Wesley took off the gardener’s hat and placed it over his face, savoring a moment of rest in the morning.
After the Gregory Trial Case, he was spared from the death penalty but could not escape punishment, and was sent here for house arrest.
As its name implied, the Royal Gardener’s Lodge was for tending to the neighboring Royal Garden.
When he was summoned by an important figure yesterday, his heart nearly leapt out of his chest.
Fortunately, everything went smoothly afterward, and he managed to provide some crucial information.
Perhaps life would be a bit easier from now on.
As he thought this, a smile unconsciously spread across his face.
“This is the place, how strange. Since it’s house arrest, shouldn’t there be some soldiers stationed here? Why haven’t I seen a single one?”
“It seems they were all reassigned. I just saw other soldiers being moved on the road.”
The voices of two girls lingered at the door.
Wesley was full of doubt. He stood up, just about to go take a look—
“Let me open this door~”
Boom!
A fireball exploded on the door with a thunderous roar.
“It’s open, it’s open! Ella, look, there’s someone inside. I told you it was here.”
Ella followed the sound and looked, and sure enough, there was someone, dressed in work clothes for the garden, holding a scorched hat, lying on the ground and crying out in pain.
Vina poked her little head in, curiously saying, “It should be him, right? Why is he lying on the ground?”
“I think,” Ella surveyed the scene, “he was probably knocked down by your explosion just now.”
“Well, that’s perfect. That’s what they call an opening show of force.”
The little witch stepped forward, grabbed the man, and set him down on a still-intact chair in the corner:
“You’re Wesley, aren’t you?”
“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The man with singed hair showed a bewildered look.
“I don’t know anyone…”
The little witch reached out, grabbed an ice spike, and slowly pressed it toward his finger.
“Yes, yes, yes!”
The man immediately changed his tune.
“I’m Wesley!”
“Tsk~” Vina winked at Ella. “He really doesn’t want to suffer at all.”
Truly, he had no backbone.
That’s what Ella thought inside, but she still remembered her role.
So she frowned slightly, looking as if she couldn’t bear to witness the scene: “Mr. Wesley, please cooperate, and you won’t get hurt.Please tell us, what is the Silent Sanctuary, what is the Gregory Trial Case, and what is their connection to Zero?”
These were the three essential questions the two had agreed upon on the way—concise, direct, and straight to the core.
The soft voice of the pink-haired, big-eyed cute girl made Wesley start to imagine things again: “I’ve never heard of it, what do you mean by… ahhhhhh!!”
Vina suddenly stabbed the ice spike into his finger.
The tip was sharp, the low temperature instantly froze the wound, so not much blood came out, but his whole hand had turned blue.
Seeing the little witch conjure a second ice spike, Wesley’s face turned blue as well.
“No, no, no, I’ll talk, I’ll talk, I’ll tell you everything!”
Ella belatedly covered her eyes, sighing in helpless sympathy.
A good girl couldn’t bear to see this.
“Go on,” Vina held four ice spikes in her hand, urging him, “Don’t waste time.”
“I’ll talk, I’ll talk… The Silent Sanctuary is a top-secret organization within the Human Kingdom, originating in the later period of the Highborn Alliance.”
The Highborn Alliance was a matter from a hundred years ago.
Despite its name, not all highborn races were part of it; limited by different needs and geographical constraints, only humans, elves, some beastkin, and a few coastal sirens were in the alliance.
It started as a military alliance, then became a network for exchanging resources, and finally, for various reasons, the alliance fell apart.
“By then, it was already the late stage of the alliance, and distrust among the races was growing. But after years of cooperation, there were still plenty of allied races active within the Kingdom. To prevent them from causing sabotage inside, the Silent Sanctuary was secretly established, aiming to train talents to screen out suspicious targets.”
Ella suddenly understood—it was a counterintelligence organization.
Wesley’s finger hurt less now, so he took a breath and continued, “But as time passed, the conflicts between races intensified, and the higher-ups lost patience, shifting the focus of the Silent Sanctuary from screening to elimination. From that point on, the Silent Sanctuary effectively became a secret assassin organization. The original members weren’t up to the task, so we selected talented orphans and sent them to the Silent Sanctuary to be trained from a young age. After the alliance officially broke up, they… nearly wiped out all non-human races within the borders.”
Vina listened with relish, occasionally letting out a “Wow~”.
“During this internal purge, some higher-ups saw the potential of a secret assassin organization, so the Silent Sanctuary was kept, continuing to train professional killers for certain unspeakable missions.”
“What’s so unspeakable about political assassinations? Do you think I’m a child?”
Vina brandished her ice spike over Wesley’s finger, making him break out in a cold sweat.
“Just say what you know, there’s nothing you can’t say, got it?”
“Okay! Okay! I’ll talk… Then, during the period when the Silent Sanctuary was rampant, political struggles escalated to the point where rivers of blood flowed. Eventually, the higher-ups grew tired of this life-or-death struggle, and someone stepped forward to reconcile, issuing a restriction act for the Silent Sanctuary—limiting their duties, authority, and funding… From then on, the organization began to decline.”
Wesley snuck a glance; the beautiful, gentle, pink-haired, big-chested girl’s eyes were full of sympathy and reluctance—she was so kind.
But the other one was excited, her peach blossom eyes blinking as if she could stab him at any moment, making him suck in a breath and quickly continue:
“Gregory is the overall leader of the Silent Sanctuary. He had watched over it from its heyday, and couldn’t accept seeing his life’s work decline. So, more than ten years ago, he made a desperate gamble, wanting the Kingdom to value the Silent Sanctuary again.
This plan is called ‘Reset’.”
***
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
The footsteps of the heavily armored royal guards landed on the city streets, each step as heavy as a thousand pounds.
Though their pace was slow, they were facing a building that could not move.
At noon, the Bonfire Camp was completely surrounded.
Click.
The gates opened.
Clad in silver armor that hugged her graceful figure, a young girl held a knight’s sword in a reverse grip with her right hand. Her icy blue hair was lifted by the wind.
“Miss Celes, we suspect your companions are the culprits who attempted to assassinate Lord Taidin. Please cooperate.”
The square-faced man saw the armor she wore and his gaze hardened.
“Please don’t do anything irrational.”
The girl’s boots landed lightly on the ground, her steps nothing like the heavy tread of the guards.
“Mr. Maken, both my elders and teachers at home have told me that you are a righteous man who always puts the Kingdom’s interests first,” Celes said, enunciating each word. “So, I’d like to speak to you about this matter…”
“No need.”
Maken seemed to know what she wanted to say. He shook his head, his gaze unwavering:
“It is precisely because I consider the interests of the Human Kingdom that there is no room for discussion on this matter. Do you remember, on the day you returned from Lilburg, the Parliament of the Palace deeply discussed the instability and dangers posed by the Special Squad?”
“…I remember.”
“So, regardless of Lord Taidin’s personal character, Zero’s actions have proven the point.”
Celes let out a soft sigh. She understood—there would be no peaceful end today.
Shhh—!
The girl raised her sword and swept it across, leaving a sword-light line on the ground.
“I refuse to cooperate. If anyone crosses this line, it will be considered a declaration of war against me!”