After choosing to leave, they regretted it.

"you--"

Brian kicked, and Heidi's petite body flew out like a broken doll, knocking over the knight's armor.

By this time, Brian was already gasping for breath.

Heidi's vision had changed due to the increasing pain, and she was so weak that she could hardly make a sound.

But it was no use, she still had no intention of giving up.

"You're such a stubborn guy, just like your stupid dad!!"

Brian cursed, but he knew this wasn't the way to go.

After all, he couldn't really kill Heidi—at least not before she signed.

I've already sacrificed an eye, and if my goal isn't achieved, wouldn't that be a double loss?

Looking at Heidi's aristocratic dress that had been kicked into tatters, Brian showed a disgusting smile.

He turned and looked at his men:

"You guys, take this thing and wash it, then send it to the room upstairs."

Heidi realized what the other party wanted to do, and her unchanging eyes finally showed a ripple.

With his numb throat, he squeezed out a few syllables with difficulty:

"You... don't... this... I..."

But this reaction only made Brian more excited.

"What's wrong, Princess? Are you scared? Hehe, don't worry, I'm an expert in this area. I guarantee you'll be delighted to the heavens, hahahahahaha——"

Watching Brian's guards approaching, Heidi, who was unable to move, closed her eyes.

In his mind, which was almost completely destroyed by the pain, the image of Aize emerged.

Heidi didn't know why she thought of him at this time.

A tear slowly flowed from the corner of her tightly closed eyes.

Then, consciousness ceases completely.

The guards came forward, grabbed Heidi roughly, and wanted to send her away as their master had ordered.

However, Heidi's fragile and petite body became as hard as stone, and even seemed to be welded to the ground, and could not be moved no matter what.

The guards looked at each other in confusion, and Brian pushed past them with dissatisfaction and walked forward:

"A bunch of idiots who can't even move a little girl like this!"

As he said that, he raised his foot and kicked hard again.

however--

"Ahhhhhhhhhh! My feet! My feet!"

Heidi's body was not kicked away like before. Instead, Brian was holding his ridiculously deformed foot and wailing in pain on the ground.

This blow directly broke his own foot.

"master!"

Rufus, who was already a little tired, could only pounce on him again and use magic to heal his wounds.

After a flurry of activity, Brian finally recovered from the pain, limped to his feet, and stared at Heidi's body with wide eyes.

He asked with lingering fear:

"What's going on here?!"

Rufus thought for a moment and replied:

"My Lord, this should be included in the Brave Divine Protection, an ability similar to stasis."

"Stasis? What does that mean?"

"To put it simply, it stops the time of an object or person, so that the subject cannot suffer any substantial harm until it is lifted."

Brian scratched his head.

"Then what are you waiting for!? Hurry up and find a way to resolve it!"

"Master, this... I'm afraid there's no way to resolve it from the outside..."

"What!? If she keeps going like this, won't the most important step in the plan be completely blocked!"

Heidi isn't the only enemy Brian needs to deal with.

As the weakest among the dukes, if he cannot quickly gain an advantage by taking advantage of the information gap, the duke alliance will immediately turn against him.

At that time, all his efforts will be in vain. After all his scheming, he will lose an eye and still not get the throne.

Moreover, Brian knew that the so-called "Aize" who was killed in the explosion in the mansion was just a puppet.

He just pretended to be ignorant and put the blame on Heidi by taking the substitute as the real person.

If things drag on, that troublesome and cunning hero will definitely take action.

Rufus shook his head.

"We can only wait for her to release it herself... No, her consciousness is also frozen in stasis, so whether it is released or not is probably not controlled by her mind, but is self-regulated and will be released when certain conditions are met."

“What conditions!?”

"I'm not sure. Who can really tell what the Hero's Divine Protection is... but at least it won't be lifted if there are enemies around. So let's get our people out first and keep a distance and monitor them."

This means a lot more waiting time.

The need to keep distance gave Heidi a chance to escape.

Not to mention how much time will be wasted by waiting without any guarantee.

Now that everything else was building up, this setback irritated Brian to the extreme.

But there is no other choice.

"Tsk, damn brat! That's it, everyone get out! But keep an eye on all the entrances and exits of this room!"

"Yes!"

The guards brought by Brian dispersed obediently and went to carry out their mission.

Brian exhaled, calmed down, and asked:

"Have you found the true location of the Brave Aize?!"

Rufus shook his head.

"We can confirm that he's not in Tafia. He's probably somewhere in the Central Mountains. He was the one who attacked the deserters' camp we controlled, but his whereabouts are unknown."

"Waste! All of it!"

Nothing was going well for Brian, and he was extremely frustrated:

"Send more personnel and thoroughly search every corner of the nearby mountains. Don't let him go! If you find him anywhere, have Alicia take action and eliminate him immediately!"

At this point, Brian looked away again in displeasure.

"Tsk, that disgusting monster, who knows where it went at this time. When this is over, just wait and see how I deal with it!!"

"Yes, sir."

"Also, don't let go of the remaining forces of the Goddess Blade. Go over to the Anlin Plains and make arrangements to capture these annoying guys in one fell swoop!"

Chapter 98 Sister, I'll Leave It to You

In the forest beside the village, after listening to Villian's account of what happened, Aize frowned:

"Those guys just blew up the house!?"

"Yes, I felt some magical reaction before the explosion. It didn't seem like it was done by a human, more like a witch... But after all, I sensed it through a puppet, so I can't be sure."

"Witch..."

Aize lowered his gaze.

Previously, the leader of those deserters was also a down-and-out noble who was turned into a puppet by the witch's technology.

This is unlikely to be a coincidence, and it is most likely the work of the same force.

Not only that.

Before the explosion, all the guards guarding the streets were withdrawn, so Heidi came.

The explosion happened right after Heidi left, which was definitely not a coincidence. Someone was setting her up to get rid of them both at once.

"The one who can make such a big splash in Tafia can't be a demon or a church. He must be a noble of the kingdom..."

Recalling what Xien had said to him before, Aize sneered:

"...Humph, Duke Brian, huh? This old guy can't hide his true colors anymore."

I was wondering why that guy had to come to a troubled place like Tafia. Now it seems that he has some big and bad things to do.

Aize looked at Villian:

"What are you going to do about this matter?"

Miss Witch is a little strange:

"Hmm? Me?"

"That mansion belongs to you, and it's the only clue to your past. Now that it's been bombed like this, it will probably be even more difficult to learn your true identity."

Many of the furniture, art collections, etc. in the house have considerable history and are worth a lot of money.

Originally, after the matter was over, Aize wanted to investigate further along these clues, perhaps he could find some useful information.

But now, it's all over.

"Duke Brian will arrive in Tafia today. If you want revenge, we can set out now and kill him."

To assassinate a duke without adequate preparation, especially a duke who is in the process of causing trouble and is extremely vigilant, is more difficult than climbing to the sky.

But it doesn’t matter, there are always more solutions than problems.

As long as Villian wants revenge, Aize can find a way.

And Villian, like before, smiled and shook her head:

"No, it's okay. You don't have to mind my business."

"It's impossible not to care, right? This will probably keep your past hidden from the world forever. Is that okay?"

Violet looked away slightly, her expression somewhat dejected.

"It would be a lie to say that nothing's wrong. Everyone would care about where something like this came from, right? But, what's more important is right now. You're here now, and that's enough."

As she spoke, Villian put her hands behind her back and smiled softly:

"Besides, even if I don't tell you, you're not going to let Duke Brian go this time, are you? So why rush? Just proceed at your own pace."

"……Thanks."

Aize nodded, no longer worried, closed his eyes, leaned against the tree trunk and continued thinking.

"If this is a trap, Heidi is in a very bad situation, that's for sure. The question is Sean, Sean Edgar, what position he is in this incident."

If there were always a large number of guards patrolling Tafia Noble Street, Heidi would not have gone to that house to look for herself.

The timing of the guards' withdrawal was so clever that it was hard not to think that Sheen, as the lord, was cooperating with Brian.

This is also very reasonable.

In this power-eating chicken competition within the kingdom, Sheen originally stood on Brian's side, so it's not surprising that he ended his friendship with Brian after knowing his identity.

But... is it really that simple?

Judging from the strength of their power, even if Brian eliminated the princess and himself, he would not be a match for the other dukes, and would only become a tool for others afterwards.

Therefore, what he wants to play with is probably much bigger than what we see now.

As the lord, would Sheen really agree to this kind of fun happening on his own territory?