Ch.56 Again?
"Princess Serela has sent
to invite you to et with her. She says there's an urgent matter she wishes to discuss."
"Serela wants to see ?" Luo Nan was rather surprised.
"Did she tell you what this urgent matter is?"
Luo Nan recalled that in the original storyline of The Shining Myriad Trails, his relationship with the so-called "Benevolent Imperial Princess" had not been hostile from the very beginning — rather, it had declined in a straight downward line.
If anything, the two had quite a good relationship when they were children. His old man, Duke dillion, and the imperial emperor, Isarian III, had even considered arranging a marriage contract between them.
As Luo Nan gradually degenerated into the "Capital's Debauched Scoundrel," the matter had simply been dropped between the dillion and Austrein houses.
That particular history, however, had never appeared in the original storyline of The Shining Myriad Trails.
Presumably the ga's developers hadn't wanted to give a certain type of fan the opening to ship Luo Nan and Serela as so kind of illicit pairing.
After all, this was a "Beautiful Girls' Epic Fantasy RPG" — n were only ever fit to be villains and supporting characters.
'Ahh, what a wretched villain's fate I carry…'
Back during the banquet framing and assassination incident, the reason Luo Nan had sought out Serela to serve as his notary was precisely because the plot had only just begun — Serela's opinion of him had not yet fallen to the point it eventually would.
She had even been sowhat more partial toward him.
That was the conclusion Luo Nan had drawn from what Serela had said before questioning Rose Anlute.
"I don't know. The Princess didn't go into detail with
— she simply asked
to co and invite you."
Just as Luo Nan had expected, there was no way the person standing in front of him would know the specifics.
"Am I allowed to decline?" Luo Nan crossed his legs, his slender index finger tapping the tabletop one beat at a ti.
He was troubled right now. Deeply troubled.
True, his mories told him that before he had fallen into debauchery, his relationship with Serela had been decent enough — but that was under circumstances where he hadn't yet awakened his mories from his previous life.
Now that he knew the Benevolent Imperial Princess's true nature, Luo Nan had no desire whatsoever to beco entangled with her.
He had even gone out of his way to hire Anya to handle all case liaison duties, specifically to reduce his chances of coming into direct contact with Serela.
If he had any choice in the matter, he never wanted to see Serela again.
Never mind that Serela possessed the title of "Benevolent Imperial Princess," that her beauty, talent, and even moral character were beyond reproach, or that she had been lauded by noble circles as "the Cornflower on the Austrein Crown."
Rumor had it that because Serela had yet to enter into any marriage contract, countless young and talented noblen had attempted to court her — only to all apparently founder against that serene and holy smile of hers.
But none of that had anything to do with Luo Nan.
Because he knew what Serela really was.
Staying away from her was Luo Nan's one and only wish regarding The Shining Myriad Trails' second most popular heroine.
"Of course not!"
Seeing Luo Nan outright refuse, Anya grew a little anxious.
"Did you not hear ? Princess Serela has an urgent matter she needs to discuss with you! And aren't you on good terms with the Princess? Why would you refuse?"
"……"
Luo Nan didn't respond. What else could he do — he could hardly tell Anya that he knew Serela's true nature, that she was an extraordinarily dangerous individual, and that anyone who got caught in her sights might not even know how they'd died, could he?
Seeing that Luo Nan remained silent, Anya continued, "The Princess said she already knew you might refuse her invitation, so she asked
to give you this."
With that, Anya handed him a sealed envelope bearing an official stamp.
"This is…"
He unfolded the letter and read it carefully.
After a mont, he let out a sigh and looked up at Anya.
"Let's go. I'll et with Serela after all."
"Alright, now that I've delivered the ssage, I'm off the clock."
Anya waved her hand at Luo Nan and made to leave.
"Don't go. Serela's letter says you're to accompany ."
"Huh?"
***
It was her first ti riding in a luxury carriage belonging to the highest tier of nobility, and Anya circled the four-horse coach with considerable curiosity, examining it from every angle.
"Tsk, tsk… worthy of a great noble. Unbelievably wealthy — the wheels are trimd in gold, aren't they?"
The girl crouched in front of one of the four-wheeled carriage's wheels — over a ter in diater — and reached out to touch the golden patterns running across it.
"Those are Magical Circuits reinforcing the wheel's structure."
Luo Nan erged through the main gate of the manor, glanced at Anya circling the carriage with the wide-eyed fascination of a child who'd just found a new toy, and explained with resignation.
"Co on, I'll take you along."
"Coming, coming — I've never ridden in a carriage this extravagant before!"
At Luo Nan's call, Anya imdiately abandoned her examination of the carriage's exterior and bounded up the steps in two strides, turning her gaze to the interior furnishings.
"This cushion is so comfortable…"
The girl settled into the seat, felt the softness beneath her, and couldn't help shifting slightly.
"Luo Nan, what did the Princess say in her letter? Why did reading it make you change your mind?"
Luo Nan leaned back against the main seat in the carriage cabin, glanced at Anya sitting across from him and staring intently at the incense burner on the central tea table, and replied, "Serela said in her letter…"
"Said what?"
"……"
Luo Nan gave no answer, only cast her a mild look before ignoring her entirely, quietly closing his eyes to conserve his energy.
"?"
The girl was cut off mid-sentence by Luo Nan's 'half-finished answer' yet again. A fla of irritation kindled in her beautiful golden eyes, and she was about to demand to know why this person insisted on speaking in riddles — when she caught herself, rembering that she really had no business prying into such private matters between the two of them, and fell silent.
'This girl has finally quieted down. The riddle-man strategy really does work quite well.'
Luo Nan had done it deliberately. He knew that Anya's curiosity outstripped even a cat's — she was the protagonist, after all, and without an intense drive to investigate and a taste for reckless adventure, the plot could never move forward.
And he was happy to turn that curiosity to his own advantage, buying himself a mont of peace to carefully work through Serela's true purpose in wanting to see him.
'Serela said in her letter that she's narrowed down the likely culprits behind the Abyssal Follower assassination attempt on
to a handful of suspects — but to determine exactly who's responsible, I'll need to co in person to analyze and confirm.'
'I have to admit, she really does know how to get a grip on my jugular.'
'What should I do when I get there…'
Boom!
What was that sound?
"Luo Nan, watch out!" Anya reacted first — she grabbed him and pulled them both down.
In the sa instant, the entire carriage lurched violently upward. Then a volley of poison-coated crossbow bolts ca screaming in through the carriage windows, and shattered glass ca raining down alongside the shouts from outside.
"Assassins!"
The cry ca from the guards traveling alongside the carriage, and the clash of steel rang out imdiately.
'I've been…assassinated again?'
Luo Nan could never have anticipated that he'd walk straight into an ambush the mont he left the Duke Manor — and right on the streets of the Upper District, no less.
'Tch… This is troubleso. If I reveal here, in such a public setting, that I'm already a supernatural practitioner, then the enemy knows my hand while I don't know theirs — I'll have one fewer card to play.'
'And on top of that, Anya Sivans — the Chosen Hero — is right here beside .'
'Forget it. Trust her. She's the protagonist — surely she can cut through a bunch of cannon fodder who might as well have 'expendable' written on their foreheads?'
With that thought, Luo Nan took a mont to compose himself, then called out to Anya, "Miss Anya — protect . I'll pay more!"
"Now you know to call
'Miss Anya'?"
The girl laughed, drew the silver-gray longsword at her hip, and casually sliced apart the incoming poison-coated crossbow bolt. She answered with full confidence:
"Leave it to
— let
show you what I'm capable of!"
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