Shame

Rose was riding a horse along a hidden path on top of a hill. The trees seemingly bent down to cover her in shade. Through the green, she could see the training ground in the distance. The Evermore river neatly split into two, leaving a large piece of land in between.

Everything was ordinary, but suddenly she noticed two small objects flowing downstream. She squinted her eyes to see clearly. Where the river split, the two rafts took different routes and were wrapping through either side of the ground.

That place was still far away. The urgency of the situation dawned on her. She would let down Queen Afeefa if any harm were to incur on Isabelle or Arnacia or any other innocent maid. Right now, it looked like the mysterious threat had already taken action.

She snapped the reins, and the horse galloped faster. But the speed had fallen far below its peak. With her tired horse, she couldn't hope to reach the training ground in time. The time was of the essence now. She racked her brains for any idea, anything.

She leaned at the side and untied her sword from the saddle. The horse was not in its peak condition, so what?! She carefully tied the sword onto her back and jumped ahead.

"I am still at my peak." Rose sprinted forward in a burning spirit. The horse was left in the dust. It was crazy! Not just because she left the tired horse behind. But because after drawing a little distance, she left the path and jumped through the trees.

If she kept up the pace, then she would reach the training ground in 6 or 7 minutes. But she didn't consider the most important thing. With such speed, her stamina would deplete in less than 2 minutes.

"Ahhhhh," a scream made the birds flap their wings in panic and abandon their trees. It seemed like Silver Knight Rose was running in the air as her body rapidly descended down the hill.

***

In the tournament grounds, Arnacia noticed the commotion noticeably got calmer. In fact, it wasn't just her who felt so. Rosalia was sitting in the front row and her burrows frowned. She immediately got up and turned around. Her fellow mentor maids were too lazy to critique her strange behavior.

Rosalia noticed a few maids were sitting with their eyes closed, whereas others were talking slowly in a drowsy manner. She took a sharp breath in horror. And in a smooth motion, she fell backwards. For a moment, she saw the blue sky before everything vanished into darkness.

The maids on the stage and the ones looking at them from the backstage all gasped. Few of them ran towards the audience but fell one by one. Naomi clung to Arnacia's arm as she felt something was off.

Whereas Arnacia was already holding her breath. She had an idea of what might be happening. No! The more she thought about it, the more certain she was. Gently, she laid down a sleepy Naomi and assured her with a smile. Carefully, she unwrapped Naomi's hold from her arms.

In the Women's Court of Justice, Alucard personally came with ill intention. Luckily, Queen Afeefa dealt with him. And Arnacia had long known that it wouldn't be the last time someone would try to harm her. She looked towards Isabelle, who also fell. But even in sleep, the maiden was supported by Emma and Clementine and Iris.

Arnacia smiled for a brief moment before she frantically looked around. Fainting now would mean letting someone else control her fate. She didn't plan to go down without a fight!

Next to the audience rows was a small raised round table with a barrel accompanied by a wooden cup. Arnacia closed in and poured out water from it. Next, she searched for a handkerchief on her. Which, of course, she didn't have. So she pushed the barrel down and picked up the tablecloth.

Burst! The wooden barrel hit the ground and broke, spilling some water on her frock. But that was the last of her concerns. She dipped the tablecloth into the cup and then placed the wet cloth on her nose. However, she didn't breathe just yet.

She held the longest breath of her life and rushed toward Isabelle. All the maids had fully fainted by now. It was only Arnacia who actively moved. She saw Isabelle's face and sighed. Coincidently, her limit was reached when she reached Isabelle. So she took a deep breath through the wet cloth.

In this moment of peril, Arnacia did all she could. She wasn't sure if the wet cloth trick would work and was mentally prepared in case it didn't. To her pleasant surprise, it worked!

She was about to pick Isabelle when a sound of rhythmic footsteps entered her ears.

A chill went down her spine because she knew who it was! She had expected this person, but hearing the footsteps made her shudder. Only moments ago this place was bustling, but now silence mixed with the eerie rhythm.

Arnacia clenched her fist and took another breath through the wet cloth. There was nothing she could do. Everything happened too fast. For her final move, she moved away from Isabelle and stepped down from the stage. A cloaked person was slowly walking towards her.

Aciano Alucard was wearing a long robe that completely hid his body and arms. Even his head was covered with a hood and a piece of cloth was covering his nose. You could imagine that his eyes were staring at you through the shade of his attire.

The surrounding air visibly looked tense. Arnacia thought she heard a snort and just at the next moment, Aciano had closed the gap. She couldn't even react as a hand slapped away the cloth from her face. Her body didn't have time to give a response to the current damage before she was punched in the stomach.

Aciano used his other hand to thrust the sword hilt into the maid's stomach. His moments were fluid and his actions ruthless. But he did hold back, otherwise the 'Partner' would already be dead.

Arnacia fell on her knees and her head touched the ground. She pressed on her stomach with both hands. Her mouth was wide open and blood slowly seeped out of it. At one moment she was completely fine, but in seconds she felt an unimaginable pain and choked like never before.

She lost the sense of time and everything around her went blank. Just as she regained a little clarity, her head was pulled up. For a moment, she saw Isabelle lying beside Aciano's feet. First the face, then her stomach, and now her hair. She would not forget this pain, not even in her next life.

"The lost artifact," Arnacia barely managed to say. Her eyes were teary and barely open. Whereas her face was brushed and blood dripped down her chin.

Aciano paused for a second. Too bad for the maid, Queen Madeline had promised him a much bigger reward. He lifted the sword and tapped it once on Arnacia's left shoulder, then on the right shoulder.

"Shame," he said.