Chapter 87: Natural Death Or Assassination
Within two minutes, the head butler, two security staff, and another senior maid were in the room.
The butler, an older man with neatly combed grey hair, checked the body’s pulse at the neck, then at the wrist.
His face didn’t change, but the silence in the room grew heavier.
"Call an ambulance. Now," he ordered.
One of the security guards pulled out a phone and made the call.
The other guard moved to the bedroom door and stood there, blocking the entrance.
"Nobody comes in without permission," he said to the staff gathering in the hall.
Anna stood back near the wall, her hands clenched in front of her.
The butler pulled the blanket higher to cover the body.
"Seal off the entire floor. No one enters or leaves without clearance." His voice was low as he spoke to the senior maid.
"Yes, sir." She left quickly to give the orders.
...
The ambulance arrived ten minutes later.
The sirens were muted as they entered through the back gate. The two paramedics were escorted upstairs by the guard.
They worked quickly, checking vital signs, attaching portable monitors.
After a brief exchange of glances, one of them looked at the butler.
"I’m sorry. He’s gone."
"How long?" the butler asked calmly.
The paramedic glanced at the monitor, then at his watch.
"Based on body temperature and lividity... likely four to five hours ago."
The butler nodded with an unreadable expression.
"Prepare him for transport."
The paramedics began their work.
...
In a hidden room, the head of security was already in the control room, pulling up the security footage from the night before.
The screens displayed a series of grainy black-and-white camera feeds covering the gates, hallways, and exterior grounds.
"Rewind to midnight," he told the watchguard.
They watched in silence.
The feeds showed the usual patrols, guards checking in at their designated points, cameras on the perimeters showing nothing unusual.
The feed covering the third-floor hallway showed the guard stationed outside the master bedroom.
He stood there the entire shift, occasionally glancing at his phone or looking down the hall.
"Check the blind spots," the head of security said.
The technician pulled up logs from motion sensors placed in areas without direct camera coverage.
There had been no triggers.
He frowned.
"There is nothing. No unusual movement inside or outside. Nobody entered the bedroom except the Master himself yesterday evening."
The head of security leaned back in his chair. "And he never left?"
"No, sir."
"...It might really have been an unlucky heart attack"
"Indeed, it doesn’t look like an assassination," the watchguard spoke uneasily. If it was an assassination, his job and life would be in danger, since he handled the control room last night.
"We should still check. Go through every footage for the past week several times, and check if an assassin entered. They might’ve been hiding in the master’s bedroom for a few days before they attacked," the head of security said in a flat voice.
...
By mid-morning, the estate was sealed.
No staff were allowed to leave.
Every gate was guarded by armed men, and the outer walls had additional patrols.
The police, and Exorcist Police arrived shortly after.
Their sirens echoed briefly through the long driveway before fading.
Two detectives, an old man in his forties and a younger woman, stepped out of the unmarked car and were met by the butler at the entrance.
"Why do I have to work at low-level jobs like this," the younger woman, Nisha Hall, grumbled.
The older detective ignored her complaints.
They were shown to the bedroom, now empty except for the bed and the faint indentation where the body had been.
"When was he taken to the hospital?" the older detective asked.
"Twenty minutes ago," the butler replied.
The younger detective walked around the room slowly, glancing at the windows and the door. "Any sign of forced entry?"
"No," the butler said. "All locks and latches are intact."
The older detective made a note in his pad.
"We’ll need the security footage from the last twenty-four hours."
"It’s already being prepared," the butler said.
...
In the control room, the detectives sat through the same footage the head of security had watched earlier.
"No one went in. No one went out," the technician repeated.
"Where’s the feed for inside the bedroom?" the younger detective asked.
"There isn’t one," the head of security said flatly.
The older detective looked at him. "Why not?"
"Privacy."
The detective tapped his pen against his pad but didn’t comment.
...
By noon, rumors were spreading among the staff.
Some said it was a natural death, some poison, magic, and even curses. The rumors showed no signs of stopping, though none dared say them too loudly.
Back at the hospital, the doctors confirmed what the paramedics suspected.
The cause of death was cardiac arrest during sleep.
"It was a completely natural death—" the doctor stopped, realizing the words he had spoken and lowered his head, "I’m sorry for your loss."
The police requested a toxicology report, though the older detective told the butler quietly that it was routine and probably wouldn’t show anything unusual.
By late afternoon, the mansion grounds were quiet again. The police had taken copies of the footage and interviewed most of the staff.
The gates remained closed, with only essential personnel allowed in or out.
In the control room, the head of security sat at the central desk.
His fingers tapped a pen against the surface as he reviewed the surveillance footage for what was probably the fifth time.
The younger detective, Nisha Hall, had been restless for the past hour, shifting in her chair, muttering about coming back tomorrow.
The older detective hadn’t budged.
"We should go. We’ll have fresher eyes in the morning," Nisha said again, leaning back in her chair.
"And lose hours we can’t get back?" The older man didn’t glance at her. "We can’t leave, Nisha. If someone did this, they’ll want their tracks gone as soon as possible. We’re staying."
She exhaled through her nose, but didn’t argue further.
The watchguard on shift sat near the door.
His focus was split between the monitors and the head of security’s instructions.
Another man, clearly armed and confident in his movements, handled rewinding and fast-forwarding camera feeds on a separate console.
The order was simple.
Check everything. Make absolutely certain it wasn’t an assassination.
The butler had made that clear before returning to his other duties.
Now, as provisional head of the Dusk Hand after Asterios Dukas’ death, his authority went unquestioned.
...
MC’s POV
After coming back, I took a short nap.
The morning went by as usual.
I spent time with Mom.
Dad trained me again, this time focusing on how to control my Hollow Eyes more precisely.
He also went over [Varren’s Dominion Wall], explaining details to me in depth.
I managed to use the technique longer this time.
Soon enough, I would be able to use it in direct combat.
I was excited to see how strong the technique of the Sword King was.
At night, my parents tucked me into bed.
Dad lingered at the doors, wrapping his arm around Mom as he watched me.
The way she smiled back at him... well, I had a guess where that was going.
’I might be getting a sibling soon.’
My face scrunched up.
’Let’s not think about those kinds of things.’
I sat on the bed after they left, and focused on important matters at hand.
’System, show me my Assassin class details.’