“Die!”

As the cold blade touched his skin, Adrian felt a chill down his spine. He instinctively sensed that the blade was coated with poison.

“It’s poison! Dodge it.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“How did you know it was coated with a colorless and odorless poison? You’re no ordinary fellow.”

“Colorless and odorless? It has such a strong scent though?”

It wasn’t the first or second time he had nearly been poisoned. There were servants who died eating poisoned food in his stead, and subordinates who died not from assassins’ blades, but from the poison coating them.

“That’s also the scent of a familiar poison.”

“You’re talking nonsense. Let me make you an offer.”

“An offer?”

“If you join our side and kill the Emperor and Empress, I’ll let you live.”

“Let me make you an offer instead.”

“An offer?”

“If you tell me who’s behind the order to kill the Emperor and Empress, I’ll spare you from execution.”

“Negotiation failed then.”

The assassin leader said, swinging his sword. Adrian narrowly dodged the assassin’s blade. Even a slight graze would have been disastrous.

Adrian made eye contact with Ines and Adolf, giving a slight smile. In an instant, Adolf exerted force through his arm, wildly swinging his whip.

The whip mercilessly struck the assassins.

“Hurry and save His Majesty!”

“Understood! Your Majesty the Emperor.”

Adrian watched as the assassins rushed towards him. It was a moment he had prepared for death.

“Take away their swords.”

Along with a voice coming from somewhere, the assassins’ swords flew into the air.

The assassins, suddenly deprived of their swords, looked on dumbfounded at the blades spinning in place in midair.

“A ghost, a ghost has appeared, Leader!”

“Where in the world would there be ghosts! It’s a magician that appeared! Damn it.”

Adrian did not miss the moment the assassins were frightened.

[This is the timeline separator]

Lorencia and Teishar, having arrived near the white villa, immediately confronted the assassins.

Lorencia smiled at the approaching assassins and stretched out her hand. As a dazzling purple light burst from her palm, Teishar behind her began swinging his sword at a rapid speed. Simultaneous with the sound of the sword cutting through the air, the assassins fell to his blade one by one.

“Loa. Are you alright? Isn’t it too much to keep your arm outstretched for so long? Please stay behind me.”

“I’m fine, Ter.”

“Why don’t you ask the fairies to fight and capture them for us?”

“The fairies are protecting me well too, Ter.”

“Is that so? Then I’ll feel a bit more at ease.”

[He thinks he’s the only one protecting Loa. Arrogant snake.] [Should we capture the black snake before capturing them?]

As Lorencia uttered the words ‘Take them away’, the assassin’s sword in the tree stabbed into the ground. At the same time, the assassins in the tree also began to reveal themselves one by one.

“Move.”

At Lorencia’s words, the swords stuck in the ground moved on their own. As the embedded swords shot up into the air like sparks flying, the assassins were startled.

The drawn swords floated in the air, spinning in place. The slightly surprised assassins took stances to grab the swords moving on their own, but the speed of the spinning blades was too fast to catch. It was perplexing.

“Stab.”

In an instant, the assassins stabbed by the swords lost consciousness and fell from the trees to the ground.

“Ter.”

“What is it, Loa?”

As the wind blew, the sound of branches and leaves colliding was heard. Lorencia stretched out her arm and looked at the amethyst beads. After a moment passed, Lorencia took her eyes off the amethyst beads and looked at Teishar.

“We need to hurry.”

The future had changed a little.

Using her power, Lorencia took away their swords and bound their feet. Teishar and the knights quietly killed the assassins whose feet were tied. They succeeded in gradually driving the assassins towards the white villa.

As soon as assassin Arthur confirmed his comrades being attacked and killed in the distance, he quickly retreated.

“It seems there were collaborators. Damn it. This operation is a failure.”

Arthur took out a note from his bosom and wrote something, then began tying it to a pigeon’s leg. Just as he was about to get up from his spot to release the pigeon, he heard what sounded like a lullaby coming from somewhere.

“A song?”

When he heard a woman’s singing voice from the forest, Arthur trembled, thinking of ghosts.

“Let’s hurry and release the pigeon first.”

Arthur released the pigeon high into the air. However, the pigeon did not fly up into the sky. It changed direction and flew away. Arthur began chasing the pigeon flying elsewhere.

“Has that pigeon gone mad?”

It was strange. The pigeon had been thoroughly trained, so it made no sense for it to change direction and fly elsewhere. The more Arthur followed the pigeon, the more clearly he heard the beautiful woman’s singing voice. And looking around, numerous birds were flying with his pigeon towards the source of the singing.

“Why are there so many birds around here?”

Was it a ghost singing to summon the birds?

“Is it some ghostly mischief?”

The assassin, seeing where various birds including his own pigeon had gathered, widened his eyes.

“No, why is there a goddess in this forest…?”

As the beautiful goddess with red hair stretched out her arm, his pigeon perched on her finger. And the birds nearby flocked around the goddess.

Seeing the beautiful scene, assassin Arthur gulped. That’s when it happened. As his eyes met those of the red-haired goddess, his heart pounded and he felt heat rush to his face. One thing was certain – it was the first time he had seen such a beautiful woman in his life.

When the goddess smiled and gestured to him, Arthur could not remain hidden.

“It’s the goddess’s summons.”

Assassin Arthur landed on the ground from the tree in a stately manner.

“That pigeon is mine, beautiful goddess.”

Arthur was about to approach the red-haired goddess with a foolish grin. Suddenly, he felt a chill down his spine.

“You mustn’t look at our young lady with such dirty eyes. How dare you?”

“Wh-who are you!”

He made eye contact with the old lady who held a knife to his neck as if she would stab him with a sharpened blade at any moment. Under her immense pressure and murderous intent, his body automatically bowed.

“That person is my maid, Blondie.”

After introducing Blondie to Arthur, Lorencia stroked the back of the pigeon obediently perched on her finger, then handed it to Teishar standing behind her.

“To whom was the pigeon note intended to be sent?”

“It must be them.”

Ruans or Daniel.

Teishar handed the note tied to the pigeon’s leg to Lorencia. After examining the note, Lorencia couldn’t help but laugh softly. The note said the operation had failed.

“We did well to hurry after all. If the pigeon had flown, we would have been the ones to fail the operation instead.”

Lorencia chuckled, looking at the note. Using the paper and portable quill from the assassin’s bosom, she wrote that the operation was a success and tied it to the pigeon’s leg.

“Ter, if we release it like this, it will go to them, right?”

“Of course, Loa.”

“They’ll start moving, thinking the operation succeeded.”

Lorencia stroked the pigeon’s head.

“Would you like to release it?”

“No.”

“Then I will release the pigeon.”

Lorencia watched the pigeon take flight. She imagined Ruans, who would be delighted to read the note. She hoped they would quickly unfold and read the note.

And toast with great joy.

“The cup they’re holding will soon become a poisoned cup.”

Lorencia muttered softly. Then she turned her gaze to the assassin Arthur. His face was quite frightened.

“Young lady, I will kill him.”

“Sp-spare me. Please spare me.”

Arthur began begging Lorencia for his life. Lorencia bit her lower lip.

“Loa, are you alright? Shall we return so you can rest?”

Teishar embraced Lorencia, whose complexion had turned pale, and patted her back.

“No, I’m fine.”

Lorencia bit her lip again. With a pained expression, she glanced at Arthur.

“Please spare me, goddess. I beg you. I’m just in charge of communication. I have committed no sins.”

As Lorencia summoned the amethyst beads and shone them on Arthur’s face, his past began to appear to her.

“An assassin who kills people out of boredom and then begs for his life when he thinks he’s about to die…”

“How do you know that?”

Does he not realize he has no right to beg for his life?

“The end for an assassin who fails a mission is only death. So don’t beg. I’ll let you die like a proper assassin.”

“Please spare me.”

“Blondie, kill him.”

Lorencia turned her back. Behind her, she heard Arthur’s whimpering. And soon, that whimpering gradually died down.

Even if he was an evil man who deserved to die, it was painful to feel a life fading away.

“Loa.”

Teishar looked at Lorencia with concern.

“If war breaks out, even more people will die. So I know well that I mustn’t sympathize with their deaths. But I can’t help but feel uncomfortable about having to kill someone begging to be spared. Apart from him being an evil person.”

Teishar warmly embraced Lorencia’s shoulders. How much pain must the tender-hearted Lorencia be feeling, watching someone die?

He didn’t want to bring Lorencia to a place like this. But he couldn’t ignore her resolve. If she’s suffering, he must help her overcome it in his arms. That’s what he has to do.

“By killing 1 evildoer, you can save 10 innocent imperial citizens they would have killed in the future. In other words, you, Young Lady Lorencia, have saved 10 precious lives.”

Blondie spoke firmly to Lorencia.

“Blondie.”

“There’s no time to be lost in sorrow, Young Lady.”

“I understand, Blondie.”

“I will continue to guard your back, so just look forward and move on. I will protect you.”

“Ter, let’s go to the white villa.”

They carefully finished off all the assassins around the white villa. Lorencia asked the nearby fairies to check if there were any assassins left in the forest.

[There’s no one. Only stillness fills the forest.] [Happy to help the child of Goddess Ella.]

“Thank you, everyone.”

[Ask for anything. I’ll grant it all, Loa.]