Chapter 70: Shadows (First Part)

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The cold wind whistled, chilling as it brushed against one’s face.

Bella helped me clumsily dismount from the beast’s back. I smoothed my slightly disheveled hair at the temples, tucking it behind my ears.

Under the light blue dress, the not-so-clean hem lifted in the wind, then was gently pressed down by my hand. Under the night sky and firelight, it almost matched the color of the pristine snow.

Perhaps because my appearance was so out of place with the bloodstained ground behind me, the clamorous hunters fell silent, the smiles faded from the guards’ faces, and the atmosphere grew quiet.

With almost everyone staring at me, I walked straight to Edward’s front.

Looking down at him.

Edward turned his face away, softly calling my name: “Peipei…”

I remained silent, still coldly staring at him. After a while, Edward lifted his head.

A placating smile appeared on his face.

“You understand, right?”

“…Understand what.”

Perhaps from the cold, perhaps from the pain, perhaps from the fear seeping from his bones, his lips were trembling.

“Your elder brother has gone mad, he wants to kill me… he wants to start a war! You don’t want something like that to happen, right!?”

Edward was clearly scared out of his wits. Whatever status or image he had, at this moment they were long forgotten. He crawled a few steps closer to me in the snow.

“Many people will die that way, many many people will die… and the Church! The Church won’t allow something like this to happen, they want complete control of this country, they definitely won’t stand idly by!… You’re a Pontifical Knight, you should understand, right?”

“……”

“When that time comes, the pressure Shanter Castle faces won’t be something you can imagine, you’ll be at a huge disadvantage, you can’t win… no matter how capable you are, how capable your father is, what difference would it make? You can’t kill everyone… there are people in the Church who are more capable than you, those bishops—”

“They’ll send even more capable Pontifical Knights, and that Holy Maiden… you know, right? You can’t win…”

Edward’s words had lost all logic. He seemed to have placed his last hope of survival on me, spewing out everything he could think of that might sway me all at once.

“Your elder brother doesn’t understand these principles, you’re smarter than him, you surely understand, right?”

“I’ve been praying for you these 3 years… I’ve always been praying for you… I don’t want you to die, so surely you don’t want me to die either… talk to him, tell him these principles…”

Looking at his pleading face contorted with tears, I inexplicably nodded.

“Alright.”

Edward froze for a moment.

He seemed not to have expected me to agree so readily. His eyes showed disbelief, his bloodless lips trembling uncontrollably, then showed an expression of wild joy.

“You… you agree? You can get him to let me go?”

“Mm, I agree.”

Beside me, Count Lafayette frowned upon hearing my words and wanted to say something: “Peipei…”

Edward of course wouldn’t give him a chance to speak, immediately grabbing the hem of my dress.

“That’s wonderful, that’s wonderful! I knew it, you like me, you do like me—”

…Like you?

I raised my small hand, holding up five fingers as white as mutton-fat jade—

Slap!

A palm strike landed on Edward’s face.

His face still carried the joy of surviving a calamity, but the next moment, his left cheek clearly deformed, his lips, nose, and eyes seemed to have been hammered flat, instantly twisting toward the right side. Two teeth mixed with blood threads shot out from his mouth, followed by the tremendous force stretching his neck, lifting his body and legs off the ground into the air.

The crowd immediately gasped in shock.

That strike sent him flying several meters, tumbling through the air in a less than graceful arc before landing with a “thud” in the snow not far away.

I shook my arm and walked toward him.

“Ugh… ugh…”

Edward groaned in pain, trying to prop himself up on his elbows, but his limbs wouldn’t obey him. Blood lines trickled from his mouth.

“You…”

He shook his head slightly, but immediately showed an even more pained expression, clearly his neck was badly injured.

“I agree. Lafayette won’t kill you.”

A kick to his chest.

“But I will.”

“Ugh!”

Edward couldn’t help but grunt, rolling several more times. When he finally stopped, even breathing had become extremely difficult.

His eyes were bloodshot as he clutched his chest with his mouth wide open, desperately trying to catch his breath. The muddy snow had stained his once clean and neat clothes filthy. I walked toward him again, expressionless.

Can’t quite describe the feeling at this moment… of course, there was the desire for revenge.

But looking at his current painful state, I didn’t feel particularly happy. The feeling in my heart was more…

Just anger and worthlessness.

For that pure, kind soul that had already vanished.

Or perhaps she hadn’t vanished, but simply existed in a way I couldn’t yet understand. But regardless, some things were ultimately different now.

Like memories.

Like those tender emotions from the past.

That once pure and kind girl had indeed died once because of this, and I ultimately couldn’t completely live on in her place.

All of this, just because of this man’s boring and foolish ambitions.

I walked to Edward’s front and just stared at him blankly.

The surrounding clamor had long since ceased, everyone was silent. Perhaps they couldn’t understand the situation before their eyes, but… they could feel the emotions in the young girl’s heart.

After a moment, Edward finally caught his breath.

“…Peipei cough cough… have you vented enough…” He couldn’t even lift his head anymore, but what surprised me was that he didn’t beg for mercy, “…if you’re not satisfied… you can hit me more, it’s fine, I know cough cough, you’re hurt inside, it’s my fault, it’s my fault…”

He had given up trying to stand, painfully turning over to lie on his back.

“That night 3 years ago… I didn’t mean to… really didn’t… you know, on the way here, what I said, you… heard it all, right?”

Bang——

Another kick.

Edward’s body rolled away again, then was stepped on by a black leather boot.

Bella’s expression was cold. She said nothing, just like me raised her foot, “bang” and kicked him back in front of me.

“Cough cough, urgh——”

That kick must have landed on his stomach. Edward coughed a few times, filth surged from his mouth.

“Urgh——, urgh——” The vomiting continued for a long time. During this period I kept watching him, until he could vomit no more. “Peipei… have you hit enough… it hurts so much…”

I nodded again.

“Mm, enough.”

Click click click.

The next moment, accompanied by a hiss like a poisonous snake’s tongue, my right hand burst into blue light.

The Ice Sickle was once again in hand. Edward suddenly panicked, terror showing in his eyes, yet he forced the corners of his mouth up, struggling to show a smile.

Blood and filth mixed with mud covered his entire face.

Lafayette’s voice suddenly came from beside me.

“Wait, Peipei. He just mentioned, what happened 3 years ago…”

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