Chapter 4:

Do Cultists Also Betray Each Other?

“You come over here!”

Jessica pointed at Henry, telling him to come over.

However, Henry turned his head to look around, as if he hadn’t seen Jessica’s gesture, and turned to leave.

This made Jessica somewhat angry.

Hadn’t this guy just wanted to borrow money from her? Could it be that he didn’t want to help her with anything at all?

Thinking this, Jessica flashed forward and appeared in front of Henry, grabbing his wrist!

She forced a smile on her face, but the bulging veins on her forehead betrayed her emotions.

“Henry, didn’t you hear me talking to you?”

“Your Royal Highness the Princess, do I look like a fool to you?” Henry pointed at his own face, which was filled with a polite smile, looking harmless as a lamb.

“Don’t you want to borrow money? I can lend it to you, but you have to help me look for clues.”

“This statement is wrong—money is indeed precious, but life is worth even more!”

“I can make an exception and let you pass tomorrow’s Assessment Exam.” Jessica’s voice was flat, but the words she spoke exploded like an atomic bomb.

At this moment, in front of Her Royal Highness the Princess, all connections paled in comparison.

The Rumelter family?

Compared to Her Royal Highness the Princess, they were nothing!

“Your Royal Highness the Princess, for you, even if you ask me to live in luxury and comfort—ah no, to go through fire and water—I would not hesitate!”

Jessica was almost tortured to death by Henry’s shameless behavior.

This guy simply didn’t play by the rules.

When she talked to him about money, he said life was important. But when she talked to him about admission, he didn’t even care about his life.

Looking at Henry’s devil-may-care attitude, Jessica suddenly thought about Henry’s current situation.

Could this guy be trying to prove himself to the Rumelter family?

Henry had no idea that this was his image in Her Royal Highness the Princess’s mind.

He just felt that the value wasn’t high enough yet.

Henry followed Jessica back to the crime scene.

But witnessing the horrific environment of the scene again, Jessica couldn’t help but cover her nose and mouth.

Henry, on the other hand, appeared extremely calm.

He crouched down and poked the half-corpse on the ground with his hand, then turned his head and said seriously:

“Dead.”

Well, perhaps letting Henry look for clues was a mistake.

It would be quite good if this guy didn’t cause her trouble!

“Henry, please tell me something I don’t know.”

“The perpetrator must have escaped through the window.”

Hearing this, Jessica turned to look at the window.

She saw a blood-red handprint on the wall, with some blood traces still remaining on the windowsill.

Following the window’s direction, several corpses with strange death appearances were lying on the ground.

“What exactly are these cultists trying to do with innocent people?”

She walked to the window, Magical Power gradually surging through her body, her hair floating with the magic.

At the same time, her pupils underwent a transformation—her originally pitch-black pupils gradually turned ice blue.

Henry, standing nearby, could feel Her Royal Highness the Princess’s anger and her surging Magical Power.

However, he discovered something more important.

He walked straight toward the Crystal Chandelier that had fallen to the ground, with an arm hanging from it.

But Henry could still discern some clues from the arm.

On the arm, a strange Magic Circle seemed to be carved.

To be precise, this was a Magic Circle that used flesh as sacrifice to obtain enormous magical power.

Such missions existed in the game—every town might have the presence of cultists.

For the sake of Dark Magic, they would not hesitate to use Forbidden Magic, treating people as living energy sources to achieve their goals.

The Magic Circle he saw upon entering was one used to sacrifice people, while the one on the severed arm was for absorbing magical power.

If it were ordinary Residents, that would be understandable.

But the current situation was extremely suspicious.

Why did the dead person’s arm also have this mark?

Could it be that before they arrived, two factions of cultists had betrayed each other?

This probability was very high—so where could the remaining people have fled to in such a short time?

Forget it, why was he thinking so much about this?

Her Royal Highness the Princess was paying him just to find clues. As for the results, that was Her Royal Highness the Princess’s business.

He turned around, about to report his findings to Jessica.

But a Magic Knight hurried over from outside and said to Jessica:

“Your Royal Highness the Princess, we just found a letter outside.”

Jessica took the letter and opened it to read. Soon, her brow furrowed tightly, and anger gradually ignited in her eyes.

She crumpled the letter to pieces, her gritted teeth revealing her fury.

“These scum actually dare to provoke me!”

Henry was somewhat surprised—the usually composed Princess actually lost her composure?

It seemed the letter’s content was easily infuriating.

“Henry, you can go back and rest now. I’ll make sure you pass tomorrow’s Assessment Exam smoothly.”

“Eh, is it that simple? Don’t you need me to do anything else?”

“I already know where those people are. As for Henry, who has no magical power, if you follow me, you might get hurt. Although we only have a transactional relationship, I don’t want you to get injured because of me.”

A faint smile appeared on Jessica’s face, radiating confidence.

Looking at her smile, Henry understood why players in the game liked this Princess so much.

However, Her Royal Highness the Princess was truly somewhat heartless.

Although their relationship was a one-night monetary transaction, she didn’t need to refuse so thoroughly.

If the money was right, Henry wouldn’t mind developing a long-term relationship.

He meant the kind of relationship where he occasionally helped Her Royal Highness the Princess.

*****

“Continue reporting the situation from earlier.”

Jessica followed the Magic Knight toward the outskirts farm.

According to the letter, those cultists had kidnapped the farm owner and were using this to threaten Her Royal Highness the Princess to come alone.

But the Magic Knight beside her was worried about Her Royal Highness the Princess going alone and insisted on staying by her side.

“When we were searching the house, we discovered this letter imbued with magical power. The other party seems to have guessed that Your Royal Highness the Princess would appear here, so they deliberately left the letter in this place.”

“So tell me, what exactly do those cultists want to do? Why do they want me to go alone?”

Jessica walked ahead, seemingly paying no attention to the Magic Knight behind her.

The Magic Knight followed closely behind Jessica.

He slowly pulled a dagger shrouded in black mist from his pocket, his voice still calmly replying:

“Perhaps they think they can use Your Royal Highness the Princess to threaten the empire.”

He raised the dagger high, his face revealing a maniacal smile.

A silver light flashed across the night sky.

In an instant, flames exploded in the air!

The Magic Knight who had just tried to launch a sneak attack was now lying on the ground with rolled-back eyes.

His armor was blown to pieces, revealing the strange clothing underneath.

And on his arm, there was clearly a strange Magic Circle carved as well.

Jessica silently sheathed her sword, flames flickering in her pupils.

“It’s because you don’t understand me.”