On the sea, the domain where the Serpent Family could exert their true power.
“No, just how far did she drag me?”
Sien also possessed a body that far exceeded the swimming abilities of an ordinary person, but that was only when compared to other humans. He was no match for those who lived freely in the water from the start.
Just as he thought he had been swimming underwater for a moment, led by Lady Marine’s hand, he found himself in the middle of the vast, open ocean.
The dark, black sea. Beneath the surface, the cold starlight poured down. The endless night sea in which Sien was submerged felt as ominous as a monster’s maw.
‘Dead men tell no tales.’
Unconsciously, the family motto of the Serpent Family, who used the Great Sea Serpent as their emblem, came to mind. At first glance, it was a phrase that felt more like something an assassin of the Nightwalker Family should use as a motto.
It did not take long for him to understand the meaning behind those words.
*Gasp!*
Suddenly, as if the ground beneath his feet had collapsed, Sien sank deeper into the water. A ridiculous strength, unimaginable for a 17-year-old girl, was snatching his feet and dragging him down as if a whale were pulling a man.
Those who die in the sea have no words. Even Sien could not be an exception.
Therefore, even as he sank endlessly, Sien did not panic and adjusted his grip on his sword hilt. He swung the blade toward Marine, who was clutching his ankle.
‘My body doesn’t move as I want because I’m underwater.’
His body felt heavy. No matter how skilled Sien was, it was impossible for an attack to land in this environment.
‘Well, I don’t have much of a choice here—’
Sien extended his arm while rotating the mana throughout his entire body.
*Crackle!*
Underwater, a sharp current of electricity radiated outward, centered on Sien. It was not even a simple 1st-tier spell.
4th-tier lightning magic! Lightning Storm.
It was, quite literally, a storm of lightning raging beneath the surface.
“!”
Using a lightning spell of this scale underwater was practically a suicidal act. However, without such a suicidal move, there was no way to escape the “monster” before his eyes.
A pain sharp enough to kill swallowed Sien.
‘This is why some crazy bastards get addicted to lightning magic.’
At the same time, Lady Marine, who had been swimming around Sien, released a burst of bubbles. She also appeared to be struggling against the unimaginable pain, but in either case, there was no speaking underwater.
‘Now.’
Leaving the pain of electroocution behind, he quickly swam toward the surface and broke through.
*Splash.*
Upon the empty, vast ocean, he literally stepped out onto the water.
Underwater was their territory. No matter how strong Sien was, it was impossible for a human to fight a member of the Serpent Family in a submerged battle.
But he didn’t need to.
Sien was no longer inside the sea.
Planting both feet as if drawing ripples on the water’s surface, Sien readjusted his grip on his sword.
First form of the technique: Water Walking.
On top of the sea, the assassin of the Nightwalker Family took his stance.
Similarly, Lady Marine, who had been silent beneath the sea, revealed herself. Without any steam or anything to hide her, she flaunted her human upper body without a single thread of clothing under the pouring moonlight.
“I like the night sky when looking up from here,” Marine said. “On land, no matter how many stars pour down, the world doesn’t shine.”
The sea was different.
The distorted moon in the sky and the sparsely scattered stars were pouring out light as if they were shattering. Every time they did, the night sky, breaking apart, overlapped with the sea and scattered light like a world of stars.
The moon reflected in the water, the Water Moon.
Sien was walking upon that reflected moon.
“He who walks the night…”
Marine unconsciously muttered their alias as she watched Sien.
“Surely you aren’t going to say this is the end?” Sien asked, standing firmly upon the night sky.
“Of course not,” Marine replied, her legs hidden beneath the dark sea. “This is my domain.”
At that moment, a chilling frost raced along the night sea where Sien stood.
*K-ching!*
The seawater around Sien’s feet surged upward like skewers. In an instant, they turned into sharp, frozen spears of ice.
Sien ran across the night sky, evading the ice skewers rushing in from all directions. The distance between them closed in an instant.
*Shiver.*
The Kingslayer held in Sien’s hand was aimed at Marine’s throat.
“Is this all?” Sien asked with a cold voice, pointing the tip of his blade. “At the very least, the skills of the Admiral Rafaello I know weren’t at the level of playing house.”
The opportunity Sien gave her was not simple pity. If Lady Marine had no value, there was no reason for him to take the hand she offered.
“You’re right, it is playing house,” Marine smiled coldly. “I just played along with your game for a bit.”
“What?”
“The fight was already over from the start.”
Sien had thought he was the one playing along with her game. But she said otherwise.
*Twitch.*
Only then did a terrifying chill run down Sien’s spine for the first time. It was enough to make the hair on his body stand on end. The black sea stretching endlessly beneath his feet felt ominous and repulsive, as if he were inside a monster’s mouth.
—It wasn’t an illusion.
*Gurgle.*
“The Serpent That Swallows the Night Sky (Jormungand).”
A voice as transparent and beautiful as a siren’s echoed out. Sien realized it immediately.
‘The Great Familiar of the Serpent Family.’
Beneath this sea, a beast of the deep was opening its jaws. However, it wasn’t the existence of the beast itself that surprised Sien.
‘She can already control a super-sized familiar of this scale at her age?’
The black, ominous night sea stretching out endlessly had not been the sea from the beginning. From the very start, it was a “small lake” inside the open maw of the beast. It was so massive and overwhelming that he hadn’t even realized its mouth was open beneath his feet.
“How about it? Do you want to be swallowed together like this?” Marine asked.
“If that happens, you won’t be safe either.”
“Since I’m going to turn into sea foam anyway, maybe it’s better to be swallowed by this child.”
Marine laughed. Simultaneously, the Sea Serpent, which had been silent beneath the waves, began to show its majesty. Its mouth was so enormous that even after swallowing the entire horizon, the end was nowhere in sight.
“Well, depending on what you do, I might let you live.”
“Let me live?”
Lady Marine smiled and spoke. “You’re still just a kid, after all.”
Looking at her triumphantly, without a doubt in her victory, Sien gave a bitter smile. He was struck by the innocent foolishness of her being so certain that she could force a mutual destruction with an assassin of the Nightwalker Family and gain the upper hand in a deal.
Nevertheless, Sien asked nonchalantly, feigning innocence. “Should I get down on my knees?”
“Swear it on the name of the Star and Dagger.”
“What?”
“—Swear that you will marry me.”
Sien burst out laughing at those words.
“Or, it wouldn’t be bad to be swallowed together like this. It would probably look like a tragedy of a man and a woman who couldn’t be together, right?”
“Wow, you’re really going all out,” Sien replied, dumbfounded. Marine laughed triumphantly at his words, as if she had received a compliment.
“Aren’t you curious about what people will whisper about our deaths?”
“They’ll probably think we’re a tragic couple,” Sien muttered as if it were someone else’s business.
The people of the Nightwalker Family could never have a “family bound by blood.” That was their way. In other words, it also meant they could have as many “families not bound by blood” as they wanted.
Therefore, Sien laughed hollowly. He had never imagined that she, who had once vanished as vainly as sea foam, would possess such ridiculous talent.
He lowered his head.
The moon and stars reflected in the night sea were beneath Sien’s feet. And beneath the night sky he was treading upon, a monster’s maw even larger than that was open wide.
The Serpent That Swallows the Night Sky.
If he made up his mind, escaping this place would be effortless. However, after a moment of thought, he shook his head.
There was no reason to leave. No, rather, this was exactly the conclusion Sien had hoped for.
“Fine, I promise.”
“No, swear it,” Marine replied coldly. “Right here, right now, say that you will take me as your bride.”
To die together or to get married—it was one or the other. It was an utterly absurd situation.
“Did you fall for me?” Sien muttered, exasperated.
***
“You have committed a truly foolish and reckless act.”
That night.
When Sien explained the details of what had happened with Lady Marine, Laila rebuked him in a voice that was uncharacteristically cold.
“I believe it is a matter worth gambling on,” Sien replied, not backing down. Or more accurately, he couldn’t back down. “She has the talent to handle a ‘World Serpent’ that surpasses even Admiral Rafaello.”
“You speak as if you’ve seen Admiral Rafaello’s familiar.”
“You haven’t seen Lady Marine’s familiar either, Mother,” Sien replied boldly.
“Do you like that child that much?” Laila asked him in return as she watched Sien refuse to yield.
The coldness from a moment ago had softened, replaced by a voice filled with even deeper concern.
“I like the possibilities she will show,” Sien answered.
—That was why he gave her an opportunity.
It wasn’t that the people of the Nightwalker Family couldn’t have children; they chose not to. However, when necessary, they would enter into engagements for strategic purposes to build bridges with influential families. Of course, this was under the premise that they would leave no descendants.
In that regard, Lady Marine would be the best partner for Sien.
“Furthermore, our interests align, so there’s no need for unnecessary worry,” Sien added.
A short silence descended.
“Everyone starts out that way,” Laila finally spoke, her voice thick with meaning. “Collaborating and holding hands strategically, for political reasons, and purely for mutual benefit without any emotion… but the human heart is a strange thing.”
“Are you worried I might break the family taboo?”
“That is something I cannot know.”
“My family is everything to me,” Sien said in a deliberately cold voice. “Lady Marine and the Serpent Family are nothing more than cards to be used and discarded for the sake of the family.”
He spoke calmly, without a trace of emotion.
“And for the sake of the family, we need that card.”
“You are truly cold-hearted.”
“It’s for the family.”
“It is never an easy task to unilaterally break an engagement that has already been decided, especially one with the royal family,” Laila said. “Even for me, it is not easy to reverse the Serpent Family’s internal decision and exercise influence. There are significant risks to be borne.”
Laila continued, “Do you still think it’s worth it?”
“Yes,” Sien answered.
“It will be a difficult fight.”
“I’m prepared for it.”
This was not a war fought with spears and swords. In some ways, the political strife between families was even more blood-soaked than such a simple war. No, in a political battle of this scale, even the use of spears and swords could not be ruled out.
After a long silence, Laila gave a bitter smile and spoke.
“I really can’t figure you out,” she said, like a mother who couldn’t overcome her child’s stubbornness.
***
A short while later.
A single letter bearing the Star and Dagger crest of the Nightwalker Family turned the entire Republic upside down.
It was an engagement letter sent by the heir of their family, Sien Nightwalker.
And the recipient of the engagement letter was the daughter of the Serpent Family, who was already scheduled for marriage talks with the Charlemagne Kingdom—Lady Marine.