Noble Lady Reformation Guide - Chapter 137: 4-star (2)

Crash! Bang!

“Ugh!”

When the Grand Duke Beltus slapped the legal officer, the elderly high official fell backward, gasping for air.

It happened when Denise had gone to her father’s office to pay her respects.

At that time, Denise was just over ten years old.

The legal officer Alderek had reported on the horrors of the famine in a village on the outskirts of the Beltus domain and insisted that the residents’ taxes in that area should be reduced that year.

“My lord, our duty is to protect the people. If we continue like this, we’ll be no different from murderers.”

Murmuring such words while holding his head, the old servant was trampled by Grand Duke Beltus until he was covered in bruises and blood.

“How dare you call me a murderer?”

Grand Duke Beltus despised subordinates who did not obey his orders, so it was no surprise that Alderek soon disappeared from the family.

Even now, Denise did not know what fate befell the old legal officer, who had a family to support and was already too old to fend for himself.

Since then, the immense power of Beltus had seemed to Denise like a current—or a wall—impossible to overcome.

The noble lineage that had made Denise a distinguished young lady often became a weight that oppressed its members.

Luxurious frilled dresses, pretty ornaments, the admiring gazes of servants, delicious food and the scent of perfumed candles, a beautiful garden filled with fresh plants and the songs of birds.

The naïve girl thought to herself—

Born as a daughter of Beltus and raised in luxury, she had to bear the responsibility that came with it.

However, upon entering the social circles of Ebelstein, that thought began to fade little by little.

The physical distance from the main Beltus estate was considerable, and the atmosphere in that land of opportunity was completely free.

The mansion built solely for her was always quiet and serene, making it a comfortable place.

As if sinking into a soft bed, she became completely absorbed in the peaceful atmosphere of Ebelstein.

She thought that, as long as she could stay there forever, without worrying about worldly problems or enduring external pressures, that would be enough.

For that reason, she had little interest in the changing trends of Ebelstein’s social circles and no ambition in the struggle for her family’s succession of power.

She simply liked things to remain as they were.

In the corner of a room where sunlight didn’t reach, occasionally playing with a quill or pretending to work—living like that, letting time pass, didn’t seem so bad.

However, even while thinking so, she had already unconsciously understood that such ambiguous and temporary peace was nothing more than a fleeting moment.

Grand Duke Beltus, one way or another, would try to take advantage of Denise, who had taken root in Ebelstein’s social circles.

One way or another, it would all end in her being used or betrayed.

She knew well that endlessly shutting herself away, blinded by that superficial peace, would not bring a good end.

That was why, the more she sank into that serenity, the deeper she fell into laziness and indolence.

Doing everything halfheartedly, without ambition, merely observing others’ reactions.

She accepted living like a corpse in that comfortable cradle.

However, as if mocking such resignation, someone appeared who destroyed it all.

A man who came as a teacher pulled Denise out of her room to make her jog in the mornings, forced her to study magic books through the night, brought Diella to stimulate her competitive spirit, read without permission the novels she had secretly written, gathered the servants, somehow reignited her passion for magic, and finally kicked her out of that cradle.

Throughout that entire process, he felt neither fear nor hesitation, having lived his whole life as a commoner from the lowest strata.

That man, who had lived a life full of hardship, seemed to speak directly to Denise, who lived running away, immersed in superficial peace.

Why do you settle for a path that leads to the cliff? Why not fight, even a little, to escape?

At that obvious question, Denise would usually think he didn’t understand something.

She believed he couldn’t comprehend how the greatness of Beltus crushed people, how the demands imposed on her as a descendant of a prestigious family had oppressed her.

However, seeing him stride firmly into Beltus, Denise couldn’t help but hold her breath.

What Dereck Lydorf Ravenclaw had fought against all his life was a world that divided nobles and commoners, valuing only blood.

The weight of being a noble lady was nothing but a feather compared to what he had endured.

That was why his image, walking fearlessly into the Beltus domain, looked like Denise breaking with one hand the cage she had been locked in her whole life.

Without showing agitation or doubt, he broke the iron bars and entered in his boots, looking at Denise with those indifferent eyes that never changed.

He always said the same thing.

Are you going to keep sitting there like that?

Clang! Clang!

Crash! Bang!

“As you can see, many external forces have already arrived around the mansion. We’ll handle the matters inside the main building, so it would be best if Lady Denise evacuated to a safe place escorted by Captain Orel.”

Then Denise came to her senses.

It was an urgent situation. Though she had to act quickly, Ellen relayed the situation to her calmly.

Amidst all the chaos, Denise was the person closest to the scene. Naturally, her body was exhausted, and it must have been difficult for her to calm her confused mind.

That was why Ellen tried to remove her from the scene.

There was concern for her, but also distrust toward Denise, who was practically an insider of the family, and she didn’t wish to leave her alongside Dereck.

Was it feminine intuition?

Seeing Denise fidget shyly, Ellen felt that nothing good would come from keeping them close.

Therefore, she planned to create a suitable pretext to evacuate her to a safe place.

“…”

Denise hesitated for a moment after hearing Ellen’s suggestion.

Certainly, at this point there was no reason to take risks and go to the main building.

Whatever happened to Grand Duke Beltus, it would be enough to receive a report later.

Although not everything was yet known, she felt somewhat convinced by Dereck’s attitude.

He wouldn’t harm her. Whatever the outcome, she had the conviction that, if she trusted him and left the task to him, she would be safe.

Was it time to withdraw?

Perhaps it would be wise to go to a safe place for a while, assess the situation, organize her thoughts, and establish principles on how to act afterward.

Because it seemed clear that, once this matter was resolved, the power structure of the Beltus family would be deeply altered.

However, she also felt that a strange intuition was beginning to arise.

Was it also feminine intuition?

She sensed Ellen’s intent to keep her away from Dereck and held her breath.

‘…’

But what would happen even if she did sense that intent?

What great consequence could possibly occur just because she was separated from Dereck for a while?

Her rational side tended to acknowledge what needed to be acknowledged with honesty. Indeed, she felt a certain attraction toward the man called Dereck. But that was all.

Dereck might be a good man, but there was no need to be swept away or obsessed with him.

It was absurd to let a man influence her and make foolish decisions amid such chaos. She wasn’t the protagonist of a romantic novel filled with sentimental longing, so there was no reason to act like it.

However, something still made her uneasy.

“…”

Finally, Denise held her breath and met Ellen’s gaze.

Did she reach some kind of conclusion after a brief moment of reflection?

Denise seemed to have regained some composure.

“No. Of course I should go with you.”

The meaning behind those words was significant, and a strange spark seemed to ignite in her eyes.

Denise didn’t want to hand Dereck over to that red-haired girl who already had everything.

Because she already had too much.

For some reason, even amid the fire consuming her entire family, she felt she had to cling tightly to Dereck. Because he was the only person who saw Denise as Denise.

“…”

Not only Ellen, but everyone who had some connection with Denise could sense it.

Denise, who had mastered all kinds of tricks and cunning, was the most troublesome kind of person to make an enemy of.

Ellen narrowed her eyes and swallowed hard.

*

The great hall of the Beltus mansion was filled with the Archlich’s roar.

Three-star necromantic magic—low-level corpse resurrection.

Corpses rose in every room of the mansion and attacked, but Countess Rodelia’s well-trained special forces systematically struck down those monsters.

However, unless the Archlich, who continued to raise corpses without end, was defeated, it was impossible to reach the mansion’s core.

Shiiing.

Countess Rodelia, drawing the Sacred Blood Sword, spoke with wide eyes.

“I’ll cut down the Archlich myself. Make way…!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

The mere presence of the Archlich radiated an overwhelming sense of menace.

The cadaverous mage, floating in midair and casting red rays from its eyes, seemed to spread the chill of death across the skin just by approaching.

However, Countess Rodelia, well accustomed to necromancy, knew no fear.

The crimson holy scriptures engraved on the blade of the Sacred Blood Sword glowed brightly.

Her silver armor shone under the moonlight, and her eyes gleamed even more.

The heroine of Rodentz Island, Rodelia, swung her sword and charged into battle.

Each time her sword cut through the air, corpse monsters fell, spilling blood, and when she roared, the morale of her soldiers soared to the heavens.

A leader who always stands at the front of the battlefield makes those who follow braver.

Knowing this well, Rodelia commanded everyone with her fearless presence.

Sensing something unusual, the Archlich lifted its head and cast the three-star combat spell Petrifying Gaze.

But Rodelia ascended the stairs with her eyes closed. She was an experienced warrior, so skilled that she had internalized countermeasures for nearly every spell.

She rolled across the floor once, pushed off the railing, and reached the Archlich in an instant.

Numerous corpse monsters blocked her path, but she reduced them to chunks of flesh with a few swift slashes.

It was the moment her Sacred Blood Sword was about to slice through the Archlich’s neck—

Boom! Crash!

Bang!

However, traces of advanced necromancy did not come from the Archlich alone.

A giant fist broke through the mansion’s ceiling and struck with force.

A beast-headed demon.

The terrifying creature, born from the fusion of high-level summoning magic and advanced necromancy, shattered the main hall’s roof and slammed into the ground, unleashing a shockwave.

Boom! Thud!

A tremor shook the entire mansion.

The chandelier crashed down, dust rose, and many soldiers were buried beneath the debris as screams echoed.

When the shaking stopped, the night sky could be seen through the collapsed roof.

Beneath the starry backdrop, the giant demon that had punched through the roof looked down at the ground.

Crash! Clang!

Countess Rodelia, who had rolled across the floor, swallowed hard.

Even the Archlich, summoned through five-star necromancy, was a formidable foe—and now she had to face this unknown demon as well.

Despair enveloped her for an instant. But she couldn’t stay still. Heroes never despair.

At the moment she gripped her Sacred Blood Sword once more and stood—

Whoosh! Whoosh!

In the shattered main hall, illuminated by moonlight, an old mage appeared on the grand staircase leading to the second floor.

Rodelia held her breath.

It was Duke Beltus.

The arrogant and haughty noble who had always looked down upon his domain was now covered in dark magical patterns all over his body.

The markings glowed with a faint violet light, emanating a sinister aura.

The crimson magic flowing through his skin was unmistakably a trace of necromancy.

‘By God…’

Duke Beltus writhed in agony, but madness flickered in his eyes.

‘He’s truly… been consumed by necromancy!’

It was a scene all too familiar to her from Rodentz Island.

Necromancy was not something just anyone could handle. She had seen countless people who dared to touch it be devoured by madness in an instant.

The only mercy that could be granted to such victims was the peace of death.

When one is corroded by uncontrollable power, the end is always horrifying.

‘Duke Beltus is a five-star summoner… If even a mage of that level can’t withstand it… what in the world did he touch…?’

The movements of Duke Beltus, writhing and groaning, suddenly stopped.

Then he turned his gaze toward Countess Rodelia, lying on the hall floor.

There seemed to be a trace of sanity left in his eyes—but it soon turned into pure murderous instinct.

“Everyone, be careful! He’s a five-star summoner!”

Crackle!

Swords burst around him. It was the non-biological summoning magic Storm of Blades.

Unlike the earlier spells tinged with a bluish hue, now crimson swords imbued with ominous energy appeared.

At the moment Rodelia raised her Sacred Blood Sword to respond—

Swish! Thud!

Duke Beltus, standing on the second-floor railing, was about to roar in madness when an arrow flew and embedded itself in his shoulder.

At that distance, the shot was chillingly precise.

No noble robes could stop a blade.

“Argh…!”

As the duke screamed in pain and staggered, a young woman performed acrobatics over the collapsed debris.

She wore a mercenary’s outfit and a cloak—an unfamiliar face.

But those who knew recognized her instantly.

Though she rarely showed her face in the Ravenclaw Barony, she officially held the title of baroness.

Pheline of the Beldern Mercenary Corps.

The corps’ most renowned archer climbed up the rubble and railing, landing before Duke Beltus and kicking him squarely in the solar plexus.

Crash! Bang!

“Well. Kicking a noble feels fantastic.”

She said it as though a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

Standing atop the railing, she drew her bowstring tight and smiled with the freshest expression in the world.

Then she shouted in a ringing voice.

“Uncle Jayden! Over here! Over here!”

At her words, reinforcements began storming into the mansion’s main building.

Cutting down the monsters pouring out, those who arrived were members of the Beldern Mercenary Corps—the former comrades of Dereck.

The one-armed mercenary Jayden, commanding at the front, burst into laughter and shouted.

“All right, let’s go! Time to slay some monsters!”

With cheers, the mercenaries charged into battle to aid Rodelia’s army, trapped amid the rubble.

In an instant, the tide of battle began to turn.

“Are those… Baron Ravenclaw’s reinforcements…?”

At that moment, Countess Rodelia, who had barely managed to stand, looked up at the archer on the railing.

Lightly tugging her skirt, worried her undergarments might show, Pheline smiled confidently at the world.

However, it lasted only for a moment.

Snap!

A first-class combat spell, Shockwave, emanated from Grand Duke Beltus, who had fallen.

The scale and power of a first-tier spell cast by a five-star mage were colossal.

In an instant, Pheline screamed and was blown off the railing.

“Ahhh!”

– Crash! Bang!

– Crackle!

Pheline, who had just enjoyed the satisfaction of kicking a noble, tumbled down the main staircase, revealing the figure of Grand Duke Beltus rising from the debris.

He bled profusely. Trying to cling to his sanity, saliva already dripped from his mouth.

The deranged mage staggered to the railing and looked down at Pheline.

It was said that a five-star mage could face an entire army alone.

As if to prove it, the demon in the sky began spewing fire—its target was Pheline.

– Snap! Whoosh!

But a man dropped down amid the shattered wreckage, stepped on the railing, leapt forward, and grabbed Grand Duke Beltus’s arm.

He hurled him backward and rolled across the floor with the momentum.

– Crash! Bang!

Beltus, who had been about to finish off Pheline, was knocked down once again, and the man rose beneath the moonlight.

It was Dereck Lydorf Ravenclaw—the young mage, already badly wounded, his body covered in cuts, stepping onto the battlefield.

“Baron Ravenclaw!”

The moment Rodelia shouted that, the Belmierd forces began joining in from the mansion’s main building.

At the front, mounted on horseback, were Ellen of Belmierd and Denise of this Beltus domain.

The tide of battle was shifting, and the situation was reaching its climax.

And at the peak of it all, Dereck, who had rolled across the floor, rose once again.

The enemy buried beneath the debris was Grand Duke Beltus, now completely consumed by madness.

The ruler who had dominated the world, wielding everything at his whim, stood gasping, necromantic magic enveloping his entire body.

The dirt and dust covering him slid off with a faint sound.

The only thing left in him was madness and hatred toward Dereck—the cause of it all.

A wild, murderous intent filled his eyes.

Though it had been Beltus himself who first drew his sword and declared war, he had never imagined his opponent would strike back so thoroughly.

But now, they were in the middle of the battlefield.

Grand Duke Beltus, bleeding, stood tall as sinister magic began swirling around him.

In the end, they faced each other with their blades—and having reached this point, the only thing left was a battle to the death.

The enemy was only a three-star mage at most.

Though two ranks below, he did not let his guard down. Baron Ravenclaw’s abilities were already proven.

All kinds of monsters emerged, covering the main building, and a giant demon descended from the sky, creating a hellish scene.

Amidst it all, two men bound by ambition faced each other.

It was a path of no return.

To move forward, one of the two had to fall.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelCet