Chapter 509

Ugh… I shouldn’t have switched with Andre. If we hadn’t, the one who’d have been caught and beaten would’ve been him.

After Prince Leon and the female journalist took turns forcefully caring for her, the jade-eyed maiden heaved up everything she had onto the floor, her back aching from all the patting. She looked up, tears brimming in her eyes, and pleaded weakly, “Stop… stop hitting me. I’m already feeling much better.”

“Uh… that’s good…”

Realizing what he’d done while arguing with the journalist, Prince Leon couldn’t help but feel awkward as he gave her a light chuckle before soothing her gently,

“In the coming days, you’ll stay by my side. Don’t worry; I won’t harm you.”

Liar! You’ve hurt me plenty in just a few minutes!

Even though she’d lost contact with her true self, through the various misfortunes during her brief interaction with Leon, Phelia—born only a month or two ago—intuitively judged without calculation:

Getting near this guy brings bad luck!”Actually, keeping me around is dangerous.”

Without access to her mainframe’s supercomputing power, Phelia struggled with her human brain to make an amateurish attempt at self-rescue. With a pitiful expression, she pleaded,

“The information chip in my head will be detected if it gets within a certain range. So, let me go. I promise I won’t pursue today’s incident… If not, hiding me somewhere safe would work too…”

“Don’t worry, I can handle that.”

Smiling at her, Leon beckoned the journalist to help and then said gently,

“Lie down in this sister’s arms. I’ll use an anomalous item to remove the chip so you won’t get detected.”

“…”

It’s over… There’s no excuse left…

Hearing Leon’s words, Phelia, bereft of any strategy or connection to her external brain, fell into complete despair. Under Leon’s urging, she sulkily buried her head into the journalist’s bosom, her face tensed as she silently vowed vengeance.

Just wait!

Once I reconnect with my true self, I’ll invent a machine that hits your neck a thousand times every hour, placing you underneath it to beat you hard! I’ll return a thousandfold the number of times you hit me! And then I’ll create another machine that slaps backs hard…

“Hold steady.”

Unaware that someone had already targeted his neck, Leon retrieved the [Silver Knife] from the Mirror World and instructed,

“Stay still. I’m about to cut.”

Huh? What does ‘cut’ mean? Hearing Leon’s words, Phelia instinctively turned her head and was shocked to see Leon holding a shiny knife aimed at the back of her head.

“Ahh!”

Involuntarily screaming, the jade-eyed maiden desperately struggled, shouting,

“You said you’d use an anomalous item! Why are you using a knife?”

“This knife *is* my anomalous item.”

Gripping her neck to stop her movements, Leon consoled her softly, “Don’t worry, it probably… should not hurt much. Um… maybe a little, but this knife can slice living things open without killing them. You definitely won’t die. I’m pretty confident about that.”

So you’re still going to cut open my head! Jerk! Who said they wouldn’t hurt me earlier? Are they a dog?

“No! No! I don’t want my head cut open!”

“Don’t move! Though it hurts a bit, this is for your own good. Just endure it… Ah, never mind, you hold her down instead.”

Since it was his first time using the [Silver Knife] on someone else’s head, considering the delicacy of the brain and Phelia’s violent resistance, Leon reluctantly let go and handed her neck over to the journalist.

“No! No! No! Aaaahh!!”

…

“What did you say?”

Looking at the guard captain, whose face was full of shame, Prince Andre, usually expressionless, rarely widened his eyes and stood up abruptly from his recliner.

“My sister got kidnapped? Even the info-chip has no response?!?!”

“Forgive me, Prince Andre…”

The kneeling guard captain lowered his head, guilt-ridden,

“We followed Princess Phelia’s orders to keep our distance so as not to disturb her.

At first, everything went smoothly, and those responsible for defense didn’t notice anything unusual. But then, somehow, Prince Leon suddenly went berserk and began… beating Princess Phelia.”

Recalling the tearful jade-eyed maiden, the guard captain clenched his teeth and veins bulged as he continued,

“That despicable man seemed to be an anomalous item wielder. When we rushed forward, vines sprouted beneath our feet, tripping us. Then the two Clearing Bureau personnel were also captured. We… we did nothing…”

The Gemini Division people were captured too? Prince Andre frowned slightly upon hearing this and coldly pursued, “Then? Where did they take Phelia?”

“Still investigating…”

The guard captain, filled with shame, replied,

“They used some unknown anomalous item. Just a swipe on their collars and they disappeared. We couldn’t figure out how they left…”

“…”

“Never mind, it’s not your fault.”

Closing his eyes briefly, Prince Andre, emotionally stirred, regained his calm expression and said emotionlessly,

“This kidnapping was planned ahead. With the cover of a prince’s identity, it’s normal you didn’t foresee it. Those two are anomalous item holders and capable enough to capture members of the Clearing Bureau. As ordinary people, there’s no way you could’ve stopped them.”

“I… am ashamed…”

“Alright, continue investigating!”

Waving to dismiss the guard captain, Prince Andre’s expression soured as he closed the door to his room and sat quietly on the balcony for a moment.

A short while later, a soft chuckle rang out in the room where he was alone.

I never thought he’d actually capture the artefact.

Glancing toward the embassy through the floor-to-ceiling window on the balcony, Prince Andre reclined again, closing his eyes, his body bonelessly slumped in the chair. Only the tip of his right index finger tapped rhythmically against the armrest.

“Tap, tap, tap.”

Yesterday, when meeting the man called Leon at the airport, there was something strange in his gaze—a kind of restless greed. That look was like a thief seeing gold coins or a beast spotting prey, always making one feel uneasy.

That’s why he changed his mind and didn’t diligently fulfill his reception duties, returning early. And judging from the fact that he abducted Artefact, running away this time was quite timely~