I will not die a Villainess's death

A lot of things happened at the same time. Sorias lashed out with his fists, leaving a red imprint on Baron Pheros's face. That startled everyone and caused everyone to realize that he was dead serious.

But he was not the only one who acted out. Adam reached out to fist Baron Pheros's shit from the back and yanked that man toward himself.

Baron was a tall person, easily breaking the 6-foot even. He was taller than Adam, who was still in his growth period. But their positions made Baron pheros seem shorter than he appeared to be.

Meanwhile, Eve managed to hold the servants back as they tried to rush toward Baron Pheros and the Crown Prince. Her powers managed to make a physical barrier between herself and the center party.

Baron Pheros's eyes were wide with fright and he looked ready to piss his pants off. It was a good look on his face but it was not going to stop Adam from demanding answers from him.

"You know where Elysia is, right? I know it is your fault her link to me disappeared like that. Where did you take her? What did you do to her?"

Sorias was not past his fury just yet. His sharp class was out for the world to see and his temper was flaring quite brightly. He looked like a demon ready to tear its victim apart.

"I-I have no idea what you are talking about. Did something happen to Lady Dirac?"

Eve had to give it to him. The man did sound a lot more innocent than he was. No one could tell that he was at fault just by looking at his face.

But those pleas of innocence just served to make Sorias even angrier.

"You mean to tell me that the assassin I chased after to get the kids back was not sent by you? But he had your magic signature and the soldier was sent by you. You threatened our wife to keep quiet as well, right? I saw your kids safe and sound when I came back."

Sorias was inches away from ending this person's life when he was stopped short by Eve. In fact, she was the only thing keeping him and Adam from killing Baron Pheros.

Adam looked annoyed at being stopped by his subtle attempt at choking Baron Pheros. The man had started to turn blue without anyone noticing him.

"Don't kill him right now. We still need him to give us statements and records of what is happening here. Let's hand Baron Pheros over to the royal guards while we look around for Elysia–"

Perhaps Baron Pheros had realized that he was fucked or maybe he had finally given up. But his laughter rang through the area and it started everyone.

His face broke down into an insane smile and his body all but phased out of Adam's grip.

"You are too late. Unfortunately, you will never meet Lady Dirac again in this lifetime. Her body must have dissolved into the blood pool by now. I can feel strong magic taking shape around us."

The wind was starting to pick up around the clearing. It was the earliest sign of a magic storm that was approaching. The air was cracking with magic and it was repelling everyone outwards.

Someone was chanting a powerful spell with human catalysts fueling them and Eve very much doubted that Elysia was the handler.

"It's not Elysia who is responsible for this. I can feel her magic being dormant right now. Baron Pheros must have a helper with him."

"You're too late. Too late. She will come back and then we will be together."

Baron Pheros looked beyond help now. He was laughing insanely and that freaked everyone around him out.

But this new piece of information complicated things. Not everyone could go to find Elysia now.

"Let's spilled up. Whosoever finds Elysia first should inform the others about it. Adam, you stay here to command the royal knights."

"But I can-"

"I know you can help but you will end up destroying the palace if you go into a rage. Do you want to bury Elysia under all that rubble?"

Eve could see it on Adam's face. He wanted to deny her words and talk back to her but he had nothing to say in his defense. He had lost this argument even before it had started.

"Fine, I will stay here. But you have half an hour to bring her out. Otherwise, I will head in there and save Elysia myself."

Eve did not acknowledge Adam's words but she did hear them.

However, she was not going to give Adam any time to show up as Elysia's knight in shining armor. That pleasure would go to Eve this time.

She took off in a flutter to follow Elysia. Sorias followed in her step, his steps not even making a sound as they made contact with the ground.

Adam watched them all go out, his expression turning even sourer at having to stay back.

It was at times like these that he was reminded of his position and how it was a hindrance more than it helped him out.

Why did he have to stay back just because he was the crown prince? He wanted to find Elysia as well and take her in his arms.

"S-Sir, what should we do with the maids? They are resisting our arrest-"

"Take them in by force then. Don't forget that they are accomplices and you will be held responsible if they managed to escape us."

"Y-Yes, sir. I will see to it."

This was the problem with these humans. They don't see the bigger picture here and their insignificant noses could not even pick up the rotting smell from these maids.

They were dead shells already being controlled by magic. But in these human's eyes, they were no different from normal humans.

"How troublesome. I should have argued more when Eve asked me to stay back. That woman is the bane of all my happiness and stress-free life."

__________________________

Eve hurried through the corridor as she followed after the only faint of un-corrupted magic that she could find.

She could not confirm whether it was Elysia or not who used this magic but she still decided to follow it anyway.

Her light magic was a nice counter to the bloodhounds on her way. These creatures had a weakness that Eve easily exploited as she ran further inside.

There was a very strong odor of blood and decay in the air that made Eve take a step back but she stubbornly pushed forward anyway. She was not going to let a little thing like some smell keep her away from finding Elysia.

Eve hurried through the corridors, her eyes trained on the trail of magic in front of her. Her steps were moving without her knowledge and then she arrived in front of the door where all that metallic smell was concentrated.

And somehow she knew that Elysia was behind this door. If she wanted to get to Elysia, then she likely needed to neat this door down and enter the room.

With that in mind, Eve tried to know the door down but it seemed to have been locked with magic.

Seeing no other out, Eve decided to push the door open with all her might. She ran as far back as she could and rammed into the door at her full strength.

Of course, she used magic to force her body and the door gave way under all that brute force.

"Success."

Eve cried out but her joy turned into horror as soon as she saw the blood-soaked body of Elysia lying on the ground.

She still had some consciousness left in her mind to be able to look Eve in the eye and smile at her. But that vibrant face went dull pretty soon and Elysia lost consciousness as soon as Eve reached her body.

As for Eve, she was hesitant to even touch Elysia's body. She did not want to cause any more harm to her, not to mention, she did not want the female to be hurt even more.

But there was no other choice but to touch Elysia to check over her condition.

Thankfully, the diagnostic spell revealed that Elysia was not hurt or bleeding which filled Eve with relief.

But Elysia was cold and her magic seemed to have been sucked out of her. And behind her was the blood pool from the reports they had received.

It was vibrant and the blood pool had treated gold mixed in it. Somehow Eve knew that it had activated some kind of spell and was about to go out of control.

'This place is going to blow up. We need to get out of here.'

Eve picked up Elysia's bridal style and ran through the corridor. Behind her, the blood bubbled before it began to increase in volume and escape its container. It was following after Eve and Elysia.

'Just a little more and we will be finally safe. I can see the light outside already.'

Eve wanted to curse her inability to use offensive spells. Such a thing would have been so useful for occasions like these.

But she never made it out because a black-clad figure stopped her in her steps. She had no presence, nor any indication of being on any side. And yet Eve's instincts told her to be careful with this person.

"Leave her here and run from this place. Seal it as soon as you get out. Now that the blood had gotten a taste of this magic, it will chase after her no matter where she goes. This is the curse she had to bear for uncovering this secret."

The voice was female and not from this nation. That was all Eve could pick up from this mysterious person before she felt the wind being knocked out of her body.

She dropped Elysia in shock and instantly reached out for her.

Only to find the black-clad person having picked up her friend instead. And she was walking away with Elysia without any worry.

Eve threw a beam made up of light magic at this intruder but nothing happened. And she had a feeling that the black-clad person gave her a sad smile.

"I am doing this for your good. People like Elysia Dirac cannot be allowed to live. The royal family should not have such connections and neither should a Saintess like you."