'Is this it?' Asher thought as he saw the fist of death just a breath away from crushing his face in.
In that split second, Asher felt as if the entire world around him had frozen as he thought, 'No…why should I die again unfairly? What did I do to deserve this?' Dark memories of the 'crippled' Asher also surfaced in his mind as uncontrollable rage and hatred flooded his mind. All he wanted was to send this assassin to hell.
*Hnnnnmm…*
Suddenly he heard a subtle humming sound coming from his right hand as a dark green light flashed before his eyes.
[ The Ring of Damnation recognizes you as its Master ]
This message also popped up in his head, and before he could realize it, the assassin's fist didn't reach his face since his wrist was cut off by a dark green blade in the shape of a ring!
Of course, this ring blade was not as small as a ring but at least 1 foot in diameter. The only difference was the sharp blade-like projections running along the circumference of this ring blade. Even without these projections, the entire circumference of this blade seemed as sharp as a blade.
And with wide eyes, Asher saw this dark green ring blade sever the assassin's wrist before flying away on its own.
"AAARGHH!!" The assassin howled, but suddenly the ceiling of the room flashed with crimson light as arrows created out of mana shot out from it and struck the assassin's back, puncturing his heart as well.
Asher was surprised by the sudden turn of events as the assassin's eyes turned lifeless and fell over him.
And before he could even gather a second to collect his thoughts, he saw the dark green ring blade flying back towards him like a boomerang, making him unconsciously raise his hand to protect himself.
However, to his relief, it suddenly transformed into a small mudstone ring and made itself comfortable on his ring finger.
"What the hell…" Asher was stupefied by everything that happened. He thought he was a goner, but then this worthless-looking ring actually was a secret weapon that saved his life? Who could have guessed that?
"Urgh! What is this…" But Asher suddenly grimaced as he felt like his finger was melting off. He clutched his hand and saw that it was badly hurting right on the finger where the ring was resting. He tried to pull out the ring, but it wasn't budging at all. And what puzzled him was that everything looked alright on the outside, but inside he felt like he was being burned from within.
His body was already heating up as droplets of sweat trickled down his forehead. It was as if the injuries he suffered from the assassin weren't enough right now.
*BANG!*
But he was startled when the door of his room was banged open as many guards rushed inside, followed by Ceti wearing spiked knuckles on her fists.
Asher tried to calm himself down as best as he could while hiding the hand underneath his body.
Ceti was surprised to see some man lying over Asher, and for a second thought, Asher was dead, seeing the pool of blood surrounding him.
"Hey! Get him...off me rather...than simply standing there..." Asher said with a grimace as he was bleeding and bruised all over. This made Ceti harrumph, realizing that this pervert was actually alive.
The guards quickly removed the assassin's corpse away from Asher as Ceti ordered them to lay his corpse before her since she wanted to know who was bold and capable enough to infiltrate the castle of the Demon Queen.
Rowena also entered his room as the guards and Ceti immediately gave a deep bow, "Your Majesty!"
"Is the Royal Consort alright?" Rowena asked before taking a glance at the corpse before her.
Asher slowly stood up as he wiped the streak of blood near his lips, "I..I am fine, phew…" Asher made himself comfortable on the bed since he was feeling too dizzy and numb after fighting that assassin to the death. But he also took some distance from the others to hide the ring while enduring the scorching pain.
Rowena furrowed her brows as she looked at his pale face and said, "You do not look fine. Get the royal physician here. Quick!" Rowena sharply ordered as one of the guards rushed out as fast as he could to get one.
Asher clicked his tongue as he didn't want any physician to inspect his body. What if they find out about the ring? He was sure that they might try to take it away upon realizing that it was no ordinary ring. He wouldn't dare trust anyone here.
Rowena could see that Asher could survive till the physician got here and then coldly looked at the corpse near her feet, "Who is he? How did he manage to get inside?"
One of the guards bent down and removed the hood of the assassin, revealing an ordinary face of a middle-aged man.
"Eh…I have seen him around here. This is one of the servants assigned to take care of His Highness' room," Ceti mumbled with a surprised look, though her eyes suddenly narrowed as if she noticed something.
"No…Not exactly," Rowena said as she pointed her finger at the face of the dead assassin, and the next moment a crimson light shot out of her fingertip and struck the face of the corpse.
Asher squinted his eyes as he saw the corpse's face glow briefly before he saw something surprising.
The face of the corpse no longer looked that of some ordinary servant but a whole nother face. Even the skin color was different as the current one had red skin color, just like Ceti.
'A werewolf?'' Asher didn't expect this guy to be from the same race as Ceti, which made him immediately suspect whether Ceti was behind this.
But seeing her expression, it seemed like even she had no idea unless she was very good at acting.
Ceti firmly pressed together her lips as she said, "Your Majesty…I am sorry, I…"
"Why are you apologizing for the sins of your people? We know your people are known for their shapeshifting ability, and this man killed the real servant and took his face to try and kill the Royal Consort. This is just one of their underhanded ways to try and undermine me as always," Rowena said in a cold, seething tone as a deathly searing aura descended in the entire room, making Asher feel as if his surroundings had turned into a scorching hell.
He wasn't surprised since the Demon King's blood magic involved heating up his own blood to the point it could melt even iron. This was something even vampires wouldn't dream of having such abilities. Still, he was astonished that a vampire like her could heat up her cold blood like that, considering the common weaknesses of a vampire. No wonder she and her house have ruled this kingdom since ancient times.
But he could see that this kingdom and the werewolves seemed to be at war. Still, if that was the case, how come Ceti was actually working under Rowena with a respectable status?
Ceti softly nodded and then shook her head as she said, "But I don't understand…How did he get in? Even if he could change his face, the castle would have stopped him at the entrance itself by recognizing the mana flowing through his veins. The aura of the mana of two races can never be the same. This is the first time such a thing happened, and to kill His Highness nonetheless."
Asher inwardly snorted since he could sense the contempt in Ceti's voice as she was hinting at the question of why this assassin would risk so much to kill a weakling like him. But he had to admit, he also had the same question.
Asher raised his brows subtly, not expecting this castle to have such high security. Now he realized why it was rumored that the castle of the Demon King was said to be impenetrable.
"There could only be one answer. Somebody let him in, and that only means worse. We have to find who the mole in our castle is quickly and why they wanted to get rid of the Royal Consort," Rowena said as her tone hardened.
Ceti's expression became serious and firm as she said, "Leave it to me, Your Majesty. I will get to the bottom of this and find out who among us was colluding with the assassin."
She turned to the guard standing behind her and instructed him, "Go and tell everyone that nobody should step inside this hall until I say so. If anybody tries to disobey, tell them this order is enforced by Her Majesty."
The guard silently bowed as he left the room, and only Rowena, Ceti, and Asher were left in the room with the corpse of the assassin, which Ceti was closely inspecting.
"Your Majesty! May this little physician come in?" An old man with a slight hunch on his back hurried to the door, and he asked in a breathless voice.