Chapter 15: Banquet

Yuria, unnoticed, watched Ian blankly until he sat at the table, waiting for further instructions. Because she had received his blood this morning, she couldn’t help but send him an affectionate, overt gaze.

She wished she could go behind the table right now, embrace him, and he would accept her with a troubled look. However, given the circumstances, Yuria had to carry out the tasks Ian had ‘asked’ her to do for the first time.

Disappointing him was absolutely unacceptable.

Yuria had become known as the most competent among the maids.

Therefore, she was able to obtain some information while assisting the head maid in various tasks amidst the chaotic banquet.

‘As Master said, I see some dangerous ingredients.’

There was addictive poison… a poison that moderately hindered mana, but she ignored it. It wasn’t something that would go into Ian’s mouth, which was her top priority, nor would it even go into Rachel’s mouth, which Master Ian had personally requested her to watch over.

And even if she said that it contained addictive poison, it would take time to prove its effects, and even after it was revealed, it would only add fuel to the fire in the already chaotic crowd. Yuria realized that there was a significant chance that it would create a more convenient environment for the assassins, rather than helping her master’s plan.

It was none of Yuria’s business whether the other nobles, who used to hunt them down in the past, ate the food containing the ingredients and became addicted to mana, unable to handle it forever, or died.

‘…But if this goes into Master Ian’s mouth.’

There was no need to say more.

Even if a very small amount of poison was mixed in, it was not something to be overlooked when serving her master. If there was even a 0.0001% chance that Ian’s life would be in danger, she could blow everyone here away right now. It didn’t matter how many people died. She felt no guilt. Rather, if it was about killing nobles, she would welcome it without hesitation.

As she moved around the mansion, she installed the traps Ian had requested and removed anything that could be life-threatening.

Perhaps because she was so focused on those things, she was walking quickly and ended up colliding with someone coming around the corner at the end of the hallway, unable to see the other person’s feet.

“Ouch! Oh, I, I’m sorry.”

“No, I’m the one who should apologize.”

The other person apologized first.

The person she bumped into was a maid she remembered seeing once before.

As far as she remembered, she was a woman with long hair that reached her waist until recently, but now she had short hair, which seemed suspicious.

“Are you hurt?”

Yuria had already caught the plate that the woman almost dropped with a graceful movement and handed it back to her.

The woman who had fallen was a blonde with blue eyes. She was the type of woman her master had told her not to get close to. But there weren’t just one or two blonde maids, and there were plenty of them around, so Master had only marked them as targets of caution, and emphasized that it was important to keep an appropriate distance, as being overly cautious would only raise suspicion.

And Yuria could see. This was the woman she had to keep an appropriate distance from, and that she definitely had an unusual aura.

Yuria’s eyes narrowed.

‘…Her mana has increased. Enough to take down even monsters with her bare hands.

It seems that the assassin is using this woman’s skin. But the banquet hasn’t even properly started yet, so I should stop.’

Killing this person here without any grounds would only make it troublesome to deal with and clean up later. There were plenty of ways to hide it, but that was a separate issue from taking responsibility for it until the end.

Originally, that maid no longer exists. A decaying assassin inside is just taking over her skin and repeating her actions.

As proof, this maid held the plate with her left hand.

Clearly, she was right-handed the last time she saw her.

There was no reason to hold it like this on purpose.

The fact that she grabbed it with her left hand first, even though it was easier to grab with her right hand, meant that there was no doubt about it, it was 100%.

‘Master said to memorize at least one characteristic of all the maids, since there were also those who knew how to hide their mana.’

It was like a homework assignment that would be crazy to memorize, but there was nothing easier for Yuria, a genius. She just had to know which hand each maid used.

Yuria held the maid’s hand and helped her up, continuing the conversation.

“Yes, I’m not hurt… Thank you.”

When the woman answered with an awkward smile, Yuria nodded.

The maid, or rather the unidentified assassin, picked up what she had dropped.

A blue liquid in a transparent bottle. The name ‘Britina Ian’ was clearly written on the surface.

Of course, the name was only visible for a split second, but Yuria’s vision, which had reached the superhuman level, couldn’t ignore this.

‘……..This person.’

She suppresses the rising killing intent.

With that feeling, Yuria clenched her fists and looked at her.

The woman looked at her and asked,

“Ah, are you going to Young Master Ian’s room?”

“Yes.”

“Then, if you go straight from where I came from, you’ll find it when you open the largest door.”

With those words, she pointed to where she had come from and tried to leave.

Yuria didn’t bother to stop her. It was unpleasant to be facing this person.

But what stopped the maid was Yuria’s thought after one more second.

“Wait a minute.”

“?”

“….How do you know where Young Master Ian’s room is?”

Young Master Ian’s office was recently relocated.

And the only ones who knew were Butler Harzen, herself, and a few maids.

Besides, even though he’s busy, Young Master Ian mostly works by himself, or through Harzen or herself.

In other words, there are still many maids who don’t know Young Master Ian’s room.

How does this maid, who sometimes causes trouble, know?

“Well… I just saw him?”

As soon as those words followed, the shadow behind Yuria doubled and quadrupled in size.

The killing intent that soared instantly filled the hallway, and the maids who were a little further away, even though they didn’t know the situation, trembled as their bodies reacted directly.

With the sound of a plate breaking, Yuria’s expression darkened.

“What did you do?”

A chilling voice echoed in her ears, giving her goosebumps.

She felt that if she didn’t answer truthfully, she would be torn in half without hesitation.

“Uh…., well, to deliver Rachel’s letter…”

The assassin answered, not even realizing that she was trembling.

There were no other words to describe this than ‘overwhelmed’.

Yuria’s eyes narrowed.

“Is that true?

Rachel usually writes letters and sends replies in the morning. Besides, Master didn’t write a letter yesterday.
”
” ”
“Then what kind of letter are you bringing at this hour?”

Normally, it was a question that didn’t need to be answered.

There was no way a maid would know the contents of a letter, and in some cases, even trying to find out its purpose was a serious crime. But this assassin hesitated.

Yes, it was no different from a confession.

And there was more important evidence.

“And Master is not in his office right now.

Moreover, Rachel has also left the office.”

In the place where Yuria pointed.

Master and Rachel’s figures, talking, were faintly visible in the window.

Undeniable evidence, without any room for excuses.

The assassin, who predicted that if she continued to lie, her identity would be exposed as Yuria retraced her steps, slowly lowered her head.

The atmosphere in the hallway turned cold.

Only the two of them remained.

“…Since when did you know?”

The question flies.

Yuria somehow calmed her rising excitement and spoke in a cold tone.

“What level of excuses do you think a lowly being can come up with?”

Her body flinches at the word ‘lowly’.

Generally, bandits, who are mostly from s*ave backgrounds, are weak to the provocations of nobles. While they often kill cruelly, if the opponent is far below them, there is no better provocation than this.

”

”

Due to that environment, the maid’s voice, which had been trembling just a moment ago, gradually deepened, and her appearance began to change. The transformation was so gruesome that an ordinary person would have vomited at the sight.

The person, who had suddenly changed their attitude, set the mood with a gloomy tone.

“…You’re putting things together as if you knew everything.”

“You’re the one who’s clumsy. A lowly being.”

“Ha, I must be really rusty. To be criticized by a young woman like this.”

The man, who said those confident words while drawing a dagger, then discards the skin he had been wearing.

He seemed confident in his skills.

Yes, he must not have heard.

The story that the Count’s family is raising the only descendant of a vampire as a monster.

The sight that appeared about 3 seconds later.

It shocked Vishakinya, who was known in the assassin world as a veteran.

‘Did the plan go wrong?’

Vishakinya bit his tongue, a habit, and looked at the maid in front of her.

First of all, she’s beautiful. Even with her light makeup, she was a woman whose inherent beauty and scent were superior to anyone else at the banquet, just by glancing at her.

So it was even more suspicious.

Such a woman wouldn’t be reduced to a s*x s*ave. She would usually enter the Count’s family as a concubine. It was highly likely that she had infiltrated the mansion disguised as a maid.

Of course, he had thought that his acting and disguise wouldn’t be easily detected even by the Count’s eyes.

Vishakinya of Transformation.

The deputy commander of the assassination squad dispatched this time.

He was also a cruel assassin who killed people after taking the form of a maid he had luckily obtained the skin of.

Not many people know his real face.

His objective and mission were to assassinate Britina Cain.

And if the opportunity arose, to kill Britina Ian. He wasn’t interested in going out of his way to kill a terminally ill patient, so he had only stopped by to check.

Normally, it would have been a situation that would have passed without incident.

However, the maid in front of him had shattered that prediction.

Even though she had perfectly memorized the tone and manner of speech while stabbing him in the lower abdomen, she saw through him right away.

The first thing to check was the amount of mana.

It’s quiet.

In other words, he felt nothing.

he didn’t know what the killing intent from earlier was, but since she couldn’t feel any mana, this woman was completely weak.

She was weak enough for Vishakinya to drag her into the room and force himself on her.

He draws his dagger, drooling.

‘After taking over her body, I’ll kill the Ian and Cain brothers as a bonus.’

The fact that she was in charge of the maids was likely true, so she would be easy to approach.

When the assassins he sends in as bait attack the banquet hall and kill a few people, if he takes advantage of the chaos and aims for their necks in the form of this maid, things won’t be as difficult as he thought.

“I’ll have to personally correct the behavior of a misbehaving maid.”

He licked the blade with his tongue and gave a gloomy smirk.

Of course, correcting her behavior meant that.

Just imagining her crying out beneath him made him feel a thrill of dopamine in his brain.

The opponent, who had tasted his killing intent and threat at this point, would lose their legs, their muscles would convulse, and they would finally despair the moment the blade touched them.

Enjoying that situation and filling his pleasure. That was his way.

However.

“…?”

Yuria, who felt no fear, no weakness in her legs, no embarrassment, no nothing, tilted her head.

Rather, she was looking down at him as if asking if that was all he had.

‘…Like a lowly worm, you can’t even escape my master’s thoughts.”

“…What?”

“The scar on your right hand, the large left eye, the limping left foot, and the uneven breathing. Especially that dirty way of speaking. It’s so similar to what Master told me that I’m surprised.”

Vishakinya’s face gradually hardened like stone.

“Deputy commander… yes, that’s good. You’re worth killing. You’re a good subject to report to Master and have him pat my head. Then…”

His thoughts raced.

He couldn’t even fathom how much this maid knew about him.

His body, which had leaped and drawn a dagger out of necessity.

Was subdued with a single, light gesture.