Inside the main hall of the Kingdom of Ferent, the King was already seated upon his throne, his bloodshot eyes suggesting he had not closed them all day.
The heavy doors were slowly pushed open, and a guard walked straight inside without any greeting.
The guard was precisely the blond man Leona had seen that morning.
"Cassius, Cassius, quick, tell me, did you get it?"
Servan stood up excitedly, grabbing Cassius's shoulder with one hand and refusing to let go, while his other hand remained tightly gripping his scepter.
"Regrettably, Your Majesty, what you wanted was not found," Cassius said apologetically.
"How could that be?" Servan murmured softly. "Did Anna hide it?"
"Her Highness did not hide it. Your Majesty, as you know, no one can lie before my eyes."
"Anna didn't lie?" Servan's eyebrows turned as gray as his hair in an instant. He increased the force in his grip, causing Cassius's shoulder joints to crack noisily under the pressure.
"Then it's you—you people are lying! You hid 【Authority】, and your next step is to steal my 【Power】!"
Cassius was not afraid, but the pain across his body made his expression turn exceedingly grim, inadvertently revealing a sword-like totem on his neck.
"Your Majesty, what we want does not conflict with your interests. As for the 【Authority】 you speak of, we do not know what it is, much less hide it." Cassius attempted to control Servan's temper, even though one of his arms had already been broken.
"How could that be? You said the one who rules over you is also a king, and no king can withstand the temptation of power." Servan's eyes turned blood-red as he removed his powerful hand from Cassius's shoulder.
He suddenly grabbed him by the neck and lifted him into midair.
"Your Majesty, do not forget that you cannot leave this room. Without our help, you will never get what you want. All you can do is trust us. Besides, 【Power】 is still in your hands, is it not?"
Cassius spoke while struggling, a purple ring having already formed on his neck.
Only then did Servan calm down. Indeed, 【Power】 was still in his hands. Even if the other side obtained 【Authority】, they would still have to approach him to get 【Power】.
He slowly set Cassius down.
"Including today, you only have seven days. If you fail to hand over 【Authority】 to me within seven days, do not even dream of escaping."
"I understand, respected Your Majesty the King." Despite having one arm crippled, Cassius still methodically performed a standard bow to Servan before leaving the room.
"What a lunatic," Cassius muttered, clutching his aching neck as he looked back at the tightly closed doors after exiting the main hall.
...
After lunch, the sun was still hanging high in the sky.
Anna climbed down the ladder with a heavy heart.
"Anna, did something happen? You don't look so good."
Startled by Leona's sudden voice, Anna fell off the ladder, and Leona instinctively reached out to catch her.
However, she had overestimated herself; with a loud crash, both of them tumbled to the ground.
Although her strength was close to that of an adult man, falling over was inevitable from that distance without preparing in advance.
"I'm sorry, Leona! Are you alright?" Anna hurriedly got off Leona and reached out to pull her up.
"I'm fine. Compared to my headache, it's nothing," Leona said, holding her waist as she stood up. Seeing that Anna still looked worried, she continued to ask:
"Anna, you haven't answered me yet. What happened? Did another assassin show up?"
"No." Anna shook her head. "You were discovered."
"Is that all? My ability has too many flaws, so it's impossible to stop someone else's actions. Getting discovered was bound to happen." Leona thought nothing of it.
She had already obtained enough intelligence; now she only needed to wait quietly for nightfall.
"It was Milan who discovered you," Anna continued.
"Milan? That's normal enough. She's very smart, and I handled most things using her identity." Leona nodded. This was within her expectations.
"She wants to talk to you." After a moment of hesitation, Anna finally spoke up.
"Milan is a very good person. Don't worry, she won't do anything to you," Anna added hastily, as if remembering something.
"Sure."
"Great, I'll go... Wait, what did you say?" Anna had thought Leona would decline, but she hadn't expected Leona to agree so readily.
"I said sure. Anna, there's no need to say so much to me. As you know, I only want to keep you alive." Once again, Leona instinctively placed her hand on Anna's head.
Realizing what she was doing, she quickly pulled her hand back.
What's going on? Why is my own hand moving out of my control now? On top of the headaches, another issue has popped up. What if people treat me like a pervert in the future?
Leona could not help feeling an urge to chop off her hand.
"Um... Croll also wants to talk to you," Anna smiled awkwardly.
Croll was the first person to discover Leona, and Leona was more than happy to talk with this straightforward child.
"Then let's meet together," Leona said.
Perhaps they could form an alliance—an alliance with the goal of saving the princess.
...
A quarter of an hour later.
Two new guests entered the secret passage.
Milan and Croll stared unblinkingly at Leona's true appearance, marveling in their hearts.
"Hey, you two, staring at someone continuously is very rude," Leona said in a deep voice.
Hearing this, Anna guiltily shifted her gaze away.
Realizing her rudeness, Milan spoke up hastily, "My apologies. I just didn't expect such a place to exist in the palace, nor did I expect the assassin to be a little girl."
"And blind in one eye," Croll said flatly.
"I admit I killed that maid, but that was because she was going to kill the princess. Rather than an assassin, you should call me a protector of the maiden," Leona said, displeased.
What do you mean, assassin? And was it really necessary to bring up being blind in one eye?
Of course, she knew Croll did not mean to offend; that was just her character setting—she either said whatever was on her mind or said nothing at all.
"By the way, Anna, why didn't you bring Milan and the others here before?" Leona was surprised that Anna had chosen this location.
"Because of them—the ones you called Shadows. I couldn't guarantee they would remain unconscious forever. If one day they were able to act on their own, my final hiding place would be exposed."
"But it's different now. In just a few days, I'll be leaving anyway, won't I?" Anna offered a forced smile.
"Does Your Highness really want to marry?" Croll suddenly spoke up, her words causing a slight surprise to everyone.
She could see through Leona's disguise at a glance, so she could naturally read Anna's thoughts just as easily.
"Croll," Milan tried to interrupt her from discussing this topic. She could arrange Croll to be by Anna's side, but that did not mean she could influence the King's decision.
Failing to catch Milan's underlying intent, Croll continued to stare at Anna and said:
"If Your Highness does not wish to, Croll can kill the prince for you."
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