"We have to go in and see whether our Archon is safe."
"Lord Viktor will not harm your Archon. You can piss off now."
"Oh? I don't think so."
Outside the hideout, Aray's Conspiracy Cabal faced off against Viktor's guards.
Both sides stood ready to draw blood.
Friction between Conspiracy Cabals was no great matter. Even someone daring to draw a blade against the cabal of the ruler of Dark City was no great matter.
After daggers and poison had replaced bloodline and gifted authority, Commorragh had developed a set of rules that everyone silently followed.
One of them was that unless someone directly offended Viktor himself, Viktor would not kill a member of a cabal that had offended him.
After all, it was hard to say whether certain people in Viktor's cabal were loyal to him, or whether Viktor wanted to use someone else's knife to kill them.
"That's enough, Salo."
A cool voice entered everyone's ears alongside the creak of the opening doors.
Then Aray emerged from within, perfectly unharmed. The doors promptly shut behind her, leaving Viktor alone inside the hideout.
When the warriors of Aray's Conspiracy Cabal saw that their Archon was unharmed, they were all deeply shocked.
Aray's collusion with the humans was an indisputable fact.
Since Viktor had summoned Aray away alone, he must have intended to do something...
"I was merely given some instructions regarding defense." Aray walked forward as if nothing had happened.
The members of the Conspiracy Cabal left with Aray, leaving the Overlord's guards staring at one another in confusion over why Viktor had not acted against her.
Once they had left the hideout, Aray's lieutenant, Salo, could not help asking, "Archon... I thought Viktor would kill you."
"He won't. He won't kill me." Aray shook her head.
No