Regressor of the Fallen Family Novel - Chapter 324
C324:
“Thanks for your efforts.”
“What efforts?”
The formal praises from the knight guarding Luisa only brought a sardonic grin to her face.
Tomorrow marked their scheduled return; there were no more excuses for postponement. The King of McLain had refrained from meeting the kingdom’s key figures.
‘He must be aware of our magic.’
Even if he identified their abilities instantly, how could he have readied a response so swiftly?
Did the clash between Elder Gerohin and McLain’s new superhumans in the Tahiti duchy justify such readiness?
‘Elder Gerohin must have detailed the tower’s vision too accurately.’
Even though the king hadn’t witnessed it firsthand, he couldn’t have prepared so thoroughly without suffering significant setbacks. Even with incomplete information, some of the new superhumans likely sustained grave injuries in that conflict.
‘Prince Ronian appeared unharmed, but… he might have internal injuries. Indeed. In that case, it’s logical that I couldn’t sense their powers.’
Perhaps that explained why they hadn’t divulged their information publicly. It could also signify they took precautions as soon as they detected her abilities.
“Hmm…”
A hollow chuckle slipped out.
What use was there in deducing reasons now? It felt like a tiger entering a tiger’s den with its mouth agape.
If not for her status as the empire’s princess, she might have met her demise here.
At the very least, her status had spared her from punishment, but her aspirations to expand her influence in the organization had to be put on hold for now.
It was truly a situation where only sighs could be mustered.
“Do you have any information on the other elders being mobilized?”
“As you know, I lack the authority.”
“True. That makes sense.”
Even if she desired to recover, she remained oblivious to the organization’s other strategies.
Naturally, even if she was aware, she had no grounds to interfere.
‘I must return. I must go back and search for opportunities once more.’
She had gained a lesson from this setback.
For someone who had always thrived on her status and magical abilities, this was her initial taste of failure.
Her magic proved futile; relying solely on her status, she barely escaped with her life. Once stripped of those two advantages, she found herself defenseless.
Consequently, she keenly felt her inadequacies.
‘I lack the forces I can independently mobilize.’
The indoctrinated knights and aides like Jun provided little real assistance.
If even one of the elders from the organization had accompanied her, would the outcome have been different?
‘That’s unlikely.’
At the very least, there should have been success in indoctrinating a mage.
And that alone would have thrown McLain into disarray.
The palace guards were unaware of the stealth magic enhanced with recognition interference.
“I must meet the elders promptly upon my return.”
“What?”
“No, hold on. Disregard that. Just go back. We’ll depart early tomorrow morning.”
“…Yes, understood.”
After dismissing Jun, Luisa calmly reorganized her thoughts.
‘I must secure the relatively youthful elders for my cause. Those who won’t look down on me merely because of my royal lineage.’
As that idea crossed her mind, her brows involuntarily twitched.
Given the faction’s animosity toward the empire, her noble status only served as grounds for discrimination within the organization.
Consequently, she had previously dismissed the other elders as nothing but senile individuals. Altering her approach now and attempting to recruit them would prove exceedingly challenging.
‘But I can’t afford to turn a blind eye.’
Having acknowledged a vulnerability, it was impossible not to address it.
Pushing aside her lingering regrets with a gentle sigh, Luisa selected a few suitable candidates and continued contemplating.
Night descended. Beneath the moon’s frosty glow, a strange and unsettling sensation pricked her instincts.
‘A foreboding aura?’
And, for some reason, it felt eerily familiar.
‘An assassin? Now? Here?’
As that notion flickered through her mind, the Tower’s vision—“Mana Force”—raced through her veins.
Natural energy, or mana, when transcending its limits, becomes imbued with vitality and transforms into magical energy or mana force.
Consequently, a mage possesses physical abilities akin to an intermediate knight. Instantly, her physical capabilities engaged, ready to move swiftly at a moment’s notice.
Furthermore, she employed her instinctively unleashed stealth magic to scour the expansive palace swiftly, yet discovered no anomalies.
Nevertheless, the disquieting sensation continued to gnaw at her instincts.
And as the brilliant mage she was, Luisa trusted her gut instincts.
‘Something is amiss. But I can’t pinpoint it. In situations like this…’
At that instant, an idea dawned on her.
Though she had never encountered them directly, she had heard endless warnings about a specific group.
A cohort nurtured by the organization’s vision, now turned into hounds hunting down the organization.
The unique stealth skills that group wielded.
Thankfully, the organization possessed the search magic necessary to detect them.
Boom.
That realization hit her.
A special spell meticulously crafted to locate that group activated officially.
‘The Imperial Special Surveillance Department.’
Those acquainted with them dubbed them ghosts. Traces of their movements reverberated through the palace.
Like specters, they traversed without the guards even registering them. Once Luisa processed that information, her expression twisted.
‘Why are ghosts… Could it be that my identity is compromised?’
In a heartbeat, a nightmare scenario unfolded in her mind.
The exposure of her covert identity. The downfall of the Eastern Palace. The massacre of her kin. And the pursuit of the imperial lineage.
While she had boasted to Logan so audaciously that she could discard him, sans the Eastern Palace, her standing within the organization would be severely diminished.
The dream she nurtured of upholding her mother’s legacy would evaporate entirely.
Her heart raced.
A sense of foreboding hastened her pulse, and that rapid heartbeat intensified the ominous feeling.
However, swiftly assessing the number of approaching ghosts, that foreboding sensation swiftly abated.
‘Just three?’
That count elicited a hollow smile.
They were ghosts who had suffered substantial losses in their recent pursuit.
By now, they might have grasped that the organization possessed magic specializing in unearthing them.
Deprived of their stealth, irrespective of their prowess, they would be no more than upper-level knights.
To think three upper-level knights would dare to challenge a mage who comprehended their tactics well was evidently a suicidal endeavor.
Yet, even with just three, the possibilities lingered:
‘Either one of the subordinates is trying to tail me discreetly to catch me off guard.’
Or they were entirely unaware that she was a mage affiliated with the Aserian Tower.
In the worst-case scenario, it was the former, but her instincts insisted on the latter.
Had a superior truly mobilized, the royal court would have already apprised her.
Her father, King Dongik, Gerard Von Aserian, had been more attuned to the royal family’s concerns than the tower’s own affairs.
Yet, that raised another query.
‘Then what are these fools up to?’
As her thoughts whirled, the three figures had already reached her chamber.
There was no way she could silently endure their arrival without knowledge.
Boom.
Soon enough, invisible mana cloaked her room.
‘What’s this?’
The leader of this operation, Agent Number One, was momentarily gripped by a disquieting sensation coursing through him.
As a first-grade agent of the Imperial Special Surveillance Department, his position was not a mere chance. His instincts were finely tuned.
‘Halt.’
Agent One endeavored to signal the others through the organization’s vision, a communication method facilitated through qi.
However, his two comrades appeared not to have caught the signal and surged toward the target in their designated positions.
‘Curse it.’
The timing couldn’t have been worse. On the brink of neutralizing the target, urgency abruptly hampered the transmission of his signal.
That was the sole flaw in the organization’s exceptional stealth techniques.
Yet, Agent One harbored no excessive concerns.
He had issued a warning based on instinct, but this mission targeted a flower cultivated within a greenhouse: the princess.
Moreover, their location wasn’t the empire’s royal palace or the Eastern Palace but a minor kingdom’s palace. The absence of magical defenses rendered it an easy mark.
Even in the worst-case scenario, he predicted leaving insignificant traces behind.
In that event, he could rectify matters afterward.
With that in mind, Agent One lunged toward his mark.
However, he witnessed an incomprehensible sight.
Thud.
Impaling the bed he aimed for was his comrade, Agent Two, while Agent Three thrust his blade toward Agent Two’s heart from behind.
Agent Two’s foolish blunder was one matter, but Agent Three’s audacious act sent shivers down his spine.
‘Betrayal!’
Such an event was wholly inconceivable within the Imperial Special Surveillance Department. It was a forbidden transgression.
Taught that duty superseded all else, no excuse could justify such conduct.
Brimming with instinctive wrath, Agent One’s eyes blazed with righteous fury.
Nevertheless, the primary duty remained the mission.
Agent One unleashed his frustration upon the target.
He would surge forth, impaling the target while dispatching the traitor without a second thought.
But then—
Vroom!
An imperceptible barrier obstructed his gray blade.
Before he could grasp the situation, the target’s smirking visage materialized.
“It seems you possess remarkable resilience. But…”
The target’s chilling grin felt suffocating, enveloping him with an overpowering force.
For a fleeting moment, Agent One couldn’t even twitch a muscle.
And beside him, Agent Three’s dagger closed in.
Thwack!
“Urrgh!?”
It was an error no third-grade operative should commit, but Agent One was caught so off-guard by the surreal circumstance that he violated that fundamental prohibition.
As he witnessed the quivering eyes behind Agent Three’s mask, a sudden remembrance flooded his mind.
A recollection of comrades acting against their will.
– Our existence is solely dedicated to safeguarding the royal family. The royal family’s security rests on our duty.
– Numerous factions have menaced the royal family throughout history, but the most dire threat has always been…
The harrowing tales ingrained in their minds since their training days.
Demons manipulating minds and toying with the world.
The very demons they had combated not long ago.
‘It’s them!’
In hindsight, he knew he wouldn’t have succumbed so helplessly had he been informed earlier.
The empire’s princess employing their methods was inconsequential.
The Aserian Tower stood as the Imperial Special Surveillance Department’s top adversary.
Recognizing he could no longer resist his senses, Agent One readied his ultimate desperate technique.
‘Let’s perish together!’
Utilizing the vision, he activated his force and stimulated the mana stored within his stealth attire.
In an instant, he felt an explosive power surge through his being.
Yet…
“Oh dear, that won’t do. Did you believe your methods would be effective against us?”
With a casual flick of her wrist, the burgeoning power ebbed away.
In the direst circumstance.
“Aaah…”
More disastrous than failing the mission, more grievous even than failing to slay the foe, was being apprehended mid-mission.
In that moment, Agent One felt his last vestiges of control slipping away.
“Fear not. I couldn’t possibly permit any of you to be captured alive.”
Luisa’s gaze gleamed with intense hostility.
And on that night—
– Princess Luisa fell under attack by assassins within McLain’s royal palace.
Unthinkable news struck the kingdom, swiftly propagating into myriad rumors that coursed across the realm.
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