1. The First Letter (47)
The ax blade drew a solid silver line and lodged itself in the object. Kwajik, the feeling of the blade breaking through the hard texture rang through my hand.
Even then, Delphine-senior didn’t show any movement.
Because it didn’t have to be.
My hatchet, not Delphine-senpai, cut the drinking glass she offered.
Shards of glass shattered and flew into the air with a clanking sound. It was as if snowflakes were blowing. And the scent of that sweet wine that brushes the tip of your nose.
The wine flowed like blood. The purple liquid spilled over the table, drenching it, and soon flooded the table.
I came out of the air and met Delphine’s eyes. Delphine seemed neither surprised nor embarrassed. She just laughed and laughed lightly.
Her crimson eyes were still relaxed. I didn’t like that fact at all.
“Senior Delphine.”
“Okay.”
I was irritated in my eyes at her calm and weak attitude. I narrowed my brows slightly and spoke to her in a slightly boiling voice.
“… … Don’t keep scratching.”
“Is it too obvious?”
And once again, the glass tilts. A sun-like woman with her back against the moonlight sipped wine in an alluring manner.
A mischievous smile formed on her lips. It was a look of blatant favor, but it didn’t feel pleasant.
It is the gaze of the strong. It was like looking down at someone who found an interesting toy and would not pose any threat.
A more ferocious spirit appeared in my teary eyes. Then Delphine-senpai laughed like he was cute.
The hand holding the hatchet trembled. But I had to be patient. The opponent is the heir to the prestigious Yurdina family, and before that, she was a semi-nude woman.
Being invited to the private space of an aristocrat also meant trusting the other person completely. I couldn’t break that trust. Even more so, isn’t honor the most important thing to an imperial aristocrat?
No matter how much the opponent provoked me, I couldn’t get over it. So it was an outsider. And above all, those eyes that don’t shake at all.
It meant that I had in mind the number of times I attacked her. And it also meant that he had the confidence to subdue me.
If even the advantage of surprise could not be saved, there was no reason to attack her. Gritting my teeth, I took the ax that had cut off the table.
An unsightly dent was left on the old-fashioned table. The spilled wine flowed into the place. A scar dyed purple.
If you ask me, I will ask you. Of course, for Delphine, the legitimate successor of the Yurdina family, this would only be a small amount of money.
Seeing me tying the hatchet back to my belt, Delphine nodded slightly as if she knew that. Then he poured the remaining wine from the glass into his mouth. Gradually, she seemed to get drunk, too, and a blush appeared on her cheeks.
She drew an arc on her eyelid. It was a captivating eye smile.
“For me, if there is someone I like, I want to bully them for no reason… How about a mischievous woman?”
I said, “Huh,” and let out a laugh. Silent sound, my eyes were still sharp.
“… … It doesn’t seem like much from what I’ve been through today.”
“I’m sorry, but it’s okay. You will come under me anyway.”
And then, Delphine-senpai walked slowly again and stood in front of me. Her body moved closer to me. If you concentrate just a little, you can feel the subtle warmth on her skin.
The smell of fragrant wine crossed the tip of his nose. Delphine’s hot breath soaked the nape of her neck.
“In order to trust each other, you have to have no secrets, right? That’s why I specifically informed you.”
“You will regret it.”
“Regret… I? Ahaha!”
Delphine sighed as if she had heard a funny joke. It seemed that the slight increase in his movement had raised his intoxication. Come to think of it, the feeling of getting a little drowsy was something I might have been a little drunk too.
So, I wonder if I can talk like I do now in front of a big man like Delphine-senpai without shaking at all.
It wasn’t that the wall was big. My coldly sunk eyes were still examining her vital elements.
The pure white nape, it was the most powerful place as of now. But Delphine, whether or not he knew what I was thinking, laughed for a while before whispering in my ear.
“… … Ian, Percus.”
Her bloody eyes, which can be seen from a sidelong glance, looked blurry at first glance, but could not hide the difference deep inside.
The pride of a beast, and absolute confidence in oneself.
“I have never had a single regret. If that day ever comes, it will only be when we are defeated.”
In other words, it meant that he had never lost. It was an expression of absolute confidence that he would continue to do so in the future. If it wasn’t for Delphine-senpai, I might have laughed it off as arrogant.
However, it was different if the narrator was Delphine senior. she deserved it The trajectory of her life was proof of that.
I was well aware of it. The fact that language has a different status depending on who owns it, nevertheless, sarcastic words came out naturally from my heartache.
“You shouldn’t be too careless… Especially when you are unarmed like now.”
“Do you want to try it?”
A provocative smile formed on Delphine’s lips. I sighed, “Whoa,” and slightly averted my gaze as if I wasn’t interested.
It was at that moment that my hatchet was pulled out.
The ax blade flashed with the sound of slicing through the air. Like the blade of a guillotine, the hatchet fell in an optimal trajectory.
It was a straight, simple yet most powerful blow. In general, weapons with a short reach tend to take damage, but it was a different story when there was an enemy at close range like this.
The shorter it is, the easier it is to accelerate quickly. So did my hatchet. A cool light that descended at a speed faster than that of a sword.
But that was before the line was even drawn.
The sparks scattered with the sound of a crash.
Before I knew it, Delphine’s hand, which had been fumbling around my thigh, shot like a ray of light. A golden glow that swayed upward from the bottom.
It was a dagger. Before I knew it, the dagger with a golden aura casually slashed my hatchet. The hatchet was thrown high with an unexpected shock, and that was the end.
A dagger covered with a golden aura touched the nape of my neck. I could feel the gentle heat on my skin.
I heard that Delphine-senpai’s aura has an intense heat that melts quite a bit of metal just by touching it. If it was at least warm enough, it meant that she was looking after it.
A disgruntled moan escaped my mouth. Delphine smiled slightly.
Unable to withstand the sudden momentum, her gown slipped slightly from her shoulders, but I did not direct my gaze there.
Then, both as a swordsman and as a man, it felt like defeat.
When Delphine stopped moving just as my hand ax had been thrown high, she took the dagger with a satisfied expression on her face. The golden aura on the dagger dissipated.
“… … Were you hiding a weapon?”
“Of course, then did you think that a human like me would be alone with someone without any means of self-defence? Oh, you can have it if you want. I hung it on the inside of my thigh.”
That’s why the blade smelled fragrant. I suddenly realized the identity of the vague scent when her blade touched my throat.
Delphine was looking at me with mischievous eyes. It was a confident look. He seemed to be in a pretty good mood, but now, just in case. He might actually hand you the dagger if I ask for it.
It was an attractive proposition, but the answer I would give was always the same. I said while looking at Delphine sunbaenim with trembling eyes.
“No need.”
In spite of his pride, Delphine sunbae’s face sulked as if his sarcasm had been hurt a little by my successive rejections. But soon she shrugged her shoulders and opened her mouth as if it didn’t matter anyway.
“Anyway, you understand now, right? It’s impossible for you to defeat me, whether you’re caught off guard or not… … .”
At that time, my hand holding the ax handle regained strength.
It was a hand ax held high after colliding with Delphine’s dagger. He was still there, and as soon as his arm muscles tensed up, what happened after that was as if it had been decided.
Cutting through the air, the ax blade strikes at high speed.
It was a surprise again. I thought it was a perfect surprise attack to take advantage of my carelessness, but Delphine senior’s response was more agile.
Her blood-red eyes went cold again, and her dagger fired again like a skirmish. At this rate, it was obvious that the previous situation would repeat itself. A faint sneer passed through Delphine’s eyes.
But the next moment.
With the sound of skin tearing, blood gushed out. The one who opened his eyes was Delphine senior.
Because it was my palm that blocked her dagger.
I felt a burning pain. No matter how many times I tried, I never got used to the feeling of my skin and muscles being dug out. The pain, as if a needle had been pierced through my spine, forced me to clench my teeth to shut my mouth where I was about to scream.
Delphine-senpai’s eyes became dumb. Like I didn’t know it would be like this.
It was a dirty trick. But what can I do, I couldn’t bear not to give her a shot now more than anything else.
It was the moment when my hatchet finally reached her.
Get bonk bitch