Two people wearing black cloaks wandered around the street in the middle of the night. How many times did they manage to sneak out to find the masked man? Zion couldn't even remember the counting anymore. He felt it was utterly absurd that the only way to find the murderer was to sneak out and follow the silver masked person.

Sometimes, he even felt that the masked man was deliberately hiding in the shadows and doing all of these things just to make sure that he and Lia were captured every time they went out. Zion's lips pursed when he thought of that, and he almost felt as if he were walking right into the trap set up by some middle-class criminal. But what else could he do other than delivering himself to the criminal?

He didn't have any evidence, and he didn't dare to sneak around the elves' palace as he had in the Vanne kingdom. Back then, he was followed around by some assassin in the shadows with some magical technique such that he failed to realize that he was being followed. And this time, he didn't want to raise suspicions against him and make it so that he wouldn't be followed around like in the previous case.

Plus, he didn't even have his system's association anymore either!

A sigh escaped his lips at that. Now he could only throw Lia into the light and force her to face the crowd.

"Why are you sighing like that?" A cold voice spoke from beside him as they continued to wander on the street.

Zion's lips pressed in a thin line, but he didn't dare to say a single word about what he thought of just now. Instead, he said, "Nothing. I'm just wondering if your shoulders are strong enough." He was going to put this dhampir girl on display to save himself. For a moment, he felt as if he were a scum who was using a woman to save his little life.

Lia was confused, but before she could say anything, she heard him saying in a voice lower than ever, "Hey, I saw someone there."

Her glance darted toward that direction, and she noticed someone's silhouette passing by the alley beside them. Her eyes narrowed as she grabbed her human servant's hand and dragged him there stealthily before stopping in front of a garbage box. Her hand was still holding the sword in her hand and said in a low voice, "Hold your breath for as long as you can and hide here."

Zion knew that he didn't have that much power compared to Lia, so he shrugged and made a gesture of 'please, do as you like' and hid behind a garbage box. But just as she marched into the alley to catch the killer red-handed, Zion saw her steps pausing. She frowned as her eyes squinted as if she were staring at one place fixedly. Then he watched her walking forward slowly until she disappeared from her servant's eyes.

He narrowed his eyes and got out from his hiding place as his legs took him toward the direction where the dhampir princess went. Then he looked at her, staring at something in her hand.

It was a silver-colored mask.

Zion's pupils constricted. This was a trap! He knew they were walking right into the trap, but he didn't have any other choice than this! Just as he was about to open his mouth and warn his 'master' about it, he heard the sound of footsteps behind him. His body flashed and hid behind the garbage box all over again and saw that there was a horde of elf soldiers who came out from nowhere and pointed their swords at her face.

His heartbeat increased as he held his breath again for fear of being discovered. He knew that if his presence were to be discovered, he would only end up making it difficult for the princess to act, so he bit his lips and watched the scene anxiously.

"Someone had warned us that the escaped criminal would be here. And he was indeed right!" One of the elf soldiers righteously spoke and tightened his grip on his sword. "Let us capture her when she's alone!"

"Yeah! The last time she managed to escape was when her human servant had thrown a metal pipe at her! All the soldiers had seen that scene!"

"Tch. That damned human servant is loyal for sure. That's rare." Another soldier clicked his tongue and continued. "If he's sold to a wealthy woman, she will give us a big reward! His kind of humans is rare to find!"

Zion felt sick in his stomach when he heard those words. He endured the unease in his heart and continued to listen.

"Enough! Let's capture this girl before anything else!"

Lia was obviously on her guard. Although she didn't have a sword anymore, she still had a pipe at hand that her servant had thrown at her back in prison. She gripped it tightly and glared at the soldiers.

The soldiers ignored her fiery look and were just about to chant spells when they heard a cold female voice. "Wait."

Everyone froze. They all knew this voice very well. It was the Queen!

The soldiers lowered their weapons and bowed to the person who just entered the alley in her shining green dress. She looked beautiful as always, and even Zion stared at her for a while before he shook his head and reminded himself of the spell she was using! After he stabilized himself, he took a deep breath and looked over again.

When Odina arrived, Lia's anger doubled as her face went red. She was practically fuming in anger as she stared at the beautiful elf girl standing before her with bloodshot eyes. If a glare could kill anyone, the elf queen here would have died multiple times already!

Everyone had expected the queen to ask the soldiers to capture the dhampir girl, but contrary to their expectations, she opened her mouth and said, "I'll duel with her. Give her a sword."

The soldiers were astonished. They stared at their queen with widened eyes as if they couldn't understand what was happening. Even Zion's eyes narrowed at her face when she said that. Just Lia stared at the queen with an expressionless face as if she had expected something like this.