The words hissed through Su Nian’s mind like venom: ‘That wretched cur!’
Her heart seethed, a storm of fury brewing within.
Her eyes, once luminous as twin stars, now blazed with the fire of righteous wrath, their long lashes quivering like delicate wings caught in a gale.
Her breath came in sharp, uneven gasps, the tight black fabric of her attire straining against her heaving chest.
In the silver glow of the moonlight, her collarbone flickered, a fragile curve of beauty amid her rage.
Beneath the moon’s pale caress, the girl was a vision—stunning, ethereal, yet cloaked in a killing intent as sharp as a blade’s edge.
‘Olette, that arrogant fool!’ she thought, her mind a whirlwind of indignation.
‘To dare scheme against me, to lay such a cruel hand on my friends—his crimes are beyond forgiveness!’
Her fists clenched, slender fingers pale as porcelain, their knuckles sharp and resolute.
In the dim veil of night, they seemed to pulse with a cold, unyielding menace.
Truth be told, Su Nian was no stranger to courage.
Had she not ventured alone into this shadowed lair?
Had she not braved the perils of the Monster Forest unaided?
Yet, when faced with that vile Horned Demon, she was forced to bow, her defiance shackled by fear.
Why?
Because that monster held her secrets in his claw—her “social death” and the safety of those she loved, twin daggers pressed to her throat, more torturous than any blade.
But Olette of the Morsen family?
He was different.
He had no hold over her, no leverage to wield.
Knowing his dark intentions, how could she stand idly by, swallowing her pride?
If she let him slip through her fingers tonight, every dawn would bring fresh dread, her life a ceaseless vigil against his schemes.
What kind of existence would that be?
At Shadowmoon Manor, under the Horned Demon’s thumb, she already endured a daily gauntlet of shame and stifled rage, her spirit battered to the brink.
No more.
Tonight, she would seize this moment and fight with every ounce of her being.
Could her fate possibly sink any lower?
Besides, Olette was nothing but a duke’s heir’s double—a pale imitation.
In recent days, teaching magic to her students and poring over tomes in the library had honed her skills to a razor’s edge.
With a fresh arsenal of abilities at her command, she was now…
A force to be feared.
‘Come, then!’ she challenged silently, her resolve a blazing beacon.
Su Nian drew a deep breath, steadying the tempest within.
She had chosen her path—battle—but recklessness would not serve.
Olette still held Amy hostage, and her first task was to infiltrate the basement and find her friend.
In an instant, she invoked her stealth skill, her form melting into the shadows like a wraith, gliding unseen through the darkness.
Moonlight bathed her, tracing the lithe contours of her figure.
Each step was a study in grace, as fluid and silent as a cat stalking its prey, a sight to stir both awe and envy.
Her mastery of reconnaissance guided her unerringly to the basement’s entrance, where two guards stood watch, their weapons gleaming dully as they paced with wary precision.
Crouched in a shadowed nook, Su Nian studied their movements, her mind calculating.
‘I need to draw them away,’ she mused, her eyes sweeping the surroundings until they landed on a discarded bucket, half-hidden in the gloom.
‘Perfect.’
A sly smile curved her lips, bright as a star breaking through the night, dazzling in its cunning.
With a whisper of magic, she sent a thread of power into the bucket, nudging it to roll away with a soft clatter.
The “clunk clunk” echoed sharply in the stillness, snapping the guards to attention.
“What’s that noise?” one growled.
“Let’s see,” the other replied, already striding toward the sound.
Seizing her chance, Su Nian summoned her agility, a blur of motion as she streaked toward the entrance, swift as lightning.
Her form was a mere flicker, leaving only a ghostly afterimage in her wake.
She slipped into the basement, where a dank, oppressive air enveloped her, heavy with the scent of mold and despair.
The flickering light of sparse lanterns cast eerie shadows, chilling the blood.
Su Nian steadied herself with deep breaths, forcing her senses to adapt to the grim surroundings, then tilted her head, straining to catch any sound.
A faint, anguished moan pierced the silence, tugging at her heart.
Following the sound, she found a row of cells, their iron bars cold and unyielding.
In one, Amy and Evan slumped against the wall, their bodies marred by cruel wounds, their faces pale as death itself, drained of all vitality.
In the neighboring cell, two girls lay still, their lives snuffed out, a sight that twisted Su Nian’s heart with grief.
‘Olette Morsen, you monster,’ she cursed silently, the name of the guards’ so-called stand-in burning in her mind.
“Miss… Su Nian…” Amy’s voice was a fragile whisper, trembling with tears yet lit with a spark of hope, as if glimpsing dawn in an endless night.
Su Nian’s heart clenched.
She darted to the cell, her fingers weaving a spell to craft an ice key.
The lock yielded, and she rushed inside, gently lifting Amy and Evan to their feet.
“Amy, Evan, I’m so sorry I’m late—you’ve suffered too much! We’re leaving this wretched place!” she urged, her priority to spirit them to safety before turning her wrath on Olette.
But then, a grating laugh slithered from the depths of the basement, chilling her blood.
“Hahaha! So you found them! But now that you’re here, don’t dream of escape!”
Su Nian spun around, her eyes locking onto Olette Morsen as he sauntered forward, flanked by a pack of sneering lackeys.
She stepped protectively in front of Amy and Evan, her spine straight, her gaze a blaze of defiance as she faced her foe.
In the dim glow of the basement, Su Nian’s skin gleamed like fresh snow, radiating a sacred, untouchable light.
She stood as a goddess might, her presence commanding reverence and fear in equal measure.
Olette, by contrast, was a study in corruption.
Tall like his brother, clad in gaudy finery, his hair slicked to a sheen, his face bore a passing resemblance to Theodore.
But his eyes—those gleamed with a feverish madness, a predatory greed that marked him as a beast cloaked in human form, poised to strike.
His gaze raked over Su Nian, bold and leering, his lips twisting into a smile so vile it curdled the air.
In that moment, the air crackled with the promise of violence.
To Su Nian, even the depraved Horned Demon, with all his vile cunning, seemed a saint compared to the loathsome creature before her—Olette Morsen.
“Well, now,” Olette drawled, his voice dripping with mockery, “if it isn’t the illustrious magical girl Su Nian. Even lovelier than you appeared in my crystal ball—such a face, such a figure. My, my.”
His eyes gleamed with predatory delight.
“You’ve walked right into my hands today, so don’t expect any mercy!”
He fixed his gaze on the radiant girl before him, a wildfire of conquest raging in his chest.
Su Nian’s eyes burned with righteous fury as she took in the sight of Amy and Evan, their bodies marred with cruel wounds, and the two lifeless forms in the neighboring cell.
“Olette Morsen, you vile, shameless wretch!” she spat, her voice a blade of ice.
“To imprison innocent people, to trample on their lives—where is your respect for the law, your shred of noble honor or decency?”
“Law? Decency?” Olette’s laughter erupted, a harsh, grating cackle that echoed off the damp stone walls, as if she’d uttered the punchline to some grand jest.
“You lot,” he sneered, crossing his arms with a smirk that oozed contempt, “always preaching about law and order, cloaking yourselves in righteousness, kindness, justice. What a farce.”
His voice turned venomous.
“But you know the truth. You don’t obey because you’re noble or pure. You obey because you’re terrified—terrified of punishment, of losing your precious little lives. You cower under the weight of rules, too weak to defy them.”
“But me?” He stepped closer, his eyes alight with a manic gleam.
“I’m different. I’m the son of the Morsen duke, cloaked in unrivaled power and privilege in the Crimson Maple Kingdom. Who dares judge me? Who dares lay a hand on me? I’m above your petty laws, your stifling morals. I do as I please!” His voice rose, tinged with madness.
He flung his arms wide, a triumphant grin splitting his face.
“I can unleash my true self, unbound! I revel in collecting beautiful girls, in watching them squirm and suffer before me. The thrill of it—it’s ecstasy!”
His eyes shimmered with a perverse satisfaction, a twisted hunger laid bare.
“And you, Su Nian,” he purred, his gaze raking over her with unabashed greed.
“From the moment I saw your debut performance, I was ensnared. Your allure, your fire—it consumes me. You will be mine, the crowning jewel in my collection.”
He leaned back, his voice taunting.
“You must envy me, don’t you? This freedom to indulge every whim, to live without chains! You’re all shackled by rules, scurrying through life like frightened mice, while I—I am free to be my true self!”
Olette spun in place, arms raised like a mad prophet, crowing about his so-called “freedom” and “nature” with a fervor that bordered on lunacy.
“So spare me your talk of justice and law!” he scoffed.
“Those are crutches for the weak, fairy tales to soothe their pathetic hearts.”
He leaned forward, his voice a low, venomous hiss.
“If those sniveling fools who cling to justice and law had my power, they’d do worse than I—far worse! That’s human nature, unchangeable and raw!”
His words spilled out like a deranged manifesto, each syllable dripping with the warped convictions of his soul.
Born a bastard of the Morsen family, a walking scandal shunned from childhood, Olette had seized his role as Theodore’s double with a vengeance, unleashing his darkest desires with reckless abandon.
Su Nian’s lips curled into a cold, disdainful snort.
His words were poisonous, seductive in their twisted logic, and for a fleeting moment, she wished she could wield the silver-tongued power of an anime hero to dismantle his lies.
But she had no such gift.
Nor did she need it.
In an instant, her advanced Spirit Abyss Flame Wall flared to life.
No longer a mere oval of flame, it had been refined through her relentless training at the Magic Academy.
Now, it took the form of a towering, sanctified reflection of herself—a goddess wreathed in fire, solemn and unyielding, its radiant heat pulsing with raw power as it enveloped her.
“Justice, law, nature—I care for none of it,” Su Nian declared, her voice a blade of ice, sharp and unyielding.
“All I know is this: tonight, someone will pay with their life.”
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