I Still Prefer Your Defiant Attitude

Seized by a group of Shadowkhan soldiers like a prisoner being sent to the execution ground, the girl looked up.

Her expression was filled with grief.

In her field of vision, the woman named Rita had already been taken down and was being carried over some bastard's shoulder.

Though her face was obscured by her fallen hair, Kiana could imagine that the pretty face beneath those strands probably did not look very peaceful.

She was done for.

Kiana felt more desolate than ever before.

As someone disappointed in love, Miss Kiana harbored immense resentment toward a certain victor.

That guy had no class at all.

Even after winning, he had no sense of grace, toying with her as though she were a monkey.

Still, he did not seem all that strong, so when Rita decided to help, her mood naturally soared to its highest point of the year.

But who would have thought—

Rita, your power creep hit you way too fast!!!

Kiana felt as though her eyes were beginning to sting with tears.

Weren't you supposed to be one of Schicksal's top three experts?

How were there already two people in Changkong City who could beat you senseless?!!

"Hey, how have you been lately, my adorable Kiana?"

"Have you missed your big brother?"

The tone and words were remarkably gentle, but coming out of Russell's dog mouth, they became nothing but mockery.

"Kill me or torture me. Do whatever you want."

Kiana turned her head away, unable to bear looking at that detestable face again.

At that, the boy sighed as though he had suffered some deeply troubling loss.

"What I mean is, you really should call me big brother."

"Could you show a little respect for your elder?"

Kiana rolled her eyes at that. Not a single word out of Russell's mouth could be trusted.

Ah...

Looks like she was not that easy to fool anymore.

Russell blinked, then, under Kiana's shocked gaze, pressed his mouth close to Rita's ear.

"Lord Durandal was swept away by a man. The Blade of Immortality is going to disband..."

"Ah???"

A scream rang straight into the sky.

Rita, who had looked so peaceful before, suddenly looked anything but peaceful. She nearly slipped off Russell's shoulder in an instant, crashed onto the ground, then hurriedly got up and looked around in panic.

Not a trace remained of her usual alluring composure. All that was left was panic and confusion.

Where had this airheaded beauty come from?!!

Kiana wanted to cover her face.

Had lard clouded her brain back then? Why had she brought this idiot along to pick a fight with Russell?

"Hey, long time no see, Rita."

The boy smiled as he greeted a certain S-rank fighter.

"How have you been lately?"

Rita: "..."

Did I look like I had been doing well?

"What do you need from me?"

Still, as Schicksal's number one assassin, Maid Miss Rita quickly regained her usual calm.

She had not been thrown directly into prison and was even still standing where she had been.

That clearly was not how kidnappers behaved. Considering the gap in strength between Schicksal and Anti-Entropy, she roughly understood what was happening.

Anti-Entropy wanted something from her.

But the declining Anti-Entropy clearly lacked the qualifications to negotiate with the current Schicksal, so they needed to demonstrate their strength first.

"No, I just need you to testify for me, so a certain junior will stop entertaining thoughts of defying her elder."

The boy's gaze shifted slightly, and he looked at Kiana as though she were a foolish little sister.

Rita: "..."

She felt that the atmosphere was somehow not quite right.

But when she saw a certain orca carrying over a chair, she obediently nodded.

"Durandal has a godfather, right?"

He dropped a bombshell the moment he opened his mouth.

Rita's pupils contracted sharply.

Lord Durandal had a godfather who remained obsessed with her mother.

Lord Durandal had told her about that not long ago.

That man knew Schicksal extremely well. He was suspected to be Lord Cecilia's sworn younger brother and seemed very familiar with Lord Bishop.

Rita had tried to investigate that man.

But no matter how she investigated, she found nothing.

Yet Lord Durandal had clearly confirmed that such a person truly existed...

"Why do you know about this?"

Rita's expression became increasingly grave.

Within Schicksal, only Durandal, herself, and Kiana should have known that information.

"Nonsense. He's my adoptive father."

The boy said it flatly.

What the hell?!!

Even Rita could not help widening her eyes.

Wait.

Let me sort this out.

Durandal's godfather was Lord Cecilia's sworn younger brother.

Russell was supposedly that godfather's adopted son.

That meant Russell was actually Durandal's cousin, or her sworn older brother?

What?!!

This guy was my brother-in-law too?

Maid Miss Rita's delicate body trembled.

At the same time, Kiana's delicate body trembled as well. She felt as though she had heard something similar somewhere before.

As her memories resurfaced, the girl's beautiful face twisted into a savage expression.

She remembered.

It was from when she had been worked like a draft animal!!

"Rita, wake up! This guy is a compulsive liar. You can't believe a single word that comes out of his mouth!!"

Kiana growled.

As Skadi watched with a somewhat strange expression, the boy sighed, then actually pinched Kiana's cheeks like an older brother teasing his younger sister.

"Is it really that difficult to admit I'm your big brother?"

Kiana wanted nothing more than to bite off Russell's fingers.

But after seeing at least three hundred Shadowkhan Ninja standing nearby, she forcibly held herself back.

"...You must be joking."

"Blood relations cannot be proven with just a few words."

Rita instantly calmed down as well.

This guy was merely claiming to be her elder brother-in-law. Given how Kiana had been toyed with, Russell was indeed quite likely to be running a scam.

The boy did not get angry. Amid Kiana's utterly humiliated expression, he simply continued kneading her wonderfully soft cheeks.

"Durandal met her godfather on the day I went to Vienna, right?"

It was an exceptionally accurate answer.

Rita's expression instantly turned solemn.

This was an extremely trivial detail. Even a spy would find it difficult to uncover.

"But that still isn't enough."

Rita continued questioning him.

"If that man wasn't fooling me, what he mentioned should have included, but not been limited to, Kiana, Otto's schemes, the truth behind Cecilia's death. Of course, based on my understanding of that old bastard, he probably glossed over Otto's Herrscher Experiment, because he hoped Otto's experiment would succeed... and didn't want Durandal digging too deeply into it."

The boy pondered for a moment before speaking.

"If you want to ask about more minute details, we'll need to find somewhere without anyone around. Some things aren't suitable to discuss in front of this hot-blooded idiot."

As he said that, the boy's expression seemed to carry a trace of displeasure.

After all—

Those matters were genuine darkness.

Even Rita could not help sighing.

Instinctively, she studied Russell's face. Those ice-blue eyes seemed especially similar to Durandal's...

Blood relatives?

"Stop staring. Durandal and I couldn't possibly look alike, because we don't share even the slightest blood relation."

The boy answered irritably.

"If there were even a little blood relation between us, my adoptive father wouldn't be going on about Cecilia every day."

Rita immediately looked embarrassed.

Trying to find common traits between sworn siblings really was rather absurd.

"Anything else you want to ask?"

The boy raised an eyebrow.

Rita hesitated. Under Kiana's life-questioning gaze, the beauty cautiously asked,

"So... are you really Lord Durandal's older brother?"

I Still Prefer Your Defiant Look

"You tell me."

The boy answered irritably.

He clapped his hands. The shadows around them receded, and the Shadowkhan Army, which could have turned Rita directly into Rita paste, vanished along with them.