Chapter 115: Contract Violation
Theresa paced the estate's entrance hall, wringing her hands nervously. Her dark hair was slightly disheveled from running through the streets, her maid's uniform dusty.
"Has Lady Auro been found?" she asked the butler for what must have been the fifth time.
The elderly butler, Jake, a stern man who'd served the Melliz family for decades, looked up from the report he'd been reading. His expression was troubled.
"Yes, Miss Theresa. They found her about an hour ago."
"Thank the gods...", Theresa sagged with relief, "Is she hurt? Where was she?"
"In a maintenance shed in Serene Park.", Jake said slowly, watching Theresa's reaction carefully, "She was unconscious. When she woke, she had no memory of how she got there or what happened."
Theresa's relief turned to confusion, "No memory? But... was she injured? Assaulted?"
"Physically unharmed. Just... confused.", Jake set down the report, "The park guards are investigating, but there were no witnesses. It's as if she simply vanished from her tea party and reappeared in that shed."
Theresa's mind raced.
Memory loss, no witnesses. Someone powerful enough to make a noble lady disappear in broad daylight without being seen.
A Pathstrider.
Someone knows, someone came for her.
"I need to see her.",Theresa said urgently, "Where is she now?"
"The family physician is examining her in her quarters. You'll have to wait—"
"I need to see her.", Theresa's voice carried an edge of something else, worry that went beyond professional concern, "Please, Jake. She's... she's my friend."
The butler's expression softened slightly. Everyone in the household had noticed how close Lady Auro and her personal maid had become over the past three years.
It was unusual. Improper, some would say.
But Theresa had been hired by Marquis Melliz himself for a very specific reason, to protect his daughter using abilities most people didn't even believe existed.
The Marquis was stuck managing his territory on the frontier, unable to come to the capital personally. So he'd hired a Pathstrider to serve as both maid and bodyguard.
Theresa had taken the job expecting it to be simple protection work.
She hadn't expected to actually befriend Auro. To care about the lonely noble girl who'd been thrown into capital politics without proper support. To want to help her not just because she was paid to, but because Auro had become important to her.
And now I've made things worse... Theresa thought bitterly... My powers drew attention. Someone came to investigate... this is my fault.
"Wait here.", Jake finally said, "I'll ask if Lady Auro is well enough for visitors."
He disappeared up the stairs, leaving Theresa alone with her guilt and worry.
=0=0=
Across the City - Café Near Noble Quarter
Lea sat at the same corner table from earlier, another cup of coffee cooling in front of her. The book in her hands was different, some treatise on Kieran law she'd picked up. She appeared to be reading intently.
She wasn't.
Her Contract extended through the city like invisible threads, following the Twilight Gaunt as it stalked through shadows toward a different target entirely.
The information her familiar had gathered had been thorough. Estate layout, guard rotations, Theresa's schedule, and habits. Everything Lea would need for an assassination.
But watching Theresa through her familiar's senses, seeing the genuine worry in the maid's eyes, the way she paced with real anxiety for Auro's safety... had pissed Lea off.
She actually cares. She's not some manipulative monster, just... trying to help.
Yes, Theresa had used her powers to manipulate the fiancée. Yes, that was wrong. But it came from a place of genuine care for Auro, not malice. Not greed. Not the kind of evil Lea had convinced herself she only targeted.
And that made everything complicated.
I made it clear to myself that I will only go after people who deserve it. Theresa doesn't qualify.
Which meant the person who did qualify was her client.
Neia Serasa, Duke Serasa's daughter. The jealous girl who'd hired a mercenary to kill an innocent person out of spite.
That was evil enough for her.
"You, go kill that girl...", she whispered.
The Twilight Gaunt inside her shadow obliged, vanishing from it.
From an outside perspective, she looked cool and mysterious, a hooded figure reading quietly in a café, perfectly calm and collected.
Inside, Lea was seething.
Why does nothing ever go according to plan? Why is everyone either innocent or complicated? Why can't people just be simple villains so I can kill them without feeling bad?
She turned a page without reading it, maintaining her cover while her consciousness split between the café and the demon stalking through noble estates.
=0=0=
Serasa Estate, Neia's Quarters
Neia Serasa sat at her vanity, combing her long blonde hair with trembling hands. The sun was setting outside her window, casting orange light across her room.
She was seventeen. Beautiful in a conventional way, not striking like Auro, but pretty enough. Used to getting what she wanted.
Until Auro Melliz had stolen her fiancé.
No, not stolen... Neia reminded herself, though the thought felt hollow... Enchanted him. Used witchcraft. That's why he stopped looking at me. Why did he start attending her tea parties instead of mine? It's not my fault. It's hers.
The logic felt solid when she'd hired that mercenary, the Faceless Twilight. A mysterious killer who would eliminate the problem.
But now, alone in her room, Neia felt... uncertain.
What if I'm wrong? What if she didn't enchant him? What if he just... preferred her?
The thought made her stomach twist with something that might have been guilt.
No. No, I did the right thing. She's a witch, everyone knows it. This is justice.
Neia combed her hair with mechanical motions, staring at her reflection.
She didn't notice the other reflection missing from the mirror.
The Twilight Gaunt stood directly behind her. Its pale gray form cast no reflection in the polished glass.
To normal senses, it simply wasn't there.
Neia continued combing, lost in thought.
Maybe I should cancel the contract. Go to the Faceless Twilight and say it was a mistake—
The demon's hand touched her shoulder.
Neia's body went rigid.
Her consciousness, her thoughts, memories, and sense of self were grabbed, pulled.
Torn apart like wet paper.
The Twilight Gaunt didn't kill with violence. It was killed by devouring minds, consuming consciousness itself.
Leaving nothing but empty flesh behind.
Neia's eyes went blank. The comb fell from limp fingers.
Her body remained sitting upright, perfectly still, as the demon finished its meal.
When it withdrew its hand, Neia Serasa was gone. The body breathed, the heart still beat. But the person inside had been completely erased.
The Twilight Gaunt faded back into shadow, leaving no trace of its presence.
A servant would find Neia in the morning, unresponsive. Doctors would be baffled. The Duke would rage and grieve and demand answers.
But they'd find nothing. Just a tragic case of sudden mental collapse.
These things happened sometimes, didn't they?
=0=0=
Back at the Café, Lea felt the Twilight Gaunt complete its task through their Contract.
She closed her book slowly.
Contract fulfilled, client eliminated for hiring me to kill an innocent person. Actual Pathstrider left alive because she doesn't deserve death.
Problem solved.
It should have felt satisfying. Instead, Lea just felt tired.
And still pissed.
This is what my life has become. Killing teenagers in their bedrooms? Judging who deserves death? Playing moral arbiter while hiding behind a mask.
She took a sip of cold coffee and grimaced.
From outside, she probably looked mysterious and composed, the dangerous mercenary completing a job with cold efficiency. Inside, she was a mess of anger and frustration that nothing was ever simple.
She wanted to become strong, so she'd stop being helpless. Instead, she had become someone who kills people she has never met based on incomplete information.
The Twilight Gaunt emerged from her shadow, invisible to everyone else, and settled back into the darkness at her feet.
Lea stood, left coins for the coffee, and walked out of the café into Emut's evening streets.
She had a dimensional elevator to catch back to Lacrosa.
And to figure out what to tell the Steam Bat about this contract. And to keep building her reputation as the Faceless Twilight. Had to keep moving forward, because stopping meant thinking too much about what she'd become.
Lea pulled her hood lower and disappeared into the crowd.