Aurora Restina.
Vieya pinched the cheeks of her forr subordinate, staring into those stubborn dark-green eyes.
As the assassin of the Hero Squad, Aurora was a master of poisons and stealth kills. She excelled in every assassination thod. When they first t, Vieya had seen her killing while laughing—those dark-green pupils always carried a mocking contempt for life.
Fortunately, her assassination techniques were fast and clean; she never dragged things out or tortured enemies maliciously.
As an assassin, her entire body was essentially a toxic weapon—fingernails, teeth, even her hair. Whenever she wished, she could use the serpent stripe on her tongue to infuse any part with deadly toxins.
And now, she had used a poison specifically targeting slis—
A type of inhibitor that interfered with a sli’s natural liquefaction.
Being bitten by Aurora was no different from being bitten by a venomous snake.
But Vieya knew very well that Aurora’s weakness was her tongue. If Vieya shoved her fingers into Aurora’s mouth and pinched her tongue hard enough, Aurora would be forced to release her bite and enter a brief paralysis.
During paralysis, Aurora would lose the self-defense rebound that her poisons provided, becoming a limp piece of at to be handled at will. Even her tightly clenched jaw would open.
Vieya had done this before.
But doing so now would be the sa as falling directly into this woman’s plan—willingly revealing a corner of her own identity.
As an assassin, Aurora kept her weaknesses tightly guarded; even within the Hero Squad, only a handful knew of them.
Yet Vieya understood them perfectly. She even knew which spot on the tongue caused the longest paralysis.
“I don’t want to be stalked every day by a venomous snake like you.”
Vieya muttered to herself. The healing ability belonging to the Seventh Authority activated within her body—not ordinary healing, but the removal of external harm inflicted onto her body.
Including the toxins already entering her system.
While she thought—
The bitten leg suddenly broke free from the poison’s influence and liquefied normally again. Vieya gently pulled her leg out from Aurora’s mouth.
“How is that possible!”
Aurora froze completely. She could not understand how the anti-sli poison she had specially prepared would fail at such a crucial mont.
“Mom, are you okay?” Jasmine peered at the spot where her mother had been bitten. It was white and flawless, not even a red mark left behind.
“It’s fine. Just a little venomous snake. I saw plenty like her in the Monster Forest.” Vieya smiled faintly and looked toward Anna. “Does this restaurant have a soundproof room? I want to talk to the little snake who bit .”
“There is.” Anna nodded and pointed to the second floor. “The rooms starting with S are luxury suites. Their soundproofing...” She looked at the calm sli girl, then at the assassin drowning in her own defeat. “...Should block out normal voices.”
“Good. You all keep playing down here. I’ll take her up and have a little talk.”
“Mom...”
“Don’t worry, Jasmine. I’ll give this disobedient snake-sister a lesson she won’t forget.”
With that—
The sli girl dragged her green-haired captive up the stairs. Their silhouettes disappeared.
Elizabeth, who failed to control her prisoner and caused an injury incident, let out a long sigh. Ugh... another excuse for her to dock my blood rations.
...
Second floor, Room S001.
Vieya closed the door, shutting out the outside commotion, though faint music still seeped in.
“Aurora, perhaps we should talk. Last ti, # Nоvеlight # I let you go. This ti, instead of being grateful, you sneak-attacked —and even used poison.” Vieya spoke lightly as she sat down on an empty chair.
“If my toxin resistance weren’t so high, maybe your terrifying poison really would’ve killed .”
“I... it was just anesthetic targeted at slis.” Aurora spoke in a small voice. “I only wanted to test it... I once had an important friend... Sorry, my mind is a ss. Maybe you should just let go. I promise I won’t trouble you again.”
“Really?” Vieya raised a brow. “What did Lilian tell you? That you ca specifically to bite ?”
“It wasn’t specifically.”
Aurora lowered her head and sighed. “There’s a task board in the organization. I saw a commission related to you, so I ca... ah, forget it. Anyway, Lilian told you might be closely connected to my important friend. I got curious... and couldn’t hold myself back from coming.”
“I’m sorry. I misjudged. Please forgive .” Aurora bowed her head. “I can pay compensation. Just say how much a bite costs—I can afford it.”
Vieya shook her head. “I don’t want money.”
“Then... how do you want to punish ? Kill ? If you wanted to kill , you would’ve done it the first ti. There’s no reason to wait until now.” Aurora spoke softly. “So na your terms. I promise not to take any more jobs related to you.”
“Then can you be a double agent?” Vieya asked thoughtfully.
“Double agent?”
Aurora froze, lifting her head to look at the white-haired girl lounging lazily in her chair, propping her chin with one hand.
“You an...”
...
At the sa ti—
Near the restaurant’s entrance, a group of people appeared on the street. Judging by their looks, they seed to be students from the Magic Academy.
But instead of leaving with the main convoy after the exam, they lingered here.
“This is my first ti leaving the Royal Capital, but honestly? It’s just ‘h.’ Boring. I heard Talin City is a famous southern tourist city, but it’s nowhere near as clean or orderly as our Capital. Just more flowers around.”
“And look at all the filthy monster girls on the street. I heard monster girls hate bathing. They just lick each other’s fur all day. Ew! Disgusting. Creatures with such poor hygiene should all be driven out of human settlents.”
A yellow-haired girl and a blue-haired girl walked arm in arm, constantly looking around and pointing fingers.
When they passed a young canine-type monster girl carrying a basket of flowers—
“Big sisters, buy a bouquet please... only one copper coin... buy one, get one free...”
“Ugh, gross!”
The yellow-haired girl pulled out a gold coin and threw it on the ground, covering her nose with a frown.
“Take your stinky flowers and get lost. Best go to a bathhouse and have an old master scrub you clean. And while you’re at it, chop off those disgusting dog ears and dog tail before coming out to sell things! What a bad on!”
She didn’t care about the trembling dog-eared girl left standing there with her basket, nor about the greedy eyes lurking in the dark alley.
She turned to the blue-haired girl at her side, whining,
“Xiaoyu sis, can we find a clean place to rest? If I keep breathing the sa air as these filthy beastkin, I’m going to go crazy aaahhh!”
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