Meanwhile, back in the Forstblade Mansion—
Inside Velc’s spacious, dimly lit office, the scent of old paper and ink lingered in the air. The fire crackled faintly in the hearth, but the atmosphere was anything but warm.
“Did you find out who did this?” Velc asked with a sharp tone, annoyance etched deep into his face as he shuffled through stacks of paperwork concerning his territory. His eyebrows twitched, jaw clenched in irritation.
Alfred stood beside him, hands clasped respectfully behind his back, wearing his usual composed expression. In a calm, low voice, he replied, “Not yet, Master. So far, there’s no sign of anyone directly involved in the incident. We’re still investigating thoroughly. The only lead we have is someone seen carrying a sack of seeds from the stores 10 days ago… but nothing concrete yet.”
Velc exhaled through his nose with a growl-like hum. “I see… Make sure you find that bastard—whoever had the audacity to mar the beauty of my land. I want him caught and punished. No exceptions.”
Alfred nodded promptly. “Yes, Master. I’ll see to it personally.” But then his expression faltered slightly. A trace of hesitation flickered in his eyes. He cleared his throat and spoke a little more carefully. “Master… may I speak freely for a moment?”
Velc didn’t look up. “What is it now?”
“…Hmm… I’ve noticed something rather peculiar. The Mistress—she’s been acting… off. There’s something strange in her behaviour lately. She seems unusually attached to that boy, and today… she left the mansion without informing anyone. Not a single word. Doesn’t that seem odd to you, sir? Could there be something happening between them?”
Velc finally looked up, glaring at Alfred with a scoff. “What? Are you seriously suggesting that she’s interested in that brat? Is that why she took him in—because she has feelings for him? That’s ridiculous. Are you losing your mind?”
“N-No, Master,” Alfred stammered slightly, bowing his head. “I didn’t mean it like that. I only meant to point out—”
“Whatever. Just drop it,” Velc interrupted coldly, waving a dismissive hand. “I have no interest in anything that concerns her. Let her do as she pleases.”
Alfred lowered his eyes and bowed deeply. “Understood. I will take my leave now,” he said softly before turning toward the door.
Chucckk!
Suddenly, a grotesque sound—like flesh being violently torn—ripped through the room. It was so loud and raw that it seemed to momentarily halt time itself. Alfred froze just steps away from the door. His hand hovered inches from the doorknob, trembling, yet unmoving. His entire body stiffened unnaturally.
Velc frowned, immediately sensing something was wrong. The pen in his hand stopped mid-signature as he looked up from the desk. “Alfred?” he called, his voice low and cautious. “Alfred, what’s wrong?”
But there was no response.
“Alfred!” he called again, louder, more urgently, but the man didn’t so much as flinch.
Velc stood, he walked over quickly and placed a hand on Alfred’s shoulder to shake him gently.
“Alfred… are you alrigh—”
Thud!
“OH FUCKKK!!!!!”
Velc recoiled with a blood-curdling scream as Alfred’s lifeless body collapsed to the floor. Blood splattered across the polished tiles. Velc’s eyes widened in absolute horror.
A gaping hole lay carved straight through Alfred’s chest—his heart was gone.
Cleanly ripped from his body!!
“ALFRED!!” Velc screamed again, this time with agony, dropping to his knees beside the body. “No… no, no, no!! Who did this?!”
Meanwhile—
Back at Xara’s hidden sanctuary, tucked deep within the shadows of the forest…
The room was cloaked in eerie silence, broken only by the drip of something wet onto stone. Aether stood frozen, his breath caught in his throat as her words echoed again in his mind.
He killed Alfred.
His face drained of colour. He stared at her in disbelief, his entire body stiff as a statue.
Xara stood across from him, her face and hands smeared with blood, yet her expression remained unnervingly calm. Her lips curled in mild disappointment, not remorse. “Oh… such a waste now… all gone to waste,” she murmured, clicking her tongue in a slow tsk, tsk, like a mother scolding a naughty child.
She didn’t even flinch as thick blood trickled down her neck and stained the collar of her outfit.
She glanced at the shattered jar on the floor beside her feet. Its contents split out in pieces—glass shards and a lump of glistening, red-black flesh resting in the mess like some grotesque treasure.
Aether’s eyes locked onto it—his heart thudded in his chest.
“Is that… a heart?” he muttered, stepping back instinctively. The flesh was unmistakable. He recognized it—the same thing he’d seen floating inside that crimson jar earlier.
That twisted, dark organ pulsing with an unnatural presence.
“Oh baby… how pitiful,” Xara murmured in a soft, eerie tone as she gently lifted the heart in her blood-slicked hands, cradling it like it was something precious—like it was her own child. She gave it a light pat, almost lovingly. “Look at this, baby… it died. Aether… it died!!” she suddenly snapped, her eyes flaring as she turned her glare sharply toward Aether, her voice rising in accusation.
Aether swallowed hard, an uneasy lump forming in his throat. She looked… different now. No, felt different.
There was no trace of that warm, motherly aura she once had—no softness, no tenderness. All he could see now was a woman who had lost her favourite toy… and was about to break something else in rage.
“I didn’t mean to—” Aether tried to apologize, stepping slightly forward. But his words froze mid-sentence.
His eyes widened in stunned horror.
She tilted her head up, slowly parting her mouth. And then—without the faintest hesitation—she raised the heart toward her lips and pushed it inside.
“Wait—what are you—” Aether gasped.
His voice died out as he watched her…
Xara’s mouth stretched to accommodate the grotesque organ. Her eyes didn’t blink—didn’t flinch. The sight was surreal and revolting.
She began to swallow it whole. Her throat bulged grotesquely with the shape of the heart pressing through it as she devoured the entire thing without even biting.
Gulp~
She swallowed with a satisfied hum, then slowly licked her lips, her nose wrinkling. “Yuck… it tastes awful. Tch… I suppose an old man’s heart would taste bitter like this,” she said, licking her lips again with a sly, twisted smile.
Then—
Burrrpp!!
A thick, black smoke escaped from her mouth with the burp. She exhaled it as if releasing something unholy. Lazily, she rubbed her stomach with one hand, a satisfied expression on her face… and then she turned her gaze back to Aether.
He didn’t even realise he was backing away until his foot bumped against the wall behind him.
Xara’s lips curled into a wide, amused smile.
“Oh dear~ You saw it, didn’t you?… You saw everything~” Her voice was like a teasing lullaby drenched in venom.
She took a step forward, and Aether subconsciously took another step back, but there was nowhere left to go.
Maybe it was the way she had just eaten a human heart like a snack… or maybe it was that wicked grin—that smile, darker than night—that sent icy dread through his veins.
Xara giggled at his reaction. “Hehe~ Look at you now… all scared and trembling. How pitiful you are… my cute, helpless little lamb~” she cooed, her voice dripping with mock-sweetness.
She licked her lips again, slower this time, and her eyes began to darken—no longer playful, but soaked in shadow and something far more dangerous.
Aether swallowed once more, his throat dry and tight. He stared at her in disbelief, watching as the woman he once saw as gentle and maternal… now twisted into something vicious.
Something monstrous.
“W-What… what do you mean Alfred is dead?” he asked hesitantly.
Xara tilted her head from side to side, making a soft cracking sound in her neck as though shedding her human guise. Then she reached behind, loosened her tied-up hair, and began scratching at her scalp, pulling free a single long strand of hair.
“You see, baby…” she began sweetly, her tone sickeningly gentle, “I didn’t just experiment on blood… I curse it too.” With a soft exhale, she blew the strand of hair into the air—and before Aether’s very eyes, it shimmered black and dissolved into mist, vanishing.
“I placed a curse on Alfred’s heart… and his son’s heart too,” she explained, her tone now both proud and sinister. “I harvested their phantom hearts—captured their essence—and sealed them inside a jar filled with their blood. It was volatile, dangerous, delicate… even the slightest shake could destroy it. I was being very careful, of course.”
She leaned forward with a crooked grin and snapped her fingers right in front of Aether’s chest.
“But then you just touched it… and poof—Alfred died. Isn’t that tragic?” she whispered mockingly, her tone twisted in amusement. “All that work, wasted. You broke it~”
She stepped even closer, her voice soft and deadly. “Are you scared now? I ate his heart, you know…” Her tongue flicked across her lips. “And I could do the same to you…”
Aether stiffened, his breath quickening.
“Hehe~ Are you about to piss yourself?” she teased, laughing softly as her finger reached up and wiped a small droplet of sweat or blood that splattered before…. She looked at it on her fingertip, then slowly slid it into her mouth and licked it with a sensual, eerie grin.
“Tell me…” she whispered wickedly, her finger now tracing her own lips,
“Do you still love me~?”
Her tone was sultry, but her expression… it had turned pitch-black, darker than he had ever seen on a human face.
“!!”
A shiver ripped down Aether’s spine like a cold whip…
Twitch.
Something twitched.
‘…Did I just turn on?’
[…Did you just turn on?]
Both Aether and Log were absolutely flabbergasted by his own reaction!
