The sudden silence that had descended upon Vivia's collapse on the stage thundered like the calm before the storm. Cracks eventually formed in that stillness whereupon shock and terror soon reverberated through the air as the crowd dispersed in a frenzy.
Standing behind the curtain's shadow at the side of the stage, Audreya blankly watched Vivia fall lifeless in the pool of her own blood. As people scattered left and right in fear of the unknown assassin possibly striking them next, Audreya was the sole woman to step up on the stage. Her broken toe brought a limp to her walk, but that pain felt numb to her. She stood before her, staring at the arrow that had pierced through Vivia's chest.
"Audreya!"
The Revel Master Walterce's assistant, Raffert, pulled her back with an abrupt force.
"Are you insane? What are you doing exposing yourself?" Raffert was breathless, his gaze alternating nervously side to side.
"Vivia…"
Still dazed about what had transpired, her vacant gaze remained fixed on her, as if that alone would make her come back to life.
"We don't have time, Audreya! What if we get shot next?"
Audreya then turned towards him, blank and lifeless herself. With a harsh jerk, she shook his hand away, a layer of severe frostiness enveloping her eyes.
"You see the same thing I'm seeing, right?"
"Yes, but-"
"THEN HOW IN THE WORLD ARE YOU SO CALM!? Someone just shot through Vivia, and you're thinking of escaping!?"
Backstage, the musician members of the entertainment group, like everyone else, didn't dare to step out either. Shock and horror had drained away the color from their faces. The only one to step up other than Audreya was the Revel Master Walterce.
"What just…happened?"
Audreya rushed to his side. "Sir Walterce, we should take Vivia to the doctor right away! Raffert, you carry her-"
"To the doctor?" He stared, incredulous. "Audreya, Vivia is…dead."
"Are you out of your mind!? Are you a doctor to declare that?"
"I don't need to be a doctor to figure that out. Ju-Just look at her! The arrow struck her right through her chest…Do you see any chances of Vivia surviving through that?"
Audreya's clenched fists trembled. "Fine! I'll take Vivia myself!"
Frustrated, Raffert combed his fingers through his hair. "Why don't you understand it, Audreya? You're just wasting time!"
"I don't care what it looks like to you-"
The corner of her eyes caught a familiar figure in the crowd, watching the chaos unfold on the stage in silence. Audreya couldn't be sure if she was hallucinating, but she felt what she saw - a smile curving that woman's lips.
She's that noblewoman who keeps visiting to watch Vivia's performances…
An unsettling shiver ran down her back, as the woman quietly disappeared from the crowd. Sensing something terribly off about her demeanor and expression, she ran down the stage, despite the pain of her broken toe stinging her with sharp, uncomfortable jolts.
"Sir Walterce, take Vivia to the doctor right this instant, or I'll kill you the moment I get back! I don't care if you're the Revel Master or not!" Her warning glare was enough to send the message of a deadly consequence awaiting him should he not heed her.
Audreya rushed through the Town Hall square, chasing after the woman at full speed. Her brows pinched and chest gasped, the pain shooting in her toe bringing a bout of insanity within her, yet her heart was set on finding that hooded woman.
Why was she smiling like that? She was smiling at someone's dea-
Audreya shuddered and forced herself to back off from those grieving, oppressive thoughts.
Vivia is not dead!
All the way to Stras's border, she entered into the dark, gloomy woods that served as a much less appealing exit pathway from the town. She paused for a moment to breathe when she heard a rustle in the distance. She willed herself to not make a single sound, not even of her own breathing. The cluster of interlocked vines messed with her dress, tiny thorns bringing small tears to it. Through the gaps between the humongous trees, the outline of a luxurious carriage parked in a clearing became visible. Studying its grandeur, Audreya effortlessly connected it to the noblewoman.
This wealthy carriage can only belong to her. But doesn't it feel…too lofty for a simple noblewoman? Or is she a duchess?
The same woman in the brown hood approached the carriage with delicate, quiet steps. Two knights guarding the carriage bowed upon her arrival. Out of nowhere, a shadowy figure then appeared and knelt before her.
Her eyes widened, stunned.
Where did he come from?
"Good work," the woman in the hood smiled.
"Thank you, my lady," The man dressed and covered in all black expressed his respect.
A shiver ran through Audreya, spotting the quiver slung across his back. She recognized the hilt of the arrows in his leather case as similar to what had struck Vivia.
It's him…He did that to Vivia…
Fury erupted in her chest like lava bursting from a volcano with dread and violence. Her knuckles ever-so-faintly cracked with an urge to strangle him. The sight of Vivia falling before her was still fresh in her mind. The moment when the light from Vivia's eyes dulled into a grim darkness. When blood soiled her beautiful dress.
Tears brimmed in her eyes as she bit down on her lip. Despite rage consuming every vein in her body, strength lacked in her legs to take action. She wished she could shout and scream at the top of her voice, but knowing the pointlessness of it, she could only back down, albeit with hatred.
Not a single soul from Stras ever passed through these woods, and alone and cornered, Audreya was in no position to fight the assassin coupled with the knights herself, certainly not with a broken toe. All kinds of possible scenarios ran through her head before she concluded that causing any commotion now would only result in her own death.
The shuffle of something metallic brought her attention back to the woman. The hooded woman handed over a small but seemingly heavy pouch to the assassin.
"This is your reward. She's finally gone. I assume it must've been difficult to aim with that wench dancing all around."
"Not at all, my lady. This is what I do for a living. I never miss my mark."
"Good. Take this and disappear. Never show your face unless I summon you."
"Heard, my lady."
The man withdrew without a sound as swiftly as he had appeared. The woman didn't wait any longer either and stepped into the carriage.
"Let's leave for Orseth right away. I've breathed enough of this small town's filthy air."
—
Audreya remembered that day as if it was just yesterday. Six months might have passed for the world but not for her. To her, time was still frozen in Stras, on that stage where Vivia took her last breath.
Her foggy gaze cleared gradually, then replaced by utter repulsion towards Clairette standing before her.
"I came to Orseth to search for that noblewoman. I spent days looking for her but then…I saw you one day. I witnessed your carriage's procession going through the street, and I saw Princess Clairette inside. The same woman who had been visiting Stras and hiding herself in a brown hood was seated in the royal carriage as the Human Realm's princess!"