Chapter 41
From inside the helmet, a pair of bright yellow eyes narrowed as the man reached up and grabbed it.
As if he intended to take it off.
Katrina’s guess was correct.
When the man removed the helmet, a sweat-drenched but familiar face was revealed.
…Sylas Rockfenheim.
He had come.
‘How?’
Sylas had definitely been captured by the holy knights. He had been dragged away—there was no mistake.
So why was he here now?
Everything was confusing.
He took a step forward.
Under the chandelier, his crimson hair blazed like fire, and beneath it, those yellow eyes gleamed sharply.
He looked at Katrina with a gaze so intense, it felt like it could pierce right through her.
“I told you.”
There wasn’t the slightest hesitation in his stride.
As he approached, cutting through the air with his long legs, he looked like a predator slowly advancing toward its prey.
Each time his red hair swayed in the wind, a tense stillness followed in his wake.
“We’d meet again.”
“Ugh, ugh…”
At Katrina’s feet, Gilbert groaned in pain.
His vision was spinning from the impact of being thrown by Sylas, and he couldn’t get up right away.
Katrina couldn’t comprehend what was happening.
“…Sylas Rockfenheim. Why are you here?”
He was someone who shouldn’t be here. Someone who couldn’t come here in the first place.
“That’s quite a shocked face.”
Sylas grinned at Katrina’s bewildered expression.
“To be honest, I didn’t expect to see you here either.”
Lies.
Just looking at Sylas’s face made that clear.
“You… What are you…?”
Gilbert’s cloudy eyes landed on Sylas. His expression was filled with fear.
“N-No way…”
Gilbert’s pupils dilated.
As if he’d recognized Sylas, his lips moved noiselessly for a moment before a faint voice spilled out.
“That red hair! No mistake!”
That red hair?
Before Katrina could make sense of Gilbert’s words and turn back to Sylas—
“You’re the one—!”
Gilbert couldn’t finish his sentence.
Thud!
Sylas’s sword pierced through his chest.
While impaling Gilbert, Sylas looked Katrina in the eyes, smiling as though he was enjoying it.
Splurt!
When the sword was pulled out, Gilbert’s blood splattered at Katrina’s feet.
She couldn’t say a word.
“Ha ha ha!”
Sylas suddenly burst into loud laughter.
Katrina’s face grew even colder.
This man didn’t seem like the Sylas she knew. The Sylas she remembered…
“Your face is hilarious. Isn’t it?”
He was a reckless bastard, yes—
“But if I’d known you’d be this shaken, I should’ve killed all those bastards right in front of you.”
—but he had never acted like a complete madman.
“No need to be so flustered. I didn’t come here to do anything to you today.”
“…Sylas Rockfenheim.”
Katrina calmly called his name.
Sylas seemed completely unhinged now.
“Why are you here?”
She tried her best to speak calmly, and this time her voice didn’t tremble.
It seemed humans really do adapt to their circumstances.
“Ah, well—”
Sylas suddenly lowered himself in front of Katrina.
She held her breath, unsure of what he was going to do.
He bent down and began rummaging under the unconscious lord’s armor.
Disgusted by the sight, Katrina frowned and asked,
“What are you doing?”
Sylas replied nonchalantly.
“I came for something in here.”
He searched the lord’s chest area and then pulled something out from within.
A pitch-black orb.
“Ah, there it is.”
“…You came for that?”
Whatever that orb was—it felt like it absolutely should not fall into Sylas’s hands.
“All… all this happened b-because of the red-haired guy…”
Suddenly, the words of the deranged man who had been accused of the crime came back to her.
Katrina licked her dry lips.
Could it be that Sylas…
A dreadful certainty began to form.
“Don’t take that, Sylas.”
Katrina spoke firmly, facing him.
“The lord’s belongings are all evidence in this case. You can’t just take them.”
She was right.
But Sylas wouldn’t care.
Even though she knew that, Katrina still tried to persuade him.
It was pointless, of course.
“You’re working hard, Katrina.”
“I’m just doing my job.”
“Your job?”
A sneer appeared on Sylas’s lips.
“Your job, huh. What a joke.”
Sylas let out a loud laugh.
The room echoed with his laughter. Katrina could only watch him, dumbfounded, not understanding his actions at all.
Why was he acting like this?
“This isn’t your job.”
…What was that supposed to mean?
“Didn’t you want to go back?”
What?
Katrina’s mind went blank at his words.
“You’re not even from this world.”
Her eyes widened.
A headache pounded in her skull, her ears ringing.
Sylas looked at her with a satisfied expression.
You’re no match for me.
That smug face was practically screaming it.
“How do you know that…”
She couldn’t finish her sentence right away.
She barely managed to catch her breath before she continued.
“How do you know that?”
It was something only Katrina knew.
Something she had never told anyone.
A truth that shouldn’t be discoverable.
“Was that supposed to be a secret? Then maybe you should’ve hidden it better.”
Sylas said it like it was nothing.
Katrina was in turmoil.
Sylas had changed.
No—he hadn’t just changed.
He now spoke of things no one could possibly know.
“Sylas Rockfenheim. Why are you here?”
That was when it happened.
Lucifer appeared in the dining room.
“You’re not supposed to be here right now.”
Sching—
Lucifer drew his sword as he spoke.
Sylas looked at him with clear disdain.
“I’d love to smash that arrogant face of yours right now. But unfortunately, that’s not why I’m here today.”
“Are you sure it’s not fear?”
“I think you’re the one who should be afraid. Not me.”
The moment Sylas and Lucifer laid eyes on each other, they immediately growled like wild beasts.
But the fight didn’t last.
Sylas was the one to retreat first.
“Anyway, I’ll be leaving now.”
“Like hell you are.”
“Of course I am. Because I said so.”
Before Lucifer could act, Sylas bolted straight for the window ledge.
“Oh, Katrina.”
“…?”
“I was going to kill him outright, but I figured I should give you the chance instead.”
Was he talking about Gilbert?
“That disgusting bastard—you can deal with him however you like.”
With those final words, Sylas leapt out the window.
