Inside a secluded and dark attic.
Cold iron wires dug deep into a luxurious dress, tightly binding hands and feet.
The sound of letters being sorted with a "whoosh-whoosh" and the soft clink of metal coins echoed in the ears.
Elvia slowly regained her senses from her stupor and dizziness, struggling to open her eyes.
Looking around, she found herself in a corner filled with clutter.
Above her were slanted wooden beams, and the distant chirping of insects drifted in from outside the window.
That arrogant mage was sitting under the light of a magic lamp.
With an expressionless face, he was organizing a mountain of letters, his eyes revealing a hint of collapse and numbness.
Behind him, the unprocessed envelopes almost formed another small mountain.
Meanwhile, that elven ranger was pinching her nose in disgust, as if handling trash.
One by one, she dropped heavily worn copper coins into a cloth bag, creating a crisp jingle.
“Oh, you’re awake?”
Lin Gui didn’t even look up, greeting her as if he were casually speaking to an old acquaintance.
Elvia instinctively struggled for a moment, immediately feeling the stinging pain of the iron wires biting into her flesh.
Her heart skipped a beat.
She had been taught by the top knights in the palace since she was a child, and at a young age, she had already reached the level of a High-tier High Rank Knight.
With her impressive strength, she could easily break through ordinary ropes.
But these iron wires... they were exceptionally tough, and the binding method was incredibly tricky and professional, leaving her with no place to exert her strength.
However, just as she began to gather her battle force to attempt a forced escape.
A surge of killing intent, sharp as an icicle, instantly pointed right between her eyebrows!
Elvia snapped her head up, finding that the elven ranger had turned around at some unknown moment.
The elven longbow was drawn into a full moon, and an arrow shimmering with a cold light was aimed steadily at her.
“Haha...”
Elvia quickly abandoned all resistance.
She let out two dry laughs and turned toward the person truly in charge.
“Yahoo, isn’t this the postmaster? Good evening? What exactly is... this?”
“A kidnapping.”
Lin Gui finally looked up from the pile of letters, staring at the simpering Elvia.
“Isn’t it obvious?”
“Uh...”
For a moment, Elvia was actually at a loss for words.
After a long silence, she asked tentatively.
“Um... did I do something to offend you?”
Lin Gui looked up in shock, as if he had heard something unbelievable.
“Do you have... early-onset dementia?”
“Did you already forget the words you used to threaten me in my shop this morning?”
“But didn’t you say you hated me and told me not to contact you anymore?”
Elvia tried to argue.
“Then this is...?”
“I regretted it.”
Lin Gui lowered his head and continued sorting letters, his voice devoid of any fluctuation.
“After all, you are a peerlessly noble, high-ranking power holder.”
“People who are petty and vengeful and go looking for trouble afterward are all too common.”
“Hearing you laughing so evilly in your castle room, I felt relieved that I made this choice.”
Elvia’s mouth twitched violently a few times.
“Then... now that I’ve been kidnapped by you, what do you plan to do next?”
She took a deep breath, trying to reclaim a hint of royal dignity, her voice lowering with a threat.
“Truly, you are playing with fire, do you know that, commoner?”
“Now, immediately, release me.”
“I might still show some mercy and grant you a way to live before the knights from the Royal Capital trample Caran City to the ground!”
Lin Gui’s movements to organize the envelopes paused, and he actually nodded in agreement.
“Indeed.”
“Within the original territory of the Carter Kingdom, there has never been a complete baptism by a Dark Tide.”
“Therefore, the density and strength of demons in the wild generally haven’t reached a heaven-defying level.”
“As long as one’s strength reaches the Transcendent rank, theoretically, a well-equipped team of Transcendent adventurers can cross the wilderness.”
“Regarding the kind of knight order led by Lyon, I believe the Royal Capital can pull out several more teams at any time if they wish.”
“Not performing a kowtow to a member of the royal family is enough to be sentenced to death, let alone kidnapping.”
“Since you know the stakes, hurry up and release me!”
Elvia felt slightly more composed, thinking he was afraid.
“So, I plan to.”
As Lin Gui spoke, he extended his finger, shaping it like a pistol, and aimed it from a distance at Elvia’s fair forehead.
“Destroy the evidence.”
“In any case, no one knows we kidnapped you.”
“Killing you saves me the trouble of you actually bringing a team of knights to hunt me down.”
Cold sweat instantly poured down Elvia’s forehead.
Although he spoke so casually.
She knew clearly that this tone didn't sound like a lie!
He would really kill her!
That almost indifferent gaze that viewed human life as worthless.
She had seen it countless times in her viper-like brother who considered her a thorn in his side!
“You...”
Elvia forced down the trembling in her voice.
“I didn’t intend to do anything to you! To kill me so indiscriminately... how could you have the heart to?”
She even tried to struggle.
She worked hard to strike a beautiful and fragile pose that highlighted her own charms.
“Moreover, I am so beauti—”
The word "ful" hadn't even come out.
The killing intent in Theia’s eyes beside him suddenly surged.
The tip of her arrow shifted slightly, locking onto her every minor movement.
Elvia immediately shut her mouth sensibly.
Theia took a step forward, the moonlight outlining her stunning profile and her proud figure.
She looked down from above and sneered in response.
“In terms of being beautiful and moving, are you sure you want to compare yourself to an elf?”
Elvia’s throat choked up, and she huffed, not refuting her.
She had always been very confident in her appearance.
Even in the Royal Capital, she was a renowned beautiful lady.
She had many suitors.
But compared to this blood-eyed elf before her.
Whether it was the delicateness of her features or the ethereal nature of her aura, she truly fell short by a notch.
Since the hard approach didn't work and the soft approach seemed useless.
Elvia steeled her heart, trying to create one last bit of leverage.
She suppressed the fear in her heart.
With a sudden cold huff, she tilted her neck like a martyr unafraid of life or death, closed her eyes, and shouted loudly.
“Then go ahead and kill me! Do as you said and destroy the evidence!”
“I’m telling you in advance! There is a Demigod-rank diviner stationed in the Royal Capital!”
“Before long, you and that disgusting half-demon will be coming down to join me!”
Theia’s fingers gripping the bowstring trembled almost imperceptibly.
A flicker of hidden hesitation flashed in her eyes.
Lin Gui, on the other hand, nodded calmly as if accepting the suggestion.
He actually pulled a wooden axe that looked quite aged and even had a dull blade out from the clutter behind him.
He held the axe, walking toward Elvia step by step.
Elvia kept her neck tilted, her eyes tightly closed, looking like a martyr waiting for the slaughter.
But as the faint whistling sound of the axe cutting through the air and the cold aura of the blade approached her fragile neck.
The corners of her eyes still twitched uncontrollably.
Lin Gui raised the axe high and swung it down without hesitation!
“Clang!”
When the axe blade was less than five centimeters from Elvia’s fair neck.
A crisp hum rang out!
A pale gold light shield shimmering with magic runes popped out instantly.
It steadily blocked this fatal blow.
Although her face was pale as paper and her forehead was covered in cold sweat.
Elvia still laughed as if she had survived a disaster, her voice carrying a hint of blustering pride:
“Haha! Did you see that, commoner?!”
“This is a special magic charm from the Royal Capital! Now that you’ve triggered it with your axe.”
“The Royal Capital must have already received the news! They have already started sending an army over!”
“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll release me immediately!”
“Perhaps I can even put in a good word for you seeing as you’ve realized your mistakes!”
Lin Gui glanced speechlessly at Elvia, who was fabricating claims out of thin air, and said flatly:
“The color of that shield, gold with a hint of black, and the way those core magic circuits flow...”
“Isn’t that just a High Rank amulet sold at the Ross Magic Item Shop in the Magic City?”
“The selling price is 1,243 gold coins, and it automatically triggers to block a single physical fatal blow that does not exceed its own rank.”
Elvia’s expression changed drastically, her eyes becoming panicked, yet she still remained stubborn.
“Wh-what Magic City Ross shop?! I don’t understand what nonsense you’re talking about!”
“This was personally crafted for the royal family by a Demigod mage in the Royal Capital!”
“Oh... Is that so...”
Lin Gui elongated his words, his face showing a few hints of being "scared."
Seeing that Lin Gui seemed somewhat intimidated, Elvia was overjoyed and intended to press her advantage.
However, she saw that trace of fear instantly vanish from Lin Gui as he put back on his signature dead fish eyes.
He once again raised that broken wooden axe high, his tone flat and emotionless:
“I’m so scared~”
“Since the Royal Capital already knows, then at least we’ll be dying together.”
“Holy crap!”
Elvia finally broke down completely, unable to maintain any etiquette as she cursed out loud.
“What the hell do you want?! Just say it!! Don’t freaking scare me anymore!!”
If the other party really wanted to kill her, they would never have wasted so much breath with her here, let alone use a broken wooden axe.
But this guy’s behavior was truly terrifying.
He completely defied common sense, and Elvia felt like she was being driven mad!
Seeing Elvia finally yield, Lin Gui quickly lowered the axe.
His face instantly switched to a bright and kind smile.
It was as if the person who had just raised an axe to kill her wasn’t him at all.
He clapped his hands together, his tone light.
“Aiyaya, I was just joking with you just now~ Look at you, how could you take it seriously?”
He even stepped forward.
Quite "thoughtfully," he brushed away a few specks of dust from Elvia’s slightly messy golden hair.
Watching his mood-shifting speed, which was faster than flipping a page, Elvia’s mouth twitched wildly, unable to say a single word.
Lin Gui squatted down, looking levelly at the tightly bound Elvia.
His smile became increasingly kind, as if he were proposing the most reasonable suggestion:
“Actually, it’s no big deal~”
“I just want you to be my dog~~”
“???”
Elvia was completely dumbfounded, her brain temporarily unable to process the information in those words.
Soon, images of certain vile and unspeakable "games" from the decadent noble circles of the Royal Capital.
Involuntarily flooded into her mind.
Her scalp tingled, and goosebumps rose all over her body.
And Theia on the side clearly understood that kind of "knowledge" as well.
She looked at Lin Gui in disbelief, her blood-red eyes filled with shock.
She instinctively took a small step back.
Lin Gui was completely unaware of how his words had been misinterpreted in such an outrageous direction.
He casually pulled a small glass bottle containing a strange purple liquid from his robe.
It was the exact potion he had been carrying with him all along.
He smiled and shook the bottle at Elvia.
“Come, drink it.”
Elvia’s inner alarm bells rang loudly, and her body shrunk back.
“Wh-what is this?”
“It’s poison~”
Lin Gui answered with a beaming smile, his tone cheerful.
“A forbidden drug ranked third on the Mage Association's list, ‘Demon's Poisonous Kiss’.”
“After taking it, you won't die immediately; it will flare up once every so often.”
“When it flares up, it feels like thousands of poisonous insects biting into your bone marrow, bringing immense pain until your organs fail in extreme agony and you die.”
Lin Gui emphasized that without his unique antidote to suppress it, death was certain.
And the antidote was only possessed by the person who bought it from a specific black market channel.
Elvia had clearly heard of the illustrious and malevolent name of the “Demon's Poisonous Kiss”.
Cold sweat instantly soaked her back.
But she still held her ground and snorted coldly.
“You... you’re lying! How could such a precious and dangerous drug be in the hands of a mere Low-tier High Rank Mage like you?!”
Lin Gui didn’t bother arguing, simply stating a location.
“Magic City, Broken Star Bridge, Third Echo.”
“Starting bid, one million gold coins; final hammer price, 98.74 million gold coins.”
“And I was that buyer.”
Elvia immediately refuted him with a shrill voice.
“Impossible! You don't have that kind of wealth!”
She knew the poverty of Lin Gui running a post office collecting copper coins, and she could also see his financial situation from that faded mage robe.
Even Theia, who was familiar with Lin Gui’s finances, cast a suspicious gaze.
Lin Gui didn't look at them, his gaze seemingly fixed on the void, falling into some kind of recollection.
He seemed to see those 357 people being pushed onto the gallows and burned alive.
He looked at Elvia, a smile on his face, but his eyes were a sheet of ice:
“Alright, I was just scaring you just now.”
“Actually, it’s just a cup of water with a bit of dye added.”
“I imagine you must be thirsty after being tied up for so long? Here, I’ll feed you personally.”
Elvia struggled and shook her head desperately; she naturally knew this was definitely not anything good!
But she no longer had a choice.
Lin Gui once again gripped that broken axe.
His posture suggested, "If you don't drink obediently, I'll smash your teeth and force it down your throat."
Panic filled Elvia’s heart, and she closed her eyes in despair, opening her mouth in humiliation.
A cool liquid with a hint of strange, sweet bloodiness slid down her throat.
There was no so-called surge of lust.
Almost the instant the liquid entered her stomach.
A powerful, intense pain that felt like it was tearing all her nerves apart suddenly exploded from her abdomen, sweeping through her entire body in an instant!
“Ugh—aaaahhh—!!!”
Elvia couldn’t help but let out a shrill scream of agony, her body twitching violently as her eyeballs bulged out terrifyingly.
Feeling this extreme pain comparable to being thrown into a furnace, she remembered his earlier explanation of the symptoms of the “Demon's Poisonous Kiss”...
Elvia was horrified beyond belief.
This was real?!!
Rate on N.U.
