Elvara stood beside him, worry etched onto her face. But not for Kenji. He knew better. He had read the story.
Behind the mask was the quiet smoldering of hatred. A snake waiting for the time to strike.
He could not fault her, though. The real Azrael had been cruel to her, treating her less like a wife and more like a slave.
Obedience now sprang forth from fear and not loyalty. The hatred had not yet peaked, but the seeds were sown.
A maid brought a small green bottle. Elvara took it, uncorked it, and poured the gleaming fluid gently over his bleeding knuckles.
The pain disappeared in an instant, and the torn skin started to heal in front of his eyes.
"You don't have to add lord," he said suddenly, in a low voice. "Just use my name."
She hesitated, glancing up at him in confusion with her green eyes. "I can't do that, my lord."
"Fine," he snapped, pulling his hand away. "Do what you want."
He was furious; furious about the brutal quest, furious about the pathetic reward. The system had stated that points could be earned through rewards; he had not received a single one.
Just one point to Strength- a stat he could not feel- So what was the use of going through all of that pain?
A new screen popped up in his vision as though responding to his frustration.
[!! NEW QUEST ISSUED !!]
[Objective: Choose one of the following paths.]
[Time Limit: 12 Hours]
[Option 1:]
[-> Task: Kill Elvara.]
[-> Reward: 10,000 P.]
[Option 2:]
[-> Task: Abandon your family name.]
[-> Reward: 5,000 P.]
[Option 3:]
[-> Task: Help Elvara.]
[-> Reward: 1,000 P.]
He looked at the options, and what had begun as anger soon turned into an icy dread. The given option made the most sense if he wanted to survive. Killing Elvara would take care of one of the two main forces that connected him to the story's protagonist.
In the novel, the main character meets Elvara near the academy for the first time. He sees the way Azrael behaves cruelly towards her and decides that this can't possibly continue.
To her, he will look like a savior who helped the other main female lead to take Azrael down. And that was just bitterly tragic. Killing her now would suspend the chain of all future events leading to Elvara's demise.
He gulped. Killing was not something he had done before. His mother had raised him to be good, to respect women.
Elvara was as much a victim in this story as he was. 'I will change my own fate,' he thought fiercely, 'but maybe… maybe I can change hers too.' Disregarding the first option.
Looking at the second option, 'Abandon the Ashveil name.' The worst option imaginable; that family was his greatest asset.
Power, resources, and more money than he could ever conceive. That was the basis on which he would stand to grow stronger. 'Why on earth would the system suggest this? It must be a trap.'
This left only the third one: Help Elvara. Looks rather pathetic to him. 1,000 points would buy him nothing at the shop.
Moreover, what was 'helps Elvara' supposed to mean? The list provided no guidance whatsoever. How was he going to help her?
Elvara kept watching him, her face still with concern. "I don't think you are fine," she began, her voice hesitant. "For the past few days, you are..."
Then a tall butler entered, looking stern. He bowed rigidly.
"Lord Azrael," the butler said without an ounce of emotion in his voice. "The Matriarch seeks your presence."
Kenji felt an icy gush course through his spine. He sensed Elvara stiffen beside him. The Matriarch. Celestria Ashveil. His elder sister.
'She's back?' The thought jolted panic to his chest. "When did she return?"
"Just a steady moment ago, my lord," the butler replied. "As soon as she entered the mansion she asked for you. She... looks angry."
Then the butler laid his cold malice upon Elvara. "The Matriarch wants you to accompany him as well."
The path through the deep and echoing hallways of the mansion felt sterile and cold.
Paintings of ancestors with austere faces seemed to be watching them, their painted eyes full of disapproving judgment. Kenji's heart was hammering against his ribs.
Celestria was the real power here. In the novel, she was a phantasmagoria of a character, icy and remorseless about her duties, yet fiercely protective of her younger brother.
He did not know yet which version of this sister he was about to confront.
The butler stopped in front of gargantuan doors of dark oak. He pushed them open and stepped aside. "The Matriarch will see you now."
Kenji inhaled deeply and walked in, trailing by a pace behind him the fair lady Elvara. The room was an immense study lined with bookshelves from floor to ceiling.
In the center lay a huge ornate desk, behind which sat a woman silhouetted against the tall window.
She turned, and his breath stopped in his throat.
Celestria Ashveil was horrifically beautiful: her hair was the color of liquid silver, the sort of rare trait in the Ashveil family, and it was pinned back in an austere yet elegant bun.
Yet it was her dragon-killing eyes that wielded the most power: violet, the exact shade as his, but soft, uncertain in inference.
They were sharp, cold ice shards fixed right on him: searing with controlled wrath. She was a storm, and he had just stepped into its eye.