He took a moment to consider the situation, adjusted his Stealth, and flew after Agnes. He had no clue what was happening, so it would be better to hide himself from others.
It was better to get a clearer picture of the situation from Agnes. So he ignored the woman running on foot and flew in the direction Agnes had gone.
The only problem was that Agnes was too skilled at veils; after moving into the middle of the thick, dark trees, he found no signs of her. He wondered if he should flash a light to alert her.
He landed on one of the thick branches of a dark tree, his eyes flashing in golden light, enabling him to see better his surroundings. He tried to spread his spirit awareness around, only to find the tangible darkness had greatly diminished its effect. Without putting in too much effort, he was even unable to spread it over a few metres radius.
The intensity of the darkness and dark essence had been growing the more he moved forward. Maybe at the very end of it, he wouldn't even be unable to—
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His instinct kicked in as he shifted his position on the branch. A dark blade missed him by an inch, while he jabbed his arm to catch the other blade heading towards his ribs.
His chest glowed in reddish-golden light as he was just about to move on an assault but stopped midway, finding the assailant to be familiar.
"Agnes?" he called, furrowing his brow as he found her dark purple eyes staring at him.
As realisation had dawned on her expression, she withdrew the blade. The darkness retracted into her body.
"Well, that was an unexpected way of greeting," he said, giving her an iconic smile, which seemed to ease her expression a lot.
"Sorry," Agnes said. "I sensed something following, and... this place is getting on my nerves."
He examined her again. He couldn't make out her form too well in the darkness, but she seemed to have become a little rigid. She had been almost sublime in her assault, though.
He was about to ask her more about her situation when both of them heard a loud call.
Agnes glowered at him. "I mean she likes me in a more intimate way," she said, her expression bitter and unsightly. "Always trying to get closer to me any way she can."
"Oh~" he said, unsure what else to say.
"I told her I did not see women in the way she does," Agnes continued with gritted teeth. "But that seemed to only make her more indecent."
He wanted to laugh, but looking at Agnes's serious expression, he couldn't bring himself to. She looked as if she needed his help to clear up this matter. Unfortunately, he had no experience with what to do in this situation.
"The imperial prince?" he finally asked. "He had no opinion of his fiancée liking another woman? Wait, does the princess only like women, or does she swing both ways?"
"Hell if I know," Agnes said, gritting her teeth. "And I think the prince is even more clueless about his fiancée than me."
Apparently, the imperial prince was too invested in the mission to even notice anything out of the ordinary. Perhaps the idea that his fiancée might like someone else other than him hadn't ever crossed his mind. He was an imperial prince of a great empire, after all, no matter how far down the line of succession he was.
"You know the worst thing about this is?" Agnes continued irritably. "I still had to ask her to heal me every day."
"Healing?" he perked up, examining her from head to toe. Finding no visible injury on her, he asked, "Are you injured?"
Agnes let out a breath. "How long have you been in this layer?"
He tilted his head. "About a couple of hours, why?"
Agnes frowned and sighed. "That's why you haven't felt it. The madness that lurks deeper, seeping into your system insidiously. If someone goes unchecked for a few days, the madness takes root in them, causing them to make all kinds of rash and wrong decisions. Not to mention the mutations. Thankfully, I don't have to worry about the mutations, but I have it worse than most."
"So by healing, you meant purifying the foreign presence from your essence?" he asked.
Agnes nodded.
"If it's just that, I can help you with that."