Hello I'm back, thy leg is healed but I don't have molars anymore.
===BREAK===
Led by Ekaterina, the two arrived at the entrance of the vault.
Accompanied by a faint "click", the massive vault door slowly opened.
In an instant, a dazzling golden light burst forth from within.
Seeing this, Shao Yun quickly raised his arm to shield his eyes from the blinding glare.
When the light finally dimmed, Shao Yun began to examine the scene inside the vault.
Within the enormous space, piles upon piles of glittering Mora formed small golden hills, their radiance so brilliant it made one feel dizzy.
After casually sweeping a glance over the vault's interior, Arlecchino turned sideways toward Shao Yun and said in a nonchalant tone, "Help yourself. Take as much as you want."
The moment she heard this, Ekaterina was utterly horrified and hurriedly spoke up in alarm, "Lady Knave, we agreed earlier—only fifteen billion Mora…"
Before she could finish, an overwhelmingly terrifying aura suddenly erupted from Arlecchino's body.
That crushing presence instantly choked Ekaterina's words back down her throat.
"Shut up! If there's a problem, let Pantalone come talk to me himself!"
Faced with Arlecchino's sheer dominance, Ekaterina trembled violently, lowered her head, and replied in a stammer, "Y-Yes… my lady."
At this point, Ekaterina no longer dared to say a single extra word, fearing she might anger this terrifying figure again.
After that, Shao Yun walked into the vault, while Arlecchino stood quietly at the entrance with her back turned.
Her meaning was clear—forget whether it was one hundred billion or fifteen billion; take however much you wanted.
Shao Yun had his system load Mora directly into his Legend of the East satchel, while he himself merely held the bag open and watched the Mora pour in.
Ekaterina didn't dare look into the vault at all. All she could hear were the crisp clatter-clatter sounds of Mora colliding with one another from inside.
She knew all too well that with Arlecchino present, Shao Yun would surely loot without restraint, and in the end, all that would be left for her to see would be an utterly empty vault.
Just imagining such a horrifying scene made Ekaterina feel as though life was worse than death—she even had the urge to hang herself on the spot.
Even though Arlecchino said she could let The Regrator come find her, was that really possible? Why would Arlecchino protect her?
Wouldn't The Regrator vent his anger on her instead? He might even wrap her up and toss her to The Doctor as an experiment!
However, to both of their surprise, Shao Yun did not display the unrestrained greed they had imagined.
After taking exactly fifteen billion Mora, he stopped, showing an unexpected level of restraint.
Then Shao Yun clapped his hands in satisfaction, turned toward Arlecchino—who was still standing at the entrance with her back to the vault—and said, "Alright, I'm done taking the money."
Hearing this, Arlecchino slowly turned around and cast her gaze into the vault.
Although it was obvious that the amount of Mora inside had decreased significantly, there was still plenty left—enough to sustain the normal operations of the Fontaine Northland Bank.
Ekaterina had already mentally prepared herself for hanging, but when she looked into the vault, her eyes widened in shock.
Staring at the Mora still piled high like mountains, the astonishment in her heart was beyond words.
At this moment, Ekaterina was just one step away from kneeling down to Shao Yun to thank him for showing mercy.
Seeing Shao Yun walk out of the vault, Arlecchino immediately gestured for Ekaterina to close the vault door.
With a dull, heavy sound from the closing door, the transaction came to an end.
Arlecchino stared at Shao Yun with a strange expression and said, "To be honest, I thought you would take advantage of my tacit approval and sweep away every last Mora inside, not leaving a single coin."
"After all, with such an enormous fortune right in front of you, who wouldn't be tempted?"
Shao Yun merely smiled faintly and replied calmly, "If I'd blown the vault open, I guarantee even treasure-hoarding weasels would come out crying."
"But this wasn't a crude robbery—it was a fair and reasonable transaction, wasn't it?"
"Since we agreed on fifteen billion Mora, then I take exactly fifteen billion. Not a coin more, not a coin less."
After hearing this, Arlecchino's interest in Shao Yun only deepened.
"I really didn't expect that—you're actually quite good at keeping your word."
Shao Yun casually brought out a principle he'd used before and said, "Punctuality is a virtue second only to devotion. The same applies to honoring one's promises."
After hearing this odd philosophy, Arlecchino thoughtfully pinched her chin and said, "Punctuality is a virtue second only to devotion? Not bad. I can revise that and teach it to the children."
…
At the same time, inside the Palais Mermonia.
Outside the luxurious suite where Furina resided, the atmosphere was unusually tense.
Because of Arlecchino's attack on Furina, coupled with Eula being beaten half to death, Furina and Neuvillette could be said to have gone the entire night without sleep.
Furina stayed awake all night out of worry for Eula's condition.
Neuvillette, on the other hand, stayed up to seal off information about Furina being attacked, while also organizing personnel to conduct a covert investigation into the mastermind behind last night's events.
Given the gravity of the matter, it had to be handled with extreme caution, so he too was awake all night.
To allow Sigewinne to focus on caring for the injured Eula, Furina remained stationed at the door the entire night.
At this moment, Neuvillette, having finished his work, walked over to the doorway and stood face to face with Furina.
He briefed her on what he had been doing during this time.
"I've instructed last night's staff to suppress all information regarding the attack on you. Right now, not many people know about it."
"I've already arranged for an investigation into last night's incident. Hopefully, we can find the culprit as soon as possible."
Upon hearing that very few people knew about the attack she had suffered, Furina quietly let out a long breath, the taut string in her heart finally easing a little.
"That's great. Since the news hasn't leaked, we must capture that despicable culprit as soon as possible! Otherwise… otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable!"
At this point, after careful consideration, Neuvillette shared one of his speculations with Furina.
"Actually, I've been wondering—why have you had so many enemies recently, Lady Furina? Could it be… because of what Mr. Shao Yun said back at Romaritime Harbor?"
Hearing this, Furina's expression instantly became strange.
"Neuvillette, what do you mean by that? That matter was already turned over long ago! Besides, what happened at Romaritime Harbor wasn't widely spread at all!"
Neuvillette thought it over carefully and felt that Furina had a point. Back then, the fact that Clorinde lost her duel to Shao Yun completely overshadowed his remarks, and they indeed never fermented.
After pondering for a moment, Neuvillette proposed another possibility.
"Then let me put it another way. Lady Furina, do you think it could be that the widely circulating Fontaine prophecy has caused public anxiety and an increase in social unrest?"
Furina froze for a moment, then shook her head like a rattle drum and replied somewhat off the mark, "That doesn't seem right. When I performed yesterday, everyone was very enthusiastic—they even asked for my autograph!"
"I even interacted with them. That's why I came back from the opera house so late."
Furina seemed to be mistaking the enthusiasm of a small portion of the audience for the overall sentiment of society.
It was as if she had no awareness at all that this kind of generalization was deeply flawed.
Seeing Furina so blindly optimistic, Neuvillette found himself at a loss for words.
But out of concern for the situation and his sense of duty, he couldn't help but ask one more question.
"Besides using performances to soothe public sentiment, do you have any other measures to address the rising water crisis, Lady Furina? Could you share them with me?"
The moment Furina heard Neuvillette inquire about her concrete methods for handling the flooding crisis, her expression changed abruptly.
The gentle look vanished, replaced by an aloof, domineering air.
"Neuvillette! It's one thing for arrogant mortals to speculate about an Archon's will, but why are you questioning me as well?"
"Everything is under my control. You only need to follow along step by step and watch how I put on a grand display and solve the problem!"
Furina's air of absolute confidence directly persuaded Neuvillette to drop the matter.
After all, the situation wasn't yet truly dangerous, and since Furina claimed she had a solution…
"Very well then. Let's pretend I didn't ask anything just now…"
After saying what needed to be said, Neuvillette prepared to return to his office to handle his daily duties.
Before leaving, however, he reminded her, "Until the mastermind is apprehended, Lady Furina, it would be best for you not to leave the Palais Mermonia for a while."
Hearing this, Furina's heart sank.
Thinking about being confined in the Palais Mermonia again for a long time, unable to move freely, she couldn't help but feel dejected.
"I know… mmm."
Yet at that moment, Furina's thoughts drifted back to what had happened the previous night, and a surge of uncontrollable resentment and anxiety welled up inside her.
She clenched her teeth and cursed fiercely, "That damn scoundrel!"
…
While Furina stood dazed outside her room, Shao Yun—having just extorted fifteen billion Mora from the Northland Bank—came to check on Eula.
He had no intention of keeping that fifteen billion for himself; the money really was taken as Eula's medical expenses.
With a smile, Shao Yun looked at Furina standing at the doorway like a statue and couldn't help walking over, teasing her playfully. "Wow, Miss Furina, is your Hydro energy not so abundant anymore?"
Hearing this, Furina froze slightly, failing to grasp the meaning at first.
A moment later, realization dawned—Shao Yun was mocking how she had cried last night!
At that thought, Furina puffed out her cheeks angrily, planted her hands on her hips, and argued back, "What do you know? That situation last night was terrifying, okay?!"
"If you were in my place, you'd have been scared out of your wits and crying even harder than I did!"
Watching Furina banter with him, Shao Yun knew she had already shaken off last night's fear.
"Your emotional recovery skills are impressive. Yesterday you were crying your eyes out—today you're already back at full health."
To Furina's ears, that sounded like he was mocking her for being heartless!
Faced with Shao Yun's repeated teasing, Furina ground her teeth in fury, cursing him from head to toe in her heart.
But since it was Shao Yun who had saved her last night and pulled her out of danger, no matter how angry she was, she could only force herself to endure it. She turned her head away and refused to look at that infuriating face.
===BREAK===
Like the story and want more chapters?
Join and support me by joining my Patreon!
[email protected]/SiRoasa