Chương 10: CHAPTER 9: THE EXILE AND THE CURSE

The grand courtyard of the High Lord's manor was trapped in a suffocating, heavy dread by the time the midday sun reached its peak. The silent, ruthless investigation launched by Master Harukant and Commander Vikrama-Zin had torn through the household infrastructure within six hours.

Backed by the precise toxicological evidence I had pointed out at the bedside, the guards had locked down every single entrance, checking the logs, the storage rooms, and the private quarters of every high-ranking member of the inner estate. They didn't just find a paper trail. Hidden deep within a velvet-lined jewelry compartment in the private quarters of the High Lord's own cousin—Lord Rajuro Ryuma—was a half-empty vial of the exact Viper-Serum Nightshade Extract I had drained from the Lord's hepatic veins.

The treason charges were too massive to cover up, and the evidence was absolute. Rajuro had orchestrated the entire plot, bribing a senior kitchen servant to lace Lord Kaelen's evening tea over the course of three weeks, slowly building up the toxic load until the final critical collapse. His goal was simple: with Lord Kaelen dead and no direct lineage left, the coveted seat of the manor would fall entirely into his hands.

Now, the plaza was lined with ranks of heavily armored soldiers, their steel halberds reflecting the harsh sunlight. A heavy, iron-reinforced prisoner cart sat in the center of the stone square, its rusted bars looking like a grim cage meant for common beasts. Every single servant, merchant clerk, and local auxiliary had been gathered along the perimeter to witness the fall of a high nobleman.

I stood near the back of the crowd, my hands casually tucked into the wide sleeves of my shortened hemp Yukata, slouched down to look as small and insignificant as possible. Jax and Kiran stood right beside me, their bodies tense as they watched the inner doors throw open.

"Move! Traitorous swine!" Commander Vikrama-Zin's voice boomed across the plaza, heavy with absolute disgust. Two elite guards marched out, dragging a man between them. It was Lord Rajuro Ryuma. His fine, embroidered silk robes were torn and covered in courtyard dirt, his long noble topknot completely severed, and his hair falling in matted, sweat-stained strands over his pale face. Wrapped tightly around his forearms and torso were heavy, black iron runic chains.' Baap re! (My goodness!)' I thought, my eyes tracking the subtle glow of the metal.' Inhone toh sach mein iska tamasha bana diya (They have truly made an absolute circus out of him) My HUD was already showing a massive localized energy drain.

[SYSTEM: TARGET STATUS — MANA CORE BLOCKADE ACTIVE] [RUNIC EFFECT: FORCED INTEGRAL LEAKAGE / ACUTE SYSTEMIC EXHAUSTION] The sealing runes on the iron chains were physically constricting his energetic pathways, crushing his internal mana fluidity and leaving him with barely enough strength to drag his feet. Every step he took against the stone ground looked like pure torture, his breath hitching in a desperate, ragged wheeze.

"Lord Rajuro Ryuma," Master Harukant announced, standing on the elevated marble terrace with an official imperial scroll held tight in his hands. His voice carried the cold, unyielding weight of territorial law.

"For the crime of high treason, attempted murder of the seat, and illegal biological tampering via forbidden alchemical toxins, your status is hereby permanently stripped. Your lineage is erased from the ledger. You are sentenced to immediate, permanent exile to the frozen northern border wastes. If your shadow touches this district again, the execution order will trigger automatically." This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

A heavy murmur ran through the crowd of commoners. Stripping a nobleman of his core and throwing him into the northern wastes was effectively a slow death sentence.

"I was framed! Kaelen is a weak fool! This manor belongs to my line!" Rajuro screamed, his voice cracking into a manic, high-pitched screech as the guards shoved him toward the iron steps of the prisoner cart. He thrashed against the runic chains, the metal clanking like a death knell against the wood. The guards didn't care. They lifted his bound body and brutally hurled him straight into the iron cage, slamming the heavy reinforced door shut with a loud, metallic crash. The lock clicked into place.

Rajuro scrambled to his knees inside the soiled straw of the cart, his hands gripping the rusted bars. His face was a mask of pure, unadulterated venom as he spat blood onto the floor. He began to scan the crowded perimeter, his bloodshot, wild eyes sweeping past the servants, past the soldiers—and then, they locked directly onto me. He recognized my clothes. He recognized the fifteen-year-old kid who had ruined his three-week plot in less than three minutes.

His expression twisted into something monstrous, his teeth baring as he slammed his chained forearms against the iron bars, shaking the entire wooden chassis of the cart." You will not escape, peasant!" Rajuro screamed at the top of his lungs, his gaze drilling straight into my eyes beneath my bangs.

"You think you won?! You think you can just walk away after crossing my bloodline?! They'll come searching for you to the very gates of hell! I have made a death contract with them... you hear me, you nameless rat?! You want to know who is coming for your flesh?! They are the... the Howling Shadow!" The moment that specific name echoed across the stone courtyard, a sudden, suffocating wave of pure, instinctual terror slammed into the entire plaza.

It was as if the ambient temperature of the area had instantly dropped by ten degrees. Commander Vikrama-Zin froze completely solid, his hand tightening so hard against his longsword hilt that his leather glove creaked. Old Master Harukant gasped, his face draining of every single drop of color as the official parchment ledger slipped straight from his trembling fingers, splashing into the mud below.

The elite soldiers flanking the cart instantly stiffened into stone statues, their eyes widening in pure, unmitigated horror as they instinctively looked toward the surrounding rooftops.' Howling Shadow? Yeh ab kya naya nautanki hai? (What kind of new drama is this now?) I thought, blinking blankly from the back of the crowd.' Some kind of local street gang or a cliché edgelord club? Why is everyone acting like the grim reaper just walked into the ward?'

Internally, I was completely calm and utterly clueless. To a modern cardiothoracic surgeon from Delhi, fantasy underworld names held absolutely zero weight.' Ek toh dhoop mein khade-khade mera kandha dukh raha hai, aur inhein naye drama script ki padi hai (My shoulder is aching from standing out here in the sun, and they are worried about a new drama script).' But before Rajuro could utter another syllable or explain the mechanics of the contract, his voice was violently cut off by a wet, choking sound.

"Gah... ugh..." Rajuro gasped, his eyes suddenly rolling back until only the whites were visible. Right before our eyes, the veins along his neck and throat violently expanded, turning a dark, ink-black color. The black lines pulsed macroscopically beneath his skin like writhing parasites, spreading upward toward his temples and down his chest.' Acute vascular rupture,' my clinical brain instantly noted, my eyes tracking the rapid internal pressure spike.' Vascular wall integrity is completely disintegrating.'

A muffled, wet pop echoed from inside his throat. Rajuro's grip on the iron bars loosened, and his body slumped forward like a broken doll, his head slamming against the rusted iron before he slid down into the blood-stained straw of the cage. He was dead before his torso hit the bottom of the cart.

[SYSTEM: COMPULSORY SOUL-BIND CONTRACT ENFORCEMENT DETECTED] [TRIGGER: BREACH OF CONFIDENTIALITY CLAUSE / UNFULFILLED OUTCOME] [TARGET LIFE SIGNS: TERMINATED VIA INTERNAL INTEGRAL CURSE BACKLASH] The silence that followed was heavy, cold, and absolutely terrifying. Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. The death contract had triggered its ultimate penalty for speaking the organization's name aloud—and though the cousin was gone, the unfulfilled contract was now alive.

The Howling Shadow had been unleashed, and their target was an independent auxiliary named Shin.