At the same time, Zion had no idea that a certain silver-masked man was hunting for the kids even in the capital city, but in his mind, there was already a person who could be responsible for this havoc—the henpecked husband he met in the throne room.

The man seemed gentle, but Zion had seen many gentle-looking people who would destroy everything in the blink of an eye. He just needed evidence to see whether his guess was correct or not. After taking a deep breath, he laid quietly on the cold ground as he tried his best to sleep.

Tomorrow morning, he would figure out the schedule of these soldiers and find a way to escape.

The next day, early morning.

Two elf waiters in a restaurant were wearing their uniforms in the locker room when one of them closed the locker and turned toward another. "I have heard some news."

Another waiter turned to look at his friend and saw a grave expression on the man's face. He frowned and asked, "What happened?"

The first waiter shook his head and pursed his lips. "Something big happened last night. Have you not heard about it yet?"

"Something big?" The second waiter's expressions changed as he suddenly realized what might have happened. "Don't tell me that….that…."

The first waiter's face went pale at the thought as he couldn't stop his hand from trembling. They were waiters for a reason: They both had a lower constitution and could only perform menial work that led them to have such a lower job in a restaurant. And this was precisely why this waiter was so frightened at this time.

"The child killer has escaped!" The second waiter quickly finished the line that he had intended to say after watching his friend's pale face. If they were to have a face-off against the murderer that had killed more than a hundred children, they would die for sure! For everyone else in the Viridis kingdom, the killer was indeed a person with great magical power and could even be on the same level as the generals in the palace!

When it comes to the power level, the elves had six, and the sixth belonged to the queen alone. Not even her family members shared that level of power. She could do anything, including shapeshifting, teleportation, summoning, telekinesis, and much more. You could say she was a powerhouse of magic, but there was a limit. She could only use these skills when she's near the ancient tree. If she were to walk away from the tree and stay like that for a long time, the quality and quantity of her power would gradually reduce.

That is to say; the only powerful people could belong from the third, fourth, and fifth levels. Before Lia and Zion came here and were rumored to be the murderer, the citizens of Viridis Kingdom had started to believe that the killer must have belonged to these levels. Unfortunately, the rumor about Lia being the chief murderer orchestrating the murder and forcing her human servant into committing a severe crime came to light.

After this, the idea that the murderer must have belonged to the third, fourth, or fifth level among the elves concerning power changed into a powerful dhampir girl sending her human servant with magical tools to kidnap the children before brutally killing them.

So at this point, when the two of the waiters discussed how the murderer must have escaped, they were talking about Lia and her human servant. Just then, as if to confirm their suspicion, another waiter barged in the locker room, panting. His face was pale as he looked at two of his friends. His hands and legs trembled in fear as if he were nearly going to drop on his knees.

"I heard….heard something." The man took a deep breath and said, "The murderer has escaped!"

***

When the Rumors about Lia and Zion escaping the prison were flying around early in the morning, Zion had already decided that he would escape the prison tonight. He could tell that the elves were trying to use less magic for some reason, and he doubted that it was because of that line he had heard earlier about how they had limited power now.

He figured out everything about the guards' schedule and planned his escape route ahead of time. It was afternoon by the time he decided to make his move. He took out the hairpins and opened his lock before heading over to the princess's cell.

Lia was still ignoring him ever since their last argument. She had suffered a crushing defeat at his hands and wasn't ready to face him yet. So she 'hmphed' and turned her head away when Zion opened the door for her.

When the detective saw her expressions, he got a headache. He rubbed his forehead. "Can't we make a truce or something? We'll continue our 'argument' after getting out of here."

In reply, she got up, brushed the dust off her dress, and walked past him without saying a word.

Zion was stunned by her action and tilted his head. Why was it so difficult to understand girls? He shook his head and followed her as he whispered in a low voice. "I've observed. The guards will change within five minutes. We will only have a few seconds to escape this place. Are you ready?"

The dhampir Princess didn't say anything and crossed her arms against her chest as if signaling him to hurry up so that she could rush out and kill some elves she hated.

Zion's lips pursed as he opened the lock stealthily without making any noise. He had also observed another thing about these people from different races. They had sharp senses that made it easier to hear anything that an average human couldn't. Even Lia's senses were sharp, and she could listen to anything.

So at this time, it was really a test of his skills to open the lock without making a single noise. But unfortunately, no matter how careful he was, he couldn't go against nature. The activity of picking locks indeed had some reservations, and he ended up making a slight noise.

The guards standing outside heard it, and their ears perked up. One of the guards frowned and asked. "Hey, did you hear it?"

"Heard what?"

A faint scratching sound disrupted their talk making their brows furrow deeper. They exchanged glances and looked back.

By this time, even Zion heard the conservation of the guards outside the door, and his body froze. He looked at the door with a soft layer of sweat on his forehead.

Damn it! He ended up making a noise!