Become their wicked yet gentle lord.

"But I've uncovered some information: they seem to have become suspicious of the Duke family's bloodline and are preparing to conduct a bloodline test on young master David. Once the bloodline test is conducted, it will be a troublesome matter for the Duke family!"

"So that's why there's a time limit?" After listening to Zona's report, Ryuka finally understood the reason.

Imperial law stipulates that those of heretical blood can at most become viscounts, and even then, the blood concentration must comply with regulations. Considering the influence of the Papacy, the regulations of the Otus Empire are already much more lenient than those of other countries.

It wasn't just a matter of legal statutes; the social circles of the upper nobility also held a strong aversion to non-Duke bloodlines. For example, Bran was ashamed of Kira's mixed-race heritage, and if the Duke family's lineage were exposed, it would be a huge blow to the legitimacy of the Earl of Duke's rule…

"Did Lady Mara leak this information? She's been married to the Earl for many years; she should know about it, right?"

Upon hearing Ryūka's question, Zorna shook her head:

"The lady is unaware that the Earl and the teacher are very strict in keeping these secrets. The lady only knows that the Earl has a daughter with his half-dark elf lover... She has always supported the younger brother, Bran, who is closer to her, to inherit the title and 'unite' the Sochi Territory with the Payne Territory... So even if she knew, she would not reveal it."

Ryuu fell into deep thought. Zona wouldn't lie to her, so this statement proved at least two things: First, the Earl had gone to great lengths to gain her trust. Second, if even Lady Mara didn't know this secret, then the high-ranking official sent by the Third Prince must possess extraordinary abilities to have discovered this hidden secret…

Just as she was deep in thought, Ryuka suddenly raised her head, grabbed Zona in front of her, and pressed her down beneath her.

The two were pressed tightly together on the rooftop, Zona's long neck held firmly by Ryūka, crouching and lying in front of Ryūka, her head arched upwards.

Her buttocks pressed against Ryūka's thighs.

Zona blushed, but before she could speak, Ryuka tapped her lips with her finger.

'Shh…' Ryuga mouthed the words to be quiet. Zona followed his gaze to the street corner ahead, where Hafulen Alvarez appeared on horseback…

Ryuka noticed the heavy hoofbeats of the armored warhorse early on, especially after hearing them once the night before.

Heflian was followed by only four knights. The five of them were chatting and laughing, as if they had just finished their night duty.

Logically, they should have finished their night duty long ago and were resting in the temporary residence next to the military camp, but they unexpectedly ran into each other on the way.

At this moment, the two sides were ten meters apart, and Ryuka could not hear the whispers between Hafulen and her subordinates. Fortunately, there were many birds in the city, and Ryuka directly used her familiar control on the birds on the roof to approach Hafulen and her group.

"Miss, I told you you should go back and rest. It's just to pick up some equipment, a few of us can go."

“The people from the Chamber of Commerce are not easy to deal with; they’re very good with words. I wouldn’t feel comfortable sending just a few of you.” Haifulian smiled easily, and Liuxia knew that she was referring to the batch of magical instruments in Linhu Territory.

"What's there to be afraid of! Can words be more powerful than a sword?"

"Fools, all you have is brute force and no brains. You'll get into trouble sooner or later. If I had told you to learn more, would I have had to deal with everything?"

Heflian looked at her subordinates and teased them. The knights burst into laughter: "Learn? Learn my ass! You've got all that covered, Miss! We brothers just need to give the order and draw our swords to charge!"

"Alright, stop flattering me."

Whoosh! Snap!

A sound of a bowstring loosening rang out, and a shadow flashed past Heflian's head in the air. Her expression immediately changed, and she pressed her gauntlet against the hilt of her sword.

"Chirp!" A mournful cry came from above Heflin's head, and a small bird fluttered down to the ground, landing beside Heflin's horse's hooves.

"Dad! Dad! Look what I got!"

On the street, a little boy was skipping and jumping towards a bird with a slingshot made of cowhide, but was slapped by his father.

"Excuse me, miss!" The man, pulling his son along, bowed frantically to Heflian. A commoner was pulling a slingshot over a nobleman's head and recklessly approaching the nobleman's horse—this was a matter of life and death!

Seeing this, Hafley breathed a sigh of relief and waved her hand casually. From the beginning, she had felt that something was watching her, but it turned out to be nothing more than that. With that thought, she immediately resumed her expression as she chatted with her subordinates.

Meanwhile, on a rooftop not far away, Ryuka severed her link with her familiar, opened her eyes, and stared at the bird that had been killed by a slingshot, her face full of exasperation...

Chapter 9 Sneaking into the Bedroom

It seems that using familiars is not stable enough when there are many people, but Ryuka has already obtained the information she wanted.

Heflian is going to retrieve a magical instrument, so her residence should be empty, making it a good time to infiltrate and investigate.

As for the equipment, let Haifulian handle the wrangling with the people from the Chamber of Commerce on her behalf.

Having made up her mind, Ryuka watched as Hafulen and her group walked away and patted Zona on the shoulder:

"Let's go, while Haifulian is away, we can make our move."

Haifulian's residence was next to a military camp, just a block away. The sounds of morning exercises could be heard coming from the camp, and the loud, melodious sounds of the Imperial Capital made Liuxia realize that the soldiers stationed there were all from the Imperial Capital.

Conducting clandestine operations in such a place could have dire consequences if exposed.

Heflian's residence was a three-story building without a yard, suggesting that she and the knights' horses remained in the military camp.

Two soldiers were stationed at the entrance on the first floor. According to Zona's previous investigation, the first and second floors were the rooms of the knights under Haifulian's command, and there were twenty of them in total. Haifulian herself lived alone on the entire third floor.

The building had a basement, but the blueprints were lost, so the location of the entrance was unknown. The night patrol had just ended, and some knights had gone out for a meal or to relax, but about a dozen knights had already returned, joking around or discussing where to go for some more fun.

"The girls I brought back last night were all quite good-looking. It seems the nobles on the border eat quite well."

"Unfortunately, Lord Quaid suspects this is bait set by someone else, and he won't let us touch any of them."

"Don't worry, Lord Quaid will release them to us after his review. You know, that lord isn't interested in girls at all~"

"Hahahaha~"

The knights' boisterous voices could be heard from the rooftop on the side wall. Ryuga looked at Zona beside her, and she immediately understood the question in Ryuga's eyes.

"Quid is their supreme commander this time. All we know is that he holds a high-ranking position, but his profession and methods are unknown. He has a cautious and eccentric personality and should be in the castle right now, remotely directing their daily affairs..."

"Are you sure David is being held here?" (The rest of the text appears to be gibberish and unrelated.)

"All I know is that there's a basement here. Quaid wouldn't keep such an important hostage in the castle, after all, it's the Earl's territory. If it were outside, he would definitely hand her over to his most trusted friend, Haphren."

That's enough. If you really can't find anyone, you'll have to find a way to get to Haifulian.

The gate was heavily guarded; even a rat wouldn't be able to sneak in. Ryuka abandoned the idea of ​​using her familiar to scout ahead, instead drawing magical runes. Her magic, stronger than Zona's, once again created a spell to conceal her, preparing to infiltrate directly.

Zona's eyes widened as she watched Ryūka use her secret technique.

"This……"

"Don't be surprised, there will be many more surprises to come. Where did you sneak in from last time?" Ryuka asked directly.

"The roof, the west-facing window on the third floor, that room is the furthest from Heflin's bedroom."

"Did Heflene bring any servants with her on this trip?"

"Yes, there are two maids who live with her on the third floor."

Hearing this, Ryuka's eyes lit up. If Heflian's subordinates were elite, surely even the maids couldn't be elite? If they were below the apprentice level, she could easily break through using [Charm].

"Where is the strength?"

"I don't know, but based on what I observed at Young Master David's birthday party, he should just be an ordinary person."

Upon hearing this, Ryusha immediately ordered Zona to stop there and observe the movements outside the building, using the sounds of different animals to alert him to the situation outside.

“Okay…” Zona looked somewhat unwilling. She wanted to redeem herself this time and prove her worth, but she didn’t expect that Ryusha would only ask her to do the job of guarding.

But Ryuka didn't care about any of that. She leaped onto the opposite balcony, landing with a sound even lighter than a cat's, masked by magic.

Sizzle! Pop!

Just as Ryusha reached out to pull the balcony door, she discovered that it was enchanted with defensive magic. It seemed that the failed infiltration by Zona and the others had prompted Hefren to increase the defenses here.

It seems I'll have to resort to some tricks. Ryuka could hear cleaning sounds coming from inside the room through the door; it seemed that Haifulian's two maids were doing their morning cleaning.

Ryuka immediately looked at Zona on the roof behind her and began to communicate with her using mouth movements.

"Learn...to...meow?"

Zona watched Ryukatsu's lips move with some suspicion, blinked, and then watched as Ryukatsu raised his hand and knocked the vase off the balcony...

Snapped! ! !

"what happened?"

The sound of the vase shattering immediately caught the attention of the soldiers downstairs. At this moment, Zona finally reacted, dispelled the sound barrier, and let out a shrill meow.

Meow!!!

"You've learned well. It seems assassins have quite a few tricks up their sleeves." Ryuka smiled and gave a thumbs-up to the resentful-looking Zona.

Hurried footsteps immediately followed. A maid, seeing the shattered vase through the balcony window, cursed under her breath, then opened the balcony door and shouted to the knight downstairs:

"It's nothing! A stray cat knocked over the vase on the balcony!"

"Really? I'll go up and take a look. Someone broke in last time, so it's best to be careful."

The two knights downstairs exchanged glances, and one of them turned and walked through the door.

While the maid opened the door, Ryuka had already slipped into the room, brushing against her skirt...

When the maid turned back to the room to get cleaning tools, she only saw a pair of eyes that glowed with a purple light:

"From now on, follow my commands..."

Knock knock knock! The knight knocked on the door of the room on the third floor. He was greeted by two young and beautiful maids, Hefren, who seemed perfectly normal.

"Is everything alright? Shall I go in and check?"

"No need, we are tidying up Miss's... clothes. It's a nice day today, and we can finally hang the clothes out to dry."

The maid answered softly, and the knight understood the implication. No matter how much his young mistress joked with them, she was still a noblewoman, and her everyday clothes, especially her underwear, were certainly not things she could let them see.

"I understand...that!"

Just as the maid was about to close the door, the knight called her back.

“Mary…I’m on vacation the day after tomorrow, do you…have time, uh…to be with me…”

The knight stammered, avoiding eye contact with the maid named Mary.

“This…” Mary was stunned for a moment, and just as she was at a loss, she seemed to hear a voice in her ear that smiled at the knight.

"I need to ask you, miss."

"Good... good!"

Looking at the maid's radiant smile, the knight involuntarily pursed his lips, and his chest, which had just shrunk back, unconsciously puffed out a little more.

"If you can, please tell me! I... I'm going back to my post now!"

After saying this, the knight turned and went downstairs without looking back, his steps much lighter than before.

Hey buddy, remember to thank me later! The invisible Ryuka hid behind the maid, revealing a faint smile.

If it's not necessary, Ryuka doesn't want to take action against anyone here, after all, they are all living, breathing human beings just like him.

Seeing that the situation had been resolved, Ryuka immediately began to check on Haifulian's room.

Although David might be held in the basement, traversing the two middle floors wouldn't be so easy. And Ryuka wanted to gather even more information…

Both maids were under the control of [Charm], completely ignoring Ryūka and obeying his orders. Unfortunately, these two maids were unfamiliar with the daily affairs of Hefren, so Ryūka had to take matters into his own hands.

Heflian's room wasn't luxurious, but it maintained the style expected of a noble lady from the capital. However, her clothes were scattered around the room, indicating that the previous cloudy weather had caused her to accumulate quite a few items.

Bra, cinched waist, boots, pantyhose, stockings, long skirt… Ryuka looked at the messy clothes, which exuded various perfume scents and a faint smell of sweat. It seemed that this young lady's daily lifestyle wasn't too good…

Besides that, there were some tools for practicing martial arts, such as dumbbells and a wooden sword. However, what Ryuka was most interested in was Hefren's desk.

The desk—this was the best place to gather information. Ryuka walked straight over and began flipping through the letters left on the desk. The locked drawer, according to the maid, contained Hefren's diary; their mistress had this habit…

Chapter 10 Trap

The two maids knew nothing about Heflian's military affairs or David's situation, and hadn't left the third floor since arriving. Therefore, to be on the safe side, Ryusha decided to start by gathering all the information she could.

The letters on the table were mostly everyday greetings between nobles. Apart from the invitation to David Duke's birthday banquet, there were letters from local nobles from Sochi who came to make friends. It seems that there were quite a few wavering vassals among the Earl and his wife.

Ryuka simply put away the letters and then turned her attention to the drawer, where the more confidential letters were probably locked up along with the diary.

"Another magical seal... Looks like I'll have to learn how to break it sometime..."

Feeling the magic on the drawer, Ryuka called over a maid to ask if violent destruction would damage the contents or trigger an alarm.

"No, Miss doesn't care about these things. She's confident that no one can enter here openly. The intruder from last time was also discovered by her immediately, but Lord Quaid, out of caution, had the accompanying mages cast various magical spells to protect this place. Miss even found it too troublesome..."

Knowing this, Ryuka felt relieved and cast the Dark Elf's [Silence] spell, which covered part of the drawer within a one-meter radius.

The magic level on the drawer was only at the level of a professional mage, not insurmountable for Ryūka. The longsword swung, the runes crumbled, yet not a single splinter flew or a sound was heard…

Inside, besides a beautifully bound diary, there were indeed many letters.

"Diary? Who keeps a diary if they're a decent person?"

Ryuu chuckled, but still put away Hefren's diary, hoping to find some interesting clues.

As for the letters, most of them were between Hafren and Quaid, and they contained many secrets of the Third Prince's faction.

"As expected, their goal, besides controlling Sochi Territory, is also to take action against Linhu Territory... The old emperor himself has recovered from his serious injuries and has already revoked some of the power of the fourth prince, along with the thirteenth princess..."