Rosie's Games

Chapter 205: Blood as Payment

"Why is the fire not stopping!?" The Countess looked hysterical as she continued yelling at the few servants that were trying to fight the fire with water.

"Madam, that place is—"

"I know what that place is! Where are the others!? Call them and tell them to help!"

"Madam, the Crown Prince, and his people have captured the others so—" josei

"You—"

"Calm down Marchiana, isn't it just a supply room?

"Your Highness, you do not understand. All of the supplies and meat that we own are in that room! Go and call the others!" Once again, the Countess yelled. "Ah… let me go and talk to the Prince!"

"Countess!" Luckily, they did not have to call the Prince as he was already there. "I ran as soon as I saw."

"We lack people, Your Highness, we need as many servants as we can or the fire— the fire will—"

"Alright, go and tell the others to bring the servants here… we need them," the Crown Prince said. "Do you know what started the fire?"

"We do not know yet. It was… it was too fast. This is where we store our wood for the stove, the ones that we use for cooking and heating the mansion. Everything inside the supply room is combustible and…"

"Let us go inside. We cannot—"

"No. We must stay here—" the Countess rejected.

"Bring her inside," the Crown Prince chimed in. By now, he was almost certain that this was the work of the Duke's people. That could only mean one thing, they still had access to the house. "Keep the mansion dark," he said.

"Your Highness?"

"They are using the light around the mansion to their advantage. Turn it off."

"But that would mean, our people can not see as well."

"The sun will shine in a few hours. All we need to do is to make sure that we stay near the vicinity of the house."

"What about the others? I meant the servants?" the head knight asked.

"We will kill them once the sun rises." With that, the Crown Prince and the Duke of Lonyth followed the Crown Princess and the Countess inside the mansion.

"I thought you wanted to draw them out?" the Duke asked.

"Where is he?" the Crown Prince asked.

"If you are talking about my people then… he should be nearby."

"I need his help."

"He needed sacrifices," the Duke said. "Sorcerers are people of the Dark Lord, they cannot just use their ability without a certain payment."

"I am paying him gold."

"He wants to drink blood, fresh blood. Those people do not lack gold," the Duke said. Sorcerers were well known for their abilities, however, these abilities did not come for free. There are many consequences when someone worships the Dark Lord.

Because of this, their services did not come cheap. While some would ask for gold and other things, some sorcerers would prefer unconventional things. For instance, some of them would ask for a virgin woman, some would ask for blood, and others would ask for corpses and even eat it raw!

They have different demands, but Duke Moller would always give them what they wanted. After all, those people were helping him protect his people from the beasts.

"Since he wants blood, then… we cannot give him anything else. He would take that as an insult," the Duke said. "Why not kill a few servants?"

"The fire started because of that."

"What?"

"I believe that they started the fire because they wanted to save the servants."

"So, why are you still keeping them alive?"

The Crown Prince snorted. "I am planning to kill them when the sun is up. I wanted to show everyone how I will slaughter the servants as if they were sheep, as if they were animals that I want to eat for dinner."

Again, there was a different glint in the Duke's eyes, and… Rosalind, who was standing nearby, did not miss it.

"Since that is what the Crown Prince wants then… we would have to wait for the blood."

The Crown Prince snorted but said nothing.

Meanwhile, Rosalind and Denys continued to follow them until they went inside the Count's study. Then they decided to go back to where the others were staying.

"What— What is this?" Fraunces asked when Rosalind started removing some food from her spatial bag. There was beef jerky and food that had been preserved. These were things that she was able to save before they started the fire.

Rosalind said nothing, instead, she continued taking out the food that she had 'borrowed' from the supply room.

"They are going to kill the rest of the servants," Rosalind informed everyone.

"That is— What are we going to do now? Any news from the Duke?" Fraunces asked.

"No, there is none." It was Denys who answered.

"We must save them," Fraunces said. "Is there a way to end this? Can't we just escape this place? Maybe all of us can leave together and—"

"We cannot do that."

"Unless… the Count wakes up," Fraunces said.

"Even if the Count woke up now, there is no guarantee that they will not kill him if he shows himself," Rosalind said. If the Count showed up, it would be very easy for them to kill the old man and claim that he was possessed by something evil or that he was not the real Count.

They could easily weave some stories and make everyone else believe them.

To them, creating another story about the Count was as easy as pie.

All she could do was try to prevent that from happening.

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Fraunces asked. "Stay in this room until the Duke arrives? Those people… I am certain that they will not stop killing people unless... unless we reveal ourselves. They must be doing this because they know that we will stop them."

"That's it," Rosalind said. "We will not stop them."

"What are you saying? Are you telling us to allow them to kill innocents?" Fraunces asked.

"No. We will not stop them. We cannot," Rosalind said. "What we can do is delay them."

"But how?"

"I--" Rosalind's lips thinned. She was not intending to save anyone, all she wanted to do was punish that Countess. "I will kill Baron Teri."

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