Chapter 490
Not long after the carriage had left, several mounted knights had already arrived at the hotel entrance. It seemed they were preparing to establish a blockade... The properties of the Dedun Group, like those of the Church of the Goddess of Order and the Church of the Savior, were about to be thoroughly investigated.
Click—
Xia'er’s door creaked open. She had just drawn the curtains and turned around when she saw Aivina standing in the doorway.
“Aivina…” Xia'er looked at her, a subtle constriction tightening in her chest.
Aivina had already missed the best chance to leave… but it wasn’t too late. Xia'er could tell — there were no actual Crown Guards present downstairs. Even without Xia'er taking action, someone like Tara could easily get around them and help Aivina escape.
Luci couldn’t have talked yet… There was still a way out.
Xia'er took a deep breath. She had already made up her mind to go directly to find Elinor.
There was still one last desperate move she could make — if she was willing to expose herself, she might be able to drag Qiangyin into a rewind one more time…
“I told you — if you were really in danger,” Aivina said as she walked over to Xia'er, “I wouldn’t listen to you.”
“Even if I ended up as nothing but a puddle of blood and mud, if it could slow down your enemy’s steps, that would be helping you… wouldn’t it?”
As long as Xia'er was in danger, no matter what happened, Aivina would choose to stand beside her — and she had fulfilled that promise.
Xia'er looked at Tara and Aivina in front of her, fists clenched so tightly her nails nearly pierced her flesh.
She couldn’t blame the people who loved her…
It was Qiangyin — forcing her to make this kind of choice, forcing the people around her to bear the risk with her.
All the anger, all the hate — it would be poured onto Qiangyin's head. Every grudge would be settled, one by one.
At that moment, Xia'er felt a strange resonance with the version of herself who had taken the Avenger potion — a deep, wordless empathy between them.
P.S.:
Sorry, only 4k today — I stayed up to reset my schedule.
The past couple of days were busy with the move — I’m relocating from Chengdu back to Guangdong, so it’s been hectic. But it's mostly sorted now.
The plot from here on is more continuous, so I won’t be doing 4k chapters anymore.
Tomorrow: at least 10k, or face the wrath of Kun Dan Ji.
Goodnight!
Chapter 258 – Flames of the Past (10,249-word chapter)
(Note: The bug in the previous section where Luci wasn’t tasked with cleaning up the body has been corrected. My fault — I own it. But it doesn’t affect the plot going forward, since Luci wouldn’t have had enough time or authority to act. No need to scroll back.)
“Your Grace, a letter for you.”
“Leave it on the desk.”
“It’s… from Lady Aivina.”
“…Bring it here.”
Duke Charles sat behind his desk. When he took the envelope from the butler and saw the handwriting on it — graceful and elegant, both familiar and strange — a subtle complexity crept onto his face.
It really was from Aivina...
Charles knew that the stubborn Aivina wouldn’t send him a letter without a good reason — especially after being back in Ansu for so long without contacting him.
He carefully opened the envelope and began reading, word by word.
When he finished the letter, he set it down, rubbed his forehead gently, and sighed.
“Have they all arrived?” Charles looked up at the butler.
“Yes, sir. Miss Aivina’s companions, and Knight Nia — they arrived with the letter. It was Knight Nia who handed it to me,” the butler answered with a respectful bow.
“See that they’re properly settled.” Charles waved his hand. Then, just as the butler was turning to leave, he spoke again. “Also… prepare a carriage.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
After the butler left, Charles’s expression gradually steadied. He sank into deep thought.
From the letter, Charles could see that the girl named Xia'er had intended for Aivina and her companions to seek his protection… but the most important one — Aivina — hadn’t come.
On the surface, it looked like Aivina was yielding… but that “yielding” came with thorns.
Qiangyin had already extended his hand to seize control of the Dedun Group, while Aivina stayed behind at the Dedun Members Hotel with Xia'er… That was a very clear signal — especially considering how well he and Aivina knew each other’s tendencies.
Aivina was gambling.
She knew that if she returned to the family, she’d likely be put under house arrest until everything blew over. Once under Charles’s protection, he’d avoid any external entanglements — his default mode was always not to cause trouble.
That was the way Charles had always operated — “neutral,” as some would call it. But in truth, it meant balancing between powerful factions and always watching others’ faces before making a move.
The red-haired girl — the one who had somehow made an enemy of Qiangyin — had originally intended to face Qiangyin alone. Now Aivina had stayed behind. She was betting that Charles still cared about her enough to step in and help that girl.
“No word from you for years… and yet you dared to bet on this…” Charles shook his head.
His personality was very much like Aivina’s, but where they differed was in how they handled things. Charles leaned toward cold logic, making the most rational decisions. Aivina, on the other hand, was driven by loyalty and emotion.
Otherwise, she never would have run away from home back then — just to protect Nia, refusing to become a “hostage” and hand her over to the Church of the Goddess of Order.
This time was no different. If she returned home, she’d live — but that Xia'er girl would almost certainly die. Staying behind gave her a sliver of hope — that she could save the girl through Charles’s intervention.
Would he help?
Charles stood up.
The moment he had told the butler to prepare the carriage, he had already made up his mind.
Last time, he made the “right” decision — and nearly lost the most important bond in his life. This time, he would make the “wrong” one and try to mend what had been broken.
He would go in person to the Dedun Members Hotel and “drag” both Aivina and the red-haired girl back.
Qiangyin was acting strange — launching a crackdown that would inevitably provoke the Churches of Order and Salvation. Maybe for now, they were holding back out of respect for Qiangyin’s past strength, but that wouldn’t last.
Already, Seraphine had reported that Qiangyin had sent Queen’s Blade operatives to capture someone — the soon-to-be Executive Director of the Dedun Group.
And that executive had traveled back from Bolen City on the same train as Aivina and her companions.
Add in the sudden visit from the red-haired girl, and Charles could deduce—
Something had happened in Bolen.
That red-haired girl was carrying a secret.
A secret powerful enough to throw Qiangyin into disarray — one that forced him to tear away all pretenses and start arresting people in broad daylight.
Charles had no intention of clashing with Qiangyin head-on — not yet. First, he wanted to know what that secret was. Once he understood its nature and potential, he’d decide whether it could bring Qiangyin down. Only then would he act.
That was his way.
Windsor Palace – Underground Vault
“You’ve gone mad…”
Blood pooled on the floor. A shattered monocle lay in the crimson puddle.
On the cold surgical table, a tall, slender figure was strapped down. Her limbs had been severed completely, and blood flowed through grooves in the table into the trough beneath.
“Lafayette… I treated you like my own mother… I thought we stood on the same front… but you lied to me.”
A soft, almost feminine voice echoed beside her.
Qiangyin reached out with bloodstained fingers, wiping a droplet from his face. But the smear only left a brighter, redder trail across his skin.
Combined with the eerie symbols carved across his face and his feverish gaze, the image was haunting — deeply unsettling.
“I told you… I’ve never heard of any Keyholder…”
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