—The Lord's Manor in the Kusar Domain
"I see. So you've captured our two targets. And the cleanup?"
"We left corpses with their faces burned beyond recognition. As for Her Highness Rosemary, wanted posters have already been distributed to every domain naming Snake Blood, the perpetrators behind the raid on the Akinashi Domain, as the culprits. Furthermore, the lord, Oliver Akinashi, perished in the assault by Snake Blood. The House of Akinashi has officially been slated for dissolution due to their failure to protect Her Highness Rosemary."
"I see. I see. Excellent."
Geographically speaking, the Akinashi Domain rightfully belonged to the House of Kusar. If it was stripped from them, nine times out of ten it would be handed over to the House of Kusar. Factoring in the merits of capturing the Wind Cats and wiping out Snake Blood—the supposed murderers of Her Highness Rosemary—that land would belong to Ketzer without a shadow of a doubt.
"And what became of Snake Blood?"
"Rest assured. As per your orders, following the subjugation of the Wind Cats in the Forest of Deep Magic, we reorganized the domain army and slaughtered every last one of them. Not a soul left in this world knows the truth."
With this, both the acquisition of Akinashi's lands and the glory of avenging the slain princess were practically falling into his lap.
"What of Princess Felice's contract spirits?"
"The brothers Ruby and Onyx took Titan and Ket. Her Highness Felice is now nothing more than a powerless, fragile woman."
Everything was proceeding precisely according to plan.
"Where are the two ladies—or rather, the two head of cattle?"
They were no longer Rosemary and Felice. They were Ketzer's slaves. There was no need to waste honorifics on them.
"In the next room."
"Is that so? Then I shall go and lavish them with affection at once."
Now then, what should he do with them? Merely carving them to pieces would be dreadfully boring.
First, he would thoroughly savor those two youthful bodies to his heart's content. To watch their lovely faces warp in sheer despair—ah, that was the ultimate thrill.
Breathing heavily with excitement, he hurried toward the room where his two slaves were kept.
Near the window at the back of the room sat two beautiful women, both bound to chairs by iron chains around their wrists.
The pink-haired woman in the pure white dress was Rosemary. Beside her sat the girl with a lingering youthfulness, Felice. Both were beauties who vied for the crown of the finest in the kingdom.
"Splendid. Truly splendid."
To overpower and violate the two princesses he had only ever dreamed of—the mere thought sent a surge of ecstasy through him.
Licking his lips, he rushed over to the two slaves, who slowly rose from their chairs.
"Rose, Felice, struggling is useless. I'm going to dote on you so thoroughly that you won't even be able to stand on your own two feet."
He crept closer, cornering them.
"Nah, I ain't plannin' on runnin' anywhere."
A rough, crude cadence utterly unfitting for Rosemary's crystal-clear voice sparked a brief flicker of doubt in him. However, that immaculate, beautiful white skin and exquisite voice unmistakably belonged to the princess of his dreams. Any hesitation was instantly swallowed by his lust.
"What admirable resolve. From this moment forth, I am your master. Hereafter, you will address me as Lord Ketzer."
He laid down his command to the two slaves.
"Are you out of your mind? Do you realize you are attempting to lay hands on royalty?"
Felice rattled off in a trembling, hurried voice.
"Former royalty. Now you are the slaves—the livestock—of me, Ketzer."
He declared it with absolute certainty, putting them firmly in their place.
"And? What do you plan to do with us?"
Faced with Rosemary's strangely detached yet natural question, he decided to proclaim the future that awaited these two slaves.
"Why, I shall thoroughly defile every last inch of your young, beautiful, and pure bodies, of course. And once I have savored you to my heart's content, you will indulge my personal hobby."
"Your hobby?"
"What excites me most is violating a woman while watching her face twist in agony. Slicing off every single finger and toe, one by one—"
"Enough. I get just how vile you are. That damn Kai Heinemann! 'I want you to see it for yourself,' my ass! In the end, you just didn't want Rose to have to deal with this filth, did you?!"
Rosemary cut Ketzer off, spouting a baffling stream of curses.
"Even so, you should be grateful for his consideration right now. We cannot allow Princess Rose and Lady Felice to cross paths with scum like this."
Felice stood glaring at Ketzer with absolute hatred, a longsword gripped firmly in her right hand.
"Huh? A-A sword?"
Rosemary and Felice's wrists were supposed to be bound in iron chains. How had Felice's chains vanished, and where had she gotten a weapon?
Ignoring the utterly bewildered Ketzer, Rosemary cast an unimpressed glance toward Felice.
"Geralt, the only one you didn't want meeting this guy is Felice, isn't it?"
She spoke with an exasperated look, the words making no sense to him at all.
This was bad! Ketzer had no martial skill to speak of. Even against a frail woman, he stood no chance if she was armed.
"M-Men, restrain these two slaves at once!"
Ketzer let out a high-pitched shriek, but contrary to his expectations, the figures who burst into the room were a mysterious group clad in brown cloaks.
Their faces burned with fiery fury as they blocked the only exit, cutting off Ketzer's escape.
"W-Who are you people?! I am the lord of this land, Ketzer Kusar!"
Ketzer barked in a frenzy of panic and confusion.
"We know. Isn't that right, Geralt?"
Rosemary flashed a nasty smirk, seeking agreement from Felice.
"Ha!"
Felice's figure blurred. In that instant, an agonizing pain tore through Ketzer, as though a red-hot iron spike had been driven straight into his skull. He instinctively looked down at the source of the torment—his right arm—only to see crimson liquid gushing out like a fountain.
"Gyaaahhh!!"
Screaming like a butchered pig, Ketzer clutched the stump of his severed right arm and writhed on the floor, only for his hair to be seized in an iron grip.
Looking up, Felice was gone. In her place stood an armored man with long sideburns, casually grabbing Ketzer's hair and glaring down at him like a demon from hell.
"Hey, don't kill him just yet."
"Of course. For this string of outrages against Princess Rose and Lady Felice, I hardly possess the patience to grant this pig a swift death."
"I think you could stand to be a little more honest with yourself, though."
"..."
The blond, armored man with the long sideburns fell silent. He merely raised his right hand and snapped his fingers.
All at once, the surrounding men threw off their brown cloaks. Beneath them stood countless knights clad in pure white armor. That distinctive plate, and the emblem engraved upon the chest—it was the royal crest. These were the Royal Guard under the King's direct command.
"I-I-It can't be..."
The only one who could mobilize the Royal Guard was His Majesty the King. Had Rosemary run crying to King Edward and had the Royal Guard assigned to protect her?
If so, had the King already uncovered Ketzer's entire plot? No, he had taken every possible precaution to ensure the Holy Amelia Kingdom's government remained in the dark. He couldn't have made such a pathetic blunder.
Then why were the Royal Guard here at Rosemary's side?
As doubt, confusion, panic, and a storm of conflicting thoughts swirled within Ketzer, the corners of Rosemary's mouth curled upward.
"This ring is a custom piece borrowed from Kai Heinemann. It seems to possess the power to disguise one's appearance, voice, and even presence. Behold."
The next moment, the figure transformed into a rugged, handsome man with long, golden hair flowing like a lion's mane.
"N-No way..."
Anyone holding a noble title in the kingdom recognized that face. Faced with a reality so bleak it made his vision spin, a pitiful whimper escaped Ketzer's lips.
A complete reversal from his earlier smirk, the handsome man's face twisted into the feral snarl of an enraged beast.
"As a father and as an older brother, you are the one person I will never forgive! I'll make you thoroughly regret the day you were born before I slaughter you!"
He bellowed in absolute fury.
"Uwaaaaahhh!!"
Ketzer shrieked with every ounce of strength left in his lungs as the Royal Guard Knights seized him in unison and dragged him out of the room.