“Hey, Ophelia, you’re not seriously going to cast that thing at us, are you?”
Otto’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he took a slow step back, reaching out to hold back Gehlros, who was itching to make a move.
No one dared to take Ophelia’s explosive magic head-on unless they were ready to die.
“Want to try?”
Ophelia pressed forward relentlessly.
Anna stood behind her, eyes lowered, her expression unreadable.
Ophelia could clearly feel the trembling coming from Anna’s fingers.
Her own anger grew alongside the magical runes gathering in her hands.
It was these people who had destroyed her Anna into this state.
Unforgivable.
She had missed Anna’s past, and the past couldn’t be changed, but she would never allow the tragedy of those days to repeat itself in front of her.
“Ophelia, I…”
Click.
Anna pulled her fingers away from Ophelia’s hand.
She lightly tugged on Ophelia’s sleeve, helpless like a lost child.
“Anna, don’t be afraid.”
Ophelia’s hand clamped down hard over Anna’s, the cold, trembling palm piercing Ophelia like needles.
She swept a cold gaze over the two uninvited guests before her.
The temperature around her plummeted; frost crept up Gehlros’s spear shaft, freezing him into letting go helplessly.
“Get lost. I’m not saying it twice.”
“Ophelia, are you really going to offend both Karat and the Royal Family over a sinner? As your fiancé, does the Grand Duke even allow you to act this recklessly?!”
Otto scolded Ophelia, but she didn’t even glance at him.
“What I do is none of your concern.”
As if to warn Otto, a shard of ice shot toward him with a whistle.
Otto gritted his teeth in anger and drew his sword, cleaving through the ice shard.
His furrowed brows showed the storm building inside him.
Still, he didn’t aim his sword at Ophelia; instead, it pointed at Anna, who was silently looking down.
“Ophelia, as your fiancé, I advise you…”
Three ice shards flew toward Otto from different angles.
He blocked two, but one slashed across his cheek.
“I don’t recall having a fiancé like you. If you want to dream, better go to bed early and put an extra pillow under your head.”
Ophelia’s voice was colder than ice. She anxiously glanced at Anna.
Anna kept her head lowered, but her hand clenched into a fist inside Ophelia’s grasp. Ophelia could even feel the strength pressing through the back of her hand.
“Fiancé… what is that about?”
Anna’s voice was hoarse. Ophelia didn’t have time to explain before Anna let go.
The Sword of the Hero materialized in Anna’s hand.
“Ophelia, you never told me.”
The wind stirred by Anna’s sword forced Ophelia to step back two paces.
Anna… was ready to get serious.
The aura surrounding her now was pure killing intent, with no disguise whatsoever.
It was the coldness she never showed, not even when facing skeletal monsters.
“Anna, I don’t have a fiancé.”
Even pushed back by that intense killing intent, Ophelia pressed close to Anna.
She grasped Anna’s still-healing left hand, silently telling her: you’re not alone.
“The only one by my side is Anna. I think only Anna can accompany me to the ends of the world.”
“That’s true.” Anna’s killing intent gradually faded. “Ophelia, can I throw a tantrum?”
“Throw all you want, Anna.” Ophelia’s voice was soft, but to Otto, it landed like a mountain on his shoulders. “Don’t be afraid. I’m behind you.”
“You don’t need to say it; I know.”
Anna’s lowered crimson eyes slowly lifted, burning like flames.
Her gaze bypassed Otto and pierced straight at Gehlros.
“The Spear Hero?”
Anna sneered, her voice a cold wind blowing over flames, chilling Gehlros to the bone.
“Or should I say, the baron who climbed up by betraying his comrades?”
“Want to… settle accounts for the past few years?”
Anna’s figure shot forward like an arrow released from a bow.
Before Gehlros could swing his spear, a blade that seemed capable of cutting through moonlight sliced across his throat.
He instinctively clutched at his throat, but the expected pain never came.
Anna’s sword had cut off a button on his collar.
He stood there stunned—one stroke could have severed his throat, but instead, it only severed a button.
“You’re too careless, Baron.”
Anna sheathed her sword behind Gehlros, coldly eyeing his trembling legs.
The sharp click of polished shoes echoed loudly through the empty alley, the sound like a death knell ringing in Gehlros’s heart.
He hurriedly turned around, gripping his spear tightly.
His mind went blank; none of his once-practiced spear techniques came to him.
Under Anna’s relentless pressure, he retreated step by step, like a helpless sheep hunted by a vicious wolf.
So disgraceful.
Both were former heroes, yet Gehlros was completely dominated by that sinner.
Otto couldn’t stand it any longer.
He drew his sword and stepped between Anna and Gehlros, but frost crept up his greaves like a bone-worm.
He turned back to see Ophelia looking at him with a chilling gaze, as if staring at a corpse.
“All those years of indulgence have completely rotted you.”
Clang. Gehlros’s spear dropped to the ground.
He reflexively tried to plead, but then remembered the person before him was Anastasia.
Hesitating, Anna’s sword was already pressed against his neck.
So fast that Otto only caught a trace of a shadow.
“The throne stained with comrades’ blood… still sitting comfortably?”
Anna’s face twisted with rage.
Her blade grazed Gehlros’s throat, drawing a thin line of blood. Gehlros screamed, looking utterly despicable even to Otto.
“Baron, see? Your blood is red too.” As the blade left Gehlros’s neck, he collapsed weakly to his knees.
Anna raised her sword high. Once it fell, his head would drop like rain.
“You’ve gone too far, sinner.”
Otto tried to step in front of Anna, but Ophelia’s fierce shout stopped him.
That bone-chilling “Shut up” exploded like an explosive spell. Otto only felt the magic around him twist like a vortex, the air reverberating with unbearable crackling.
The scattered magic particles instantly crystallized into ice—just one wave of Ophelia’s hand could transform those shards into a quill of needles piercing Otto like a porcupine.
“Anna, do whatever you want. I’m here.”
But Anna merely glanced disdainfully at the crumpled Gehlros and retracted her sword as if he were invisible.
“Enough.”
Ophelia saw the fire in Anna’s eyes extinguish into weariness under the night sky, a fatigue that looked like she could collapse at any moment.
“Are you satisfied, Anna?”
“Enough. It’s over.”
Ignoring the two watching behind her, Anna walked straight into Ophelia’s arms.
“Ophelia… fiancé, what’s really going on?”
Like venting her frustration, Anna nibbled lightly on Ophelia’s collarbone like a puppy.
“I told you, there’s no such thing…”
“Then prove it to me.”
“Prove it? You’re impossible…”
Under the eyes of everyone around, Ophelia cupped Anna’s face and pressed a vow into her lips with a kiss.
“The only one I want by my side, the only one I will love, is Anna.”
Ophelia lifted Anna’s hand, took the Sword of the Hero from her palm, and raised it level, pointing it at Otto and Gehlros.
“Die, or leave. Choose one.”
A winter-cold gleam flashed in Ophelia’s eyes.
“…Let’s go.”
Otto gritted his teeth, glaring at Gehlros, who was acting like a weakling.
That pretty boy was utterly useless.
Ophelia kept her sword raised until those two miserable figures completely disappeared from her sight.
“Let’s go home.” Ophelia whispered softly into Anna’s ear.
“Mm.” Anna buried her head in Ophelia’s shoulder and responded softly.
Under the moonlight, the two girls intertwined their fingers.
They shed the day’s burdens, and now, their hearts drew closer under the guidance of the moonlight.
This outing wasn’t entirely meaningless, Ophelia thought.
At least, she had made her feelings clear—and understood Anna’s heart as well.
Perhaps now, the only thing left to stand between them was time.
Next day off, she would go out to play with Anna again.