NOVEL'S EXTRA: I Will Die at the Peak-Chapter 45: Noa Bellante

When Cean stepped through the door, the first thing he noticed was the change in the air.

Inside, a light, grayish smoke drifted lazily; it wasn’t thick enough to sting his eyes, but it blurred the surroundings just slightly.

A faint scent reached his nose — a sweet incense smell, mixed with a floral note he couldn’t quite identify.

Everything in the room was bathed in hues of blue and red.

The walls, the furniture, even the light spreading across the floor shimmered with the soft interplay of those two colors.

Cean’s attention was immediately drawn to the massive aquarium stretching across the entire wall.

Dozens of fish glided inside, their colors shifting with the ripples in the water, gleaming under the glow of blue crystals.

Scattered blue crystals at the bottom of the tank cast a soft illumination throughout the room, while red flowers wrapped around the scene, adding vibrancy and an exotic atmosphere.

Cean moved forward slowly.

The room was so unlike any other place he had ever seen that an uneasy feeling welled up inside him.

For a moment, he thought the floor beneath his feet wasn’t solid but moving like water.

After a few more steps, he finally saw him.

The lord of the city, Noa Bellante, sat gracefully in a large, blue velvet armchair at the center of the room.

As Cean approached, his eyes froze for a second.

The figure seated there looked almost detached from reality — impossibly beautiful.

Long, wavy white hair with tips tinged in blue cascaded freely over his shoulders.

His crimson eyes seemed as if they could see straight through Cean.

On his right shoulder, a tattoo of a red flower sprouted from among black leaves.

His chest was bare, displaying a muscular physique that was both elegant and powerful.

Intricate tattoos ran down his left arm, while his fingernails, painted in shades of green and orange, somehow appeared both threatening and mesmerizing.

For a moment, Cean couldn’t move.

His heart had started pounding strangely fast — he couldn’t quite understand why.

There was an undeniable masculinity in the one seated before him, yet at the same time, an almost otherworldly beauty.

A thought, unstoppable and uninvited, crossed his mind:

"What... what is this? Even though he’s a man... why is my heart racing like this?" 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Cean tried to look away immediately, but failed.

The more he looked, the more captivated he became.

A strange warmth began to pool in his chest.

Cean, his heart pounding, couldn’t tear his eyes away from Noa even for a moment.

Noticing Cean’s lingering gaze, Nepal suddenly became furious.

Without a shred of hesitation, he marched over and struck Cean hard on the head with a solid punch.

Cean staggered but managed to stay on his feet without collapsing.

Clenching his teeth, Nepal shouted furiously:

"How dare you look at my lord with such disgusting eyes?! Bow your head! If you dare look at him like that again, I’ll hang you from the castle walls, understand?!"

His voice echoed through the room.

Cean quickly lowered his head, fixing his gaze on the ground.

At that moment, Noa raised his hand slightly.

He turned his gaze to Nepal and spoke in a soft yet firm voice:

"Calm down, darling.

Right now, there’s a more important matter.

I want to know what happened to Fauriel."

Upon hearing Noa’s voice, Nepal immediately composed himself.

The anger faded from his face, replaced by a slight smile.

He bowed respectfully and took a few steps back.

Meanwhile, Cean took a deep breath.

Slowly, he began to regain his composure.

Inside, overwhelmed by confusion, a thought slipped through his mind:

"Sssha... What was that just now?

A beautiful man... How is something like that even possible?

Get a grip, Cean... You must stay calm."

Cean kept his eyes fixed firmly on the ground, not daring to lift them.

After silently observing him for a moment, Noa spoke in a soft but clear voice:

"Alright, let’s hear it.

Tell me exactly what happened."

Cean took a deep breath and began to speak.

His voice was slow but steady:

"My lord...

We were transporting a large amount of supplies eastward, intended for an unknown castle lord.

At first, the journey was uneventful.

But once we began discussions with the castle lord, things changed.

He... insulted Fauriel.

He accused him of deception.

Then he said he would deliver punishment himself."

The atmosphere in the room grew heavier.

Cean continued, his voice trembling slightly at times:

"Things escalated there.

Our guard unit, led by Yosukez, clashed with the castle lord’s men.

We fought for hours...

In the end, everyone died."

Cean paused for a moment.

Inside his head, he wanted to say something different — about the strange creatures and the supernatural powers of the castle lord.

But his tongue betrayed him.

The words that came out were different, as if they had a will of their own:

"Nothing else happened... just battle and casualties."

He felt confused inside.

"Was that what I meant to say?" he thought.

But without showing any of it on his face, he continued speaking.

Noa listened intently.

When Cean finished, Noa lifted his head slightly and glanced briefly at the large chandelier hanging from the ceiling, adorned with blue stones.

Then he turned his gaze back to Cean.

In a lower but sharper tone, he asked:

"So... how did you survive such a massacre?"

Cean opened his mouth to explain, but something strange stirred within him.

As he tried to express himself, the words that came out were mechanical — as if spoken beyond his own will:

"My lord...

The castle lord spared me intentionally.

He asked me to deliver a message to you."

The contents of the message:

> "Dear Lord of Lacrima City,

I am Ravien Duskbane.

I very much look forward to meeting you in the future — perhaps even working together.

However... turning a blind eye to Fauriel’s crimes might make some share his fate."

When Cean finished speaking, a brief silence fell over the room.

Then Noa’s laughter rang out.

It was strong and careless:

"Ha ha ha! How interesting!

So... Fauriel swindled the castle lord and received his punishment, is that it?"

Noa, looking thoughtful for a moment, turned his head towards Nepal.

"Did Fauriel have any dirty dealings in his past, darling?" he asked.

Nepal hesitated briefly before answering:

"Well... My lord, there were a few complaints, yes. But they were withdrawn quickly.

So we didn’t pursue them further."

Noa’s eyes narrowed slightly.

His voice shifted to a more serious tone:

"Once this is over, I want you to dig into Fauriel’s past thoroughly.

Leave no detail untouched."

Nepal bowed his head in acknowledgment.

Then Noa slowly lifted his left hand.

He turned his gaze back to Cean.

"And as for you... the little guard who survived," he said, his voice both soft and menacing.

"I suppose this is the end of the road for you."

Without raising his head, Cean murmured with a knot of fear in his throat:

"My lord, why—"

But he couldn’t finish his sentence.

It felt as if some force grabbed hold of him from beneath his feet, weighing down his entire body.

The air became suffocating, as if something was pressing from within his chest.

There was no explosion, no sound.

Suddenly, the base of his neck gave out.

The muscles and bones that held his head up simply dissolved without warning.

While the upper half of his body remained slightly upright, his head drifted forward.

From the severed neck, thick and hot blood burst out under pressure.

The blood sprayed violently into the air, quickly soaking Cean’s shoulders and splattering across the nearby floor.

Some droplets even reached the aquarium glass, leaving blurred, red stains.

Cean’s severed body remained standing for a few seconds, muscles twitching one last time.

Then it toppled sideways and collapsed into the growing pool of blood with a heavy, wet splatter.

Before long, the center of the room had turned into a lake of blood.

The warmth of it rose from the ground in thin, misty vapors.

Cean’s severed head lay on the floor.

His eyes stared blankly at the ceiling, devoid of any light or meaning.

Nepal instinctively took a step back in shock.

After a brief silence, he spoke cautiously:

"My lord... We could have gathered more information. Why act so suddenly—"

Before he could finish, Noa cut him off in a cold, firm voice,

his eyes never once leaving Cean’s fallen head.

"He distorted much of the information.

He tried to hide the truth and deceive us.

I do not show mercy to guards who attempt to fool me."

Noa cast a sidelong glance at Nepal.

"Darling, use your Fate Ability.

I want to know what he felt about Ravien."

Without hesitation, Nepal knelt down and leaned toward Cean’s severed head.

He gently placed his hands upon it.

Suddenly, lights of different colors began to form around the head.

Four orbs appeared:

Green Orb: Representing kindness, but it was extremely small.

Dark Reddish Orb: The largest, carrying intense fear and darkness.

Pale Blue Orb: Showing traces of anxiety and confusion.

Pure White Orb: Signifying numbness and emptiness; it was about the same size as the dark reddish orb.

After carefully observing the orbs, Nepal broke the silence:

"My lord... The most dominant emotions here are fear and despair.

Especially a deep fear toward Ravien.

However, there’s something strange:

The level of numbness spiked abnormally fast.

Such a sudden formation of emptiness... is not normal."

Nepal had just finished speaking when something unexpected happened to Cean’s body.

His right arm trembled slightly and scraped against the ground, twitching faintly.