'Kill the one who contracted me to kill you?' The Assassin's brows furrowed at the thought.

Even assassins like him needed to have some integrity. If he started killing his employers, wouldn't it mean no one would hire him in the future?

"I can see that you are conflicted..." Selena spoke and then continued after keeping her teacup down.

"How about I explain it to you on why this is the most sensible solution."

The assassin first pondered for a second and decided to keep listening. Soul sensed that and urged Selena to continue.

"First and foremost, killing me or not killing me with end with the Royal Family chasing you regardless, am I right?"

The Assassin nodded. If he killed her, the Royal Family comes after him. If he doesn't, the girl reports it to the King and he would be caught eventually.

"However, if I don't report your presence, then the Royal Family won't know about you, hence, they won't come after you."

The Assassin eyes glowed. He wouldn't have believed it at first, but the girl wanted him to kill the one who hired him so of course, she wouldn't let the King know that he exists.

"Besides, you know the value of this coin, right? Even if you are caught in the future, you can always come to me. It will allow you to walk out the door without any punishment."

The Assassin clenched his fists. Which Assassin doesn't dream of having a backup like that?

"Of Course, if you do get away with it without the need of the coin, I could hire you for other assassinations with the same offer."

"..."

The Assassin stood on the spot for a whole minute.

*Ccreeaakkk....*

The Closet door opened as the Assassin stepped out. He saw Selena pour tea in the two cups again without even bothering to look at him.

"You don't have to say anything..." Selena spoke as she removed two of the pricey rings from her hand and put it in the cup in front of the assassin. Since she was going to the Royal Court, the Marchioness made sure to doll her up and gave her good quality jewelry to wear. It was thanks to this that she could make a deal with the Assassin.

The Assassin stared at the cup. The whole reason he was doing this job, despite his principles was because he needed money. What Selena was offering was still less than the one who hired him but the chance to get bailed out if things go wrong and not have the Royal Family come after him were good bonuses. He looked at Selena as well. She had her guard down as a sign of trust and snapping her neck was easy enough for him. But, could he handle the backlash that would come with it? It was becoming obvious to him what he should do.

He slowly approached the table. Selena finally flinched a little because of his approach. The Assassin chuckled inwardly. The girl was indeed strong to put up a brave front, but ultimately she was still a novice. But it didn't matter anymore since he had already decided on what to do.

He extended his hand... and grabbed the cup.

Selena sighed in relief quite visibly at that. The Assassin fished out the rings and pocketed it. He then turned around to leave via the window. But before that, he paused for a second and talked for the first time since he came to this room. His voice was deep and somewhat mellow.

"Wait for news... about the dead man with a peg leg."

"Eh?" Selena raised her head. But with a strong gust of wind, the Assassin vanished from the spot, and the window was seen to be open.

"He left..." Soul spoke after scanning the room with his radar.

Selena relaxed considerably after that. She slumped in her chair as tiredness embraced her whole body and sweat broke out from her forehead. To think that she got this close to dying again.

"What should we do now?" Soul asked.

"I guess..." Selena stared out the window, "We wait... for the news about the dead man with a peg leg."

***

"He's late..." a man walked back and forth in a dark abandoned house at night. He was middle-aged and was wearing black robes to hide his identity.

If someone looked closely, it was obvious that the face of the man was clean unlike commoners, and he seemed to come from a well-fed family.

It was this very person who hired the Assassin to take Selena's life.

"That girl is nothing but trouble for us..." The hooded man spoke to himself, "We should have taken care of her years ago..."

"I have returned..." A deep voice sounded in the room as a black-clothed man materialized in the room with a strong gust of wind.

Noticing it, The Middle-aged man quickly channeled his magic in a ring he was wearing which created a strong layer of magic barrier around him. It was normal for him to be wary of a criminal who kills for money.

Seeing that, the Assassin simply chuckled and sat on an old chair in the room and talked.

"I didn't kill her..."

"What...?!" The middle-aged man bellowed furiously. "Why...?!"

"She has a coin with the Emblem of the Valentinus Royal Family."

"W-What...?" The Middle-aged man was taken aback. He did not expect the events to turn on him this badly.

"I apologize for making the final decision and leaving without killing her, but I think you know it well how badly we would have been hunted by the Royal Family if I had killed her."

"N-No... You did the right thing..." The Middle-aged man replied with a low tone as he fell deep into contemplation.

"That bitch, to think she was this prepared. Could she have been on to me? No...!! That's not possible. This is the first time I acted on our plan. There was no way she had known. Then, could it be a coincidence?" Thoughts raced inside his mind while he kept thinking of a counter plan.

He then turned to the Assassin and asked.

"I have been too busy today, what happened out there for the girl to receive the favor of the Royal Family?"

"I was curious myself..." The assassin replied as he played with his sword, "So, I looked into it and this is what I found out..." The assassin then went on to describe everything that happened in the Royal Court which he learned by bribing the servants who worked in the palace.

"T-This..." The Middle-aged man broke out in cold sweat. That was a close one. He knew Selena would attend the Palace today with her Father and for that, most of the security would tag along with them which would be ideal for the Assassin to enter unnoticed. But he did not expect the girl to come under the protection of the Royal Family. If the assassination would have been successful, he would have been hunted down by the Royal Family themselves. All of his life's work would have been ruined. He gritted his teeth as he knew, it would only get harder to kill her in the future.

"I must report this to Father as soon as possible..." he thought to himself as he dissipated the barrier which surrounded him to leave and threw a bag of gold at the assassin.

"Take the money anyway..." The Middle-aged man spoke and continued, "Speak to no one of today's incident."

"Whoa... hold up for a second." The assassin raised his hand. "...You are being too generous. Is this a trap to silence me? How do I know you don't have a man on standby ready to pounce on me as soon as I pick up that booby-trapped bag."

The Middle-aged man chuckled darkly at that, "If I wanted you dead, I wouldn't resort to such cheap methods. I am strong enough to kill you with a snap."

"Really?"

"Yes, The only reason I hired you is because I didn't want to get my hands dirty." The middle-aged man chuckled again and started leaving the room.

"Wanna bet..." The assassin replied curtly as with a strong gust of wind he moved behind the middle-aged man and swung his sword.

*Slash...!!! Splecctt....!!*

"Gguuaaarrghh...!!" The middle-aged man cried out in agony as he felt his leg get severed from his body which flung across the room and crash-landed on the dirty floor.

*Thud...*

The middle-aged man crashed on the floor too as his balance tipped off and the pain slowly made its way across his body.

"Guurraggh....!!! Wwhhhyyy...!!!" He yelled as he tried to distance himself from the Assassin who looked at him with cold eyes.

"Huh? Too weak. Are you really able to kill me with a snap?" he asked casually with a tilted head.

"YOU... FREAKING... PSYCHO...!! Gaahh....!!" The middle-aged man spoke through the pain.

"You won't get away with this...!!" He roared with anger and anxiety.

"Actually... I can." The Assassin was the one who chuckled darkly this time. He then sat on the ground crossed legged next to the heaving middle-aged man who was becoming paler from blood loss.

"But I really don't want to waste such a huge trump card on someone as pathetic as you..." The Assassin continued.

"...Which is why I cut off your leg similarly to the serial killer who has this exact same method for killing his victims."

"W-Why...?" The Middle-aged man asked with heavy breaths as he felt his sight darkening.

"Well..." The Assassin scratched his head, "...That Lady you sent me to kill was really dangerous. I rather listen to her than to you. It's safer for me."

The Middle-aged man vomited blood at that. "Selena? She's the one who sent you back to kill me? N-N-No... That's not possible. She's supposed to be gentle, just like her dead mother." He felt his heart twist remembering that woman who shamed him in front of many people. "H-How could... How could she... be this brutal?" He felt groggy. Wasn't this girl the daughter of that woman? How did someone gentle like her give birth to someone as cold as Selena?

*Ba-thump...!!! Baa-thuummppp...!*

The middle-aged man panicked as he could feel his life force draining slowly but steadily.

"I don't... I don't wanna die... I don't wanna die... Save me... Somebody, save me... please..." The middle-aged man pleaded deliriously as he slowly approached his inevitable death, while the Assassin sat patiently next to him.

-5 minutes later-

The Assassin turned his head to look at the Middle-aged man. The latter had stopped moving, his face was pale and his eyes were open with pain and grief as dried tears covered his face. The Assassin checked his pulse for confirmation before standing up and getting ready to leave.

He paused for a second to look at the dead body once more and left the room with the following words.

"Sorry, but better it's you than me..."

***

-Two days later-

"Hey, did you hear?" Nicholas spoke at the dinner table to everyone present.

"Nicholas, swallow your food first before speaking..!!" Marquis Booker berated his son.

"S-Sorry... Gulp... But seriously, did you hear about the serial killer who made a comeback."

"Nick... please no such stories at the dinner table..." The Marchioness, Nicholas's mother replied.

"Ah...!! I heard about it..." The Marquis spoke with a mouthful of food.

"Sigh..." The Marchioness felt a headache coming. She turned to look at her step-daughter who was eating quietly without speaking.

'Why can't Nicholas be more like her?' she pouted as she listened in on the conversation.

"If I remember correctly, the serial killer kills a person by severing one leg of his victim and watches them bleed to death. They call him, the peg-leg killer."

*Clang... lang...!!*

The crowd turned to look at Selena who had dropped her spoon.

The Marchioness was furious at the duo.

"Don't you two have some brains on what should be spoken at the dinner table and not. Look how much you scared her...!!"

"I-I..." The Marquis panicked. He did not realize that Selena would be this affected by it.

"It's okay..." Selena replied as she was handed another spoon by a maid.

"Please continue... It was just a coincidental accident."

"But..." The Marchioness tried to speak out.

"It's really fine..." Selena replied to the Marchioness with a softened face.

"Sigh... Okay." The Marchioness pouted once again. If she could, she would rather have Selena as her birth-daughter than the blob of fat that was slowly starting to resemble his father.

"Who did the serial killer kill this time?" The Marquis asked.

"Er... It was some Aristocrat named Peter Wyatt... I think." Nicholas replied after racking his brain.

"Peter Wyatt...!! Pootoey...!!" The Marquis spat out in disgust.

"You knew him?" Nicholas asked.

"Knew him...!! Of Course, I knew him...!!" The Marquis bellowed in anger as he looked towards Selena.

"That bastard once tried to force himself on your mother right after our engagement...!!"

"Dear...!!" The Marchioness yelled out in panic. Her husband really had no tact. How could he simply drop a huge bomb on her like that?

Selena was frozen on the spot. She stayed like that for a second before asking.

"Why? Did he lust after her?"

"If only it was that simple..." The Marquis continued talking, ignoring his Wife's warnings.

"The Wyatt Manor if after your late mother's family fortune. Your maternal aunt, your mother's elder sister, is married to Peter's older brother and they have a son."

"Your Grandfather only had two daughters and no sons, which is why when he dies, his fortune gets shared between them. That asshole Peter Wyatt tried to woo your mother on several occasions in order to grab the remainder of the fortune. Too bad for him that your Grandfather is a smart man and engaged her to me. However, that asshole tried to force herself on her in order to claim her."

Selena clenched the spoon she was holding.

"After your mother died, they actually offered to adopt you out of 'familial bonds' but it was clear to me that they simply wanted the fortune which you and your aunt will inherit. A damned nest of rats if you ask me."

"This..." Selena finally realized who sent the Assassin and why. Since the Wyatt family couldn't control her, they now wanted to kill her to grab her mother's share of the fortune.

"Looks like..." Selena thought to herself as she took a bite out of her food, "I will have to pay a visit to the Wyatt family, after all..."

Selena's eyes turned cold as she thought of her mother's suffering in the hands of the Wyatt family's greed.

"I can't make Coffins for them unless I know their size, right?"

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