A Peacock Husband of Five Princesses by day, a Noble Assassin by Night

Moonlight seeped softly through the sheer curtains of Kael's room. The flicker of a lantern outside cast dancing shadows against the wooden walls. Mia, curled up beside him, slept peacefully. The brother and the sister pair still maintained the same habit of sleeping on the same bed, while his own wife slept in another room.

Kael was seen awake. His eyes were open, unmoving, and just staring at the ceiling. Thoughts swirled within him.

"Something just doesn't add up…"

He closed his eyes, going down into the memory land.

[Flashback – Afternoon]

The sun had just started to dip behind the forest, casting an amber glow over the road as Kael and Alice returned from the outskirts. Kael was flying on the Pegasus while Alice was flying with her own wings. For some reason, the infernal pegasus still refuses to let her sit on.

That's when Sith, his vampire summon, caught up to them, stopping them mid-path for a moment.

"Master…" Her eyes almost lit up as if she were in a good mood. "The necromancer… is dead. Thanks to master's blood, he was no match for my prowess and forced to commit suicide." Showing her torn sleeves, her joy-filled face was replaced with a sad one as she complained. "Look at this. It cost me 10,000 gold coins to order this."

"Alright, I will buy you a new one later." As Kael sighed, Sith jumped in joy and flew closer to him, sat behind him, her hands over his waist, tightly. "Master, I did a good job. You will let me ride with you, right? Or maybe…" She licked her lips again as a mischievous thought came to her head and added, "Ride on you?"

Kael felt annoyed and snapped his fingers. "You already took a lot of blood. That's enough for you. Go and sleep."

"No…" Sith comically screamed as she sucked into his tattoo. Alice just silently stared at the exchange, her eyes widening in surprise, thinking. "You also had a contract summons with a vampire, that powerful? I thought I underestimated you, but now I feel I underestimated you too much. I wonder how much you have changed during these years."

Meanwhile, Kael furrowed his brows, going into deep thought. "If Sith has taken out the necromancer, which is actually the reason the undead were all collapsed, then what about the grandlich that escaped? What role did he have?"

[Back to Present – Night, Inn]

Kael rubbed his forehead, still lying in bed.

"The thing that is troubling me the most is that grandlich… Why was it still in the graveyard, even after all the corpses were dug up? Undead attack began at midnight. Yet it remained even by morning? That's very strange indeed…"

He sat up slowly, careful not to wake Mia. Her hand was resting loosely on the blanket. He gently moved it aside and slid off the bed. His boots were already beside the door.

"If it didn't come to fight, then it came to retrieve something… or someone… Maybe the graveyard held some secret that I didn't pay attention to before. I think it's best to go back and check once."

Kael opened the door and stepped into the hallway. The inn was quiet—eerily so. Floorboards creaked under his weight as he crept down the hall.

But then, he heard soft steps from above.

*Tap* Tap* Tap*

He paused at the stairwell and instinctively turned his head toward the stairs.

Descending from the upper floor was Shiera, a cloak wrapped over her shoulders. Her silver hair was slightly tousled, and her expression seemed tense.

When she looked down, her eyes fell on Kael, and she froze in her path for a moment. "Kael?"

Shiera narrowed her eyes at Kael, folding her arms as they stood in the dimly lit stairwell. "Where do you think you're sneaking off to?" she asked suspiciously.

Kael tilted his head, one brow arched. "I could ask the same about you."

She clicked her tongue. "Don't try to evade the question. Are you sneaking off to a brothel or something?" After a beat of silence, she added. "If you are, I'll report to my sisters."

Kael chuckled at her assumption, which is far from the truth. "Relax. I'm not chasing skirts. I was heading back to that undead-infested town. I... need to check something."

That caught her off guard. "Why?" she asked, eyebrows drawing together. "Wait—do you think that Grandlich you encountered... might return?"

Kael's surprise was clear. "You thought that, too?"

She didn't reply, but her posture straightened slightly.

"Yes," he said seriously. "Something about that scene still bothers me. The Grandlich was still in the graveyard when the undead attack began at night. That's suicide for any necromancer unless they have a reason. Most importantly, it seemed like he was doing nothing, as if he was a guard or something."

Shiera glanced toward the window where moonlight leaked in, thoughtful. "Yeah, I too thought the same and was about to check my curiosity." Then her eyes turned sharp, her arms crossed as she questioned his motives. "But why were you going? I mean, you're not even a frontline warrior, and neither are you any detective. Why take the risk?"

"Because I'm curious and I can't sleep," Kael said in a casual tone. "And it is not really a risk because I have Sith. I won't be alone."

There was a beat of silence and they stared at each other.

Then Shiera exhaled and nodded. "Fine. Let's go together. I was planning to head there anyway."

A few moments later;

Kael raised his hand and summoned Ignis. Its hooves struck the cobblestone with a blast of heat and flame, lighting up the street in a flare.

Its crimson wings flared out majestically, the heat causing nearby lanterns to flicker.

Kael turned to Shiera, holding out his hand. "Would you like a ride? It's faster on Ignis."

She looked at him for a second with an unreadable expression.

Then she walked past his hand and nimbly hopped up behind the saddle in one fluid motion, not bothering to use his help. Her cloak fluttered as she settled behind him, arms crossed, posture upright.

This time, the Pegasus didn't reject her.

Kael blinked for a moment, wondering why. It rejected Alice, but is fine with Sith and Shiera?

Maybe it is because Sith is connected to him by contract, and Ignis was intelligent enough to know that Shiera is his wife. That's why?

Earlier in the afternoon, he asked the Pegasus the same question. But Ignis didn't have the answer. It merely replied to him that it is its intuition.

Regardless, he knew that this wasn't the time to ponder.

Putting away his thoughts, he grabbed onto the pegasus's mane near its neck and leaned forward. The creature let out a soft whinny and kicked off the ground with explosive force, launching itself into the night sky.

An hour later;

The night wind brushed past their cheeks as Ignis glided silently through the air. Beneath them lay the town that had, mere hours ago, drowned in waves of undead.

Shiera squinted at the settlement below, her brows tightening. "For a place that just went through a full-blown undead invasion... it looks oddly peaceful."

Kael leaned forward, scanning the streets. Not a flicker of flame. No sign of battle. Not even patrols.

"Shouldn't the army be here by now?" he murmured. "Where are the guards? Did the Palace evacuate the survivors or something?"

Shiera shook her head, her voice firm. "No. The palace hasn't issued any evacuation orders. And…" she closed her eyes briefly, focusing… "I can feel the presence of lives, hundreds of them in homes."

Kael's expression darkened. "Then why is it so quiet…? And without any protection?"

They passed over rooftops and glided down toward the cemetery at the edge of the town, the same place where the Grandlich was last seen.

A faint mist still lingered there with mounds and holes everywhere.

But that is not what attracted their attention. It is the presence of a lone silhouette near the statue at the center of the graveyard.

It was some cloaked person, her aura seemingly enveloped over the statue.

Kael narrowed his eyes. "Is that…"

From the sky, he called out, "Alice!"

Startled, the woman looked up, spotting Kael, "Eh? Kael?"

Shiera, without waiting, leapt off the pegasus before it even touched down. Her boots hit the ground with a controlled thud, her sword already half-drawn.

"What are you doing here, Alice?" she asked, voice sharp. "I knew that you were suspicious from the moment we met. Step away from the statue, right now!" She warned.

Alice's facial expression suddenly changed to a frown. "Can you please take that thing away from my face?" She said, seemingly displeased.

"As if…" Shiera charged forward with the sword.

"Wait…" Kael shouted from the sky, but Shiera didn't stop and swung her sword after reaching her.

Alice immediately blocked her sword with a dagger, which she swiftly took out from god-knows where.

*Clang*

"Wait… Easy there, ladies." Kael shouted again, landing nearby.