Chapter 12. Kill and Manipulate

"Today... Butler Augustine was scary." Willow shuddered.

Beside her, Lucilline shuddered along simultaneously. "...yeah." Behind them, Augustine was wondering why the people in front of him were shivering like a chipmunk.

They walked past several street lamps, watching how the sun stained the sky in colours of velvet red, apricot orange, and canary yellow. The distance to Duke Rubius' manor was far, so it took them a long time to arrive at the lower gates of the mountain. By the time they arrived, it was sunset.

Augustine never had the chance to enjoy these type of sceneries back in his past life. He found himself mesmerized at the sun, which glowed at the horizon.

"Hey." Willow elbowed him. "Hurry up. Don't get lost."

Augustine snapped out of it. He looked back, watching how Willow fished out a golden key from her pocket. The key was to unlock the entrance gates, which had a mountain of traps right after.

Willow was about to unlock the gates. The key had just entered the keyhole, then she hesitated.

A whistle of wind tousled a leaf from its branch, making the leaf drift down to land on the ground. It was calming, too calming. This made Willow alerted and cautious. Her body couldn't help but tense, with her ears subconsciously pricking upwards, trying to capture any wavelengths of sound.

Lucilline didn't interrupt her. He merely allowed Willow to do whatever she pleased.

Augustine stood back as well. He wanted to see just what exactly Willow was up to.

An entire ten seconds passed. At this point, Augustine was confused. He wanted to ask Lucilline for confirmation, "What in the world is your maid doing?" but was then asked a question instead. "Butler—I mean, Augustine, do you truly believe that we're good?"

Augustine didn't understand why Lucilline asked such a question. Nevertheless, Augustine still answered accordingly to his instincts, "Yes."

Although Lucilline could occasionally be a prick and irritate him, the villain wasn't entirely malicious and evil. He was merely a living being. Augustine understood this. There was a fine line between being a bad person and being an evil person.

"Ohh." Lucilline smiled. "That's good."

All of a sudden, Willow tossed the entrance gate's key in Lucilline's direction. The great villain caught it effortlessly, then swung the key once, pressing on a hidden mechanism. Out of nowhere, a sharp blade slid out from the key.

Augustine was astonished.

He was too slow to react, as Lucilline stabbed the sliding knife directly at Augustine's face-

CLANG!

Two blades clashed against one another, creating a metallic spark from the conflict. Then, the two blades came to a stop, hovering right above Augustine's face. Lucilline smiled at the unfamiliar man, who was defending Augustine from being slashed by him.

"I knew that there were people spying on me." Lucilline spoke. "It wasn't too difficult to lure you out though. All I had to do was try and hurt your comrade."

Willow took out her dagger from a pocket, shuffling into a stance.

It was then the unfamiliar man knew that he'd been exposed. As a reincarnator and also one of the people in charge of the carriage incident, he'd been ordered to directly take Lucilline's life before he arrives back at his manor. Therefore, he'd waited at the entrance gates.

But he didn't expect to find Augustine beside Lucilline as well!

Was this fellow reincarnator betraying us? At first, he had this thought. But after seeing how Lucilline attempted to "kill" Augustine, he was able to confirm that... Augustine was just blinded by the great villain's beauty.

If Augustine had heard this thought, he would've directly punched his comrade into oblivion.

"Name?" Lucilline gestured. He withdrew the sliding knife, which made the unfamiliar man take back his own blade. "Bob." The unfamiliar man had just spat out a random name.

"Oh, so it's Bob." Lucilline smiled, using the random name. "Are you a... reincarnator as well?"

Upon hearing that, "Bob" had directly leaped back a few feet. How did the great villain know about his identity? This was something that not anyone can easily find out... unless, he was informed by someone?

"Bob" began to suspect the reincarnator beside Lucilline.

Perhaps, Augustine was really a traitor?

His eyes thinned, and Bob gestured three fingers. Out of nowhere, an arrow flew out from the bushes of a tall and well-rounded tree. The arrow was fast and speedy, as it was merely an inch away from directly penetrating into Augustine's artery-

"Tch." Lucilline snapped. He directly grabbed onto the arrow, which cut through his right hand's glove. "You want to kill my butler?" A dangerous light brewed in his golden eyes. "No chance."

Grabbing onto the arrow, he manipulated a strong force, then-

His arm bent a beautiful arch, exposing his unblemished skin of his clavicle and neck. Whoosh! The arrow was thrown at the tree, where the arrow originated at.

"Shit!" Another unfamiliar man popped out from the tree, armed with a bow and packets of arrows.

This unfamiliar man was also a reincarnator, and one of the two in charge of the carriage incident. He scrambled onto the ground, then quickly drew another arrow. The archer aimed his bow at Lucilline, attempting to kill off the great villain right then and there.

He released the arrow, which flew at Lucilline's abdomen at a fast pace.

But it was deflected by Willow's dagger. Willow stared dangerously at the two men, with her entire small body full of vitality and killing intent.

"May I ask for your name as well?" Lucilline still remained polite during the "spar".

"Bill." The archer came up with a random name to match "Bob".

"Bob and Bill, huh." Lucilline already knew that the names were fake, but he still used them. "Do you two truly want to kill your... comrade?"

Augustine was nervous when anticipating the answer, and his face went colder.

"He's a traitor!" Bob spat. "How else did you know we were reincarnators?"

Out of nowhere, Lucilline threw his head back and... laughed. This laugh was quite hollow and eccentric, but it grounded the reincarnators to a standstill. They couldn't help but fall silent, and stood there quietly. "It's quite simple, actually." Lucilline smiled. He lowered his head, showing off his face that the author described to able to capture many people's hearts.

"Have you ever heard of the Sequence Contract?"

It was then Bob and Bill found their own temperatures going cold. It was like the warmth had been sucked out of them. The Sequence Contract wasn't mentioned a lot in the novel, but it was something dangerous and shouldn't be reckoned with.

There were many contracts in life. Naturally, there were forbidden ones as well.

The Sequence Contract was a forbidden contract created by the demons, but it was more like a curse than a contract. Ever since the extermination of demons, this forbidden contract was passed down so that only the Royal Family and the three Grand Duke families; Rubius, Delta, Leinhart; would know.

The Sequence Contract binds two targets together. One is the Master, the other is the slave.

Because of this sequence, if the Master dies, then the slave will die as well. If the slave dies, the Master won't. That was why this forbidden contract was more like a curse. This is the supposed "sequence" of the Sequence Contract.

Those contracted by the Sequence Contract will have a red hydrangea flower marked on their chest. This sign was what binds a Master and slave together.

Whenever the Master got hurt, the slave would feel a burning sensation on their red hydrangea flower, marked across their chest. It was said that the pain was so burning, even the dead would cry.

"You..." Bill's eyes were wide. "You made Augustine... sign the Sequence Contract?"

"Mhm." Lucilline continued to lie. "If I die, he dies. If I am harmed, he is harmed as well."

Augustine's eyes widened as well. The reason why the great villain was making up such a lie... was probably to help him. After all, Bob and Bill suspected him of being a traitor and telling Lucilline all about the reincarnators. Even though Augustine did tell Lucilline about reincarnation, he didn't talk about the reincarnators.

However, he was suspected of being a traitor. Therefore, Bob and Bill attempted to get rid of him. Then, they realized that Augustine might've been forced into becoming a traitor.

Lucilline could've tortured Augustine (since he's the villain), and forced the latter into confessing. This made the two reincarnators hesitate. They didn't want to harm their comrade.

"How could you do that to Augustine!" Bob was enraged.

He could finally understand why their comrade turned on them. They were supposed to kill the great villain, but then Augustine was forced to turn to the dark side...

Augustine knew exactly what they were thinking of. He had to bite back his embarrassment.

He wasn't some sort of weakling that could be taken advantage of!

"...we should report back to Boss..." Bill nudged Bob. They were thinking that if they kill Lucilline, then Augustine would die as well. They didn't want to sacrifice their comrade.

Bob agreed. The two reincarnators hurried away, rushing before Willow could catch them.

Soon enough, their figures disappeared into the horizon.

"Don't go after them." Lucilline told Willow. The maidservant could only slump her shoulders in defeat. She looked at her Young Master's glove, which had been torn open due to catching the arrow. Willow also noticed how Lucilline's palm had a cut sliced across, with beads of blood starting to run down.

Willow clutched Lucilline's right hand, slipping the glove off. "We'll have to treat your injury, Young Master."

"I'm fine." Lucilline smiled, but was interrupted by a deadly force.

Willow deadpanned, "Immediately."

Lucilline shrunk at the heavy aura. "W-Whatever you say."

*****

"Be more careful next time, Young Master." Willow skillfully wrapped Lucilline's injured hand in bandages. They were back in the manor, with nobody else inside but them (Duke Rubius is still ill in bed). In the back, Augustine watched how blood seeped into the bandages.

His head lowered when he remembered that Lucilline caught the arrow to protect him...

"Anything I can do to help?" Augustine blurted without thinking.

Willow and Lucilline, "..." Has this butler been scared into a fool?

"...why are you two staring at me like that?" Augustine was confused.

Lucilline and Willow looked at one another. Should we tell him?

"What? Did I say something wrong?" Augustine huffed. His face's exterior was cold and handsome, with his cheekbones raised high in tension. He awaited for looks of disdain or confusion. Instead, a bright laughter replaced his own miserable thoughts.

"Pfft." Lucilline giggled. He failed to hold in his laughter.

Augustine wore a look of loss as he watched Lucilline fall into a pile of laughter. Only after a minute did Lucilline catch his breath, with his heaving chest gradually descending.

"Well then." Lucilline smiled. His white teeth were especially attractive. "Something you can do for me... how about you come and tell me why there are more than one reincarnator?"

Augustine knew that the great villain would be curious about this. He was already prepared to explain.

"In truth, there is an organization..."

It all started when two men became friends through a novel. This novel was named "Lydia's Blooming Love". The villain was Lucilline, who gained a lot of attention from his evil schemes of destroying Lydia Kingdom.

The two men died, then reincarnated into the novel.

They found each other, and realized that there may be more people like them; reincarnators. Therefore, they created an organization named "Reincarnator".

Many other reincarnators like them had noticed the organization and joined. They were all reincarnators, who aimed to protect Lydia Kingdom from Lucilline's evil schemes. The two men became leaders of "Reincarnator", and the members of the organization admired them.

However, one day, the two men fell apart in an argument.

They both wanted to save Lydia Kingdom, but their methods are different. One man wanted to kill Lucilline Rubius. The other wanted to manipulate the main characters into saving Lydia Kingdom faster.

Naturally, the entire organization split into halves.

The half that swore to kill Lucilline was named "K". The half that swore to manipulate the main characters was named "M".

Naturally, Augustine was a member of "K".

"Ohh. I understand now." Lucilline nodded his head in acknowledgement. "Does this mean that... the members of M are on my side-"

"They aren't." Augustine slammed the table.

Both Willow and Lucilline looked at him in surprise, "..." What had gotten into the butler?

Augustine was keen to explain. "The members of M aren't good people. They may seem like good people, but that's only because they aren't willing to dirty their hands. We of K aren't scared and are righteous. The people of M like to trick others... and are willing to manipulate the main characters into disposing of you. They'll pretend that they're all righteous, when they are actually..."

"I get it! I get it!" Lucilline didn't want to hear anymore.

He stretched, then leaned across the dining table. His face was increasingly closer to Augustine, who found himself leaning back due to nervousness.

"...I can't trust them." Lucilline smiled. "But I can trust you, am I right?"

Augustine examined the great villain's face. It was unblemished, pale, and well-built. There was also a hint of curiosity in his canary yellow eyes, which appeared like a pair of bronze... no, golden coins, shining brilliantly within the rays of sunlight.

With their faces so close... Augustine felt his cheeks going red.