Bad Born Blood-Chapter 135

Chapter 135

Barbara and I saw Noel’s memories.

Barbara must have realized that I was in a situation similar to Noel’s. She was more than capable of figuring that out.

I had to make a decision. Barbara was an extremely dangerous existence. If I thought about it rationally, I had to kill her right here, even if it meant breaking my promise.

Creak.

My fingers groaned under the output I drew forth. If necessary, I could crush Barbara’s neck and burst her head. A single moment would be enough.

Would killing Barbara here be to our advantage? Or would it bring about an even greater disaster?

It was difficult to even speculate what kind of preparations Barbara had made in case of her own death.

Since I didn’t know the full extent of her capabilities, I couldn’t kill her recklessly. And Barbara knew that, which was why she had boldly chosen to face me in reality.

"Hmm, you’re in quite a complicated situation too."

Barbara spoke. She steadied herself and got up from the examination chair.

"Barbara, I don’t see you as someone loyal to the Empire. You must have some personal agenda. Either that, or you’ve made a deal with the upper ranks of the Empire."

I spoke bluntly. If I wanted to understand Barbara, I needed to know her objective. If I knew her objective, I could deduce her behavioral principles.

"Do you think I’d confess my weaknesses? You know just as well as I do—if you want to survive in the Empire, you have to hide your true intentions and goals. Especially in times like these. I’m going to curl up and not even breathe until the storm passes."

Barbara was insane, but she was also wise. She was a woman who could control her madness with reason. Right now, she was simply observing the situation.

That meant Barbara’s objective was purely self-preservation and survival.

The chaos engulfing the Empire was, in some ways, an opportunity for advancement. The fact that she was merely observing suggested that she wasn’t greedy for wealth or power.

I never expected Barbara to answer my question. My real goal was to steer the conversation and deduce her intent through elimination.

If self-preservation was Barbara’s goal, that was fortunate for me. It meant she wouldn’t report today’s information to the Empire. She would likely save it to use as a bargaining chip someday.

For now, Noel’s memories wouldn’t leak outside.

My thoughts were long, but only a moment had passed in reality.

Barbara straightened her collar and looked at Giselle. Giselle took a step back, raising her pistol and aiming it at Barbara.

"Luka may have spared you, but that doesn’t mean I won’t kill you. Open the door and get out quietly."

Giselle’s words were as cold as ice. There wasn’t a hint of tremor or hesitation in her voice. For someone who hadn’t undergone combat training, she handled herself remarkably well. If Barbara weren’t here, I would have complimented her.

"Whistle~ Don’t be so heartless. You understand my situation now, don’t you? I had no choice back at the Academy. Try to understand—I had my reasons, Giselle."

Barbara forced a wry smile deep enough to crease her brows. But it felt strangely unnatural, almost disturbingly so. It could have been because the body wasn’t originally hers, or perhaps she had an innate difficulty expressing emotions.

"No, you really are a psycho."

Giselle pulled the trigger. Even I was slightly startled by her decisiveness.

Bang!

The bullet pierced through Barbara’s left shoulder. The impact made her stagger two steps back.

Sizzle.

A crimson coolant-like fluid seeped from Barbara’s wounded shoulder.

"You shot me? Ah, ah, I see, Giselle."

Barbara glanced between her wound and Giselle, wearing an expression that could have been either laughter or tears.

"Next shot’s to the head."

Giselle aligned the gun’s sights perfectly with Barbara’s forehead.

"You won’t pull the trigger. You don’t have the stomach for murder."

Barbara tried to step forward.

Swish!

I drew my Graken Vuth and aimed it at the back of her neck. The blade burrowed into her hair, gleaming stark white.

Barbara froze. From behind, I spoke calmly.

"But for me, killing is routine. If you want to test my patience, go ahead—take that step forward."

"Luka, Luka, Luka. You promised you wouldn’t kill me."

"And I’m keeping that promise. Out of courtesy, I haven’t broken your legs either. Now tell me—why should I keep restraining myself?"

Barbara carefully turned around and nudged my Graken Vuth with her fingertip.

"Well then, I guess I have no choice."

She walked toward the exit. As she creaked open the door, she tossed out her parting words.

"Luka, Giselle. It was nice meeting you both. I think I like you two quite a bit. If you ever need my help, don’t hesitate to reach out. It was a fair and pleasant deal, wasn’t it?"

"It was a good deal, Barbara. So let’s leave it at just good memories."

I replied indifferently.

Barbara formed her fingers into the shape of a gun and placed them under her chin, mimicking a suicide gesture.

"Bang! The first time is the hardest. The second time is easy. That’s how it is with everything—murder, taboos, you name it. That’s why I wanted to take Giselle’s first. You always remember the first person you kill for the rest of your life."

With that, Barbara slammed the door shut.

Thud.

Giselle’s legs gave out, and she collapsed onto the floor.

* * *

Giselle and I left the illegal clinic. The weather outside had worsened even more since we had entered.

Whoooosh!

The rain was pouring down. Accompanied by strong winds, it was impossible to stay dry no matter where we went.

Wheeeooo! Wheeeooo!

Siren alarms echoed through the air. A no-fly order had been issued for aerial vehicles. Now, there was truly no way to return to the Custoria estate.

I had wanted to send Giselle back home at the very least...

If we were lucky, the weather might clear up for flights within a day or two. If not, aerial vehicles wouldn’t be able to take off for more than two weeks.

There was no safe place.

Neither G&G Workshop nor the gang’s office was any less dangerous. There was nowhere I could leave Giselle.

Thud-thud-thud!

Heavy raindrops pounded against my hood. Giselle and I pulled up our masks, covering the lower half of our faces, and stepped into the alleyway.

"What now?"

Giselle asked as she carefully avoided a puddle of stagnant water.

"First, we need to get out of the rain. I need time to sort things out."

"Then let’s go in there."

She pointed to an old lodging house at the edge of the alley. The four-story building looked like it had been standing for at least a hundred years.

"Paying with a credit chip might give away our location."

"To whom?"

Giselle shot back, hitting the mark.

"...Anyone."

"Then pay with goods. This should be enough."

She removed her earrings and handed them to me. It was too valuable a piece of jewelry to use for lodging fees.

"There’s probably a better place than this."

"If we stay out in the rain any longer, we’ll catch a cold. We don’t have full-body prosthetics. And I’m even more vulnerable than you."

She was right. No matter what happened next, we needed to stay in top condition. Without another word, I led the way.

Click.

At the entrance of the lodging house, a small palm-sized window slid open. A security measure, no doubt. In a place crawling with vagrants and thieves, such precautions were necessary.

"Do you have money?"

The owner eyed us up and down. I held up Giselle’s earring.

Creak.

The door opened just wide enough for a single person to slip through. Homeless people standing in the rain watched hungrily, eyes glinting as they searched for an opportunity to slip inside.

Clank!

The innkeeper quickly shut the door and locked it tight. The interior of the building was reinforced with metal plates, resembling a civilian home preparing for war. The tightly sealed windows looked sturdy enough to withstand a hail of bullets.

"It’s for storm season. Staying outside in this weather is a death sentence. There are always bastards trying to crawl under any roof they can find."

The innkeeper tapped his heavy shotgun as he spoke. While leading us down the hallway, he paused in front of a bloodstain embedded in the floor.

"See this bloodstain? The last owner let a few homeless people in out of pity during the last storm—and they killed him for it. I left it there as a reminder. No mercy for trash."

The man bared his yellowed teeth in a grin. It was also a warning not to cause any trouble.

He led us up the stairs and stopped in front of a room. Handing over the key, he took Giselle’s earrings as payment.

"So, for the next few days—"

I was about to negotiate a long-term stay, but the innkeeper smirked and shook his head.

"Oh no, my friend. This covers just one night. It’s peak season, after all."

I resisted the urge to knock out his front teeth. I shouldn’t have handed over the earrings right away—I should’ve negotiated first.

But there was no need to create unnecessary friction. We weren’t exactly short on money.

I was still inexperienced. In areas I had no experience in, I was utterly lacking. Even Gabriel would have handled back-alley negotiations better than this. He wouldn’t have let himself get played so easily.

"What about security inside?"

"None. Everything here is strictly analog. Anything else would just get stolen."

The innkeeper answered as he opened the door. The room contained only a few shabby pieces of furniture and a noisy refrigerator. There wasn’t even a hologram projector—just a space barely fit to shield us from the storm.

Whirrr.

I instinctively scanned the room. Nothing seemed off.

"Enjoy your stay."

Without bothering to explain the facilities, the innkeeper disappeared.

Creak, thud.

The door shut behind him. Giselle reached for the ceiling light switch.

Click, click.

No light came on.

"He’s not going to fix it even if we call him, is he?"

Giselle asked awkwardly.

"Judging by his attitude, probably not. Or should I break his arms and legs and drag him here?"

I sighed. Giselle simply shrugged and ran her hands along the wall.

Click.

Fortunately, there was another light. Though, I wasn’t sure if "fortunate" was the right word for it.

A dim red glow spread along the edges of the ceiling. It was an auxiliary light meant for ambiance. Under its glow, Giselle’s face looked red as she glanced at me.

"Better than nothing, right?"

"Well, better than not seeing at all."

This wasn’t the time to be enjoying an awkward atmosphere. We were both utterly exhausted.

Thud.

I sank into the sofa and stared at the ceiling.

Could I make a different choice than Noel?

I had already played my last card. I had also seen the cards others had laid down. Now, all that was left was my judgment and decision. I had to find the best possible hand I could create.

"What a mess! And they actually charge money for this?"

Giselle yelled from the shower. Annoyed, she kicked the faucet.

"Break it, and they’ll charge extra."

"There’s nothing left to break! It’s just disgusting, rusty water! I can’t even wash! And what about drinking water?"

It seemed that being unable to shower had drained the last of Giselle’s patience. Nobles tended to be meticulous about cleanliness.

"You should’ve expected this from the building’s exterior. The plumbing is probably over a hundred years old. I told you we should’ve gone somewhere else."

"Yeah, yeah, you’re always right. You’re just so amazing."

Giselle folded her arms and sat across from me.

I closed my eyes, lost in thought. The fatigue from the simulation still clung to my brain. Noel’s lingering presence haunted my mind like a ghost.

I’m not you, Noel. So get lost.

Our paths were undoubtedly similar. But they weren’t identical.

Where do we differ?

That was likely the key to making a different decision.

Gurgle.

It wasn’t my stomach.

Giselle bit her lower lip and tried to act like nothing happened. Hah, maybe I was losing it, but that expression seemed cute enough to make me chuckle.

I stood up, pulling out a bar-shaped ration and a collapsible water bottle equipped with a filtration system. I filled the bottle with the rusty water and handed it to Giselle.

"You always carry this around? Hm, the water tastes fine."

Giselle held the bottle, sipping from the intake tube as the rusty water was sucked through the filter.

"Every soldier carries one. Basic preparedness. Here, eat this. Just this much will keep you going for a day." ƒreewebηoveℓ.com

I broke the ration in half and tossed it to her.

For soldiers with biological digestive systems, high-calorie meals and clean water were essential. There was a limit to how much hunger or contaminated water one could endure through sheer willpower.

“Ugh, this tastes awful. Did you eat this every day at the Academy?”

Giselle took a bite of the bar and grimaced. She must have remembered how I used to eat this alone on a bench every lunchtime.

“Well, you always left me behind and ate in the cafeteria by yourself, so I had no choice. I didn’t even know how to use the cafeteria.”

I teased her. Giselle wiped the crumbs from her lips, her face turning red.

“I— I was just... kind of mad at you back then. Yeah, that’s it. Ugh, fine, I’m sorry, okay?”

I stared at her. As expected, Agatha came to mind because of Noel’s lingering presence in my thoughts. Similar, yet different. Giselle wasn’t Agatha. I couldn’t afford to mix them up.

Agatha, after all, had projected Noel onto me. That was her mistake.

Agatha tried to protect me even though I wasn’t Noel. She let her feelings for Noel cloud her judgment.

As the founder of the Custoria bloodline, she had made a mistake. Because of it, she had put all her descendants at risk. But I was not Noel.

And that was precisely why I would not make the same mistake.

Noel Mullizcane never told Agatha anything. He claimed it was for her sake, but in reality, he simply kept everything to himself. It was a selfish act. And because of that, Agatha suffered for over two centuries.

“...Giselle.”

I spoke.

Maybe this was nothing more than a childish misjudgment on my part. After all, I was less experienced and far less skilled than Noel.

“What now? I already apologized. And... I guess this doesn’t taste that bad after a few bites.”

Giselle grumbled. I smiled faintly.

I didn’t know if my choice was the better one. But that didn’t matter—this wasn’t about calculation.

I no longer wanted to deceive Giselle. Benevolent lies weren’t my style.

“I am Akies Domini. I serve as the Emperor’s Overseer.”

The dice of fate had been cast.