Kevin's face twitched as he struggled to speak, "This... Miss Lancaster, do you mean I should apologize to this slave?"

"I won't do something so boring."

Ruan Qing'an chuckled softly, his leaden eyes narrowing slightly. His slender fingers rested on Aldrich's strong arm as he said softly, "The decision of what to do is not mine, but his."

"Heh, heh heh..."

Kevin forced a smile: "Miss Lancaster, how can you say something so absurd? How can you blame the slave owner for the death of a slave? There's no such logic in the entire slave market."

"However—if you, Miss, believe that this matter is definitely related to me, I am willing to make compensation for this matter."

"Would this be alright for you?"

Kevin spoke cautiously, but the occasional glances he gave Aldrich were filled with uncontrollable murderous intent and anger—there were many nobles around, and he had actually lost face because of this!

Kevin dared not complain about Nguyen Thanh An.

But Kevin hated Aldridge so much he wanted to eat his flesh and drink his blood; today was an absolute humiliation for Kevin!

Even so, Ruan Qing'an merely smiled, ignoring Kevin's words, and instead asked, "Does my Lancaster family lack this little bit of compensation from you, Kevin?"

"Aldrich, what do you want to do?"

As she spoke, Ruan Qing'an's smiling, leaden-gray eyes looked at the tall man beside her. Aldrich had been silent from the beginning, not uttering a word, except when he heard Ruan Qing'an speak, his hands, which were placed at his sides, tightened unconsciously.

It's as if they're suppressing something...

But Ruan Qing'an stood behind him, tapping Aldridge's shoulder with his fingertips, and said, word by word, "Do what you want to do, and always remember, the Lancaster family is behind you."

“I taught you that, Aldridge.”

"Anyone who insults you—kill him."

As soon as she finished speaking with a smile, the surroundings fell silent. No one could have imagined that Ruan Qing'an wasn't just there to cause trouble, but actually intended to kill someone...

For what, perhaps, a slave?

When Aldrich heard the blatant favoritism in those words, he finally raised his head slowly. His dark eyes were fixed on Kevin not far away, and Kevin froze for a moment.

He never imagined that this fool would have such eyes—like a terrifying monster, filled with a thick aura of darkness.

"Owner."

"Um?"

Nguyen Thanh An looked at Aldridge.

Just then, Ruan Qing'an noticed that when Aldrich looked at her, he was actually smiling, a twisted smile beneath his hatred: "I want to kill him."

Ruan Qingan did not speak, but simply nodded slightly.

The Fire Spirit Fruit she took that morning had made her perception of fire elements even more acute. However, at this moment, Ruan Qing'an could sense that the fire elements were unconsciously avoiding and distancing themselves from Aldrich. And when she tried to sense them, she discovered—

Beside Aldridge, countless black dots of light began to gather, just like the black characters Ruan Qing'an had seen before, filled with a strong sense of foreboding.

If Ruan Qing'an hadn't been a mage with an extremely keen sense of elemental perception, he would have had no chance of noticing the appearance of these black specks of light.

Most importantly...

Aldridge's eyes no longer held the innocence of a child.

037 couldn't help but ask: "Ancestor, what exactly is that sealing magic circle on the male lead...?"

"What you should be asking is, what exactly is being sealed?"

Ruan Qing'an spoke lightly, yet the meaning behind her words carried immense weight; a dark light flickered in her leaden eyes.

After Aldrich made his decision, Nguyen Thanh An said no more. He crossed his two slender legs, sat on the edge of the carriage, and clapped his hands: "Hurry up and go, or they'll get away."

At Nguyen Thanh An's command, the servants quickly stepped forward!

Upon witnessing this scene, Kevin panicked. His first instinct was to run away, but just then—

"Wait, all of you, stop right now!"

A voice suddenly broke in, and the surrounding nobles instinctively looked over at the sound—when the Lancaster family was handling matters, especially when it was Dolores herself who gave the orders, not even the commoners, let alone the nobles, dared to interfere.

It's unbelievable that anyone would dare to stop them.

The next moment, Eileen, still wearing the robes of a saintess from the Church of Light, rushed over and stood directly between Kevin and the servants, anxiously looking at Ruan Qing'an: "Dolores!"

"Eileen?"

Ruan Qing'an raised an eyebrow slightly, not expecting that even though she hadn't followed the plot and brought Aldrich to the slave market, the female lead would still run into her.

The surrounding nobles also fell silent.

If it's Eileen, then it makes sense. Everyone knows that Eileen is Dolores's only friend. She was able to become a saint half because of her good reputation, and the other half... was because she had the support of the Lancaster family.

Even among these nobles, many had heard of Eileen's good reputation and held her in some goodwill.

Upon seeing Eileen appear, Ruan Qing'an raised his hand, signaling all the servants to stop, and asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Dolores, I came here to talk to you about what happened last night, but... but I never expected you to come to the slave market and act so arrogantly. Come with me now, don't disrupt the order here anymore, please stop!"

Eileen pleaded earnestly, "You are the eldest daughter of the Lancaster family, representing the family's reputation. Dolores, stop this nonsense. Killing someone in the slave market, are you crazy?"

Upon hearing this, Kevin realized what had happened and knelt down in front of Eileen with a thud: "Holy Maiden, please save me! I really don't know how I offended you, Miss!"

"..."

Ruan Qing'an's smile widened, and she suddenly sneered, "Eileen, why don't you ask what the people behind you have done, and whether I came here for no reason?"

"What?"

Upon hearing this, Eileen instinctively turned to look at Kevin.

Kevin, with a mournful face, said, "It's really nothing serious, Your Majesty. It's just that due to my mismanagement of the slaves, this slave's mother died. So many years have passed, and he's come looking for me, determined to kill me!"

"How can I possibly manage so many slaves!"

Beside him, Ruan Qing'an sneered: "Mismanagement led to death? You're really clever, not mentioning at all that you toyed with her to death?"

"This...Miss, you can't keep dwelling on this. So many slaves, countless ways they died, and besides, it really was an accident back then, I..."

Kevin wanted to say something more, but Ruan Qingan glanced at him.

Eileen paused, but she glanced at Aldrich, who had his head down, and the nobles around her. They seemed to be whispering among themselves, and there was a hint of surprise in their eyes as they looked at her.

Eileen stood up because she knew that in the eyes of these nobles, Ruan Qing'an, who was causing trouble for the slaves, was an anomaly. And it was simpler to gain a good reputation among the nobles—just go along with their interests, that is, stand on the side of the nobles.

This is why she chose Kevin, the biggest and most well-connected slave owner, not only to protect the interests of the aristocratic class, but also to tell everyone that she could control Dolores.

But now, their eyes seem to be saying something...

It turns out that even Eileen couldn't influence the Lancaster family.

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