Chapter 40
“W-What is this… Why did the door suddenly…?”
At that moment, someone spoke up.
His voice was frozen with fear.
“…It must be the Lord. He locked it from the outside.”
“What? What did you just say?!”
Bang!
A loud noise came from the dining room wall.
Katrina flinched at the deafening sound that seemed to shatter the wall.
“The wall! There’s suddenly a sound from the wall…!”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The crashing sound continued in quick succession.
Everyone was confused. The room was locked, and one side of the wall looked like it was about to collapse.
‘No way…’
If Katrina’s hunch was right, then that spot…
Crash!
Finally, the wall completely gave way, and a thick fog spread through the dining room.
‘This is insane.’
Gilbert had arrived with his knights.
As expected, that wall was a secret passage into the dining room!
“L-Lord! What are you doing?! You said you were going to get the documents…!”
“You think I’d end it like this!?”
Gilbert was fully armed in armor.
He looked completely deranged, his eyes consumed by madness as he screamed.
“Never! I will not end here!”
Some tried to reason with him, but it was no use.
“L-Lord! Please stop! Let’s talk this out—”
“If I kill all of you, no one will ever know. No one!”
He was beyond reasoning.
The dining room, with its beautiful chandelier casting a soft glow, now felt cold and heavy.
Katrina sat at the far end of the table, watching the chaos unfold.
She tried to stay composed, but Gilbert’s searing gaze shook her to the core.
The knights who entered with him had already drawn their swords.
Gilbert was clearly agitated.
His face was flushed, and thick beads of sweat clung to his forehead.
He slammed one hand on the table with a loud thud.
“I can’t let this go on! All of you schemed this together! I’ll kill every last one of you!”
As he shouted, the knights charged forward.
Katrina instinctively stepped back from her chair.
Among the guests, wine glasses shattered on the floor, and some rose from their seats to flee.
But the door was already blocked by the knights.
A suffocating fear of death wrapped around the room, and panic erupted.
Swords gleamed, slicing through the cold air.
A guest was struck by a sword and collapsed with a scream.
“Katrina! You especially—I won’t let you live!”
Gilbert snarled, his voice trembling with rage, and pointed at one of the knights.
“Seize that woman!”
There was nowhere to run.
“P-Please spare me, my lord!”
“I won’t tell anyone what happened here—ack!”
Knights mercilessly cut down those trying to escape.
In Katrina’s panicked gaze, something caught her eye.
‘The window isn’t locked.’
The secret passage and door were blocked by knights. That window was the only exit.
But still…
It was the only way.
“Jump out the window!”
Katrina sprinted toward it.
“What?! That’s the third floor, Lady Katrina!”
She knew.
It was a crazy idea.
Besides, this was a castle. The ceiling was especially high.
But staying meant certain death. Katrina had no intention of dying here.
If she jumped—and if she was lucky—maybe she’d just break a few bones.
“I can just get treated later by the Marquess Francé’s daughter!”
Someone else, who had the same thought, shouted.
“Catch that woman!”
Knights rushed toward her. The room was soaked in blood, screams of agony and violent crashes echoing everywhere.
Katrina barely managed to grab the window ledge.
There were holy knights in the castle. If she could just bring them here safely…
Katrina tightly shut her eyes. She chanted to herself, convincing herself the pain would only last a moment.
She was just about to throw herself—
“Ah!”
A knight seized her shoulder roughly.
Her foot, which had climbed onto the window ledge, slipped as she was pulled down, and pain shot through her ankle.
His grip on her shoulder was brutal. Without hesitation, the knight dragged Katrina to Gilbert.
When Gilbert saw her, he sneered viciously.
“I’ll make sure you die slowly and painfully.”
Katrina bit her lip hard.
She refused to give up and looked around.
There had to be a way.
Something…
Her eyes turned toward the secret passage. The knights were no longer blocking it.
‘If I can just get there…’
And then.
From the darkness of the secret passage, Katrina saw something glimmer.
Huh?
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps echoed.
Someone was walking toward them at a steady pace from within the passage.
At last, the chandelier light caught the figure.
And Katrina saw what that glimmer had been.
A man wearing a lion-shaped helmet emerged from the passage, holding a sword.
“W-Who are you?!”
Clearly, he wasn’t one of Gilbert’s men. Even Gilbert looked startled by the stranger emerging from his secret passage.
But the man said nothing—he simply raised his sword toward Gilbert.
And Katrina saw it.
The golden glow inside the helmet’s eyes.
No way…
The man in the lion helmet then swiftly cut down the knights rushing at him.
“Argh!”
Screams once again filled the dining room.
***
“It—it opened!”
“The door’s open!”
While the lion-helmeted man was cutting down the knights, the door suddenly opened.
Gilbert, caught off guard by the unexpected turn of events, yelled in confusion.
“Don’t let them escape! Chase them!”
But people ignored him and rushed out the open door.
Katrina, with her injured ankle, couldn’t move easily.
She needed to escape too.
Forcing her body up, Katrina stepped onto the floor.
Throb!
The pain was unbearable, as if she had badly sprained it. Her whole body was soaked in cold sweat.
Just as she managed to take a step—
“Ugh!”
The lion-helmeted man threw Gilbert to the ground right in front of her.
Katrina froze in shock and held her breath.
The man had already taken care of the entire situation.
Now only Gilbert remained, and the man lowered his sword, slowly scanning the room.
An ominous feeling crawled over her skin.
Then, finally, he looked at Katrina.
And then—
“Ah.”
He let out a sigh.
A low, familiar voice.
‘No… It can’t be…’
It couldn’t be.
There’s no way he would come here.
He couldn’t have come here.
Katrina kept denying it over and over.
Silas had been captured by the holy knights.
