Without the slightest hesitation, Lucas knelt on the ground. He had been Dolores's butler for many years and knew her personality all too well. At this moment, all he could do was obey.
The whip formed from fire element is different from an ordinary whip. Every lash brings excruciating pain, accompanied by the burning sensation of flames. The flesh that is split open is even accompanied by sparks, intensifying the pain.
But Lucas didn't dare utter a sound; he simply knelt upright, enduring each of her whips.
Ruan Qingan finally stopped when Lucas's chest was torn and bleeding. When he opened his palm, the whip disappeared.
“I’m giving you one last chance, Lucas.”
"Thank you, Miss."
Lucas didn't complain at all, but said in a low voice, "I'm sorry, Miss, although you brought Aldrich to the Magicians' Exchange Meeting, which was your decision, I'm not at ease with it."
"Therefore, after you entered the courtyard, I brought some people to guard you, but we were stopped."
"Although the reasons were valid, I still felt something was amiss, so I only had them guard outside the courtyard while I secretly sneaked in. But during my infiltration, I discovered something was wrong with the Seventh Prince; he seemed to be intentionally isolating the Lancaster family."
"But I was certain he wouldn't make a move in public, so I thought I'd search the Seventh Prince's quarters to see if I could find any clues before reporting back to you."
Lucas paused, "But I didn't expect that his residence had a strange magic circle and a peculiar power. I was unexpectedly trapped there and couldn't get out for a long time. When I came to find you after I got out, the lounge had already become the same as it was just now."
The atmosphere was stagnant and filled with a sense of oppression.
Ruan Qing'an looked down at him, and after a long silence, said, "What have you found? What I need is the result."
“Lucas, you should know me very well.”
“Here you are, miss.”
As he spoke, Lucas presented a black, ivory-like, flat object with both hands. On it was a strange symbol, which looked particularly odd and gave off an eerie feeling.
Lucas said, "I suspect it's more like a token or a mark of identification, which is very strange."
037: [Ancestor, what is this thing? It looks so scary, it gives me a really bad feeling.]
"...Let's take a look first."
Ruan Qingan frowned and took the item from Lucas's hand. Upon touching it, he found it to be warm and smooth to the touch, more like holding a piece of soft jade than ivory.
She looked down at the symbols on it. Even though the Lord of God was well-read and Ruan Qing'an possessed all her memories, she was certain that she had never seen them in any book before. They were extremely mysterious.
The overall shape is a black ring with strange water droplet marks in the middle, which then spread outwards, resembling a spider.
Nguyen Thanh An even found it difficult to describe its specific appearance.
After holding it for a while, a strange, chilling feeling finally appeared in the shadows. It was inconspicuous, yet it seemed to freeze one's very bones, and the symbol seemed to distort itself.
Seeing this, Ruan Qingan couldn't help but raise an eyebrow and hand the object to Aldrich: "Take a look at it, is there anything unusual?"
"Owner?"
Aldrich was a little puzzled and looked at it over and over, but in his hand, the token-like thing had nothing strange about it, nor did it affect Aldrich at all.
037 realized: [My God, it seems this thing came from that mission taker, or rather, the person behind the mission taker!]
Ruan Qing'an lowered his head and pondered for a moment: "Do you remember what Eileen said? The person behind her is called the Messenger, the messenger of the gods. The mission takers would not possess such power. This must be the power of that god, and this symbol should also be."
"This explains why the original owner couldn't find this symbol in any of the books she read, nor did she know what kind of power it was, because this power comes from the divine realm."
037 was somewhat surprised: [In the original text, the God Realm wouldn't appear until much later in the story. Was it really changed because of the mission takers?]
Nguyen Thanh An nodded and told Aldridge to put it away.
Then, Ruan Qing'an looked at Lucas. She squatted down and pressed her slender fingertips on the wound on his chest, applying a light but firm pressure—and a sharp pain shot through him.
Lucas grunted, lowered his head, and dared not speak.
But she chuckled lightly: "There won't be a next time."
"Yes, Miss."
Upon hearing this, Ruan Qing'an straightened up and instructed, "If the royal family and the Church of Light are unwilling to give up, there may still be some trouble. You can handle these matters."
"Oh, right, let's also prepare the ship to the Xisha Empire."
Lucas, who had been keeping his head down, instinctively looked up at Ruan Qing'an upon hearing this: "Miss, what are you going to do?"
"Go and get ready. I'll take Aldridge with me."
"...Understood, Miss."
Lucas's hands, which were placed at his sides, clenched into fists, his nails almost digging into his flesh. Even the pain in his chest lessened a bit, but he couldn't show it on his face.
By the time Lucas left, it was completely dark.
The sky was filled with stars, the Milky Way seemed to hang down to earth, and the cool night breeze swayed her skirt. Aldrich looked at her subconsciously. He didn't quite understand what beauty was, but he had found a synonym for it.
"Aldrich."
Do you want to go back to normal?
Ruan Qingan turned to look at him and said, word by word.
Aldrich thought for a moment and asked, "What is normal, Master? I don't quite understand... Is it like today, being able to protect you? I seem to have a vague feeling about something."
"Yes, you can protect me, only you can protect me."
She spoke softly, her slender fingers playing with the man's hair as if stroking a large dog, but he did so with pleasure.
Aldridge lowered his eyes and whispered, "Okay."
He took her hand and rubbed it against his face, lingering on the warmth of her fingertips. As she felt the man's warm breath, Ruan Qing'an's eyes flickered slightly.
He was willing to obediently submit to her and willingly bow down to her.
"I'm willing to do anything to protect my master."
【Affection Level: 60】
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