The Villain's Retirement-Chapter 52: Lurking (3)

For a heartbeat, nothing moved. Elara stared at the two bodies on the stone floor, her mind refusing to accept what her eyes were seeing. Her breath came shallow, uneven.

"...They’re—" Her voice caught.

The man standing before her did not look at the fallen nobles. His crimson eyes were already on the corridor beyond the bars, as if he had been expecting something. And like he had expected or planned to, footsteps rushed back.

"Hey—what’s going on in—" 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

The cell guard froze mid-step as he saw the bodies. His mouth opened.

But before he could react, the shadows beneath them went in motion and stretched through the ground and rose like a tide from the floor and walls, shortening the space between them in an instant. There was a single, muffled gasp—cut short before it could become a shout as the shadows turned to spikes killing the guard silently!

"—"

The guard collapsed soundlessly, eyes glassy, body slack, shadow-pinned against the iron bars before sliding to the floor.

Elara recoiled against the bench, chains clinking softly as her pulse thundered in her ears. She looked from the guard... to the nobles... then back to Ard.

She spoke, but no words won’t come out, which both surprised and terrified her. After all, before she had even realized, her shadow and Ards’ has overlapped.

Ard gazed at her.

It was Elara at the dance.

"How are you?"

Ard asked with a smile, as if nothing had happened, and without altering his expressions.

Ard then stepped closer, stopping just beyond the reach of her chains. Up close, she could see it clearly—his expression described fear. It was just like her expression when Ard was about to kill her. But then it changed and her usual expression returned.

Elara stared at him.

For a heartbeat, she looked utterly broken—

Then she smiled and broke out a low laugh.

It came out shaky, breathless, half a sob and half a joke.

"...That’s a terrible question," she said. "You’ve ruined my evening twice now."

Ard paused.

She lifted her chin, chains rattling as she leaned back against the bench, eyes still wide with fear—but her lips curved upward anyway.

"I have to say I didn’t expect we will see each other so soon, my Lord," She added lightly.

"I see that you now fear me." Ard said, stepping closer, stopping just beyond the reach of her chains. "But you may relax, I didn’t come here to take your life."

Elara’s smile wavered but remained.

"Oh, you didn’t come here to take my life," she breathed sarcastically, "that’s comforting. Does this mean you’d killed all those men just to impress me?"

That earned her a look.

"Will you answer my questions?" Ard then asked.

"No..." Elara immediately replied, her voice sunken, and devoid of hope.

"Why?"

"I’m sorry. I can’t, my Lord." Elara replied.

Seeing her and hearing her answers, Ard narrowed his eyes. He simply remembered what the mind mage had said earlier at the meeting.

"Is it because of something in your mind?"

Elara wasn’t surprised. "That girl have told you something I guess."

Ard didn’t speak anymore, and stepped even closer, kneeling.

Remembering how easily he had dealt with three people, Elara slightly swallowed in fear and couldn’t help but closed her eyes when Ard raised his hands aiming for her head. But it ended up by only him touching her head.

’...’

Elara remained terrified.

Ard’s hands turned cold then a chilling sensation emanated from it going to her head until something seemed to have started entering her mind.

Ards’ eyes narrowed but soon he smiled.

Even without going deeper, he could feel a foreign presence, cold and precise, moving through her thoughts without resistance. Ard’s vision shifted—lines of mana bloomed before him, like faint threads dancing in the air until it woven deep into her consciousness.

There, he saw something similar to a ball of negative mana was wrapped around her intent, her desires, binding them tight—not silencing her thoughts, but strangling her will to speak certain things.

Ard traced it slowly, shadows curling around his fingers like living ink. He followed the pattern, memorizing it in a heartbeat.

Then he squeezed, and eventually, the sound of glass shattering was heard.

Without warning, Elara’s eyes remained rolled back.

Then in the next second, Elara’s eyes went over. She suddenly felt like she was in an another world as if falling from the infinite sky then came a wave of pain painful enough to make her scream to death, but before she could do so, shadows had gagged her, making her unable to utter any sound as her eyes went white.

Inevitably, she had lost consciousness.

"So it’s like that.." Ard then muttered, as understanding flashed in his mind.

Without doing anything to her, he then went to the next cell. But this time, his gaze were a lot colder.

From within the darkness, the prisoners stirred.

Chains rattled.

Low, feral laughter echoed faintly. Someone coughed wetly. Some could be seen begging for mercy despite the fact he couldn’t speak. Some even looked to be praying to him —broken, desperate. Nails scraped against stone. A hoarse voice hissed curses in a language undiscernible.

"I have to apologize," Ard then said calmly, shadows coiling around his feet, "but you won’t receive the same treatment. You have another role for tonight."

The prisoners were silent. They couldn’t speak with the shadows gagging them.

"I am no hero," he continued, crimson eyes glowing in the dark. "So do not hate me for this."

His gaze swept across the cells.

"..."

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The doors of the ducal meeting hall burst open.

Boots struck marble in hurried rhythm as several armored soldiers rushed inside, helms still on, breaths ragged. The long table of nobles and officers fell silent at once.

"What is this interruption?" one of the ministers snapped.

A knight stepped forward, fist to chest, voice strained. "Reporting an emergency, my lords."

The Duke’s gaze sharpened. "Speak."

"Multiple prisoners have escaped from the underground prison!" the knight said.

A murmur rippled through the hall.

"That’s impossible," an officer said sharply. "The lower cells are warded."

"So we believed," the knight replied. "But moments ago, several prisoners appeared outside the prison perimeter. They were already armed—with stolen weapons—and are rampaging through the outer courtyards."

Another soldier stepped forward, blood smeared across his gauntlet. "The knights stationed at the gate are now engaged in combat."

"Casualties?" the Duke asked coldly.

"...Yes. Three on our side have died. The prisoners are acting strangely, and is stronger than expected."

The hall darkened with silence.

"Do we know how they escaped?" a noble demanded. "Have we been attacked?"

The knight hesitated. "We have receipt reports that two male nobles have went in the underground, but they had never came back and this happened. We have confirmed the identities of the two to be Sir Fayle and Levi."

Two old nobles in the meeting room were visibly shaken.

The Duke leaned back slowly, fingers steepled.

"Seal the palace," the Duke ordered. "Mobilize all available knights. Contain the escaped prisoners at all costs. Don’t let them escape."