A Cruel Beast's Leash

Collin’s lips twitched like a dying fish out of the water. In the end, Collin could not utter a sound. Irvan didn’t twitch an eyebrow as he looked at him. His voice was calm and measured.

“Keep talking. We have plenty of time. Oh, are you frustrated? Come to think of it, you left the window closed. Ventilation is very beneficial to the patient. Collin… where are you going?” After Irvan finished, he lifted Collin by the neck like a weightless doll. Collin could neither believe nor accept the current situation. His legs scrambled for escape as he was lifted to the air.

“You want to open the window? Well, that’s fine by me,” Irvan continued as he struggled.

“…!”

“Now? Hmmm… are you feeling apologetic? Good. Go on.”

Irvan said his words loud enough that they could be heard from the outside. He walked to the window, bringing Collin with him. Finally, Collin could not withstand asphyxiation any longer and his body suddenly became limp. His mouth hung wide open and his saliva dribbled on his chin.

A loud noise escaped from his throat. His pupils became listless, the faint light of life that remained was extinguished completely. Irvan stared numbly at Collin in his grasp. Sneering coldly, he then threw his limp body out the window as if tossing dirty garbage. The window shattered, and the terrible sound of a heavy body falling to the ground and being stabbed by something sharp split through the air.

“Kyaaaa!”

“Aaaaah!”

High-pitched screams of horror could be heard from all directions.

“Sir Collin!”

“Master!”

Collin’s bedroom was forced open. “What’s the matter?!”

As the attendants and knights entered the room, they saw Irvan was sitting in an armchair with his arms crossed, his long legs spread out. He was looking across the window, where the wind blew through the broken windows.

The direct attendant covered his mouth and swallowed his scream; another startled attendant approached the messy and broken window, and looked down, then closed his eyes miserably. The knights and soldiers who followed had the same long faces: they were gasping with pale faces, covering their eyes with their hands, or touching their foreheads.

In the yard on the first floor leading to the garden, there was a cart full of rakes and plows, no doubt for trimming trees and shrubs. Collin landed on the sharp equipment, his body, with blood dripping out from its stabbed orifices, was a grotesque sight to see.

“…Commander Irvan.” A knight of the Muns faction, who had barely recovered from the shock, opened his mouth timidly. “Can you tell us what happened?”

“I’m not sure,” Irvan replied. He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head, his face expressionless. “How would I know? I was talking to him, and all of a sudden he rushed through the window and jumped through it.”

The explanation was clearly wrong, but unfortunately, the dead can’t speak. No one knew better.

For a moment, the knight who had lost the leader he had been following closed his eyes with a bewildered expression. “Oh, how could something like that – ”

“Well, I guess he wanted to commit suicide,” Irvan cut in. He glanced at the blue sky and drily added, “Isn’t it a perfect day to die? It’s sunny and clear. He must have suddenly felt a sense of remorse.”

The quiet and serene garden was filled with the hustle and bustle of the panic-stricken servants who quickly grasped the situation. Soonafter, the whole Castle of Van Wert was in uproar.

* * *

“Did you say that Mr. Irvan sent you?”

“Yes.”

Emma was surprised when Collin’s ladies-in-waiting suddenly came to the annex, but she kept her expression under control. The ladies-in-waiting glanced at Emma with wary faces like cats in a stranger’s house. Jenna was standing at the corner.

“Why?” Jenna asked them, earning their surprise.

“What? Oh,” the black-haired maid exclaimed in shock, before shaking her head. “We don’t know either.”

“You two are Countess Karina’s ladies-in-waiting. I don’t think you would have any business here. Is it true that Mr. Irvan sent you?”

“Then why would we even come here?” The black-haired maid answered furiously.

Jenna tilted her head with suspicion. “The Countess wasn’t the one who sent you? To spy?”

“No! The commander ordered us to come here.”

“Hmm…”

The blonde maid cowered at Jenna’s disapproving gaze. She looked around and trembled. She gingerly looked towards Emma. “Um, Miss Herman?” she asked.

“Yes?”

“May I return to Madam Karina for a moment?”

“Didn’t you say that Mr. Irvan told you to wait here?” Emma smiled casually.

The blonde maid twisted her body uncomfortably and stuttered, “We-well, that’s true, but I thought she might be worried. I’ll let her know we are here and I’ll be right back.”