Chapter 108 - Rest in Peace with My Innocence and Weakness
Chapter 108: Rest in Peace with My Innocence and Weakness
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The town in her memory was no longer like before.
A few days ago, this was still a bustling port town. It relied on trade and crop cultivation as its economic source. There were pedestrians everywhere, and the lives of the residents were rich and calm.
The Goode family ruled here and accumulated a large amount of wealth. As a result, it became one of the relatively rich viscount territories of the Empire. It was able to recruit and provide for more than 20 knights and even maintain a regular army of more than 100 people and more militia reserves to maintain the peace of this place.
A place that was both stable and rich was the paradise that the commoners of this era dreamed of.
However, that was in the past.
Now, it was desolate and dilapidated, as if it had been robbed by ferocious bandits. Carnivorous vultures circled in the sky. The streets were cold and empty, many houses were dilapidated, and the port dock had been burned to the ground. The bones of the dead on the streets were uncontrollable, and the intersection in the center was piled with layers of heads.
“I recognize this method of deterring the enemy by piling corpses. It’s from Cathay.”
A cold and slightly hoarse female voice sounded.
Her dazzling golden hair was as brilliant as the sun and was wrapped in a silver headdress. Blue gems decorated the headdress and between her eyebrows. An azure cloak and battle suit wrapped around her mature and voluptuous body. The woman who spoke was as straight as a sword. Her aura was like a snow mountain, cold and dangerous, making people not dare to look straight at her.
She raised her hand and pointed. The pile of heads exploded out of thin air, revealing the body, limbs, and weapons inside. The woman looked at the bones and equipment a few times and then at the heads. She said, “They’re not civilians, nor are they regular soldiers, nor are they members of the Goode family. It looks like they’re bandits…”
She flicked her fingers repeatedly, and the pile of corpses exploded, “From the location and appearance of the fatal injuries, some died in a direct battle, some died from a sneak attack, some died from escaping, and some died from tragic torture. The nature of the wounds is highly consistent. Fire, axe, impact… Although these methods are messy, they were done by the same person and are consistent with the situation we saw previously.”
This woman came to a conclusion.
“I didn’t believe you before, but I do now. Tina, the Cathayan you know on the Holy Seal Islands is a very, very powerful figure.”
“His strength is not very powerful, but he made up for this shortcoming with extremely ruthless and decisive methods. Exquisite tactics and powerful judgment on the spot. In addition, he must know how to use fear to manipulate people to obtain such results…”
She praised, “Most importantly, after experiencing that kind of thing, the madness and killing intent in his heart can be seen from the townspeople’s description. However, that night, he experienced the siege and pursuit of the townspeople. After that, he did not let the strong bandits loot the town and kill the commoners. Instead, he killed all these scumbags. No matter what his goal was, such action is worthy of praise and admiration.”
“It’s not difficult to draw the sword, but the difficulty is to put it away.”
Not everyone could obtain Sword Saint Snowfall’s praise.
At this moment, she was praising such a Cathayan she had never met, “He destroyed a viscounty alone, and he relied on strategy and intelligence to complete it, not pure strength… Defeating the strong as the weak is a legend that’s worthy of praise. What a pity that I can’t see all of this with my own eyes… Tina, I’m very interested in him.”
However, the Princess of Goethe did not have any happy expression.
Even if she hated the Goode family and swore to avenge the people who had died that night, when she saw the dilapidated viscounty today and heard from the townspeople that a demon had summoned hellfire to raze the Glory Sand Manor to the ground, she was not happy at all.
She knew the price behind this.
The girl cried in a daze.
“The knight is no longer around…”
Sword Saint Snowfall, who was also Tina’s aunt, was stunned. Then, he said, “The Prime Minister’s son? The townspeople don’t seem to have mentioned this. Perhaps he helped take revenge…”
Tina shook her head, tears welling up in her eyes.
“No… Kang De must have become like this because the knight died.”
She cried, “Kang De is usually not like this. He has never killed anyone. The knight and I don’t want him to be stained with blood, but he has become like this. This, this is all my fault. If I hadn’t brought him here, if I hadn’t trusted the people here…”
The Sword Saint was shocked, then she muttered, “He killed for the first time and it ended up like this? Tina, I’m more and more interested in him…”
She then realized that now was not the time to say this.
Therefore, she hurriedly comforted, “The situation is not as bad as you think. Perhaps it’s only the words of those townspeople. Let’s go to the manor and see if we can discover anything.”
She wiped Tina’s tears and sighed in her heart.
The world played tricks on people. Tedrell’s most beautiful and doted-on pearl had grown up under the care of her father and relatives. She had never come into contact with true darkness, but in the end, she still saw reality through conspiracy and betrayal.
“Don’t cry anymore. If it’s really as you said, and your friend killed for the first time, the pain and loss after his revenge must exceed your imagination.”
“We have to find him as soon as possible… He must need his friend’s comfort now.”
She did not say the second half of the sentence.
If the son of the Prime Minister was really dead, Tina was probably the last friend of that Cathayan.
When Tina heard this, she hurriedly wiped her tears and a trace of hope flashed through her eyes.
She hurriedly nodded. “Yes!”
After seeing all this, she could not wait to see Kang De.
She wanted to give him a hug, hug him, share the pain with him, snuggle with him, warm and heal each other’s cold and sad hearts.
She rushed to the Glory Sand Manor with her aunt.
Seeing the ground ravaged by the fire and the dilapidated ruins, the once beautiful and elegant manor had already turned to ashes. Charred corpses were everywhere.
It was like hell on earth.
Someone was there.
Tina was first happy, then her expression darkened.
It was not Kang De.
Instead, it was a woman with disheveled hair. Her dress was very luxurious, but it had become dirty and was covered in mud and black stains. She knelt on the ground, and her owl-like cries and laughter intertwined.
Sometimes she cried, sometimes she smiled, and sometimes she muttered to herself.
Tina approached and recognized the woman.
She muttered, “Aunt Susanna…”
Viscount Samuel’s wife, the mistress of the viscounty. Perhaps the viscount had made preparations in advance, or perhaps she had avoided a calamity for some reason, but to her, this was something even more tragic than hell.
She saw her home, husband, children, and everything turn to ashes.
It happened almost overnight.
For a moment, Tina had mixed feelings. She did not know if she should face this woman. In the past, this elegant and amiable noblewoman had treated her very well. The two of them had written letters to each other continuously. If she had any troubles, she would tell her dear Aunt Susanna, and the other party would definitely give a patient and intelligent reply.
Now…
Her gaze fell and suddenly focused.
Auntie Susanna was holding a headless corpse in her arms. The blood had already turned black and even smelled, attracting flies. Looking at the armor outfit, it was undoubtedly Knight Lost.
Beside him was a head.
There was an axe embedded in his head.
Tina knew this axe.
Although its appearance had already changed to a certain extent and the wooden handle was glowing with a metallic light, it was indeed Kang De’s axe… Tina ran forward.
Sword Saint Snowfall followed. The expert’s gaze landed on the corpse and weapon. She judged the situation of the battle. Suddenly, she discovered that the corpse held a strange small sword in its left hand…
The woman was first stunned, then her expression changed. While Tina was looking at the axe, she stretched out her hand and waved. She grabbed the small sword and hid it behind her.
However, it was too late.
“Aunt…”
Tina turned and stared at her without moving.
“What’s that?”
She said, “Please show me.”
Her tone was very calm, and so was her gaze.
However, even someone as powerful as the Sword Saint was shocked when facing this gaze.
“Tina…”
The princess repeated, “Please show me.”
The other party gritted her teeth and sighed. She slowly took out the sword.
Death Entanglement, the cursed blade. Although it was not a famous treasure, with Tina’s knowledge, it was impossible for her not to recognize it… This was the sharp weapon that assassins dreamed of.
Tina looked at the sword in a daze.
The sword had already lost the strange light lingering in the shadows.
That powerful curse divine power no longer existed.
Connecting it to Lost’s corpse, the girl knew what it meant.
She muttered, “I see, I see…”
No wonder Kang De had left this axe behind.
No wonder Kang De did not leave any information.
Her body trembled, and her eyes were dazed.
Her aunt said softly, “Tina…”
The girl did not answer or cry.
She only stood there quietly for a long, long time.
Then, her body swayed.
The woman tried to step forward to help her, but Tina waved her away. She came back to her senses as if she had woken up from a wonderful and long dream. She muttered, “Aunt, I’m fine. It’s just…”
The princess said softly, “So sad…”
“Is this the feeling of growing up?”
“Before I decided to go on a diplomatic mission, I said that I wanted to grow up. I wanted to do something for Goethe and Father, not be protected by others. I wanted to be a hero, but along the way, the people who protected me kept dying. The people I wanted to protect did not succeed. I did not do anything, but everyone was already gone…”
“Aunt, am I very useless?”
“Everyone is doing what they want to do. Only I’m still living in a dream…”
“It’s really… too wrong.”
She turned and gripped the handle of the axe Kang De had left behind with both hands.
The axe blade was embedded in Lost’s hard skull.
She stretched out her foot and stepped on the knight’s already rotting head and face before pulling it out.
She pulled out the axe and held it in her hand.
Seeing this, the crazy Susanna happily placed her son’s head on his body.
The princess looked at her calmly and waited for her to smile for a while. Then, she took the axe and walked over.
“Aunt Susanna.” She said calmly, “You’re very good to me, and I treat you as someone very close to me. Between us, we were very, very close at one time, just like Tedrell and Goode.”
“I’m also wondering if you knew about that night. If you knew, what your attitude was, and what you would have done if you didn’t know… I’ve been thinking about this.”
“But it’s meaningless now.”
“We’re not all living for ourselves.”
“Between us, it’s not Aunt Susanna and Niece Tina, but Goode and Tedrell. The principles of this world sound complicated, but they’re actually very simple.”
“Sometimes, we all have to do something, even if it hurts us.”
“There are some things that Tedrell will respond to when Goode does them.”
“However, there’s one thing you have to remember. What I’m about to do is not to let you rest in peace or relieve your pain. There’s actually only one reason.”
The girl said softly, “Because that night, my husband said that he wanted to kill your entire family. I heard it too. He’s a man of his word. However, a small change happened midway. He’s no longer around, but I’m still alive. Therefore, I’ll finish what he didn’t have time to do.”
Tina held the axe with both hands and suddenly slashed down.
It was not the axe blade, but the awl.
It smashed down and struck Susanna’s left shoulder.
The sound of bones shattering sounded.
The crazy woman let out a scream and subconsciously wanted to jump up and dodge, but Tina’s second axe swung horizontally and swept her right arm.
The second bone cracked.
At this point, Suzanna’s arms were already crippled.
The crazy woman fell to the ground and cried out loudly as she lay on the ground and retreated.
Tina looked at her, threw the axe aside, and smiled.
Then, she pounced forward unarmed like a ferocious lioness.
She pressed Susanna to the ground.
Those slender jade hands had once trimmed charming flowers, drawn beautiful paintings, brewed fragrant tea, and written charming poems.
Now, they were strangling a woman’s throat.
She tightened her grip.
Squeeze.
Susanna struggled hard.
Mad people were usually extremely powerful, let alone when their lives were in danger. However, Tina had cut off both her arms in advance. No matter how hard she struggled, it was useless.
The elegant princess suddenly had the strength to press down on the other party.
She watched as the crazy face gradually became ferocious and her face gradually turned red and purple. She watched as the physical changes became even more intense. Saliva, eyeballs, face, everything.
She said softly, “Rest in peace, Aunt Susanna, along with my weakness and innocence.”
This was enough.
I will not allow myself to make any more mistakes.
I will never lose anyone else.
After a long, long time, Tina let go of the corpse under her.
She slowly stood up.
“Aunt, we have to return to Goethe. There’s no longer a need to go to the capital. I want to make the matter here public. Goethe has fallen into a bitter battle, but the scandal involving the Goode family is enough to change the situation in the capital. I want to use this strength to recruit volunteers along the way and secretly contact the Eldest Prince’s opposition… If the Empire is unwilling to give us reinforcements, we’ll think of a way to gather a team of reinforcements ourselves.”
She picked up the axe and held it in her hand.
Sword Saint Snowfall nodded silently.
“But before that, I have to do something.”
Tina said, “Let’s trample the Goode family’s cemetery and erase everything about them. From this world, from history, from people’s memories, everything will vanish.”