Rebirth: Necromancer's Ascenscion-Chapter 78: The First Cut

The hall shook less with sound, and more with the tightening of unseen strings, pulled taut around every heart present.

Velrosa’s refusal to denounce Ian had shattered the opening rites. Now, every noble, every Council member, watched her with new calculation — admiration for her brazenness, or hatred for her foolishness.

Lady Morravel did not so much as flinch.

"The First Claim shall be heard," she said coldly.

From the crowd, a figure moved: tall, wrapped in rich burgundy silks stitched with golden embroidery, his smile as thin and oily as a blade dipped in poison.

Lord Faelric Vallis.

Scion of House Vallis, a serpent in nobleman’s skin.

He bowed low — too low — before the Council, before the gathering of the great Houses, and finally before Velrosa herself.

The mockery in it was razor-sharp.

"My Lords and Ladies of the Council, and assembled witnesses of noble blood," he said, voice like syrup over thorns. "It is with great sorrow that I bring forth my claim. I accuse Velrosa Lionarde of Severing a Sworn Alliance without due cause or public arbitration—a violation of the Fifth High Law of Noble Conduct."

A low ripple moved through the chamber.

Severing an alliance without cause was no small breach; it wasn’t mere betrayal — it was the breaking of sacred oaths, agreements penned and bound before the Council and sanctified by blood rites.

If proven true, the punishment would be severe.

Velrosa did not move. She waited, letting him weave his own noose.

Lord Vallis straightened, face dripping with false gravitas.

"House Vallis and House Elarin were bound by oath three years past, an alliance that promised mutual aid and protection within the bounds of Esgard. Yet, without grievance, warning, or arbitration, House Elarin severed this bond. No council was summoned. No charges laid at our feet."

He looked to the gallery, letting the scandal ferment among the gathered nobility.

"My House was left shamed, abandoned, our trust desecrated. And no formal charge—no explanation—was ever made public. Such a wound to honor is not only unlawful but corrosive to the sanctity of noble order itself."

He turned to Velrosa, lips curving into something too sharp to be called a smile.

"I ask the Council to recognize this betrayal and levy judgment upon her House accordingly."

Silence fell again, like a blade raised above Velrosa’s neck.

Lady Morravel’s voice rang out. "Velrosa Lionarde, you may respond."

Velrosa stepped forward, each movement graceful but unhurried, as if she measured her enemies not by what they said—but by how they exposed themselves.

"My Lords and Ladies," she said, her voice cutting through the stale perfume of lies like clean steel. "I will not deny that I severed the alliance with House Vallis. But not without cause. Not without grave cause."

Lord Vallis’s smile faltered for the briefest instant.

And Velrosa struck where he was weakest: the truth.

---

Not long after Velrosa had first arrived in this city.

The night had been heavy with fog, curling around the Lionarde estate like fingers seeking a throat.

Velrosa stood alone in the gardens, waiting.

She had expected diplomacy. Perhaps a bribe, perhaps an offer renewed.

Instead, the envoy of House Vallis came armed.

Three cloaked figures moved through the mist — silent, sure. She caught the gleam of steel, the poisonous flicker of mana laced into their weapons.

Assassins.

They moved with the precision of men who had killed before.

Velrosa had not screamed. She had not fled.

She had simply raised a single hand — and from the shadows, Eli had come.

They were not foolish just uninformed, unknowing of the beast that watched her.

They died before they could even see their killer. Their blood stained the sacred stones where only words should have been exchanged.

By rights, she could have raised the cry then and there. Could have called witnesses, summoned the Council.

But House Vallis was powerful. Clever.

And without proof, the accusation would have been seen as desperation.

A political suicide.

So Velrosa had acted quietly. Severed the alliance. Pulled her House back into isolation, bleeding and weakened but alive.

She had chosen survival over pride.

A choice she would make again.

---

"I severed the bond because House Vallis," Velrosa said now, her voice smooth as the edge of a dagger, "sent assassins under the guise of emissaries. They sought to strike me down under the veil of parley."

A wave of gasps rippled through the gallery. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com

Lord Vallis raised a hand, face a picture of outraged innocence.

"Baseless!" he cried. "Wild accusations, flung without evidence! This is not defense — this is slander!"

Lady Morravel leaned forward, eyes like coals.

"Do you have evidence, Velrosa Lionarde?"

Velrosa inclined her head slightly.

"I do."

A signal.

From the shadows behind the council dais, A shadowed man of Mistress Thalia Virex emerged.

In his hand, he carried a sealed scroll — black wax stamped with the mark of House Virex.

She offered it to Lady Morravel with a bow so shallow it bordered on contempt.

Morravel broke the seal and read.

Whispers broke out even before she finished.

Velrosa watched Lord Vallis pale, his hands clenching at his sides.

The scroll detailed transactions — secret letters intercepted by trusted agents, records of House Vallis dealing with Redwater gangs, mercenary groups, and other known enemies of Esgard.

Funding them. Arming them.

Including the very night the so-called envoy arrived at Velrosa’s door.

It did not prove assassination. But it buried Lord Vallis’s moral standing under a mountain of filth.

Lady Morravel finished reading. Her mouth twisted, as if the words themselves tasted foul.

"The evidence is... troubling," she said coldly. "While it does not prove direct guilt of attempted assassination, it casts grave doubt on the purity of House Vallis’s dealings."

The assembled nobility shifted uncomfortably.

No one wanted to defend Vallis now.

And that was enough.

Victory was not always won with a clean blade. Sometimes, a poisoned dagger slipped between ribs was more sure.

Velrosa lowered her gaze, hiding the small, grim smile that touched her lips.

Another small moral wound added to the slow death of her soul.

Another necessity. Another sacrifice.

She wondered how much of herself would be left by the end of this.

---

Lord Vallis stumbled backward, bowing stiffly to the Council to conceal his shame.

With what had been revealed today, his trial may come soon after Velrosa.

The First Cut had been made.

Velrosa had drawn blood.

But the trial was far from over.

Lady Morravel gave no reprieve.

The hall’s crier stepped forward, voice ringing out like a hammer on iron:

"The Second Claim shall be heard."

A scroll was unfurled.

The words struck the hall like a thunderclap.

"Accusation: Murder of a House Envoy."

The nobles erupted in furious whispers, a sound like a thousand knives scraping together.

Velrosa’s heart beat once, hard against her ribs.