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“That was… close.”

The burst of light faded as quickly as it appeared. A tall figure stood in front of Lesiah, holding up a mutilated male corpse in his hand.

“Green Emperor… Your Excellency, may I ask… what happened?” Lesiah asked in confusion.

Although a vast majority of the shockwave was blocked off by Green Emperor, the sudden bright light and loud noise still disoriented Lesiah briefly. She could not process the situation in front of her.

“It looks like a suicide attack.”

Green Emperor threw a glance at Lord Gregory’s corpse, then instantly lost all interest in it.

It seemed to be just an ordinary corpse.

He could not feel anything special about it, but the power of the explosion just now was no less than a saint-level magic spell. Had he not stepped in time to intervene, none of the people in the crowd gathered here, including Lesiah, would be spared from death.

After determining that there was nothing special about the corpse, Green Emperor tossed it away then started scanning the environment vigilantly.

“Please be careful, there might still be danger lurking in the shadows.”
“All right.”

Knowing that her presence here was a burden to everyone else around her, Lesiah complied and retreated for the time being.

The maids and knights, who were relatively safe, all rushed toward Lesiah and anxiously checked if she had sustained any injuries from the attack earlier.

“Lesiah, are you all right?”

Lilith also hurriedly jumped down from the balcony of the main hall and quickly came over to Lesiah’s side with a worried look on her face.

“I’m fine…”

Lesiah held her forehead and shook her head. Although she was still a little dizzy, it was not a major concern.

On the contrary…

“Waaaaah…!”

The loud explosion frightened Leniah and she burst into tears.

“Sheesh, this is not the time to be crying.”
“All right.”

Leniah wiped her tears.

Lilith expected no less from a young princess who had been brought up in the royal family. Although Leniah was still young, she quickly calmed down after hearing Lilith’s comforting words.

After calming Leniah down, Lilith returned her gaze to Lord Gregory’s corpse who just self-destructed and wondered, “Did that guy… despite Lesiah that much?”

It would have made sense if Lord Gregory despised Lilith and Greenie after they made a fool of him, so why did he launch a suicide attack on Lesiah instead?

Even if Lord Gregory despised Lesiah, it was still highly unlikely for him to express it through such an extreme method. After all, the more powerful a person was, the more they cherished their lives. Besides, knowing what Lord Gregory’s objective was, sacrificing his own life to kill Lesiah just did not make any sense.

Lilith reached a conclusion. “It looks like there’s a mastermind behind all this.”

She then discreetly gave Akarin and the others an order to remain vigilant through her spectrum stone.

After all, Lilith reckoned that anyone who could simply use a duke from the Macedonian Empire as a human bomb was not an ordinary person.

“Ooooh, I expected no less from the dragon princess. That’s a brilliant conclusion.”

A strange voice suddenly appeared without any warning.

When Lilith heard the word “dragon” clearly, her pupils shrank and she immediately looked toward the source of the voice.

It belonged to an unknown person who wore black robes and a hood. Under Lilith’s wary gaze, he calmly removed his hood, revealing his not-so-real face underneath it.

A sheet of white paper stuck comically to his face, lifting slightly with his every breath. A strange character was written in thick handwriting on the paper, but that was only what it looked like for other people in this world. For Lilith, she was able to recognize that the character on the white paper meant “nine” in her previous world.

“You are…?”
“Pardon my rudeness. Lilith, Your Highness, can call me Nine.”

The black-robed man respectfully bowed to Lilith, but it came across as comical and clown-like. The fact that he could easily state Lilith’s identity and name was an indication that he came prepared.

“Nine… What a strange name. You even have a piece of paper stuck on your face. Are you playing a zombie game or something?”
“Thank you for your compliment, Your Highness. But I am not here to play games this time~”

A familiar-looking black card appeared in the hand of that black-robed man who called himself Nine.

He then gleefully said, “I’m here to purge a sin.”

“Purge…a sin?”

Lilith’s gaze fell on the black card in Nine’s hand. She was very certain that it was the same mysterious card that the people around her had received not long ago.

In other words…

“You are the one who sent those cards?” Lilith asked coldly, with undisguised murderous intent on her face.

The black cards and the incident that happened during the regular exam not long ago enveloped Lilith’s heart like a haze. It had actually been making her unable to sleep and eat well.

She did not care if the enemy was targeting her. Worse comes to worst, she could just ask help from that Dragon Eater that dwelled inside her. However, she simply could not bear it if the people whom she cared a great deal about got hurt because of her.

If this guy in front of her was the mastermind behind all this, then she must not let him get away at all cost.

Nine tried to tempt Lilith. “Too bad for you. I am not the guy who set this boring game, but… I do know who that guy is~”

“You’re saying that… both of you guys are a team?”

“Haha, Your Highness is really smart, but we’re not exactly a team. We just happen to be working toward the same goal. You can probably only say that we share the same object of faith. Our way of doing things is quite different. That guy likes to lurk in the shadows like a rat, but I hate those kinds of sneaky people.”

Lilith could hear the undisguised disgust and resentment in Nine’s voice.

“As friends of justice, we should act openly and honestly. That guy is simply a disgrace to us!”
“Huh?” Lilith thought she had heard wrong. “What did you say you guys are?”
“Friends of justice, is there a problem?”

The corners of Lilith’s mouth twitched.

“There’s a lot of problems, okay? How can a guy who suddenly launched a terrorist attack using another person as a human bomb be qualified to call himself a friend of justice? Did a donkey kick you in the head?”
“Ah, another ignorant one.”

The white paper on Nine’s face trembled violently as if it had been hit by a gale. He got even more worked up.

“Ignorant! You all are ignorant! In order to completely purge the sins and filth in this world, we will have to employ inhumane means! Those are necessary and irreplaceable methods! I’m sure those guys would be immensely happy to sacrifice their lives for us, who are going to save the world!”

Lilith was dumbstruck by his words.

Where the hell did this guy with eighth grade syndrome come from?

“It seems like we have nothing to talk about. Instead of listening to your crazy ramblings here, we should capture you first then interrogate you for answers that we seek.”

Lilith cracked her knuckles and leapt to her feet.

“Quite some confidence you have there, Your Highness. Let me tell you this, I never take risks. The fact that I appeared here means the outcome has already been determined.”

Nine put his palms together. When he pulled them apart again, a black cane appeared in his hand, just like a magic trick.

He spun the cane skillfully between his fingers like the most elegant magician in the world, then stopped abruptly, pointing straight at an empty spot in front of him.

“Ugh…”

A muffled grunt rang out. Someone who was trying to sneak up on him was forced to show himself.

“Even if Your Highness has another legendary dragon as your henchman, you still won’t be able to change the outcome.” Looking at the shocked Akarin in front of him, a mocking laugh escaped from underneath the fluttering white paper on Nine’s face.

“You…!” Akarin froze for a moment, then burst into a rage.

How dare this guy make fun of him, the great butler of the dragon clan?!

If word of this got out, this would be a great humiliation for him!

Simply unforgivable!

The abundant magic power within Akarin suddenly exploded. It coursed through every part of his body like a tsunami wave. Ignoring Princess Lilith’s order to capture their enemy alive, he swung his fist with all his might at Nine’s head without any hesitation.

“Oh my, I wouldn’t dare to take a punch from a legendary dragon head on.”

Nine suddenly twisted his cane, and a golden arcane rune appeared on it.

“This is…”

Akarin felt all the strength in his fist being absorbed. Although the enemy was right in front of him, he felt like he could not reach him.

Not only his fist, Akarin also felt like his entire body was being dragged into a quicksand. The more he struggled, the further away he was from Nine.

His vision gradually began to blur.

“Unfortunately, you are not among the targets I need to purge. So, I could only make you vanish for a while.”

Nine chuckled and tapped his cane on Akarin’s shoulder. The butler, who was actually the one of the strongest among the dragon clan, then vanished into the thin air under everyone’s gaze.