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nSarina started mentioning what she found out.

n“Aster, did the eyes of the guard that tried to attack you were lifeless as if they were out of focus?”, she asked.

nAster nodded, unlike the maid, the guard didn’t show any reaction when he pierced her chest with his hand.

nSarina sighed.

n“The heart binding worm has two uses, first, the one who nourished it with his blood can introduce it in the body of someone to made it his slave, if said slave were to ever do something that would bring harm to his master then the worm would release a poison to kill its host, secondly the slave can use it to make other succumb to his suggestions… like some kind of mind control, but there are restrictions”.

n“For it to work the one that will be controlled needs to be close to the one with the worm for long periods of time, it has to be when the other person senses aren’t on alert and it only works one time”.

nAster was a bit confused.

n“Then how did it happen, correct me if I’m wrong but the guards spent most of their time protecting the entrance to your room right?”.

nSarina nodded.

n“Yes, but the guard that attacked you… Andrea liked women so Lynn probably seduced her, sleeping together was a perfect opportunity for Lynn to use the suggestion ability of the worm since she wouldn’t be wary of her lover, she has been working here as a maid for more than eight years, I bet Andrea has been under her command for at least two or three years already”.

nSarina kept silent for a moment before continuing.

n“Whoever planned all this, put a lot of thought into it, no one spoke nor interacted with the guards while they were protecting my room, so Lynn probably had her encounters with Andrea on their free days… since I couldn’t move from my bed, I also stopped interacting with them, only Hellen spoke with me from time to time so I didn’t suspect anything”.

n“However, we still have a hint, the one who contracted Lynn as a maid was one of the personal guards of Kana, the guy with the beard, his name is Miles”.

n…

nAfter a moment of silence Aster spoke in a serious voice.

n“If I understood correctly, Marco is the leader of the team, right?”.

nSarina nodded.

n“Yes, Marco and his little brother used to work in my father’s personal army but after his little brother died, he retired and instead became a guard, that happened before Kana was born so after some years he got recognized by Robert and when Kana came to this world, he was the first one to become her personal guard”.

nAster doubted, to be honest he would directly go and destroy the bearded guy but there were probably more people involved in this, so instead they needed to interrogate someone who knew about all the guards but which was likely to not be a traitor and that was Marco.

n“Where does he live? we’ll pay him a visit”, he said.

nAlthough Marco technically worked for Robert, Kana has always talked with her about anything so she knew where the guards lived.

n“It’s not too far from here but… let me go with you, the five guards live together and I want to see how will they react when you speak with Marco, Miles is his right hand and his best friend after all”.

nAster was going to refuse, because she not only was injured but someone had to stay and take care of Kana in case something else happened, but Alice stepped in.

n“Let her accompany you, I’m not interested in small fries, once you have the name of the bastard who orchestrated all this, then I will also go to personally send him to hell for interrupting my… sleep”, she said.

nSeeing that her brother was still doubting, she whispered in his ears.

n“I will stay with Kana and set the barrier around us, in any case I’m still tired since I had to run and fight against the stupid vines in the forest”.

nAster caressed Alice’s face.

n“Fine but… be careful okay”.

nSarina saw Alice saying something in a low voice and then Aster caressing her face with utmost care and she felt a bit weird, they stood up and returned to Sarina’s room, Aster personally made sure to set the barrier properly, Alice handed her invisibility talisman to Sarina while Aster used his.

nNow that everything was ready, they both left the mansion, the guards outside were still patrolling the garden completely unaware of what happened inside, Sarina was marveled seeing the useful talismans Aster had, “they must have a close relationship with a rune master”, she thought.

nThere was a formation to detect anyone who tried to sneak in by flying but since this was her mansion, she had the master control which allowed her to make “exceptions”, to not let the guards see them leaving the mansion and as stellar constellation cultivator she flew away with Aster holding onto her arm.

nStill after a dozen of meters away from the mansion she had to land because her body was still too weak for continuous fly, Aster helped her sit down in the ground so she could rest for a moment.

nOnce her breathing stabilized, she stood up and they walked a couple of streets, it has been a long time since Sarina went outside of her own room so she curiously observed the night life of Oak heart city.

nWhen they arrived at the place where Marco and the other guards lived, Sarina took out a medal with an oak tree.

n“This medal is a secret master key for all the houses that exist within the spirit formation of the city, we once were secretly invaded by citizens of the Riga continent so this security measure was created in secret by my father, only he and me know about it”.

n“One can never be cautious enough I guess”, Aster answered.

nAster’s spirit sense was strong enough to bring shame to any stellar constellation cultivator, and all the guards were at that realm so before they entered the house, he used it to map the inside of the house, there were five rooms and five people, one in each room, Marco was easy to find since he was the only peak stage among them.

nThe door opened and they entered before closing it without making any sound, Marco’s room was the first one just a couple of meters away from the door, Aster prepared the second barrier talisman he had, in a swift maneuver he used Rigel’s flame to cut the lock and both entered the room before he activated the barrier to avoid anyone noticing the little conversation they were about to have.

nMarco was still awake, he saw his door opening without any clicking sound which meant it wasn’t done with a key, since there wasn’t “anyone” entering, he thought it was a joke from his friends, until he saw a dark dome covering his entire room, he drew his sword but when he saw his madam appearing out of thin air in front of him, the sword slipped away due to the surprise.

n“M-my lady, you can walk again!!! what are you doing here, the Archduke won’t be happy if he gets to know you came to visit us this late night…”

nHe was interrupted by Aster’s voice.

n“Right now, that is the least of your problems”, he said.

nMarco saw Aster also appearing and he was confused, “how are they simply appearing from nowhere and what is that black dome surrounding the room”, he thought.

nSarina took out her personal token of identity, something her father gave her which couldn’t be falsified, a brown medal with the silhouette of an oak tree and the secret signature of the city lord.

n“In front of this medal you once swore to serve and protect this city and its habitants, so now I ask you to answer to all my questions”.

nIf for a moment Marco doubted about the woman in front of him being Sarina, that slight doubt disappeared once he saw the medal granted by his former lord, since he knew there only existed one and it would self-destruct if anyone besides Sarina or her father touched it.

nHe took his sword which was still sheathed and placed it in the ground, before bowing his head.

n“Marco Driant, listen to the command of the lord’s daughter and obey… what is happening madam?”.

nNow that everything was settled while Aster leaned against the door to keep it closed since he broke the lock, Sarina told Marco everything that happened tonight, without forgetting to mention that the reason they were here was that Miles was the one that brought Lynn to work in the mansion.

nMarco had a sad and angry expression after he listened to the whole story, it was possible that the man he considered his best friend was working for the people he has been fighting against since he became an adult.

n“I only have one question, why is Aster accompanying you… I don’t want to be rude but I think it would have been better to call the Archduke to help investigate all this?”.

nAster smiled.

n“You should be happy that you can see me right now especially because if not for the fact that the attack was directed to me and not to my sister, or I would have erased this whole city from the existence, so I think I have all the right to be here, do you disagree?”.

nOf course, he was exaggerating a bit, but it was true that if Alice were to be injured, he would have left the Riga continent in ruins or at least there would be one royal family less in this world.

nMarco was terrified, he has been a soldier most of his life, it wouldn’t be a lie to say he has climbed a mountain of corpses before, battling against the assassins of the Riga continent and their tricks, so he could say the kid in front of him… wasn’t joking around.

nSeeing that things were getting tense Sarina stepped in.

n“Ahem, Aster is here because to be honest I feel Kana and me are safer with him than with anyone else right now, Kana has always had a… good eye for people, if she likes him then he is by no means a bad person and I owe him more than I would ever able to repay”, she said while looking at her hands and thinking about how he removed the corruption from her body.

nSarina doubted for a second before adding.

n“Besides the one in charge of doing the background check for Kana’s guards wan none other than… Robert”.

nAster’s golden eyes glowed for a second and silence fell in the room while Marco felt the situation becoming more complicated than it already was.

n“What in the world is happening”, he mumbled.

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