The Princess And The Lord-Chapter 1353: Evildoers

In a luxury condominium in Eagle Rock, Sean was fiddling with his cell phone, immersed in his thoughts. After a while, he glanced at Andreas, "Hey, do you think my charms have decreased?"

Andreas gave him a side-eyes after that he went back to his laptop without bothering to answer his stupid question.

Sean was unperturbed thus he continued "Not only is not working with Raven Jean but why is it not working with Lilliane Hamilton either, do you think there’s something wrong with me? What do you think Andre? Hey, Andre...?"

Andreas pinched his glabella, knowing Sean wouldn’t stop if he didn’t answer him, "The problem is, you always choose difficult targets."

"I know, I get it when it comes to women like Raven Jane, but why Lilliane Hamilton too?" Sean took a selfie and then seriously checked the picture.

Andreas stopped typing on his keyboard and then said: "Did you never take into consideration Lilliane might have contacted Raven Jane and she mentioned you and Miss Jane advised her to stay away from you?"

The corner of Sean’s lips curled into a mischievous smile. "You mean Miss Hamilton knows where Raven is..."

"Stop it!" Andreas threw the document on the coffee table in front of Sean. "Read the report from Luxemborough."

Sean pursed his lips, but obediently took the document and began to examine the report.

Andreas then said, "They managed to access the security lock by copying the access card of Peter Miller’s assistant, Amanda Haynes. Not only that, they also cloned Peter Miller’s cell phone. That idiot didn’t realize anything until the incident at Aeon happened, furthermore, all the CCTV footage has been professionally erased so no one knows who was involved in this incident but some say one of the perpetrators is a woman who seems to be from the Xiya country," Andreas explained.

"But not only Peter Miller, a woman who works as a building supervisor admitted to giving jobs to her boyfriend and his friends, based on the characteristics she described, the perpetrators probably Garrof Winfield and Lloyd Bower, former Ultima soldiers, also the ones involved with the mysterious recovery of Ethan Hamilton and also freeing him from Aeon" Sean analyzed the report intently.

"The problem is the investigation stuck because they all disappeared from the radar, Garrof Winfield, Lloyd Bower, Jack Quaid, Gavin Austin even a boy named Owen and his brother Daniel disappeared along with Lydia Boyd, this is messed up" Andreas’ annoyance was getting worse as he spoke.

"...and we don’t know where they are?" Sean grimaced.

Andreas’ eyes were troubled as his jaw clenched, "There’s only one group that could trick Argus, Dragxtarn, and the paladins all together.."

Sean put down the document and leaned back on the sofa, his expression gradually became heavy, "Noxcra..."

"That means the Archknights’ eyes are on us now. It makes me worry about how likely they are to find out about our plans." Andreas rubbed his hands together, trying to tame his emotion.

Sean understood Andrea’s concerns but there was no point crying over spilled milk, all they could do was improvise, "But we can turn this situation around and use it to our advantage"

Andres squints his eyes "What do you mean?"

"They don’t know my identity at least that’s our assumption but even if they do we can use Lilliane Hamilton to use her against them," Sean said.

"How did you do that, you said yourself your charm is not working for the young Miss Hamilton?" Andreas openly mocked him.

Sean grinned slyly "The creator at Aeon managed to create a new product, a shapeless and odorless poison that can’t even be detected by spells because this poison is not a poison but a substance that can imitate the hormone oxytocin and affect it"

"In short, is it a love potion" Andreas raised his brows for confirmation.

"Yes, and the potion works not by swallowing, but by skin-to-skin contact. The good thing is that only someone with high-level healing abilities like the Saintess can negate its effects," Sean winked playfully seemingly confident with his plan.

"Good plan but what if, I don’t know, you fail somehow?" Andreas worried it wouldn’t be that easy.

Sean gives a half-shrug, "Haven’t you always wondered how strong the Noxcra agents and Archknights are? You might have a chance to test it firsthand"

"Ha - ha, you funny" Andreas cynically said.

Sean opened his arms in annoyance "What? If you have a better plan I’m all for it"

Andreas’ face scrunched up as he had no words to refute. "Well, I hope you succeed because Lilliane Hamilton is our only way to find out where Ethan is. Hopefully, he’s not in the hands of the Archknight as we fear. But if he is, then this would not be good for Miss Hamilton." A dangerous glint flashed in his eyes.

____________________________

__In a hidden place far from anyone’s attention__

In a large and tall dome building that looks like an abandoned temple where the floor and walls of the building are dull with age and almost every inch there are long cracks whose surfaces are overgrown with thick vines tangled with roots that spread all over the place that there is almost no place to step on.

Then in the middle of the building appeared a tall and slender creature shaped like a woman, but her entire body was covered in rough skin like tree bark, and branches protruded from her body and head like an actual tree and covered by few yellowish leaves that looked about to wilt, but there are few small blackish-red fruits like cranberries hunged on the branches, but the fruit didn’t look appetizing at all, in fact, it’s quite disgusting.

Meanwhile from above someone is watching the creature from behind the glass.

A man in an expensive well-fit gray suit. A man stood alone, staring out the large glass window. His dark blue eyes were filled with vitality, and the few fine lines on his pale face showed the many experiences he had gone through. The man stared at the creature below him with an indescribable expression, whether it was fear, disgust, or interest it was unclear, perhaps all of it.

He tucked one hand in his trouser pocket looking dignified but relaxed, then not long after the door behind him opened and a man wearing a black robe entered the room. He lowered his hood "Theodore" the man greeted him.

He only glanced at him for a second then turned his eyes back to the window after that he spoke in an indifferent tone, "You’re late today Alexander, something happened in your S.A.I.N.T. organization?"

Alexander walked next to him and then threw his gaze toward the tree creature below, "Same as the chaos that happened in your place too, right, have you found Ethan Hamilton, yet?" he taunted.

"Have you found Lydia Boyd" Theodore sneer.

Alexander was annoyed, then he huffed derisively "Hump, losing Lydia Boyd is not as bad as you losing Ethan Hamilton since not much that young girl knew about our plan. On the other hand, Ethan is very crucial for our plan, however, your Dragxtarn continuously failed their mission, I wonder why you still keep them?"

Theodore scoffed at his mockery, "Then what about the Paladins who were supposed to clean up Lybrinth? Do you know who killed them all ?"

Theodore’s words almost choked in anger. Every Paladin member on duty was given a monitor to check not only their whereabouts but also their heart rate which was used to not only determine their location when they would send for support but also to monitor their condition during the mission.

The mission in the labyrinth was supposed to be a routine mission that was not too dangerous but somehow all the Paladins that were sent to that place were wiped away mysteriously.

The latest data from their monitors showed a rapid increase in their body temperature and extremely high heart rates indicating possible death due to high heat but whether it was human or beast was still unknown.

"No, the data is still inconclusive" Alexander balled his fist.

This time Theodore did not mock him, "Whoever that is, it’s very powerful to able to kill dozens of Paladins relatively short time, not even a powerful beast could do that"

Alexander’s face visibly darkened, "Could it be The Archknight?"

"I’m not sure, the last information said King Lucas’s condition is still unknown, but... a few weeks ago the Zalchana showed a strong sign of agitation and stress..."

"I heard about that, did you find out the reason?" a sense of uneasiness plastered on his face.

Theodore cast his eyes to the creature who didn’t move like a real tree but that thing was not a tree, "Our scientist and the creator concluded it got something with the Scion inside Prince Lucas but we cannot be assured we can only conclude it might not be a good thing..."

"Then what about Madeline Myre? do you find her?" Alexander asked.

There’s a flickered of irritation in Theodore’s eyes for the first time, "No, just like everyone else, she also disappeared and the Dragxtarn that managed to escape said it was Samuel Albretch"

"This is bad Theodore, too many things going wrong, I’m worried it will ruin our plan, and we have gone so far as to fail at the last stage!" The amount of bad news he received made him restless even though he pretended to be calm in front of his subordinates only he knew how anxious he actually was.

"Do you think I don’t know that?!" Theodore tempered spark causing the blue veins on his forehead to protrude.

He took a deep breath to tame his rage after a while let out a heavy sigh then cast his eyes to the creature below "Just look at that creature, there is no turning back for us, and for that, I know for certain"

"There’s an old proverb from Xiya country saying: It’s easier to invite the devil in than send him away" Alexander solemnly said.

"We have a plan for that..." Theodore said.

There was a long silence in the room then suddenly the creature that had been frozen suddenly turned its head towards the door that suddenly opened then a shout of cursing was heard.

"Get inside, stop stalling or you will suffer the consequences!"

A moment later a group of women dressed all in white huddling together in fear as they enter the room.

"Why did you do this to us" said one of the women dressed in white softly.

"Please let us go, we won’t tell anyone anything" the other woman sobbed with her face covered in tears.

"SHUT UP!" snapped the man who brought them there, he grinned evilly "After this you won’t talk to anyone anymore" he and his other friends laughed then they left and the door where they entered slowly closed.

At the same time, the hope in their hearts was dashed, they were getting closer together while watching their surroundings warily.

Suddenly something grabbed the leg of one of the women and pulled her while the other tried to grab her arm but it happened too fast before they knew it their friend was already gone.

"LYN!" they scream for their friend but soon their anxious scream turns into a scream of horror when they realize the thick vines around them starting to move. Terrified they jump on their feet and scream for help.

"Oh, my God, what is this?"

"HELP, someone help us!"

"No, I don’t want this, let me out - let me out, PLEASE!"

Their scream filled the whole room but no one came to their aid. Their bodies were wrapped around by the vines and lifted into the air, their legs swinging wildly but every struggle was futile.

The ends of the vines slowly opened and a long thorn-like knife pointed at their face and a second later it stabbed straight into the poor women’s hearts. They screamed in pain and blood dropped into the ground creating a small puddle.

Not long after, their chests glowed softly at the same time the vines make vigorous moves as they sucked the light from the girl’s chest.

Their mouth were open wide but no sound came out only the terror in their eyes showed how excruciating they felt as their life force forcefully drained from their body.

After a while, their movements slowed down and the life in their eyes gradually dimmed until it disappeared completely only then did the vines release their grip and their lifeless body fell to the ground one by one with pale faces still full of horror.

Alexander and Theodore watched everything calmly without the slightest trace of pity on their face, in fact, they looked kind of bored.

Theodore sighed in slight disappointment, "We gonna need more healers"

"Hm, I send more..." Alexander replied coldly.