Count Mills stood up, wanting to walk to the window for some fresh air. The moment he turned around, his arm accidentally brushed against a delicate bone china teacup on the edge of the desk.
The porcelain cup tilted, about to fall to the ground.
However, in the next instant, a steady hand reached out from the side, caught the teacup, and then handed it back to Count Mills.
"Thank you."
Count Mills thanked him instinctively.
Before he finished speaking, his entire body suddenly stiffened, and a cold chill instantly shot up his spine to the top of his head, making him shiver.
His study was an absolute private sanctuary; without his summons, no attendant would dare to step half a foot inside.
So, the question was.
Whose hand was this?!
Count Mills gasped sharply, suppressing the exclamation that almost escaped his throat, forcing himself to calm down as quickly as possible.
He slowly turned around.
Then.
A young, exceedingly handsome face, one he was intimately familiar with, came into his view.
"Mr. Mills, how have you been?"
The Knight of Flowers, Charles Haynes, had a brilliant smile on his lips, no different from usual, but there was no mirth in his Azure pupils.
"Charles?! So you're alright?!"
After a brief silence, Count Mills squeezed out an expression of surprise and joy on his face.
"Gods above! This is truly wonderful! I always thought... I thought something terrible had happened to you in the Evil Dragon's territory."
The Count spoke excitedly, while extending his hand very naturally.
He wanted to, as usual, enthusiastically take Charles's hand to express his closeness and concern.
This was his usual tactic for winning people over.
Through simple physical contact and a condescending attitude from a superior, he could always easily move those naive young people, making them feel good about him.
However, this time.
Charles Haynes took a step back with a blank expression, avoiding Count Mills's outstretched hand.
That hand hung in mid-air.
The Knight of Flowers looked at the seemingly heartfelt expression of surprise and joy on the Count's face, then recalled the other party's indifferent, disgusted, and annoyed voice in the crystal ball communication, like discarding trash—a useless waste, the Albert Family would not pay even a single copper coin for him!
The stark contrast made all of the Count's current emotional expressions seem incredibly hypocritical, artificial, and even nauseating in Charles's eyes.
"Mr. Mills."
Charles's voice was calm, without a ripple.
"Before returning, I had a doubt in my heart that I wanted to ask you about in person."
"Oh? What problem troubles you so much, my child?"
The Count's tone remained gentle.
Charles said, "Rhode Albert, Sienna Albert, Sanchez Albert... these three, as well as many private army leaders and elite warriors under your command, all share a common characteristic."
"They are all without parents, their backgrounds as clean as a blank sheet of paper."
"The Albert Family was able to recruit so many warriors with tragic backgrounds yet extraordinary talents, willing to die unconditionally for the family."
"Is all of this just because of luck?"
The Knight of Flowers gazed at Count Mills, observing his reaction.
"The family has established several charitable orphanages, and Rhode and the others were indeed helpless children, adopted by the family, given education and warmth."
Count Mills maintained his outward composure.
He countered, "They are grateful for the family's nurturing, and therefore strive to improve themselves and willingly pledge allegiance to the family. Is there a problem with that?"
"Is that so?"
The Knight of Flowers slowly said, his voice deepening.
"I returned to the south a step earlier than Rhode and the others."
"To prevent myself from being deceived, incited, and tricked by lies once again, I haven't been idle during the past time."
Charles took a small step forward, and an invisible sense of oppression spread with him.
"I spent a considerable amount of time and energy, like a true detective, not the naive Knight you expected, conducting detailed, in-depth, and even dangerous investigations throughout the Albert Family's territory."
Count Mills's brows furrowed slightly.
"During the investigation, I discovered a rather interesting phenomenon."
"The Albert Family generously bestowed various favors upon the common people of the territory, such as tax reductions, road repairs, and the distribution of inexpensive medicines."
"But after each act of kindness, if there were young children in the benefiting family, the family's benevolence would go a step further."
"They would generously and enthusiastically conduct various talent and potential tests for those children for free."
The Knight's gaze swept over the Count's slightly tensing jawline, and he continued, "Even more interesting is that the public order in your family's territory, on the surface, is indeed exemplary, with diligent patrol teams and extremely low crime rates."
"However, the frequency of various accidents is unusually high, and they particularly favor families whose children have just been tested and deemed to have decent or excellent talent."
"Fires, collapses, monster attacks, even simple accidental falls into water... these accidents always create new orphans."
"As a result, the number of orphans in the Albert territory far exceeds the normal range for a Count's territory, but unfortunately, no one usually pays attention."
As he spoke, the Knight took another step closer.
The distance between him and the Count was now less than three feet.
"Mr. Mills."
Charles calmly asked, "Can you explain to me why this is?"
Count Mills's face finally darkened.
"I don't know what nonsense you're spouting."
"Charles, I was very happy to see you return safely, but your baseless malicious conjectures make me very unhappy!"
His voice was low, with a hint of reproach.
"The Albert Family performs good deeds without compensation, adopts orphans, and bestows favors, yet you defile this kindness with such filthy thoughts! Is the Knight's spirit you believe in meant to be used to make such conjectures about your benefactor?!"
As he spoke, his finger very subtly brushed a gem ring on his finger.
That was a magical item for triggering an emergency distress call.
However, the surroundings were dead silent, and nothing happened.
The expected guards bursting through the door, the flashing alarm lights, the activated defensive magic arrays... nothing happened.
"Don't bother, Mr. Mills."
"Whether it's your voice, the magical signal from your ring, or any attempt to penetrate this place, all have been isolated."
Charles tilted his head slightly and said, "They, like you, are trapped in this spatial cage, unable to reach the other side you anticipate."
For the first time, fear appeared on Count Mills's face.
"Charles!"
The Count, maintaining his noble dignity, roared in a low, blustering voice, "You... what exactly do you want to do? Have you forgotten the kindness I once showed you?!"
"Who generously helped you when you were penniless and desperate? Who gave you that priceless antidote when you were poisoned and on the verge of death?! Is your Knight's virtue meant to repay your benefactor with betrayal and a blade?!"
Clang—!
His agitated words were abruptly interrupted by a crisp, cold sound of metal friction.
The Knight of Flowers drew his broadsword.
"The favors you spoke of, I have already repaid with my life and freedom. We are now even."
Charles slowly raised the longsword in his hand, its tip steadily pointing at Count Mills's heart.
"Standing before you now is merely a Knight determined to eradicate evil and hypocrisy."
Count Mills retreated step by step, cold sweat beading on his forehead.
"Don't do anything foolish! Charles! You must have been bewitched by that Evil Dragon! Lost your mind!"
"We can talk things over! All the doubts and suspicions in your heart, I promise, I will give you a perfect and reasonable explanation! Trust me!"
The Knight of Flowers was already deaf to his words.
He was unwilling to waste any more breath on this hypocritical Count, took a step forward, and the broadsword in his hand transformed into a cold flash of light, thrusting straight out.
The blade easily tore through several layers of defensive shields that instantly activated on the Count, precisely piercing the heart beneath the luxurious velvet gown.
Count Mills's eyes widened abruptly, his face filled with incredulous shock and extreme fear of death.
He opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to say something, but could only feel his life force rapidly draining away like a receding tide. In the end, he couldn't utter a single word, only a hoarse, gasping sound.
The Knight of Flowers slowly withdrew the blood-stained broadsword, looked at the Count's collapsing body, and spoke his last words.
"Oh, and the King of Molten Iron asked me to say hello to you on his behalf."
The King of Molten Iron?!
That damned Evil Dragon was behind all of this! He bewitched Charles!
Boundless anger and regret instantly engulfed Mills's consciousness. His eyes finally remained wide open, filled with resentment and unwillingness, as he crashed heavily onto the cold, luxurious floor.
Dying with his eyes open.
The Knight of Flowers, Charles Haynes, stood silently in place.
He flicked his wrist gently, shaking off the last few drops of blood clinging to the blade, then calmly sheathed his longsword.
Ripples like water spread around him, his figure became blurred and transparent, like a shadow merging into the air, finally disappearing.
But he did not immediately leave the Albert Family manor.
The Boundary Walker roamed through the spatial rifts, like a ghost, silently moving through the heavily guarded corridors and courtyards of the manor.
He came to the Alchemist Sienna's bedroom, and to the bedside of the Guardian Mage Sanchez.
Finally, he stopped at the Rune Knight Rhode Albert's room.
In each room, he left a neatly arranged stack of papers containing the truth.
They were silently placed by the sleeping person's pillow, within reach.
After doing all this, Charles's figure completely vanished into space, as if he had never appeared.
"Who?!"
Rhode Albert suddenly opened his eyes.
This General Evil Wolf, who had experienced countless battles and hovered on the brink of life and death numerous times, possessed perception so keen it was almost instinctive.
Although he failed to clearly detect the imperceptible spatial fluctuations, he was still startled awake, instantly springing up from his bed.
The room was empty, with no obvious signs of an intruder.
However, his gaze was instantly drawn to the stack of papers that had suddenly appeared on the bedside table.
Rhode frowned, cautiously picked up the stack of papers, and began to read them carefully.
The night was silent, with only the faint rustling of turning pages.
Those screening lists for talent tests.
Those investigation reports on accidental incidents.
Those hidden clues pointing to directives from the family's high-ranking members.
Every name, every date... like a sharp sword, tore open the vague childhood fragments deep within Rhode's memory.
The accident of losing his parents, the family orphanage's adoption, the instilled gratitude and loyalty... as he read deeper, his pupils suddenly contracted, and the expression on his face began to change dramatically.
From initial confusion, it turned to shock, then to uncontrollable rage.
Finally, his face became completely ashen and twisted, ferocious like a thoroughly enraged General Evil Wolf.
Just as this emotion was about to fully erupt.
Rhode Albert, the Albert Family's General Evil Wolf, suddenly closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, all the violent external reactions from before had been suppressed, little by little.
The ferocious ashen color slowly faded from his face, his muscles relaxed, and his twisted expression returned to calm, expressionless.
However.
Certain things that once supported his life and for which he had fought valiantly had completely collapsed like a sandcastle, vanishing into thin air, while other entirely different, dark, and intense things were silently sprouting, growing wildly on the ruins of loyalty.
It was foreseeable.
With the death of the family head and the defection of once loyal pillars, it wouldn't be long before the Albert Family would exist in name only.
Few would believe:
All of this began with a Red Iron Dragon a thousand miles away.