As the guards from the governor's mansion surrounded the area, Governor Sevier arrived in a rage.
They didn’t yet know who had killed Sykes, but they were about to find out.
"Sykes!"
Sevier ran to his son's lifeless body, his grief-stricken voice echoing through the square.
"Who killed my son?!"
His bloodshot eyes burned with fury, his presence alone sending a chill through the crowd.
No one dared to move.
No one dared to meet his gaze.
After all, Sevier was even more terrifying than his son.
"Who saw the murderer?! If anyone dares to protect them, you’ll all die!"
His voice was ced with venom.
He intended to find the culprit by any means necessary—even if it meant rounding up and torturing every single person in the area until someone confessed.
The color drained from the faces of the townsfolk.
Many of them had seen exactly who had killed Sykes.
But to them, that young man had done the right thing.
They didn’t want Byn to suffer revenge—but if they kept quiet, Sevier would turn his wrath on them first...
They were just ordinary people.
Torture terrified them.
It was only a matter of time before someone broke under the pressure.
Before that could happen, Byn stepped forward.
"It was me."
"What?! …You?!"
Sevier's face twisted in shock.
He had assumed Byn was simply one of Esdeath’s subordinates.
Until this moment, he hadn’t even considered the possibility that Byn was the one responsible.
"General Esdeath!" Sevier snarled, turning to her. "That brat is your subordinate! You owe me an expnation!"
His fury was uncontrolble, but he still addressed Esdeath with respect.
In the Empire’s hierarchy, a governor ranked below a general.
Even so, he wasn’t entirely beneath Esdeath—he didn’t have to bow and scrape before her.
And no matter who Byn was, Sevier wanted justice for his son.
"…"
Esdeath didn’t answer.
Instead, she walked toward Sevier.
A faint smile pyed on her lips—one that carried a dangerous edge.
No one else seemed to notice.
No one except Byn.
But he didn’t say a word.
He was curious to see how Esdeath would handle this.
Sevier assumed Esdeath had come to negotiate.
In his mind, he was already thinking about how to deal with the young man who had killed his son.
Beheading him was too merciful.
No—he wanted him slowly, brutally tortured to death. Only then could he begin to ease his rage.
Esdeath stepped right up to him.
Up close, Sevier couldn’t help but admire her.
Her beauty was unparalleled.
Her figure, her poise, her aura—everything about her was utterly captivating.
A vile thought entered his mind.
If he pyed his cards right, maybe he could use this situation to his advantage.
Maybe… he could take liberties with her.
Lust flickered in his eyes.
And Esdeath saw it instantly.
A moment ter, her sword was in her hand—
And it pierced straight through Sevier's right eye.
It happened so fast that Sevier didn’t even realize what was happening.
He prided himself on being the strongest in Jisei City—far stronger than Sykes.
He was a Shingu User.
But against Esdeath—who wielded neither a Teigu nor a Shingu—he was utterly powerless.
After all, Esdeath hadn’t needed a legendary weapon to rise to the rank of general.
She had done it through sheer ability alone.
And in the near future, once she obtained a Teigu, she would become the undisputed strongest in the Empire.
"Eh?"
For a split second, Sevier was stunned.
Then the pain hit.
An agony unlike anything he had ever experienced.
"AAAAAAAGGGHHHHH!"
He screamed, clutching at his destroyed eye as blood poured from the socket.
"You thought you could order me around?"
Esdeath’s voice was deathly cold.
The very air around them felt like it had frozen.
"N-No! That’s not—AAAAAGGGHHHH!"
Before he could finish his sentence, Esdeath drove her bde into his other eye.
Total blindness.
For a man like Sevier—who had lived in luxury, indulging in every pleasure imaginable—this was a fate worse than death.
But Esdeath wasn’t finished yet.
As he colpsed to his knees, writhing in agony,
She lifted her boot—
And stomped down on the back of his skull.
Hard.
With a sickening crunch, his head caved in like a crushed melon.
Sevier was dead before he even hit the ground.
The guards surrounding Byn and Esdeath stood frozen in horror.
Some of them were trembling so badly that their weapons slipped from their hands, cttering onto the cobblestone.
Esdeath didn’t even spare Sevier’s corpse a gnce.
Instead, she turned to the remaining guards and said coldly,
"He’s mine. If you want to touch him, you’ll have to go through me first."
The weight of her gaze sent a shiver down their spines.
It was not a threat.
It was a promise.
That was all it took.
Panic broke out.
The guards scrambled to flee, tossing away their weapons to run faster.
Esdeath let them go.
She had no interest in wasting her time chasing down such pathetic prey.
Byn, however, was once again taken aback by Esdeath’s ruthlessness.
Even a governor—an Imperial official—was nothing to her?
She could have easily sold him out.
Yet she had crushed Sevier without hesitation.
Byn doubted she had done it for his sake.
It was more likely that Sevier’s arrogance had annoyed her.
And that lustful look in his eyes had sealed his fate.
"Now that the governor is dead, no one is left to govern Jisei City," Byn noted, stepping up beside her.
"It doesn’t matter. The Imperial Capital will send someone to repce him," Esdeath said dismissively.
"But won’t this cause problems for you? This whole situation started because of me. I should have handled it alone."
Byn had no intention of dragging her into his mess.
Esdeath, however, merely smirked.
"It’s no problem. If anyone gives me trouble for this, I’ll just kill them too."
She spoke as if it were the simplest thing in the world.
"And besides—"
She turned to Byn, her smirk widening slightly.
"You’re mine. That means this concerns me too."
