Natasha ignored Verdi, fixing her gaze only on Sylvia, who was walking alongside him. Her eyes narrowed slightly, her lips pressing together in a dull, somber grimace before she finally asked with bitter fury: "Was it really you? What were you after? Were all the things you ever told me nothing but lies?"
Verdi saw that Natasha was only a little weary and dejected, with no real injuries, and knew her strength was still largely intact. Moreover, after the earlier ambush by the Sky Knight and the high-level mages, Natasha still had a Fourth-level Great Knight, two Second-level Knights, and two Full Knights among her escort — a force that could not be underestimated. So he did not rashly order his loyal knights to attack, instead planning to first break Natasha's spirit, weaken her strength as much as possible, and turn the remaining knights against her.
As for the twenty-odd knight squires and seventy or eighty soldiers at Natasha's side, Verdi paid them no mind at all. Full Knights might feel some wariness toward the standard-issue anti-magic longbows in the squires' hands, but he and the other five Great Knights had nothing to fear whatsoever — this was the absolute suppression that came with elevated rank.
Sylvia drew two deep breaths, her soft, anguished expression gradually settling into composure. "I'm truly grateful for your love, Natasha. But I love my father more. He had finally made contact with people from the Arcane Council — there was hope of escaping his life of repression and fear, and I had to do something for him. I originally thought they were gathering intelligence about you for the secrets of Ratasha Palace or some other hidden matters. I never imagined their goal was to assassinate you. But now things have come to this — Father died beneath your lance, and I can only cast everything else aside and avenge him."
People from the Arcane Council? Droni had already been killed by Natasha? A torrent of questions surged through Lucian's mind before realization struck: Could it be that Droni and Sylvia were both mages? Had he ever encountered them in arcane circles?
Studying Sylvia's height and build more carefully and listening to the distinctive qualities of her voice, Lucian finally connected her to White Honey Sugar, the Magic Apprentice. "Then Droni was the master behind Ashley the Black Crow? No wonder she seemed familiar! No wonder, when I was posing as a professor, it was Droni who first tested me!"
But Natasha's mother had passed away long ago — why would the Arcane Council cooperate with Verdi to assassinate Natasha?
"Just gratitude for my love? You never used to say things like that, Sylvia. Perhaps I've been living in nothing but lies all along — you've been deceiving me, and so has my dear cousin." Natasha picked up on Sylvia's choice of words with sharp precision, her voice tinged with grief and indignation. But she did not regret killing Droni at the first opportunity; otherwise, not only she herself, but all the escorting knights including Camille would have perished in the ambush.
Lucian felt considerable pity and sympathy for Natasha, but hearing her words, he still couldn't help the twitch at the corner of his mouth. "Seems I'm deceiving her too..."
Sylvia struggled to maintain her composure. "A gorgeous, spacious villa. Fine, exquisite food. Attentive, professional servants. A promising career as a musician. Elegant, pleasant noble salons and banquets — the life others dream of obtaining means nothing to me compared to the joy of making progress in arcane magic, the satisfaction of a successful experiment, or fulfilling my father's wish. Natasha, life's paths are like two crossing lines — we once met, but we were always destined to drift further and further apart."
"This..." Lucian resonated deeply with Sylvia's words, understanding the oppression of not being able to study arcane magic openly. Yet he was quite possibly one of the people she had betrayed. The world was truly a strange place. Even if he revealed his identity as a mage now, Verdi would likely kill him on the spot, since he had no connection to the Arcane Council.
But before Natasha could respond, Verdi suddenly reached out, disregarding Sylvia's resistance, and wrapped his arm around her waist. "As for love, dear cousin, you may be powerful, iron-willed, fearless, and charmingly witty, but you are still a woman — and you could never give Sylvia the love she desires."
Natasha closed her eyes, then broke into a laugh — bright and radiant, burying every trace of grief, tenderness, and anguish on her face. "What a formidable mage you truly are. I never realized before that you had such a resolute side, Sylvia. Perhaps I never truly entered your heart. Heh heh, Cousin Verdi — it seems I never truly understood you either. For the sake of the Grand Duke's title, you dared to collude with the Arcane Council and the Silver White Horn cult. Do you really think Bishop Saer de will crown you? The Tribunal is where you belong! Don't you realize you've been seduced by the devil!"
Now that Verdi had stepped out from behind the curtain, Natasha thought back to the intelligence department's infiltration by the Silver White Horn, and the fact that Ronsant Aaron could never be found — how could she fail to understand the role Verdi had played in all of it?
As a knight of resolute character and formidable strength, Natasha did not dwell on matters of love and betrayal. She confronted Verdi directly, wanting his following knights to understand the consequences of their actions and to hesitate.
Making deals with the devil and making deals with mages — both were crimes worthy of the stake.
Verdi threw his head back and laughed heartily. "The devil's temptation? If I had no desire in the first place, what right does it have to tempt me! The Grand Duke inherited his title — and my father died under mysterious, unexplained circumstances. Was that also the devil's temptation?"
"And since when have I colluded with the devil's followers? I am the hero who struck against the Silver White Horn! Without my crucial intelligence, how could Bishop Saer de and Count Hayward have disrupted the Silver White Horn's final operation in time and wiped them all out? And how would they have been too late to rescue you, dear cousin?"
"Furthermore, once you were killed, Mr. Roderigo from the Arcane Council would have handled the scene, directing all evidence toward the Arcane Council. And the Arcane Council would have claimed responsibility. I would merely have arrived too late for the rescue!"
"So it seems, Cousin Verdi, that you were using the Silver White Horn from the very beginning, and now you've sold them out without a moment's hesitation." Natasha had calmed completely.
Yet even after hearing this exchange, the twenty-odd knights and hundreds of knight squires who had come with Verdi remained expressionless, without the slightest flicker of emotion.
Lucian, however, was mildly startled. He carefully studied the knights surrounding them and, sure enough, spotted the familiar figure of Ronsant Aaron.