'Worse for myself?'
Lady Lily's words made Lucian imagine Edmund's reaction upon seeing them together.
It would be for the best if Celine was present at the time as well.
They would talk it out, and Lucian could finally get the closure he needed.
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The Rochefort's camp was like a small village of its own. There were knights everywhere, looking less like a group of participants and more like guards, protecting the camp.
Lucian, who had entered the hunting competition by himself (to save money for his cultivation), could only admire the lavish lifestyle.
It was something to behold. There was even a stage and a dance floor for their entertainment.
Lady Lily seemed to have prepared a performance for them, and everyone was eagerly waiting for it to start.
Young Master Edmund sat leisurely on a chair, watching the stage with a bored look on his face.
He looked nowhere like the enthusiastic young man who was interested in getting along with just anyone, but like a futute leader of an esteemed noble house.
Lucian quickly scanned the area, looking for a sign of Celine, and instead found a gagged young master Mathieu with his hands and feet tied up.
He was hanging upside down in the middle of one of the tents, like a pig waiting to be slaughtered.
'Seems like my methods are too soft compared to the Rochefort's.'
Celine was working inside her tent, not interested in joining the outdoor party it seemed.
Edmund would usually help Lucian and Celine meet up as a middle man, so Lucian didn't find anything strange about being invited to a private tent for a meeting. He followed the two knights escorting him in.
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The tent was luxurious, decorated with beautiful furniture.
Even from the inside, the music was loud enough to drown out any noise.
It would have been great for ensuring their privacy if not for the ominous atmosphere.
"..." Lucian gripped his axe by the handle tightly.
He suddenly felt like a lamb, walking into a wolf's den, completely unarmed.
He only had a split second to react before one of the knights lunged at him.
Lucian flung the axe at the structure of the tent, tearing it open and exposing the inside. It flew in Celine's tent direction and stopped moving.
Edmund caught the axe, bending down to smile at Lucian through the hole in the tent.
Lucian was dangerously close to uncovering Edmund's true nature, but Edmund's steps were faster.
Lucian's mistake was trying to piece together the full picture, giving his future "brother in law" a benefit of a doubt.
"Lady Celine!" Lucian ducked, dodging the knight's fist, and rolled to the side, getting away from their range, "Lady Celine!"
He shouted at the top of his lungs, hoping she would hear him, but the knights' cheers from the outside drowned out his voice.
Being outnumbered wasn't the problem, but being read like an open book by the person who was pulling the strings was.
Lucian pulled out his short spear, using it to fight off his attackers, destroy the furniture, the tent itself, anything to buy himself time.
A kick to the back sent him sprawling, another blow to the chest left him gasping for breath.
Having no other option left, Lucian used the spear to cut his arm, letting blood trickle down.
"Damnit!" one of the knights cursed, realizing what he was doing. They seemed afraid of any evidence that would lead to their master being discovered.
'Tears disappear; blood stays.'
Lucian flung his bloody arm, splattering his blood on the walls and their uniforms, as if he was using them as a canvas.
The dark red painted a portrait of hopelessness, a desperate attempt to leave behind a piece of truth.
"Shit!" another one cursed, "Kill him, quickly!"
Lucian blinked away the blur in his eyes. He was losing a lot of blood and began swaying on his feet, enough to trick the knights to drop their guard down.
'Who knew that being an undead monster would come in handy one day?'
They thought he had given up and accepted his fate. They used this as their chance to strike, their kick breaking Lucian's limbs in an instant.
"Ugh," Lucian groaned out, falling to his knees. He coughed and winced in pain, his eyes flickering, and his lips curled into a pained grimace.
It was alright. He chanted to himself. The pain was manageable, as long as he could still think straight.
The knights tied Lucian's mouth and his wounded arm to stop the bleeding.
A blond man of similar statue to Lucian's took the spot by Lady Lily's side, acting as her servant. Her beauty had stolen enough focus for anyone to see the difference between the doppleganger and Lucian.
The knignts threw Lucian's limb body in a bag and used the back entrance to escape into the forest. They were in a rush, looking nervous.
'Businessmen don't cry over bad deals, Lucian.'
Lucian forced himself into viewing his predicament as a logistical problem to be solved, not a trauma to be felt.
He was frantically doing math to drown out the sound of his blood boiling in his veins. The higher the debt, the less he had to feel the emotion of betrayal.
Mathieu was also carried away by the knights, his body limp, his head hanging low, as if he had been knocked out.
'Mathieu is the perfect person to pin the blame on. It's an opportunity that not even I would have let pass if I tried to hide my dirty deeds from Celine.'
The knights brought Lucian to his tent, listening to Edmund's instructions on how to set up the crime scene to look like a fight had taken place between Mathieu and Lucian.
"His female cousin should be looking for him soon," Edmund said, "Luckily her beloved cousin is still alive and can be saved in time, but not without a heavy price on his mind. His injury will heal, but not his soul."
Edmund talked about crippling Mathieu's mind as he watched his knights do the dirty work.
There was not a single ripple in Edmund's voice, as if he was just talking about a boring book he had read, "Hopefully, my sister will finally get her senses back, and start acting like a Rochefort again."
'I should have trusted Lady Lily's words, so why didn't I?' Lucian decided to trust his judgment instead.
He decided to trust an image of a man who spent years proving he was on Lucian and Celine's side.
Edmund consistently portrayed himself as less competent than Celine behind closed doors. He must have acted as mama's boy to lower Celine's guard as well.
Their "peaceful days" were a false sense of safety maintained by Edmund until he was ready to strike.
Lucian stopped internalizing the betrayal as Edmund's evil, but as his own stupidity for thinking a hay head could ever truly be seen as a family by a noble.
"You will not be forgotten, and you will be avenged," Edmund continued, his eyes moving to the bag that contained Lucian, "That much I can promise you, Lucian Arclight."
Caw-caw! Caw-caw!
Raven's caws filled the air.
Edmund's head snapped up in alarm, "Did she train more than one bird?!" he paused in realization, whispering, "She lied…to me?"
╔═══ Author's note ════╗
Edmund tried to compromise Lucian's morals and reputation by using Jax's courtesans first, then Lady Lily.
Edmund also tried to gaslight Lucian into believing that sleeping around was normal and expected, hoping Lucian would slip up, using himself as an example.
He wanted to lower Lucian's value in Celine's eyes, especially as a man susceptible to lust and infidelity. He almost succeeded when Celine caught Lucian with Jax's naked woman and broke up with him.
Instead of falling for Edmund's trap, Lucian began to investigate, becoming more and more suspicious of Edmund.
Edmund figured out he couldn't antagonize his sister forever, and took drastic actions before Lucian could counterattack.
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