Chapter 107. The Xino Covenant (9)
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"Gone missing……what do you an?" Luo Nan was montarily confused.
"It's just, it's just that I can't find her no matter what……"
"Didn't you notify the Royal Attendants and guards inside Xino Palace to search together?" Luo Nan asked.
"I told them, but they mobilized over a dozen people and searched for a long ti, and still couldn't find Aina……"
At this, tears welled up in Peini's eyes, as if about to spill over.
"Young Master, do you think……Aina she wouldn't……"
Luo Nan's brow furrowed tightly. "Peini, don't jump to conclusions just yet. I'll go look personally, right now."
He turned toward Serela and said: "Serela, a maid from my household has gone missing—could you……"
"Of course. I'll have the Royal Guard cooperate with you fully and temporarily seal off the entire Xino Palace." Serela imdiately understood Luo Nan's aning, without a mont's hesitation. She summoned an attendant and issued the order.
Luo Nan was feeling sowhat regretful now, muttering under his breath, "Damn it, I should've known better than to bring them along. Of all the tis for this to happen……"
After presiding over the covenant ceremony between him and Serela, the Legendary-tier Archbishop Kolitio had departed Xino Palace early under the pretext of "church affairs keeping him busy."
Had he requested this Legendary-tier figure's help, Aina's whereabouts would have been found quickly.
Now that regret was too late to matter. Luo Nan strode out of the balcony, first sending Peini to the carriage. "Peini, head ho first. I promise you, I will bring Aina back safe and—sound."
"But Young Master……"
"Go ho now." Luo Nan said in a low, firm voice.
The maidservant Peini hunched her shoulders. "Yes, Young Master……then……"
"I promise you." Luo Nan repeated once more.
"Mm, then I'll leave it to you, Young Master." Peini gave a small smile, then boarded the carriage.
After seeing Peini off, Luo Nan walked back into Xino Palace in silence.
Although Serela had already ordered the entire Xino Palace sealed, given that quite a number of nobles and important officials, as well as certain socially influential celebrities, had gathered in the palace at this hour, she had not forcibly detained everyone who wished to leave.
She had only set up an additional checkpoint at each of Xino Palace's four exits.
And so the lively atmosphere inside Xino Palace remained as it was.
But that lively atmosphere had nothing to do with him anymore.
Luo Nan ignored the various individuals still hoping to toast him and pressed forward, his expression dark as still water.
"The Royal Guard has already searched every place inside Xino Palace where a person could hide, yet found no trace of Aina……"
"First, rule out the possibility that Aina wandered off on her own. If she had gotten lost by accident, she couldn't possibly have strayed far from the banquet hall—at this level of search intensity, she would have been found long ago."
"Next, rule out the possibility of kidnapping. Kidnapping has a purpose. Since my reputation as a 'debauched scoundrel' still stands publicly, setting aside the feasibility of trying to threaten
by kidnapping Aina, the fact remains that under this level of search, unless the kidnappers had already left Xino Palace, there would be nowhere left to hide."
"If both possibilities are ruled out, then……"
At this thought, Luo Nan's already-furrowed brow locked even tighter.
Standing still in the long corridor on the first floor of Xino Palace, Luo Nan arrived at one unfavorable deduction—and the only deduction that held any feasibility.
"Is it her?"
"If it is her, this is going to be so trouble……"
***
Ti rewound to before the covenant ceremony.
Anya and Rose were confiding their thoughts to Ailin.
Ailin Hilde, this self-proclaid author, was at this mont using her artful words to guide the two young won before her, earning their trust, drawing close to their hearts, and peering into everything about them.
"Mm……in their conversation, the na with the highest frequency of ntion recently……Luo Nan von dillion."
A flicker of amusent passed through Ailin's rose-red eyes. She extended a jade finger coated in crystal-clear nail lacquer, and a trace of iridescent color flashed across it.
Ailin extended the tip of her tongue, half-lidding her almond eyes, paying no mind whatsoever to the two young won before her, and slowly, lightly licked the iridescent color from her fingertip.
The woman's cheeks flushed, the fullness of her chest trembling faintly, rippling like waves. "Mm……this flavor, as expected, is not wrong at all."
A mont later, Ailin seed sowhat reluctant to retract her little tongue, and drew a shimring thread from her fingertip as she did.
She turned her head toward the slightly dazed golden-eyed young woman and continued to ask: "Miss Anya, could you describe in detail……your experience with Luo Nan von dillion in the Listone Mine Shaft? Every—single—detail~~"
Hearing Ailin's request, a flash of struggle and resistance crossed Anya's eyes.
"Oh? Still with enough fight left to resist? A re Tier Two Supernatural……how interesting."
Ailin had naturally noticed the resistance in Anya's eyes, but imdiately, those rose-red eyes sharpened with predatory focus once more on the young woman.
Anya, whose body had been trembling slightly before, then went still and rigid as a wooden puppet. She opened her mouth and said: "Alright, Miss Ailin. On that day, Luo Nan von dillion and I had first received an invitation from Serela Austrein and rushed to No. 3 Violet Street……"
Listening to Anya's word-by-word, sentence-by-sentence detailed account, Ailin's brow arched slightly. "She actually doesn't know of that unknown great being either?"
Setting down her pen, Ailin shifted into a more comfortable posture and reclined on the sofa, the high heels beneath her skirt slipping off, revealing feet clad in faintly translucent black silk that carried a tender blush. Her ankles swayed lightly, as if responding to their owner's puzzlent:
"I don't know either~~"
"Well then……Miss Rose, please give a detailed account of your own specific encounter with Luo Nan von dillion as well. The requirents are the sa as Miss Anya's."
"Alright, Miss Ailin." Rose's expression remained serene, her eyes vacant, and she then calmly began to describe how Luo Nan had descended from above, the two parties' interaction, and the specific circumstances of being forced to have her "photographs" taken.
Right down to what style of undergarnts she had been wearing that day—not a single detail left out.
Strangely, however, such explosive content drew not even a flicker of interest from Anya sitting beside her.
Anya remained as still as a wooden puppet, sitting bolt upright on the sofa, her expression utterly unchanged.
"This Young Master of the dillion household actually has this sort of obsession?"
After listening to Rose's account, Ailin also found herself a touch surprised.
"It does match rather well with the rumors of the 'debauched scoundrel'……"
"Well then, next we……"
Just as Ailin was preparing to continue questioning the two along the tiline, a delighted voice broke the "tranquility" among the three.
"Huh? Is that Miss Anya? How are you here too?"
Ailin glanced toward the voice, only to see a cute and adorable little maidservant walking toward the three of them.
"What?" A flash of surprise crossed those rose-red eyes, then vanished.
"This big sister is so pretty……excuse , you are……"
Aina's large erald eyes swept over Ailin, and stars lit up in them in an instant.
Evidently, Ailin's charm struck across gender lines.
Even Aina, whose heart had room only for her own Young Master, was montarily entranced.
"Ailin. Ailin Hilde." Ailin gave Aina a slight nod, then continued: "And this young lady, you are……"
"I'm Young Master Luo Nan's personal maidservant! Just call
Aina!"
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