The fierce blonde girl in front of Ixion was indeed a fallen noble.
Her name was Reina Artoris.
A descendant of the main Artoris line, a family of noble knights who served their country well on the battlefield.
Despite being only a Barony, the house was once among the most respected in all of Catatran.
However, as fate would have it, one day they all simply vanished…
Nobody knew exactly what happened to them, but the general consensus was that they'd all been killed in war and/or infected.
As for where they actually went…
Ixion didn't know for sure, but he knew who had taken them.
'Despair.'
That heinous villain lauded as a hero had taken them away for a goal even Ixion didn't know.
This girl had managed to evade Despair's capture by mere luck and had been hiding on the streets for the past three years.
Ixion waved in the girl's face as her complexion paled.
"Reina? Hello? Why are you so silent? Ah, I forgot, you go by Emily now, right? C'mon, why cast off such a beautiful name for such a boring one?!"
Ixion also knew this girl hadn't been idle during her time forced into the shadows.
Reina Artoris, the sole legacy of House Artoris who'd sworn an unyielding loyalty to Catatran, had made a solemn vow to depose the ruler who wished to see Catatran's end.
She'd reached that conclusion after uncovering evidence that pointed to Ixion as her family's killer.
And also the fact that Ixion was a hedonistic asshole who, even if not outright, had declared he cared not for Catatran.
Ixion drew his puppet's face closer to Reina.
"Hellloooo? Anyone home?"
'Ah, she must be enamored by my beauty!'
'Well, Vertias's beauty.'
'Is that treachery? To find someone other than the King handsome and beautiful?'
'It must be!'
The crowd, hidden in the darkness, stirred, a quiet, coded message being relayed.
After all, this wasn't a normal abandoned storehouse home to squatters; it was the headquarters of Reina's faction.
The young woman shook her head, then replied while shoving Lance further behind her.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Veritas. But you need to leave, you're not welcome here."
Ixion peered around at the young child with bits of ash clinging to his cheeks.
'To think even kids got involved in this rebellion…'
More likely, the kid's parents were involved and had dragged him into this mess.
'If the kid's parents are even alive…'
It was also quite possible he was an orphan who'd been adopted into the cause.
"Hmm. That's odd. Sure, I may not be welcomed here, but are you the one with the deed to this land? I don't think so, Reina. So, why are you welcome here, and I not?"
Hearing her own name made the girl flinch, but she shook whatever nerves she had away. The young woman took a deep breath in, deep breath out, and said:
"What is it you even want? Why are you here?"
Ixion looked away at the trembling onlookers and tapped his foot on the ground.
"Why? Oh, why am I here?"
He kicked a piece of rubble from the wall he'd destroyed, then said:
"Ah, I came to join you! Oh, noble Knight of Catatran, leader of… uh, what do you guys call yourselves? The Oathsworn, right? Yeah, let me swear an oath too. I want in on this fantastic charade!"
Murmurs began to ripple and surge through the tense room.
Reina scowled while staring at Ixion.
"I don't know why you think I'm some fallen noble woman named Reina, nor why you think I'm part of some ridiculous group called Oathsworn. I think it would be best for you to return to your hibernation, Veritas, you're clearly not ready to integrate into society from whatever sewer you crawled up from."
'Ouch! Be nice! I know I smell, but it's only because this body was dead! That's a perfectly normal reason for one to smell!'
'Plus! You all don't smell much better!'
Ixion gave an exaggerated laugh.
"Reina, my dear. Why did you call your own group of rebels 'ridiculous'?! Did you not spare a thought for how they'd feel? Look around at their pained faces. Oh, how their hearts must be hurting!"
Ixion began waving his arm around the room, gesturing to the shocked faces. The faces of people fearing for their lives, knowing they'd be culled at a moment's notice if their treachery ever be made known.
And a madman had entered their hideout midday and begun screaming from the bottom of his lungs.
The fallen noble grit her teeth and clutched something hidden under her shirt as she replied:
"Who are you, really?"