Osha enjoyed teasing Zhe Zilin like this.
She did not know when it had started, but in front of Zhe Zilin, she no longer wanted to act like a little bird relying on others as she had in the past.
Ever since someone had snatched Zhe Zilin away from her side, she had changed subtly.
She had sensed the crisis, so she wanted to fight for him.
She wanted to snatch him back. She would never let Zhe Zilin leave her again.
“Ed, once the funeral is over, let us return to the royal capital.”
Osha’s eyes were filled with tender affection.
Her neatly coiled hair made her look extremely gentle and graceful.
Zhe Zilin remained silent. His thoughts were in turmoil.
Ailia wanted him to stay. Osha wanted to take him away.
Yet he neither wanted to remain in the castle nor be imprisoned in the palace.
Sometimes he would even fantasize about the three of them living in peace and going on adventures across the world together.
Living their days well with just the three of them was more important than anything else.
Obviously, this was unrealistic. But he wanted to try his best.
At the very least, if the two of them could meet without fighting, that would already be a huge step forward.
Zhe Zilin pretended not to hear and stiffly changed the topic. “After sleeping for an entire day, I seem to be hungry. Let me cook for you.”
“Ed, since when do you know how to cook? Are you trying to poison me?”
A trace of disappointment and sorrow clearly flashed through Osha’s eyes, but she did her best to hide it and did not continue the previous topic.
“I am confident that my cooking tastes better than those so-called master chefs in the royal capital.”
Zhe Zilin raised his eyebrows confidently and walked toward the door.
“You will know once you try it.”
Osha chuckled softly. She climbed out of bed and put on a silver-white long dress.
“What if it does not taste good?”
Zhe Zilin lowered his eyes in thought. “What do you want to do then?”
Osha opened the room door and tilted her head. “Tonight you will also have to tell me a story. A story about the days you disappeared.”
Before Zhe Zilin could even nod, Osha walked out of the room.
Followed by the royal guards, the two of them arrived at the castle’s main hall.
Osha sat quietly on a bearskin chair and rested her chin on her hand. “Chef, I am looking forward to your creation.”
Zhe Zilin rolled up his sleeves. “It will astonish you.”
With that, under Osha’s doting gaze, he walked into the kitchen.
He had originally thought that as the exclusive castle of the Gareth family, the kitchen would be bustling with people.
He never expected that only one person was busy in front of the water basin.
Zhe Zilin shrugged and walked over to the person. He squatted down and began selecting ingredients.
He planned to make an entire table of dishes to amaze Osha.
He placed the ingredients on the cutting board, peeled them, and displayed his impeccable knife skills.
In the blink of an eye, all the ingredients for the dishes he wanted to make were prepared.
Zhe Zilin took a step forward and asked politely, “May I ask where I can find fresh meat?”
The person turned around and smiled. “Leibang Ed, hello.”
Zhe Zilin took a step back and placed his hand on the hilt of the Dragon Slayer.
He clearly remembered the guy in front of him. Last night, he had slit his throat with one slash and killed him.
Leon. It was impossible for him to still be alive.
Zhe Zilin spoke coldly. “I am not feeling very good right now.”
Leon had anticipated Zhe Zilin’s reaction. He raised both hands to show that he did not want any conflict here.
“Relax. I am not a vengeful ghost. I am a real, living person.”
“This is also our first meeting. The rumored playboy Leibang Ed does not seem as worthless as the stories claim.”
Zhe Zilin did not approach rashly and maintained a certain distance.
When the other party suddenly spoke his real identity, there was no doubt that killing intent had been stirred.
But doubt ultimately overcame impulse. In the entire Northern Territory, besides the half-orcs, only Ailia and Osha knew his identity.
Was this person one of the five half-orcs? No. Half-orcs always moved in groups.
“Who are you?”
Leon spread his hands.
“Eldest son of the King of the North, Gareth Leon. Who else could I be?”
Zhe Zilin’s voice was very cold. “Stop pretending. I do not care who you are. If Leon can die once, he can die a second time.”
Leon fake-coughed a few times. From the back door of the kitchen came Airigo’s voice. “My lord, do you have any orders?”
“It is nothing. Thank you for your hard work, Knight.”
Zhe Zilin frowned. The other party was telling him not to act rashly.
If he dared to make a move, Airigo would immediately gather all the soldiers in the Northern Territory to surround the castle.
Even with Princess Osha’s status, this was still the Northern Territory. A powerful dragon could not suppress a local snake.
Leon said, “I am just a nameless nobody. It is not worth you knowing who I am. As for why I became Leon, I simply wanted to have a chat with you.”
Zhe Zilin released the sword hilt and turned around to search for fresh meat in the kitchen.
“We have nothing to talk about. If you want revenge, I am ready at any time.”
“No no no, you misunderstand. I do not want revenge.”
Leon squatted down and took out a bloody piece of venison from the cabinet.
He placed it on the cutting board.
“I merely came to act as a mediator.”
Zhe Zilin said nothing and continued processing the venison.
“I hope you can make Ailia drink the magic-nullifying potion. Rest assured, the effect only lasts one month. And hand the King of the North over to me.”
Leon narrowed his eyes and observed Zhe Zilin’s expression.
“How about it? There is no loss for you either.”
Zhe Zilin’s face remained expressionless.
However, every time the kitchen knife cut down while processing the meat, a deep mark appeared on the cutting board.
“I refuse. Are you going to start threatening me now?”
Although he did not know who this fake Leon was, since the other party knew his real identity, he must have grasped many things that could be used to threaten him.
For example, revealing to Osha that on the first day he arrived, he had come together with Ailia.
Or stirring up trouble beside Osha and provoking a conflict between Ailia and Osha.
Zhe Zilin’s mind worked rapidly. He still considered killing the fake Leon in front of him as one of his top options.
Because nothing troubled him more than Ailia and Osha fighting each other.
Leon washed his hands and casually found a cloth to dry them.
“I do not want to do that either. But if you insist on refusing, then I will have no choice but to think of other methods to achieve my goal.”
He leaned closer and lowered his voice.
“Actually, someone told me to kill Ailia and you, then bring back the King of the North’s corpse. But I do not want to kill anyone. The proposal I made earlier seems like a win-win outcome to me.”
“Win-win?” Zhe Zilin stabbed the kitchen knife into the cutting board.
The entire piece of venison had already been sliced into fine strips.
“You think you have me figured out?”
Leon no longer hid his edge.
“Of course I cannot do it alone. But Princess Osha can.”
“I have heard that Princess Osha can do anything for you. I have also heard that she possesses the True God’s Power and does not fear the World-Ender Witch.”
Killing intent burst forth in Zhe Zilin’s eyes. He turned his head and re-examined the fake Leon in front of him.
“Do not look at me with murderous eyes. Perhaps you are not afraid of the consequences of killing the King of the North’s eldest son. But what if even if you kill me, you still cannot stop Osha from making things difficult for Ailia?”
“I have already sent people to find the half-orcs. They know that you have been staying by the Witch’s side this whole time. If you kill me now, once the half-orcs are captured and brought back, they will still say everything they know in order to survive.”
Zhe Zilin’s heart trembled.
He suddenly recalled that when he was following Leon last night, Leon’s lover had said she knew One-Eye and the other half-orcs.
Besides the half-orcs, only she knew that Zhe Zilin was in Ailia’s castle.
And that woman’s name. Leon had called it out before.
Zhe Zilin’s gaze was sharp. “I know who you are.”
“The woman in the wooden house north of the forest. Tana.”
“You said someone told you to do this?”
Zhe Zilin paused. His thoughts suddenly connected.
He should have known earlier.
The only one who wanted the King of the North’s corpse was one person.
No, it did not count as a person.
“The mastermind behind this is the Ice Demon.”