Chapter 58: Betrayal

The memory fragment is in the polar region!?

In Zhe Zilin’s memories, he had not even the slightest impression of the polar region. 

Yet the handwriting on this Spellstone was indeed his own notes.

The past him must have experienced something unforgettable in the polar region. 

Only by personally returning to the scene once more could he recover those lost memories.

He tightly gripped the Spellstone in his hand and suddenly recalled the words Ailia had once said to him.

“If one day the medicine loses its effect and you look back, the me of the past will greet you.”

Zhe Zilin had to recover those memories—the unique memories that belonged solely to that girl with so many heavy matters in her heart.

Light burst forth from his previously dim eyes. The depression in his chest dissipated after he drew in great mouthfuls of the cold evening wind.

“Kill the Ice Demon. Enter the polar region.”

The half-orcs all nodded in unison. Since Zhe Zilin had already decided, they would follow without the slightest hesitation.

Although Scar was the most timid among them, he was not a coward. He immediately drew his sword and raised it high above his head.

“The first battle following Boss will definitely succeed!”

Gan, Wen, and Cui also drew their swords and roared along. 

One-Eye, seeing this, remained relatively calm. 

He thought carefully and said, “The Ice Demon is cunning. It is difficult to see through his intentions. Only Tana could contact him. If we want to kill him, we must first lure the snake out of its hole.”

Zhe Zilin nodded. One-Eye’s thoughts coincided perfectly with his own. 

What the Ice Demon wanted was nothing more than to break the seal.

He needed the King of the North’s corpse. Tana had delayed obtaining it for so long. 

There was only one night left before the King of the North was buried. 

The other party was the one who was most anxious.

When the heart grows anxious, actions become panicked.

Therefore, Zhe Zilin only needed to wait quietly. The Ice Demon would deliver himself to their door.

“When you sleep tonight, don’t sleep too deeply. If the Ice Demon cannot hold back, he will definitely try every means to seize the corpse tonight.”

The half-orcs nodded one by one. With Zhe Zilin’s permission, they turned and left toward the front courtyard.

Just before leaving, Scar turned back thoughtfully. “Boss, do you have something on your mind?”

Zhe Zilin was a little surprised. 

Could Scar also read people through their eyes? He smiled. 

“What makes you say that?”

Scar shook his head. “I don’t know either. Just intuition.”

“In the past, when I was thinking about a certain girl, my expression was probably just like yours.”

Zhe Zilin was stunned. He never expected that Scar also had a girl he cared about. 

One had to know that females among half-orcs were the fewest. 

The majority of their kind were male.

Many male half-orcs went through their entire lives without ever seeing a single female half-orc.

He pressed his lips together and mocked himself.

“I am the playboy Ed. Only women care about me. Who could possibly make me care about them?”

Scar said nothing more and left behind One-Eye.

Even though he had just said that no one could make him care, the moment the words left his mouth, Ailia’s figure appeared in his mind.

Damn it. Have I really been conquered by Ailia?

The moment Zhe Zilin closed his eyes now, all he saw was the girl’s youthful face.

His heart was in chaos. He tried his best not to think about it, yet when he stopped thinking he felt guilty. The more guilty he felt, the more he wanted to think.

Fortunately, he took out the magic book and began loudly reciting magic in the rear yard, attempting to cover the messy thoughts in his mind with a loud voice.

One incantation after another rang out in the rear yard, as though he were conducting an evening reading session.

It continued for a long time, yet no one inside the castle dared to stop him.

By now there was no one who did not know that Zhe Zilin was the Leibang Ed the princess had been searching for—son of the Prime Minister, legitimate heir of the Leibang family…

Any single one of that long string of titles was a height they could never reach in their entire lives.

Therefore, this “evening reading” that Zhe Zilin used to avoid wild thoughts proceeded very quietly. It did not last too long either. When the moon hung directly overhead, Zhe Zilin stopped chanting.

Unexpectedly, Osha did not ask him to tell any bedtime stories tonight. 

The other party seemed certain that he would not flee. 

Or perhaps she was currently using the Eye of the True God to watch him from her room and had never left Osha’s line of sight.

All in all, however, Zhe Zilin was still content. He could finally sleep a peaceful night alone.

Passing through the front courtyard, he raised his head and glanced once at the third floor, then left the castle and returned to the original house to rest.

***

The next morning.

Zhe Zilin’s mind was unsettled. 

He had only fallen asleep in the latter half of the night. 

Yet when dawn just broke and he was sleeping soundly, a series of soldier assembly sounds woke him.

Rubbing his eyes, he sat up from the bed. Outside the window, the Northern wolf soldiers had surrounded the castle.

The wolf soldiers were the elite of the Northern Territory. Their deployment necessarily meant a major event that threatened the North.

An ominous premonition rose in Zhe Zilin’s heart.

Had the Ice Demon infiltrated North City last night?

Even so, with Osha and Ailia present, the Ice Demon could only avoid their sharp edge.

Carrying his doubts, Zhe Zilin immediately left the house and arrived at the castle.

The wolf soldiers had surrounded the castle so tightly that not even water could trickle through. Airigo stood guard at the entrance. 

Upon seeing that it was Zhe Zilin, he performed a salute.

“Sir Leibang, good morning.”

Airigo signaled the wolf soldiers to open a path.

Zhe Zilin walked forward and asked, “What happened?”

Airigo’s gaze turned toward the third floor. Over there, the sounds were noisy.

Zhe Zilin furrowed his brows and strode into the castle, taking three or four steps at a time.

On the third floor, a group of nobles looked at one another and whispered among themselves.

Zhe Zilin wanted to enter the room and see Ailia’s figure, yet outside the door a lord clad in armor blocked him.

“Who are you? This is not a place you should come.”

From inside the room, Griet walked out and glared at the lord beside him.

“This is Sir Leibang Ed.”

That lord possessed a domineering personality. He gave a cold snort. 

“What is a pretty boy who only knows how to seduce women doing here? Hurry back. Don’t scare yourself to death.”

Zhe Zilin did not waste words. He drew the Dragon Slayer and with a single slash split open the lord’s armor, pressing the blade against the lord’s chin.

The movement attracted the gazes of everyone present. The scene instantly fell silent.

Panic filled that lord’s eyes. One had to know that his armor was forged from refined iron and was extremely hard. Yet before Zhe Zilin it was no different from a piece of paper.

“I… I am the lord of the Northern swamp lands. You cannot kill me.”

Zhe Zilin kicked him into the room with one foot, clearing a path.

Inside the room, Osha lowered her brows and glanced once, then immediately revealed an envious expression.

“Ed, you are truly becoming more and more bold.”

Zhe Zilin’s gaze rapidly swept the room. There was no figure of Ailia inside. The bad feeling in his heart grew increasingly dense.

“What happened?”

Osha wore a smile as she walked to the side of the King of the North’s coffin. With one hand she stood the coffin upright.

Originally the corpses of the King of the North and his wife had lain inside. Now only Snow remained.

The King of the North’s corpse had disappeared!?

Zhe Zilin found it hard to believe. Before he could even open his mouth, Griet behind him recounted everything.

“The witch and the King of the North’s corpse disappeared together. We suspect that the witch took the corpse away.”

Zhe Zilin maintained his composure and firmly denied it. 

“Impossible. Ailia is the Northern Witch. There is no meaning in her taking the King of the North’s corpse. Perhaps it was because of the Ice Demon’s night raid that she had no choice but to leave with the corpse.”

Osha did not care about Zhe Zilin defending Ailia. She turned sideways and looked toward the north.

“Ed, use your [Eye of the True God] to take a look.”

Zhe Zilin hesitated for a moment, then activated the skill [Eye of the True God].

In his vision, Ailia was riding a horse, carrying the King of the North’s corpse as she entered a canyon.

He had already guessed the place beyond the canyon—the polar region.

Ailia was carrying the final pure bloodline of the Gareth family and heading toward the Ice Demon’s lair.

Osha leaned closer and voiced a thought shared by all the nobles.

“Ailia has betrayed the Northern Territory.”