“Looks like you’ve run into some trouble,” a voice remarked.
The maid suddenly felt a chill—a bone-deep cold.
She stiffly lifted her head and looked ahead.
Celicia held the unconscious Mu’en in her arms, surrounded by a howling snowstorm.
Killing intent surged from her like a breached dam.
“Need me to help you out of your predicament?” Celicia raised her hand, her gaze as cold as iron.
“By getting rid of—’you’.”
The maid’s eyes widened in shock.
Without the King of Withering’s flames, the terrifying cold instantly penetrated her body.
Pure white frost began spreading from the tip of a dagger, quickly freezing her entire arm within moments.
“Damn it,” the maid snarled, her expression twisting.
She now realized that Mu’en Campbell’s desperate intervention had caused her assassination mission to fail.
Though the sudden disappearance of the flames bothered her, now wasn’t the time to dwell on it.
She couldn’t stay here!
Gritting her teeth, she used her only free left hand to crush her frozen right arm!
At the same time, an egg-sized sphere fell from her side and instantly exploded.
A thick white smoke that obscured senses and vision filled the room.
Celicia’s eyes narrowed slightly. The raging snowstorm quickly dispersed the smoke, but the maid had already vanished.
“Escaped, huh?” Celicia glanced at the shattered window, a hint of mockery flashing in her eyes.
“No, you haven’t.”
“Do you even know whose territory this is?”
—
“Damn that Mu’en Campbell!”
The maid—no, the assassin codenamed Number Eight—clutched her severed arm, fleeing desperately along the shadows of the mansion’s walls.
“I was so close…”
“I should’ve killed him even if he wasn’t the target!”
Number Eight seethed with frustration.
A near-perfect mission had been ruined by some insignificant ant. Anyone would be furious.
But… it wasn’t over yet.
Number Eight lowered her gaze, listening to the sound of blood dripping to the ground, feeling the excruciating pain of her mutilated body. Strangely, she felt a flicker of relief.
Yes, relief.
“Ever since Number Nine died… have I started fearing death too?”
She chuckled self-deprecatingly but quickly shook off the inappropriate emotions, focusing on her ongoing escape.
—
“I thought I just heard someone threatening my precious son?”
Number Eight’s steps came to an abrupt halt.
She had to stop because someone stood in front of her.
A man as imposing as a lion.
“The Lion King, Long En Campbell?”
Number Eight’s face turned deathly pale.
“Oh? I’m flattered you remember my humble name.”
Long En Campbell reeked of alcohol, having just returned from a battlefield surrounded by greedy hyenas. He still held a delicate wine glass.
But even in his noble finery, he couldn’t hide the terrifying aura of death that clung to him—an aura only forged in true bloodshed.
“But, dear guest, I don’t recall the Campbell family inviting you. Why have you come uninvited?”
Long En smiled gently, but his gaze was icy, as if he were looking at a corpse.
“Do tell me, especially the part about what you wanted to do to my precious son.
I’m all ‘ears’!”
—
On the other side of the Duke’s Mansion, another maid-like figure was also fleeing at top speed.
She was Number Six, the other assassin who had wisely fled earlier.
“So that’s the Lion King? Terrifying. Good thing I chose a different route.”
Glancing at the horrifying aura emanating in the distance, she couldn’t help but feel a chill.
“Sorry, Number Eight. You’ll have to be my decoy for now. I can’t die yet.”
“Great King of Withering, may your soul return to the crimson earth.”
After a brief prayer for Number Eight, she suppressed her fatigue and continued her desperate escape from the mansion.
—
“How strange. As professional assassins, shouldn’t you commit suicide after failing your mission?”
Number Six’s pupils constricted.
Her fleeing steps abruptly halted, and like a fish in water, she twisted her body mid-air, narrowly dodging a sharp, icy shadow that attacked from an unexpected angle.
“Who’s there?”
Ignoring the burning pain on her cheek from the attack, she stared intently at the shadow nearby.
“Who? Oh, just an insignificant maid.”
A girl in a black-and-white dress emerged from the shadows. A sudden flash of lightning outside illuminated An’s elegant profile.
“A maid?”
Number Six, also dressed as a maid, smirked mockingly. “I’ve never seen such a terrifying maid.”
She wiped her cheek with her finger and tasted the blood. The strong metallic tang filled her mouth.
That strike had nearly decapitated her, even though she’d reacted in time.
This opponent was no joke!
“There’s a lot in the world you haven’t seen, just as I’ve never seen such useless assassins,” An lamented, her tone dripping with pity.
“I even leaked such crucial information, and yet you’re the ones who showed up? Pathetic.”
“What are you talking about?”
A cold shiver ran down Number Six’s spine.
“What am I talking about?”
An’s eyes widened dramatically.
“You don’t even know how worthless you are, do you?”
“What’s it to you? Aren’t you just a maid of the Duke’s Mansion?”
“Heh, a maid? Of course, I’m a maid. But you… you’re just so… disappointing.”
Suddenly, An clutched her arms and let out a pained moan, as if suffering from some excruciating torment.
“We were so close… so close to getting rid of that bitch Celicia who’s always near Young Master Mu’en.”
In Number Six’s horrified gaze, An’s once elegant face twisted into a grotesque, manic smile.
“And you failed?”
“Not only did you fail, but you also hurt Young Master Mu’en.”
“How… how dare you hurt him? The only one in this world allowed to hurt him is ‘me’!”
‘Boom!’
Thunder roared, drowning out An’s horrifying scream.
“Ah, no.”
An placed her hands on her face and slowly smoothed her expression.
Her grotesque smile faded, and she became elegant and composed once more.
“As Young Master Mu’en’s personal maid, how could I be so rude?”
An folded her hands gracefully in front of her abdomen and bowed respectfully to the trembling Number Six.
“Now, allow me to send you off, honored guest.”
Behind her, countless razor-thin blades floated into the air, their sharp tips glinting menacingly, all aimed at Number Six.
