The Servant in the Horror Game is Suspicious Chapter 57

Pop—!

The vial shattered, and smoke exploded. A dense, grey cloud instantly filled the first floor.

Having taken the blast right in his face, Jade couldn’t open his eyes. He could only swing his knife blindly. Panic surged through him in an instant. An intruder who might kill both him and Ian was right there, yet he could see absolutely nothing.

It seemed the intruder planned to escape. Given that using a smoke bomb would obscure his own vision and make it difficult to counterattack, he must have used it as a desperate measure.

“Damn it.”

Jade struggled to locate the man. But with his eyes burning and sealed shut, he floundered. He had no idea when the intruder’s blade might plunge into him. Tensing his entire body and holding his breath, he searched for his attacker.

Just as he was straining to detect a single footstep amidst the acrid smoke, the blade of a dagger gleamed within arm’s reach.

“Fireball!”

Jade hurriedly chanted the skill name. With smoke this thick, Ian wouldn’t be able to tell this was Jade’s doing.

Three small sparks of fire flew toward the man. At least one of the three was bound to hit its mark.

“Ugh, gaaah! What is this?!”

The sparks found their target perfectly. The man began to thrash about, letting out a horrific shriek. As he flailed, the flickers of light wavered through the smoke. Jade didn’t miss his chance. He gripped his knife firmly and lunged toward the swaying flames.

“Urgh.”

“Move! You son of a bitch…!”

He missed. Part of it was the intruder’s frantic movements, but Jade’s hand had also slipped. The blade grazed the man, but it only managed to nick the surface of his skin. Jade overshot him and went tumbling across the floor with a heavy thud.

Was it a mistake? No. Two of the three sparks had latched onto the intruder’s arm and leg, making his position clear enough. If Jade hadn’t hesitated for a split second, his blade could have pierced the man’s body.

But he couldn’t do it. He was someone who had never even punched a person, let alone stabbed one. Even though the knife had only grazed the skin, a sickening sensation traveled up through his palm. He simply couldn’t bring himself to drive the blade home.

In a life-or-death situation, did he really want to play the hypocrite? It wasn’t as if he had lived such a saintly life before.

“Pant, pant.”

He was out of breath. It was too much. The breathing, the situation—everything was more than he could handle. But he didn’t even have the luxury to blame himself for being pathetic. The smoke was clearing. This meant the man’s vision was returning as well.

“Shit…”

He heard the intruder panting and cursing. The fire had burned through the man’s clothes and left scorched marks on his skin. Through the thinning smoke, he could see the charred fabric on the man’s arm and leg. The flames died out, leaving behind distorted skin and red marks where the flesh had been seared.

No.

He had felt it when dealing with the ghosts, too—this offensive skill was far too small in scale. To make matters worse, it had a 24-hour cooldown, so he couldn’t use it again. Jade, slumped on the floor, began to scramble backward. How was he supposed to kill a man when he was like this?

“You… you bastard…!”

The intruder let out a sound like a wounded animal. Now that the smoke had cleared, his face was fully visible. A scar running from his ear to his cheek twitched along with his growl.

And Jade’s face was equally exposed. The man easily read the fear etched into Jade’s expression. A sneer of victory flickered across the man’s face.

“Can’t read the room, can you? Huh?”

Spitting on the ground, the man charged violently. Jade tried to steady his knife to defend himself, but his grip lacked strength.

Thud—!

Before he could resist, Jade was knocked onto his back. Even before the pain at the back of his head registered, he felt the heavy weight of someone pinning down his upper body. The man, now straddling Jade, raised his dagger high.

I’m going to die. He could feel it. He was going to meet his end today, right here, at the hands of this intruder.

It was a death less hollow than his first life. But what about Ian? Even on the verge of death, that thought consumed him. Once the man killed Jade, he would go after Ian. Could the boy really escape? He had to make sure Ian got away somehow.

Jade fumbled for the hilt of the knife in his hand. At that moment, the knife slipped from his grasp. It happened in the blink of an eye. Someone snatched the knife from Jade’s hand and slashed the intruder’s Achilles tendon. The movement was so fast that neither Jade nor the intruder realized what had happened at first.

“Aaaagh—! Argh!”

By the time they realized the situation, blood had already begun to spurt. Along with an ear-piercing scream, the floor was instantly stained crimson.

Jade, pushing himself halfway up, turned his head quickly. The moment he saw the identity of the person who had stolen his knife, his face went deathly pale.

“Ian…?”

It was Ian. Ian stood there with a cold glint in his eyes, holding the dripping knife. Jade rushed toward him. The blood spurting from the man’s foot had splashed onto Ian’s pale face.

“Ian…!”

“…”

Holding a kitchen knife nearly as large as his own torso, Ian didn’t say a word. Nothing could be read from his pale face—no emotion, no thought. Ian’s gaze was fixed on the intruder’s other ankle, as if he intended to slash the remaining one as well.

“Give it to me.”

Jade quickly snatched the knife from Ian’s hand. Only then did Ian’s eyes focus on him.

Those eyes, usually like a lake, were now as biting as a fierce blizzard. Jade instinctively flinched. A chill ran down his neck. He needed to say something to Ian, but he couldn’t find the words.

“Aaargh!”

Before he could decide what to say, the man began to flee, limping on one foot. He had to catch him. Jade chased after the intruder. Or rather, he tried to.

Pop—!

The intruder threw another smoke bomb behind him. The same dense smoke filled the air, but this time it was even more acrid.

Jade immediately pulled Ian into an embrace. To keep Ian from inhaling the smoke, he supported the boy’s body with one arm and pressed the back of his head into his chest with the other, holding him tight.

“Cough, cough, wheeze…!”

As a result, Jade took the brunt of the stinging smoke. With his eyes shut tight, Jade coughed his way out of the villa. Grey ash mixed with his saliva as he gasped. Once outside, he was finally able to open his eyes.

“Dammit!”

The intruder had already mounted his horse and was starting to gallop away. The startled horse let out a loud whinny as it sped off. He couldn’t give chase. The man was already riding like a madman, and Ian and Jade had no means of transport.

“Hah, hah…”

Jade let out a hollow, exhausted breath. He had lost him.

He had been off-guard, but so had the intruder. It was natural, given the man thought he’d be working with Jade to handle a single child. Even with such an easy target, Jade had failed. It was because of that momentary hesitation. He should have aimed for the kill the moment he had the chance, but he couldn’t do it.

The intruder would return to the Linwood estate and report what had happened. Malderic wouldn’t let Jade go after being betrayed. Most of all… since the plan had failed, he would come back with a more certain way to kill Ian.

This was never part of Ian’s original growth process. Because he had let that intruder escape, more hardships might fall upon Ian.

“Oh, right.”

Jade looked down at Ian. Ian had snatched Jade’s knife and slashed a grown man’s ankle. And he was covered in that blood. This was not a situation a young child should ever experience.

Ian’s face, which was unnervingly numb, troubled him. But Ian must have been shocked, too. It was simply an instinctive act of survival. Jade tried to brainwash himself into believing that.

“Ian, are you okay?”

Ian was covered in blood. It looked even worse now that they were outside. The hand that had held the knife was splattered up to the forearm, and his clothes and face were dotted with stains as well.

Jade used his own sleeve to wipe the blood from Ian’s face first. For some reason, his hands were trembling uncontrollably.

“The hat…”

Ian, having taken off his hat, murmured softly. The hat Jade had bought and placed on him was also splattered with blood. Ian tried to rub the bloodstains off with his palm, but because the hat was made of a soft material, the blood only smeared further.

“I’m just glad it didn’t get in your hair.”

“…”

Jade said that, but Ian felt a deep sense of regret that his hat was ruined. If he could have cut off a handful of his own hair to make the hat clean again, he would have.

“It was a winter hat anyway. You can buy another one next winter.”

“I like this hat.”

“You can buy the same one. They’ll be selling it next year, too.”

“No. I…”

Even if he bought the same hat, it wouldn’t be this one. He could just ask Jade to go to the village and buy it for him again next year, but strangely, he felt a profound attachment to this specific hat Jade had picked out.

“…”

Ian lifted his head, his gaze shifting to Jade’s shoulder. The wound where the throwing star had struck had opened slightly, and the blood seeping out was soaking into his clothes.

The moment he had seen Jade hit by the star, his vision had turned red. It was as if his entire sight was stained with the blood flowing from the man’s body; he could see nothing but Jade’s wound. Even now, every object and piece of scenery before him seemed to have a crimson hue.

That was why he had snatched the knife and swung it.

“I’m fine.”

When Ian’s gaze wouldn’t leave his shoulder, Jade scratched his temple awkwardly.

“…”

Ian’s lips trembled. It was not fine. A murderous intent was boiling within him, his stomach was turning, and his hands were shaking. He should have killed that man. If Jade hadn’t been watching, he would have. If he wasn’t as young as he was now, he wouldn’t have let the fleeing man escape.

Jade had turned pale just because Ian swung a knife once. But Ian himself felt nothing. A subhuman wretch like that didn’t matter if he died. He could have slashed him dozens, hundreds of times more. Slash him? If the man were still in front of him, he might have severed his arms entirely.

Drip. Drip.

Blood fell from Jade’s shoulder. Ian’s expression contorted. He couldn’t understand the turbulent emotions he was feeling. His mind felt like it was going to explode with the mess of feelings.

“Are you… okay?”

Ian parted his lips and barely managed to ask.

His voice wouldn’t come out right. It was a voice so desperate that anyone watching would have mistaken it for Ian being the one injured, not Jade.