As she stepped into the room, closing the door behind her, she stopped moving. It was here, the murderous aura that Choi Han had, yet less. It was the aura of one who had murdered many. Her eyes scanned the room rapidly, how did they get in? She picked up on the gust of wind flowing her way, and the curtains billowing with the breeze. They left the window open. Her smile widened. So they're stupid. That makes this easy.
She stepped inside. Her head cocked to the side. It was easy to sense auras when someone left them for all to see, expecting their target would be someone weak. A weak person could not sense aura, they could only see them if a Swordmaster used theirs. Except, as she searched for the exact location of the aura, she found that the assassin was hiding behind the library. She frowned. Stepping closer. How?
She was in front of the library now, her footsteps quiet. She scanned the shelves, looking for a sign. There was supposed to be nothing but a wall behind the shelves, but it appeared not to be. She could sense mana fluctuations, it wasn't that large, but she was sensitive. So this person is also a mage. Maybe a beast person. An assassin who can sense mana how interesting.
Her eyes remained on a book that was slightly out of place. The book was sticking out, almost as if someone had taken it out, and then put it back in a hurry. She felt herself smiling, Countess Violan herself had checked the room, in no way would the prim and proper Countess Violan not notice the book sticking out, and not put it back straight aligned with the other books.
She wondered for a moment, what exactly the assassin was meaning to do. Wait until she fell asleep to slice her neck? It did not matter what they were going to do, for in a few moments they will be dead. She pulled out the book, and found she couldn't take it out completely, it only resisted her hand and stayed in place as the mana started to fluctuate more irregularly, and the library moved to the side, revealing the assassin.
He was startled but had gotten up in time, enough time to raise his dagger high in the air. Adara wasted no time. She closed the small distance between them quickly. Her hands were on the assassin's biceps and her knee was jabbed into his stomach. He fell to the floor, his knees buckling, only getting held by her strong hold on his arms.
Realising his feet wouldn't be exactly working, nor his lungs since she had knocked the wind out of him, he tried stabbing her arm but found that she had already moved her hand to his wrist, simply taking the dagger out of his hand and throwing it on the floor while maintaining a strong grip on him. Maybe he's the offspring of a magic-resistant person and a mage, she mused. He can sense it, obviously, but he hasn't tried anything, yet.
The assassin couldn't quite believe he had been defeated by trash. Trash, who he had paid good money to have some information about, was reported to be weak, always drinking, with no bite but all bark. This bitch was none of those things, he noted. Her eyes were clear, cold and calculating, he wasn't sure how exactly she found his hiding spot but it took him a while to find it, so she must be at least at his level. He could feel his frustration growing as he tried to properly breathe. "They told me you were weak," he seethed, inspecting her scarred face.
"That's what he tells all of them," she responded coldly, her eyes colder. He cursed himself in his head. He knew it was too suspicious that her head had been priced highly in the underground for ages and yet she was still alive. It seemed like nothing, a Count's daughter, not even the current Countess's since the bitches mother died when she was born.
He was sure she was going to kill him, yet she made no move to grab a weapon, or the dagger residing on the floor. She was thinking hard, and yet her eyes were clear. He realised with a chill, that she had already determined that he would die, the only question was how.
A knock sounded at the door. The assassin's face brightened since this would put her in problems if someone saw her and it might give him a chance to escape the clutches of this crazy bitch. But he noticed that the so-called Trash Adara was also smiling. There's only one person who can walk so quietly, she thought. "Come on in, Ron. Got a rabbit for you."
The door opened with only a small creak. Ron was there, the steak on a platter in his hand. His smile was vicious as he realised what was happening. He put the platter down, next to the basket she had left earlier. And stepped towards the opened library. "So, you found the hidden passageway then?" he asked, smiling.
The assassin's heart sank into his aching stomach.
"Yeah," she casually responded. "Found this punk hiding in there, waiting to slit my throat."
"Oh, we cannot have that," Ron said.
She quickly changed her position, using one hand to hold both of his wrists, and the other hand to grab his hair so she could drag him out of the passageway. He flinched at the nimble fingers pulling at his hair.
"Where does the passage end?" she asked, getting straight to the point, now able to properly look at Ron.
"Why, the Young Master's room."
That's a coincidence, she thought. There are no such things as coincidences. "You chose this room," she said, vaguely remembering what Hans said. "Why?"
The assassin felt his frustration growing at the fact he was being ignored. He opened his mouth, but before he could even speak Adara pulled harder on his hair. "You shut up," she hissed between her teeth.
Ron smiled. "I chose this room a long time ago, I am only slighted disappointed you haven't found the passageway sooner."
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure. Had more important things to do," she muttered. But why? What benefit did it have for us to have a passageway connecting our rooms? Except, that raises the question, who made this passageway and are there more? She dismissed the thoughts from her head, her eyes falling on the assassin in her grasp. "What is the easiest way to kill someone without spilling blood? I rather like this nightdress."
She had been speaking so casually, the assassin did not realise at first that it was his blood that was going to be spilt.
"That would be choking," Ron helpfully answered.
"And then what?" Her eyebrow raised. "Will he be fed to the Man-Eating Tree never to be seen again?"
The assassin wasn't familiar with the Man-Eating Tree, but he was sure it wasn't entirely pleasant.
Ron had a curious frown on his face. "I had not originally thought of that, though it is an interesting way of disposing of the body."
Adara was also frowning. "I don't like it." Memories came forth from something Cale had said earlier that day. "Say, your son, Beacrox, he likes torturing people, right?"
Ron nodded, surprised she knew this about his son. "Yes, he specialises in it. Do you need information, Young Mistress?"
"No. I know why my head's on display for all to see in the Underworld. I just thought he'd want to have some fun with him. But if he doesn't want it, then maybe the Tree is the right answer," she mused, the assassin only feeling the slow feeling of foreboding.
"Oh, I am sure he will enjoy the gift. Just hand me the pathetic excuse of an assassin and I'll hand him to Beacrox," Ron was smiling, his arms opened wide.
Adara let out a small sigh. Happy she would be able to get rid of the assassin, and happy she didn't need to worry about the blood. But she was tired, and all she wanted to do right now was eat, and sleep. There were no other assassins, and none would be as brazen as this one to show up while she was under Count Henituse's protection, so she could, in theory, sleep peacefully tonight. Though she knew she would not be able to.
She released her hold on his hands, but the assassin was expecting it, so he quickly reached up, hoping to at least land an uppercut on the bitch he was supposed to be assassinating. But, Adara who had sensed his muscles tensing, had also expected it, so her hand darted to his arm and broke it. The assassin whimpered at the sudden pain, cradling his arm. Adara sent a bored look at Ron. "Do you still want him? He's damaged goods. And a weakling."
Ron smiled again. "But goods all the same. And you know what they say about weaklings, they break easier." He easily picked up the assassin, before walking to the still-open library passageway. "Thank you, Young Mistress."
"No problem," she responded, raising an eyebrow internally at how he went inside the library. It was unlikely, and frankly quite stupid to drag the assassin through Cale's room so she briefly wondered if it lead to more places than one. She rolled her shoulders, happier now that the assassin was gone, and tried not to think too much about the passageway, it was too confusing and she hadn't eaten yet. Putting the fake book back into its place on the shelf, she made sure it was aligned with the rest of the walls. She wasn't going to make the same mistake the assassin did.
Adara woke up groggily. Nobody had come to wake her, but she could hear Cale talking. He was probably in his room. She rubbed at her eyes. The first thing she had seen when she opened them, except for the ceiling, was the library, she sighed. It is too early to think about the passageway. It is too early to think.
She got out of bed, grabbing the shawl with half-open eyes. Walking out of the room, she tried finding the way without listening to the voices. The rooms looked different in the morning. Suddenly, she came upon a familiar head full of red hair and smiled sleepily. Ron was next to him, with Choi Han in front of the two.
They were talking, Choi Han was asking for something, for help or a request, probably something to do with Harris Village.
"Based on your situation, I doubt you'll ask for something difficult. Well, if it is something difficult, I'm sure Hans will know where to draw the line," Cale was saying as she came into view. She was still drowsy, her eyes barely completely open. She walked to Cale, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head on his shoulder. He was dressed, she noted, in clothes fit to go outside. "Adara?" she heard him ask.
"Hmm, yeah?" she mumbled, frowning slightly. The mood had gone down significantly, but she was too tired to think why. Unbeknownst to her, Choi Han and Ron had seen her other scars. Everyone knew of the scars on her face, those were the most obvious ones. But, at night, they hadn't seen the others. The multiple ones on her legs, on her arms, and on her chest, were illuminated in the brightness of the morning. They were all wondering what had happened, they could tell it happened a while ago, but why haven't the scars faded yet?
"Tired?"
"Yeah," she agreed. "Couldn't sleep since you guys were talking loudly."
Cale's eyebrows rose. We were talking loudly? "Ron," he said, putting an arm around Adara, "tell Beacrox to make breakfast for us two, and tell Hans to bring some clothes for Adara." He did not wait for a response, only turned around and tried to redirect the exhausted Adara into his room.
"Young Master," Ron spoke as the door closed, "I will do as you ask." I'm sure Beacrox will be delighted to make breakfast for someone who gave him such a fun gift the other night.
Once inside, Cale sat down on the couch, a tired Adara leaning into him, her knees tucked to her chest, and her head resting on Cale. "I'm sorry," she mumbled.
"About what?" Cale asked, his voice indifferent, except for curiosity.
"I normally do this with my Cale, I forgot you weren't him," she explained, still tired, except calmer now. She was apologizing and yet not making the move to change positions. "You both look the same."
Cale let out a hum. "Makes no matter. Do as you please, it will make sense for everyone to see you acting like you normally do."
"Of course," she responded, getting drowsier by the second.
There was a moment of silence before Cale spoke again. "Ron was making some weird remarks earlier today. Did someone break in? Or come in the night?"
Adara could barely keep her eyes open. "Yeah," she murmured. "An assassin."
"What."
She slowly opened up one of her eyes, to look at his expression. His complexion had turned an ashy pale as if he had heard the most devastating news ever. She groaned, the shoulder that she was resting on was also tensing. "Calm down, it came for me not you. No one wants your pretty little head," she added, bitterly. His shoulders relaxed at that.
"And you know who sent the assassin?"
"'Course, doesn't take a genius to figure it out."
She couldn't exactly see his face, but she was sure he was getting frustrated. "Who sent the assassin?"
Adara didn't respond. "What did 'Birth of a Hero' say about my brother?"
"Randall? Nothing much, only a simple sentence about how he was unfit to rule the county. And that he hated his sister."
Adara snorted. "Hah, that's true. He's not fit at all. Too hot-tempered and impatient, and he has no tact."
"So, he sent the assassin? Why?"
"Well, he wants the county, I'm in his way. He wants me gone. But he learned from his mistakes and now he's not directly hiring assassins and hitmen to kill me. He, instead, put my head for all to see in the Underworld, priced fairly high, though I'd say it's a bit cheap for the amount of work that would be needed to even escape alive," she stated, her voice still muddled with the effects of insomniac sleep. She felt his shoulder tense once again.
"So, you killed the assassin?" he asked carefully.
"Mmmh, not really," she mumbled, his shoulder relaxed again. "I didn't want to make too much of a mess since this isn't the Thornwin Estate. So I just broke his arm before handing him to Ron who in turn handed him to Beacrox so he can torture him." Then it tensed again. She heard footsteps, recognising them as Hans's she cut Cale off before he started speaking. "It's Hans. Be quiet."
A second after silence fell between the two, a knock sounded on the door. "Young Master and Mistress? I have clothes for Young Mistress Adara."
"Come in," Cale called.
Hans came in, his gaze softening as he saw the two nobles. Adara resembled a tired cat, not the quiet, ever-calculating and provoking tiger that she normally was. Even the clear and calculating look in her eyes could not be seen as only sleep clouded them. And Cale was letting her rest on his shoulder. So cute! Hans thought, his heart beating quicker at the cuteness. "I brought some clothes for the Young Mistress."
Adara didn't say anything. She slowly got up, straightening her back and stretching. A yawn escaped her, Hans only thinking she looked more like a cat.
She got up, taking the clothes from Hans, the bleak look of a tired person still in her eyes. "Thanks for the clothes." Turning to Cale, she said, "After breakfast, we'll go out."
Cale blinked, in his hurry to get the Ancient Power he had forgotten about breakfast. Oh yeah, I asked Ron to tell Beacrox to make breakfast. "Yes, of course. Hans, bring breakfast as soon as Beacrox is done making it."
Hans nodded. "Of course, Young Mistress. We sent your father a message earlier today, asking him to send over a few of your clothes and possessions."
Adara was indifferent as usual. "Great, thank you. You can leave now."
Hans nodded, walking out of the room. He came back a couple minutes later, with breakfast. Adara was dressed at this point, with a slightly-oversized buttoned shirt, and some dark brown pants. Cale said she looked like a pirate.
Sitting on the couch, the food in front of them, Adara took a bite of her food. "What's your goal?" she asked.
Cale swallowed his food. "What?"
"You know, your goal. You said you want to be a slacker, define slacker."
He had a frown on his face. "Well, I want to live peacefully in a calm territory with a pretty view. Maybe the Ubarr Territory. Somewhere far away where the war won't reach me."
"Leaving the Count's duties to Basen, but using your status as relative to get money?" she offered, an eyebrow raised.
He grinned the same vicious smile she knew. "Exactly."
She took a bite of her food. "That seems nice," she said, thinking about it. "No assassins, no trouble, just peaceful life in a relatively big house."
"You are welcome to join me," he added, staring at her with his reddish eyes.
She shook her head. "Can't. I'm planning on becoming the Count."
His eyes widened. "The Count? Of the Thornwin Territory? I thought your brother is the successor?"
"That's not official, it's only a rumour," she cleared up. "As I said, he wants to be Count, but if that does happen then our family is going to end up in ruins. I don't trust anyone enough to run it instead of him." She shrugged her shoulders. "And I've been groomed since young to be the next Count, so I really don't see a better alternative."
"You said your brother is hot-tempered and impatient, what did you mean by that?" Cale didn't know much about Randall, there was even less information on him than normal. But in front of him, was someone who knew him better than anything. Cale was only preparing for the chance that he would meet Randall.
She sighed, she guessed why Cale was asking and didn't find it annoying to share. "He doesn't respond well to things not going his way, he gets angry and takes it out on everyone around him. He doesn't know how to improvise and change plans when he realises that they won't work, which won't be very handy when the war comes and he's in charge. He also doesn't know how to play the long game. He has no idea how to— I don't know." Her mind was blank with examples. "He doesn't know how to plant the seeds and watch them grow. He wants the flower to bloom immediately. And while I do act impatient since it makes me look rude, I can be quite patient."
Cale blinked. "Why do you act rude?"
Adara took a bite of her food. "Would you think that a person who is always drunk would actually be strong enough to kill someone? Someone who talks all the time, and has the aura of a no-bite, all-bark?"
"No," he answered honestly.
"Well, that's the description you come across if you try to get some information on my name. I act like that purposefully so the assassins don't suddenly team up and actually assassinate me. Though that is improbable because they would need to split the money in that case," she added, suddenly thinking about the chances of that. It is very low, she thought. An assassin is an assassin because one day they killed someone and thought they also need some money. So they go around, killing people and getting money. Their whole existence revolves around money, why would they share with someone else? The chance is low.
Cale interrupted her thought process. "Back to the successor thing, your brother is horrible, but doesn't your father name the successor? It's up to him who the successor is, and if he realises his son is bad for the County won't he name his daughter?"
"For one, he doesn't realise exactly how bad my brother is. He thinks he'll get better at it when he's older, even if my father has had that mentality for the multiple years he's been my brother. And, when he does realise how much worse the County will be with my brother as Count, he will still refrain from naming me successor because his wife is trying to persuade him to name her son. And he doesn't want his wife to be mad at him. So, he's hoping one of us will kill the other so he won't have any other choice but to name them successor. But," She took a bite of her food. "in the grand scheme of things, I'll probably be named successor since the position of successor is largely influenced by the other North-Eastern Nobles. And I have the majority on my side."
Cale's eyebrows raised, looking at her surprised. He was also learning information about her. "And how did you do that?"
She looked at him, a giddy grin on her lips. "I watched the seeds grow."
Soon, after eating and getting Cale's allowance, they were on their way to get more bread.
"Young Mistress and Master!" a voice called out. Adara turned around quickly, this person had spoken weirdly, normally Cale's title was first and hers second but this woman had inverted the order. "We have a lot of bread at our bakery!"
Adara felt a small smile tug at her lips. "Pack it up, quickly," she said, extending her hand to Cale who handed her a million-gallon. She threw the coin in the air and the woman caught it excitedly. She gave a quick apology for the wait, before hurrying inside. She came out a second later, with a bag propped full of bread. Adara was smiling.
"Here you go!" the woman exclaimed, handing the bag to Adara, she was still scared of them, as her voice slightly shook, but she wanted money. And money she received.
Adara smiled at her. "Thank you very much."
A sudden voice caught their attention. "Young Master and Mistress! We can make even more bread than that!"
Adara grinned more. It was the sound of the rivalling bakery owner. She knew because the corners of the woman's lips were turning down, her eyebrows had gone down on her face, and her eyes no longer held the happiness she previously had.
Cale noticed her grin and sweatdropped. He knew that viciously sly grin too. She was planning on doing something. He sighed. "I will head to your shop next. Have a bag ready," he said to the rivalling bakery owner.
The owner in question brightened up. "Thank you very much!"
Cale let out a weak smile. He knew Adara would've made it a more complicated situation like yesterday, with the knights. Knowing what he knew from the book, and what he's seen since she appeared yesterday, she knew she'd do something tiring. She would probably tell them we have only one gold coin and make them fight or something. He sighed again. Turning his head to Adara, he noticed her expression. She was annoyed, yet the corners of her lips were quirking up. She was making a point to glare at him, yet not making it obvious enough for the two bakers currently glaring at each other to realise.
He suppressed a laugh.
~~~
[A/N]: I don't have a fun fact for this chapter, but I did want to share a drawing I made of Adara. It took longer than my usual drawing time to finish it, since I had stopped drawing due to lack of inspiration, but I was describing her to a relative and thought I should draw her. I'm not hundred per cent sure I like the shading (I suck at shading so I searched up a bunch of tutorials), but otherwise, I'm so proud of it. She does have way more jewellery than what I drew her in, but I didn't exactly know how to draw all of her jewellery without making it too cluttered. I hope you guys like it (the details on the pants and shoes are hard to see without a bright screen since it's just black).