Free Web NovelChapter 84: Sanity Levels Dropping
Around Evelina, the world descended into madness. None of them had seen this tragedy coming.
In the narrow alleys surrounding the perimeter, the continuous clangs of steel and the shouting of her estate guards signaled a desperate clash with Isabella’s fleeing arsonists.
But Evelina heard none of it.
Half of her hard work, months of accumulated flax, and her entire southern distribution foundation were turning to ash right before her eyes.
She had anticipated the location and seen through Isabella’s schemes. But she was still one step too late.
Why? Had she been impulsive?
Had she been wrong in standing up against those powerful hypocrites?
If she had been more low-key and avoided the confrontations, would this not have happened.
A hollow tiredness settled into her bones. She was fighting a powerful future emperor from above and a crazy military lunatic from below.
They really put some good efforts into dragging her down, didn’t they?
Slowly, her limbs turning heavy, Evelina walked toward a soot-covered wooden crate sitting in the mud.
She sat down on the cold wood, her hands resting loosely in her lap, staring blankly at the flames.
Even when the cold wood seeped through the ruined layers of silk, she couldn’t shift from her place.
Suddenly, a piercing pain shot straight through the center of her forehead, as if a rusted nail were being driven into her skull.
Evelina gasped, her posture stiffening as she violently pressed the palm of her hand against her temple.
Her vision instantly blurred as a familiar chime rang through her mind in a deafening tone.
After a long period of silence, the System inside her mind was finally forcing itself awake.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
The blaring siren erupted violently inside her mind, followed by a bright light that flashed erratically across her vision.
[WARNING! WARNING!]
[Host’s mental fortress is cracking!]
[Self-confidence level dropping rapidly: 68%... 55%... 42%...]
[CRITICAL ERROR: High-Intensity stress overload detected. Emotional defense mechanism failing.]
Evelina squeezed her eyes shut, trying to drown out the internal noise, but the aggressive red text kept burning itself directly onto the back of her eyelids.
The usually smooth voice of the System sounded completely broken now.
It glitched, its pitch warping and repeating words over and over in a disturbing loop that seemed to tug at her brainstrings violently.
[Host... Host... Please stabilize your emotional core... The engine cannot... *static*... handle this level of despair...]
Evelina remained frozen, barely registering anything.
In her first life, she had been a quiet, terrified girl. She was someone who wouldn’t even dare to laugh loudly in public out of a paralyzing fear of offending the people around her.
In this second life, she had vowed never to be weak again. She had built her own wealth, her own life this time.
She had truly believed she could outsmart everyone, and remain completely unbothered by the cruelties of the world.
But only now did the crushing reality finally break through.
No matter how powerful she became, there would always be somebody with more power, more control.
Someone who could rewrite the laws, or someone who could turn all her hard work into nothing in the blink of an eye.
Evelina realized that she had been flying completely blind all this time. She was entirely, completely alone in the dark.
Her chest felt so tightly constricted that she could barely draw a clean breath through the smoke.
[Warning: Sanity Levels at 31%. System Core overheating.]
[Initiating Emergency Emotional Suppression Protocol... Failed.]
[Reason: Host’s subconscious rejection. Protocol Failed... Failed...]
Suddenly, the ground beneath Evelina’s feet began to shake.
At first, it was just a faint tremor that startled her a bit.
It sounded like distant thunder rolling through the storm clouds.
But within seconds, the sounds intensified.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
It was the sound of iron hooves striking the stone streets at full speed. ƒгeewёbnovel.com
Dozens of heavily armored warhorses tore through the alleys, throwing up sparks and dust behind.
The elite iron cavalry of the North had arrived.
At the very front of the vanguard rode Ace Alvarez.
He looked like a true god of war. His dark military uniform was covered in road dust from a non-stop ride across the city.
His jaw was locked tight, and his eyes burned with fury.
From the look of it, it seemed like the moment he realized Prince Elian’s border scare was just a trick to trap him at the military council, he had abandoned the meeting and run his horse half to death.
Ace took one look at the burning warehouses, and then his eyes scanned through the crowd until he spotted her. His eyes locked onto Evelina.
Seeing her covered in black soot, sitting alone in the mud, Ace froze for a moment. Then, his eyes narrowed.
"Cut them down!" Ace roared.
He drew his massive broadsword with a sharp metallic screech.
"Every single bastard who does not belong to the Alvarez estate... kill them!" Ace commanded, his voice carrying an edge of authority that could be felt in one’s bones, "Form a steel perimeter! No one leaves this place alive!"
The iron cavalry moved instantly on the words of their commander.
They hunted down the remaining fleeing arsonists through the dark alleys, showing no mercy.
The rest of the soldiers locked their shields together, forming an impenetrable wall of steel around the remaining property.
Ace threw himself off his horse before it even fully stopped.
His heavy boots slammed into the mud as he marched straight through fire, dusting off the flames that caught his vest with his broad palm.
He walked right up to Evelina, his chest heaving rapidly as he took in the sight of her.
His eyes carried guilt.
He had promised to protect her, yet the wolves had struck the moment he turned his back.
Without a word, Ace dropped his heavy sword into the mud.
He reached down, gripped her upper arms, and pulled her straight off the dirty wooden crate with a tug.
