Episode 134 - The no-name woman’s secret.

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As though time had stopped, everyone froze in their positions. Everyone was terrified and perplexed as to where the tiny girl got her guts from and how she dared to demand the person to shut up. Everyone's hands were clammy as they silently glanced at Euria.

Euria did not stop, and with her lips curved up into a smirk, she chuckled at the person, “Playing dress-up can’t hide the nauseating stench you have.”

Eugene turned to Euria with a complicated expression on her face.

Euria looked at the woman in disgust and dropped a bomb, “Sir Ario.”

Her voice was confident as if what she had said was a matter of fact. Their eyes instinctively shifted from Euria to the woman and saw that her facial expression changed from anger to shock. Immediately, everyone in the group took a step back. They didn’t know what to think and could only feel their hearts trembling from the woman’s reaction.

“W...wait. What?” a male voice muttered in shock.

“Euria?” Eugene’s hands were trembling, ‘Wha… What is she saying? No- What is going on?’ Her eyes only focused on Euria as she searched her face for answers.

Aernest stepped forward and grabbed Euria’s shoulders! He didn’t know what was going on with her but Sir Ario had passed away! “Sister! What are you doin-” But before he could finish his sentence, he paused. His eyes didn’t focus on anything but they looked as if they were searching for something. Aernest stayed like this for a few seconds before suddenly closing his eyes.

“They breathe the same.” He whispered and opened his eyes. His eyes showed confusion, fear, and realization all at the same time.

“Breathe?” Con repeated Aernest’s words and furrowed his eyebrows.

Aernest turned to Con and attempted to explain with his minimal vocabulary, “His words… How much air he inhales and exhales when he speaks.” His eyes darted right and left as he tried to articulate his thoughts.

“The woman and Sir Ario’s breathing and speaking patterns are the same.” Each person has a distinctive sound, shape, and form when they speak. Though the woman’s voice was feminine, it did not change the shape and the unique form they speak as Sir Ario or as the no-name woman. The shape is unique to only this person and Sir Ario which means that they are the same person.

Eugene, Hal, Aedelak, Con, and Dea’s eyes widened in shock as they stared at the woman. ‘This person is Sir Ario?’

The no-name woman’s eyes trembled slightly before it returned to the same old dullness and boredom.

“As expected from the house of Veria.” The woman began. Suddenly, she clapped her hands giving them a round of applause, and began to laugh, “Hahahaha!”

Her clamps echoed throughout the room for a few seconds before they ceased. The woman suddenly reached for a bottle inside her white robe, opened the bottle, and popped a pill into her mouth.

What everyone saw after waiting for a few seconds greatly astonished and flabbergasted them. Before their eyes, as if time was reversing itself, the woman’s long hair sucked back into her scalp. Her bust and bottoms deflated, and her bone structure underwent small changes. The shape of her eyes, nose, and mouth reverted into the shape of the man everyone thought was dead.

Sir Ario.

The flat voice was replaced by a familiar vibrant feminine voice, “The Veria children are way too scary. Too bad I can’t touch you… yet.” He smiled prettily as he glanced at everyone in the room.

“... Sir?” Dea’s eyes teared up as he muttered speechlessly.

Ario titled his head and smiled warmly, “Yes?”

“How… How?” Aernest mumbled as he grabbed onto Euria’s arms.

“How am I still alive? Or how I changed in a blink of a minute?” He chuckled slightly as he joked around.

The sight of a person reverting into a different person terrified the other women in the room greatly. They were so stimulated by their ‘sister’ turning into a man that some fell back and fainted from shock.

Ario shrugged his shoulders as he looked at Eugene and the group with laziness in his eyes, “How can a mere chest piece kill me? He only killed my subordinate disguised as me.” he explained his ‘death’ incident in simple words.

Eugene felt a pang of headache, “Chest piece…?” she repeated. Kal… was a chest piece?

“That’s right.”

Hal’s eyes trembled and he mumbled, “Then... manipulating everyone...”

Ario shook his head with eagerness, “No, no! That he did by himself. Though it proved to be rather convenient for me, especially since such good products came out from this…” he laughed sweetly as he confessed.

“Pro… Products?” Hal stuttered. He didn’t know what the person in front of him meant by-products but all he knew was that it wasn’t anything good.

Ario only nodded. He did not continue nor explain what his words meant. His beautiful eyes glinted as he moved his gaze and focussed only on Eugene.

“Grey luscious hair. The 4th child and Eldest Miss of the House of Veria,” he spoke slowly as if he was chanting spells.

“...” Eugene said nothing, however, her eyebrows furrowed. The gaze he was using to look at her was affectionate and disgusting. It was creepy and she knew nothing good would come out of him staring at her this way. She could feel her hair rising from the chill she was getting. Her body was warning her that this man was out for her.

Everyone felt the same way instinctively. Aedelak, Dea, and Con moved in front of Eugene and blocked her away from Ario. This was done unconsciously and without speaking to each other.

Though Dea and Con loved Sir Ario as their mentor and as a person who had saved them during their dark days, they know to protect Eugene from him. They know that the Sir Ario in front of them was dangerous and that he was aiming for Eugene.

Aernest tugged on Euria’s jacket and with a panicked voice, he asked, “Wh, what should we do? Should we go back?”

Euria turned to Aernest calmly and glanced at the door, “Try to listen to what’s going on outside.” Her hands reached out and pushed one side of Aernest's headphones away from his ears. Her eyes were calm and her actions showed her full trust in Aernest that he responded to her in the same manner and quickly ran to the door.

Once he reached the door, he closed his eyes as he tried to focus all his senses on his sensitive ears. His ears caught on to multiple hearts racing and he shook his head. These were the heartbeats of the people inside this room! He opened his eyes, exhaled loudly, and closed his eyes again.

“No… Not enough. More.”He mumbled a few times as he tried to concentrate all of his senses on the sound coming from the other side of the door.

Suuukkk--

His eyes flew open the moment he heard something else other than heartbeats. He quickly ran to Euria with disappointing news, “They are still fighting.” Going back wasn't an option. The sound of swords intensely clashing and scraping against one another could still be heard. It was too dangerous to head back!

Euria furrowed her eyebrows but nodded. She quickly adjusted Aernest’s headphones back to his ears and turned to Ario’s direction. Her eyes were narrowed as she was in deep thoughts.

Crown Prince Nexiel stared at Euria who was in her world. The minute Euria fought back for him, Crown Prince Nexiel, who was standing next to her, was able to snap out of his terrible thoughts. He felt grateful and was about to express his gratitude to her when someone suddenly laughed out loud.

The voice belonged to Ario, “Don’t look so scared, everyone!” He tried to calm everyone down by expressing that he was just a small rabbit and not a predator out to get them.

Naturally, no one believed him. No one believed him because his eyes were deep, as if it was able to pierce through the wall Dea, Con, and Aedelak created with their body, and watch Eugene’s every action.

Everyone felt nervous and afraid. Eugene too, however, more than feeling afraid she was bewildered. She felt confused and was dumbfounded because of the way Ario was treating her. It was as if he had found someone he was looking for after searching for this someone for a long time.

However, through these emotions, she also carefully analyzed the words he had said. ‘Fourth Miss, the Eldest Miss of the House of Veria.’ This sentence itself was strange because she has never been called Fourth Miss ever. The way he said Fourth Miss and was confident about this title was odd. As if he had discussed her using this title plenty of times.

There was also another sentence he said that was weird and that was, ‘The Veria children are way too scary. Too bad I can’t touch you… yet.’

He was definitely implying that he knew many things about them and that he wasn’t permitted to touch them. Did this not mean that there was someone above him? And also, if he can’t touch them now, does this mean that there are plans to hurt them in the future?

Eugene reached out to Aedelak’s shoulders in motion to scoot her over a bit. Aedelak did not comply and neither did she glance back as she stayed rooted to the spot. Just before Eugene was going to tell Aedelak to move in words, her arms were grabbed.

It was Euria. Euria pulled Eugene towards her and sandwiched Eugene between herself and Aernest. Both Aernest and Euria hugged Eugene’s arms to lock her in place and to this Eugene could only sigh in defeat.

Ario raised a brow. As if changing his attitude from a rabbit to a predator he said his next words using his deep voice, “You’re underestimating me, children.” Not a second after he finished his words, he took big steps towards Dea, Con, and Aedelak.

Immediately the room became tense. Dea and Con exchanged glances with one another and as if they concluded, one stepped forward. The one who stepped forward was Dea, leaving Con and Aedelak to guard the children.

Ario raised a brow and he stopped right in front of Dea. His face was plastered with a wicked smile as he looked at Dea, “You’re first?”

Dea said nothing and suddenly bowed his head to Ario.

The group of women watching from afar stared at them in shock as they thought that Dea had switched sides. Unbeknownst to them, Dea was just saying his final goodbyes to his mentor.

‘Farewell, teacher.’ Dea’s fists were clenched tight, but not a second later he released his clenched fist and charged in first.

The group of women, Crown Prince Nexiel, and Musician Hal exhaled in relief that Dea hadn’t switched sides but soon felt nervous as they continued to watch.

Even Eugene’s eyes were widened as she stared at Dea and Ario in astonishment, ‘What’s going on?’ Who here didn’t know that Sir Ario was feminine and weak? Who didn’t know that Sir Ario was not taught martial arts!

Dea was just as surprised as he thought that this would be an easy fight. He had underestimated Sir Ario and was first to be hit.

Ario’s kick slammed straight into Dea’s lower abdomen with great ferocity, pushing Dea a meter back.

“!!”

Dea sucked in his breath as he held his stomach. The pain shot up to his stomach like fire as he cringed. Without having to look under his dress he knew for a fact that his stomach was badly bruised and that there might be some internal bleeding from Sir Ario’s kick.

Ario chuckled and waited for Dea to recover like a responsible adult, “Surprised?” he taunted, as he stretched the foot he used to kick Dea away.

Naturally, he was surprised! But Dea calmed down and did not think to underestimate the man in front of him any longer. The weak Sir Ario? No such person existed from the start! He must not underestimate this man and fight seriously. Sir Ario had kicked him with such force that there was no doubt in his mind that he was capable of killing him.

“Dea!” Suddenly a loud voice shouted from across the room!

This loud but deep voice belonged to Con, who was a man of few words. For the first time, everyone could hear what he sounded like.

Dea exhaled loudly, and shouted back, “I know!”

Immediately after, he shot back to Sir Ario and fought him with all his strength. From Sir Ario being able to block his surprise attack and hits, Dea immediately knew that Sir Ario had trained in martial arts before. But within these few seconds, Dea was able to determine something and that was that just like he thought, the surprise kick Sir Ario gave him contained all his strength. This meant that he could not get any stronger.

Still, this was no reason to underestimate him because, despite everything, Sir Ario was able to evenly match him who trains every day.

Before long, Ario’s expression darkened. His shoulder blades were attacked twice and his body was slowly weakening, allowing more openings for Dea to attack. No one in this room knows but he was originally someone with talent in martial arts. But because he was deployed on a special mission he just never had a chance to improve or become stronger so naturally, his body could not keep up with Dea who strives to improve himself every day!

Dodging Dea was not easy at all. It was difficult and took him everything to dodge his attacks.

Suddenly, Dea jumped with his right knee raised, seemingly to attack Ario’s chin. Instinctively, Ario backed off with Dea’s knee’s passing his chin by only 1cm. Their eyes met whilst Dea was in mid-air and Dea smiled at Ario who was immediately alarmed. And before Sir Ario could react, Dea’s left leg from who knows where smacked him heavily on his chin!

Ario’s head was pushed back from the force as he faltered to keep his balance.

Dea landed on his feet and charged at Ario before he had a chance to recover. He aimed his left leg at Ario's waist and kicked him with so much force that Ario flew three meters away. Ario's back slammed against a wall and slid down to the floor.

“Cough- Cough-” Ario coughed out a mouthful of blood as he clutched onto his waist.

Dea exhaled and didn’t continue his onslaught of attacks. He only stared at Ario and watched as the group of women scattered out of the way. Thankfully the surprise attack worked. His knee jump plus left kick was something he wasn’t familiar with and only learned recently.

Aedelak, Aernest, and Euria’s eyes were widened from shock! ‘This… This move!’ They thought speechlessly as they turned to Eugene. Though Dea didn’t complete the whole maneuver, they know where the uniqueness and the unusual move came from!

“Miss?” Aedelak mumbled speechlessly.

Eugene scratched her head awkwardly. She had taught this move to Dea during their break yesterday because he saw her use this move on Euria and found it interesting. However, unlike the smooth moves Dea maneuvered just now, Eugene’s move was more comedic; as you end your attack, you raise your knee and both your arms up with your wrists flexed down, creating this bird-like image.

Eugene ignored Aedelak and coughed, returning her attention to Dea.