very curious, as you said; so, were you confident?”

”No, I wasn’t sure; you must have of defensive artifacts. Even so, it’s difficult to have many, since it’s hard to find artifacts that don’t affect the functioning of others; I think that if the right circumstances arise, I could.눈_눈”

Yes, from the beginning I wasn’t 100% sure, but with several powerful attacks and the self-destruction of my doppelgänger, the chances weren’t slim; at least I would have seriously injured her.

”Ugh! That gave me the chills, don’t look at me like that. I really wonder what you’re capable of; my logic tells me it’s impossible, but it doesn’t seem like just talk.”

”Nothing is absolutely impossible, senior.”

”You’re right, ugh, look, I ended up being the one who learned a lesson here... Well, aside from whether you’re capable, that’s actually the right mindset, I think exactly the same way. I really like how decisive you are, as well as your way of thinking. I’ll make sure not to do anything like that again, not even as a joke.”

”That would be best for both of us.”

”Anyway, we’re okay now, right?”

”...I guess so. I don’t want to be on bad terms with an influential senior; I’m someone who always seeks the path of peace if possible.”

””Hahaha~ alright, yes, it was my fault—I started all of this, after all. How about I treat you to a meal later as compensation for this little incident?”