AMBER wasn't the combat type.
Even though she was a Mana user, she was only trained to see traces of other people's Mana. After all, according to her father, a noblewoman like her didn't have to learn how to fight. She just had to marry a strong person that would protect her all
Hence, her father chose Rufus to be her husband.
But, at that very moment when her life was threatened by Marquis Spencer's reanimated corpse, she regretted following her father's every single order.
[I should have at least learned how to increase my physical strength or speed with Mana…]
As a result, Amber could only shut her eyes tight while waiting for Marquis Spencer to bite her face off.
"AHHHHH!"
That loud cry didn't come from Amber.
"Duchess Quinzel, move!"
Amber opened her eyes and saw Lady Sera Wisteria standing in front of her protectively.
Judging by Lady Wisteria's pose, and the fact that Marquis Spencer's reanimated corpse was sprawled on the ground while writhing in pain, it was clear that it was Lady Wisteria who saved Amber.
[Right. Lady Wisteria is known for her brute strength that could apparently rival the de Moonasterio's…]
On the downside, the rumors said that Lady Wisteria's strength was the reason why men thought Lady Wisteria wasn't an ideal wife. Hence, Lady Wisteria remained unmarried even though she was older than Amber.
[Lady Wisteria didn't get involved with another man after Lord Gavin broke off their engagement in the past…]
"Duchess Amber, I know people could freeze when terrified, but please pull yourself together!" Lady Wisteria yelled frustratedly. "It's clear that the young lady who pretended to be Commander Gavin's daughter is here for you."
Ah, right.
It wasn't the right time to think about anything else other than staying alert.
"You're too harsh, Lady Sera Wisteria," Regina Crowell complained in an exaggerated hurt voice. "I'm not pretending to be Commander Gavin's daughter– I really am his flesh and blood."
"Then I'm glad my marriage with Commander Gavin didn't push through," Lady Wisteria said, scoffing while kicking the living daylights out of Marquis Spencer's reanimated corpse. "Who would want a monster like you as a stepdaughter?"
Amber, who was still confused by what was happening, flinched when someone grabbed her by the arm.
"Stop being absent-minded, Duchess Quinzel," Marchioness Keys scolded her while dragging her to safety. "Countess Cortez made a barrier. Come!"
To say that Amber was touched when Marchioness Keys saved her despite her argument earlier. But she didn't have the time to savor the warm feeling because her eyes caught something strange in the air.
[Traces of Mana...?]
And yet, no one was there.
[But I'm sure someone is here…]
Amber listened to her gut feeling, so she pulled her arm away from Marchioness Keys grasp. Then she pushed the marchioness away from her.
"Duchess Quinzel!"
Marchioness Keys didn't scream her name because she pushed her.
The marchioness screamed in fear when she saw a man materialize right after Amber pushed her– and then the man stabbed a syringe into Amber's neck.
[Ah…]
Amber immediately fell to her knees, her consciousness quickly fading away.
She was scared.
Scared that she might never see her husband and daughter again.
[Hanna, Rufus, I wish to see you one last time…]
***
"DUCHESS QUINZEL!"
Pfft.
Regina thought the scene in front of her was funny, but she didn't laugh since she wasn't satisfied yet.
The noble ladies who witnessed everything looked terrified to get near Amber Quinzel.
Only Sera Wisteria and Marchioness Inez Keys were brave enough to kneel beside Amber Quinzel and hold her while the duchess was having a seizure.
Sera Wisteria was using her lap as a cushion for Amber Quinzel's head.
Marchioness Inez Keys, on the other hand, was busy loosening the collar around Amber Quinzel's neck.
[It's no use, though.]
"Prince Nero and Hanna Quinzel are coming," Dilan, who was standing beside her, said. "I'll cast the teleportation spell now."
Regina nodded. "Alright."
"Are we leaving Marquis Spencer's corpse here?"
Earlier, Sera Wisteria tied the marquis' reanimated corpse to a pillar using her Mana.
[Lady Wisteria is smart and strong. It's a shame that the men of this empire is scared of women with such qualities.]
"Marquis Spencer already served his purpose, so let's just leave him here," Regina said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm sure Princess Neoma is itching to exact her revenge on Marquis Spencer after what the marquis did during the Selection."
Yes, they were keeping an eye on Neoma de Moonasterion during the Selection in secret.
"So, I want our high and mighty Imperial Princess to feel frustrated that we killed the marquis before she could even get her hands on him. After all, there's nothing more frustrating than getting your prey stolen right under your nose."
Dilan laughed. "Is that your plan? To demoralize Princess Neoma before the war?"
"It's not only Princess Neoma who needs to be humbled," Regina said, smirking as a new portal suddenly appeared out of thin air. "We also need to demoralize the next person that Princess Neoma's people follow when the Imperial Princess is out of commission."
That person was Hanna Quinzel, of course.
Regina smiled when Hanna and Prince Nero came out of the portal.
There were other people with the young royals, but Regina only focused on the Crown Princess.
[Show me something interesting, Hanna Quinzel.]
Regina wasn't disappointed, though.
As soon as Hanna saw Amber Quinzel's skin turn violet while the duchess' eyes turn all-black, the Crown Princess' face distorted in shock, disbelief, pain, and desperation.
Yes, the Crown Princess showed all those emotions in just the span of a few seconds.
Needless to say, Hanna Quinzel looked devastated upon realizing that her mother had turned into a reanimated corpse.
Regina laughed in delight while clapping her hands.
[Yes, that's the expression I wanted to see from you, Hanna Quinzel!]
***
[SHE'S laughing…?]
Hanna was still in a state of shock after seeing what happened to her mother when she heard Regina Crowell laugh out loud while clapping her hands.
The next sound she heard was the sound of her sanity snapping.
Before anyone could stop her, she had already closed the distance between her and Regina Crowell.
She tried to grab the crow by the collar, but she just passed through Regina's body.
Ah.
Hanna was too late.
Regina and the man beside her had already cast a teleportation spell, so their physical bodies were already being transported to another place.
Hence, she couldn't touch them anymore.
Hanna turned around to glare at Regina Crowell. This was the first time she felt so helpless and frustrated in front of the crow. All she wanted to do was scream in anger.
Her dignity as the Crown Princess be damned.
"Don't worry, Hanna Quinzel. Your mother hasn't completely turned into a reanimated corpse yet since the duchess is still alive," Regina Crowell said, still laughing at Hanna– obviously enjoying her misery. "If you want the antidote to turn your mother back to normal, then tell Princess Neoma to come to me before the war. Also, do tell Her Imperial Highness to bring a Healer with her if she wanted to check the authenticity of the antidote I have. Knowing the Imperial Princess, I'm pretty sure she won't trust anything I'll give her."
It was obviously a ploy to catch Neoma before the war even began.
Hanna smirked bitterly. "Are you that afraid of Neoma that you're already resorting to foul play when the war hasn't officially started yet?"
"All is fair in war, my dear Crown Princess. What foul play are you talking about? You sound na?ve– so different from the wise Hanna Quinzel I know," Regina said disapprovingly, then she laughed again. "Oh, is that it? Are you shaken because of what happened to your mother? That's funny. I hope Princess Neoma suffers the same fate soon."
"You wench–"
"Yes, I'm the wench who turned your mother into a reanimated corpse– and you better remember that only I could return Duchess Amber Quinzel back to normal," Regina said, cutting Hanna off as her body quickly vanished. "See you later, Princess Hanna."
And, just like that, Regina Crowell had vanished along with the man beside her.
For the first time in a long while, Hanna felt so helpless that all she could do was scream and cry in anger– her entire body burning up.
She felt like all the power inside her was threatening to explode.
But, to be honest?
She didn't care anymore.
"Hanna! Are you trying to kill yourself?!" Nero scolded her, hugging her tight from behind. "I'm sorry, but I need to knock you out."
Hanna only screamed and cried louder in response.
But, soon, she felt her burning body get enveloped in coldness– quickly making her consciousness fade away.
[Mother…]
***
NERO caught Hanna who fainted after he used his ice to literally cool her down, then he carried her in his arms as carefully as possible.
After all, his fiancée's body almost exploded when she gathered her Mana in her Core.
It was a common occurrence among Mana-users experiencing a devastating emotion that would subconsciously force them to take their own lives in order to end their misery.
For the first time, Nero felt scared to lose someone other than Neoma and his parents.
[I almost lost you, Hanna…]
"Prince Nero, what should we do about Duchess Quinzel?" Melvin asked nervously. "It seems like the duchess has been turned into a reanimated corpse…"
That was a heavy blow.
[No wonder Hanna almost lost her mind.]
"Let's bring Duchess Quinzel to the palace first," Nero said, then he turned to the noble ladies present there. Everyone looked shaken. "Melvin, what do you think we must do to the witnesses? They are wives of high-ranking noblemen so we can't kill them, can we?"
"Of course, we can't, Prince Nero," Melvin said firmly. "Let's just erase their memories about what happened to Duchess Quinzel."
"You heard that, Alucard," Nero said to the demon mage. And, yes, Alucard and Lucien had both fully recovered now. "Erase the ladies' memories, save for Lady Sera Wisteria. We need someone who could tell us what happened in detail."
And Sera Wisteria seemed to be the best person for the job.
Alucard bowed his head politely. "As you command, Prince Nero."
The demon mage then knocked out all the ladies except for Lady Sera Wisteria.
As expected of the formidable noble lady, Lady Sera Wisteria calmly took everything in while still taking care of Duchess Amber Quinzel.
"Prince Nero, Marquis Russell Spencer has also been turned into a reanimated corpse," Sanford reported to him while pointing at the marquis tied around a pillar. Instead of an ordinary rope, the dead marquis was tied with a Mana rope. "What should we do with that pervert?"
Nero clenched his jaw, annoyed that Marquis Spencer died before he could punish that bastard properly. "Let's bring him back to the palace as well."
"Alright, Prince Nero," Sanford said, then he patted Raku's shoulder. "I'll leave it to you, Raku."
Raku just nodded before he walked towards the tied Marquis Spencer.
Nero didn't have the energy to scold Sanford because he was worried about Hanna.
[We need to return to the palace, but before that…]
Nero turned to Lucien. "Go and check on the Spencer Estate. Marquis Spencer is already dead, then it only means House Spencer was attacked," he said. "Catch all the reanimated corpses that you may find there and secretly bring them to the palace."
Lucien bowed his head politely. "As you command, Prince Nero."
[Now it's time to return to the palace.]
Nero looked at the unconscious Hanna in his arms. "Let's go home, Hanna."
***
REGINA frowned when Dilan burst out laughing as soon as they arrived in their location: the underground church located in the border of the Imperial Capital.
"What's funny?" Regina asked with knitted eyebrows. "What did I do?"
"Everything is funny, you little liar," Dilan said while clutching his stomach. "The virus that you asked me to inject into Duchess Amber Quinzel's body was the failed version of the virus that we're trying to make. Hence, her state as a reanimated corpse is only temporary. The duchess will return back to normal in a week even if they don't do anything to treat her. And yet, you made Hanna Quinzel believe that you have the antidote that doesn't exist in the first place."
The antidote didn't exist because, just like what Dilan said, Duchess Amber Quinzel's state as a reincarnated corpse was only temporary.
But why did Regina act like only she could "fix" the duchess?
Simple.
"Princess Neoma and Hanna Quinzel are the brains of the empire," Regina said, smirking. "I can't kill them because they're stronger than me. However, it's easy to hurt and demoralize them since they have many people they love and cherish. If they're too depressed to focus on the war, then wouldn't that benefit us?"
She learned that from Neoma de Moonasterio.
[Princess Neoma is a good actress who enjoys bluffing and scamming people with her lies, so let's give her the taste of her own medicine.]
Dilan laughed again while ruffling her hair. "This is why Lord Helstor and Lord Callisto put you in charge of the First Calamity– you're the perfect opponent for Princess Neoma and Hanna Quinzel."
"It's fun," Regina said, smiling while walking away from Dilan. "I hate seeing girls my age happy and loved– it makes me want to destroy them."
[Misery loves company, after all.]
***
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