The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

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Cecilia couldn't help but nudge her friend curiously as the pink-haired girl stealthily made her way over to the thug's hiding spot. "Why are we following them now? Didn't you tell the third princess to take care of it all?"

Evelyn hummed. "This thug is actually quite courageous. He didn't take 'us' to his employer, and decided to desert at this time. If I don't follow him now, how can I be sure he won't escape?"

Of course, the third princess should be able to catch up with them soon enough, but Evelyn didn't like taking chances. It was better for her to keep a closer eye on the situation until the matter was dealt with.

This was why she had followed them from a certain distance using Ruru's eternal ripple, and weaved some minor illusions to hide their identity along the way. 

The only troublesome matter had been to jump out of their room's window without being seen, but that was also easy to take care of with the eternal ripple's observation ability and a little patience.

It didn't take them long to reach the 'abandoned' warehouse that was being used as a hideout by these thugs, and the two of them could already hear most of their conversation without the need for any special abilities.

Cecilia frowned as she leaned in to whisper in her friend's ear. "You know, although I know they're just dough balls, I still feel uncomfortable. I hope they don't do anything strange."

Evelyn smiled as she patted the ash blonde's head. "Don't worry. I won't let you be wronged."

Cecilia couldn't help but pout. 'H-How can she treat me like this? I'm clearly the older one!'

Back in the warehouse, Cloud suppressed the pride in his heart after seeing the moved reactions of his subordinates, and quickly activated the array with all his might. 

Although he knew very well that they might die after he plundered their talents, the thought of saving the two girls for himself didn't even cross his mind. 

How could the future son of heaven who was going to change his fate be tempted by mere beauty? 

Although they were undoubtedly the most beautiful girls he had ever laid eyes upon, they clearly didn't have identities matching his future status and potential. 

To be worthy of being kept by him, they at least had to be proud daughters of heaven, blessed with both status and talent.

He didn't hesitate at all while feeding the broken array all the spirit stones he had managed to gather so far, and even looked ecstatic at finally going bankrupt. "This is it, boys! Tonight, we change our fate!"

His 'followers' watched the glowing disk in their leader's hand, full of both envy and expectation.

They had listened to their boss boasting about this magical thing for so long that they didn't doubt it at all. Anyway, the appraiser's death couldn't have been faked, and there was no reason for their leader to lie about such a thing for so long.

"I hope that the two of them still survive after their talents are plundered."

"Yeah, it would be nice to raise two beauties in our gang. At least we'll have something good to look at while getting things done for the boss in the future, ahaha."

"Who wants to raise them a talentless waste? These two are better off just used and thrown away."

The man's companions also seemed to realize that they had to change their way of thinking now that they were no longer 'just thugs', and the thought brought another burst of happiness.

Evelyn patted Cecilia's hand when she felt her shudder in disgust. "Shh, they won't be happy for long."

As soon as the words left her lips, a dull wave of shock erupted from the array disk in Cloud's hand, sending everyone in the hideout stumbling back in shock and excitement.

But as they looked at their leader's enraged and confused expression, their ecstatic shock dissolved like smoke in the wind.

"What's going on?"

"Did it not work?!"

Cloud frowned, but after checking that nothing seemed to be wrong on his side, he couldn't help but step forward to check on the two girls he had captured.

"… They're dead?"

Even the residual warmth of their bodies seemed to have disappeared, leaving only a cold corpse with blank eyes that remained open blankly.

The gruff leader of the thugs couldn't help but clutch his head in desperation. "B-But… I can't feel any change in my body at all? What's going on? Was the appraiser wrong?"

The only reason he could think of if that wasn't the case would be if the two girls didn't have any talent in the first place, but that was impossible.

According to the old innkeeper, at least one of them must have an extremely high light affinity, and there was no reason for her to lie to him about such a thing. Otherwise, it would make no sense for them to capture these girls for their client, either.

Before he could consider the matter further, however, the door to the warehouse slammed open.

"In the name of the Third Princess of Lavinia, kneel!"

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Evelyn smiled as she hid with Cecilia under the spatial isolation once again, watching the royal guards quickly drag the thugs and corpses away. "She's more efficient than I thought."

Of course, given that this hideout was still inside the town, and it wasn't very large to begin with, perhaps it was to be expected that they would find it quickly as long as they followed the clues Evelyn had intentionally left behind.

The pink-haired girl didn't wait for long before she headed back to the carriage, instructing only Ruru to stay out so she could use the eternal ripple to observe the situation inside the mayor's mansion.

After all, not only did she need to see how Lorraine would handle the situation, but Evelyn was also quite curious about what a 'Deacon' of the Temple of Shinra would do when confronted by the Lavinian Empire's Third Princess.

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