The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

Evelyn didn't realize it right away, but once the 'observer' left the town to follow them out from a distance, there was no way she wouldn't be able to notice his strange presence through her eternal ripple.     

Seeing her frown for no reason, Cecilia and Amara couldn't help but look concerned.     

"What's wrong?"     

"Did you forget something?"     

The pink-haired girl could tell that they were all worried, especially when the younger girls stopped watching the 'show'', she couldn't help but sigh. "It looks like someone is following us…"     

Fortunately, she had been quite cautious after dealing with the Temple of Shinra's people directly for the first time. Even though she had been excited to quickly get away and explore the array fragment she obtained, not only did she keep their chariot moving at a normal speed, but also used the Lotus Throne's Eternal Ripple to make sure there was nothing strange around them.     

Otherwise, maybe she wouldn't even have noticed someone following them from such a distance.     

Amara couldn't help but frown worriedly. "What do we do now? Are they strong? Do they know who we are?"     

Evelyn patted the older redhead's hand to calm her down. "It's only a level sixty. I can easily crush them, or speed up to leave him behind, but…"     

The rest of the words didn't need to be said.     

With the mission in front of them, even Vivian and Amber realized how they couldn't risk 'exposure' like this. Even if they managed to disappear or get rid of this 'stalker', it might only end up attracting more trouble later.     

What they had to do now, instead, was to completely diffuse the situation.     

Evelyn thought about it for a while before nodding. "No matter who they are, there's no way for them to know more than what we have exposed. Aside from Cecilia's disguised face, they shouldn't know much else."     

The man who had been following them noticed that the carriage came to a halt shortly after entering a clearing in the forest, and he couldn't help but hesitate. After a while, though, he still decided to move forward stealthily.     

A blonde girl who seemed to be in her early teens left the carriage and whispered a few words to the dark-cloaked 'driver' up front before rushing off into the forest, and the man who had been following them only paused for a moment before rushing after her while trying his best not to be discovered.     

Evelyn had clearly thought about it carefully before picking Bree as the best candidate to go out.     

After all, even the ones most thoroughly informed about her would never recognize a teenage version of her aunt, especially after she had made a few minor modifications to her face.     

The man following the blonde girl saw her rush from place to place while looking at various plants and herbs before shaking her head in distress and dashing off again.     

"Is she looking for some medicine?"     

Of course, this was only his guess, but observing her behavior told him it was very likely to be true.     

But although the girl was quite beautiful, she didn't seem to be too smart. In fact, the man found her to be incredibly stupid after he observed her closely.     

It wasn't just because the plants she looked through weren't even medicinal in nature, but also because of her general aura.     

As someone who reached level sixty-two while being only in his late fifties, he was someone who could identify someone with potential at a glance, and this girl clearly wasn't one of them.     

Even if she was pretty and seemed to have quite a bit of spirit power in her body, it was more or less pointless. So what if she got lucky or ate some strange treasures? She would never be able to make use of that strength or get through higher levels without the ability to comprehend how to handle spirit power properly.     

"Those two were probably protecting and hiding this stupid little thing the best that they could."     

Of course, now that the third princess had probably left them crippled or half-dead, she could no longer just continue enjoying their care, and panicked.     

As for their relationship… he could neither tell nor bring himself to care.     

The blonde girl eventually found a strange-looking herb that clearly stood out from everything else around it, with leaves arranged like a green lotus that glowed mysteriously, and happily plucked it before rushing back.     

The man watching her knew it was poisonous, but he still shook his head and followed her back, more out of morbid curiosity than anything else.     

When they got back to the clearing, he noted that the cloaked driver had disappeared, probably to take care of the girls still in the carriage.     

The blonde girl quickly knocked on the door before entering.     

After a short silence, a sorrowful, distressed howl of a young girl rang in his ears as expected, and the man shook his head with a smile before leaving. "What a pity. Unfortunately, only those who follow our lord deserve my mercy."     

Leaving the clearing without a second look, he never realized that a tiny little fox was following him from a distance.     

The man stopped in front of an old, almost withered tree before taking out a dagger with a curved, dark-red blade, and plunging it into its trunk.     

"Don't blame me, old guy. You're about to die soon, anyway."     

Bright red blood seeped out of the wound, forming a puddle at his feet, and after it had finished forming, the withered tree seemingly turned to dust almost spontaneously and disappeared.     

Taking out a long sheet of paper, a crow-feather quill, and a somewhat large array disk carved out of white marble from his spatial ring, the man quickly started jotting something down.     

"The 1,348th Deacon of the temple has been killed by the guardian of the Lavinian Empire known as 'Moonlit Blade' while protecting the third princess, Lorraine. Six of his initiates are captured, rest killed."     

After thinking for a while, he dipped the quill in the red puddle again, and added. "The deacon was attacked first when he was discovered recruiting potential initiates, and the last ones he found were tortured and poisoned to death by the third princess."     

Feeling satisfied with his report, the man quickly placed the spirit stones in the required positions of the array, humming a happy little tune all the while.     

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