Chapter 112: The face behind the Mask
Glug!
Viscount Rayko dragged out his hand and jerked it to shake the blood off.
Blood and flesh dangled down from the deep wound in Tomiv''s stomach and the see-through hole in Trifon''s chest. Behind Tomiv, the speechless Berb tried to sit up, but roses nailed down his hands and legs to the ground.
Thump!
Tomiv faltered back a step and Trifon''s knees hit the ground. The collision made him vomit out even more blood from his mouth and nose. Trifon barely turned his head, and probably could only see Rayko''s blurry image from the periphery as he asked.
"Wh Why?"
The same question had been ravaging Tomiv''s mind while he tried to bring all his strength and lunge at Rayko. But his sight blurred suddenly and the upright images felt reversed in his mind. The earth felt like it had be the sky while the sky seemed toe down.
Tomiv looked at the wound in his stomach and saw a green tinge mixed in his blood. He felt an itch in his eyes, and with the minimal Perception he could use, he saw a green tinge in the red blood vessels.
"HAHA HAHAHAHA AAA!"
The strange bursts ofughter made it impossible to distinguish if Viscount Rayko wasughing or crying. Tomiv slumped down with his back on the ground, as he couldn''t remain standing with his broken breathing. He couldn''t see the stars and spotless moon, but he could hear the words of Viscount Rayko as clear as the growls of the annihted Devil.
*
"Why? I am amazed that with your intelligence you couldn''t guess the reason. The world doesn''t know, but I know what you are."
Viscount Rayko circled the kneeled Trifon and looked him in the eye. The mockery on his face couldn''t hide the look of the greed of the beast hidden deep in his eyes.
"Whyyy?"
Trifon stretched out the question again through his gritted teeth.
"ASK YOUR FATHER! Humph! Who went to the Gctic War while he had yet to be a Dreamer? Who saw his little brother bing a Count backed by the House? And who saw his nephew proimed as genius and heir to the Head''s chair?"
Huff! Huff!
The pale face of Viscount Rayko after the use of the Skill interrupted him from shouting without stopping to catch a breath. It would be an understatement to say that the look on Rayko''s face was ghastly. Hate, buried deep for decades, came bursting out of his popped-out eyes and ring nostrils.
"Jus Just for that?"
Trifon''s words made the riled-up beast within Rayko even crazier. He clenched his teeth and approached the dying Trifon.
"Just for that, you say? You You motherfucker!"
Bang!
Rayko kicked Trifon''s face, sending him rolling over the dust. But the tenacity of the young Viscount shocked Rayko as he saw Trifon instantly sitting up and dragging his body towards him.
"You.. think father won''t get to know?"
"Haha! Your father is already being taken care of. Do you know why I never married? Because I didn''t want them to see this bloodshed, which was bound to happen. After the death of you and your father, I would establish a new House Venomous Rose."
"You dared to plot with other Houses against your own family?"
Viscount Rayko put his feet on the Trifon''s head, who had managed to drag his body up to Rayko. The older Viscount looked at Tomiv with green and redness in his blue eyes, and then at the starry night. He put pressure on his feet and rubbed Trifon''s face on the ground.
"See? What did I tell you? A genius, my nephew. What family? I could ept your father being the Head as the circumstances demanded it at that time. But you? They didn''t even ask me before naming you heir and that too just after a young cunt like you bing a Dreamer."
"The. Ancient Oracle would know of this"
For the first time, the expression of triumph on Rayko''s face turned to fear. He wetted his dry throat and licked his lips and said, assuring and pacifying himself.
"The Ancient Oracle had already prophesied about the Darkling here. She won''t be able to do another prophecy soon. Also, the prophecy had turned out to be a false one, and it would have serious consequences on her."
Viscount Rayko looked at the traces of Ellington''s body parts and said.
"We knew one of the Houses in the Kingdom of Divine Beast also has an Ancient Oracle. So it is House Firebird, huh!"
The blood under Trifon had already made a pool. Even the hole in his chest felt drier. Using hisst ounce of strength, Trifon looked up, lifting Rayko''s feet.
"The and Kingdom... won''t ept you!"
Bang!
Rayko mmed back Trifon''s head on the ground, crushing it to a bloody paste.
"They will when I will tell them how valiantly you had fought with a Devil and made me the next Head at yourst breath."
HAHAHAHA!
p!
Viscount Rayko wasughing hysterically with his arms stretched outwards when he heard a pping sound.
pp!!
The sound felting closer and closer, but even with his Perception, he couldn''t sense anybody near him.
ppp!!!
The final p made Viscount Rayko snap his head towards Tomiv and saw a man standing over him, with a red rose mask on his face.
"Recordless?"
"Uncle, one out of the two things that you got wrong is that the Ancient Oracle had never prophesied about a Darkling."
The Recordless took off his mask as he addressed Viscount Rayko. The handsome face of Trifon, covered with strands of red hair, was spotless. Trifon nudged the sses on his face and crouched down on Tomiv and sucked out greenish vapor. The body under Rayko''s feet had already turned into petals of roses.
"Imposs A Viscount level Rose Clone."
Rayko, still dumbfounded by Trifon''s appearance, bbered nonsensically.
"The other thing you got wrong is that I am not a genius."
Rayko almost fell back, and his mind got hammered by the sudden urge to ask a ridiculous question.
"You You talk like you have spoken to The Ancient Oracle. But only a Count can"
The smile on Trifon''s face cut short Rayko''s words. Only two people knew of his real personality, strength, and curse. Trifon nudged his sses and said.
"Being a genius is hard, but even harder is pretending like one."
Meet the Heir of House Venomous Rose, Count Trifon Goranov , The Great Pretender.