The Romantic Trials Of A Transmigrated Empress-Chapter 313: The night assault.

The village was quiet, as with most small places like this, the residents had turned in already. Lord Benwick’s fortress stood like a dark sentinel against the moonlit sky. He had done the work for Sigrid and her team by choosing an isolated manor to rent, one that was away from all prying eyes. He guarded it highly as if it were the royal castle itself, knights patrolled the outer walls, above and below.

Two hidden mages were on the property, one inside and one on the wall, waiting to deal with all the enemies of the Lord that hired them.

With all the precautions he had taken, the anonymous mages had a feeling that the man had made some pretty powerful enemies to be wary all the time. Even a bird flying over the manor caused him to hide. If any attempted to land on his walls, it had to shot immediately and then inspected for any magical abilities or whether it was carrying any messages.

Everyone that worked in the manor was required not to have a phone. Frequent inspections were done to ensure that this rule was followed.

Lord Benwick had enemies, and these enemies were dangerous.

He was right to worry for tonight, his enemies had struck, arriving in the shadows, unseen even by the mages he had hired. Sigrid, the leader of the charge was draped in a midnight black cloak like the rest of the mages. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

"Remember," she told them, "Be swift and merciless. Anybody whose heart cannot take on this task should stay back to avoid burdening the rest of us."

Nobody stepped back, it was a sign that all of them were willing to follow her. Sigrid nodded at Veylin and he extended the shadow to the wall. They approached it, covered by darkness.

The lord mage was the first to strike feeling the wall for magic. "You were right your highness, he has wards."

Sigrid smirked. As soon as Roland told her about the hidden past of House Benwick, she realized that it was possible that Lord Benwick had more secrets he was hiding, magic related secrets. In all of his eyes of travel, he had to have come across some mages in other lands. A man like him would have found all ways to protect himself.

"Break them." She told the Lord mage.

"You don’t need to ask twice." He said happily.

Christie moved before he did, she controlled the wind and sent out sleeping bell vines that up the walls, creeping to wards the knights. The flowers cajoled the knights to sleep.

So, the first assault was unseen as it was fast. The lord mage touched his wand to the wall, sending a pulse of magic so great and that it shattered the gates.

Sigrid and the mages that were hidden in the shadows rushed inside, magic clashing against steel as they confronted the knights inside. They were small fish, easy to dispense with, the battle only became much more serious when they entered the manor and faced the two hired mages--one wielding ice and the other fire.

John smirked. "Fire and ice? How original."

"Not." Mauve chuckled.

A duel of magic erupted-fire burning cloaks, shadows outrunning ice like ghosts on an ice lake, ropes of flame slicing through the walls, lightning splitting furniture apart. The knights without magic suffered the most harm as the battle raged on. Lord Benwick had not chosen these mages carelessly, he had picked from the best of the best that Medoris had to offer.

But he underestimated Sigrid.

With one wave of her hand, and a single command, a string of power escaped from her, turning into physical chains that wrapped around the legs of the two mages, coiling tightly around their bodies and forcing them to their knees.

She stepped over them and walked deeper into the manor. The two mages were dragged along the floor by an invisible force and the rest of the team followed, occasionally kicking Frost and Flame, as John was calling them.

When she came to the living room, Lord Benwick was sitting in a high seat, one leg crossed over the other like a king of a powerful realm. In one hand he had a glass of wine and the other was resting on the arm of the chair, fingers touching a blade which he knew would be useless.

Sigrid helped herself to a seat as did her grandfather, the others stood behind Sigrid like loyal servants. She retrieved her fan out of thin air and spread it out.

Slowly, she said to Lord Benwick, "Your reign of terror is over."

Lord Benwick looked back at her, eyes irreconcilable to the results of the battle. "I know things, things that can help you."

Sigrid had no doubt of that, but she was also certain that she did not necessarily need to know those things. Lord Benwick was more dangerous alive than dead.

She turned to the team she had brought and said, "Do you understand now the difference between loyalty and submission? You are loyal, he wants to submit but only because I have him cornered. The first opportunity he gets to betray me, he will take it."

Lord Benwick clenched his hand around the blade. He truly wished that he could use it to stab Sigrid in the throat.

Sigrid looked back and she smiled, curiosity glistening in her eyes. "What were you thinking when you sent me those letters?"

Lord Benwick took a sip of wine first and he chuckled hopelessly, "Power belongs to those who dare to take it. Weak men don’t rule, only the strong do and do you know who is stronger than the man that rules?"

Sigrid had a clue of course. "The one that whispers in the ears of the ruler, telling him what to do."

Lord Benwick raised the glass to her and then took another sip. "People look down on men like me that serve royalty without pride. They look down on the chamber maids, their cooks, foot men, valets, butlers and other servants. But I have always thought that it was mistake to do so.

The cook has the power over everything that you eat, the valet holds a razor to your neck every morning when he helps you shave. The stable boy can send you to death by tampering with a horse. A chamber maid can sell your secret desires to another outside or seduce you and lead to temptations which break marriages.

Most importantly, they whisper things to each other and to their masters. They even give advice on what should be done and what should not be done."

His fingers drummed on the blade and his breathing increased, like he was laboring to breath. "It was how Maurelia turned into a stone cold foolish bitch. Between me and her servants and her stupid ladies-in-waiting, she stood no chance."

He coughed, blood fell out of his mouth.

"He has taken poison." Veylin shared.

What he said, everyone had guessed.

"There is poison in the wine." Sigrid noted.

Lord Benwick had not planned to surrender to her. A man like him, he was too proud to bend his knee for Sigrid.