Violant of the Silver

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Translator: mii

editors: sleepchaser, Fire

“Hey, what just happened!?” shouted Cheval. “The carriage suddenly started moving on its own!”

Lantz, who was next to him, pointed at the coachman’s seat. “Someone’s driving the carriage! They’re trying to steal it!”

That person wore a hood that fell low over their eyes. The carriage door, which had been left open, shook violently. The knights could see Vio clinging onto the window frame inside. 

While Lantz and Cheval stood there stunned, Legion had already broken into a dash toward a roadside tree. The same tree Lantz had tied up the reins of his horse. As frustration swelled in his mind, Legion untied the reins, jumping onto the horse’s back at once. “Sir Lantz, lend me your steed! Please follow me!”

“Yes!”

Legion urged the horse to full speed, livid. Lantz, Cheval, and the others watched as Legion galloped the horse away to chase the carriage off the main road.

“Sir Cheval, Mister Butler, please chase the carriage. The coachman over there and I will get help from the guards,” Lantz said.

“Got it. Let’s go, Mister Butler!”

“Yes!”

Immediately, Cheval and Jill took action. Lantz turned around with Hauser and ran toward the nearby guard station.

⋆̩☂︎*̣̩ ✢ ⋆̩☂︎*̣̩

The carriage stopped just as abruptly as it had started. 

Although the main road was paved with stone, the carriage had still swayed a lot due to the high speed. Still clinging to the window sill, Vio sighed, relieved he didn’t get thrown out of the door right beside him. Then, he listened carefully.

What on earth is happening here…? An enemy? Or…

From his pants pocket. Vio pulled out a piece of paper with a magic circle. One with wind magic, so that he could send the carriage thief flying in a gust of wind, should they attempt to attack him.

Is it someone with a grudge against the Lesserhains…? There are so many people that fall under that category though. So many that I can’t figure out who this person could be.

While Vio didn’t remember doing anything terrible, he did receive many benefits as the Lesserhains’ second son. It wouldn’t be strange if someone hated him, lumping him in with the other Lesserhains. 

The slip of paper still in his hand, he approached the doors at the back of the carriage, his actions slow and quiet. Chose the one closest to the right. A floral fragrance drifted into the carriage.

“Are you alright, Young Master?”

To his surprise, the voice he heard from outside belonged to Hauser. Even the face peeking through the small gap between the passenger seating and the coachman seating, which was at the front of the carriage, belonged to him. “I apologize. It seems like something spooked the horse… I managed to jump up on it, but it wouldn’t listen to me.”

“I see. Maybe there was a mouse? But Hauser, you’re really not injured? Isn’t it dangerous to jump on a moving horse?”

“Don’t worry. I’m alright.”

Relieved of his tension, Vio felt his legs turn to jelly. Despite this, he managed to straighten himself and disembark from the carriage, steps still shaky. He felt ill. 

Once he exited the carriage, Vio looked around. “Where is this?”

It was a deserted, dim, and quiet place. It seemed like they were in a back street somewhere,  the atmosphere completely different from that of the bustling 3rd Avenue.

Hauser, with his villainous-looking face and an eye patch over his right eye, proved apologetic as he bowed his head. “I don’t know. I’m not familiar with the royal capital as well… I’ll make sure we return soon, so please return to the carriage.”

“Let me rest a little. I’m having motion sickness.”

“Understood.”

Placing both hands on the side of the carriage, Vio breathed a sigh.

Jill and everyone should be worried. I want to return soon, but… ugh, I’m going to vomit…

He rubbed his forehead with his right hand to ease his nausea. The scent of sweet flowers, which had drifted out of nowhere since some time ago, also gave him heartburn.

Vio scanned his surroundings. He tried to search for flowers, for the source of that floral fragrance, but try as he might, he could not find any potted plants in that desolate back street. Perhaps finding Vio’s condition strange, Hauser approached him and stood next to him. “Young Master, what happened?”

“I’m trying to find where this scent of flowers is coming from.”

“Oh, that’s—”

The sound of hoofsteps. “Lord Violant!” shouted Legion, him and his horse heading full-speed toward them. “You bastard, stay away from him!”

“Legi, what are you talking about? This is Hauser. Can you calm down?”

Legion looked to be on the brink of slashing Hauser with his sword. As such, Vio pushed Hauser behind him out of reflex. 

Right beside them, Legion hopped off his horse. Unsheathed his sword. A look of puzzlement on his face, he said, “That’s not Hauser. I don’t know such a masked man!”

“Huh?” The moment Vio’s eyes widened, his arms were already bound behind his back. “What?!”

Without giving Vio time to look back, “Hauser” pressed a white cloth against his mouth with his right hand. Then he held his left hand forward, a chain in his grip and something dangling from its end.

A censer…?

The sweet scent grew stronger.

The rag had probably been soaked in some sort of drug.  Vio’s field of vision distorted. Mixing with his motion sickness, a sense of vertigo attacked him, and his knees lost their strength. 

⋆̩☂︎*̣̩ ✢ ⋆̩☂︎*̣̩

Down, down Vio’s newsboy cap tumbled, hitting the stone-paved ground almost inaudible to the ears. In the dim lighting, his silver locks glistened like light reflected from the surface of water. 

“Lord Violant!” shouted Legion, tightening his grip on his sword. 

A man in a white mask held Vio under his right arm; Vio had collapsed and gone limp. The man swung the chain in his left hand at Legion. Smoke burst from the swaying censer attached to it, the sweet scent spreading around them, thick and nauseating.

“Fucking bastard. Do you know just what crime you’ve committed toward the Duke of Lesserhain by kidnapping him!? Release Lord Violant!”

Noticing that the man only had a censer as a weapon, Legion charged his way without hesitation. However, right before the tip of his sword reached the man, the ground under his feet shook violently. 

“Huh!?” Legion’s feet sank. Before him, a towering wave made of earth. Then it morphed into a hand.

Such a sight distracted Legion for a few seconds, giving the masked man the opportunity to make a run for it, Vio still under his arms. 

But Legion recovered shortly after. He held his sword aloft.

Right before the large hand of earth grabbed him from above, he threw away his sword and leaped toward the masked man.

The moment Legion heard a groan, the earth swallowed him whole.