"..."
Ruan Qingan did not answer, but silently kept his eyes half-closed.
The atmosphere froze once again. Seeing that Ruan Qing'an remained silent, Lucas lowered his eyes, seemingly no longer concealing his abilities after his identity was exposed, and raised his hand—
The next moment, the hemp rope wrapped around Ruan Qing'an's wrist gradually disintegrated and disappeared completely, while the eerie black power continued to spread, enveloping the cabin.
Then, it disappeared again.
Lucas said, "I don't need to tie you up. With these, you can't run away. But I hope you can think this through, Dolores."
"Think clearly about what?"
Ruan Qing'an raised his eyes, his leaden-gray eyes looking at him coldly.
Lucas explained, "I've said it before, I prefer you to Irene, Dolores. All these years, ever since I became your housekeeper, I've always liked you."
“Eileen is just a passing fancy, but you are different. As long as you are willing to accept me, you will always be my lady.”
But Ruan Qing'an remained unmoved; she simply closed her eyes.
"My rules, Lucas, you'll have to learn them yourself."
"..."
After a brief silence, Lucas said in a deep voice: "First, no questioning of Miss is allowed; second, obedience to Miss is forever; third, life and death are in Miss's hands; fourth, never to betray her for all eternity; fifth, with all that we have, we will fight for Miss forever."
He knew it very well.
This was his motto throughout his life.
But at this moment, Ruan Qingan raised his eyes and looked at Lucas: "How many of these rules have you broken? Lucas, don't show your face in front of me again."
"...I'm waiting for you to change your mind."
Lucas paused, just as he was about to leave—
There was a sudden knock on the door, and Eileen, still somewhat worried and frightened, appeared in the doorway. But when she noticed that Lucas was no longer concealing his face, she was startled: "Your Excellency?!"
Seemingly instinctively, not wanting Eileen to get involved, Lucas glanced at her coldly and said, "Who let you in?"
"I'm so sorry..."
Eileen realized what was happening and quickly said, "Your Excellency, I've come to report to you that the ferry has arrived and the Seventh Prince is waiting outside. Would you like to see him, Your Excellency?"
Lucas nodded slightly: "Alright, let's go."
As Lucas was about to leave, Eileen glanced at Ruan Qing'an and couldn't help but ask, "Your Excellency, what about her?"
"Is this any of your business?"
Lucas glanced at her coldly, offering no reply, and turned to leave. Eileen dared not continue and hurriedly followed. After they disappeared from sight, the door closed again, plunging the small cabin back into darkness.
After they left, Nguyen Thanh An leaned against the interior of the ferry cabin, coldly staring at the empty room in front of him.
037 asked worriedly, "Ancestor, are you alright? Since you knew Lucas had a problem, why did you still...?"
"I just felt something was off."
Ruan Qingan paused: "But I can't be sure what he's doing behind the scenes, so I can't alert him. Most importantly, at that time I didn't know who the mission taker behind Eileen was. He's hiding too well, little system."
“He arrived much earlier than me, and his influence in this small world far surpasses mine. He has placed Eileen and the Archbishop within the church, the seventh prince of the royal family, or... many more.”
"This is an advantage that is very difficult to overcome."
Upon hearing this, 037 said: "So, Ancestor, that's why you want to lure the snake out of its hole, to make it come out into the open and take the initiative?"
Ruan Qingan nodded: "Yes."
An open arrow is easy to dodge, but a hidden arrow is hard to defend against—that's the principle.
But 037 still found it unbelievable: [If Lucas's true identity is a mission taker, then he should know the plot, so why would he do this to the female lead, and... to you, ancestor?]
"He probably doesn't know my identity, and he likely likes the original owner of this body, Dolores, but only—"
Ruan Qing'an paused, his eyes filled with sarcasm: "What you call liking is just a desire to conquer the original owner, Dolores."
"Compared to Eileen, the female lead who comes from the slums, he can easily get to the slums before the plot even begins, help Eileen escape her predicament, and become her salvation."
"As long as you have the plot, it's extremely simple."
037 asked, somewhat bewildered, "But wasn't the original owner different?"
Ruan Qing'an nodded: "Little system, you don't understand. To Lucas, or to that mission taker, Eileen is just an ordinary person who is within easy reach, without any special aura."
"But the original owner was different. Even in the original story, no matter how wicked and stupid she was, she was truly beautiful, like the moon that no one could pull down, untouchable."
"What he calls 'liking' is this desire to conquer."
037 then understood: [No wonder he didn't care about Eileen; it was just because she was too easy to get. In other words—once he gets the original owner of this body, he'll naturally discard her like trash.]
"Yes, let's wait quietly."
Ruan Qing'an closed her eyes again, taking a peaceful nap, even though there were guards outside, even though to outsiders she was dead, even though... she was like the moon high above, now fallen into the dust.
But Ruan Qingan remained calm and murmured, "When everything Lucas and the others want to do reaches its climax, that will be the final chapter and the end I want to see."
"Let us wait until that moment arrives."
...
The atmosphere was as if it had fallen into a deathly silence.
Exhausted, Ruan Qing'an unconsciously took a nap. In her half-awake state, she seemed to hear a commotion outside—screams, sounds of attack, and the cracking of water and ferry decks, all in complete chaos.
'Boom!'
A loud noise exploded in her ears, startling the groggy Ruan Qing'an awake. She looked up blankly and realized that the room, which had been covered by a strange black power, was now being spread by golden light elements. Then—a large hole was torn open in the side of the ship!
Through her blurred vision, she saw a tall figure appear at the edge of the cave entrance, rushing towards her quickly and urgently.
"I'm late, Master."
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