'....'
The old woman seated with squinted eyes kept looking towards the illegitimate son of Duke Arcutus purchasing the flower.
She took it as he embarked back to his carriage before giving a last glance towards the flower shop.
Soon enough, it continued to move towards the inner portion of the city.
'Kyle Arcutus...', she recalled the na before standing up, hands folded behind her back, as she turned to move towards the interior of the shop.
She could sense a few individuals huddling towards her shop.
Light streaks were evident.
As she ca inside the shop, which had a small open area with several flowers gardening around, three individuals approached.
The faint gleam of their swords, still seated with a slight bit of silver tal within, didn't go unnoticed by the woman, their eyes visible through the black cloaks, glaring towards the old woman.
"Who is Mia?", one of the n at front inquired, clearly hearing how the young master from the Arcutus family was curious about this na.
The old woman, though rejected at that ti to that young man, definitely gave a subtle hint that she was aware of that na.
Unlike the dull ducal prince, he was far too keen to observe that once he kept his hands on that woman whom the young master knew.
Setting a trap to kill him would be easy.
"Hearing other's conversation, isn't it the work of rogues?", the old woman stated, her hunched back still visible as she turned towards a nearby flower, caressing its edge, as her fingers tra ed along the petalz.
She could see these individuals were headed by a third-layer expert, who had clearly heard those curious words from the young master.
Though he had gone out, he had created trouble for her.
"Kill her", the man at front ordered the other two to get rid of the old woman.
Given how he felt worthless to inquire further, he decided it was better to eliminate her and use her dead body to lay a trap against the illegitimate son.
"As you order", the cloaked figures on both sides replied.
They bowed before turning towards the woman, their swords gleaming as they parted away from their seat.
The air around them seed to shift as they blurred, the afterimage vanishing in an instant.
They swiftly arrived on both sides, swinging their swords.
Swish.
Everything was too fast for any human to even catch up to.
Swords tore through the air, cutting like pieces of paper as they fit their bodies.
On both sides of the woman, the gust of wind produced due to their movent flung away pots of flower, destroying the garden area as they sliced through the old woman.
Clank.
But as they did, their swords t with long tal nails protruding from the woman's hands.
Their swords stuck as their eyes widened, looking towards the sharp nails, appearing to be ten inches in size, so even penetrating their swords' tallic surface.
Halting them in the middle, the old woman seed to stand upright from her hunched position.
"I just wanted to visit the shop for the last ti, but sigh...", she stated, shaking her head.
Suddenly, a crimson energy began to shroud her body, emanating not only from her but even from those two cloaked figures.
They felt sothing being sucked out of their bodies as their eyes turned hollow, the crimson energy rging directly into the woman's core.
The energy collected near her heart as the wrinkles over her skin started to vanish.
Her exhausted eyes beca crystal clear, her hair turning crimson with canines protruding.
She tilted her head, giving a glance towards the remaining cloaked man, whose eyes had widened to the limit, appearing to almost fall out of their sockets as he yelled.
"Demon!?"
---
"Urghhh....", a simple groan remained as the head got plucked out of the body from the sole cloaked figure, now in the hands of the woman.
The nearby area was filled with crimson energy mist as the dead bodies started to disappear—two dried skeleton bodies and one headless one— turning to dust.
This dust fluttered through the air before falling into each of the flowers as if providing them fertilizer.
The broken pots from earlier movent by the cloaked figures were restored automatically.
Now, their dead bodies turned to ashes had beco fertilizer for the flowers.
The woman leaned her head slightly, her blood-red eyes complenting her equally vibrant hair, and a smirk played on her lips, hinting at her small canine teeth.
She ruffled her hair and tilted her head toward the sky as she felt several intense gazes from the high elders of the royal family trying to pinpoint her location after being alerted by that energy earlier.
"What a hassle, all due to you, Kyle Arcutus", Mialthara said, gazing towards the sky.
Before turning her gaze down, she moved towards a pair of scissors, picking them up and cutting down a small rose.
She plucked it, holding it in her hand as her mind replayed those words from that young man who had just provoked her by making her recall so very depressing days of her life.
Yet, given that it had already been more than 170 years since that incident, she was calm enough not to kill him instantly.
However, she was curious enough to know exactly how soone so young, barely 20 years old, was aware of her.
She could have doubted that maybe soone had sent him or told him her story, but she had killed everyone who ever knew her or was aware of her existence.
She had removed all evidence of her existence.
Yet, soone who was not of that ti rembered her, clearly making her curious.
'Should I not harvest that village yet?', her fingers started to pluck each petal of the rose as if trying to decide whether she should mass harvest the souls of a village to increase her strength.
Or should she remain in the capital city to get a chance to personally inquire about that young man?
'That's it?', she held the last flower petal, plucking it out of existence, leaving nothing but the sepal, stan, and green horned stem.
Her eyes, which seed to have rejuvenated her youth once again, started to glow as her body released a crimson aura.
This aura began to move towards the flower, the petal growing automatically as if restoring itself.
She placed it back on the sa stem from where she had cut it, and the crimson aura flowed from her body towards the flower.
Her youth was vanishing, wrinkles reappearing as the flower slowly returned to its original form.
Petals were forming around it, stems rejoining.
It was a transition where, as the crimson aura exited from her body and moved towards the plant, the older she beca.
Slowly, her flushed skin and spotless marks turned into an old, exhausted, wrinkled body with her back hunched until the flower was completely recovered.
She returned to her old form, giving a smile with closed eyes.
"I hope to et you soon, Kyle Arcutus."
With those thoughts, she turned and made her way back from where she ca.
Coming to the outermost part of the flower shop, she took her seat as a weak frail old woman selling flowers.
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