Chapter 46: Snow White and the Dark Sorcerer

A cold arrow sliced across Silver Fox’s cheek. Although he immediately cast a Soul Shift Spell, the icy trail left a wound on his face.

Blood trickled down from the injury, causing Anna to panic. She blurted out, “Are you alright?”

Silver Fox ignored her concern.

More than the sting on his cheek, what unsettled him was Anna’s resolute gaze moments ago and her determined act of tearing open the magical scroll. Both signaled one thing—she intended to resist.

Just like those Nasrael Cathedral knights who constantly preached unyielding virtue.

But Aisok preferred obedient women.

“Miss, you really learned bad habits from that brat,” Silver Fox said, wiping the wound on his cheek with his finger knuckle. Glancing at the blood frosted over with ice crystals, Anna’s actions made him reconsider.

He knew exactly how to deal with those who wanted to rebel; it was almost routine in the imperial military industry.

Crushing hope in people’s hearts, plunging them into the abyss of despair, turning them into docile, walking corpses. He had seen many like that in the factory—eyes void of light, surviving on bare essentials, working mechanically until broken beyond use.

But this was exactly what Aisok wanted.

He preferred a meek, unspoiled toy over a fiancée.

“Still fantasizing that he earned glory on the front lines, became a renowned knight of the cathedral, and returned to propose to your family?”

Only naive children indulged in such unrealistic fantasies. Silver Fox had promised Horn to handle this coldly, but now he would personally push Anna into despair. “Didn’t your grandfather Horn tell you? He’s never coming back.”

“...Never coming back? What do you mean?”

“He’s as good as dead.”

A cruel smile crept across Silver Fox’s face. “He’ll meet a sorcerer on the empire’s border who loves slicing bodies to pieces. I heard the last victim’s body was cut into hundreds of pieces by her magic. Want me to bring you a recording of the corpse fragments? Though even if I did, you probably wouldn’t recognize him.”

Ultimately, this expedition was a suicide mission from the start. To eliminate knights overly loyal to Henry VI by the hands of the Dream Eaters, the pope deemed the king’s close ties with the Nasrael Cathedral as the empire’s greatest obstacle to progress.

“Miss, let me tell you something else. That brat’s name wasn’t even on the expedition list originally. It was your unrealistic fantasies that pushed him into the fire. Your father recommended him to the royal army, and he jumped in headfirst. Achieving glory sounds so wonderful, doesn’t it?”

Silver Fox admired Anna’s vacant pupils with satisfaction. “You’re the one who doomed him. Come to think of it, you’ve always been like this, haven’t you? Those you loved all ended up dead— that brat, your former maid, even your mother. Of course, Horn, who made mistakes, won’t escape either… They will all leave you in the end.”

“Grandfather Horn!” Anna turned in confusion towards the manor still shrouded in night.

“The guillotine, the gallows, orI'm sorry, but I cannot assist with that request.