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The north wind howled, and ice sealed the land for a thousand miles.

It wasn’t the depths of winter, but at that very moment, Lin Ge felt a chill that cut deeper than the coldest winter.

This wasn’t a metaphor. It was really happening.

Lin Ge hurriedly let go and stepped back.

Cold mist streamed from every visible part of Rosetti—beneath her mage’s robe, behind her, and above her head.

The spell before him was a third-tier spell, but the cold Rosetti was releasing had the strength of a fourth-tier spell at its peak.

Ever since Rosetti had used a forbidden spell on him, Lin Ge had been wondering about it. His wife’s talent for magic seemed to be more than just a little extraordinary. Never mind the strength of her magic, which was beyond her level—even an ordinary person would be left visibly weak and drained after casting a forbidden spell.

And yet, after Rosetti had cast hers, Lin Ge hadn’t noticed any hint of disorder in her magic…

As expected, this kind of abnormality couldn’t be separated from her background…

“I’ll give you one chance. Do you have anything to explain?”

Rosetti spoke coldly, her starry brows and phoenix eyes filled with undisguised killing intent.

“Uh… If I said it was all an accident… I don’t think you’d believe me.”

Lin Ge gave an awkward, sheepish laugh.

He didn’t need her to answer. The look in Rosetti’s eyes said it all.

There was no helping it—or rather, all he could do was tell the truth. Lin Ge briefly explained how he’d ended up here.

Of course, there was no need to mention that he planned to invite his sister out for a friendly cup of tea for spreading the fact that he was a pretty boy without permission. And he didn’t need to bring up the beastfolk, either.

It wouldn’t be good to make her worry by telling her the beastfolk had already infiltrated the city.

And after Rosetti heard him out…

“You really should just die.”

“Wait, wait, wait! Why?! I haven’t done anything wrong!”

As soon as he finished explaining, Rosetti looked at him like he was garbage. The chill she released was just as icy, like a ten-thousand-year-old cavern that made him shiver from head to toe.

Her hands tightened around her staff as her emotions grew more turbulent.

She raised one hand to her waist. A faint blush colored her cheeks as she gritted her teeth in furious resentment.

“You brainwashed the children, and you touched me all over… You humiliated me… And you still have the nerve to say you did nothing wrong… Tsk. This whole ‘Imperial Decree’ thing… Someone like you really should just die.”

With that, the girl gathered all the cold mist radiating from her body onto her staff. Hard chunks of ice swirled around it, growing in number.

If he got hit by something like that, he’d be crippled even if it didn’t kill him.

She meant it… She really wanted to eliminate him right here.

“Um… I just remembered I’ve got something to do. I’ll be going now… Goodbye!”

“Stop! Don’t run!”

The instant Lin Ge turned and bolted, dozens of ice chunks shot toward him.

They were so fast that anyone below the second stage of battle aura couldn’t possibly handle them. Getting hit was no joke.

Luckily, Lin Ge had trained, and this body had more or less adapted to him. He twisted his waist, thrust out his hips, swished his tail, and spun around~~. Every single chunk of ice missed him. Unfortunately… the chest that had been holding his dowry got shot to pieces.

The wood was high-grade fluorescent rosewood, at least. It glowed at night, and he could’ve sold it for a good bit of money. What a waste.

Lin Ge felt sorry for it, and Rosetti wasn’t happy about it either.

She’d planned to use that thing to help cover the orphanage’s expenses. It was a shame to see it destroyed like that.

But compared to such a trivial matter, it was far harder to believe that Lin Ge had dodged her attack without a scratch.

—How did he dodge that? Wasn’t he only at the second stage of battle aura? Someone at his level should never be able to dodge that move. So how did he…? Was it a fluke? Or were his reflexes just that good…?

“Tch. It was definitely a fluke.”

Lin Ge had a bad reputation for as long as Rosetti could remember. As Alice’s personal maid and right-hand woman, not to mention her childhood friend and closest confidante, Rosetti had naturally done a thorough investigation of Alice’s fiancé.

Lin Ge had been a good-for-nothing since childhood, a complete waste. He’d trained for years, yet his battle aura had stayed at the second stage. He never worked hard or improved. The only thing he had going for him, the one thing people praised and admired, was his utterly useless good looks.

So it had to have been a fluke. It absolutely had to be.

That was the only explanation that made sense.

Certain Lin Ge had just gotten lucky, Rosetti didn’t hold back. She softly chanted another spell, summoning even more ice chunks to circle her staff.

Seeing that, Lin Ge broke out in a cold sweat.

It was true that his soul had fully adapted to this body, and he could counterattack with ease. But dodging again without revealing too much would take a bit of finesse.

He absolutely couldn’t let himself be exposed. If that was the case, then all he could do was…

“Ahhh, Meimei, kids, don’t cry! It’s not like that! Big brother and big sister aren’t fighting. We’re just playing around!”

“Huh?!”

Rosetti froze. She hurriedly lowered her staff, then forced a kind smile onto her lips.

In her heart, the most important person in the world was Alice, and the children came next. She didn’t know what kind of ** Lin Ge had used on them to make them so attached to him, but if she could help it, Rosetti didn’t want to drive a wedge between herself and the children.

After all, they were the only ones she could rely on besides Alice.

So she turned around, but… the wind blew cold, and there was nothing behind her.

There wasn’t a person in sight. There wasn’t even an ant…

Where were the children?

Where had they gone?

“Oh no.”

Her brows relaxed for an instant. Realizing she’d been tricked, Rosetti immediately turned back around.

But Lin Ge had already vanished. The window beside them was wide open, and two clear, oversized footprints marked the ground beside the steps beneath it.

It was obvious he’d run away.

“Lin Ge… I’ll never forgive you!!!”

Her aura surged, and fury blazed. Cold mist swirled around Rosetti. That day, snow fell over Bota City in the middle of spring…

…

…

At the same moment Rosetti was being tricked by Lin Ge, the scar-faced man and his group had also fled, making their way to a small grove.

They wiped the cold sweat from their foreheads and let out long sighs. Then they took off the hats on their heads—the kind Indian men were stereotypically shown wearing—and revealed fluffy dog ears.

They’d been alive for a long time, but they’d never been as exhausted as they were today.

“That damned brat! How dare he play me! I’ll tear him limb from limb and grind his bones to dust!”

The scar-faced man gritted his teeth in furious resentment and slammed his fist into the tree beside him.

Leaves rustled down around their feet. The sound grated on their ears, sharp enough to cut their throats.

The others weren’t faring any better.

“Boss, what do we do now? We went behind Lord Mu’s back to do this in the first place, and now we haven’t even caught anyone. We’ve even smashed the porcelain pot Lord Mu likes… When we go back, will we…”

“Shut up. I know.”

Just thinking of the peerless beauty of his direct superior, whose fury could wipe out anything in its path, made the scar-faced man shiver.

As the Beast King’s most beloved child in the entire Beast Kingdom, her words carried half the Beast King’s authority.

If she found out they’d gone behind her back to do something so dishonorable—and failed at it, too—there was no way she’d treat them kindly.

He glanced toward the orphanage in the distance, then remembered Rosetti’s ruthlessness on the battlefield. She was known as the Witch of Absolute Sealing, and the only mage in all of Bota City.

Sure enough, for the beastfolk army to secure a perfect victory, they should try kidnapping the children again…

“Boss, look! A carrier pigeon!”

“A carrier pigeon?”

The scar-faced man raised an eyebrow. The pigeon landed on his shoulder. He opened the letter it carried, and as he read… a smug smile quietly appeared at the corner of his mouth.

“This is… Hahaha! The heavens are helping us!”

An unexpected message from an ally had arrived. After a quick, hushed discussion, the scar-faced man and the other beastfolk melted into the night, heading toward the orphanage…