In a remote, dark attic.
Cold iron wires bit deeply into her luxurious gown, binding her hands and feet in a death grip.
The swooshing sound of letters being sorted and the faint clinking of metal coins drifted to her ears.
Elvia slowly shook off her grogginess and dizziness, struggling to open her eyes.
Looking around, she found herself in a corner piled high with clutter.
Slanted wooden beams loomed overhead, and the distant chirping of insects echoed from outside the window.
The arrogant mage was working under the glow of a magic lamp.
With a blank expression, he was sorting through a mountainous pile of letters, his eyes betraying a hint of mental exhaustion and numbness.
Behind him, the unprocessed mail had accumulated into yet another small mountain.
Meanwhile, the half-demon ranger was pinching her nose in disgust, as if handling trash.
She dropped heavily worn copper coins one by one into a cloth bag, making a crisp clinking sound.
“Oh, you're awake?”
Lin Gui didn't even look up, greeting her as casually as if she were an old acquaintance.
Elvia instinctively struggled, immediately feeling the stinging pain of the iron wires digging into her flesh.
Her heart sank.
She had been trained by the finest knights in the imperial palace since childhood, reaching the level of a High-tier High Rank knight at a young age.
Her physical strength was formidable, and ordinary ropes would have been easily snapped.
But these iron wires... they were exceptionally tough, and the binding technique was incredibly precise and professional, leaving her with no leverage to exert her strength.
However, just as she began to gather her battle qi to break free by force...
...a sharp, ice-cold wave of killing intent locked onto the space between her brows!
Elvia snapped her head up, only to find that the half-demon ranger had turned around at some point.
Her elven longbow was drawn to a full circle, its cold, glinting arrowhead aimed steadily at her.
“Haha...”
Elvia instantly abandoned all thoughts of resistance.
With a couple of dry chuckles, she turned to the actual person in charge.
“Yoo-hoo, if it isn't the postmaster~ Good evening! What is... the meaning of this?”
“Kidnapping.”
Lin Gui finally raised his head from the pile of letters, looking at the sycophantic Elvia.
“Isn't it obvious?”
“Uh...”
Elvia was temporarily left speechless.
After a long silence, she asked tentatively,
“Um... did I do something to offend you?”
Lin Gui looked up in shock, as if he had just heard something utterly preposterous.
“Do you have... senile dementia?”
“Did you already forget the threats you made in my shop this morning?”
“But didn't you say you hated me and didn't want to have anything to do with me anymore?”
Elvia tried to argue.
“Then why are you...?”
“I regretted it.”
Lin Gui lowered his head and went back to sorting letters, his voice flat.
“After all, you are a noble, high-and-mighty person of authority.”
“Petty and vindictive. Retaliation after the fact is all too common.”
“Hearing you laughing so wickedly in your study put my mind at ease.”
The corner of Elvia's mouth twitched violently.
“Then... now that you've kidnapped me, what do you plan to do next?”
She took a deep breath, trying to reclaim a shred of royal dignity. Her voice dropped, carrying a distinct threat:
“Seriously, you are playing with fire, commoner.”
“Release me right now.”
“I might still show mercy and spare your life before the knights of the Royal Capital trample Caran City to the ground!”
Lin Gui's hands paused as he sorted the envelopes. He actually nodded in agreement.
“Indeed.”
“The original territory of the Carter Kingdom has never experienced a complete Dark Tide.”
“So the density and strength of demons in the wild generally aren't absurdly high.”
“As long as they reach the Transcendent Rank, a well-balanced Transcendent adventure group can theoretically cross the wilderness.”
“As for knights like those led by Lyon, I believe the Royal Capital can muster several more cohorts whenever they wish.”
“Failing to bow to a member of the royal family is already a capital offense, let alone kidnapping.”
“Since you understand the consequences, release me immediately!”
Elvia's heart settled slightly, thinking he was intimidated.
“Which is why I plan to...”
Lin Gui said as he raised his hand, shaping his fingers into a pistol and pointing it from afar at Elvia's fair forehead.
“...destroy all evidence.”
“After all, nobody knows we kidnapped you.”
“Killing you saves me the trouble of you actually leading a squad of knights to hunt me down later.”
Cold sweat instantly broke out on Elvia's forehead.
Even though he spoke so casually...
...she knew beyond a doubt that he wasn't bluffing!
He was truly going to kill her!
That cold, indifferent gaze that treated human life like grass...
...she had seen it countless times in the eyes of her venomous brother, who viewed her as a thorn in his side!
“You...”
Elvia desperately suppressed the trembling in her voice.
“I had no intention of doing anything to you! To murder me so indiscriminately... how could you have the heart to do that?”
She even tried to wriggle slightly.
She did her best to strike a beautiful, vulnerable pose that highlighted her feminine charms.
“Besides, I am so beauti—”
Before she could finish the word,
Theia's murderous intent suddenly surged.
The tip of her arrow shifted slightly, locking down Elvia's every micro-movement.
Elvia tactfully shut her mouth immediately.
Theia took a step forward, the moonlight outlining her breathtaking profile and stunning figure.
She looked down with a cold sneer and retorted,
“When it comes to beauty, are you sure you want to compare yourself to an elf?”
Elvia's throat tightened. She let out a soft huff but didn't argue.
She had always been highly confident in her looks.
Even in the Royal Capital, she was a renowned beauty.
She had countless suitors.
But compared to the crimson-eyed elf before her...
...she fell short in both delicate features and ethereal aura.
The hard approach failed, and the soft approach seemed useless.
Elvia steeled her resolve, trying to create one last bargaining chip.
Suppressing her inner terror,
she snorted coldly, craned her neck like a martyr unafraid of death, closed her eyes, and yelled:
“Then go ahead and kill me! Destroy the evidence, just like you said!”
“But let me tell you beforehand! The Royal Capital has a Demigod Rank diviner!”
“It won't be long before you and that disgusting half-demon join me in the afterlife!”
Theia's fingers on the bowstring trembled almost imperceptibly.
A fleeting hint of hesitation flashed in her eyes.
Lin Gui, however, nodded calmly, as if accepting the proposal.
He actually reached into the pile of junk behind him...
...and pulled out a wooden axe that looked quite old, with an edge that was even slightly blunt.
Carrying the axe, he walked over to Elvia step by step.
Elvia kept her neck stiff and her eyes tightly closed, maintaining her posture of a martyr ready for execution.
But as the faint whistle of the axe cutting through the air and its cold aura neared her vulnerable neck...
...the corners of her eyes still twitched violently and uncontrollably.
Lin Gui raised the axe high and swung it down without hesitation!
“Clang!”
Just as the blade was barely five centimeters away from Elvia's fair neck,
a crisp hum resonated!
A pale gold barrier swirling with magical runes instantly flared to life.
It firmly blocked the fatal blow.
Though her face was as pale as paper and her forehead was drenched in sweat,
Elvia laughed with the relief of a survivor, her voice carrying a hint of blustering triumph:
“Haha! Did you see that, commoner!”
“This is a custom-made magic amulet from the Royal Capital! You just triggered it with your axe.”
“The Royal Capital must have received the signal! They're already deploying the army!”
“If you know what's good for you, release me immediately!”
“I might even plead on your behalf for turning back before it's too late!”
Lin Gui looked speechlessly at Elvia, who was pulling claims out of thin air, and said flatly:
“The color of your barrier is gold tinged with black, and the flow of the magic runes at its core...”
“Isn't that just a High Rank amulet sold at the Ross Magic Item Shop in the Magic City?”
“It retails for 1,243 gold coins, triggers automatically, and blocks a single fatal physical attack that doesn't exceed its own rank.”
Elvia's face changed dramatically, her eyes filled with panic, yet she remained stubborn.
“W-What Magic City Ross shop?! I have no idea what nonsense you're talking about!”
“This was personally crafted by a Demigod Rank mage of the Royal Capital for members of the royal family!”
“Oh~~ Really~~”
Lin Gui drawled, a mock-fearful expression appearing on his face.
Seeing that Lin Gui seemed somewhat intimidated, Elvia was overjoyed and prepared to press her advantage.
But in the next instant, Lin Gui's mock fear vanished, replaced once more by his trademark dead-fish eyes.
He raised the worn wooden axe high once again, his tone completely flat:
“I'm so scared~”
“Since the Royal Capital already knows, at least we'll go down together.”
“Holy shit!”
Elvia completely lost her composure. Abandoning all pretense of elegance, she shrieked,
“What the hell do you actually want?! Just spit it out! Stop fucking scaring me!!”
If he really wanted to kill her, he wouldn't waste so many words, let alone use a crappy wooden axe.
But his actions were far too unnerving.
He completely refused to play by the rules. Elvia felt like she was being driven insane!
Seeing Elvia finally yield, Lin Gui quickly lowered the axe.
His face instantly shifted into a bright, amiable smile.
It was as if the person who had just swung an axe at her neck wasn't him at all.
He clapped his hands together, his tone light.
“My, my, I was just joking with you~ Look at you, why did you take it so seriously?”
He even took a few steps forward.
Quite “thoughtfully,” he brushed away a few specks of dust from Elvia's slightly disheveled golden hair.
Watching his mood flip faster than a turning page, Elvia's lips twitched wildly. She couldn't utter a single word.
Lin Gui squatted down, meeting the tightly bound Elvia at eye level.
His smile grew even more genial, as if he were making the most reasonable suggestion in the world:
“Actually, it's no big deal~”
“I just want you to become my dog~~”
“???”
Elvia was completely dumbfounded, her brain temporarily unable to process the information.
Soon, images of certain appalling, unspeakable “games” from the decadent noble circles of the Royal Capital...
...flooded uncontrollably into her mind.
Her scalp went numb, and goosebumps broke out all over her body.
Beside them, Theia, who was clearly aware of that kind of “knowledge” as well,
looked at Lin Gui in disbelief, her crimson eyes wide with shock.
She instinctively took a small step back.
Lin Gui was completely oblivious to how outrageously his words had been misinterpreted.
He casually pulled a small glass vial containing a strange purple liquid from his robes.
It was the potion he had been carrying with him all along.
He smiled and shook the vial at Elvia.
“Come, drink it.”
Alarms blared in Elvia's mind, and she shrank back.
“W-What is this?”
“Poison~”
Lin Gui replied with a cheerful, beaming smile.
“A banned substance ranked third on the Mage Association's blacklist: ‘Demon's Poisonous Kiss’.”
“Once ingested, it won't kill you immediately, but it will flare up periodically.”
“When it flares up, it feels as if ten thousand venomous insects are gnawing at your bone marrow. The agony is absolute, lasting until your organs fail in extreme pain.”
Lin Gui emphasized that without his specific antidote to suppress it, death was absolute.
And the antidote was only held by the person who purchased it through specific black market channels.
Elvia had clearly heard of the fearsome reputation of the Demon's Poisonous Kiss.
Cold sweat instantly drenched her back.
Yet she still forced a cold snort and blustered,
“Y-You're lying! How could such a rare and dangerous drug be in the hands of a mere Low-tier High Rank mage like you?!”
Lin Gui didn't argue. He simply rattled off a location:
“Magic City, Broken Star Bridge, Third Echo.”
“Starting bid, one million gold coins. Final auction price, 98.74 million gold coins.”
“And I was the buyer.”
Elvia immediately shrieked in protest.
“Impossible! You don't have that kind of wealth!”
She knew how pitifully poor he was, running a post office for copper coins, and she could see his financial situation from his faded, washed-out robes.
Even Theia, who knew Lin Gui's financial situation well, cast a doubtful look at him.
Lin Gui didn't look at them. His gaze seemed to drift into the empty air, lost in some distant memory.
Before his eyes, the image of those 357 people being sent to the gallows and burned alive seemed to surface once more.
He looked at Elvia, a smile on his lips but his eyes entirely cold:
“Fine, I was just scaring you.”
“It's actually just water with a bit of coloring.”
“Since you've been tied up for so long, you must be thirsty. Come, let me feed you myself.”
Elvia struggled and shook her head frantically. She knew full well that this was definitely nothing good!
But she no longer had a choice.
Lin Gui gripped the worn wooden axe once more.
His expression clearly said, ‘If you don't drink it obediently, I'll smash your teeth and force it down your throat.’
Panic-stricken, Elvia closed her eyes in despair and humblingly opened her mouth.
The cool liquid, carrying a faint, peculiar sweetness and coppery tang, slid down her throat.
There was no surge of lust.
Almost the exact instant the liquid hit her stomach,
an incredibly violent, excruciating pain—as if tearing all her nerves apart—exploded from her abdomen, instantly sweeping through her entire body!
“Arghhhhh!!!”
Elvia couldn't help but let out a blood-curdling shriek. Her body convulsed violently, her eyeballs bulging frightfully.
Feeling this ultimate agony akin to being cast into a furnace, and recalling his description of the symptoms of the Demon's Poisonous Kiss...
Elvia was struck with absolute horror.
It was real?!!
Rate on N.U.
