As the door clicked shut behind him, Leo found himself locked inside Lin Mu's room, with very few seconds to decide where he was going to hide.
Thankfully, Lin Mu was not at her alert best as she walked almost in a daze towards the room's bed, not noticing the faint presence that lingered behind her.
Leo's heart raced; there was no casual sauntering in now. Every moment was critical, and the urgency to find a hiding spot prickled at his nerves.
The room itself was spacious and cluttered with shadows that offered him several options to hide in, but none were without risk.
Leo, being adept in combat but a novice in the art of stealth, found this situation confusing as he did not have the necessary experience to immediately pick the perfect hiding spot.
He needed a spot not just out of Lin Mu's sight, but one with strategic importance from which he could watch Lin Mu without revealing his presence.
Eventually, his eyes settled on the upper right corner of the room, just above the main bed where Lin Mu was likely to be, but away from the direction she was likely to be facing.
There was a dome like gap in that corner and the light from the chandelier at the center of the room casted a dark shadow in that far corner.
It was a gamble—perfect for observing her and still good for hiding, yet its safety was untested.
However, with Lin Mu almost reaching her bed and time running out, Leo made his decision and climbed onto the ceiling's corner, as he used [ Vanish ] to wipe out his presence completely.
By the time Lin Mu reached her bed and crashed into it, Leo had managed to blend into the shadows completely, as even if she scanned the room for any threats, she would have most likely failed to find Leo.
Although Leo had managed to recede his presence from the room completely, he felt Ben's voice screaming inside his head as Ben had long warned him about this day.
Back on Mount Faulkner, as Leo underwent stretch training, being forced to hold full leg splits for hours. Ben told him how it would help him on a real assassination mission someday, and now that Leo balanced himself against a wall, with his legs in a full-split, he couldn't help but recall his master's words as he indeed found himself in such a situation today.
Waiting calmly, Leo observed Lin Mu, who had not moved a single inch ever since she entered the room and remained crashed face first into the bed.
*Sob*
*Sob*
*Sob*
Leo could hear Lin Mu sobbing as she cried with her face buried into the bed, however, without her mumbling anything out loud, Leo could not understand the reason behind why she was crying, however, he did receive even more proof that something was seriously wrong with her.
Lin Mu wasn't the type of girl to cry easily and her behavior at the Gala and now while alone was all the proof that Leo needed to suspect that there was something off.
For about half an hour, Lin Mu sobbed uncontrollably, before she finally began moving and started to take off the clothes she was wearing.
For a second, Leo's heart skipped a beat, he wasn't sure if he was supposed to watch such a scene or not, but then conquering his ape-like instincts he looked away, giving Lin Mu the privacy she deserved while changing.
A few minutes later, as he peeked towards her, Leo found her to be dressed in a maroon colored revealing nightgown, that had a very deep cut showing her ample cleavage.
It was a perverse dress, one intended to turn on a lover as although she was wearing a fabric, it wasn't thick enough to cover her, as if light fell on the cloth, one could see the skin beneath, making it semi revealing.
'Not good-' Leo thought, as he had a premonition as to what was finally going on here.
Leo desperately hoped that the reality would not be what he feared it to be, however, the way Lin Mu dreadfully kept staring at the door, as if waiting for someone to arrive, Leo finally understood the whole picture.
'Who could it be? The Emperor? A master? Dem Paltrow?' Leo wondered, as he grit his teeth and tried very hard to not let his breathing become ragged as that could potentially compromise his concealment.
There were only two questions on Leo's mind at the moment, with the first being 'who?' and the second being 'why?'.
It was clear from Lin Mu's expressions and demeanor that she did not want any part of what was going to happen, but it seemed to Leo as if she had no other choice.
Either it was the Night Guild that had forced her to sell herself like a prostitute, or it was some other reason that he couldn't even fathom.
Either way, Leo made up his mind to kill whoever walked into the room and made an advance on Lin Mu, even if that individual was the Emperor himself.
Keeping his bloodlust in check, Leo waited patiently for the perpetrator to show up, who eventually did about after an hour.
*Click*
*Creek*
As the door of Lin Mu's room was unlocked and a fat man with a big smile on his face walked in, Leo immediately recognised him to be the counselor of the Emperor, who had come with a bouquet of red roses in his hands.
As he walked into the room, the door was locked behind him once again as tears started to fall down Lin Mu's eyes from the second he walked in.
"I hope I did not make you wait for me too long, beauty…." He said in the most perverse voice ever, as although he tried to talk like a gentleman, there was not an ounce of gentleness on his face, as he scanned Lin Mu's body up and down like a horny beast.