Chapter LII: The Twin

Gales of laughter covered the hall as the King, as usual, threw a luxurious ball, sitting on his gleaming golden chair. At the same time, countless women in thin fabric danced and caressed his body, though it looked like some were forced to do so.

"Your Highness, pardon my intrusion."

Suddenly, a man in formal attire with a monocle in his right eye came to him before he whispered something in his ears.

"News is now circling in town that Princess Agnettes has finally been caught and burned at the stake."

Hearing it, the smile on King Vasillis's face grew.

He then signaled the man to get a glass of wine before hitting it slightly with a table knife, gathering everyone's attention.

"Tonight we are all here to celebrate the death of the immoral. Everyone, let's raise our cup for another victory!"

As he announces it, every noble yells in joy and continues to have a feast with foodstuff in their mouth, neglecting the fact that countless kids were starved and died because of the king's evil crime, putting all the blame on Agnette, where the king himself had set it up to stay in the light.

"Ha-"

The servant looked as he heard him sigh.

"There must be something bothering you, your highness."

He assumed, leaning over as he whispered in his ears.

"Give me an order and allow me to execute the plan."

Upon stating it, the king looked at him with a grin on his lips yet could be seen anxious with trembling hands.

"I might not have known Khalid, but he is not that stupid. Agnette has known everything up in my sleeve; there is nothing she did not know. She is not stupid as it seems; im pretty sure she will use what she knows to bring me down."

The servant calmly smiled.

"Your guess was right, Your Highness; as I heard, Khalid himself was the one who presented Agnette to the town."

The king clenched his hand.

"If you're uncertain of her death, I think it's better to send someone who will investigate the scene."

As he spoke it, his eyes turned to the two women who were like peas in a pod, with striking resemblances to each other; no one could have told who's who if one of them had shared the same style.

"Very well, Malchom. Ha-Bwahahahaha!"

His laughter echoed in the entire hall, making everyone startled and shiver before they cackled out loud while the two women in monochrome dresses remained steady and emotionless like a drowning stone in the pond.

"You have my expectations; don't disappoint me."

They glance at each other before lowering their heads to bow down.

"Yes, father."

The twin state in a synchronized mellifluous tone of voice before they strut out of the palace, capturing everyone's attention with their beauty.

"The town is more crowded than I expected."

One of the women had state, with hair as pure and white as snow that curled down her hips.

"Don't you find it odd?"

The other asks, giving off a dark gothic vibe that suits her entire style.

"The way they said that it was Khalid himself who presented Agnette, isn't it already odd from the start?"

She paused.

"Moreover, I know you've sensed something, isn't I right, Hela?"

She smirked as she stared not so far from the scene where they watched Agnette, whose hands and feet were both tied up, screaming from pain as she was being burned at the stake. 

Upon watching it, a thought came to their mind that there is nothing painful about being slowly devoured by the scorching fire, where the flesh of your skin gradually melts like stepping in the gate of hell where demons scratch your flesh and slowly separate your skin from your body, but still their faces had stay stiff because no matter how painfully they watched the scene, there is nothing dreadful about being held in the invisible chain and collar they couldn't see, preventing them from escaping in the palm of the King that is worse than hell.

Hela smiled.

"She's alive."

"They might fool anyone, but not me."

Laici frowned.

"Eh...what do you see?"

"A projection of mana, someone talented most have been behind this."

She chuckled.

"Ha-Laici if you can just see what I'm seeing right now. The people have been watching an illusion for an entire time-

"PFT- "

She paused when her twin let out a minute of laughter before she formed a grin with a pair of intense looks in her eyes.

"Then what if I said that you didn't see this coming?"

She spoke holding a dagger in her hand, which she had caught in a distance, as if she had already foreseen what was to come as her eyes gleamed in the dark.

"You already knew what we were up to, didn't you?"

The twin, whose expression was stiff as stone, seemed to have been shattered for how their smile had given Erwin a shiver down his spine.

"Five minutes earlier before you strike?"

Laici giggles with a nefarious smile and gleaming sirene-light blue eyes.