Annan had activated his curse before exiting the secret passage— “The Last Work: David”.
[TN: Title is a reference to stealth assassin game, Hitman.]
The one who entered the secret passage was a nine-year-old child, but the one who exited the secret passage was a kind middle-aged man with black hair, black eyes, and well-defined features.
“…This height difference is too extreme.”
Annan felt somewhat dizzy when he had transformed into “Ghirlandaio·David·Buonaro” from Annan’s young body. He finally got used to it after taking two more steps in the secret passage.
Basically, Annan had to take some time to get used to this height level every time he used this curse before he could re-establish an accurate spatial and distal sense.
Annan came out from the garden corner and followed the path to the kitchen.
It wasn’t because he was hungry but because someone had blown his cover when Annan and Kafni passed by earlier.
It was a young man with red curly hair and freckles.
When he saw Annan and Kafni passing by, he unreasonably revealed a killing intent towards them.
Annan and Kafni walked past as if nothing had happened at the time as if they didn’t notice at all. Therefore, they wouldn’t have alerted him.
Never mind Kafni, even with Annan’s Perception attribute, such killing intent would be as clear as a high beam from the headlights in the night within such distance.
An important piece of information was that Kafni did not know him. This meant that he wasn’t part of the Noah Kingdom’s high-ranking officials, yet he could freely move around the kitchen.
The possibility that that person was from Austere-Winter Dukedom, on the other hand, was much smaller than this. Therefore, it could almost be said as none.
So from these details, Annan could conclude that there was a severe problem with the palace’s security system.
Right now was clearly a critical moment. Not only was it the old king’s birthday, but it was also the day the dukedom heir came to visit. Yet someone whom Kafni had never seen before was able to mingle in.
Annan had roamed openly using the facade of “David” as a kind of test.
He wanted to see if someone would stop him.
He couldn’t be mistaken as part of Noah’s higher-ups.
At this point in time, no one knows who “David” was, except for Michelangelo.
Yet he somehow walked over here unobstructedly.
Those patrolling guards noticed Annan, but they just watched Annan with some vigilance. They didn’t question Annan’s whereabouts but instead stopped talking and stood there, watching Annan leave without saying anything.
This security system was ridiculously loose.
Annan instead let out a sigh of relief.
This just proved another thing.
These royal bodyguards were not the direct power under the Rotten Man Church. However, they seemed to be instructed by someone not to intercept or question any strangers during a specific period.
Who is it then? A suspect quickly appeared in Annan’s mind — the Third Prince, Philip Noah.
It was the man who tried to murder Don Juan Geraint and Captain Klaus’s boss.
Does he have the authority to command the guards?
There were many speculations in Annan’s mind, and most of them were quickly disapproved.
At this time, Annan had arrived at the kitchen.
Following Kafni’s instructions, Annan speculated that the core of the ritual here should be in the kitchen’s basement.
He once again saw the sneaky red-haired man.
He was already standing at the kitchen door with his arms crossed, anxiously waiting for something.
Unexpectedly, this man who revealed a killing intent when he previously saw Annan and Kafni had instead seemed relieved when he saw David.
There was no hostility whatsoever.
Annan realized this and walked over to him calmly.
At this proximity, Annan could paralyze his movements with “Slothful Eye” at any time.
After Annan came to a halt, the man whispered, “Why are you so late?
“Two children passed by earlier. Can’t talk, I’m going off… I’ll leave the rest to you.”
“Two children passed by… Are you sure everything here is okay?” Annan wavered and asked somewhat dissatisfyingly, following the man’s words.
He inquired on what the man himself had just mentioned. This could largely lower the other person’s guard. For example, if Annan had suddenly said, “Oh right, by the way…” and changed the topic during their first meeting, the other person might suddenly become suspicious of Annan.
And with Annan’s outstanding acting and probing skills, the person only said impatiently, “It’s fine as long as they both didn’t go in anyway… Go quickly. My mission here is done. I’m leaving. If I don’t leave now, I won’t be able to leave.”
Annan glanced at him and walked into the kitchen without saying anything.
Yet he had secretly come to a great realization.
At that moment, the many clues and fragments had connected with one another in Annan’s mind.
That’s right. The peculiarity that someone had instructed the bodyguards, Kafni’s mother who had gone missing, this suspicious man’s audacity to stand so openly in front of the kitchen…
This could only mean one thing.
These Rotten Man believers— Assuming that they were Rotten Man believers, their progress in infiltrating the Noah Kingdom’s upper class still wasn’t considered too deep at this time.
To prevent the likelihood of the plan failing and being captured or betrayed, everyone only knew the content of their mission. Additionally, they didn’t know each other nor each other’s mission. They only handed over missions through the pre-agreed signals or other means.
There were many people in this kitchen, but they were all very busy inside— there were many fish barrels at the door.
Annan glanced around.
He found that no one was looking in his direction, and no one even saw that he had entered the kitchen.
The kitchen’s basement was in front of him.
But he couldn’t go in at this time.
The “NPC” who completed the shift wouldn’t suddenly disappear. If Annan had replaced someone’s identity and completed the mission handover with this man, then Annan wouldn’t be able to do much in the basement even if he was a few minutes earlier than that someone.
After all, time was limited.
These two people would most likely meet on the way.
Annan turned his head slightly and looked at the red-haired man who hadn’t gone far.
In “David”‘s pupils, a fierce light appeared in a flash.
Without waiting for the red-haired man to leave, Annan followed behind him silently.
When he approached the man, Annan suddenly reached out and pressed on the man’s mouth— his other hand was pressed against the back of the man, and his palm instantly turned blue-black.
[Chilling Touch]!
The man passed out before he had time to struggle or even make a sound. It seemed that he probably would never know who attacked him in the first place.
Annan simply threw him on his shoulders with ease and walked back in big steps. He opened a fish barrel and carelessly shoved the man into it. To prevent him from waking up halfway, Annan even punched the back of the man’s head heavily with his marble-like fist.
This way, he probably wouldn’t be waking up so quickly.