The Sword and The Shadow

It Was Him

"Eirinn… can I come in?" Leguna asked after a gentle knock.

"Yes, Big Brother Leguna," Annelotte, disguised as Eirinn, said.

Unlike Sala, Brani knew how terrifying Leguna was. She still needed to rely on the current crisis, so she didn't dare to easily offend him. Among those things she did to ensure he didn't get on his bad side was treating Eirinn well.

When Sala controlled House Elvin, Eirinn had been imprisoned by her. While Leguna didn't say anything about it, he was actually quite dissatisfied, and Brani picked up on it. So, she relaxed the security around Eirinn and would never dare to arrest and monitor her.

While 'Eirinn' sounded rather happy to those outside, Leguna shuddered from the chill within.

"Well…" Leguna scratched his head awkwardly, not knowing what to say.

"If you got anything to say, let it out." Annelotte raised furrowed her silver eyebrows.

He was quite unaccustomed to seeing that face act so coldly. Eirinn usually always smiled when he was around and was Annelotte's polar opposite.

"Since the matter is settled, why don't you just announce your identity?" Leguna decided to start from the easiest topic.

"And? You want to clue in Brani to the fact that Eirinn's basically defenseless now? I'm really curious whether you'll go insane again once you return to see her gone," she snapped.

"You've got a point… I… I was just worried that you'd be worn out from pretending."

"I don't need you to worry about my matters!"

Leguna was speechless. He knew that she was mad about Marolyt and him calling each other in-laws.

Come on, since your father already admitted it, go along with it! I definitely won't treat you badly… he thought sneakily.

"I know what you're planning," she said, glaring at him, "My father's view on this isn't mine. I--"

"So, what's your view on this?" he interrupted with a solemn tone.

"I don't know…" she muttered almost inaudibly. Unlike what Leguna thought, Annelotte wasn't mad about what Marolyt did. Instead, she was agonizing over the primal fear she felt the moment before Bigsby's Vajra Palm struck Leguna.

She could still remember that feeling. Her mind and spirit were blank. It was as if she lost all sensation. She knew that it had something to do with Leguna and couldn't deny it even if she wanted to.

However, admitting that she liked him was an almost impossible task.

That was why she felt so confused and was in a bad mood.

"Annie, are you alright?" He found her troubled face really weird. There was no need to be so angry about his and Marolyt's joke, right?

"I'm fine."

"Oh!" Leguna clapped his hands in realization. "Are you mad about your father?"

"My father? What about him?"

"He… he said he was going to have a talk with Brani… But I don't know the details of it."

"If you're talking about those things, then I think you're wrong." Her expression turned even darker.

"Huh?"

"While Father might be a… a fond enjoyer of female company, he doesn't like to owe anybody anything." She found it quite weird to rate her father that way.

"So you mean… If your father really ends up in bed with Brani, he would have to protect House Elvin and he wouldn't do something so troublesome in the first place?"

"That's it."

"Then why did he go see her?"

"I secretly asked him about it during the banquet. He said he would be there to ask about something and can leave at any time."

……

"Welcome, Mister Marolyt." Brani stood up when she saw him arrive. As a female dark elf, greeting a male first was a huge sign of respect, not to mention a lowly human male.

Marolyt himself behaved rather aptly for the occasion. He wore a grey-silver noble robe and seemed extremely elegant.

"Being able to dine with you, Matriarch Brani, is my honor," Marolyt said with a slight bow.

After some pleasantries, they began to talk about different power levels. When the topic shifted to whether House Elvin could form a good relationship with the human empire, Brani waved her servants away.

"Well, now it's only the two of us--" She smiled and tugged on her low-cut dress and looked at Marolyt. "--Now, we can have a nice, deep communication session, right?"

"Yes…"

Surprisingly, the perverted Marolyt seemed utterly calm. He looked her in the eye and sighed. "It's a huge waste for someone like you…"

"What did you say?" Marolyt had said that in the human tongue, so Brani didn't quite catch it. The next instant, he suddenly disappeared from his chair.

Brani's body froze in an instant when she felt the terrifying aura of the sword. It wasn't a physical object or steel, but pure will. For someone as powerful as Marolyt, alone was enough to kill anyone beneath the saint realm.

He reappeared behind Brani without his weapon. He only tapped his right index finger on the back of her head.

Though that move seemed completely harmless, Brani sensed great danger. She felt a prickling pain at the back of her head, as if the things touching the back of her head weren't two fingers, but Leguna's black dagger.

"Mister Marolyt, what do you mean by this?" It took only two seconds for her to gain a grasp of the situation before she reassumed her lazy, sensual attitude. "Do you like this kind of rough play?"

"Apologies, Miss Brani. Being rough on women is one thing I hate the most. But I have no choice to do it. I need to know some things," he said.

"If it's my three sizes, I can tell you right now!" She grabbed her soft sacks with her right hand. "My breasts are 36 E…"

"Your figure is great, but that isn't what I want to know." He sighed, as if he was lamenting the fact he wouldn't be busting one out with Brani tonight. To stop her from steering the subject to another weird topic, he decided to ask directly. "Tell me who the mastermind behind all this is."

"All this? What are you referring to? House Elvin's extermination of House Andalir? Or the united attack against our house by the smaller houses?"

"While I like big-breasted dumb women, I hate those who pretend to be dumb with a passion, Miss Brani," Marolyt said with a tone of impatience. "I'm talking about how word of Eirinn got into the Dusk Zone."

"Sala was the one who heard about it. What does it have to do with me?" she asked, puzzled.

"You're still going to play the fool?" Marolyt waved his hand and the mirror in her room separated into two halves. "During the past few years, the base plane has had no communication with the Dusk Zone. With information so seldomly passing through, how did you folk manage to find out about that dark elf? Don't test my patience, Miss Brani. When I get hasty, many unfortunate things will happen."

Brani mulled it over in silence and sighed. "Then, why don't we sit down and chat?"

"What trick are you going to play?"

"You're a saint-realm swordsman and I'm only a 19th-stratum priestess. There's no trick I can use when you're so close to me. I only want to talk a little more comfortably. Or, is the great sword spirit of Hocke afraid of a mere high-order priestess like me?"

"Huh, so you know so much about me, after all." He relaxed and sat back in his chair. "So, tell me. Who's the mastermind behind all this?"

"He's an elf by the name of Wayerliss Deepshadow," she revealed.

"It was him after all!" A sharp glare shot out of Marolyt's eyes right that instant.

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