I wonder if I have strength like that too, Elizabeth thought. Despite being executed as the villainess of the century, Westalia had never given up and continued to stand up against overwhelming political influence.
“Hold on to me, Miss Elizabeth,” Paige whispered, and Elizabeth reflexively grabbed on to her. Paige launched them from the second-floor window.
“Gyaaaah!!!” Elizabeth screamed.
Paige landed in some bushes, which cushioned their fall a little bit.
“Oof,” Paige grunted.
“Are you okay?! You’re insane! You just jumped out a second-story window carrying another person!” Elizabeth cried.
“Don’t worry, I’m fine. I’m used to getting hurt, and I’m made of sturdier stuff than most. I just fractured my leg a bit,” Paige replied.
“What part of that is ‘fine’?!” Elizabeth shouted. Paige was definitely not fine at all. “Was it because I’m too heavy?”
“Well, you’re not light. Listen, we’ve got to run now though.”
“Eek!” Though stung by Paige’s brusque words, she started running as Paige pulled on her hand. Eventually, they managed to join up with Dion and escaped from the Reyns’ mansion.
Tiberio was left in his office looking out the open window. It was a clear night, and the stars were shining brightly. Most of the knights in his office had been left in an impressively comatose state thanks to the two thieves.
One of the only two knights still conscious said, “Shall we go after them?” as he held his injured arm.
“Yes, go after them at once,” Tiberio ordered.
Even if they pursued the thieves, there were only a few functional knights remaining and there was no way they could put up a fight. Besides, the thieves might have backup by this point.
“Yes, sir,” the knight said anyway. He ran out of the office. There were several other knights in the mansion he could recruit; however, the forest surrounding the estate wasn’t exactly conducive to a late-night manhunt. Beyond the window, the black-silhouetted trees groaned eerily.
At that moment, Tiberio’s expression, which always had a smile plastered on it, turned slightly grim. His look seemed as if it could inflict injury on anyone who dared approach, and the remaining conscious knight hunched his shoulders and felt a chill run down his spine.
“Just who on earth is Miss Elizabeth mixed up with?” the knight asked.
“I wonder,” Tiberio muttered. But the obedient Elizabeth had begun to change after the day she had collapsed in her fit of convulsions. If anyone had given her a nudge to change, it would’ve been... The image of Westalia flashed through Tiberio’s mind.
“With all due respect, sir, why don’t you report this to the palace? The intruders should be caught and punished accordingly.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary. We don’t need to rely on the imperial family. We can just purge the thieves in secret here at the mansion.” Tiberio looked slowly around his office. Although there were no obvious signs of vandalism, it was clear that the thieves had been looking for something in particular.
One of the thieves was carrying some documents. It’s likely to be bad for me if they get out, Tiberio thought. There were a number of documents in the office that couldn’t be made public, which was why the office was guarded and locked even in the middle of the night. He didn’t want to kick up a fuss and have those end up on public display.
Tiberio didn’t need to report to the imperial family; what he needed to do was deal with the thief who’d seduced Elizabeth and recover the documents as soon as possible. His eyes landed on a crumpled piece of paper on his desk—the land management ledger from the former Marquis of Lanchester.
If I recall, Westalia is accompanied by a single female knight who looks like a man. She looked familiar, Tiberio thought. He had a history with the daughter of that family. They’d been an upstanding family with a long history of producing knights. He’d driven the girl’s parents to their deaths, stolen their land, and then sold the girl into slavery. The swordsmanship of that thief had been very similar to that of the former Marquis of Lanchester. And that girl clearly had a deep hatred for Tiberio and took great pride in her monstrous physical strength.
“Yes, Paige Lanchester does ring a bell,” Tiberio muttered. He’d been surprised to see her alive at the soiree; he’d thought he’d taken care of her long ago. Those who became gladiators were usually short-lived. Paige, however, had apparently developed her swordsmanship through repeated and extreme battles and had managed to survive. Where did she find the will to live after being deprived of everything? And for some reason, even though Paige was supposed to be a slave, she’d somehow become the knight to an executed villainess. Westalia had apparently even managed to entice Elizabeth, her rival, to her own side.
“You can leave Elizabeth alone. She’s a weak girl. She’ll give up soon enough and come crying back to me. If I am to make good use of her in the future, simply whipping her won’t cut it. This is just a spot of rebellion. Let’s let her do as she pleases for a while,” Tiberio said. Elizabeth was probably crying to Westalia about his scolding. But Westalia would most likely use her and then toss her aside. There was no way Westalia would show mercy to her rival. Elizabeth was truly foolish.
“I’m sure that Elizabeth will become the empress no matter what it takes. If that abominable foreign woman takes the throne, the Archaites Empire will completely collapse,” Tiberio continued. The viper that had bitten the former queen in the Kingdom of Lhumzia was now trying to seduce Elizabeth and turning her fangs against the Reyns. They would wither just as the former queen had. But Tiberio wasn’t so weak that he could be taken out by mere venom. All he had to do was cut off the viper’s head before it could bite him as well.
Tiberio looked up at the beautiful night sky with a dry smile on his lips.
“Soon, go to the residence of the second candidate for empress and see if Westalia Lejainne’s knight has a wound on her arm and near her eye.”
“Yes, sir,” a knight said with a reverent bow.
If one of those thieves was Paige Lanchester, Tiberio had to find a way to get rid of her once and for all.