make out
On what should have been a day of rest, Tiffany had to work overtime again, simply because Crown Prince Murray had gone missing.
This morning, the Crown Prince's attendant brought medicine into the room as usual, only to find a little blood on the bed, the window wide open, and the attendant nowhere to be seen.
King Eilat ordered the knights of the seven dukes' families to search for Murley's whereabouts. Strangely enough, no note was left in the crown prince's room, and the king did not receive any threats.
After this incident, the second prince, Villeneuve, became the second suspect, and the king was the first to search his palace and all his properties.
Although Wayle was pleased that Murray had disappeared, the king's suspicion of him chilled him to the bone, and now he even suspected that Murray had orchestrated the whole thing.
The first one, of course, was the Red Tower, the organization that killed two princes.
Tiff leaned lazily against her shop, watching the knights come and go.
It's funny, the area she was assigned to was the location with the most properties under her name. If she kidnapped Murray, no one would know if he died. Hicks's actions suddenly became quick.
Her hair was loose, and as she lowered her head, her hand instinctively reached into her pocket, as if trying to grab something. She paused for a moment when she realized there was nothing there.
That's true. Tiffany hasn't learned to smoke yet, and she doesn't carry cigarettes with her. She frowned slightly and gave up the idea of smoking.
Dope, a few meters behind her, noticed her subconscious movement and her eyes flickered.
"Your Grace, it's not here either." The two leading knights ran back from two different directions.
“Continue.” Tiffany squinted and walked forward, but stopped halfway and turned to ask the knight beside her.
"Was Hicks' place searched?"
The young knight shook his head when asked. Searching the Magic Tower requires a search warrant, and even if the whole city is being searched like today, the Magic Tower is beyond their reach.
“Hmm…” Tiffany nodded, “Half of the people will come with me to the Magic Tower, the rest will continue searching.”
Even though the knight might not be able to get in, she just wanted to make things difficult for Hicks, hoping he would recognize her.
Magic Tower
Before even reaching the Magic Tower, a figure could be seen waiting at the entrance from afar. It was a pink-haired man who seemed to have anticipated Tiffany's arrival.
When they were still some distance away, Tiffany told the knights to stop and wait, and walked to the door alone.
“Your Grace, the Tower Master has been waiting for you for a long time.” Bill bowed to Tiff.
Tiffany scoffed, "Pretentious."
Bill was slightly taken aback, initially thinking she was referring to him, but then realized she was probably talking about the tower master.
Hicks leaned back on the sofa, crossed his legs, and closed his eyes, waiting for Tiffany to arrive.
He had already anticipated this day when he and Tiffany were at the Duke of Ferrand’s mansion, and he discovered that Tiffany knew he was reborn.
After he broke into the palace and "kidnapped" Murray, the king ordered a city-wide search, and he guessed that she would come looking for him.
He couldn't wait to see Tiffany's expression; he was sure it would be amazing.
"Da, da, da."
Footsteps stopped at the door, and he slowly opened his eyes to look at the door.
With just one glance, even though she looked at him with the same expressionless face as before, he recognized her the instant their eyes met. She was Tiffany three years later, the new monarch who had ascended the throne of the empire.
Her hair was loose, and she was dressed casually in a white shirt and brown trousers. It must have been freezing in December. Her lips were a little pale, but not in a shrouded way, and her eyes were smiling.
Tiffany leaned against the door, looking at Hicks's undisguised astonishment. His body was stiff, and his breathing became rapid.
She smiled and said, "Long time no see."
Hicks's expression changed. He stared intently at Tiffany, unable to suppress a cold laugh, and his words seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth, "So, it's you."
Tiff raised an eyebrow. "Otherwise, do you mean you've fallen in love with her again?"
"She" naturally refers to Tiffany, who has no memory of what happened three years later.
Tiff had expected Hicks to become angry and attack her after hearing his sarcastic, even "insulting," words, but to her surprise, he remained silent.
Then he gazed at her calmly, without any emotion.
At the same time, the corners of his mouth slowly curved into a smile, but there was no hint of a smile in his eyes.
“You’ve always been like this,” he said softly, as if speaking to himself, “using other people’s feelings for you to achieve your own goals.”
“I, Mullie…”
“Don’t you find it ridiculous?” Tiff interrupted him. “Murley is qualified, but you’re not. From the beginning, our relationship has been based on mutual benefit.”
"It was you, you crossed the line from the very beginning."
Her gaze was cold, even tinged with reproach.
He looked at Tiffany and wished she had died in Simonton long ago; it would be better than her words being so hurtful.
"What, are you going to imitate some melodramatic scenes now?" She stared at Hicks with a mocking gaze.
Hicks lowered her eyes, looking as if she was heartbroken. When she looked up again, a red light flashed. Tiff dodged, but Hicks had already appeared in front of her, reaching out her hand towards her neck.
Tiff gripped his wrist tightly, her eyebrows curving upwards. "What is the Demon Tower Master trying to do?"
Hicks' face paled slightly as he withdrew his hand. "Long time no see, let's have a spar."
"Is that so?" Tiffany chuckled twice, patted his shoulder, and made him take two steps back.
"Cough..." A trickle of blood escaped from the corner of his mouth. He wiped it away with the back of his hand, squinted at her, and breathed softly as he tentatively asked, "Is all your magic in this body?"
"nature."
He was probably only lying about 60-70%.
She was really lucky; her magic returned to her body after her rebirth.
"It's getting late, Duke, you should head back soon," Hicks said, directly dismissing him.
Tiffany glanced at him, walked past him, and sat down on the sofa. "You think I'm a dog, that I come when you tell me to come and leave when you tell me to leave?"
“You’re being too harsh,” Hicks said calmly as he sat down at the coffee table, as if nothing had happened between him and Tiffany.
"If you're not leaving, what do you want?"
"Mully, did you take it?"
Hicks glanced at her but didn't say anything.
"Answer me. If you answer this question, I'll leave."
"Yes and no. I took him away, but someone else wants him."
"who."
"The organization that attacked the royal family at Mullie's birthday banquet and killed a prince."
"Red Tower," they both said at the same time.
"You know them well?" Tiff asked, pretending to be the first person to know.
Hicks stared into her eyes. "You should go."
She stood up and patted her clothes.
"I thought you would search the place before leaving."
"I'd like to, but I don't have a search warrant."
Hicks scoffed, "You care about something like that?"
"Of course, I am a good citizen."
——
"Where's Muli?" She sat at the table, looking at the person in front of her.
The hat she was wearing partially obscured her vision, allowing her to see only the man's face beneath his eyes.
The room was the same one we had met the previous two times, simply furnished with a table and two chairs.
"I killed him." The man didn't care about her gaze.
"Killed him?" Tiff narrowed her eyes, disbelieving his words. "I want to see his body."
"A corpse?" Hicks raised an eyebrow. "It was corroded by my newly made potion; there's no trace of it left."
Tiff stared at him for a few seconds, neither refuting nor uttering a sound.
A silence fell between them.
She didn't believe anything Hicks said. Before she lost her memory, she wondered why he suddenly wanted to cooperate with Red Tower, but now she understood.
——
Mira is leaving. She's gone. The king can finally relax and no longer worry about what she's doing every day that could harm the empire.
Actually, we should thank Tiff, since Mira's goal was the Heart of Hess, and if Tiff hadn't taken it, Mira would have taken it instead.
Looking at it this way, she's still a hero of the empire. These thoughts flashed through Tiff's mind, and she almost laughed.
Before leaving, Mira met with Tiffany and whispered in her ear:
"I know your secret."
Tiff remained expressionless and didn't take those words to heart, but what Mira said next made her want to kill someone.
"You've come back from the dead..." The moment those words left her lips, Tiff grabbed her by the neck, slammed her against the wall, and was already prepared to silence her.
Mira blushed as she was pinched, a slight smile playing on her lips, and said haltingly, "...The Heart of Hess was also taken by you after your resurrection..."
After Mira revealed the Heart of Hess, Tiff realized that what Mira said was not the same as what she thought.
She breathed a sigh of relief, but the force in her hand remained unchanged. She quickly pressed two fingers against Mira's brow. Although she didn't know that Mira was "reborn," she knew that she was the one who took the Heart of Hess. If the king found out, it would be very troublesome.
Watching Mira's eyes slowly glaze over, then close, and when they opened again, her eyes were blank. The marks and pain on her neck had already been treated when Tiff cast the amnesia spell.
She looked at Tiffany, the confusion in her eyes instantly replaced by wariness. "How did I get here?"
Tiff looked puzzled. "You sent me."
Mira remembered that she couldn't find anything in Simonton and then came back, but why did she call Tiffany before leaving?
She felt that Tiffany was definitely involved.
But Tiff looked at her impatiently, "Since there's nothing else, I'll be leaving."
Mira boarded the carriage with a sense of doubt, and only when they reached the border of Augusia did she finally relax, her head slightly throbbing.
All the memories that Tiffany had erased came back to her now that she had arrived at the place where she had let her guard down.
“Tiff…”
"She even knows the art of forgetting things. Isn't she just ranked seventh in Samuel?"
If it were just any ordinary memory, she might never remember it in her entire life. But Tiffany miscalculated; these were memories bestowed upon her by God, and no one could take them away.
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