Chapter 295 – That’s Not What It’s For (2)

Elena was being dragged by the Lunen soldiers with both her hands tied, and she found out that her prison was in a tower.

‘I don’t believe this place is used much, but would Carlisle know to come here to save me?’

Surely he must have carefully considered the various areas in the vicinity where she might be held. If he was wrong however, that meant Paveluc was prepared for him. Elena thought a patrol around the prison would indicate this was a place of importance, but currently there seemed to be no one outside.

‘…Perhaps it was on purpose.’

If the Blood Assassins headquarters were a secret place, it would fall within Carlisle’s expected target. But no one would expect her to be in the abandoned tower. Paveluc cleverly imprisoned Elena in a place that was both close to the Blood Assassins headquarters, but also no one cared about. Even if Carlisle sent troops now, they wouldn’t be able to search for her for long.

Tubug tubug.

Elena subtly turned her head to observe her surroundings as she silently walked forward. There was no way to tell how many soldiers total were in this building. Because they were pushing her along, perhaps they were trying to transfer her to a more secretive place. That would only make it more difficult to escape in the future.

What Elena needed was a fire as big as the one on the Blood Assassins’ building to attract attention, but that was almost impossible for a lone person. While there were torches and burning materials in the place, there were still all the guards to deal with.

‘Let’s think, Elena.’

No one suspected her of keeping track of the outside world with a spoon. Because of this, she was fully aware that someone had invaded Lunen to save her, and that now was her chance to escape. There was a great deal of a difference between knowing that and not.

‘I wish there were flares…’

A long time ago, Kuhn gave her a flare to use in a dangerous situation. She had never used it, and she didn’t have it on her in any case. She looked around at the dozen soldiers escorting her, when an object caught her eye.

‘That’s…!’

She noticed that one of the knights was carrying a small bomb. Her eyes swiveled around to the others, and saw that they were carrying bombs as well.

Elena’s red eyes flashed. Now that her fighting ability was revealed, Paveluc would not send weaker soldiers to guard her. Elena needed to avoid fighting them as much as possible, but if she could get her hands on one of the explosives…

‘But my hands are tied.’

This would be much easier if both her hands were free. She had to get away before they got too far away from the Blood Assassin’s building.

Elena stumbled deliberately. As she was about to topple over, a soldier grabbed her shoulder and straightened her.

“Walk straight.”

“…Ugh.”

Elena collapsed to the floor, believing that this was her opportunity. No one caught her fall this time, but it didn’t matter. It was their carelessness that Elena was after.

“Hey, get up.”

A soldier glared at her, and Elena looked up with an expression of fatigue, and shakily pushed herself to her feet. She got closer to the soldier with the bomb, and deliberately stumbled over him.

Tak! 

The soldier reflexively caught Elena by the shoulder.

“Are you out of your mind?”

The soldiers weren’t suspicious that she repeatedly stumbled around, as she was a fragile woman and her hands were bound, and she posed no threat to them anyway. And that was exactly the fatal mistake she hoped that they made.

Seueug— 

Elena rose up, clutching the small explosive in her hand. The soldier immediately noticed something strange, but she was much quicker than that. In the blink of an eye, she leapt backwards and gracefully landed some distance away from the soldiers.

“What are you doing—?!”

The soldier’s face widened in shock at first. Elena immediately prepared to set off the stolen bomb, but then the soldier started laughing.

“Do you think you can handle all of us with just that?”

Even if Elena threw the explosive, it was in clear view and most of them could sufficiently dodge it. Some of them may get injured, but the rest would be able to subdue her afterwards. However, Elena smiled at their hubris.

“This bomb is not for that purpose.”

“What?”

The soldier’s mouth fell open, but he didn’t have time to process what happened next. Elena tossed the bomb in the air, and delivered a swift jump kick to propel it outside the window. A split second later, the bomb exploded, releasing a red roar of flame into the dark night sky. She had planned to use the explosives as a signal, not as a weapon. Carlisle’s men nearby would be able to notice it.

“Th-this…!”

The soldiers’ faces turned red with anger as they realized Elena’s intentions. They pulled out their swords and surrounded her.

“I don’t know how you know that there’s troops nearby, but do you think you can last until they arrive?”

“I held back because I thought you would scream, but now it would just be easier to cut off one of your arms here.”

Elena pulled out a sharpened spoon she had hidden as the men slowly approached her. From now on, the question was how long would it take for the reinforcements to arrive to help Elena.

***

‘That’s…’

It was Kuhn who noticed the signal and guessed that it might be from Elena. A bomb going off in a fight was not unusual, but this one was in the middle of the air. He pivoted his heel and rushed towards the direction of the signal, when a dark figure fell from the air, blocking his way.

A familiar voice then spoke.

“Hey. We’ve met before.”

Beneath the faint moonlight, Kuhn could make out the outline of the man blocking his way. It was Batori, the servant at Blaise mansion who always smiled. Kuhn also knew that Batori had disappeared from the Imperial Palace the same time as Elena, so he had his suspicions that the red-haired man was involved in the incident. Kuhn answered in a low voice.

“Was it you who infiltrated Blaise mansion?”

“I didn’t know you were the Emperor’s subordinate. You somehow felt the same as myself…I knew my instincts were right.”

Kuhn looked away and measured the distance of the previous blast.

“If you don’t want to die, get out of my way now.”

“Why, where are you going? Do you think that signal is from Her Majesty?”

The smile on Batori’s lips deepened. And at the same time, a terrible life sprang up from Batori’s veiled eyes.

“Don’t you dare burn the Blood Assassins headquarters and run away like this. ”

At that moment, numerous members of the Blood Assassins appeared behind Batori. They had a vicious energy to them, like wild beasts salivating while hunting for their prey. Kuhn merely glanced at them, his face still impassive.

“…”

Syuk syuk syuk!

The shadows surrounded Kuhn immediately. While Batori was with the Blood Assassins, Kuhn was the finest assassin selected by Carlisle in the Ruford Empire.

“I just wanted to deal with you later because I didn’t have time.”

A twitch convulsed on the edge of Batori’s smiling mouth.