After taking a deep breath, Zion pulled himself together and got up after a little more rest. His back felt as if it were hit by a hammer when he got up. He hissed in pain and cursed under his breath.

Just what kind of body did the Methu man give him? Why did his body become so weak after exerting it for the first time? His grudge against the man kept multiplying every time he would fall into a desperate situation.

He steadied himself and stood straight until his pain subsided and carefully took a step. Only after walking for a while did he realize that his back would ache only when he would get up from his seat. After learning that, he sighed in relief. He could at least take another step and find out more about what was going on around the kingdom at this time. He believed that without any prior knowledge, he wouldn't be able to plan clearly.

After deciding to head toward a nearby restaurant, he glanced back at the meditating dhampir princess and hesitated. If he disappeared out of the blue so suddenly, would this proud girl go after him? When he thought of how unnaturally she treated him, his lips pressed in a thin line. It was clear that she didn't like to have an association with him, but for some reason, she didn't want Zion to be hurt and in any dangerous condition.

Sure enough, it should be that she was hiding something from him, and he was confident that he would find out about it sooner or later.

And if he were to disappear out of the blue like this, she would probably go out in search of him, and if he would see her absent from this place after coming back from the restaurant, he would also go out in search of her. So technically, they would just end up wasting a lot of time.

After thinking for a while, he decided to leave a message. But when he thought of how he would have to bend on the ground to write something on the dusty floor, the expressions on his face cracked. He gritted his teeth and sat on the ground while stabbing pain appeared on his waist all over again.

He glared at Lia while writing her a message and got up again as he steadied his posture.

He would have to grow stronger and make sure his body could handle any exertion in the future!

Then he went outside and walked sneakily in the shadows. They were already criminals in the elves' eyes at this time, so he didn't want to make matters worse by getting caught. It was better to be cautious while getting some news about the killer.

After he went inside one of the nearby restaurants, he hid behind a window covered with trees and shrubs. Then he craned his neck to hear more clearly.

Soon, conservation between two people sitting at the nearby table flowed toward his ears.

"They actually ran away?!" One of the elves exclaimed. "How come I didn't know about this? I have to warn my children to stay inside the house!"

Another man sitting in front of him sighed and said in a voice laced with depression, "You're lucky. My sister's kids were kidnapped that night, and all we saw was their bodies! You don't know how depressed my sister is! She even wanted to commit suicide and accompany her children!" His face changed as he became angry and hit the table. "If only I could find that dhampir girl! I would crush her in my palms and give her a punishment worse than death! I want her to beg me to kill her!"

Zion frowned as an image of such a scene formed in front of his eyes. Then he shook his head and focused on the conservation again. He knew that the well-known princess of the Vanne kingdom wouldn't die just like that. The only way to kill her would either be finding a mighty warrior having more power than her or using underhanded methods to stab her in the back.

So at a time like this when he heard such words from random citizens, he couldn't help but be amused.

But at the same time, his expressions turned grave when he remembered what the man had said. A murder occurred again? When the heck was that?

Was that before or after he had managed to escape?

His brows furrowed deeper at that as he kept thinking about the case while listening to the conservation.

"My neighbor's children were also killed." A new voice spoke all of a sudden that was filled with anger. "If I see the killers standing before my eyes, I would definitely not let them go! How the heck did they manage to escape with such tight security?!"

And after this, the conservation between the people inside the restaurant continued to describe in detail how the murder had occurred that even included the scene of how the dhampir girl had forced her human servant to slit every child's throat when they were alive. After killing them, she slashed the bodies of those children with her magically induced sword. The dead bodies even had a touch of Qi inside them!

Zion's brows furrowed at that. He had to give it to these people about how wild and detailed their imaginations were! They managed to escape not too long ago, then how could they murder so many children the night before when they were still in prison?

But he also knew that if this rumor were to be verified, they wouldn't find a single soldier who would side with the dhampir girl and him. They would probably be the ones to spread the rumors enthusiastically to force Lia and him into the corner.

That said, if the gentle-looking husband he had seen back then ended up being the murderer, it would make sense that the rumors spread like this without someone even trying to verify the truth. After all, if that person had committed the crime, he would have his spies hidden among the soldiers and citizens to guide the rumor according to what they wanted.

As the case went on like this, Zion's doubt toward the gentle-looking man in the palace strengthened. Now the only thing that remained was finding evidence strong enough to convince the queen.

When he thought of the elf queen, he frowned. Why was it that he felt uneasy whenever he remembered that beautiful elf girl from before? Was it only because of the strange spell she had used on herself? Or something else?