Leaving the castle in a rush, Haruki and Asuka rode a carriage into the inner city. The daunting news had pulled him out of his murderous temptations and left him in a state of shock. On his way to the inn where his convoys were housed, his mind feverishly raced while questioning the legitimacy of the news.
"Why now?" Mumbled Haruki, grinding his teeth in a fit of frustration.
"Who knows? We'll figure it out when we get there," stealing a glance at his troubled face, Asuka knew it was best to leave him be for a moment.
Being it so early, the streets of the city of commerce were as empty as they could be. The glister, the chatter, and the countless peddlers were nowhere near in sight. A bit thankful for the lack of traffic, Haruki settled down in his seat waiting for the short journey's end.
By the time they reached the place, the streets had turned into a cluttered mess. In front of their carriage were countless people trying to get a peek into the inn building. Whatever had transpired in there has garnered quick recognition.
"Duke, it's me, Kane," knocking on the door, Kane called out to the duke.
"Go ahead, open it," having learned from his mistake, Haruki allowed Kane to open the door for him.
Opening the door for Haruki, he stepped to the side to let him get off. Once down on his foot, Haruki turned to Kane for some answers. His great sword resting over his shoulders, he seemed tense enough to start fighting monsters at a moment's notice.
"Is it true?" Wearing a deep frown, Haruki was in no better mood either.
Kane in response gulped heavily before nodding. His horrors realized, Haruki began to make his way forward. Upon noticing Snow, the crowd quickly subsided making way for him to pass through. Once he got to the inn's door, Haruki looked at the entrance hall ceiling and saw a pair of dangling legs.
'Fuck, I didn't think she'd do this.' walking into the hall, Jenna's whole body hanging by a rope came into his view. Tied to the chandelier she had hung herself with the help of a rope digging into her neck.
"Bring her down," not sure if anyone was even listening, Haruki threw that order into the air.
Bringing himself forward, Arthur the spy of the silver storm jumped onto the massive chandelier. Carefully undoing the knot on it, he slowly brought Jenna's body down. When it was finally within reach, Kane took her in his arms before laying him down on the inn's reception table.
"Should I take the cloth off of her face? We had covered it up since…" Kane's words trailed into silence as Haruki reached forward to undo the bag himself.
Holding her head in his hands, he could hear his heart racing faster. With air pushed out of his shrinking lungs, he braced himself for the grim sight. However, betrayed by his expectation, the moment Haruki took off the cloth, the expression on Jenna's face was anything but grim.
"She's…smiling?" his hands jittered nervously as he stared blankly at the serene glow on her face.
"She was probably happy to be one with her sister again," resting his hand on Haruki's shoulder, Kane comforted him. "We should pray for her safe journey."
"We should," Arthur affirmed the prospect.
Laying her head down on the table once again, Haruki was anything but content with the way things ended with Jenna.
'Another innocent life gone, perhaps, there was something I could've done to keep her alive.' Blaming himself for not turning her into a demon, Haruki had a great deal of resentment towards himself. 'I'm not gonna let this happen again. She would've been better off as a demon than a lifeless body resting in an endless abyss.'
To him, the afterlife wasn't as rosy as the others, and thus he wasn't expecting her to join her sisters as a star.
"We'll give her a proper burial," taking the brooch out of his shirt, he clutched it in his palm and placed his other hand on Jenna's body. "Back at home, that is, her home."
Traversing mana through the sapphire stone, he gradually began to move his hand down from Jenna's head to her toes. As he moved along her body, a layer of solid ice covered her from all sides.
"Duke…" Kane's arm reached for the duke but stopped mid-air.
He too knew that something more was going on inside Snow's mind, something that he couldn't figure out by simply looking. Thus he decided not to disturb him, and let him finish freezing Jenna all over.
"That ice shouldn't melt so long as it's not countered with fire magic," turning his head to Kane, Haruki gave him an emotionless stare. "Keep her safe until I'm done in this place."
"Wait, why? Can't we just come back?" interjecting into the conversation, Arthur brought the attention to himself.
"Arthur, don't argue," being the perceptive one, Kane advised him.
"Do as you wish, I do not care," looking around for the others, Haruki had come up with a proper plan. "Or the silver storm can leave, I'll reward you with the same amount of gold as the rest, so you don't have to stay behind."
Giving each other a quick glance, Kane and Arthur felt a bit uncertain about the duke's offer. After all, if the duke did not make it back to the duchy, they'd be the first to be executed for leaving him behind.
"Where are the others anyway?" Not being able to find the other, Haruki couldn't help asking.
"We had them moved to another inn, the girls were a bit too affected by the incident so only we two stayed behind," Kane's answer, worried Haruki about the others, especially the clovers.
'Asuka is attached to those three, I'm not sure how it would affect her if something happened to them.' wondering about her feelings, Haruki realized that through all this Asuka had stayed behind at the carriage.
"I should get going," announcing abruptly, he began to rush back to the carriage.
'She's a demi-human slave, what the hell am I doing leaving her alone in this stupid place?!' Once again being betrayed by his expectation, as Haruki made his way back to Asuka, instead of her being in any danger she was healing a man who had fallen to the ground.
"What happened?" He asked, walking up to her.
"He tried to grab the lady's tail!" one of the bystanders replied.
"Leave him be!" Grabbing Asuka's hand, he took her back into the carriage.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel