บท 64: Luzius

"You are really starting to piss me off," I told him while my face darkened in displeasure.

His grinning cheeks were like high hanging fruits, as they pushed upwards, much to my annoyance, "Here you go, you asked if anyone was willing to step forward, so here I am, leaving all your work for naught. Now, your turn again."

"You are standing up for him, am I correct to assume that?"

He looked around and opened his arms, "take a guess, one chance," he laughed.

My smile faded away.

"You," he took a step forward while shaking his finger, "you have a real active imagination. I knew you would be up to something, but this? This really is something else. Thank the gods that I was already prepared. I won't ever be beguiled by your honey talk."

He circled around me, walking slowly, like a hungry hyena.

"hey, tell me," I followed him with my eyes, and with a low voice asked, "what is your name?"

"Hmm," he watched me weirdly, "a bit too late for that now, isn't it?" He shrugged his shoulders.

"Luzius," someone said behind me and I turned around, "Luzius," Raya repeated, the words barely squeezed out of her lips.

"You are still alive, that is good," he said mockingly, as he looked at Raya sprayed on the floor, she then tossed her head away.

"Luzius? Not a bad name, but wasted on someone like you." I spat out. "Anyways, welcome to the stage."

"Spare me the guilt caravan, alright? Sure, I understand, unlike you, we true nobility fear having our reputation ruined, our face dragged through mud," he waved his hand, and then stared at me with eyes of defiance, "but my unbelievable anger towards you is a lot greater, than any fear of humiliation you can apply on me. All I have to do is win, and . . . and it doesn't seem to be that hard."

"Luzius, boy," Rayas father muttered, "I have to thank you, you came at just the right time."

"Uncle, there is no need for that. I came to fight the good fight."

The father slumped into his seat and sighed, "I am glad you did." He looked more weary than before, "I am. Her talk almost made me lose sight of myself."

"Tsk," I clicked my tongue, "what an annoying little bug," and squinted my eyes.

"ɪs ᴛʜɪs ɴᴏᴛ ᴘᴀʀᴛ ᴏғ ᴏɴᴇ ᴏғ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴘʟᴀɴs?" Agnes asked me.

"Take a guess, one chance," I said with a surpessed voice.

She replied, "ʏᴏᴜ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ sᴇᴇᴍ ᴛᴏᴏ ᴡᴏʀᴋᴇᴅ ᴜᴘ ʙʏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅɪʀᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ɪᴛ ɪs ɢᴏɪɴɢ."

"Ah, well, this is still something I can handle. You know magic and all that stuff isn't really my type of expertise, but some scum jumping in and trying to ruin my plans, that is terra firma, that is still something I can work with."

Although I did not have great hopes on getting the perfect ending.

I quietly turned my head and stared out a tall window, although all was dark, hiding anything that could be seen. But even if it was daytime, anything worth mentioning was too far from the house for the naked eye anyways.

Still, I had to admit, the stars in medieval times where beautiful. Much more plentiful and with a glimmer incomparable to the ones back home, they shone like beacons of hope, on this forsaken place.

So, I had to play with the cards I was dealt with, I guess.

"A, Agnes," Raya called out to me. "What now," she asked me as she pressed herself off the ground.

"That is a good question," I told her and her face ashened.

I did quite like how easy it was to read her.

Unrehearsed and honest- she would have been the type of girl tricked out of all her money by some bad guys around the block.

"Now uncle, what are we waiting for, punish her! Give me a direction, any direction, and I will happily do it for you."

His uncle hesitated, "give me some time to shuffle my thoughts," he turned towards an servant, "and I need a drink."

"What," Luzius eyes widened, "to think? What is there to think about, lock her up, toss the key and call it a day. Or give her to me, I can make good decoration out of her, a word is all I need."

A servant approached, in his hands was a murky bottle. The servant poured with one hand and red wine splashed out, swirling and resting in the uncles cup, which was then downed it in one go. It was a single swallow, but a fast one, the kind where little droplets trickled down his mouth and left stains that looked like blood.

He then, with a tone right from his gut, said: "Alright, I leave her to you. Get that wench out of my sight."

"Gladly."

Luzius confidently strode towards me and I backed away, but there was only so much room before would I hit a wall, or in this case, Raya. I crashed into her and almost fell down, if not for her catching me from down below.

"Prostrate yourself," Luzius commanded.

"What?"

He came closer and reached his hand around my face, "I said prostrate yourself and ask for my forgiveness, and maybe we can change a death sentence to only a life sentence."

"You know, you were supposed to appear after the climax." I grabbed his wrists, "I guess I angered you too much. It is always in the details, I tell you."

He slapped my arms away, "don't you dare touch me without my permission." His face was as grim as a reaper.

I retracted my hands, "alright, alright. Don't have to be so uptight about it." I send a quick glance to Rayas father, only to see his stony expression, and from the looks of it, that would stay like that for a while.

Luzius packed me by my shoulders and with a harrumph threw me on the ground, right next to Raya. He came in, arms straightened, fingers tight, and I violently kissed the floor, and a red pain blossomed from my nose. My head was ringing like church bells.

"This height suits someone like you a lot more."

I massaged my forehead to stop the chimings and with a tiny voice asked, "Agnes, you hear me?"

"ʟᴏᴜᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ᴄʟᴇᴀʀ." She appeared before me, floating through the ground.

I crawled closer and whispered in her ear, "how good do you feel about magic?"

"ʙᴀᴅ."

"That is good enough for me." I smiled.

"Beg for forgiveness, and maybe I will torture you a month less."

I supported myself up, shutting and opening my eyes in discomfort, and I wiped the blood of my lips. "Alright, Plan B."

I hit him square on his mouth.

He staggered back and belatedly blocked his face, his eyes were wide open and he screamed, "you punched me!"

I shook my fist due to the stinging pain that came with the hard impact, "sure I did. But don't misunderstand, that punch was for myself, not Agnes. You were really just too annoying."

His veins throbbed on his neck and his whole face turned crimson, "I will kill you even if it is the last thing I am going to do, you backwards whore," he crooked his head around, "did everyone just see that? She punched me!"

The crowd looked at him but only turned their heads. They then looked at me and shook their heads. 'Sorry, not our problem' is what they were saying. Finally they seemed to have a voice, even if it didn't came from their mouths.

"What," he his chest rose up and down, "how tight is her grip on you all, you are all cowards."

"Don't blame them. They wouldn't even dare lift a finger against me, because they are part of the stage now too. They have their own images to worry about. No more hiding in the shadows. They understand: one wrong move, and heads will be rolling."

"Yes, but as I said, unlike them, I don't care about my image, all I want is you dead. So your devils whisper will have no effect on me whatsoever."

"I can see that," I spat out some saliva, and there was a little bit of red mixed in it, "but I am able to do other things than talking."

"You mean like how you sneakily hit me," he scoffed.

"Come on, that is old news already. listen, if you want to be successful, don't dwell on the past. You know the saying, turn the other cheek and stuff?" I reached out, "instead, think about this."

Now, that was Agnes' role call.

"ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴜsᴇ ᴍʏ ᴍᴀɢɪᴄ ᴛᴏ ᴋɪʟʟ ʜɪᴍ."

I was more thinking along the lines of intimidating him.

"ғɪɴᴇ ᴛʜᴇɴ, ʟᴇᴛ ᴜs ᴅᴏ ɪᴛ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴡᴀʏ," she sighed.

She breathed in and out, the air out of her mouth whistled like sharp daggers. And just like the wind a real dagger appeared before my hand. It stood still like an image, floating the same way their maker did.

The blade had a fantasy-like silver that glittered even though there was no light. The grip on the other hand was black, and due to the contrast, looked even blacker.

I immediately grabbed it with my hands, before anyone could make out where it came from.

I faced Luzius and when he saw what was in my hand, he gulped, "is that a knife? You are not really thinking of stabbing me are you?" He moved away, using his palms as a shield.

"You don't fear humiliation, but what about death?" I grinned while holding the knife above my head, letting everyone witness the shimmer.

"Have you gone crazy," he yelled, "do you understand what it means if you stabbed me? There won't be an easy way out for you, the authorities will catch you and the next time you see the light will be at the gallows."

The crowds voice resounded, "did he say knife?" They looked at each other and then fearfully ran away. "The girls gone mad," the crowd screamed and searched for an exit door.

"Yes my dear, you are right. But when have I ever been a stickler for the authorities," I waved the dagger like a conductors stick and pointed at Rayas father. The man in question shrunk into his throne, neck tugged in and observed me alarmingly, nailed to his seat.

Luzius repeated in a slow voice while slowly drifting away, "I know we had our grievances, but you don't have to do this. How about this, I won't make you my slave, only my ser-"

I interrupted him by grabbing his mouth, "are those your last words?"

He struggled, and he slowly got free, he had more strength then a frail girl like me after all. However before he escaped, I swiftly stabbed the knife at the place his heart resided.

A woman screamed in horror.

Tears began to trickle down the boys cheeks and his pained, muffled cries resounded in the halls. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he slumped to the ground.

"ɪs ʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ?"

"No, it wasn't real enough. If he had felt an impact, he might have died from shock, but since his body didn't feel it, he only fainted."

Yes, the knife wasn't real. Just like every creation that Agnes made, they were incomplete, only based on the intent. So a dagger made for intimidation could be seen but not felt (except for me and Agnes, of course).

His eyes rapidly rolled back and he watched me in confusion. He then struggled again, and ripped my hand of his mouth, "what the hell did you do?"

I laughed, "you didn't think I would really kill you didn't I?"

He was flabbergasted and his head turned beet red, but before he could say anything, Rayas father screamed, "throw her out! Anyone, guards, servants I don't care just get her out of here! That woman is not to be reasoned with," he threw his cup in my direction, "she is a curse, any longer with her here and someone's going to bite it!"

Well, and we were back on tracks, heading right into the direction I wanted.