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“Ohoho, you’ll have to partake in this meal first if you wish to know.”
“…..”

Lesiah and Lilith exchanged looks with each other.

To eat or not to eat, that is the question.

The princess cast a brief glance at her meal, then shook her head grimly. Lilith also cast a silent glance at her meal, then nodded in understanding. The pair looked at Shiloah, then announced the decision that they both had agreed on at the same time.

“I’m not eating!”
“I’m eating!”
“??”
“!!”
“I thought you agreed that we won’t eat that!”
“I thought you said there’s no problem with it!”
“…….”
“…….”
“Ohoho, so is that a yes or no?”

Lesiah massaged her throbbing temples.

“I’ll never eat that.”
“Why not? Are you not even in the slightest bit curious about the reason behind this world’s destruction?”

With a cold snort, Lesiah pushed away the plate that Shiloah tried to set down in front of her.

“Hehe, do you take me for a fool? After saying all that, you still insist us to eat this. I’m afraid you can’t even convince a three-year-old to believe that there’s nothing fishy about this.”
“That’s right. I can see right through your little dirty trick. I only deliberately agreed to give you false hope. Haha, are you surprised? How does it feel to have your hope dashed? Haha.”

Lilith pushed her plate away without any reluctance too and forced a smile. However, her slightly trembling hands gave her away.

Who wants to eat that? Not me. Nope…

“…….”
“…….”
“Ohoho, as expected of the perfect princess. It seems like I have failed to deceive you with reason and emotion.”

Shiloah set the plate down and straightened up. The waiter costume he wore suddenly turned into dust.

“But then again, I already expected that such a simple trick could never fool you. My objective was to only buy enough time.”

“What do you mean?!” Lesiah demanded an answer sternly.

She moved her hand to the sword that was supposed to hang from her waist, only to be reminded that it had been confiscated by the strange man in front of her.

In the end, she could only direct her gaze at Lilith, who was still mulling over her decision of partaking in the meal, like it could give her a sense of security.

“Ohoho, I hope you still remember this, princess.”

Shiloah lifted a hand, five sharp claws instantly extended on his fingertips and clashed with each other.

However, Lesiah seemed to be well prepared this time. She quickly took out a spectrum stone and activated it.

ROAAAAAAR!!

Almost instantly, a deafening and frightening roar came out of the spectrum stone.

It was none other than the skeletal dragon’s roar. No one knew when Lesiah had made a recording of it.

Instead of unleashing the paralyzing skill that came with the screeching of his claws, Shiloah waited patiently for the deafening roar to end.

“Ohohohoho, I expected nothing less from the princess who is an expert in escaping arts. It seems like you are very well-prepared. But I wonder if you still remember how you were ensnared by my trap back then…?”
“How I…”

The last time Shiloah got her with this skill, she didn’t even realize it in time…

Realize?

The princess furrowed her brows as she recalled what happened at the time. It was then her eyes suddenly widened before her gaze promptly shifted to the eagle-headed human statue that was still emitting fragrance on the dining table.

Realization dawned upon her.

“Oh no! The poison isn’t in the meat but the mist?!!”

“What?” Confusion was written all over Lilith’s face.

“Damn, I can’t believe I fell for it again!”

Lesiah slapped her head remorsefully. “To ensnare enemies in your trap isn’t always about how well you can conceal your trap, but how you can distract them from realizing that it is a trap. That means…”

“That means the meat is actually safe to eat?!” Lilith clapped at the revelation.

“…..”

“This is why I brought these out: just to make you suspect that the poison is in the meat and not in the mist. Of course, I purposefully light up the incense right before your eyes so that you’d let your guard down, thinking that there’s no way I’d be stupid enough to attempt poisoning you upfront. If I hadn’t done that, Princess Lesiah would’ve realized that something is wrong sooner, given her keen senses.”

He continued, “This poisonous mist is called Hypnotic Incense. Although it isn’t really hypnotizing, it is still enough to knock you kids out.”

Lesiah’s head suddenly felt heavy.

Feeling as though every ounce of energy in her body was sucked out of her, she slumped back into her seat while seething in silence.

She could hardly believe she would fall for the same trick twice.

“Ohoho, it really takes a lot to deal with both of you at the same time.”

Shiloah’s gaze shifted to Lilith, who had also lost her energy. “One of you possesses a powerful body and strange power.”

He then turned to Lesiah again. “And the other one is intelligent and highly skilled in escaping. Ohoho, both of you indeed make the perfect pair. Unfortunately, you still can’t rival this almost flawless Hypnosis Incense that disregards level, physique and battle qi. Its only flaw is just that it requires time for the poison to accumulate in the body and take effect.”

“One last question.”

Feeling her eyelids slowly getting heavier and heavier, Lesiah struggled to voice out her question. “How much of what you said is true?”

“Ohoho, well… Apart from the fact that both of you have nothing to do with the commotion in this world, everything else is true.”

“That means…”

“Correct. The answer you want to know… The root cause of this world’s destruction…”

The expression on Shiloah’s face turned vicious. “IS THE OUTSIDERS LIKE YOURSELF!!!”

“…..”

“I’ll take care of both of you first before the others. So goodnight. The others will join you very soon.”

It was only then Lesiah’s consciousness finally faded. Shiloah took out a pocket watch from his chest pocket and took a glance.

“Ohoho, as expected of Lady Cornelia’s Hypnosis Incense. It really worked within five minutes as she said. I guess not even a real dragon could withstand it.”

“Ugh…”

“HMM?!”

A voice that he thought he’d never hear again startled him. He turned to the source, only to discover that it belonged to none other than Lilith. To his great surprise, instead of being out cold like her fellow companion, she was still struggling even though she was slumped on the table.

“How is this possible? How are you still conscious after five minutes?!”
“He…he… This is… nothing… compared… to the one… from the titans… There’s… no way… I’ll… be knocked… down… that easily…”

Her willpower left Shiloah in awe.

Just what sort of conviction does one need to have such willpower?

Perhaps not even his most respected Lady Cornelia was capable of this.

Lilith stretched her hands out to reach the plate that she was so obsessed with. And finally, with much difficulty, she managed to finally pull it toward her.

“How can… I… fall… before… I taste this…?”
“……”

With a knife and fork, she struggled to cut a small piece of it before sending it into her mouth.

Because of the effect of the mist, every small action came as a great challenge to her.

She shut her eyes as she slowly chewed, trying to savor the flavor of the extremely rare piece of meat.

All of a sudden, she snapped her eyes wide open. Tremor raked through her supposedly weak body.

She then turned to Shiloah.

Her every word was spoken with great clarity and vigor, as though the effect of the mist was completely gone from her body.

“You’ll be dead meat when I wake up. How dare you trick me, this is just an ordinary piece of meat!!!”