Volume 3, Chapter 40 – Suspicion

Inside the banquet hall, under the dumbfounded gazes of countless onlookers, the Chosen Maiden of the Ashurmos Church intimately held the arm of the Blackrose Family’s eldest miss as they slowly walked from the balcony into the hall. In an instant, the people near the two women fell into a strange silence, their eyes filled with disbelief.

After all, these two had never even met. Just a moment ago, they were supposedly fighting over Xue Tian’ao’s affections.

Why now? Why were they suddenly on such good terms? Why were they appearing in the banquet hall hand-in-hand?

They looked like close best friends. No, they even gave off a feeling that somehow transcended that of best friends…

However, Miss Mengxi didn’t care about the stares. She chose to ignore them entirely, pulling Yumo toward the dining area. Then, under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Mengxi picked up a sweet cookie and brought it to Yumo’s lips.

“Ah~”

Faced with this feeding and Mengxi’s expectant, adorably suspicious gaze, Yumo hesitated for a moment before finally choosing to open her mouth and eat the treat Mengxi offered.

This scene made many of the surrounding men burn with envy and jealousy. However, for a moment, they didn’t even know which one of the two they should be envious of.

After eating the cake, Yumo stole a glance at the silver-haired girl clinging to her hand, her mind recalling Mengxi’s earlier words. As the memory replayed like a slideshow in her head, the black-haired girl’s pretty face flushed slightly again, appearing as lovely as a ripe cherry.

‘I really like you, Sister~’

‘Like… like me?’

Hearing Mengxi say that made Yumo feel quite happy, even sparking a vague sense of unknown bliss. For some reason, she quite liked hearing Mengxi call her ‘Sister’.

But alongside that happiness, Yumo couldn’t help but feel suspicious.

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Did she really like her? They had only just met for the first time. According to Mengxi, Yumo’s elegant movements, gentle tone, and motherly smile felt extremely familiar, causing a surge of affection like ‘love at first sight’.

While Mengxi’s sincere eyes didn’t look like they were lying, and such things weren’t unheard of, Yumo still felt something was off. After all, that girl had looked at her with a strange expression when she first entered the hall.

Still, despite her doubts, Yumo decided to get along with Mengxi. On one hand, she couldn’t resist the girl’s cute, pleading eyes. On the other hand, it was for the sake of the Blackrose Family.

In her current identity as the eldest miss of the Blackrose Family, befriending Mengxi meant that in the future after Mengxi completed her trial and eliminated her, the Blackrose Family might receive Mengxi’s protection. With Mengxi’s protection, their safety would be guaranteed.

And if the Blackrose Family could endure, those children of the demon king tier who relied on the family’s shelter would also be able to live in peace.

Guided by these thoughts, Yumo accompanied Mengxi to enjoy the exquisite delicacies.

However, while she enjoyed the food, Yumo remained cautious. She used her peripheral vision to secretly observe Mengxi’s expressions, trying to find any clues. Yet, every observation yielded nothing. Mengxi’s behavior was entirely normal.

‘Am I overthinking things?’

‘Does this girl really have no previous memories? Did she really not recognize me?’

While Yumo was lost in thought, her act of peeking was noticed by the silver-haired girl. Mengxi put on a confused expression. “Is something wrong, Sister Yumo?”

“Ah? No, it’s nothing. Don’t worry about it,” Yumo replied with a smile.

As she answered, Yumo’s gaze caught sight of something behind Mengxi, jars and bottles of enticing liquid stored within a frost magic circle.

‘Is that… wine?’

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Seeing the exquisite bottles filled with crystal-clear liquid, Yumo’s eyebrows arched slightly, and the corners of her mouth curled upward.

‘Oh, I have an idea~’

At that moment, a clever plan surfaced in Yumo’s mind.

On the other side, seeing the faint smile on Yumo’s face, Miss Mengxi looked meaningfully through the mirror behind Yumo at the royal private reserve wines brought from the Red Lotus Leaf Empire.

‘Oho~’

Elsewhere in a corner of the banquet hall, Qiu Mingtong watched the silver-haired girl acting all lovey-dovey with Lady Yumo. She couldn’t help but crush the wine glass in her hand, the purple liquid slowly dripping from her small palm to the floor.

‘Damn it!’ the pink-haired loli cursed in her heart.

She had thought Lady Yumo would be provoked by Xue Tian’ao and immediately wipe out that Chosen Son. She hadn’t expected this damned Chosen Maiden to jump out halfway and take Lady Yumo away!

If she hadn’t considered the many onlookers nearby, Qiu Mingtong would have truly wanted to let out a few furious roars. However, she quickly suppressed her inner rage.

‘Calm down… calm down…’

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Using Lady Yumo’s power to directly erase Xue Tian’ao wasn’t their optimal solution anyway. Fine, she would let that fellow bounce around for a few more days.

The Blackrose Family had already eliminated the Chosen Son twice—once thirty years ago and once thirteen years ago. Yet every time they did, another one would somehow pop up out of nowhere. It was never-ending.

But this time, they wouldn’t repeat the same mistake.

Taking a deep breath, Qiu Mingtong gazed coldly at the silver-haired girl interacting intimately with Lady Yumo. For some reason, even though this Chosen Maiden’s strength was currently far inferior to Xue Tian’ao’s, Qiu Mingtong felt that this woman was a far greater threat. As for what kind of threat it was, she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

If she hadn’t considered the protective power Lady Yumo had left within that girl’s body, Qiu Mingtong would have suggested the Duke target this woman first.

No matter, there was no rush. Once they dealt with Xue Tian’ao, she would be next.

Meanwhile, as the banquet at the Guest Reception Hall was in full swing, the Grand Arsenal Hall inside the palace was incredibly busy.

The Grand Arsenal Hall was the institution specifically responsible for crafting weapons for Xue Tian’ao. To secure the support of the Ashurmos Church, the hall was currently working overtime, with 008 and 997 shifts cycling constantly day and night. They were trying to complete the weapon orders placed by His Majesty Xue Tian’ao as quickly as possible.

These new weapons were to be delivered to the members of the Ashurmos Church before the Coronation Ceremony.

However, because Xue Tian’ao had taken many powerful confidants from the palace to the banquet, and because most people in the Grand Arsenal Hall were focused on forging, the security of this side palace had declined.

Taking advantage of the patrolling guards’ lapse in attention, two small things slipped past the nearby soldiers’ senses like ghosts and sneaked directly into the Grand Arsenal Hall.

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A moment later, near the storage warehouse in the eastern part of the Grand Arsenal Hall, a squad leader of the Royal Knight Corps stretched tiredly. He looked up at the brilliant starry sky with a sigh.

‘Damn it, overtime again!’ Herlo complained bitterly in his heart.

Thinking of his colleagues who were lucky enough to accompany the Crown Pri- no… His Majesty, to the banquet, Herlo’s face filled with envy. He felt incredibly depressed knowing his day off had been snatched by the commander for unpaid overtime.

Depressed as he was, as a member of the Royal Knight Corps belonging solely to His Majesty, Herlo still maintained absolute focus while guarding the armory behind him.

As Herlo paced back and forth on alert, the brown-haired man’s brow suddenly furrowed. He instantly drew his waist sword and pointed it at a figure that had suddenly darted out from the bushes nearby.

“Who goes there!”

At Herlo’s shout, the dozens of Royal Knights behind him also drew their swords, looking at the dark shadow with extreme caution. In an instant, terrifying waves of battle aura erupted from their bodies, sweeping forward. However, when they saw the actual appearance of the shadow, everyone’s expressions turned to confusion.

This was because the figure appearing in their sight wasn’t the intruder they expected to be stealing weapons.

Instead, it was a small, cute, and charming little white wolf that was even sticking its tongue out.

Looking at the clearly silly little white wolf, the Royal Knights, including Herlo, were stunned.

Herlo & Knights: What? A snow wolf??

The little white wolf: “Meow~”