Fiona's eyes widened as her heart palpitated. Actually, her whole body had already gone numb from fear.
"N-No! Please wait! I-I know things! Aside from being part of the Boyd Family, I'm also Grand Marshal Gael's secretary. I know things most people don't know. Secrets... Hidden plots... S-Spare me and I will tell you everything I know!"
Lira gritted her teeth and glared at Fiona from the corner of her eyes. She never expected the latter to be such a shameless b*tch. To think that she had looked at her in a different light when she helped pacify the situation with Bo and the others earlier. But in the face of death, she did not even bat an eye and decided to betray her family and the army.
Fiona's arms stopped disintegrating. Beads of sweat trickled down her face as she gritted her teeth to endure the pain. Her arms were not bleeding, but it did not lessen the pain from when Kyran took them. Inwardly, she was also cursing. She hated Kyran from the bottom of her heart. But given the current situation, she could only endure, swallow her pride, and do whatever it takes to survive.
Kyran looked at Fiona. An amused smile tugged at the corner of his lips. Her change in tactics only confirmed his suspicion. Frankly, he already knew she had lied about being protected. Because when he activated his domain, he did not sense any seal or even magic energy on her body. True she was a regular human, but if a powerful mage placed a protection seal on her, that mage's magic signature should have been imprinted on her. But there was nothing like that on her. For this reason, Kyran had no qualms about killing her.
In any case, since Fiona offered to share what she knew, Kyran would play along. It would not hurt to know more about his enemies.
After a short pause, Kyran said, "Tell me what you know. If I find them useful, I'll consider sparing your life."
Fiona cursed inwardly. Truth be told, she was only bluffing. She had no plan of telling him anything. She only wanted to buy some time while probing Kyran's situation.
Kyran's sudden appearance here, when they all believed he was in Noser, was definitely a plot. Fiona wanted to know why and how he ended up here.
It was not hard to guess that Kyran's original destination was the Regis Estate. Fiona also guessed that the reason Vera and the others failed to send any updates was because they had met him, and he killed them. If Fiona put herself in Kyran's shoes, he would have interrogated them first before killing them. He might have discovered there was an army marching toward the estate, and so he came here to scout on them.
That was right. Kyran's purpose in coming should have been to scout the enemy not join the fray.
Obviously, the intruder that killed their people was Kyran. Fiona already guessed that much. But even if Kyran decided to join the fray so he could reduce the enemy's number, the report they received said something else.
According to the report, Kyran only killed soldiers from their side and not Mannick's.
Why?
Lira only made up the story of Mannick turning hostile and abducting the emperor. But Kyran's strange action made Fiona think that they knew each other. Or could it be that Kyran knew the emperor?
Impossible.
Fiona wanted to know the answers to her questions, thus, she could not afford to die. Because the answers to these questions would definitely help her family and the Crown Princess come up with a more convincing story to get the rest of the neutral families to her side.
'ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ NovelB(i)n. ᴄᴏᴍ',
Alas, Fiona underestimated Kyran. Apparently, the information about the latter being an innocent sheltered young master of the Regis Clan was not true. Yes, he was good in combat but according to their information, he was a pacifist. There had been an incident where he injured a few seniors in military school, but according to the investigation, he only fought in self-defence. Although there was a recent report that Vera submitted about Kyran ruthlessly killing her subordinates when he was on the run, according to the coroner, those soldiers died from blood loss.
Fiona shook her head inwardly. She should not treat Kyran as a pacifist. Didn't he kill Musa and Tate without even batting an eye?
Suddenly, Fiona's eyes lit as an idea crossed her mind. That was right. Although Kyran had no qualms about killing people, he was still a Regis. As a Regis, he had a bottom line. If Fiona could make the most of that fact, then she could find a way to reverse the situation.
Fiona looked at Kyran and wore her most innocent expression and said, "Ask me anything. I will tell you everything I know. Just promise me... d-don't kill me."
Lira glowered at Fiona. What she could not stand the most were people who had no dignity.
Apparently, Fiona's act was quite convincing that Lira genuinely thought she had turned traitor.
Unfortunately, even if Lira was convinced, Kyran was not. The mirth in his eyes disappeared at once. He knew Fiona was only trying to buy time.
For what reason? He did not know, and truthfully, he did not care.
"First, you tell me I can't kill you because you are being protected. Since I didn't care, you wanted to use what you know as leverage to survive. When I told you to tell me what you know, you then throw the question back at me."
"I-I'm not," Fiona said in fright. However, deep inside she was cursing inwardly.
"I just thought that it is better to ask you what you want to know than go around in circles."
"Aren't we going around in circles now?" Kyran said with a smile that did not meet his eyes.
Fiona tried to shake her head. But since she could not move, she looked at Kyran pleadingly while saying, "I-I'm sorry. I-I will tell you what I know then. But at least, ask me where to start."
She paused as if contemplating something before adding, "As I said, I'm Grand Marshal Gael's secretary, I know a lot of things. I'm also considered an informant. I know things about the noble families within the Royal Family."
Kyran sighed. The only reason he stopped midway through killing Fiona was because he thought she possessed crucial information. Alas, he thought too much.
Did she really think she could negotiate with him with that kind of information?
Kyran did not care about the internal conflict between the noble families. If he ever needed the information though, he could just ask Mannick, or better yet, he could ask Euan directly. Besides, with the current situation, Kyran already had an idea of what the noble families were after.
He even believed that his understanding of the whole situation was better than anyone.
With this in mind, Kyran no longer bothered with Fiona. With emotionless eyes, he turned his attention back to Lira.
'This chapter is updated by N(o)V(e)lB(i)n.',
Fiona's eyes widened as she felt her whole body start to disintegrate.
"No—! Wait! I really have crucial information you—!"
In a blink of an eye, her body disappeared, just like the other three.
Lira shivered as she watched Fiona disintegrate before her eyes. She felt her scalp go numb as she recalled how Musa and the others disintegrated earlier.
Kyran pointed at them but he did not do so with Fiona. Meaning, he could kill without lifting a finger. It was simply impossible!
How did he do it? Did the invisible force that passed through their bodies have something to do with it?
Lira did not know the origin of that invisible force because there was no magic fluctuation in the air. As a matter of fact, the magic energies in the surrounding vanished after that force appeared.
With too little data, Lira could not draw any conclusions. But even if she knew, what's the use? She would not be able to counter it anyway.
"It doesn't matter even if you kill us. You will not prevail. Her Highness will defeat you, and this time around, she will succeed in removing you for good," Lira told Kyran.
Kyran did not respond. He only looked at Lira in amusement. The way she spoke those words felt like he was a great demon king and the Crown Princess was the hero who would put an end to his evildoings.
"Why did you go after the emperor?"
Lira frowned at him. She did not expect him to ask her a question, especially about her reason for attacking the emperor.
"His actions are against her Highness's will."
"He is the emperor."
"And he is working with someone like you!"
Kyran raised his brows but did not say anything.
"Anyway, her Highness has a way to deal with all of you," Lira went on. "After that, she will definitely be a better ruler of the Ylfaen Empire."
Kyran's expression turned solemn. It seemed, Haylee was a righteous princess in their eyes.