The woman’s hands came together in a sharp clap, the sound slicing through the air and echoing off the ballroom’s high, arched ceiling.
“That’s right, everyone! That’s right!” she shouted, her voice booming with a twisted enthusiasm that filled the room. “Every single one of you should embrace the darkness! So, what do we do with the light, huh? Are we just going to let it linger when all we truly crave is the darkness?!”
“No!”
The crowd’s response was deafening, mine blending into the wild chorus, the room vibrating as if the walls themselves were alive with the sound of our voices.
“Are we going to let the light rule the day when it exists only to make us suffer?!”
“No!”
“Are we going to stand by while the light mocks us, shining down on our suffering?!”
“No!”
“Then let’s make the darkness rule over everything!”
The crowd’s cheers surged through the space like a wave. I found myself clapping too, my hands moving almost on their own, swept up in the hysteria of the moment. But even as I joined in, I was clueless that… this might be the last night I’d draw breath in this world, and that my very existence hung by a thread. I had no idea how close danger truly was.
***
Rose’s POV
I pushed through the ballroom doors, only to be greeted by a scene that felt unreal. The crowd was chanting, their voices blending into a chaotic symphony. It was like I had wandered into a madhouse, every face turned upwards, eyes wild with a feverish light.
“Cover your ears,” a voice murmured beside me. I spun around and found Leon there, his expression sharp despite the madness. He clapped along with the crowd, but his movements lacked the wild frenzy. “He’s using his skill,” Leon said, his voice low.
I quickly pressed my hands over my ears. My gaze followed the crowd’s to the floor above this one. It was Sesillian, whipping them into this frenzy.
“What do you see when you look at him?” Leon asked, his eyes focused on the stage.
“To me, he just looks… normal, besides the fact that he’s dressed in women’s clothes.”
“So, that’s how he appears to you?”
“What does he look like to you?”
“He’s a woman,” Leon replied. “I think I fell under his charm too, but not enough to be completely swept away.”
“He’s… a woman?”
“Yeah. That’s likely why he’s able to control so many. It’s like he’s planted the idea in the minds of those under his influence that he’s a woman. He’s using that power to manipulate everyone caught in his Eclipse. Right now, he’s doing the same thing to the whole room, making them see him the way he wants.”
“He’s doing some kind of mass brainwashing? I didn’t think Charm could reach that far…”
“This isn’t just ordinary charm,” Leon said.
I couldn’t be sure if this was some twisted version of Charm, but considering that regular Charm could only seduce with a voice and couldn’t reshape minds like this, it was far from normal.
“Now that I think about it, I’ve felt something like this before,” Leon muttered.
“A similar sensation?”
“Ever heard of Norman Amarathea?” Leon asked.
“That’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time,” I replied. Norman… that bastard. He was called the Don of the Black Market, infamous for his deep connections and his dominance in the shadows. He controlled the supply of most of the goods in the underground market. And by ‘goods,’ I mean human beings. He trafficked people into prostitution and slavery, and even kidnapped beastkin for their organs, selling their flesh to those with dark appetites. He was the embodiment of filth.
They said he was killed, and the rumors seemed solid, especially since the relentless string of kidnappings he orchestrated had stopped over the past few months.
“Now that I think about it, there seems to be a surge of mana coursing through his veins, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to go wild like it did with Norman and Prince Julius before,” he muttered. “Did they perfect it? In just a few months? I guess it’s not just the Leonamon making progress. Whoever is behind these enhancements, boosting mana within the body—they’re also…” His voice trailed off into a murmur, too low to reach my ears.
But I caught it anyway. I’d gotten good at reading lips over the years.
“They’re also trying to take this world as his,” I deciphered.
“Anyway, try not to get caught by the charm, and let’s just watch for now,” Leon said.
“Do you think he’ll blow their heads up?” I asked.
“That’s a dangerous thought,” he replied. “Fortunately, my girls have already been evacuated by my Shadows.”
“Shadows?”
“The bodyguards who almost wiped out your family’s knights earlier.”
Oh, so those were the Shadows? I remembered one from back at Grace’s house—didn’t even catch her name. Now that I thought about it, it grated on me that he had a whole squad of bodyguards who doubled as his harem. Just how many women does this man have wrapped around his finger?
But I shook the thought away—this wasn’t the time for jealousy.
“Now then! Have all of you accepted that the darkness alone should rule this world?!” Sesillian’s voice boomed through the space. The sound carried an unsettling power, each word twisting through the air like tendrils of shadow. His voice shifted, suddenly dripping with a deceptive sweetness, like honey laced with venom. It pierced into my mind, making my skin prickle.
And then, without warning, a shimmering barrier erupted around me, encasing me in a dome of faintly glowing light.
“G-Guardian?” I gasped, bewildered. My head snapped toward Leon, who stood with one hand outstretched, casting the protective shield over me. It blocked out Sesillian’s voice, muffling the noise outside to a dull thrum. I couldn’t hear a thing beyond the barrier, but I could feel my heartbeat drumming faster in my chest.
How did he have Guardian? And why… why did he do this for me?
He’d done it to protect me, to shield me from Sesillian’s influence.
Leon… I thought, biting down on my lip hard enough to draw blood, my emotions swirling in a mess of confusion and frustration. How much longer are you going to torment me like this…?
He had this way of playing with my feelings, teasing at the edges, and he knew exactly how to press all my buttons. If he kept going, if he kept showing this infuriating kindness, I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold out. Even though I knew—deep down—that I didn’t want to give in.
