The Devil’s Cage

“One of the targets?!”

Mary was stunned; she looked up at Kieran with a shocked expression.

Obviously, the young princess didn’t understand the meaning behind Kieran’s words.

Meanwhile, Perry Kaner understood something. Her face showed to be in deep thought, but she didn’t interrupt the conversation. She waited for the explanation from Kieran.

“Your father is the culprit’s target and so is Tenar. From the very beginning, the culprit’s target had always been these two people,” said Kieran.

“Two?!”

The obvious explanation caused Mary to react instantly, but right after that, she frowned yet again.

“Why though?” Mary asked.

“I don’t know. That is why we have to properly question them.”

Kieran stopped before a two-and-a-half storey tall civilian building. Similar to most of the civilian houses in the commercial block, the first floor was a storefront, and the second floor, with the balcony, was the place to stay; there was also an underground basement to store goods.

In order to fully utilize the storefront, many of the buildings didn’t have a front yard because most of them were included as part of the store; the one before Kieran was no exception.

The outer walls were light brown in color. The two big display shelves at the window along with the door were sealed shut.

The signboard was purposely removed by the owner when he or she left, but based on what he was seeing through the seams, Kieran had a general idea of what the shop was about.

It was probably a tailoring business in its earlier days, but now, it had become the operation point for the killers making an attempt on the king’s life.

Without any further inspection, Kieran managed to lock onto three people inside the building with his Intuition.

As for the others? He didn’t care.

If this place was still a crowded commercial block like it was in the past, Kieran might have had scruples about hurting innocent people, but now?

It was very convenient for him!

Kakroom!

Amidst the loud noise, the two and a half storey building was destroyed by the [Serpent Spirit]’s ramming. Together with the alarms and traps set inside, everything crumbled.

What about the three living targets?

The 20-meter twin-headed serpent spirit displayed its outstanding talents by shifting between mirage and material form between attacks, thus all three of the targets missed their attacks.

Regardless of whether it was short knives or flying daggers, every attack went right through the [Serpent Spirit]. The targets’ bodies became tightly entangled in its robust body, and they were then brought to Kieran.

The whole process lasted no more than three seconds.

While the young princess had been expecting a fierce fight to break out, the fight ended before it even began. In fact, not even Perry Kaner was able to react to the fast and furious strike.

Everything happened so fast that it was beyond her comprehension.

When she saw the giant twin-headed snake that was able to shift between mirage and material, Perry Kaner’s eyes showed envy.

As the heir to Viper Sect, Perry Kaner had a natural indescribable fondness towards reptiles, especially snakes. Other people viewed them as dangerous, something to fear, but Perry Kaner viewed them as safe and reliable partners.

Unfortunately, her partner snake died in battle as well.

Those goddamn bastards!

Irresistible killing intent erupted from her heart. It was very obvious, to the point that Kieran and Mary noticed it.

The three captives noticed it as well. One of them even showed panic, though only momentarily.

Where others might have naturally overlooked the panic the captive had showed, Kieran did not.

After summoning [Serpent Spirit], Kieran was actually quite focused despite looking absent-minded.

There were too many examples of failing miserably in an easy task, and Kieran didn’t want to be an after-meal joke.

“You know Perry Kaner? It seems that Perry Kaner doesn’t know you though. Coincidentally, Perry Kaner’s own branch recently went through an onslaught beyond expectation. May I ask if it’s related to you?” Kieran asked slowly as he walked toward the captives.

Following his slow speaking, [Serpent Spirit] also slowly tightened its body, further constricting the captives’ bodies and causing cracking noises to be heard.

However, the three of them had no intention of speaking. They clenched their teeth, looked down and stayed quiet.

Kieran curled his lips into a grin when he saw this reaction from the captives, the smile coming from the bottom of his heart.

He wasn’t a naturally ruthless person, but there was a joy that could be found in reaping more loot.

Based on the reaction of the captives, Kieran knew he had run into unexpected rewards.

“The other remaining Viper Sect branch members made an attempt on the king’s life… This is interesting!”

While pondering upon the speculations, Kieran’s eyes shone. He swiftly knocked the captives out before turning to Perry Kaner, who stood there shocked.

Based on her expression, Kieran didn’t think any coincidental arrangements were involved. Still, he didn’t forget to remind her.

“I’ll leave them in your watch temporarily. Remember to watch, not interrogate,” said Kieran.

“Yes, my lord,” Perry Kaner bowed and replied.

“Then should we call some men down here?” the young princess asked.

“No need. It might be a praiseworthy feat to have the palace guards charge towards their enemies, but against these snakes hiding in the shadows, more guards will be lost. Believe me, they are much more ruthless than you think, and at the same time, they are much more anxious, too,” Kieran said in a stedfast tone.

“Then are we waiting for them to strike?” asked Mary.

“Of course not.”

Passively defending was never Kieran’s style; he prefered to actively attack his enemy!

“Let’s go see your father.”

Kieran then went back the way they came from.

Meanwhile, a bright red, nimble figure was flying across the sky. In a flash, it landed in a shadowy corner, looking down at all of Riverdale.

Any movements in the city did not escape its sharper-than-a-hawk eyesight. Although it couldn’t catch every single detail, locking its sight on a single spot was easy for the Fire Raven.

After Kieran and the others left, another small figure carefully left the shadows as well. It was the Frost Wolf pup.

The pup followed Kieran’s order to sniff out the scents around the area. Then, it quickly dived towards the side of the street, sprinting towards a certain direction.

Warren Palace.

Inside King James VIII’s new room, the king was slowly waking up. His pale face miraculously blushed when he saw his old friend Eldar.

They spoke to eachother in whispers.

Outside the door, the royal doctor was reporting to Mary.

“His Majesty’s body has reached a very terrible state. He can’t suffer any more shocks, so it’s best to keep Mr. Tenar’s death from him in the meantime,” the royal doctor said with a sigh.

At this, Mary looked to Kieran with a sour face.

She knew what was important and what wasn’t. She also knew what would happen if her father heard of Tenar’s death.

Despite having held a lot of dissatisfaction for her father at first, the kind princess still didn’t want her father to leave like this.

“Who said Mr. Tenar is dead? He is just suffering from some minor injuries.”

Kieran placed his hand over Mary’s head and spoke softly with a smile, hoping to ease her sour face.

As he spoke, footsteps sounded.

Tenar!

It was from the dead Tenar!

‘He’ walked out slowly and bowed to Kieran.

“My lord.”