Free Web NovelChapter 21: A Scent of Trouble
"Wait."
Kael had just been about to leave with Puff and Zera when a woman’s voice slipped out of the packed crowd.
It was soft, carrying a deliberate tenderness and flirtation. It didn’t rise over the noise of Blackrat Lane, yet somehow it threaded through the crowd in front of the tavern like a fine wire and landed cleanly in Kael’s ear.
Kael stopped.
Puff was still draped over the back of his neck, both little hands locked around his head. Zera’s hand was still in his. But the instant that voice reached him, Kael’s fingers had already shifted toward the hilt of the battered curved saber at his waist.
He turned his head, gaze sweeping into the crowd.
The onlookers gathered outside The Black Tankard hadn’t dispersed yet. Plenty of faces hid in the dim lamplight and street shadows. Some people snickered under their breath, some craned their necks for a better look, and some, catching the smell of trouble, began quietly backing away. Kael ignored the ordinary gawkers.
He was looking for whoever had spoken.
Soon, he caught a strange scent.
At first it was faint, like the clean, soft skin-scent of a young woman. But in the next breath, it grew thick and intense, carrying a flowerlike sweetness laced with heat and dampness as it spread through Blackrat Lane’s cold, moldy air. The two notes wound together, so sweet they turned heavy, so rich they became cloying, and the looks in many people’s eyes began to change.
Kael’s brow furrowed.
This scent was trouble.
"Dad...?"
Puff noticed Kael had suddenly stopped and tilted her head.
She didn’t understand why he wasn’t walking anymore, or why his hand had moved toward his saber. She simply followed Kael’s gaze toward the crowd ahead, her silver-white eyes blinking softly.
Then she sensed a strange energy too.
It was hidden in the crowd, completely different from the messy, coarse presences around it. Slicker, colder, more clinging, like fine threads stretching out from a floral fragrance and winding slowly through the air.
But Puff quickly lost interest.
Because that energy couldn’t compare to Kael’s at all.
As far as Puff was concerned, something like that posed no threat to her dad. So she only hugged Kael’s head tighter and rested her chin lightly on his hair.
"Master Kael..."
Zera’s reaction was completely different.
She didn’t have Puff’s instinctive judgment, nor did she have Kael’s tolerance. The moment that pressure from deep in the crowd drew near, her chest tightened, and her breathing grew shallow bit by bit. Her fingertips went cold. Her knees weakened. It was as if an invisible hand ahead of her was slowly pressing down on her throat.
If Kael hadn’t still been holding her hand, she probably wouldn’t have been able to stay standing.
Kael glanced down at her.
"It’s fine."
He lifted his other hand and gently patted Zera’s head.
"Just another annoying bastard."
Zera was still trembling, but when that warm hand settled on her, her fear settled a little.
Kael had no interest in dealing with whoever had spoken.
He was even ready to turn around and leave.
But he knew too well that if he walked away now, that woman would follow him all the way. She had enough patience, and more than enough ways to be irritating. By then, she might drag the trouble straight to the gates of Crownspire Palace.
That would be even more annoying.
"My dear little Kael, you beat up one of my men like it was nothing and think you can just leave?"
The crowd began to part.
No one gave an order. No one pushed. The people standing in the middle heard that voice, their expressions shifted, and then they quickly lowered their heads, making way on their own. Several mercenaries who had been watching the show also retreated to the roadside, moving their hands away from their weapons as if they’d suddenly remembered they were only passing by.
A figure emerged from the depths of the crowd.
It was a woman.
She wore a hat inlaid with purple crystals, the gems flashing in tiny sparks beneath the lamplight outside The Black Tankard. Her long blue-purple dress was soft and close-fitting, boldly cut to outline her slender figure with striking clarity. The neckline dipped low, exposing a wide stretch of snowy-white skin, yet she wore it as if it were the most natural thing in the world, as if every stare around her was only something she was owed.
She walked forward step by step.
Her high heels struck the stone road without much force, but each sound was distinct. Her pace was slow and steady, her waist swaying lightly with every movement. Her violet eyes carried a smile as they passed over the crowd, the young man on the ground, Puff in Zera’s arms, and finally settled on Kael’s face.
Many men around them had their gazes drawn to her.
At first, they were only staring.
Soon, those stares turned muddy. Someone’s throat bobbed. Someone’s breathing grew rough. Someone’s face twisted into an ugly smile. The scent at the mouth of the street grew thicker and thicker, as if it were hooking the filthiest, most obscene things in Blackrat Lane straight out of people’s hearts.
Kael’s expression worsened.
This feeling irritated him.
He was standing in the middle of a pack of beasts led around by their own lust, and he couldn’t simply draw his blade and cut the trouble apart.
That was what pissed him off the most.
Kael was wary of this woman, not because he couldn’t beat her. If they really fought, she wouldn’t be able to take a single slash from him.
The problem was her identity and her abilities.
She was Lady Vespera.
The one who controlled every black-market shop and faction in Blackrat Lane.
If Kael fought her here without thinking, this would stop being one thug causing trouble and one woman blocking the road. The whole of Blackrat Lane would be dragged into it, and in the end, the one stuck cleaning up the mess would still be him.
That was why he hated her.
"Tch. Old hag."
Kael spoke coldly.
"I only hit one of your men. I didn’t even hit him that hard. Besides, he was trying to bully my maid and... a child."
When he reached the last two words, his tone paused.
Hearing "child," Puff shifted unhappily on top of his head, but she still didn’t let go.
Kael ignored her and kept staring at Lady Vespera.
"Are you really going to stand up for someone like that?"
Zera stood behind him, trembling even harder. Kael felt it and tightened his hold on her hand a little.
"Oh? Is that so?"
Lady Vespera smiled, her voice sweet as honey-soaked syrup.
"Then why did my man tell me a different story?"
"Lady Vespera, you have to stand up for me!"
The young man who had been lying on the ground heard her voice and seemed to grab hold of a lifeline at last. He scrambled up in a sorry state, his clothes covered in dust, his arm still bleeding, but he no longer cared about the pain. Half crawling and half stumbling, he threw himself beside Lady Vespera.
"He’s the one who hit me!"
As he spoke, he reached out with that filthy, blackened hand, trying to grab Lady Vespera’s ankle.
Lady Vespera looked down at him.
Her smile didn’t move.
The next instant, she lifted her long leg, aimed her needle-thin heel straight at the young man’s face, and kicked.
Bang!
Before the young man’s scream could fully leave his mouth, his whole body was sent flying to the side. He slammed into the black stone wall, his back striking it hard, then slid down to the ground. A bloody gash had appeared across his face where the heel had cut him.
The surrounding crowd fell a little quieter again.
No one dared to laugh.
"That has nothing to do with me."
Kael didn’t spare the young man another look.
"Handle your own street’s problems yourselves. Don’t come bother me."
After saying that, he prepared to leave with Zera and Puff.
But Lady Vespera stood there, her smile never fading.
The unease in Kael’s chest only grew heavier.
He didn’t turn his head, but he had already sensed the changes around them. On the surface, the crowd was still retreating, but the directions they moved in weren’t natural. Several hidden auras were closing in from both sides of the street, hiding at shop entrances, in alley shadows, and along the tavern’s outer wall. They weren’t rushing to attack. They were simply shortening the distance little by little, leaving Kael, Zera, and Puff trapped in the middle.
Kael’s fingers pressed lightly against the saber hilt.
Killing these people would be easy.
Too easy.
But if he really took lives here without restraint, this would no longer be something a fight could settle. The Suncrest Empire had laws. No matter how filthy Blackrat Lane was, it was still within the imperial capital.
More than that, Kael was not only the Grand General. He was also Empress Aurelia Valemont’s adopted son.
He could ignore trouble aimed at himself, but he couldn’t casually throw a pile of problems at his mother and force her to deal with them.
It seemed Lady Vespera had set her sights on him.
"Don’t be in such a hurry, my adorable Kael..."
Lady Vespera’s voice sounded again.
She had been standing about ten meters away from Kael.
In the next instant, the edges of her figure began to blur. The hem of her blue-purple dress, her violet eyes, the glittering crystals on her hat—they all seemed to twist lightly in the air. Someone in the crowd blinked, and before they could see what had happened clearly, her figure had vanished from where she stood.
Less than a second.
The fragrance arrived first.
Then Lady Vespera appeared in front of Kael.
She stood very close, close enough that the rich floral scent nearly pressed against Kael’s breath. The blue-purple fabric swayed softly before his eyes. Her high heels touched down without much sound, yet Zera’s fingers clenched tight at once.
Kael’s gaze went cold.
"Blink spell?"
The first thing that came to mind was those Mages in their strange black mage robes, clutching long wooden staves.
Kael didn’t like those people.
Maybe it was because he was naturally more inclined to fight face-to-face with cold steel. Compared with magic that twisted around, flashed away, and slipped out of reach, he was more used to the clear, direct feedback of a blade striking bone.
"Mm-mm. No."
Lady Vespera lifted her face slightly, her violet eyes staring straight at Kael.
"But that doesn’t matter, Kael."
She leaned a little closer, lowering her voice until it was sweet enough to make the breathing of several nearby men tighten.
"The thing I want... is you."
She whispered softly beside Kael’s ear,
"If you leave, who am I supposed to take?"
