Night in Vayne had never felt this silent.
Usually, the chirping of crickets or the rustle of mountain winds would accompany the citizens’ sleep, but tonight, the silence felt heavy and ominous.
The aroma of honey and bread that had drugged the city that morning had evaporated, replaced by a cold chill that carried the scent of cold sweat and suppressed despair behind tightly closed doors.
The people of Vayne were not sleeping.
They remained awake in the dark, huddled on their floors with bodies trembling violently.
Their hearts were being forced to pump by the remnants of the substances flowing through their veins.
On the balcony of the high West Tower, Azura Vayne stood silently, staring at the twinkling lights of the Cathedral in the distance—a symbol of “hope” that was, in reality, a beacon of destruction.
[System: Boss, do you see that?
Your people’s vitality index is in a freefall.
They’re all experiencing a mass ‘bad trip.’ If this were a horror movie, they’d be crawling out of their houses any second now, looking for someone to bite.
Malachi is truly a low-life dealer who didn’t even bother to check the dosage.]
”He doesn’t need a dosage; he needs obedience,” Azura replied coldly.
“And the most absolute obedience is born from the fear of losing happiness.”
Azura turned and stepped into Aurelia’s dim laboratory, lit only by the blue glow of magic fire beneath distillation flasks.
The sharp scent of chemicals immediately stung her nose, overpowering any floral fragrance.
Aurelia stood before a large table, her glasses slipping slightly, her usually cynical eyes now filled with pure intellectual fury.
Before her, a test subject—a rat—was trapped in a small iron cage.
The rat appeared hyper-aggressive, repeatedly slamming its head against the iron bars until it bled, before finally collapsing in violent convulsions.
”This isn’t a blessing.
It’s a death sentence wrapped in sweetness,” Aurelia’s voice sounded hoarse.
”Explain the results,” Azura commanded curtly.
Aurelia held up a small vial containing a thick black liquid extracted from that afternoon’s holy bread.
“This substance is pure Lethal Joy flower extract.
In the past, it was given to knights about to die on the battlefield so they wouldn’t feel pain and could die smiling.
This substance burns through all neural energy and dopamine reserves in the brain within hours.
The result?
Extraordinary euphoria, followed by…
total emptiness.”
Aurelia pointed toward the dead rat.
“After eight hours, the effect wears off.
Their brains will crave more.
If denied, their nerves will feel as if they are being sliced ninety-nine times.
They will become aggressive, suffer extreme dehydration, and eventually…
heart failure.”
Azura stepped closer, staring at the black liquid with her emotionless sea-blue eyes.
As a former mafia boss, she knew this “business” all too well.
“How long until the stage of mass aggression begins?”
”Dawn,” Aurelia answered firmly.
“At sunrise, thousands of Vayne’s citizens will storm the Cathedral to demand their next ‘dose.’ And when Malachi tells them the bread is gone…
this city will burn.”
”And the antidote?”
Aurelia sighed, then picked up a bottle containing a moss-green liquid that smelled incredibly bitter—the scent alone was enough to turn one’s stomach.
“I’ve brewed this from Frost-Root and bitter Northern herbs.
It’s the only way to neutralize the toxins in their nerves.”
Aurelia paused, looking at Azura hesitantly.
“But there’s a side effect.
This antidote forcibly flushes the toxins through the digestive system.
Once they drink it, they will vomit a thick black liquid—the rotting remnants of the Lethal Joy in their bodies.
as if they are vomiting out their very souls.”
Azura merely tilted her lips into a smirk.
“Horrific is good, Aurelia.
The people need to see the ‘filth’ they swallowed from the Church’s hands physically exiting their own mouths.
It will be a visual trauma they will never forget as long as they live.”
Shink!
The sound of metal scraping against the tower window broke the silence.
Azura didn’t move, but her eyes flicked toward the door.
In the corridor outside the West Tower, a shadow dressed in black with a dagger in his mouth attempted to infiltrate through the lower balcony.
He was one of the Silent Archer agents sent by the Church, tasked with destroying Vayne’s research lab.
However, before his feet could touch the floor tiles, a flash of silver cut through the air.
Clang!
Caspian Vayne emerged from the shadows of a pillar, his longsword parrying the infiltrator’s dagger with lethal precision.
The teenager’s face no longer showed doubt.
His eyes were cold—as cold as the Northern ice that was his family’s namesake.
”The Marchioness said…
no uninvited guests tonight,” Caspian said in a low voice.
The assassin tried a spinning strike, but Caspian was faster.
With a single shoulder thrust, he slammed the hilt of his sword into the opponent’s solar plexus, then pivoted his blade to pierce the assassin’s shoulder, pinning him to the wooden wall of the corridor.
”Who sent you?” Caspian demanded.
The assassin tried to bite a poison capsule in his teeth, but Caspian roughly grabbed his jaw and dislocated it with one hand.
It was a technique he had learned by observing how Azura handled her opponents.
”Arthur!
Take this trash downstairs!” Caspian shouted.
Arthur emerged from the darkness, nodding respectfully to Caspian before dragging away the struggling assassin.
Caspian cleaned the blood from his sword with a cloth, then glanced toward the slightly ajar laboratory door.
Azura stood at the threshold, arms crossed.
“Not bad, Caspian.
You’re beginning to understand that protecting the brain is far more important than just severing necks.”
Caspian bowed his head deeply—a gesture of sincere loyalty.
“I will not let anyone touch this place.
Aurelia is saving this city in her own way…
I will guard her.”
Azura gave a small nod, an acknowledgment that was enough for Caspian, before she stepped back inside.
”What a beautiful family drama,” a very familiar voice drifted from the open upper balcony window.
Azura didn’t even need to turn to know who it was.
Duke Alaric Varentis sat casually on the windowsill, one leg dangling over the tower’s edge, dozens of meters above the ground.
He was no longer wearing his ragged cloak, but a form-fitting black knight’s outfit, indicating he was also in combat mode.
”You have a very bad habit of entering through windows, Duke,” Azura said without looking back.
”Well, your door is guarded by a fierce young tiger, so the window was the most logical choice,” Alaric leaped down as light as a feather.
He walked toward the lab table, staring at Aurelia’s green antidote bottle.
“Smells like boiled death.
Are you sure you want to give this to your people?”
”This isn’t death.
It is a bitter reality,” Azura countered.
Alaric’s face turned serious, though his smile remained.
“The Central Church just sent two additional Paladin units from the neighboring parish.
They’ve realized the bread’s effect is wearing off.
The plan is for Eliana to reappear this morning, distributing ‘Holy Water’ that is actually just plain water laced with high-dose sedatives to temporarily dampen the people’s aggression.”
Alaric looked at Azura intently.
“Malachi wants to stall for time until a new shipment of bread arrives from headquarters the day after tomorrow.
He wants the people of Vayne to remain in a semi-conscious stupor so he can maintain control.
If you don’t move this morning, they will become permanent slaves whose brains can no longer be saved.”
Azura walked toward a large cauldron in the corner already filled with boiling water.
She began pouring the bottles of Aurelia’s concentrated antidote into it.
The bitter scent exploded in the air.
”I won’t wait until the day after tomorrow,” Azura stated.
“The people are like water, Duke.
Weren’t those your words this afternoon?”
Alaric raised an eyebrow, intrigued.
”Malachi is trying to freeze that water into ice so he can stand upon it,” Azura continued, stirring the green liquid with an iron rod.
“But tomorrow morning, I will melt that ice by force.
And when that ice turns back into a raging flood…
I’ll make sure Malachi is the first one to drown in it.”
Alaric let out a soft laugh, one filled with dangerous admiration.
“You truly are a monster, Lady Marchioness.
A very beautiful monster when you’re planning a character assassination.”
Alaric walked toward the window, then paused.
“One more warning.
Eliana…
she isn’t just a pretty girl.
She has an aura of ‘voice manipulation.’ Whatever she says will sound like the truth to those whose souls are weak.
Make sure you don’t let her speak too much tomorrow morning.”
Without waiting for an answer, Alaric leaped into the darkness of the night, vanishing as if he had never been there.
Dawn began to break on the eastern horizon, painting the clouds over the city of Vayne a blood-red hue.
Azura stood in the castle’s backyard, where Arthur and ten of her most loyal soldiers had prepared five giant cauldrons filled with the antidote.
The bitter scent now filled the castle air, a stark contrast to the fragrance of the bread yesterday.
Azura changed her purple gown for practical knight’s attire, with the deep blue Vayne family cloak billowing in the sharp morning wind.
A silver dagger was tucked into her waist, and in her hand, she held an official sealed document containing Aurelia’s biochemical autopsy results.
”Arthur,” Azura called.
”Ready, My Lady!”
”Open the castle gates when the sun is directly overhead.
Let the people see these cauldrons.
And when they begin screaming for bread at the Cathedral…
we will give them what they truly need.”
Azura stared at the masses beginning to move in the distance, heading toward the Cathedral with the staggering steps of the living dead.
”Today,” Azura whispered to herself, “we shall see if their prayers can defeat mafia science.”
[System: Ding!
Preparations complete.
Boss, I’ve prepped a metal soundtrack for this morning.
Let’s make that Church regret ever trying to sell illegal goods in our territory!]
Azura stepped forward, leading her troops to the front line.
The night of decision had ended, and the dawn of judgment had just begun.