Thud. A white mask fell and rolled with a light sound next to Talia’s head, who lay fallen.

She mustered her remaining strength to lift her head and look at the owner of the mask.

Recognizing the man’s identity, Talia widened her eyes.

“Ga, Gallio… the commander?”

“You finally realized. Soon, your comrades will join you in the same place. Ah, perhaps even Charlotte.”

“You… wicked…”

“Seems like the pursuit team is nearing. Let’s end the fun here.”

Talia trembled, sensing that death was drawing near.

Gallio, who had appeared as if bidding her farewell, disappeared without a trace, just like he had appeared.

Slowly, the dark clouds that had not allowed a single ray of moonlight cleared, and the voice of a soldier who discovered her lifeless body echoed through the forest.

“A corpse was found?”

Sione, who was in the lab, immediately stood up upon hearing the soldier’s report.

“Yes. She was in a forest not far from the palace.”

“We need to identify the body and her belongings. Where has she been transported?”

“It seems she was sent to the royal knights. Given the gravity of the situation, it seems the captain of the knights will handle it himself.”

Hearing the response, Sione frowned.

Hadn’t she suffered a loss last time when she had easily handed over an assassin to the knights?

“Where is Balter right now?”

“I heard he went to the autopsy facility a few hours ago… I’m not sure.”

Nodding, she tidied up a sheet of parchment inscribed with magic circles and left the lab.

Although researching Elgawa was urgent, handling this incident was the priority.

‘Bella said that she had sensed something suspicious about Rina.’

After dawn, Sione had visited Bella to hear several stories.

After thoroughly listening to the events leading to the incident and her feeling of unease upon encountering Rina in the daytime, she could come to one conclusion.

That she was a very special kind of assassin.
“Perhaps Lina had a peculiar power, like Lady Bella.”

It was impossible to confirm now that Lina had died, but the fact that she had been able to infiltrate the Rose Palace while avoiding other people’s eyes likely meant she was different from ordinary vampires.

Like Bella, who could handle both spirits and magic, Lina also had the possibility of being a rare exception, born of a unique bloodline.

Under those premises, it also somewhat explained why only Bella had noticed something was off about Lina.

“I should inform Walter in advance about these matters. He might suspect something as well.”

One of Walter’s few good qualities was that he was well-informed about world affairs, something she lacked.

Back when she used to work with Vlady, she was primarily deployed on the battlefield, while Walter handled most matters related to information and documents.

Therefore, even when they were in similar positions, they excelled in different areas, which often worked complementarily.

The moment she set foot in the compound where the Knights used buildings, someone ran towards her at high speed.

“Sione! You’ve come all the way here yourself. What’s going on?”

The person was none other than Walter.

Sione looked at his unchanged handsome face and narrowed her eyes.

“What do you think? Of course, it’s about the incident at the Rose Palace. I came to see the corpse of the assassin.”

“Ah, what should I say…”

Visibly unhappy, Walter pouted like a child.

Although he appeared to be a dignified and exemplary commander of knights, he could be as immature as a little kid at times.

“Why else would I have come all the way here?”

“Stop beating me up about it. You’ll wear me out.”

“Quit babbling and tell me the autopsy results.”

With a deep sigh, Walter led her to his office and detailed the autopsy results.

But what she heard was somewhat disappointing.

Lina’s body had been severely damaged by the poison stinger she had been carrying, and there was no definitive evidence.

“That poison is really dreadful. It melted her skin, so instant death was inevitable.”

“But did she use the stinger on herself? That’s beyond ordinary.”

“That’s a bit suspicious. The footprints left at the scene were definitely those of the assassin, but they seemed chaotic, as if she had been confronted by someone. There might have been another person involved.”

She nodded in agreement with Walter’s opinion.

With the assassin infiltrating not once but twice, it became increasingly clear that someone was backing them.

The likelihood that this person behind the scenes had removed Lina to destroy evidence was a highly plausible theory.

Afterwards, Sione detailed to Walter what she had heard from Bella.

At the revelation that Bella could not only wield magic but also command spirits, he looked quite surprised but soon nodded in agreement.

“An assassin using abilities other than magic… I’ve heard of that somewhere before.”