In the middle of a luxurious, two people sat facing each other; one of them had a resting face while the other one was on the verge of exploding out of rage.

The one who was calm was obviously me.

While the one who was about to explode in a fit of rage was…

“Caedrel! How dare you ask to see me as if we’re friends? How dare you!” She clicked her tongue. “You’re lucky that I didn’t ask of you to be killed in front of everyone out there. That’s the only thing you deserve.”

“Ah… Aelua, can’t we just forget about the past and act like nothing ever happened between us? Wouldn’t that make things easier on the two of us?”

I wanted to remove her memories about me from her mind. However, she had reached a certain level of strength, and it was complicated for me to manipulate her memories for one simple reason.

She would realize that something was amiss, and she would instantly link it back to me, which would create an even bigger scene and would probably make her hate me even more. That’s why, every time I met someone very powerful, it was very dangerous for me to touch upon their memories. That’s also the reason why I let them keep them…

“I’m not like you. I don’t want to forget things and act as if I’m fine when I’m clearly not.”

Ouch. That hurt.

“Whatever, I don’t even want to talk about what happened back then. It was already horrible as it was; no need to add fuel to the fire, am I right?”

“Sure… I also don’t want to talk about it. Anyways,” I took out one of the many black hearts from my inventory that I had gathered while traveling all the way and showed it to Aelua.

It took less than a single second for her eyes to be almost sparkling as if she was looking at something that was amazing.

She didn’t even say anything as she took it right out of my hands, continuing to observe it.

“Where did you find this?”

“Close to here by killing some monsters.”

“Monsters? What are you talking about? This is the heart of a demon, without a doubt. Something like that wouldn’t be found inside monsters.”

I gave her a knowing look. “Exactly, that’s why I’m here.”

She nodded slowly, clearly understanding the seriousness of this situation because as much as Aelua might hate me. She was smart, and she knew how to prioritize the right things. That’s why I had come up to her. I knew very well that she would be able to help me.

“Do you notice anything strange about it at first glance?” I asked. Continue your journey on empire

What had happened with Ava was also there. I wanted to know if Aelua would be able to find something, and if so, how much time it would take.

Depending on how fast Aelua could find something about it, the stranger it would become that Ava didn’t find anything. Of course, they were not anywhere close in terms of strength. But it was still representative of her abilities and whether she had lied or not.

“Yes, there’s something very weird about it that any skilled alchemist would see right away.”

I frowned right away at those words. “What are you talking about?”

Aelua was surprised by my tone. However, it seemed she understood what was going through my mind.

“Did you show this Black Heart stuff to someone else?”

“I did. I left it to that person for more than three months, and she could not find anything.”

“I…” Aelua opened her mouth before closing it just as fast.

“Say what you’re thinking. Don’t worry about me and my feelings.”

“Well, do I even need to say it? I’m telling you, any low-skilled alchemist would find something weird about this heart right away. That should tell you enough about the person you trusted with this.”

I clenched my fists. The more I learned about the situation around Ava, the more difficult it was for me to believe that she wasn’t with the demons and against them.

“Whatever. I’ll deal with that on my own,” I replied to Aelua, who could clearly see how annoyed I was at the moment. “What is it that you found? It better be something good.”

She smiled. “Glad you asked.”

Then, she started pressing her fingers against the heart, some blood oozing out from it.

“Did you see it?” She asked, looking back toward me.

However, I was in the dark about what she wanted to show me. All I could see was blood oozing out… there was nothing strange about this.

“Watch more closely; pay attention at the moment the blood comes out; that’s when it happens.”

Aelua pressed onto the heart again, and I made sure to look toward one of the holes where a lot of blood came out last time.

And… I noticed something. However, I had no clue what it meant.

When the blood came out, it started out as black, and as soon as it went in outside the heart, it would turn back to red.

“So? Did you see it?”

“Ugh… I think you can’t just tell me. It’ll be easier that way.”

Aelua laughed at my stupidity just like she always did in the past.

“It’s about when the blood changes color. You see, that’s something that indicates. Whenever the blood from the heart enters in contact with the oxygen of the world, it changes color right away. It makes me think that there is a chance that those monsters could be turned back to their original form if enough oxygen is injected into their veins.”

“Still. Take this with a grain of salt. There’s a chance that I’m wrong. Nevertheless, you should talk with that alchemist you have this heart to last time. There is definitely something fishy about this, and the fact is that she found out nothing worth telling you about. If I were you, I would definitely keep an eye out for her.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll have a conversation with her as soon as I’m back in the Human Kingdom. Though, that might take a bit of time for the simple reason that my girl-my friend was captured by demons just before I reached this place.”

Aelua giggled. “I must have heard that wrong… did you just say ‘friend’? Since when does the Caedrel Stuart have friends… weren’t you the one who kept saying how relationships are useless in the past. Maybe the war ending changed your views of the world, eh?”

“The war isn’t over. And things happened. That’s all.”

Aelua continued to smile as she observed me, not even bothering to look at the black heart, leaving it on the table as if it was nothing more than a useless twig.

“You definitely changed. Just what happened to you?”

“None of your business. Also, I leave this here with you so that you can look at it. Did you notice any nobles acting strangely for the past week or two… maybe they went missing more. Just tell me if someone wasn’t acting normally.”

“Ah… I can’t help you with that. I barely leave this room. The only reason I came out was because someone told me that you were here to see me. If it was someone else, I would have refused to even meet up with them. If you want to find out more about this, then you should talk to the maids. They should be the ones who know a lot about this stuff.”

I nodded, knowing that she would probably ignore this mundane stuff.

“Though, why do you ask? Do you really believe that the demons have managed to infiltrate most kingdoms without anyone realizing it?”

“Yes. And I’m sure that there are a lot of demonic spies in the elven kingdom. I even went to an underground auction where they sold off an elven princess, and a bunch of elves was working there, too.”

Aelua frowned but didn’t look too angry. After all, she was always this way. She never cared about anything that wasn’t related to her.

“I see, that’s definitely strange.”

“I also felt murderous intent in my direction back in the throne room. However, it was barely noticeable, and it lasted for a fraction of a second. I was the only one in the room who even noticed it, I think.”

“Um…the situation might be worse than I thought. Actually, I was thinking of getting out of this place for a little. What do you say about me accompanying you while you go looking for your friend? Who knows… I might be of help.”

I didn’t think too much about it, as she would definitely be a great addition to the team. She could also defend herself on her own without a doubt. And if we ever crossed paths with one of Zero’s siblings, she would also be of great help.

“Alright, let’s go.”

However, just as we were about to head out, there was a knock on the door.

I looked toward Aelua, wondering if she knew who that was. However, the frown on her face was enough for me to know that she did not.

I turned back around and opened the door slowly, peeking out my head very slightly where I saw a beautiful elven princess on the other side of the door, looking kind of… lost.

“Who are you?” I asked.

I knew from what Aelua told me that she barely ever got visitors, so this was definitely strange.

“Ah… I’m Laura Virdi. It’s nice to meet you, sir.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep