Reincarnated in a novel: I am the villain!-Chapter 272: Both sides?

Hearing this question, the silver-haired woman tightened her grip on the rapier, her knuckles white against the pale translucency of her skin.

She didn’t answer immediately; instead, her eyes drifted to the Orcs Damien had crushed.

They were still twitching in the red grass, their heavy steel plate bent like parchment.

She looked back at Damien, her gaze lingering on the iron Wandering Baron medallion pinned to his trench coat.

"I am Seraphina Vane," she said, her voice regaining a sharp, haughty edge that sent a jolt of recognition through Damien.

It was the exact tone Elise used when addressing those she deemed beneath her. "Third Daughter of the Sanguine Court. As for the crest..."

She gestured toward the Silver Serpent on the carriage door with an elegant flick of her wrist.

Frost began to creep across the ground where she stood, the ice crystals blooming with deep, crimson veins of blood mana.

"It is the mark of my House. It represents the eternal reach of the Vane lineage.

My father, the Duke, says the serpent moves unseen through all worlds, even those touched by the sun."

Damien’s eyes narrowed behind his mask. The confirmation was subtle, but the implication was a roar.

"Baron Dante," Damien replied, adopting the fake name with practiced ease.

"And it seems, Lady Seraphina, that your serpent has found itself in a bit of a coil."

He said, glancing at the wreckage of the fight just now, had he not appeared at this moment, things might have ended differently

Seraphina glanced at her few surviving guards, who were already beginning to succumb to their wounds.

She was no fool; she recognized that the man before her hadn’t used a drop of mana to defeat the Iron-Blood squad.

He seemed to have used will, however the way he used it was something she had never seen before

"My escort is decimated, and the Orcs will return with reinforcements," Seraphina stated, sheathing her rapier.

"I require protection to reach Crimson-Hold. If you and your... servants... accompany me, House Vane will ensure you are rewarded with more than just safe passage."

"Master," Elian whispered via a private mana transmission, his voice trembling.

"This is a trap. House Vane is known as the ’Leech of the Noble Realms.’ They invite guests only to drain their mana and blood once the doors are locked!" 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"Oh? Isn’t that all the more reason to let them try," Damien sent back, his mental voice cold.

"We accept," Damien said aloud. "Our own carriage suffered a... terminal mishap in the sky-ocean. A ride would be appreciated."

................

[Inside the Carriage]

The interior of the carriage was a cathedral of gothic luxury, dark velvet, obsidian trimmings, and the faint, sweet scent of iron.

As they set off, pulled by four Nightmares with manes of violet fire, Seraphina poured three glasses of a thick, dark-red liquid from a crystal decanter.

"Vintage. Harvested from Tier 4 Beast-kin," she said, sliding a glass toward Damien.

"It stabilizes the soul in this density of abyss mana."

Damien took the glass but remained still, his mask a silent wall. Isabelle, however, drank.

As the liquid hit her throat, her eyes glowed a vibrant red, the blood mana was high-quality, fueling her demonic side.

Seraphina watched Damien closely, her icy blue eyes searching the ’0’ on his mask.

"You have a strange aura, Baron Dante, Tell me, what brings a ’Wandering Baron’ to a war zone?"

"I am from a House so deep that the sun is a myth," Damien lied smoothly.

"I came up to see if the rumors of a Civil War were worth the travel. It seems they are."

He tapped the Silver Serpent on the door. "Your father... he must be a very ambitious man to claim his reach extends to the whole floor"

Seraphina’s lips curled into a cold, proud smile.

"He is more than ambitious. He is a visionary. He believes that the divide between the Abyss and the Surface is merely a curtain waiting to be drawn back."

Just as they were about to go deeper into the coversation, the carriage suddenly groaned to a halt.

Outside, the Nightmares shrieked as a massive shadow fell across the road.

"Another squad?" Seraphina hissed, trying to stand, but she winced, clutching a deep wound on her side.

Damien looked through the window.

Blocking the path was an Iron-Blood Golem—a ten-foot mass of pneumatic pistons and jagged steel, its core hissing with pressurized mana.

"Allow my servant," Damien said calmly, placing a hand on Seraphina’s shoulder to keep her seated.

"She needs the exercise."

Isabelle stepped out. She didn’t use magic this time as she wanted to test her Will Cladding against something solid.

She clenched her fist, coiling her dark purple Will around her arm until the air distorted with gravitational weight.

WHAM.

She delivered a single, straight punch to the Golem’s chest. The impact was a sickening crunch of internal systems imploding.

The Will-infused strike bypassed the thick abyss-steel, crushing the Golem’s core into scrap.

Seraphina watched from the window, her breath hitching.

"A Half Demon... as a servant? Your House must have been quite intersting, Dante."

.......

As they approached the city of Crimson-Hold, the scale of House Vane’s power became clear.

The city was a forest of black spires and flying buttresses, glowing with the rhythmic pulse of red mana lamps.

As the carriage passed through the central plaza, Damien looked out and went rigid.

In the center of the square stood a titanic statue of the First Duke.

It was unmistakable. The jawline, the arrogant tilt of the head, it looked almost exactly like Duke Vane from the surface. The only difference was the pair of obsidian horns crowning his head.

They aren’t indeed connected, Damien thought, a dark amusement rising in his chest. The Vanes on the surface are nmost likey a branch of their abyss counterparts.

They’ve been playing both sides of the coin.

"Welcome to our home, Baron," Seraphina said, noticing his gaze.

"I believe my father will find you... very interesting."

Damien smiled behind his mask. "I’m sure he will."