Author: 冬瓜茶仙人 / Winter Melon Tea Immortal
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 177
Prima tightened the wool coat wrapped around her. She found it in an office cubicle. The material was a bit rough, but it covered her glossy silk satin corset dress, which would otherwise shimmer under the moonlight and easily attract unnecessary attention.
Especially now.
Even the rabbit-headed shopkeeper had removed his top hat to keep a low profile. The two of them hurried along the corner of the wall, occasionally glancing at the distant or nearby lights and the constant clamor.
White Bridge was a well-known city that never slept, but Prima had never seen it like this: doors and windows of houses along the roads or deeper inside were tightly shut—not a single light leaked out, as if no one lived inside. The windows of shops near the center were smashed. Terrifying flames illuminated the beautifully arranged goods from the daytime. Groups of people ran down the streets with torches, and the sound of horse hooves was incessant—
“Hey!” Two or three men, looking like they had just returned from looting, shouted at Prima. “Hey girl, where are you going? I’ve got money today!”
Prima was startled and instinctively wanted to look back. The rabbit-headed shopkeeper grabbed her arm, pushed her towards the inner side of the walkway, ignored the men, and quickened his pace around a dark, unlit street shop.
For about two minutes, Prima thought those men would follow them, but they didn’t.
Maybe they had already had a great haul tonight. They just laughed crudely and muttered jokes she couldn’t understand, and the noises gradually faded away.
“Mr. Charlie,” Prima asked, panting as she had to jog to keep up with him. “Do you know what’s happening? I haven’t seen any patrols…”
“The patrols were Louis’s idea. Cameron and Azman always thought it was unnecessary.” Charlie slowed his pace and whispered, “They believed that wealthy guests and family members wouldn’t wander the streets alone at night, and those who were powerless and still took risks didn’t deserve extra protection.”
Now that Louis was missing, the security rights had been completely transferred to Khalif and Azman. As soon as Azman got the power ring, he eagerly reassigned a large number of people to specifically protect Khalif and other important family members (including himself), leaving gaps in the originally well-organized teams. Therefore, when chaos broke out at the central district auction site, the speed at which the residents of Paradise Island advanced into the city was unexpectedly fast.
He didn’t answer Prima’s first question. The conflict between the inner city and Paradise Island had always existed, but the strange thing was that few people truly noticed it before, especially a well-off girl like Prima, who probably never thought that just a few streets away, people had been struggling for survival for many years.
She was Khalif’s daughter and should think about all this herself.
Because of the dry weather, White Bridge didn’t have enough drainage canals, making it inconvenient to summon Darby Belly Fish. As Charlie and Prima walked, they looked for available transportation, but many streetlights had been deliberately damaged, so they had to rely on moonlight to find their way. Charlie glanced at the moon and stopped in a corner.
Prima put her hands on her knees and watched curiously as he used an unusually short pen to draw a circle on the brick pavement, then took out a woman’s powder compact, opened it, and placed it in front of the circle. He adjusted the angle so that the moon was perfectly reflected in the small mirror.
‘So Mr. Charlie is a mage,’ Prima thought. If that was the case, his unique rabbit head and mysterious demeanor made sense.
Charlie unfastened his cufflinks and untied a thin silver chain with a crystal from his wrist. He didn’t set up any auxiliary items like sea salt, rosemary, or essential oils because the blood bond between him and Louis would attract each other—just like Khalif and Prima.
His Gray Sentinel could find Louis faster than anyone, but he wanted to improve the function a bit more because Louis knew Charlie well and was quite stubborn. He wanted to eliminate the possibility of Louis ignoring the signal from him. However, time was tight, so he hastily set up a basic magic circle. A folded paper bird was placed in the center of the circle, and a spindle-shaped crystal circled above it—like writing, but too fast for Prima to recognize the characters. The ritual ended in a blink.
“Find him for me.” Charlie touched the paper bird, and where his fingers touched, the paper turned into feathers. A sparrow the size of half a palm shook its wings in the magic circle, with three extra upright feathers on its head. It seemed to understand Charlie’s meaning by nature, hopped twice, and then flew away.
Charlie stood up and smudged the magic circle with his boot. He looked in the direction the sparrow flew and said to Prima, “Thank you for your patience, miss. Although the Sentinel flies fast, we can’t lag behind.”
……
After Khalif got home, he didn’t change his clothes immediately.
Xanye had obviously betrayed him, and the cousins looking for Prima wouldn’t show up either. But even so, it wasn’t impossible for him to find other mages—just kidding, even if the Wolf Family didn’t advocate magic, it didn’t mean they were cut off from it. Their business in White Bridge was so extensive that basic magic applications were widespread, and the family had long-term contracted mages.
But these mages told him that Prima was on the move, and the tracking magic couldn’t provide real-time tracking and needed a cooldown period, making their search inevitably lag behind.
Khalif didn’t like such incompetent responses.
“Lord Khalif.” The dark-skinned, tall attendant behind him, also one of Khalif’s personal guards, lowered his head and asked, “There is chaos at the auction site. A large group of people stormed the venue, and the guests were greatly frightened. At least five different places in the central district are on fire simultaneously. Mr. Azman is struggling to control the situation. There have been injuries and deaths among the auction guards and the rioters.”
He didn’t say, “Do you want to go there to stabilize the situation?” and Khalif didn’t need the suggestion.
Khalif ignored him and instructed, “Send another squad to find Prima. Before midnight, I want to see her safely sitting in the living room.”
The dark-skinned attendant couldn’t hide his disappointed expression and exchanged a look with the two standing beside him.
Their mission was to protect the head of the Wolf Family, and Khalif obviously thought they just needed to stay silent and be vigilant.
“If you’re so idle…” Khalif said wearily, but before he could finish, the gas lights in the hall and corridor suddenly went out. Fortunately, the maid had already lit a candelabrum in the living room, so they weren’t plunged into complete darkness, but the dim candlelight seemed somewhat ominous in the deep night.
Several attendants immediately closed in around Khalif, and one of them ordered the footman holding Khalif’s soft-soled slippers to check the gas system.
Khalif stood among them, smiling knowingly.
“I was wondering why it was so smooth all the way, with no one showing any interest in my carriage, which was unlike Cameron at all,” he said softly. “Turns out the guest was already waiting at home.”
The dark-skinned attendant’s attention was entirely on the darkness the candlelight couldn’t reach. They had undergone rigorous training and knew this was a common assassin’s trick—to suddenly change the target’s surroundings to shake their resolve while reducing their observation and judgment abilities. But this wouldn’t last long. They would soon…
His companion suddenly took half a step back, turning sideways to block a white flash faster than lightning, which also glowed blue under the candlelight, indicating a poisoned weapon.
Those around Khalif watched as the footman who had gone to check the gas valve was thrown limp into the living room, but no one spared him a glance. The dark-skinned attendant tried to escort Khalif to the study connected to the living room, but the sound of projectiles whizzing by made them swiftly block most of the weapons aimed at Khalif. However, the suddenly darkened room indicated they had been tricked. Several shots that seemed to miss went straight for the floor-standing candelabrum, slicing five of the eight burning candles, with the remaining flickers dangerously jumping in the wind.
Khalif’s hawk-like eyes scanned the surroundings. The mansion was unusually quiet, and the usually busy servants seemed frozen. They could only hear the heavy breathing of those around them and…the sound of swords.
“Clang!” The crisp sound of weapons clashing came from Khalif’s side. The attendant on his left blocked a fierce attack with his short sword. Shadows silently appeared in the living room. The dark-skinned attendant had excellent night vision. He pursed his lips, shielding Khalif without using any weapons, and charged at an oncoming figure. Though large, he was incredibly fast. Neither tested the other in the dim light. They aimed to kill. He dodged the blade and punched the attacker’s upper arm with great force, but the hand stubbornly held onto the short sword, reversing the grip for another slash. The seamless transition was muscle memory honed through countless battles.
The change in the attack was so quick that the dark-skinned attendant prepared to block with a non-vital part of his body, but suddenly, a dagger emerged from under his elbow—it was Khalif unexpectedly stabbing the attacker’s lower body—no, the abdomen!
The feel of the soft leather armor tearing made Khalif realize he had hit something. He sneered.
“It seems living in peace for too long has made some arrogant. Since when do underage Lions dare to venture into the Wolves’ den?”
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