As Vanessa left the place, she was scheming how to make him agree.
'I'll return at a later date,' she thought, already forming ideas on how to approach him again.
But now she had other things to do.
Once she stepped outside, she found Marina waiting for her.
"Princess, I'm sorry for my behavior before. I have shamed you," she said.
"Marina, I understand that you don't like him, but he was testing you, and you fell for his trick. To be honest, if you're not able to hold yourself back against mockery, then I worry that someday you may cause me more trouble than you can mend." Vanessa said, her tone gentle but worried.
"I promise to work on it," Marina replied. She clearly understood Vanessa's hidden meaning.
'If I slip one more time, then I'm probably out,' Marina thought.
But that man was just so good at making her angry that she struggled to contain herself.
After the warning exchange, they went toward the inn and disguised themselves once again.
As night came, the duo returned to hiding near the shop and waited for the kid.
At some point, a light turned on inside the building.
'Something has changed,' Vanessa thought.
Moments later, she saw the kid who had taken the letter approach. At the sight of the light, he hurried to the window and knocked in a specific pattern.
Then the window slowly opened, and a hand exchanged the letter for copper coins.
"So he indeed was involved with the mysterious man!" Marina exclaimed silently. Her instincts had been right all along.
Vanessa couldn't believe that the best clue she had was a person she had met days ago—and whom she had just tried to recruit earlier today.
But this only made him more interesting to her.
"Princess, we have enough evidence. We should burst in and arrest the man for questioning." Marina was eager—almost too eager—to put her hands on the man who looked down on the royal guards.
"Absolutely not. Don't let your anger make you forget that perhaps the man is only an intermediary. And don't forget we have a two-step plan," Vanessa replied.
Marina was frustrated but said nothing.
After an hour, Marina whispered, "There's someone moving away, from the other side of the street."
"Is that the man? Then we'll follow him silently," Vanessa said.
She almost couldn't contain her excitement; she was so close to capturing the man.
As they reached the roof, they finally saw a figure who matched the witnesses' descriptions.
"Finally," Vanessa murmured, her heartbeat quickening.
Right across the street, Alex was dashing toward the location mentioned in the letter.
'It hasn't even been a day since I returned, and I had to deal with the princess. And now I have to hunt a noble already. Fuck my life,' he thought bitterly.
He wished for peace, but things never seemed to go his way.
As he approached the place, he followed his usual routine: he sedated the guards with narcotics and then searched for a place to sneak inside.
The only difference tonight was that he didn't know he had spectators.
"He's quite skilled," Vanessa said as she watched his flawless movements.
He put everyone to sleep without leaving a scratch on them.
Then they saw him turn into water and slip inside.
Once in, Alex put the maid and the butlers to sleep. As usual, he went to search for the owner, but upon finding him asleep, he turned away and began searching the residence for the items described in the letter.
After a while, he found a secret trapdoor in the storage room, hidden beneath crates. When he descended, he found dozens of slaves inside.
They were of all ages and in every condition imaginable.
'Fucking hell,' he thought. He pulled out a recording device and captured the evidence.
He told the slaves they would be safe but needed to wait for the royal guards.
After that, he headed to the master bedroom. Sneaking inside, he quickly stabbed the noble with four types of poison.
The nobleman jolted awake and stared in horror at the masked figure beside his bed.
He tried to move but couldn't.
"Do you kno—" But before he could finish, his head was sliced clean off.
Alex didn't bother with ceremony. He only wanted to get this done and go home to sleep.
'Now toward the fucking royal guards' quarters,' he thought.
When he stepped out from the window, he began heading back, but then a voice came from behind him.
"Well, hello," said a voice he recognized. He turned to see a common girl smiling at him.
"Why don't you kindly surrender and come back with me?" the girl said sweetly.
Alex racked his brain trying to remember where he had heard the voice.
Then he did.
'The princess,' he realized, though he didn't speak.
He shifted sideways, hiding his hand as he palmed a needle. After a moment of thought, he raised both hands in the air.
"Good boy. Now come over, I'm gonna place these handcuffs on you. Do behave, will you?" Vanessa said.
As Alex approached her—almost face-to-face—he gathered all his strength and swiftly pricked a needle against her wrist before leaping back.
"Wow… how improper of you." Vanessa was caught off guard.
"But that's better; where's the fun if you surrender this quick—" Then dizziness washed over her.
'The sleeping needle,' she realized. But it wasn't strong enough to knock out a master like her.
Alex used the moment to flee, casting Water Scape.
But when he reappeared, he felt a great amount of aura approaching. He quickly cast his shield with all his might.
Yet Vanessa's punch broke straight through it and struck him, sending him flying.
He hadn't even hit the ground when she was already on him again, slamming him down and knocking the breath out of his chest.
"You're cunning, but the poison was weak enough that I could expel it. And thank you for not using lethal poison," she said casually. She wasn't taking him seriously at all.
"Still, you have to come with me. I have many things to ask, so you are under arrest," she added. She then tapped his head with her fist—hard enough to leave him dizzy—and proceeded to handcuff him.
'Things have gone to shit,' Alex thought, dazed and defeated.