Chapter 2310: Judgment and Justice

When the diviners with short brown hair and long golden hair left the room together, the latter was still worrying.

"Let Difa prepare it; she knows Xia De's appetite very well."

"Oh, you really are at ease with Galina's black-haired maid. Luweiya, I'm not speaking ill of people behind their backs, and Miss Servet certainly doesn't have any bad intentions, but you should be careful of her."

"Why should I be worried? Shouldn't Galina be the one worried?"

"That's also true."

Thus, the corridor was filled with a cheerful atmosphere, while the Duchess, far away in the northern city of Tobesk, finished her busy day and was sitting in a carriage preparing to return to No. 6 St. Derand Square. She suddenly sneezed, and then felt very puzzled, as a high-level witch like her shouldn't catch a cold.

Night, ten o'clock.

Although the light of the third month could not completely pierce the black fog shrouding the urban area of Moon Bay City, this tranquil moonlight could still bathe the suburbs north of the city.

The Heart Orphanage located on a small hill had already turned off its lights, but in a barn in the rice fields not far from the orphanage, a faint light still shone under the moonlight.

The night wind was slightly cold, blowing the treetops and fallen leaves. Moon Bay tonight was not particularly bright, so the barn seemed somewhat eerie.

From the sound of the wind, one could hear singing coming from the barn; it was a woman's voice, an ancient nursery rhyme with the meaning of warning children not to go out at night. In this slightly cold night, the voice dissipating with the wind made the long night seem even more strange and bizarre.

Inside the barn, a blonde little girl with her eyes closed lay on the barn's stone table covered with bedding, while Mrs. Jude, wearing a gorgeous golden banquet dress, a pearl hair accessory pinned to her head, and blood-colored high heels on her feet, sat at the edge of the table.

The chest area of the dress was snow-white, and her specially made-up face held a delicate and joyful smile. This very high-society noblewoman formed a sharp contrast with the messy straw and crude farm tools piled up in the barn.

This was this vampire's special sense of ritual; twice a month, when the moonlight was dim, she would come here alone to put on her best clothes and enjoy a moment of leisure.

Squinting her eyes while holding a red wine glass, it was she who sang that ancient and eerie nursery rhyme. The soft and smooth voice echoed in the barn, and the firelight from the dilapidated kerosene lamp on the table also made the noblewoman's shadow tremble on the wall like a demon.

Although some unpleasant things had happened during the day, she did not want to be disturbed by those unseemly matters at this moment. This was a night that belonged solely to her, far from the hustle and bustle of the city, eating alone in the most beautiful posture; she could not imagine anything more wonderful than this.

The night wind seemed to have grown stronger, making the leaves of the big tree in the barnyard rustle.

Mrs. Jude looked up through the small window above the barn at the three moons tonight, then smiled and looked down at the little girl lying on the table who had fallen into a deep sleep, and finally turned her head to look behind her.

The wooden door at the barn entrance had originally been left ajar, but at this moment, the man holding a long sword was standing there, not knowing when he had arrived. He faced the light of the kerosene lamp, with his back to the moonlight outside, and the serious expression on his handsome face made Mrs. Jude slightly startled. Afterward, she stood up from the stone table, the hem of her skirt and the decorative tassels on her cuffs swaying gently:

"Why, did Bernhart send you to make me behave?"

Xia De did not speak, but walked inward from the barn entrance holding the long sword in his hand. Black boots, black trousers, and a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up—this was also not an outfit that should appear in a barn at night.

"You don't think I really can't beat you, do you?"

Mrs. Jude asked with her back to the table, and the wind blowing from outside made her shadow on the wall tremble even more violently:

"That day in the alley behind the Cassandra Auction House in the city, I didn't want to cause too much of a stir, which is why I didn't fight you. Besides, I wasn't carrying any relics on me at the time. Do you really think I'm afraid of you?"

The expression on her face gradually became ugly, because Xia De was still walking inward without saying a word. Even though he hadn't made a move yet, this momentum already made the noblewoman in the evening gown feel somewhat uneasy.

Thus, that full face covered in powder quickly lost moisture and became shriveled, and sharp, thin teeth also poked out from her mouth. She took a small step back in her high heels, and then her entire figure faded bit by bit until she completely disappeared into the firelight of the kerosene lamp.

"I am a human; why do you think I would tolerate you treating those children as food all the time?"

He said in a cold voice, waited for a while, and seeing that Mrs. Jude still didn't speak, he said again:

"I judge your crimes here; your sinful soul needs to be purified by fire."

Saying this, he made the motion of blowing the flame on his fingertips, and at this moment, all three moons were finally covered by the dark clouds. In the instant the world turned pitch black, only the flame on Xia De's fingertips illuminated his face and the body of the hung woman.

But in the next instant, that flame was abruptly extinguished in the darkness. The 【Great Sin Chain】 even suppressed her racial talent; Mrs. Jude, who was chained, could not see what was happening below in the darkness.

But she heard the sharp sound of wind, and she heard the long sword clashing with something hard. Afterward, she felt the chain at her neck loosen, and her whole body fell from the tree:

"Cough, cough, cough, cough."

The strange chain left her body, and the spirit that began to flow again even made her feel as if she had lived once more.

Her right hand, wearing a ruby and pure silver bat ring, supported the ground; ignoring the fact that her luxurious evening gown was dirtied by the ground, her left hand kept patting her chest and she gasped for air.

Only then did she have time to look up ahead. At this time, the clouds in the night sky gradually drifted past, and the moonlight illuminated the earth again. Her body functions recovered from the control of that strange chain, and the vampire's strong physical fitness made the dizziness disappear quickly.

Through the blurry moonlight, she saw clearly what was happening in front of her. The handsome young man held the silver cross sword in his left hand horizontally in front of his chest, while his right hand tightly gripped the flexible black chain, facing a middle-aged man she had never seen before.

Saying she had never seen him before wasn't accurate; in her blurry memory, Mrs. Jude remembered this short man as seemingly being a servant of some local noble.

"You finally came."

Xia De said to the stranger who was tucking a notebook under his left arm; the powerful whisper elements on the other party wouldn't let him misidentify the person:

"If you hadn't appeared, I wouldn't have known what to say."

"You wanted to draw me out?"

The man said in a calm tone; he was wearing a somewhat dirty brown coat, and his eyes were listless. Compared to the person himself, the black leather-bound notebook he was tucking under his arm had a stronger sense of presence in Xia De's eyes.

"Yes, you've killed so many people locally; of course, we wanted to meet you."

Mr. Bernhardt said, appearing from behind the stranger along with Mr. Albert. Mrs. Jude immediately guessed what had happened tonight, and the stranger didn't even turn his head to look at the two vampires; he had been staring at Xia De:

"I am willing to come out, not just because you want to judge this monster that feeds on human blood, but also because I smelled a familiar scent on you. That is a scent from a long time ago; can you tell me what that is?"

Xia De frowned slightly:

"Before I answer your question, you answer mine first."

He didn't turn around, but pointed directly behind him:

"The power of 【Richard's Notebook】 has caused so many deaths; do you really think you are executing justice? No need to answer me; I know your answer. I just want to ask you using the question once posed by the lady behind me: If you kill her because she feeds on human blood, then what will happen to the orphanage she established a year later? What will happen to those children?"

None of the five people in the barn courtyard spoke; the moonlit night was so tranquil, and the orphanage on the small hill in the distance, like this place, did not have a single light.

"Executing justice always requires a price, but one cannot stop executing justice just because of moral kidnapping; this is a matter of principle."

The stranger tucking the notebook said:

"Tell me, would you think someone is a good person just because a murderer donated to an orphanage?"

"The evil done by Mrs. Jude does not exceed the good she has done."

"Can good and evil really be used to measure and cancel each other out?"

The stranger asked again. This time Xia De didn't open his mouth to answer; it was Mr. Albert, wearing a cowl, who spoke:

"Justice and evil indeed cannot be measured and canceled out, but whether sin should be repaid with life should likewise not be judged by you. If she is guilty, then she must find a way to atone, rather than being killed directly by you. I have always believed that killing is the most inferior means of executing justice; it is a means for people to escape."

Mr. Bernhardt nodded slightly because of these words, while the stranger surrounded by them shook his head:

"I once committed a great mistake; that is a story from a long time ago. Since then, I have understood that one cannot be soft-hearted when upholding justice. Taking the life of a sinner is the ending they deserve most... I once lost my lover, so I chose to put on a mask; this is also me atoning for my sins."

Hearing this, Xia De basically confirmed that the thing in front of him was the target he wanted. And the stranger also abruptly stopped his words, turning to examine the pitch-black chain under the moonlight:

"I am willing to say these things to you only because you are a group of special people, but this judgment should come to an end.

【Gluttony】, 【Greed】, 【Sloth】, 【Wrath】, 【Apathy】, 【Pride】, 【Prejudice】. To be able to materialize sin into power—so, you are the one who should be judged most in this city. The power of sin is too heavy; you will be swallowed by sin sooner or later. Even if you have a one-in-ten-thousand chance of not being controlled by this power, I cannot gamble on such a probability.

Killing you will be the most important goal since I arrived in this city." ===== CHAPTER 2311 =====