The next day.
The noisy sounds of training outside woke Luke up.
He opened his eyes and blinked drowsily. The thin, chilly air made him tug the blanket tighter around himself.
By then, it was already light out. In the end, Luke broke the seal on the covers and sat up.
"Sign in."
[Congratulations, Host, you have received 1 hundred-year monkey wine.]
[Congratulations, Host, you have received 1 Aura-Hiding Potion.]
Two system notifications rang out in succession.
Luke's gaze settled on the second reward, and he quickly checked the description.
An Aura-Hiding Potion, a potion that completely concealed one's presence after drinking it, lasting for twelve hours.
For an assassin like Katarina, it was practically a perfect item.
Twelve full hours of completely hiding one's aura. In that state, even someone with extremely sharp senses would probably have a hard time detecting her.
Luke already had the Concealment Art, though. At level eight, it could already reduce his presence to almost nothing, so this potion was not especially useful to him.
The other reward, the hundred-year monkey wine, was enough to wake up his craving for a drink first thing in the morning.
His body was cold anyway, so he pulled the wine from his bag and poured himself a small cup.
As the rich fragrance of the wine spread through his mouth, the monkey wine flowed into his stomach and gradually turned into a pleasant warmth that spread through his entire body.
He immediately felt much warmer.
There was not much of the monkey wine to begin with, and once Luke got a taste for it, he drank the whole thing down in a few gulps. Just then, his whole body suddenly loosened for no apparent reason.
Then the system's voice sounded again.
[Congratulations, Host, your talent has advanced to 70.]
His talent had broken through again. This time, he could finally feel a little of it. His body felt much lighter, as if he had entered some strange state he could not quite put into words.
Luke did not pay too much attention to the issue of talent. He stood up and headed outside.
He was probably the last one awake. By now, everyone else had finished breakfast and gone off to their own tasks.
Yurna had still left him some breakfast, though.
It was simple, two dark loaves of bread and a bowl of vegetable and meat porridge.
Under the current circumstances, they did not have especially good conditions, so Luke was not going to be eating lavish meals for now. Still, he had never been picky.
If there was good food, he would eat good food. If there was not, he would just eat normally.
The bread looked dark on the outside, but it had been baked to a crisp shell, while the inside was soft and chewy with a faint sweetness. It actually tasted quite good.
Paired with the vegetable and meat porridge, one bite took down half a loaf.
Most importantly, it was filling.
Bread was one of the easiest staple foods to make and one of the least labor-intensive. During wartime, it was one of the most common reserve foods.
After breakfast, Luke learned that Lux and Kahina had already gone to gather with the Illuminators.
That was the reason the two of them had come in the first place, so now that they were in Hill City, naturally they were not going to sit around doing nothing.
It seemed Shyvana had gone along as well. She wanted to offer a little of her own strength to the city that had taken her in.
Vayne and Frey, meanwhile, had taken Poppy to the military camp to train alongside the soldiers.
Katarina, now reduced to being a maid, had nowhere to go. She was not even any good at being a maid.
Or rather, as someone born into Noxian high nobility, when had she ever served anyone before?
At the moment, she was lazily sitting not far from Sona, listening to her practice the zither, and seemed to be enjoying herself quite a bit.
And at that moment, the one bringing Luke a hot cup of tea was still Yurna.
Seeing that, Luke immediately felt that this would not do.
The red-haired girl clearly still had not figured out her position. Yurna was still doing all the work, so what was the point of bringing in a new maid?
Just to add another mouth at the table?
Looks like he needed to train this girl a little.
After thinking it over, Luke called out directly, "You over there."
The moment she heard his voice, Katarina knew he had to be talking to her. So she turned around and looked at Luke with a cool expression. "I have a name."
Luke replied, "I know you have a name, but I like calling you that. Is that a problem?"
Katarina looked at him in silence.
This guy had clearly decided to pick a fight over nothing again.
Reminding herself that putting up with it for now would keep the peace, she said, "It's not a problem. So what do you want?"
Luke answered flatly, "Wrong answer on the first sentence. As punishment, you don't get lunch."
Katarina paused, then frowned slightly. "What did I do wrong?"
Luke looked at her. "You object?"
Katarina met his gaze without fear. "Of course I object."
Losing a meal for no reason at all, anyone would object.
Luke said directly, "Talking back, now you lose dinner too."
Katarina: "?"
She saw it clearly now.
This guy was just looking for an excuse to mess with her.
As he looked at the red-haired girl's face going cold, Luke did not care in the slightest. "Yurna, tell her the correct answer."
"Yes, Your Highness." Standing beside him, Yurna said expressionlessly, "At a time like this, the proper response is, 'Your Highness, what would you like me to do?'"
"Understand now?" Luke looked at Katarina and said coolly, "Your current role is that of a maid, so before you speak, you need to remember who you are."
Katarina remembered that she really had agreed to serve as this guy's maid, so she silently swallowed her irritation, stood up, and said, "Your Highness, what would you like me to do?"
Luke said, "Nothing. Sit."
Yet not long after Katarina sat back down, she heard his voice again.
"You over there."
"Your Highness, what would you like me to do?"
Suppressing her patience, Katarina stood up and repeated the same line.
Luke casually ordered, "Go get me a glass of water."
Katarina looked at the hot tea Yurna had just placed in front of him and could not stop herself from saying, "Don't you already have something to drink?"
"Wrong answer. As punishment, tomorrow's breakfast is gone too."
After saying that, Luke gave her the explanation. "Tea is tea, water is water. Your job is not to question my order. Your job is to carry it out. Understood?"
Katarina clenched her fists and took a deep breath. "Understood."
Hold it in. Hold it in.
She repeated those two words to herself over and over as she turned and walked away.
A few minutes later, she returned with a cup of hot water. Standing by Luke's side, she had gotten smarter and said, "Here is your water, Your Highness."
"Wrong."
That single calm word completely threw Katarina.
What was wrong now?
"It should be, 'Your Highness, your water,'" Luke said as he took the cup and gave it a light sip. "The temperature is fine, but tomorrow's lunch is gone too."
The corner of Katarina's mouth twitched. Her clenched fists trembled slightly, and as she looked at Luke, a faint trace of killing intent burst out from her eyes despite herself.
Put up with it for now and things stay peaceful, take one step back and somehow it only gets more infuriating.
When had Katarina ever been treated like this?
If it were anyone else, she would have stabbed them already and made sure they understood exactly what happens when they push too far.
But now, after struggling several times inside her own head, Katarina forced herself to endure it.
It was not worth risking her life over a bastard like this.
The first lesson in becoming a top-tier assassin was learning not to let emotions control the body. No matter the circumstances, one had to keep a heart as still as water.
A high-level assassin also had to learn to adapt to any environment.
Even though Katarina was furious inside by now, she still held back.
Becoming this guy's maid for now was only a means to achieve her own goal.
Forcing herself to calm down, Katarina looked at Luke and said through gritted teeth, "Understood, Your Highness. Is there anything else you need?"
"There is one more thing..."
Luke thoughtfully looked Katarina up and down.
She was still wearing thick clothes because it was winter, but even so, it was easy to tell she had a good figure.
That look made Katarina feel deeply uncomfortable.
Then she heard Luke say, "Yurna, give her one of your spare maid outfits too."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Yurna answered at once.
The moment she heard that, Katarina instinctively wanted to refuse, but in the end she said nothing.
She silently followed Yurna away.
Even without Luke saying it again, she already understood that she had to recognize her current place.
This was no longer her free and easy life back in Noxus.
A short while later, Katarina returned behind Yurna, now dressed in a maid outfit.
Her head was lowered slightly, and she bit her lip as though enduring something. Her red hair fell over both shoulders, and beneath the black-violet maid dress was a clearly shapely figure. The dress did not actually reveal much more than before, but it showed her figure better than her old clothes had.
The biggest change was the contrast in her aura. Katarina's cold, aloof temperament paired with the maid outfit surprisingly well.
Compared to Yurna, she had a little less of the natural maid-like presence, but it still suited her extremely well.
"It looks good on you. I hope this outfit reminds you at all times what you should be doing."
Luke gave her an approving look from head to toe.
His praise did not make Katarina happy in the slightest. Wearing a maid outfit for the first time in her life filled her with a strange sense of humiliation.
As if by dressing like this, she had truly become someone beneath him.
Looking at her like this, Luke knew the red-haired girl still was not convinced deep down.
But this was only the beginning. Training took time.
After thinking it over, he stood up. "Nice weather today. Let's go take a walk outside."
Katarina raised her head, then lowered it to look at the maid dress she was wearing.
He wanted her to go out in this?
"Let's go."
Luke shot her a look that allowed no refusal and headed outside.
Yurna followed behind him. Katarina, seeing that, had no choice but to follow as well.
Sona, who normally disliked crowded places, also followed Luke this time, seemingly planning to go out with him too.
Luke looked at her and said, "You don't have to force yourself. You can just stay home and rest."
Sona shook her head, her thoughts drifting into his mind. "It's okay. I want to go out and look around too."
"Mm."
Since it was her own choice, Luke did not say anything more.
The four of them walking through the street together drew plenty of attention.
Just their looks and presence alone were enough to attract people, and among the four, the two beautiful maids only highlighted Luke's noble status.
Katarina kept her head lowered as she followed behind Luke. Feeling all those eyes landing on her, she felt a strange sense of shame.
It was not as if she had never seen maids before, but she had never once imagined that one day she would become one herself.
There was nothing inherently wrong with the role, but Katarina had always been proud to the core, and she still found it hard to accept.
She glanced at Yurna beside her. Yurna remained expressionless, as though fully used to all of this.
Katarina took a deep breath and calmed herself down, continually reminding herself that a strong assassin had to learn to adapt to the environment.
After enough self-reassurance, she suddenly felt a little less humiliated.
Then her eyes began to drift over the streets around them.
She realized they had entered a street where the atmosphere was not lively at all.
Or rather, the whole street carried a grief that was difficult to describe.
Jarvan IV had specifically set aside this street for those who had lost family members and companions. Here, they could mourn the loved ones and friends who had died because of Noxus.
So naturally, there was no way the atmosphere could be cheerful.
Everyone who came to this street had lost someone important.
Looking at those sorrowful, grieving faces, Katarina honestly did not feel much herself.
Because the education she had received from childhood had slowly turned her into a cold and indifferent person.
If your heart was not cold, you could not become an assassin.
That sentence had always echoed in her ears.
So when she saw other people's suffering unfold right in front of her, she did not feel sad or heartbroken. Even as a Noxian, as one of those responsible, she felt very little guilt, almost none.
After all, she had always taken pride in Noxus. How could she pity the enemy or grieve for the enemy?
But that did not stop her from thinking about deeper questions.
From the time she was young, everything she had been taught, everything she had believed, was to take pride in the nation and to conquer all things with strength.
To possess great power was to possess everything.
Born into high nobility, the way her family impressed that belief on her had been even deeper and heavier.
For the glory of mighty Noxus, those words had practically been carved into her brain since childhood.
She had even imagined that one day she would put on armor and join the invasion herself, fighting for her country.
And from childhood until now, she had worked toward that very goal.
Until her father told her that she was an assassin, and that what she was meant to do was not fight on the battlefield, but eliminate the empire's parasites and those who threatened it.
So she had thought, then I'll fight for my country in a different way.
Even though she had grown up under that kind of education, Katarina was not a puppet, nor a cold machine. Her mind could still function freely. She could still think like a normal person. She was not some fanatic imperialist.
The moment her mission failed, and her father tried to destroy her without a trace of hesitation or emotion, Katarina broke free from the ideas that had caged her since childhood.
She could not help but ask herself, had she been fighting for her father, or for her family and empire?
If she truly had to abandon one of the three, then Katarina made her choice immediately.
She would fight for her family and for the empire. Never again for any one person.
So, for the first time, she stepped beyond her homeland and headed west.
And happened to arrive just as Noxus launched its invasion.
Along the road, she had seen too much slaughter. The butcher's knife took life after life as though it were carving up cattle.
She saw many villages where not a single person remained alive. In some of them, the smell of blood could still be caught just from passing nearby.
It lingered for days and nights without fading.
As a Noxian, she could not judge whether the empire's act of invasion was right or wrong.
Because the empire had been doing this for a very long time already. For many people, it had become simply a way of life.
And yet, she had begun to vaguely feel that somewhere along the way, the empire had started moving farther and farther down the wrong path.
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