Clarissa Beheads The Villainess

[41] Alleged Duke Slayer

Clarissa's eyes shoot open, feeling the shittiest pain in her entire life around her neck end in an instant. She gasps for air, her eyes frantically glancing at every corner of the room.

Naked, lying on what was once Astaroth's bed that still smelled of him lightly she rolls herself up into the sheets to rest her mind for a while.
"Rinoa Yue... Princess Freya. Why all this now? I just want to be with Astaroth." Clarissa sighs. As she turns her body to the side she feels a cold metal around her neck.

"I thought I got rid of this."

The necklace Astaroth gave her sat around her neck looking as new as the day he gifted it. It brought tears to her eyes and she began to cry about him again. "You're probably upset that I tried returning the necklace to you, I'm sorry." Clarissa silently begged he would reply, perhaps make a sound. Anything for her to know he's here.

Grief truly wasn't a fun feeling.

It was days of feeling in denial, regret, loneliness. During a lot of days she wished she gone with him. The lady's initial plan was to see the princess and allow the princess to take revenge. While that did happen, what wasn't supposed to happen was Clarissa coming back to life and Freya being Rinoa Yue.

"What am I going to do without you?" Clarissa sniffles.
She gives herself a while to cry, blankets soiled with quickly drying tears. Eventually, Clarissa gets up and goes through Astaroth's wardrobe for clothes. No one has touched or moved anything from his room since. She picks out a comfy shirt and pants that loosely fit her and escapes his room.

The hall is chilly, empty, ghostly even. For as far as the hall reaches Clarissa sees no one. She tiptoes to her quarters to change into her own clothes. Loose shorts that seem like a skirt, fitted around her waist and a loose white tunic blouse she tucks in. Unsure of what there is to do now, the lady wanders to the kitchen to look for Peter.

Before the plague hit, the kitchen was once rowdy, busy, smelled of fresh cooked food all day from sunrise to sunset. The absence of that joy made her nauseous.
"Clarissa."

Peter pops out of a hole, dragging a spoon taller than him. He would always show a bit of fear in his face whenever he saw her, or his ears would twitch awkwardly. "You need to get out of here." He says in a quiet voice. Clarissa bends down to be able to talk to him properly.

"Why?"

"How do I put this..." the rat taps his tiny foot against the ground a few times with crossed arms. "You're being framed."

"For what?"

"Orias' disappearance."

"Where am I supposed to go then?"

"Josie's inn. I'll come with you, if you don't mind." Peter's ears twitch. He curls his tail in.

"You'll come with me?" Replies Clarissa, a vague hint of elation in her voice.

"Anywhere is better than what this place is about to become."

"How long have I been gone..." her voice softens.

"Been about a month since I noticed you left."

"That long?"

"And only a few days since I noticed you left had the duke disappeared."

The framed tries to think of reasons why Orias could've disappeared, but nothing comes to mind. Being a detective wasn't her strong suite. Did he not handle Astaroth's passing well? Impossible. Did he realize he doesn't want to end up in married life so he disappeared to escape his engagement?
Impossible as well. Novel Orias is absolutely obsessed with Katherine.
"Do you think I'm really the one responsible?"

"No."

"Then why isn't it safe for me here?"

"You'll find out the hard way if we don't leave soon." Peter's nose twitches this time, he hears the sound of multiple eager footsteps. She's about to find out the hard way. He sighs.

The kitchen door bursts open. Katherine stands accompanied by two tall men. "Clarissa Wains. You dare show up after killing the young duke of house Viertel?"

Is this even the same person!? Clarissa grits her teeth. "So you framed me."
The men take steps forward with spears in their hands.

"You know what to do, chefs!" Peter yells. There were four in the room with them. Chefs that cooked with the rat through the worst and best days, willing to dedicate their lives to their rat master's orders.

They throw scalding hot water at the men, right from pots that were just boiling the liquid. The men screech and wither in pain, unable to get their composure back. Clarissa uses this as the opportunity to get out of the kitchen, Peter runs back into his hole that is much like a tunnel throughout the castle.

The unarmed and currently being hunted Clarissa with all the energy her underfed and just revived body has, runs as fast as she can. She nearly trips over multiple rocks, bumping her legs in odd places, yet manages to outrun all the people sent to chase after her. Practically all of the castle's residents. Nobles who've never worked physical labor couldn't do much, but Vixen trained plenty fighters.

She makes it to the entrance, where the final boss stands with the very gauntlets she made him equipped. Vixen had his fists clenched, ready for a battle.

"You're going to fight someone whose unarmed?" Clarissa asks, standing in front of him knowing he wouldn't have it in him to hit her.

"I'm sorry Clarissa." His eyes strayed away from hers, unable to look back. To her surprise, he dashed forward, his arms positioned to lay a powerful fist on her. Just as he extends his arm for a jab, Clarissa jumps upwards, her foot landing on his gauntlet. She uses the position to launch herself upwards and leaps into a close by tree.

"He's strong but slow, and he's never seen me fight. But I can't defeat a man like that without a weapon." She muses.
"Wait were those hickies I saw?"

When she used his gauntlet to propel herself into the air, Clarissa noticed bruise looking marks on his neck. It was right there too, a pretty necklace of bruised skin presenting itself as she stood in front of him at first, but it only clicked in her head now.

"Are those marks from Katherine?" Clarissa's head shoots out of the tree's bush. Her body hugs a high branch and her neck sticks out like a giraffe.

"Psst Clarissa we got to go!" Peter crawls up that same try, tugging at her tunic.

Vixen rubs his neck, an irritated look on his face. "Just go."
 
The lady sighs. She wanted to hear about how far Katherine has fallen for some laughs. Maybe she'd laugh. But it made sense now.

"Katherine actually liked Vixen all along so she got rid of Orias." She mumbles to herself.

"I uh, don't think that's quite right. Whatever, we need to get going." Peter climbs onto her shoulder.

"Off we go. The adventures of Clarissa and her favorite rat." Clarissa sparks fear in Peter with those words.