Theron sat in silent meditation. He hadn’t just killed three people last night; he had killed more than a dozen. Some of them were far weaker than himself, but there were a decent number that were quite a bit more powerful.
Though, it could be said that the highest difficulty kills had nothing to do with the strength of the target themselves, but rather the security. The maid servant was without a doubt the hardest kill.
As for why Theron had done it… it was necessary.
A lot of the information he had gathered about the Sect was thanks to Ruu. Originally, when Ruu wanted to join the Obsidian Eclipse Sect to find the information she was looking for, there were two paths. Either she became a disciple, or she found a disciple to latch onto.
If she chose the former, it would be too difficult to hide her tracks properly, so she chose the latter. At that point, it was just a matter of which disciple she chose to latch onto.
Although she didn’t want to use her body to get into places, she had her own moral compass when it came to such things. Mason had been at the top of the list for obvious reasons, but it was too risky. He was too powerful, and working her way up the list of his favorites would be too difficult.
It might turn a mission that she could complete in a handful of months into one that might take years… or one she might never complete at all.
It was said that maid servants who went to serve Mason didn’t always make it out alive. Though Ruu wasn’t averse to risk in general, going into such a place with a secret identity would have been no less grueling than trying to join such a powerful Sect with a false identity.
This was where the true trouble came.
The reason why maid servants kept being sent to Mason was obviously because of his status as a genius of a Grand Duke Clan. It was a high risk, high reward sort of situation.
But Mason also didn’t kill without any reason at all, he wasn’t a madman. Those maid servants that died were often caught doing what they weren’t supposed to, trying to stick their noses into things that didn’t belong, or overstep their boundaries.
This was where this particular maid servant came into play. Her position by Mason was no less than that of Ruu by Rowlan’s side. But what was more important than that was where she had come from.
The Imperial Clan.
This was a tidbit of information that Ruu had only managed to stumble upon after a great deal of effort.
This maid servant wasn’t a particularly strong talent or anything of the sort. In fact, it could be said that this was exactly why she was passed off as a maid servant.
She was the illegitimate child of a distantly related prince. All things considered, as Mason’s top maid servant, she was destined to become his favorite concubine in the future, a much higher position than she would have been given by birthright.
Of course, as someone with Imperial blood in her, her life would have been comfortable no matter what. But this was very different.
Though by choosing to become a maid servant, she wouldn’t be able to become the first wife. She had clearly made this choice knowing full well what the outcome would be.
There was no way her thin Imperial Bloodline would have allowed her to marry someone who could vie for the position of Patriarch of a Grand Duke Clan in the future. If she wanted such a husband, this was the only way.
However… no matter how thin…
She still had noble blood.
Now that she was found dead in Mason’s abode, when he also had a reputation for killing his maid servants… well, whether Rain was etched onto her chest or not, it would lead to yet another strained relationship.
Theron had truly handed the Thistles an opportunity on a silver platter. If they didn’t know how to take advantage of it, they could only blame their own incompetence.
BANG!
The door to Theron’s hotel room shattered. Yet, he only calmly opened his eyes, looking ahead to see the swarm of Imperial Guards that had suddenly burst through without any warning at all.
He was already expecting this.
No one was a fool. A Water Mancer suddenly going around and killing people, writing Rain on their chests, right after Theron got to the Imperial Capital?
If they couldn’t draw a connection to him, they would be a bit too stupid.
“Stand up!” The Imperial Guard roared.
Theron only did as he was told without the slightest hint of resistance, presenting his wrists to be shackled.
Soon, he was led away, the Imperial Guard feeling like he punched into a cloud. Theron didn’t react how practically any other cultivator would have in this situation. It was like he was a blank slate and didn’t realize he was being disrespected.
…
Theron spent the next night in a cell, silently meditating without a word. His spatial rings had been plundered, but they wouldn’t find anything in there. He had his valuables in there, of course. But none of the Bloomstones he had taken.
Before he did this, he had already hidden those. In fact, when he came to the Imperial Capital itself, he had only taken a fraction of what he had with him in the first place.
He thought ten steps ahead, not just one.
And it was also because of that that he knew he would make it out of here in one piece.
Maybe before he met Dean Pennel, he would have taken a less radical approach. But since he could get away with it now, why not? It would save him the time he would waste.
CLANG.
The rolling of metal against metal and a BANG echoed as his cell doors were finally opened. He had hardly opened his eyes when he was forced to his feet and dragged out.
Soon, he stood before a court, two old people sitting on an elevated platform and looking down at him. One of them was precisely Dean Pennel.
However, Theron didn’t pay much attention to the two older individuals, looking to the side instead to find something that made him raise an internal eyebrow.
If he was correct, this was the Matriarch of the Obsidian Eclipse Sect.
Odd.