A Viper in the Woods

The forest was consumed with silence the moment Stefanie made her declaration. Neither of the two budged as they stood frozen in place, waiting for the other to move.

With a smile still on her face, Sicilia remained in a relaxed position as she leaned over on her musket, like how one would lean over a balcony railing. To Stefanie, it seemed as if Sicilia didn't even see Stefanie as a threat. Of course, Stefanie did not take this kindly.

On the other hand Stefanie took a more serious battle position. She spread her footing evenly while her upper body slightly leaned forward. Her right hand still tightly griped the hilt of her sword while the left was grasping the scabbard. With this position, she will be able to charge forward and strike Sicilia at a moment's notice.

Although the distance between the two was only around ten meters, Stefanie knew that she couldn't afford to attack recklessly. Even though that musket was probably unloaded, there must be something else that Sicilia was hiding up her sleeve. Why else would she be so relaxed?

Nevertheless, the two women remained silent as they continued to eye their opponent.

Soon, one of the two finally made a move.

But it was not in the way that most people would expect.

"My head?.. you're going to take... my head?.."

Sicilia paused for a moment before she burst into a condescending laughter.

"Bahahahahahaha! I was wondering why you started laughing like that! It didn't seem like it but you actually thought of a funny joke!"

"Joke?! You... you think this is a joke?!"

Although Stefanie was able to keep her composure, she could not help unleashing her anger the moment she heard Sicilia's insolent response. How could someone like Sicilia possibly dare to speak to Stefanie that way? Especially since Sicilia and the rest of the Dunnwals were nothing more than nefarious usurpers.

They took advantage of Drussia's desolate state and used their immoral tactics to repel the Paniards and usurp control over all of Drussia, eventually replacing the original 'Drussian Union,' with their so-called 'Imperium of Drussia.'

Initially, Stefanie had no qualms with the sudden advent of the Imperium. The proud Kingdom of Porrand has repelled many invasions from their Shwedish and Roshan rivals. She thought that there should have been no reason for her to fear a newly established nation, even if it was an enigmatically powerful one.

Of course, Stefanie immediately regretted that sentiment a year later when the Imperium invaded Porrand. If Stefanie met her past self from a year ago who so careless neglected the Drussians, she would have punched her past self in the stomach.

The Drussians took everything away from her. First they took her father away when he died valiantly fighting to protect the nation. Then they robbed her of her chance to redeem herself when she returned with an almighty crusade.

No matter how much the situation appeared to be against the Drussian's favour, they always came up on top.

It was as if they had the power of the devil himself within their grasps.

However, there was one thing that Stefanie along with the monarchs of the other nations had that the Dunnwals don't. A special trait that the Dunnwals could never hope of even attaining.

The inherent right to rule.

That is something you are born with.

That is not something that you cannot steal.

And that is the one thing that sets Stefanie apart from these despicable people.

That is what sets Stefanie apart from Sicilia.

And Stefanie was going to prove it right this instant.

Stefanie felt her grip around the hilt of her sword tighten as she made her proclamation.

"I'll kill you! I swear in the name of God that I'll kill you! Even if it's the last thing I do!"

"Really now?"

Stefanie saw Sicilia twist her smile into a mocking smirk when she heard Stefanie's proclamation. With that smirk on her face, Sicilia made her snide remark.

"I'd like to see you try."

"How insolent! You're nothing but a usurper! What right do you have?! Why should you be the one victorious in this situation?! I am princess Stefanie Geinen Naftes! I was born to be the the future queen of Porrand! You stole my birthright away from me!"

As Stefanie screamed, she felt her heart rate rapidly increase. In fact, it felt as if her chest was about to burst. However, she no longer cared. Stefanie's mind has already become numb to the feeling of pain.

"You Dunnwals are nothing more than petty thieves! Lowly nobles who had to cheat their way into a place of power! But true power! The inherent right to rule! That is something you can only be born with! The deceptive tricks of lowly thieves can never compare to the power of my birthright!"

Sicilia's expression immediately froze when she heard what Stefanie had to say. Soon, the smile on Sicilia's face faded away as she spoke.

"Oh... you're one of those types..."

Sicilia sighed in an exasperated manner before she continued speaking.

"Now my appetite is ruined... well... let's just get this over with."

"How... How impudent... You will pay for your insolence!"

Stefanie couldn't take it any longer.

Sicilia had to die.

She had to die this instant.

Soon, Stefanie prepared to burst into a sprint. She knew that she could close the ten meter gap in less than five seconds and even then, she didn't need to reach Sicilia, Stefanie just needed to place Sicilia within sword swinging range which was just under a meter.

It didn't matter what sort of tricks Sicilia may pull, Stefanie was wearing a full set of plate armour which only left her head exposed. From Sicilia's position, she wouldn't be able to land a lethal blow on Stefanie while any other attack can simply be ignored thanks to Stefanie's armour.

There was no feasible way for Sicilia to be the victor in this situa-

Bang!

Stefanie was first deafened by what sounded like a gunshot before she felt a sudden sharp pain in her left shin. Without even knowing it, Stefanie already lost her balance as fell onto her left knee. Through the sharp pain, Stefanie heard the sound of footsteps which was followed by a mocking voice.

"Awwwwww down already? Where's all that bravado? What happened to the 'power of your birthright?'"

Stefanie tried her best to ignore the pain in her shin as she turned to face Sicilia, who appeared to be taking a leisurely stroll with both hands behind her back as she made her way closer to Stefanie. Stefanie couldn't even describe what sort of expression she held as she instinctively questioned Sicilia.

"W-what... what the hell did you just do to me?"

Sicilia chuckled in a cynical manner before she answered Stefanie's question.

"It's obvious isn't it? I shot you."

As Stefanie grimaced in pain, she noticed a rather peculiar discrepancy with Sicilia. The first was the fact that she no longer held her musket, not that it was the likely weapon she used since it was fired already beforehand and was thus unloaded.

The second was the sight of what appeared to be black smoke emanating out from Sicilia's back. Sicilia seemed to notice the look of realisation in Stefanie's eyes as she scoffed.

"Took you long enough to notice."

Stefanie didn't know what it was, but she was able to notice a mysterious glint in Sicilia's snake-like eyes as Sicilia spoke. At the same time, Sicilia's mouth curved back into a smile as she revealed her hands from her back, from the sleeve of Sicilia's right hand, Stefanie saw a trail of black smoke.

Within moments, Sicilia moved her right hand closer towards Stefanie as if to present the origin of the smoke. Once Stefanie had a clear view of Sicilia's right hand, the latter quickly flicked her wrists.

Stefanie then heard a short series of what sounded like metal scraping against one another before a small, almost comically miniature pistol revealed itself from Sicilia's right sleeve. Within Sicilia's sleeve, there appeared to be a metallic structure that held up the pistol. In functionality, it seemed to be very similar to a hidden crossbow.

Sicilia gently caressed the miniature pistol before she spoke.

"I had these tailor made just for me. Aren't they just the cutest things? It may sound like a guilty pleasure but I've really taken a liking to calling them 'Viper Fangs.'"

It was at this moment that Stefanie was able to decipher that mysterious look in Sicilia's eyes. While Stefanie got the feeling when she first saw it, she just denied it as a possibility, it was just too inhumane for any normal human being to display that kind of eyes when looking at another person.

That look in Sicilia's eyes was more than just her just looking down on her opponent. No. It was as if she didn't see them as human beings. While typical megalomaniacs saw their foes as pests or rodents, Sicilia's eyes told a whole other story.

Sicilia didn't see Stefanie as a real human being nor did she see Stefanie as an annoying rodent.

She saw Stefanie as her next plaything.

With that malevolent look in her eyes, Sicilia slowly voiced out her next words in a cold yet sincere tone.

"Oh and you don't have to worry about making me a promise that you'll keep such a delicate subject a secret either. Not after I'm done with you."

Stefanie wasn't even given a moment to react before Sicilia burst into a sudden monologue.

"You know. At first I wanted to at least give you a fighting spectacle for maybe a minute before you ruined everything. I wanted to witness what sort of hope you'd cling on to as you fought to your last breath."

The more Sicilia spoke, the colder her voice became and yet, that sense of sincerity still remained.

"But then you had to spoil the mood with your own pretentious sense of self. When you went on that little rant about your 'birthright,' I knew that you didn't even deserve the tiniest sliver of hope."

Abruptly, Sicilia's voice became infused with what Stefanie felt was anger and envy, yet that sense of sincerity didn't fade away.

"I'll be honest. I hate you. I hate people like you. You lot always think you're so special just because you were born that way. Just because you had everything handed down to you on a silver platter you expected the world to bow down to you."

Despite how twisted it may seem, during this entire ordeal, Stefanie felt as if Sicilia was actually being earnest with herself.

"And the worst thing is, it does! Or at least... it used to. I don't care if you don't want to admit it but a new age is coming. And with a new age comes a new generation. A better generation. Everything else is simply... obsolete."

"GRAAH!"

In an inelegant manner, Stefanie attempted to swing her sword at Sicilia only to miss entirely. With nothing to support her, Stefanie fell onto a puddle of her own blood that leaked from her shins. On the other hand, Sicilia remained standing up as she looked down on Stefanie.

"Naughty, naughty, naughty. Attempting such a stunt would only mean double the punishment you know? Don't you worry. I'll make sure that you'll stay alive and well for the entire 'procedure.'"

"Mo-monster... you're a monster..."

Sicilia scoffed when she heard what Stefanie had to say.

"Oh please, don't insult me with such terms like 'monster.' I'm only human. Besides, I believe that there was a better word that Maxwell used that described me perfectly... just what was it again?"

Sicilia paused for a moment as if to think to herself before she finally remembered.

"Oh that's right... He called me a 'sadist.'"