The Devil Does Not Need to Be Defeated

Chapter 580: “Whose Whereabouts?”

“Bang!”

The instant Rockto finished speaking, a small cracking sound echoed.

It was the sound of a teacup being crushed.

Shien Buztout suddenly crushed the teacup in his hand, sending tea and fragments flying.

“Whoosh!”

Lilith, sitting in Shien’s lap, immediately waved her small hand, and the evil aura surging from her palm blew away the tea and fragments.

However, the terrifying pressure suddenly emanating from Shien couldn’t be blown away.

Shien froze.

But the pressure emanating from him became more and more terrifying, making Rockto’s pupils constrict and Tilly’s face fill with shock.

This terrifying pressure came and went quickly.

In the blink of an eye, the pressure dissipated as if it had never appeared, and everything returned to calm.

However, for some reason, even though the pressure was gone, the air in the reception hall seemed heavier than before.

“A trap?”

Shien murmured.

His voice was ice-cold.

“…It should be.” Rockto tried to observe Shien’s expression under the hood, softening his tone, “If nothing unexpected happened, this should be a trap set by the Imperial Consort. Using her departure as bait, she lured Diere Elvenbein out, then instructed the Raifurut family to ambush her.”

The Imperial Consort had been targeting Diere for some reason. Knowing that Diere had come to the Imperial Capital, disguised as a thief, and had been entering and exiting various noble houses, she would definitely try to lure Diere out.

Coincidentally, Diere was looking for something in the Imperial Capital. Even after searching so many noble houses without finding it, she would naturally suspect that it was in the Imperial Palace.

But no matter how skilled Diere was, she couldn’t possibly infiltrate the Imperial Palace successfully.

Diere was only sixteen years old this year, and her level wasn’t even seventy. Although she was a burst-type warrior, she wasn’t an assassin or a thief specializing in stealth.

With her speed, infiltrating some noble houses wasn’t too difficult, but even so, Diere had been discovered several times, earning her the title of a righteous phantom thief.

Under such circumstances, how could Diere, with her abilities, sneak into the heavily guarded Imperial Palace, protected by barriers, to steal something?

Therefore, Diere definitely couldn’t enter the Imperial Palace.

This was probably why Diere had been in the Imperial Capital for a whole month without finding what she was looking for.

And the Imperial Consort seemed to have anticipated this, deliberately leaving the Imperial Capital to create an opening in the Imperial Palace’s defenses, luring Diere out, and then using the Raifurut family to ambush her.

Because of this, Diere fell into the Raifurut family’s ambush and was seriously injured.

“I heard that she couldn’t escape from the Imperial Palace. She was surrounded by the Raifurut family’s elite troops and ambushed by the Royal Knights. With her strength, she couldn’t escape at all.”

Rockto said.

“But when Diere Elvenbein was seriously injured, she suddenly disappeared as if she had merged into space.”

Hearing this, Shien understood how Diere was saved.

It must have been Leisha.

With that Spatial Magician’s abilities, entering the Imperial Palace was a piece of cake.

Taking Diere away was also easy for her.

(The decision to bring her along was the right one.)

Shien thought silently.

At the same time, he was relieved.

Since Leisha was with her, Diere should be fine.

Although Leisha’s level wasn’t high, not yet above eighty, her magical skills were quite impressive. She not only knew the extremely rare Spatial Magic, but also the incredibly destructive Gravity Magic. Coupled with her Unique Skill, which seemed to allow her to use lower-level magic of various elements, she was a true magic expert. The types and amount of magic she could use definitely far surpassed Shien’s.

Such a Leisha naturally had ways to heal Diere’s injuries.

…Hopefully.

Shien could only hope so.

However…

“Raifurut…”

A cold glint flashed in Shien’s eyes.

He already had a very bad impression of this family.

This time, they had completely angered him.

And since Shien was angered, they would suffer the consequences.

Especially Wolram Raifurut.

This person had been added to Shien’s kill list.

Especially since Rockto added,

“Actually, Wolram Raifurut played a significant role in our current predicament.” Rockto said with a frown, “We failed to eliminate him that time, and he escaped. He held a grudge and immediately reported us to His Majesty in the name of the Raifurut family after returning.”

How did he report them?

It was simple. He revealed that Harvis had secretly attacked him.

As envoys of the Empire, after arriving in the Kingdom, Harvis and Rockto suddenly attacked him, even causing the annihilation of an elite assassination unit of the Raifurut family. Once Wolram revealed this, the Empire would definitely question why Harvis and Rockto attacked him, right?

If these two were traitors who had colluded with the Kingdom, they must have wanted to do something in the Kingdom and didn’t want Wolram to know, so they attacked him, intending to silence him.

Furthermore, Harvis had admitted defeat in front of everyone on the stage in the Kingdom’s palace, showing no intention of competing for the hand of the Kingdom’s Treasure. So, what was his real purpose in going to the Kingdom?

Wolram exaggerated these issues, ultimately infuriating the current Emperor and causing the people to become suspicious.

Therefore, Wolram played a significant role in Harvis and Rockto’s current predicament.

Of course, all of these claims were without evidence.

Without evidence, there was no way to prove whether Wolram was telling the truth, and there was no way to convict Harvis and Rockto.

However, their goal wasn’t to achieve everything in one go, but to slowly boil the frog, gradually eliminating Harvis and Rockto.

If Shien had arrived a few days later, perhaps the situation would have already been settled.

Now, Shien was here.

“Buz…”

Rockto wanted to call Shien’s name, but remembering that Shien was still concealing his identity, he immediately stopped.

“Just say it.”

Shien didn’t want to waste time, and since he was already in a bad mood, he simply threw out these words.

Rockto was still hesitant.

After a while, the Empire’s strongest knight sighed, raised his eyes, and said solemnly to Shien,

“I hope you can go to the Imperial Palace and meet with Prince Harvis.”

Upon hearing this, everyone, including Shien, looked at Rockto.

“Why?”

Shien narrowed his eyes and asked calmly.

“No reason.” Rockto shook his head, “It’s just that I don’t believe that after everything that has happened, Prince Harvis wouldn’t have any plans.”

In other words, Rockto wanted to say that in this situation, Harvis must be thinking of a way to break the deadlock.

As long as they met with Harvis, there might be a way to deal with Mara, the Raifurut family, and these underhanded tactics.

Shien understood the meaning behind these words.

“Is it necessary to go through so much trouble?” Shien said straightforwardly, “Since we’re going to the Imperial Palace, instead of looking for the prince, it’s better to go directly to Mara and eliminate her.”

Clearly, Mara was also on Shien’s kill list.

It was just…

“Unfortunately, the Imperial Consort’s whereabouts are still unknown. We don’t know where she went.” Rockto sighed, “Even in the Imperial Capital, she has no fixed residence, disappearing from time to time and suddenly reappearing. We don’t know where she went, nor do we know where she’ll be.”

Harvis had already told Shien about this half a month ago.

Because of this, Shien had been worried that Mara might run away. If he went to the Imperial Capital and made a big fuss, only to find nothing, he would be very frustrated.

Catching that Imperial Consort wasn’t an easy task.

Back in Cosmos, she had always been hiding behind the scenes, never appearing in person.

In the large-scale assassination incident in the Royal Capital ten years ago, she had also planned everything as the mastermind behind the scenes, causing that tragedy.

This was a very troublesome woman.

“This mysteriousness suits those bastards from the Original Demon quite well.”

Shien said sarcastically.

“So?” Rockto looked directly at Shien, “Do you want to talk to Prince Harvis first? Maybe he knows the Imperial Consort’s whereabouts?”

This was clearly wishful thinking.

This strongest knight of the Empire was willing to go to great lengths to make Shien meet with Harvis.

This was understandable.

After all, Harvis was under house arrest, and Rockto was definitely very anxious to confirm his situation.

If Shien could infiltrate the Imperial Palace and meet with Harvis, the situation might change.

That’s what Rockto thought.

The problem was…

“I’m not familiar with the Imperial Palace. Even if I go, I won’t know where the prince is, right?”

Shien raised this question.

To this, Rockto could only say…

“Take Tilly with you.” Rockto said without hesitation, “She’ll guide you.”

Hearing this, Shien glanced at Tilly.

Tilly was stunned, seemingly not expecting Rockto to suddenly give her such a task. She thought for a moment, then chose to remain silent.

Clearly, she agreed.

“Alright.” Shien shrugged, “In that case, I’ll go meet with the prince.”

Perhaps he might even be lucky enough to encounter Mara?

If that happened, things would be much simpler.

Also…

“You’re not sure about Mara’s whereabouts, but you should be able to confirm someone else’s, right?”

Shien suddenly said this.

“Whose whereabouts?”

Rockto was stunned.

Shien smiled.

A smile devoid of any emotion.

“The Raifurut family.”