Chapter 7
547words
A maid from the castle, dressed in black and white, moving with unnatural stiffness, heels never quite touching the ground.
She stared at me fixedly, her mouth stretching into an inhuman grin.
When they reached a dead-end alley, the maid struck.
*HISS!*
She dropped to all fours like a gecko, lunging at me with nails suddenly extending three inches, aimed straight for my throat.
Anna cowered at the alley entrance, shouting gleefully: "Kill her! Kill the bitch! The Countess will reward you handsomely!"
I stood perfectly still.
Just as those claws nearly grazed my carotid, my left hand whipped back. A silver-plated dagger flashed like lightning, carving a gleaming arc through the air.
*SQUELCH*
The maid froze mid-lunge.
Her head continued forward while her body remained behind.
Black blood splattered against the wall, sizzling as it corroded the stone.
The severed head rolled to Anna's feet, ashen eyes still fixed on her.
"AAAAH!" Anna collapsed in terror, urine soaking through her skirts.
I flicked black blood from my blade and approached her deliberately, boots crunching over dismembered limbs already crumbling to ash.
"See clearly now, sister?" I looked down at her trembling form. "This is the 'nobility' you've been dreaming of. And killing them is easier than wringing a chicken's neck."
Anna scrambled backward on all fours, finally understanding what kind of monster I truly was—the kind she'd always despised.
Back at the castle, the Countess sent her personal maid, Carmilla, to comfort the terrified Anna.
Carmilla wore an impeccable tailcoat, her blonde hair and blue eyes framing features as noble as any true princess.
She offered Anna a handkerchief, her eyes devoid of warmth.
"Clean yourself, Miss Anna." Carmilla's voice was ice. "Your current state is most undignified."
Anna slapped the handkerchief away.
She was consumed with jealousy.
Jealous that this mere servant outshone her in beauty and natural nobility.
"What are you but a servant?" Anna jabbed her finger at Carmilla's face. "When I become the Count's daughter-in-law and mistress of this castle, I'll slash that fox-like face of yours first thing!"
Carmilla didn't anger. She merely tilted her head, regarding Anna like a pig wallowing in filth.
"Pigs always squeal loudest before slaughter," Carmilla murmured.
Anna didn't catch it, continuing to boast about the Countess's grand promises.
Anna clearly hadn't taken my warning seriously.
That day, she came to gloat again. While caking powder over her rotting face, she still dreamed of being the ball's queen.
"Tomorrow night is the feast." Anna applied blood-red lipstick. "Every noble in the region will attend. I'll be the lead dancer, wearing that diamond-studded red gown."
She twirled showily, though her face remained lumpy beneath layers of foundation.
"By then, you'll probably be catching rats in the sewers, sister?"
I continued polishing the heavy Gatling gun barrel in my hands.
"Something like that." I oiled the mechanism, the ammunition belt making a dull metallic sound against the table. "I'll be exterminating pests. But you're right—tomorrow night will indeed be very red."
I looked up with a friendly smile. "The kind of red that turns black."
Anna eyed the massive weapon in my hands and swallowed hard, instinctively afraid. But vanity made her turn away with a sniff: "Crude barbarian."
