A woman in her thirties wore a revealing dress. She bent over the table, leaning toward the bulky man. She smiled as she drank her beer and spoke loudly so everyone could hear. "Well, they can enjoy all day and not worry a thing. When will they even have time to look after their children? They are probably busy making new babies; there are more bastard children of nobles than they have fingers on their hands." She giggled. Everyone at the table burst out laughing. The laughter was so loud that all whispering stopped, and everyone was focused on them.
Sera, upon hearing the words, immediately blasted her magic out, freezing everything.
Shane immediately stepped in front of the children and drew his sword, darkred, to slash away at the ice that was approaching them.
The room was filled with absolute silence; no one dared to breathe. Others who had only mildly badmouthed them gulped, and those three who were openly badmouthing them were frozen; only their heads remained, their whole bodies were frozen. Their faces were filled with fear, their eyes shaking as they gazed at Sera, whose face had lost all emotion; there was nothing on her face but anger and hatred toward them, so deep that they felt shudders run through their spine. They immediately screamed, "Help! Someone help us!!"
The only thing that happened was that the whole hall grew icier and colder, the atmosphere dropping so cold that everyone started shaking, except Shane and the children. Shane was using his mana to protect himself and the children from the cold.
Sera took slow, measured steps towards them, her eyes filled with anger at how dare they tarnish them and, most especially, talk badly about their children. She had controlled herself till now, but she couldn't anymore; she couldn't tolerate not one word more from their mouths.
As she neared them, the bulky man, who was around level 80, expert rank, tried desperately to free himself from ice, but no matter how much he forced, the ice did not break at all. The same was happening with the woman and the glass man; they were desperately trying to break the ice, but nothing worked.
A spear of ice materialized in her hand. It loomed over, and its tip touched the ice floor, making a scretch sound as she reached near them. They gulped visibly and immediately started pleading, "Forgive us, we did not know who you were. Please forgive us, we will never appear in front of you again." They still did not know who this monstrous woman was. They had seen nobles here and there, but the woman standing before them was a menace compared to them; her eyes were filled with so much anger that they could have been burned by the anger alone.
"You are hereby sentenced to death for tarnishing Drakethorne's house," Sera said, her voice commanding as all the people were shaken to their core. A deep shudder ran down their spine as they connected Drakethorne's name. Some remembered it quickly, while others struggled, and upon remembering, they were on the verge of losing their consciousness. Drakethorne House, one of the four grand ducal houses, was arguably the most powerful of the four in recent years; all the present people cursed themselves at their misfortune.
"Children, close your eyes," Sera said as she turned back to look at her children, her voice soft, her anger nowhere to be seen, her eyes soft and filled with love, but there was guilt for showing this side of her to them.
Alex immediately closed his eyes and put his hand on Ariana's eyes. Shane did not intervene at all. He would not stop Sera; they had already controlled themselves enough. They can't leave people without punishment, else they would come back and only try to take more. A person who is given a finger will try to take a hand. Some people are not meant for mercy.
Sera lifted her ice spear diagonally, its tip sharp, and she slashed it down.
Suddenly, the door to the inn opened. A man with a fat belly dashed inside and shouted, "Stop, forgive them, your grace." Lucy followed behind, her face pleading for forgiveness. She had tried to stop him, but since he was a noble, she couldn't do much; he used his authority, and she couldn't even use her weapons on another noble since this area didn't fall under Drakethorne's control.
Sera looked back at the person who had arrived. She dismissed Lucy with a curt wave and turned to the man. Her spear was just a point away from chopping the head off, but her spear halted in its track and stopped at the bulky man's neck, drawing blood out.
The man had a huge, fat belly, black hair and eyes, fair skin, and clothing that screamed nobility. She turned her head toward him and said, "No."
Without turning back toward the bulky man, the spear went forth and slashed away the head of the bulky man. His eyes stared wide, still in shock at the events that had escalated so fast. The woman cried. The glass man pleaded. Their eyes both stared wide with shock as they saw their friend's head flying down.
She slowly cleaned the blood from the tip of her spear, then looked at the remaining two opponents. With a single horizontal slash, she ended their lives.
The nobleman was unable to do anything; he was not powerful enough to stop her. He sighed, "Your grace, you could have forgiven them. People can make mistakes."
Sera immediately called back her magic, and the spear dematerialized; no blood had touched her. All the ice inside the inn began to melt, turning to water. The people whose feet were frozen sighed and thanked God for their lives. She was the same as before, as if nothing had happened; this had taken no toll on her.
"You can now open your eyes," Sera said as she neared the nobleman.
Alex finally opened his eyes and released his hand from his sister's eyes, and he almost threw up again. He put his hand on his mouth and looked sideways immediately. He felt nauseated seeing the decapitated bodies. Only after some time did he calm himself and manage to look back at those dead bodies.
He gazed upon his mother, who was standing like a pillar of power. He had listened to everything; he was shocked by his mother's cruelty, but when he met her eyes, he only saw love and worry for them.
He sighed internally, "The world is not so cherry and chocolatey. There will be bad people, and I must stone my heart if I want to punish them like my mother." In his heart, he only had admiration for her boldness to stand and do what needed to be done. He was taught from childhood about the affairs of the world, yet, since he grew up in a loving environment, it was hard for him to digest and understand why people would hate others. But now it was slowly coming to him that people are different and have different shades of personality.
On the other hand, Ariana also barely controlled herself; she looked down, her hands over her mouth, shocked by the state of things, squeezed her eyes shut, and tried to erase what she had just seen. But her mind kept going on her mother's fierce face and dead bodies.
Everyone was still seated on their chairs, not daring to move. Each person watched Sera cautiously, afraid to draw attention or risk themselves. Sera had already called back her magic, yet everyone was so shaken that they did not dare leave the inn. They were barely breathing, their breaths shallow and small, fearful that their breaths would anger her.
She looked at the noble and contemplated where she had seen him. And, when she did not find him in her memory, she asked, "Who are you?"
- - -
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