It was just as Elvia had expected.
Having lost John’s Holy Knights—his greatest martial strength and support—the Third Prince was now on the verge of fury and madness.
And she, having returned safely, undoubtedly became the Third Prince’s most direct and convenient outlet for his venting.
The heavy, rhythmic sound of iron boots treading on the ground approached from afar, shattering the tranquility of the Royal Hotel.
In the blink of an eye...
A large number of knights and guards dressed in the crested armor of the Third Prince’s faction surrounded the hotel’s exterior until it was water-tight and overflowing with killing intent.
Leading them was the Third Prince himself, his eyes blood-red and his face twisted with rage.
Yet Elvia was completely fearless.
She straightened her skirt.
Under the nervous gazes of her few loyal guards, she walked openly out of the hotel’s main entrance.
She faced the fury that had nearly solidified into substance.
She dared to do this because she naturally had her own assurances.
She believed that at this very moment, her “dear” siblings were certainly hiding in some corner nearby with an excellent view.
They were surely sipping red tea leisurely and enjoying this play.
They wanted nothing more than for the Third Prince to be blinded by rage and strike her down on the spot.
If that happened, the Third Prince, burdened with the crime of “slaying a blood relative,” would be completely cut off from the throne.
Although he had lost John’s Holy Knights...
The several high noble powers that the Third Prince had cultivated and deeply bonded with over the years were still not to be underestimated.
The strength he had brought with him today was sufficient to crush any protection around Elvia.
“Elvia!!”
The Third Prince’s voice sounded like a wounded beast’s roar.
He glared at her.
The pressure of a Low-tier Transcendent, mixed with a violent aura, washed over her.
“Tell me! Why are you standing here completely unscathed!”
“While Lord John and his loyal knights… had their soul lamps extinguished, with not even their bones remaining?!”
“Was it you?! Did you and your allies—those rats in the gutters—design all this?!”
At the same time, the knights behind him took a step forward.
The combined auras of ten High-tier Transcendent experts linked together.
It pressed down so hard that the adventurer guards at the Low-tier Transcendent rank beside Elvia turned pale, nearly unable to breathe.
The gap in strength was like the difference between clouds and mud.
Elvia endured the suffocating pressure.
She lifted her head, her voice clear and calm.
“Third Brother, please calm down! Use that brain of yours that is filled with rage and think!”
“I am a mere High-tier High Rank knight. Would I have the ability to annihilate an entire Holy Knight order led by a Mid-tier Legendary expert?”
“If I truly had such power, would I have waited until now?”
“Then how did you cross so many treacherous Forbidden Zones!! How did you return to the Royal Capital!”
The Third Prince questioned her angrily.
“Why did you violate the royal decree and leave your fief to return to the capital!”
“And where is the Gold Rank Dreamweaver adventure group that you claimed was escorting you before Father?!”
“Do not think I will believe your rhetoric!!”
“Hmph, I have already said in front of everyone that the Dreamweaver group’s true destination was not the Royal Capital. They have already left!”
Elvia puffed out her chest and retorted sharply.
“As for why I returned, I have made it very clear. I came back to be married!!”
“Imperial regulations state that a princess marrying down must return to the capital, regardless of which fief she is in!”
“Then where is your husband?! Why did you not bring him to meet Father!”
The Third Prince followed up with a series of questions.
Because if I told that guy, he would reject me in front of everyone.
The heartless kind of rejection!!
Elvia thought with a hint of sorrow.
As a person of noble status and peerless beauty, hailed as the most beautiful princess in the Royal Capital...
She was actually being disdained by a High Rank wandering mage.
“Because... he is a devout believer of the Holy Church of Light.”
“With the Holy Saintess’s arrival imminent, he intends to close his doors, chant scriptures, and seek blessings for her arrival!”
“Brother, you surely wouldn’t want to disrupt the prayer of a devout believer at a critical juncture like this, right?”
“He is a Holy Saint who can use supreme Light Magic.”
As one of the only two upper elements, Light Magic had always been highly favored by the Holy Church of Light.
The Holy Church of Light believed that Light Magic was a blessing bestowed by the Goddess of Light from the heavens upon her most devout followers.
Therefore, they provided extreme care for those who mastered Light Magic.
To what extent? If you knew Light Magic and registered with the church, you could receive a hundred gold coins every month...
Go to the Priest’s Hall, and you could enjoy free Light Healing for life.
If you were bullied, the local church would even bring out a large group of people to settle things for you.
Even if you only knew a single novice Light Magic spell.
Coincidentally, Elvia knew that Lin Gui could use Light Magic, even if it was only the novice Illumination spell.
But it was enough to make the Third Prince wary at this moment.
The Royal Capital’s political and economic strength was strong indeed.
But militarily, any city-state in the central continent could crush the Carter Royal Capital.
Let alone the number one religion of the central continent, the Holy Church of Light.
“Hmph! Who knows if you are just posturing.”
“Having fought with you for so long, do I not know your talent for conjuring cards out of thin air?”
“Oh~~ then feel free to go. He is currently at a temporary post office in the Seventh Ring called the Pariah Messenger.”
Elvia said flatly.
“His name is Lin Gui, a Mid-tier High Rank Holy Mage.”
“At this moment, he is delivering letters to the pariahs to accumulate merit and faith for the Holy Saintess’s arrival.”
Elvia’s words were a mix of truth and lies.
It left the Third Prince and his advisors unable to guess whether it was true or not.
Elvia did not give them time to react.
She looked around and said with a smile.
“Brother, what you should do right now is investigate the true cause of the John’s Knights’ deaths.”
“Instead of pouring your rage out on your innocent sister here in front of everyone!”
“Do you really want to lose all chance at that throne because of a moment of impulse?!”
Elvia’s words were like a precise scalpel, cutting into the places the Third Prince cared about most.
His chest heaved violently, his blood-red eyes glared at Elvia, and his fists clenched until they cracked.
The killing intent in the air fluctuated, showing the intense struggle in his heart.
Ultimately, his desire for the throne and his rational judgment of the situation narrowly suppressed his boiling murderous intent.
The Third Prince stared at Elvia and squeezed a sentence through his teeth.
“You had better… pray that Lord John’s death truly has nothing to do with you. Otherwise…”
He did not finish, but his gaze, as venomous as a viper’s, explained everything.
With a sudden wave of his hand, he led his knights and guards away as quickly as a receding tide.
Only after watching the Third Prince’s receding figure did Elvia’s tense nerves finally relax, her back already drenched in cold sweat.
She knew that a temporary retreat did not mean the crisis was over.
On the contrary, the Third Prince’s parting look told her that the other party would use every dark means possible to “catch” her, regardless of the cost.
Ubiquitous surveillance, meticulously planned “accidents,” and fabricated charges...
And perhaps even directly sending death soldiers for kidnapping or assassination...
As long as he wasn't caught with undeniable evidence on the spot, the Third Prince would no longer care about the superficial sibling relationship.
Once she fell into his hands, what awaited her would be torment and exploitation more terrifying than death.
The thought of that potential ending made Elvia’s face turn pale.
When she left the Royal Capital, her subordinates and power base had been essentially wiped clean.
As for the guards around her, it was an unknown whether they had been turned while she was away.
“No, I must find an absolutely safe place…” Her mind raced.
The Carter Palace? There were too many eyes and ears there; it might not be safe, and she might even be walking into a trap.
The sanctuary of some high noble?
Without sufficient exchange of benefits, who would take on the furious Third Prince for the sake of a disgraced princess?
Seek protection from her other siblings?
As soon as the thought arose, she snuffed it out.
No, they couldn't wait for this “trouble” of hers to be removed by the Third Prince; how could they provide sanctuary?
It would be a mercy if they didn't kick her while she was down.
Elvia frowned deeply, her fingers unconsciously twisting the edge of her clothes.
Plan after plan was proposed and then rejected.
Ultimately, a person’s figure abruptly burst into her mind.
A guy who could stroll around in front of a Legendary demon without anything happening to him.
Lin Gui.
“Tsk! I wanted him to beg me for help, but here I am, having to take the initiative to seek his protection.”
“How the tables have turned.”
Elvia did not hesitate for a second.
When it came to her life, she didn't care about face.
If necessary, she wouldn't even blink if she had to kneel and beg for mercy on the spot.
With that in mind, she immediately arranged for her most trusted guards.
They mounted their horses and escorted her away from the Royal Hotel at top speed.
They headed straight for the Pariah Messenger post office in the Seventh Ring.
She had to find Lin Gui and sync their stories before the Third Prince sent people to verify her words!
At the same time, she would have him open the Shroud of the Gloomy Night so she could hide inside.
However, the process of finding Lin Gui was far more difficult than she had imagined.
When she rushed to the dilapidated post office with the Pariah Messenger sign, she found only a group of “staff members” who were full of disdain but sorted letters efficiently, along with a long queue of expectant refugees.
“Where is Lin Gui? Where is the black-haired, black-eyed mage?”
Elvia grabbed someone who looked like a manager and asked urgently.
The manager recognized Elvia’s identity.
Although he was surprised that a Seventh Princess would appear in such a place, he maintained a superficial level of respect.
“In reply to Your Highness, that Mage Lord’s movements are unpredictable.”
“He only comes by occasionally to check. We do not know his current whereabouts either.”
Elvia was anxious.
She left a message saying to notify her immediately if they saw Lin Gui and then left without stopping.
Her guards soon brought news that information about Lin Gui had been found at the Adventurer’s Guild in the refugee district.
Elvia quickly mounted her horse and caught up.
Along the way, through the scattered reports of her guards and her own observations, she witnessed the “good deeds” Lin Gui had done in this bottom-tier area in just a single day.
The post office with the insulting name.
The highly efficient but arrogant staff.
And those refugees weeping with gratitude after receiving their letters...
It all felt like a bizarre contradiction.
She had originally thought Lin Gui was a moralist with a hygiene fixation who couldn't stand even a speck of dust in his eyes.
Now it seemed she had misjudged him.
She arrived at the Adventurer’s Guild in the refugee district, which was even noisier than the post office.
And as soon as she entered...
Elvia’s attention was drawn to the crowd gathered three layers deep in front of the commission board in the center of the hall, discussing excitedly.
She squeezed through with effort.
When she clearly saw the commission content posted at the very top and written in bold letters, even with her mental fortitude, she couldn't help but have her eye twitch violently.
【Commission: Find the Tomb of Queen Catriona】
【Details: Provide any verified and effective clues related to Queen Catriona and her tomb.】
【Reward: 560,000 Gold Coins】
【Client: Lin Gui】
The long string of zeros at the end nearly blinded everyone’s eyes.
Five hundred and sixty thousand gold coins!
This was a fortune sufficient to bankrupt a minor noble family and make even the powerful tempted!
As for where Lin Gui got so much money, Elvia could guess a thing or two.
He had likely opened the warehouse of some unlucky wealthy person again.
But when she saw this insane commission amount with her own eyes, she was still stunned by the other party’s overwhelming scale.
“Have you seen the mage who posted this commission?”
Elvia asked the guild staff.
“After that lord posted the commission and paid the massive deposit, he left. No one knows where he went.”
Elvia’s heart sank.
He wasn't at the post office, and he wasn't at the Adventurer’s Guild.
She had used almost all the connections and eyes she could mobilize in the refugee and commoner districts, yet she hadn't even found a shadow of Lin Gui.
The sky gradually darkened.
Elvia stood on the noisy street, watching the people come and go, feeling so powerless for the first time.
That guy was like a drop of water merging into the sea, disappearing without a trace.
“Could it be… that he has already left the Royal Capital?”
A thought that made her heart leap out of her chest popped up involuntarily.
If Lin Gui really was gone...
Then the words she just said to the Third Prince would become an utter lie and a provocation.
What awaited her would be the Third Prince’s unbridled and mad retaliation!
The thought of being imprisoned and tortured made Elvia’s face turn pale.
She bit her lower lip hard, forcing herself to calm down.
Standing on the noisy street of the refugee district, she looked at the crowds of people struggling for a living.
For the first time, she felt a deep sense of powerlessness and… a trace of grievance at being abandoned?
Just as her mood was about to hit rock bottom...
Her gaze accidentally swept over a familiar figure near a small stall selling roasted insect skewers.
He was surreptitiously slipping into a women’s clothing boutique, instantly attracting all of Elvia’s attention.
The figure looked ordinary, but the light elven gait he revealed while walking, along with the curve of pointed ears occasionally glimpsed from the silhouette of his hood, made Elvia’s heart skip a beat!
‘Theia?!’
Excitedly, she pulled down her hat and quietly followed.
To hide her movements, she silently activated a magical item: the Hazy Veil.
A faint layer of light distortion enveloped her, making her appearance seem blurry and difficult for others to recognize.
She followed the figure into a boutique and saw that she was indeed carefully selecting clothes.
She seemed quite interested in several long dresses with elven-style embroidery.
The shop assistants were busy attending to other customers and did not notice Elvia, who was covered by the Hazy Veil.
Taking advantage of the moment Theia picked up a garment and turned into a changing room, Elvia followed her in as quickly as a slippery fish!
However, just as her foot stepped into the changing room, she felt a cold chill pressed against her throat!
Theia had reacted extremely quickly, having already noticed someone following her, and had instantly restrained the intruder with a dagger.
“Don't move! Who are you?!” Theia’s lowered voice was filled with caution.
“It’s me! Elvia!!” Elvia was so scared she quickly revealed her identity.
At the same time, she slightly adjusted the Hazy Veil, letting her face become clear to Theia for a brief moment.
Seeing it was her, the force on Theia’s hand relaxed slightly.
Immediately after, she couldn't help but let out a low chuckle and withdrew her dagger.
“So it’s you, acting so sneakily.”
Only then did Elvia breathe a sigh of relief and complain in a low, annoyed voice.
“You knew it was me all along, didn't you?! You did that on purpose!”
Theia shrugged noncommittally, her emerald eyes within the shadow of her hood carrying a hint of playfulness.
“Enough! I don't have time to chat with you!” Elvia asked urgently.
“Where on earth is that guy Lin Gui?! I have urgent business with him! A matter of life and death!”
Theia was about to speak, but she immediately remembered being “schemed against” by Elvia at Eagle Fortress. She shut her mouth and let out a cold hmph.
“Why should I reveal the movements of my team member to someone unrelated?”
“Huh?!! You...” Elvia was fuming.
But as clever as she was, she understood immediately that the other party was nursing a grudge over that incident at the fortress.
She immediately put on a smiling face and leaned close to Theia, arguing her case.
“Oh, wasn't I just trying to give you a heads-up out of the goodness of my heart...”
“Did we need your heads-up?” Theia interrupted her, speechless.
“It would be a miracle if a middle-tier concealment spell could fool an Epic demon!”
“If you had told us the true situation at the fortress earlier, we wouldn't have had to face that Epic Banshee Queen!”
“Lin Gui’s Shroud of the Gloomy Night couldn't fool her either!” Elvia tried to explain.
“There are roads everywhere around the Royal Capital. Taking an extra day or two for a detour would have been safer than facing an Epic Banshee Queen?!”
Theia’s words left her speechless.
If she had told Lin Gui in advance, he might have found another way to pass without leaving any seeds behind.
The Shroud of the Gloomy Night had far too much versatility.
In desperation, Elvia could only launch a “friendship” attack.
She noticed Theia was still holding the light green dress she had selected.
With a roll of her eyes, she put on a fawning smile and leaned in affectionately.
“Dear Theia, beautiful elven lady~ look, doesn't this dress suit you so well!”
“This color, this embroidery... it’s as if it were custom-made for you!”
“If you wear it, that guy Lin Gui will surely be unable to take his eyes off you!”
While speaking, she surreptitiously slipped a small bag of gold coins into Theia’s hand.
“Consider it my sponsorship! While you're at it, tell me where that guy is~ I really have a life-and-death matter!”
Theia looked at the heavy coin bag in her hand and said, speechless.
“You still haven't given me my share from the Whispering Forest.”
“Oh~~ has the stuff been sold yet? I'll give you your share!”
“Moreover, I have already found out about items that can solve your status as a wanted person and hide your demon energy.”
“In an upper-level auction three days from now, a concealment item perfectly suited for you will be available.”
“At that time, even if I have to exhaust my family fortune, I will secure it for you!”
Elvia patted her chest in assurance.
By relying on Lin Gui’s incredible concealment magic to take a few tours around the wealthy circles, he could likely become the richest person in the Carter Royal Capital.
Coupled with the support of her own status, auctioning a grand finale item would be easy.
Theia sighed.
Ultimately, she softened.
Taking the dress and holding it up against the mirror, she said casually.
“He went to the Carter Royal Library in the First Ring. He’s looking through your family genealogy.”
Rate on N.U.
