An Assassin's Heart

The cleaning crew of the ferry was mortified after seeing so many broken corpses scattered on the ground when they were finally released from being captive. They felt it was too gory for ordinary people like them to the point that they got nauseated and vomited severely. They knew that these people who died were evil, but it was still shocking to see so many of them die inside their own ship. What would happen to the business they were running then? The people would be frightened every time they would ride this specific ship after learning that a massacre had occurred in here. They even heard that this was done by a single individual— not to mention that it was a woman. 

They threw off the bodies into the sea and fed it to the fishes and sharks, painting the sea temporarily red with the blood from the corpses. A few hours later, everything was back to normal. Raphkiel surveyed the area just in case there were people hiding left. After he was done with his inspection and didn't find more shady characters, he returned to his seat in the farthest back of the passenger's deck. He was met with Luna's cold gaze who wanted nothing more than to rip his mouth off for stealing her first kiss.

He sighed and sat on his seat. "I apologize for doing that without warning. It was necessary." 

'Hmph! Necessary, my ass! You stole my first kiss. And what's worse was your foolish strategy didn't work." She pouted.

"Then we're even. It's my first too. How lucky you are to receive a kiss from a prince." 

She thought she was seeing an illusion. Did Raphkiel actually sound like he was teasing her? He even had a faint smile in the corner of his lips. Her teeth was grinding against each other out of anger, glaring at him so hard but he was unfazed. It was frustrating. She also felt strange. Her heart was racing for a while now ever since that kiss happened.

'Gosh, what's wrong with me? So silly. Do I like him?' Her face had a tinge of red as she blushed while staring at him. she shook her head violently to quickly dispel her thoughts. 

"I don't want to talk to you anymore. Stay away from me." She coldly stated and changed seats to a vacant one nearby. 

Finally, she had some peace of mind for a while. There were no more dangers waiting for them inside the ship after she had eliminated all the sneaky people sent by whoever it was that was trying to kill the both of them. She felt that the two forces she had disposed of weren't in cahoots. Probably one of them was trying to eliminate the prince while the other was coming after her. Even so, it wasn't like they would be able to do anything to her, the greatest assassin in her previous life.

Somewhere in the audience room of the grand palace of Sylpharia, a man in his thirties, who was wearing a crown and a royal robe, was very angry. His face was visibly showing a violent twisted expression as he threw away the glass of champagne from his hand towards the floor. It broke into pieces and the fine wine was spilled onto the carpet. The messenger was horrified and blood drained from his face when was directly facing His Majesty's wrath.

"Useless! How can you not deal with a single man? No matter how skilled he is, he is just a one-man army who has an exceptional martial prowess but not to the point he is undefeatable. Are you dogs just worthless scraps who have been fed for nothing?!" His chest heaved repeatedly from the intense emotions swirling in his heart. No matter what happens, he couldn't allow that walking catastrophe to live. In the past, he allowed him to live and even gave him resources for growth because he thought he could use him. Now that he denounced himself that he didn't want to be a part of this country, that meant that any country would probably go for the kill just to have him. 

"Sir, it's not that Prince Raphkiel was hard to deal with. There was another extremely powerful person with him. We haven't been informed of this at all." The messenger was at the end of his wits and felt like crying. 

"What?! Who is it?" His eyes showed a glint of killing intent, pressuring the messenger extremely.

'It's... a woman, Your Majesty." Even he himself had a hard time believing his own words. How could a woman kill so many elites without difficulty? He had personally seen it through a hidden camera attached to the leader's body suit. It was a shocking fact to him. The kingdom regarded all women as nothing but people who should manage the household and cook for their husbands, after all. 

Upon hearing it was a woman, Augustus fell into deep thought. There was only one woman who was capable of doing such a thing. His eyes were screaming with murderous thunder and regret.

"Alisa Hayworth... I've actually rewarded you so much and you said you have no intentions of going back to a bloody battlefield. How dare you interfere with my plans and kill my elite soldiers?!"

He wished he could cut off her head and hang it on the flag pole on the town square for everyone to see so that no one would be daring enough to plot against him and the kingdom. He was such a ruthless ruler, but his ruthlessness mostly remain hidden under the façade of a good and virtuous king. However, she and Raphkiel were already far away and there was no way he could send down soldiers towards the outside world. 

At the same time in another big manor in the capital of Sylpharia, Meryl was pacing back and forth inside her room. He was biting off her nails angrily after hearing the report that the assassins Clyde had lent her all perished in the hands of Alisa. She was angry at her and wished that she could skin her alive, but she was more worried facing the wrath of her lover for sending his people to their doom. 

She didn't notice that someone had entered the room. Clyde went forward and gave her a back hug which startled her. Clyde lifted several strands of her hair on his hand and smelled it. "Why look so anxious, sweetheart? You should be happy now that we're finally at peace and Prince Raphkiel is out of the way."

She scoffed in disgust secretly, but she couldn't blatantly show it. Clyde wasn't ugly but his looks were totally average compared to Raphkiel. She was only with him since his family had a very high status in the capital even higher than her own family's. Raphkiel had nothing in his name. She knew he was just a bastard child of the royal family and the king didn't regard him highly except for his exceptional martial prowess and military tactics. Compared to him, Clyde held more power which was only natural that she would stick to the latter after he presented himself to her. Any woman would be lured into a dragon's den when there was a great opportunity waiting for her. She loved vanity and being revered above everything else. The love and faith Raphkiel had spoken were no more than just flowery words to her.

"I'm sorry, babe... but something bad has happened." She started, tears forming in the corner of her eyes.

"What's the matter? You can tell it to me." He said while comforting her and licking her tears. It was salty but he liked it, which only made Meryl more disgusted at him in her heart.

"I told you before to deal with a woman, right? You said your people were greatly skilled but they couldn't even deal with a single weak woman. They all died in their hands. Are you sure they are really elites?" She pretended to look aggrieved and pouted so he won't blame her.

Clyde was shocked beyond belief. The elite assassins he had secretly nurtured died in the hands of a woman? Was the world becoming a joke now? He frowned deeply as he stared into Meryl's eyes, giving her a slight scare.

"Are you sure you're telling the truth? Because if I found out you are lying..."

"I swear I am not lying! She really did kill all of your subordinates." She cried out desperately and fell into sobs in his arms. 

His gaze softened. He carried her towards the bed and whispered in her ear. "In that case, since you wasted my good subordinates, show me your sincerity as a compensation."

She blushed coquettishly and lightly pounded on his chest but didn't refuse it. She had to give in for now to appease his anger. It didn't matter if she was disgusted. She would endure it for a while. Sooner or later, she would acquire everything he had and then cast him away when the time was right then she and Raphkiel could reunite again. Later on, room was filled with loud moans as the night grew deeper. 

Morning came and the ferry Alisa and Raphkiel were boarding on had reached the port of Venice, the largest port in Eidelweiss. Alisa felt elated and strangely at home the moment she stepped onto the land she was mostly familiar with. The port was currently packed with people going here and there, currently busy with their daily lives. This was the country where she had lived in her previous life.

"It's good to be home."

She smiled sweetly as she walked away while carrying a small backpack along with the bag full of gold coins. She had to find a bank to exchange it into Eidelweiss currency so she could use it.

Behind her, Raphkiel was walking with a slight distance gap away from her. Today was also the day he had to return to his other family. He was feeling conflicted at seeing her go away like something was stolen from him by this enigmatic woman, but he knew he wouldn't be able to follow her for now. He let out a deep sigh as he turned to look at the sky. 

"It would be hard to find her in this enormous country later on."