Invitation of the Crescent Moon - Chapter 90

Drushia rushed down to the banquet hall below in one breath.

“Ashika!”

He couldn’t believe his eyes. He hadn’t taken his gaze off her from the moment Ashika was struck by the arrow. Even in the moment when her jet-black hair scattered in the air as she fell to the floor. But Ashika was nowhere to be seen.

The assassins who had followed him in came charging after him. Even while fending off their attacks, Drushia kept his eyes wide open, scanning all directions. The position where Ashika should have been was right below the tall railing, at the spot on the floor with a circular pattern.

Clang, clang-clang.

He couldn’t focus on the fight. Even as swords flew at him one after another, he could barely parry them while looking around.

“Ashika, where are you! Answer me!”

He had seen her fall after being struck by an arrow. And falling head-first at that. She surely couldn’t be unharmed. Forget answering—he couldn’t even be certain she was alive.

Just the thought of that possibility made his vision turn blood-red.

He shouldn’t have brought her. The Grand Duke’s Castle, rumored to be cursed. This place where the former emperor’s secrets were said to be hidden. He shouldn’t have brought Ashika to such an ill-omened place.

“Aaaahhh!”

“Ugh!”

He swung his misdirected rage mercilessly. His opponent couldn’t withstand Drushia’s attack and dropped his sword. The moment the weapon fell from his hands, Drushia’s sword mercilessly sliced through his torso.

“Fall back! Shoot arrows!”

Seeing their comrades being cut down one after another, the assassins hesitated and retreated. Instead, crossbow bolts with devastating power flew at him with chilling metallic sounds.

“Who is it! Who ordered this!”

His bloodshot gaze caught the flying arrows and deflected them with his sword. Drushia instantly leaped forward and severed the neck of the assassin who was loading his crossbow.

“Reinforcements, call for reinforcements!”

The one commanding from behind shouted as he climbed the stairs.

It had been a mistake to underestimate him and attack just because he was alone. They had thought it would be easy after hearing that he had left the border disputes and stayed in the capital for the past few years.

However, Drushia was the Duke who led Talion, the sword and shield of the Empire. The master who commanded the five most powerful knight orders in the Empire. And now, with his eyes turned red, he was slaughtering every assassin in sight.

But the fleeing assassin didn’t make it through the entrance. He thought the approaching footsteps belonged to his allies, but he was mistaken. The armed figure instantly thrust his sword, piercing the heart of the fleeing assassin.

“Aaaahhh!”

Drushia, who had been climbing the stairs menacingly covered in blood, stopped when he spotted the knights entering.

“Drushia!”

For a moment, Drushia’s face went blank.

“…Grandfather.”

“What happened? Why did the Grand Duke’s Castle forces abandon their posts?”

The remaining soldiers had become corpses scattered about. It meant the number of intruders was not small.

Drushia didn’t understand any of it either. All the events happening now. He didn’t even hear the words about the forces guarding the Grand Duke’s Castle having disappeared.

“Let’s leave. Once we get out of here…”

“We can’t leave. Ashika… has disappeared.”

“What do you mean?”

It was Nile. Seeing Drushia’s haggard face, Nile’s expression also hardened coldly.

“Did she get lost? Where?”

“Damn it! Right before my eyes…”

Even though he was standing perfectly fine, he felt dizzy. Drushia roughly rubbed his face to pull his fading consciousness together.

“We have to find Ashika first. She must be somewhere in this banquet hall.”

Neoren, who had been watching Drushia, quietly spoke.

“Where did she disappear?”

“She fell from the railing down below, but she vanished without a trace.”

Nile blinked, not understanding the meaning. It was a strange conversation, but Drushia, who was half out of his mind, didn’t seem to notice.

Neoren instructed the knights to defend the entrance, then moved in the direction Drushia pointed.

The place directly below where someone would fall vertically from the railing. A spot with a large circular pattern. Dark brown debris was piled up in layers, making it difficult to discern the original form.

Neoren carefully approached without stepping on the central pattern or the strangely accumulated debris. A gloomily sunken voice flowed out like a sigh.

“…So it was here.”

It was a statement no one could understand. Neoren lifted his head and looked around the magnificent ruins in a full circle.

“Grandfather. Are there more secret passages I don’t know about? Can we find Ashika?”

“Drushia.”

Blue eyes exactly like his own looked desperately at Neoren. The earnest hope expecting even a glimmer of possibility could be felt in those bloodshot eyes.

“We saw dozens of armed men infiltrate the Grand Duke’s Castle ahead of us. Right now, it’s more urgent to bring back the withdrawn forces.”

“That’s impossible. We have to find Ashika.”

“She’ll be fine.”

“How can she be fine when she was struck by an arrow!”

For Drushia, Ashika’s safety was more important than the immediate threat. Neoren’s persuasion didn’t even reach his ears.

“The Grand Duke’s Castle won’t let that child die!”

At the shouted outburst, Drushia stopped moving abruptly. Strong doubt also appeared on Nile’s face.

Above the stairs, the knights guarding the entrance anxiously looked outside while watching the two men. It was only a matter of time before the scattered intruders returned.

“What… do you know?”

“There’s no time. The withdrawn forces won’t move without your command. They haven’t gone far. Go and bring the soldiers.”

“Grandfather!”

“I know the Grand Duke’s Castle better than you do!”

The resounding voice echoed through the desolate space. Nile retreated with a pale face at the fierce argument between the two men.

Drushia’s blazing eyes were half out of their mind. Neoren sighed and spoke in a somewhat subdued voice.

“I’ll find her. You do what you need to do. That’s the only way you can protect that child. Trust my words. That child cannot die so easily, Drushia.”

Not that she won’t die, but that she cannot die. Nile caught the subtle difference in tone.

“Go, before it gets any later.”

Neoren’s tone was a request, not a command.

Drushia glared with bloodshot eyes at the place where Ashika had disappeared. Not knowing what had happened. There was nothing he could do right now.

“Please wait for me. Don’t get hurt.”

At the brief request, Neoren nodded lightly in agreement.

Drushia thought it was his mistake. That he had brought about all this trouble. So finding the best course of action available now was the right thing to do. He finally turned away with a devastated heart.

As soon as he made the decision, Drushia instantly climbed the stairs and left the banquet hall. Nile looked back at Neoren with a gaze full of complex emotions.

“The scattered ones will return soon. Shouldn’t we move?”

“No, we guard this position.”

“We need to find Lady Igraine.”

“No need to find her.”

“Pardon?”

Despite Nile’s bewildered reaction, Neoren’s answer was firm. True to his word about holding their position, he sat down right there on the floor.

“Well, this is…”

Nile was flustered. The number of intruders who had entered the Grand Duke’s Castle was not small. He didn’t know what they were looking for, but if they came all at once, even the most skilled knights would be overwhelmed.

However, Neoren seemed to have no intention of further conversation and simply closed his eyes. The remaining knights also took positions at the entrance, watching their surroundings with sharp gazes.

“Really, such inflexible people.”

Such stubborn knights. Nile grumbled and sat down next to Neoren.

****

“Ugh…”

She felt a pressure crushing her chest. A bone-chilling sensation swept past her neck and chest area, making her shudder. Cold gathered at her shoulders, which felt as hot as if burned by fire. Suddenly, pain struck as if her flesh was being torn and bones crushed, and something was pulled out.

“Aaaahhh!”

Screaming was all she could do. Her body had stiffened as if paralyzed, unable to move at all. Nothing was visible in her blurry vision.

She heard something fall with a thud and hit the floor.

“Huff, huff…”

Ashika couldn’t endure the pain and gasped for breath. She felt something trickling down from her shoulder. It was probably blood. Definitely flowing from her own body.

‘Yes, blood.’

The arrow that had pierced her body in a moment when she couldn’t even notice what was flying at her. And the memory of falling with her vision turned upside down came back.

“…rushia…”

The silence surrounding her was eerie. This moment, when all the urgent sounds had disappeared, was more frightening than ever.

Ashika struggled desperately to clear her blurry vision. She felt a cool fragrance as if she were submerged in fog. It was the sharp scent she had smelled every time she crossed the boundary of hallucinations.

“Rushia, why…”

Why aren’t you answering? When she thought of Drushia, her heart beat rapidly.

Her fingertips, which had been twitching anxiously, regained strength. Abandoning one arm that wouldn’t move as if paralyzed, she barely managed to sit up.

“Ugh.”

Unable to maintain balance, her upper body tilted forward. Sweat-soaked hair tumbled down, draping over her face. Only then did Ashika realize something was strange.

The floor her hand was touching was as smooth as glass. A strange feeling that was neither glass nor marble. When she barely managed to lift her head, the first thing that caught her eye was a bed draped with gorgeous golden silk.

“…A bedroom?”

Where she was located was a bedroom. Inside a room filled with ornate decorative work that was dazzling to the eyes. Pure white fur was laid beneath the bed instead of a carpet, and flower petals of various colors were scattered throughout the room.

Candles burning all around and the smell of fragrant incense. A mysterious scent that calmed excitement made her freshly awakened mind hazy again.

Ashika barely managed to stand up.

‘I was definitely in the banquet hall of the Grand Duke’s Castle.’

She couldn’t fathom why she was in such a place, or what memories had been cut out in between.

“I have to get out first.”

Drushia would be looking for her. She had seen his face, frozen with fear, just before falling. Just thinking about how worried he must be made her chest ache.

Her drained body wouldn’t obey, making each step difficult to take.

“Where’s the door…”

But after taking only a few steps, Ashika stopped.

“There’s no door?”

There was nothing that could be called a door anywhere in the room. Only the delicate carvings and gold decorations that filled the walls and ceiling gave off a gorgeous light.

If there was no door, could she get out through a window? Ashika staggered toward the window. But nothing could be seen outside the window submerged in pitch-black darkness.

“This is impossible.”

In her urgency, she felt around the glass window. She felt cold through her palm like a frost-covered window in the dead of winter.

“Some way to break it… Ah!”

Ashika jumped back in shock. She thought no one was there, but there was a human shadow faintly reflected in the glass window.

“What… what is…”

In the room where no one else should be except her. Platinum hair scattered in the glass window that reflected the interior completely. The silhouette turned its head toward the frozen Ashika. A pale lead-colored face that didn’t feel human, with blue-violet eyes…

“Aaaahhh!”

Her swaying body collapsed right there on the floor. A vibration that rang in her ears with a deep sound. The wave was so large it felt painful.

The room vibrated and blue flashes passed by.

“Ah. Stop!”

The space began to shake, feeling as if it would squeeze her body to bursting. No, it was a vibration that seemed like it would shatter her entire body into pieces.

[Let me out.]

The vibration became meaningful sound that fiercely stirred inside her head.

Ashika curled up her body and desperately moved her arms and legs. It was to escape the force pressing down on her.

“Ugh.”

A bone-chilling sensation wrapped around her ankle. Ashika turned around in surprise. Something had emerged from the floor that had been shining like glass and grabbed her ankle.

“Let go, let go!”

Splash—she thought she heard the sound of water. The floor undulated like gentle water surface rippling.

“Aaaahhh!”

The moment she felt her arms and legs touching the floor trembling from the vibration created by the ripples, the hand gripping her ankle pulled her down with force. Like a beast trapped in a bog, Ashika was helplessly dragged in by an inescapable force.