Lys glanced at Snape, nodded curtly, and departed. She'd sensed something peculiar about Snape lately, but as a man who'd served under Dumbledore for over a decade yet still sat at the Dark Lord's side upon his return, Lys found her inability to understand him quite natural.
She'd never been adept at comprehending clever people, even during her school years.
But clever people didn't particularly understand Lys either.
Much like the hunchbacked Wormtail seated at the Dark Lord's right hand—always glaring at Lucius yet unable to openly mock his incompetence—who instead vented his malice on Lys, Lucius's subordinate, tormenting her with spells and cruel intent.
Lucius repeatedly feared Lys might raise her wand, but what he witnessed instead was her complete, eerie silence...
Snape had also worried Lys might retaliate, but seeing her ash-gray eyes fixed on the floor, he'd said nothing and departed directly. The Dark Lord had assigned him fresh tasks—he had his own troubles to manage.
Even so, the several occasions when Lucius and Snape diverted conversations had considerably aided Lys.
Even when Snape merely changed topics after that Death Eater mentioned Lys, launching verbal attacks on the man's previous mission failures to counter his questioning of Snape's loyalty.
This caused the Dark Lord to lose interest in that Death Eater's Lys-related proposals entirely.
Fools commanding idiots wouldn't improve his return strategy's execution.
Yet based on that Death Eater's remarks, the Dark Lord still cast additional glances at Lys as Lucius scorned her, growing even more disgusted.
"Useless waste... Crucio!"
Lucius's hand within his cloak gripped his walking stick as he stepped aside.
During her leisure, Lys sat in Lucius's study, trembling hands holding a Daily Prophet copy while asking Lucius how much he'd spent.
When Lucius refused to answer, she folded the newspaper—its massive headline reading "The Dark Lord's Return?! Preposterous!"—and waved it about.
"Can you believe this? Though Lord's intention was also to contact followers before announcing to the world... this was Fudge's own choice."
"Merlin, this is worse than him accepting your bribes." Lys unfolded the paper, continuing to read, then suddenly clutched her left forearm. Lucius mirrored her action.
"Lord's been growing angry with increasing frequency lately. I think—" Lucius's words were cut short as Lys stood. "Right, stop thinking, senior. I should force Smith to sign that ridiculous contract. I won't have Lord's fury burn me again. Until next time."
Lys strode directly toward the study door. "Oh! Merlin, Nagini! What are you doing here? I hope I didn't step on your tail!"
Lucius shook his head and flicked his wand to close the study door, ignoring his junior who always pitched her voice higher upon seeing serpents, returning to strategizing how to reach Azkaban's shores and successfully retrieve the Dark Lord's more devoted servants.
Lys watched Nagini slither toward the corridor's end, her brow furrowing slowly. That stench of decay emanating from the snake, combined with the Dark Lord's Parseltongue...
Was the Dark Lord using Nagini to monitor Lucius? Or was it surveilling everyone?
And why did this serpent carry such an odor... the reek of putrefying souls...
After departing, Lys didn't pursue business contracts as claimed, instead returning to Diagon Alley's reading room. She'd suddenly grasped a crucial problem—Horcrux existence guaranteed the Dark Lord's immortality.
Even if he fell once or twice, he'd return bearing his unmatched power.
Moreover, this madman apparently possessed more than one Horcrux.
Lys's chest felt obstructed. She coughed violently twice, her face flushing crimson as she collapsed onto floor cushions.
She finally understood why Regulus had attempted to uncover the Dark Lord's secrets—he'd wanted to know whether these days would ever end, hadn't he?
Now Lys desperately wanted to know too...
After coughing twice more, Lys extracted a Calming Draught and sipped it. The Dark Lord's Cruciatus truly devastated the body. Lys found controlling her emotions these past days extraordinarily difficult.
She craved killing something—urgently, impatiently...
Those soul-deep vulnerabilities had been exposed by months of constant decay and blood stench.
The Cruciatus Curses stretched and amplified them, periodically gnawing at Lys's sanity.
Lys produced another small potion vial but didn't drink—merely inhaled its scent.
Exhaling relief, Lys pocketed the bottle and rose. Lucius had mentioned the prison break previously, and Lys's sole assigned task was secretly protecting him.
Lucius had noted that among those requiring extraction, Bellatrix remained most crucial. This prompted Lys to plan tampering with that madwoman's memory while she lacked her wand, preventing future targeting.
Before the operation, Lucius had been practicing the Imperius Curse.
In the dim dungeon, the atmosphere reeked—even carrying faint fermented stenches.
"I'll inevitably deal with this curse frequently hereafter. I must master it." Lucius declared, desperately attempting to ignore Lys behind him.
Watching Lucius fail yet again, Lys's neck twitched involuntarily. "Lucius, Imperius success represents a confrontation between your will and another's. If you still hope your Malfoy status carries significant Ministry influence!"
"If you want to bloody well secure superior positions in these schemes, then pull yourself together!"
Lucius's gaze wavered. His junior's current state exerted overwhelming pressure.
The dissatisfaction and mania blazing in those gray eyes reminded him of rumors about her past actions.
"Control your emotions," he cautioned.
"Control my emotions? Lucius, I will—provided I witness you successfully testing your Imperius on this scum once!"
Lys circled Lucius. "If your will can't absolutely overwhelm his, then regardless of how precise and meticulous your commands are, they're worthless."
"Lucius, I refuse to watch you thrown into Azkaban someday for failing to successfully cast Imperius, then broken out during a prison raid. You can imagine the treatment Malfoys would receive." Lys's eyes blazed with dissatisfaction, doubt, and barely restrained madness.
"You have a son; I have family. We're bound too tightly together, Lucius. Can you please show some backbone! Again!!" Her voice cracked on that final demand.
"I just want someone to bloody well win quickly and end this nightmare! I don't care, I don't care!"
She seized Lucius's robes with one hand, forcing him to meet her gaze. "Either we all perish together, or you help the Dark Lord complete his cause while I remain under your command. If mistakes occur, I won't tolerate them stemming from your Imperius failures."
Lucius held his breath, waiting for his junior to regain composure.
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