The metallic scent of blood seeping into the frozen earth of the Argentos Castle backyard was something profoundly familiar to Rei. However, the violent trembling in her pale fingers was a new sensation—one she utterly loathed.
Sera stood frozen within the shadows of a massive oak tree. Before her, in the dark thicket, the corpse of the black-clad assassin lay at an unnatural angle. The man's eyes were wide, fixed in a final expression of disbelief that his life had been snatched away by a teenage girl who looked like cracked porcelain.
Cough! Cough!
Sera covered her mouth with her palm. A warm, thick liquid flowed between her fingers. Blood.
"Trash body," she hissed under her breath.
Using the Ghost Aura for less than three minutes had made her internal organs feel as though they were being wrung out. Her heart hammered erratically, as if trying to leap out from her narrow ribcage. In her old world, Rei could fight for three days and nights without pause while carrying a gut shot. Here? She was on the verge of fainting just from stabbing one man.
She quickly wiped the blood from her mouth and hands onto the dark fabric of her training clothes. She couldn't be seen here. With the last of her strength, she crawled back toward the castle walls. Every inch of movement was agony. Her muscles screamed from the instant buildup of lactic acid, a direct result of forcing magical power through an unconditioned vessel.
Just as she reached the tree branch that served as her path back to her bedroom window, a voice halted her in her tracks.
"Who's there?"
The voice was heavy and sharp—it belonged to Alaric von Xerxes.
Sera held her breath. She went still, pressing her body into the dark texture of the tree trunk. Below, just a few meters from her position, Alaric stood with his sword half-drawn. His crimson eyes scanned the darkness with the intensity of a predator scenting prey.
Alaric stepped slowly toward the bushes where Sera had dropped the assassin. Duke Frederick followed close behind, his face pale with tension.
"What is it, Alaric?" Frederick asked.
Alaric didn't answer. He knelt, parting the bushes with the tip of his blade, and revealed the black-clad body.
"An assassin," Alaric muttered. He crouched further, inspecting the wound on the corpse's neck. His eyes narrowed. "A single, clean puncture. Terrifying precision. The blade entered at an angle that could only be achieved by someone... short."
Frederick gasped, his eyes wide as he looked at the body. "An intruder? Inside my own estate? Who did this? Was it you, Alaric?"
"Not me," Alaric stood up, his gaze returning to the towering trees surrounding them. "Someone beat us to it. And they are still nearby."
Sera felt cold sweat bead on her temples. This man is no ordinary knight, she thought. Alaric possessed the instincts of a killer, much like herself. If she moved now, he would detect her instantly.
"Come out," Alaric's voice boomed, cold and threatening. "Or I'll burn every tree in this garden until you're charred."
Sera knew she was trapped. However, her brain—trained to handle life-or-death scenarios—instantly pivoted. She couldn't escape as 'The Ghost' in this weakened state. Therefore, she had to return to being 'Seraphina.'
With a movement intentionally made to look clumsy and weak, Sera released her grip on the branch.
Thud!
She tumbled onto a pile of dry leaves below the tree, ensuring she landed with enough noise to be heard but safely enough to avoid further injury. She let out a soft whimper, clutching her ankle.
"Sera?!" Frederick shouted in shock. He immediately ran toward his daughter. "What are you doing out here, child?!"
Sera looked up, her face a mask of deathly pallor and tear-filled eyes. She hid her blood-stained hand behind her back. "Father... I... I was scared..." her voice trembled violently—a perfect performance of a traumatized girl. "I couldn't sleep... I heard voices outside my window... I tried to climb down to find you, but I fell..."
Frederick instantly pulled his daughter into a hug, his heart breaking at the sight of her looking so fragile. "Foolish girl! You should have called a servant! You could have died falling from that height!"
While Frederick was busy fussing over her, Sera's eyes flickered toward Alaric.
The man stood silently, a few paces behind her father. His sword was back in its sheath, but his eyes never left her. Alaric didn't look worried or sympathetic. He stared at Sera as if he were dissecting a riddle.
His red eyes locked onto a dark stain on the collar of Sera's training shirt—a bloodstain that hadn't quite dried.
Sera knew she had been caught, at least partially. She decided to launch a psychological counter-attack. She stared back at Alaric, not with fear, but with a deep, hollow gaze, before quickly shifting it back to the confused look of a little girl.
"Who is... that scary uncle, Father?" Sera asked, hiding her face in her father's chest.
Alaric flinched slightly at being called a "scary uncle." His jaw tightened.
"He's not an uncle, Sera. That is Grand Duke Alaric, my close friend," Frederick explained while lifting Sera into his arms. "Forgive my daughter, Alaric. She has just woken from a long coma; her mind is likely still clouded."
"It is no matter, Duke," Alaric replied flatly. He stepped closer, causing Sera to instinctively tense. Alaric leaned in slightly, his face now only inches from hers. "Lady Seraphina, you have great courage to be out on a night this cold, in such a delicate condition."
"I only... wanted to see the stars," Sera lied with a guileless face.
"The stars?" Alaric smirked thinly—a smirk that didn't reach his eyes. "Be careful, Lady. On a night this dark, stars are often obscured by shadows. And shadows can be quite lethal."
Back in her room, Frederick summoned Madam Rose and the servants to tend to Sera immediately. Commotion ensued once more. The doctor was recalled, and Sera was forced to change her clothes.
Once everyone had left, Sera sat on the edge of her bed. She stared at her hands, which had just been scrubbed clean by a maid.
"Alaric von Xerxes," she whispered. "He is going to be a problem."
There was a soft knock on the door. Madam Rose entered carrying a glass of warm milk. The old woman had served the Argentos family for decades. She was one of the few who knew that the original Seraphina actually had access to the family's secret armory.
"My Lady," Madam Rose whispered, setting the milk down. "The Duke asked me to clean the training clothes you wore tonight. However..."
Madam Rose pulled something from her apron pocket. It was the practice dagger Sera had used to kill the intruder. The blade was still coated in blood.
"I found it dropped beneath the tree before the other knights arrived," Madam Rose continued in a low voice. "My Lady... what exactly happened?"
Sera stared at Madam Rose for a long time. She had to decide now: would she act alone, or begin building allies? Seeing the unwavering loyalty in the old woman's eyes, Sera took the risk.
Sera reached for the dagger, spinning it with a single flick of her finger—a feat impossible for an amateur girl. She looked at Madam Rose with the cold, piercing gaze of Rei.
"Madam Rose, from this night onward, consider the old Seraphina to have drowned in that icy lake," Sera's voice became low and authoritative. "That intruder was just the beginning. They want to destroy my father and my brothers. And I will not allow that to happen."
Madam Rose gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. She saw the drastic shift in her lady's aura. "My Lady... you..."
"Help me, Rose. Do not say a word to Father. He is too honest for this world of vipers," Sera said. "I need to know where Father keeps the military logistics maps for the Northern territory. And I need you to prepare a list of every servant in this castle we can trust."
Madam Rose trembled, not from fear, but from a surge of emotion. For years, she had grieved for her weak lady, oppressed by fate. Seeing the fire in Sera's eyes now, she felt as if the late Duchess Argentos had returned in a far more dangerous form.
"I understand, Lady Seraphina. My life and death belong to the Argentos," Madam Rose bowed deeply.
On the other side of the castle, in the guest study, Alaric von Xerxes stood by the window, staring toward Sera's room in the opposite tower.
He opened his palm. Inside lay a small silver button he had secretly picked up from the scene earlier. The button was from the training clothes Sera had been wearing.
However, it wasn't the button that troubled him.
He remembered when he inspected the assassin's corpse. There had been faint, almost invisible traces of black energy evaporating from the wound in the man's neck. An energy that felt profoundly cold and hollow.
Ghost Aura.
"That power only appears in the most gifted leaders of the Argentos line," Alaric whispered to himself. "And Frederick said he couldn't use it. So... how is it possible that a little girl who can't even walk straight possesses it?"
Alaric stared at the silver button, then crushed it in his fist.
"Seraphina von Argentos. Who are you, really?"