Even though they didn’t say it out loud, when they saw Aelia and Elise sit down so calmly, the guards all secretly let out a sigh of relief.

Compared to the Hero, they wanted even less to fight those two... especially if they were fakes. If that was true, then the enemy was very likely even stronger than the originals.

Of course, there was no way they could know that a certain Saintess was enduring bone-deep pain while cursing the black-haired Hero who had caused all this in her heart.

(Seriously, you were the one who sneak attacked me first, okay?)

Luke gave a speechless little laugh inwardly and decided to teach that trashy Saintess, who never learned her lesson, an even harsher one.

Pretending he had finally confirmed Aelia was the real one, he walked over and placed both hands on her shoulders, looking slightly excited.

“Princess Aelia, thank goodness you’re alright!”

Then, taking advantage of the motion, he gently pressed down.

(Uwaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!)

Aelia’s little mental self let out a bloodcurdling scream, while on the surface, as usual, only someone examining her with a magnifying glass would notice that her brow twitched ever so slightly.

(You bastard, bastard, bastard! You did that on purpose, didn’t you?!)

Her little mental self covered her butt with both hands and cursed at him in a tearful voice.

But whether by force or by how it looked to others, Luke hadn’t gone too far. At most, his attitude was just a little too enthusiastic... yet in the maids’ eyes, it was an exciting scene, while in the guards’ eyes, Luke was doing something enviable.

And since Luke quickly withdrew his hands, after looking around, Aelia found that not a single person was going to scold him for getting handsy. She could only bury her hatred in her heart and give Luke a slightly shy little smile.

“Sir Luke, thank you for your concern.”

(Die, die, die, die!)

Hearing those two completely different voices, Luke almost burst out laughing inside. On the surface, though, he looked deeply encouraged and slapped his chest.

“Princess Aelia, please rest assured. No matter when, I’ll protect you.”

(Then get the hell out right now—no, get as far away as possible! And don’t ever come back to this country!)

Unfortunately, Luke had tastes similar to Aelia’s. He treated this kind of furious cursing as praise and affirmation. Soon, fully satisfied, he moved aside and continued the search at an unhurried pace.

Seeing her anger land like a punch into cotton, Aelia had no choice but to shift her focus to easing the pain.

She tried raising herself a little, holding a horse stance like she was sitting on an invisible chair, so she could avoid direct contact with the sofa.

But after some time, Aelia realized something was wrong.

(Aren’t these people moving way too slowly? And why is that bastard Hero checking everything again? Thirty minutes is almost up. Hurry up and leave already!)

Yet no matter how much Aelia called out in her heart, Luke and the others had no intention of speeding up.

Finally—

“Lord Luke, hasn’t it been thirty minutes already?” the head nurse asked after thinking for a moment.

“Yeah. Looks like the other party isn’t here.”

Luke glanced at a certain trashy Saintess who looked calm but was panicking like crazy inside, then said in a light, cheerful tone, “If treatment wasn’t given in time, the injured area must’ve already started rotting and decaying. It may even have spread to the bones inside. Before long, the bones would turn to dust, and then the whole body would go limp and collapse like dominoes...”

(Noooooooo!)

From the moment Luke started that second half, Aelia’s little mental self had been clutching her head in terror.

With every symptom she heard, she got the feeling that her body really had already become completely wrecked. By the end, she couldn’t hold back a despairing scream. She could no longer maintain her invisible-chair posture and dropped onto the sofa in the most inconspicuous way possible.

(Pain pain pain pain pain... it hurts so bad!)

The intense pain instantly made Aelia’s little mental self tear up again. But when she instinctively covered her butt with both hands, she discovered something in surprise.

(My butt’s still there? It didn’t rot? My bones are fine too?)

Her little mental self jumped up in joy, but she quickly remembered that all the fear and panic just now had come from someone’s lies, and immediately launched into another round of furious cursing.

“Princess Aelia, we disturbed you for so long. We’re truly terribly sorry. Please get some proper rest now.”

Finding nothing, Luke and the guards left.

After using magic and tidying up the things in the bedchamber with the maids, Aelia finally returned alone to her room and was at last able to check her injuries.

“Damn it. That guy really was lying...”

It wasn’t that Aelia hadn’t realized Luke was trying to deceive the female thief who might be hiding in the room. But whether his goal had been to help her or catch the thief, the result only made her even angrier.

Unfortunately, after that exchange, Aelia had completely given up on the idea of dealing with Luke personally.

After all, while she was broad-minded beyond compare, she was also a super invincible beautiful girl who deeply understood that the wise submit to circumstances and that soft targets are there to be picked.

So after healing her butt and preparing everything, she changed back into her thief outfit, altered her appearance again, left behind a Holy Light clone, and swiftly departed the palace. That’s right—she didn’t rest for even a moment. She resumed her actions as Princess Moonshadow.

But this wasn’t courting death, because she had no intention of going after Luke again.

If anything, Luke and the others searching all over the palace for her would help draw away the royal capital’s defenses and make her next moves much smoother.

“Sleeping so soundly... then I won’t hold back.”

Before long, Aelia arrived at the first stop of the night: Count Lecherli’s mansion.

Not just here. Over this past half month... and even the months before that, every single person who had shown her disrespect would receive the punishment they deserved tonight.

There was one bastard who was an exception, sure. But as long as the nobles and wealthy merchants up next all suffered losses, then the people responsible for capturing her would naturally be unable to escape blame and suspicion either.

(Seriously, did it never occur to you that if I’m the only one exempt, other people might rate my strength even higher?)

Just as Aelia was gloating over her next wicked little scheme, a black-haired, red-eyed man stood not far behind her, watching with a smiling expression.

Back in the Saintess’s bedchamber, Luke had already learned of Aelia’s next plan. So he copied her method, cast a spreading “psychological presence” on the others, and personally followed Aelia all the way out of the palace.

But since this matter didn’t concern him, Luke had no plans to interfere with that trashy Saintess this time... though when he saw her smugly stuffing treasure into her spatial pocket, he couldn’t help having one last evil thought: to pull a little trick and make all her efforts tonight go to waste.

“Hoo... that should be about enough.”

Aelia really had worked hard. In just an hour and a half, she had paid visits to sixteen noble and wealthy merchant households, and thoughtfully left behind marks proving Princess Moonshadow had been there.

With so many gold coins that even her spatial pocket was nearly full, she set off on the road back to her bedchamber... or rather, she didn’t.

Or more accurately, she had intended to at first. But after hesitating for quite a while and checking her spatial pocket again and again, she ultimately turned a corner and headed toward a secluded alley in the city instead.