Chapter 101: Eren [1]
Alice sighed and stood up slowly, brushing the imaginary dust off her dress. She stepped toward the edge of the garden, her back to me now.
"I tell you this not because I want pity," she said, her voice steady again, "but because you called that man a hero."
Alice stood with her back turned, her silver hair catching the sunlight like threads of moonlight.
"I called him a hero because no one else dared to be one," I said, more to the wind than to her.
She didn’t turn around. "And you think that makes it right?"
I took a step forward. "No. But it doesn’t make it wrong either."
She finally glanced over her shoulder. Her expression was unreadable.
"You think justice is so simple, Julies?" Her voice was soft, but it held an edge. "An eye for an eye? A head for a head? Is that the world you want?"
I hesitated, then spoke with careful honesty. "Justice is a matter of perspective, My Lady.
Alice didn’t reply immediately.
Then, quietly, almost like she was asking herself, she said, "Perspective, huh..."
She turned to face me fully now. Her expression was unreadable again, the soft traces of vulnerability gone, tucked away behind her usual mask.
"You know," she said slowly, "when I was younger, I used to think justice was absolute. Something that, once discovered, was undeniable. Like gravity. You drop a stone, it falls. You find the truth, you act on it. Simple."
Her gaze didn’t waver. "But I’ve seen too many truths twisted. Too many stones fall in different directions depending on who’s holding them."
She took a step toward me, and her voice dropped low.
"So tell me, Julies. If this vigilante—if this man—decided tomorrow that someone you cared about was a threat to his version of justice... what would you do then?"
I didn’t answer right away.
Because the truth? I know for one thing that I wasn’t going to do anything like that.
The System main important role was to protect the Alice and it won’t give me a quest that would harm her....At least not directly.
But it’s not like I can tell her that.
I took a slow breath, forcing my shoulders to relax even though every instinct screamed to brace myself.
"I don’t know," I said finally.
It wasn’t the smartest answer. Maybe not the safest one either. But it was honest.
Alice didn’t flinch. She studied me in silence for a beat longer, and the weight of her gaze felt heavier than anything I’d carried during training.
"That’s not very reassuring," she said at last, her voice quiet again, almost thoughtful.
"I’m not here to reassure you," I said, then immediately wished I’d phrased it better.
But Alice didn’t get angry. Instead, her lips curved—not quite a smile, not quite a frown. Something in between.
"No. I suppose you’re not."
The wind rustled the garden trees again. The petals continued to fall around us like soft flakes of snow.
"The tea time is over Julies, let’s go."
"To where, My Lady."
"To the guest room, I have to meet up with owner of the Lotus House merchant."
’Ohh fuck!’
....And i just saved her few hours ago from Bjron.
Of course, at that my apperence and voice was different but I didn’t expected her to be here in all of the places after I saved her from Bjron.
I wanted to know why she is here.
But it’s not like I can ask Alice directly.
Alice turned away, her heels clicking softly on the stone path as she walked ahead. I followed a step behind, my mind racing.
The owner of the Lotus House.
It couldn’t be a coincidence. Of all people, of all meetings—it had to be her.
I didn’t know her name then. Just a woman in a tattered dress, gagged and tied up in Bjron’s lair. Another prisoner. Another victim.
But even beaten, her eyes had been sharp.
Even terrified, she held herself with a kind of restrained grace—like royalty forced into the mud.
And now, just hours after I’d rescued her under a different face and voice, she was here, in the Draken estate, about to speak with Alice?
Something wasn’t adding up.
Alice didn’t seem to notice my sudden silence, or the slight tension in my shoulders. She moved with her usual fluid grace, her silver hair swaying behind her like a banner.
"You look pale, Julies," she said suddenly, without looking back. "Is something bothering you?"
I blinked, caught off guard. "No, My Lady. Just... thinking."
"You do that too often," she said with the faintest lilt of amusement. "Thinking is dangerous in this house."
I gave her a tight smile. "Then it’s a miracle I’ve survived this long."
She didn’t respond, but I saw the corner of her mouth twitch.
We reached the long hall leading to the guest wing, sunlight pouring through the stained glass windows in warm pools of color. The guards stationed outside the room straightened at our approach. One of them opened the door without a word.
Alice stepped inside first. I followed.
And there she was.
Sitting on the edge of the ornate guestroom sofa, dressed in elegant robes that still couldn’t quite hide the faint bruises along her wrists. Her posture was impeccable, her face calm, but her eyes—
Those same sharp eyes—burning with quiet calculation.
Mira, one of her hired mercenary was with her alongside with Hans the head butler of the Draken Duchy.
She looked up.
And for a brief second—just one—our gazes locked.
I kept my expression perfectly still.
Her lips didn’t move. But her gaze lingered on me a beat longer than necessary and moved away.
She was not like the woman who was trembling few hours ago before me.
Then she looked away, turning back to Alice with a gentle nod. "Thank you for seeing me on such short notice, Lady Draken."
"Of course," Alice replied smoothly, sitting across from her. "The Lotus House doesn’t often request private audiences. I assumed it must be urgent."
The woman’s lips curled in a polite smile. "It is."
I stepped back, taking my place near the door like a proper servant, but inside, every part of me was tense. I kept my eyes on the floor, ears wide open.
Why was she here?
Did she recognize me?
Was she going to say anything?
And most importantly...
What did she want from Alice?
The woman’s voice was poised as she began speaking, but there was an edge to it.
The soft hum of conversation settled as Hans, the ever-impeccable head butler, stepped forward and bowed slightly.
"Lady Draken," he began, his voice measured and low, "if I may be permitted to speak before the formal negotiations begin."
Alice inclined her head. "Go on, Hans."
Hans straightened, then glanced briefly toward the woman seated across from Alice—Lila, owner of the Lotus House. Her eyes flicked toward him, her expression calm but guarded.
"This morning," Hans continued, "a troubling report was delivered by the night patrols. Lady Lila and her caravan were ambushed on the northern road just a few hours before sunrise."
He paused for a breath, his gaze shifting to Alice.
"The assailant was none other than Bjron."
A soft hush fell across the room. Even the sunlight seemed to dim behind the stained glass.
Alice’s brows drew together faintly. "Bjron? That scum was still operating this close to the duchy?"
Hans nodded and continued.
"It was around 2 in the morning, according to miss Lila testimony when Bjorn with few of his men attacked her carven and capture Miss Lila and her mercenary."
Alice eyes sharpend as she glanced at Lila.
"Sorry for me asking this after what you been through but could you tell me how did you escape and who killed the Bjron."
At that question of hers, I couldn’t help but secretly glanced at Lila.
...And at that moment, I noticed her hands are still trembling.
Before, she was just trying to act tough but as soon as Alice asked the most important question, memories that she rather forget comes back to her.
It was PTSD, no doubt it.
Lila’s fingers tightened almost imperceptibly over the silk fabric of her dress. Her knuckles turned white for a moment before she noticed and relaxed them with practiced grace. But it was there.
The tremble. The shadow in her eyes.
Her lips parted slightly. For just a heartbeat, no sound came out.
Alice waited patiently, eyes steady but not unkind. She knew how to measure people, and she wasn’t pressuring—yet. But the question still hung in the air, quietly sharp.
Lila exhaled. Slowly. Then began.
"...It all happened very fast."
Her voice was composed again, but softer now—like someone walking a thin line between poise and memory.
"We were ambushed in the dead of night. The torches went out first. Then the screams. Mira fought well and my other mercenary as well, but we were outnumbered. I... I was taken before I could even grab a blade."
Her eyes didn’t leave Alice’s, but I could tell she was speaking through a fog of memory now.
"They dragged us to a cave or maybe it was mine? I don’t know anymore. It was Damp. Rotten. Like blood and rust and mold had been stewing together for weeks."
I clenched my jaw quietly, remembering it too. The stench. The chains. The echo of Bjron’s laughter.
"I thought that was it," Lila continued, her voice steadying by force. "I thought... I would never make it out of that place alive."
Her eyes flicked toward me for the briefest moment—no more than a breath.
"But someone save me and other mercenary as well."
Alice’s brow arched slightly. "Someone? Who exactly?"
Lila nodded once, her gaze firm.
"His name is Eren."