At noon that day, in the royal territory, Agnes's palace.

Lucius was standing by the door, seriously fulfilling his duty to protect the princess. After a while, a young knight hurried over.

"How are things going?" Lucius asked in a low voice, fearing to wake up the sleeping princess.

The knight couldn't help but lower his head. It was obvious that his mission had not been completed satisfactorily.

"I'm really sorry, Lord Lucius. We did find some clues, but we just can't find the results. I'm afraid the person who attacked Mr. Herbert has been silenced by his master."

"..." Lucius paused and continued, "I guessed it would be like this, but it doesn't matter, you and your colleagues have worked hard."

"Yes, thank you for your concern."

The young knight expressed his sincere gratitude, but he was not happy at all, because he knew Lucius's character. This meticulous paladin was better spoken than he appeared on the surface. He had never bossed others around because of his noble status.

But precisely in this way, he will be even more disappointed with himself for not completing the task.

"It's really okay," Lucius smiled and patted his shoulder, "Now it seems that our enemies are very difficult to deal with, so for the sake of your safety, you just need to protect His Highness seriously.

Leave it to me."

"But, you..."

"What? You think I can't trust you?"

"No, no, I'm just worried. If the other party's real target is Her Royal Highness, can we still cope with it? So you should personally..."

"..." Lucius touched his chin and fell into thinking.

What this young knight said makes sense. The other party ordered Herbert to poison Agnes, which was obviously related to the fight for the throne. Therefore, the murderer's master was among the remaining candidates for the throne, and there was no need to proceed at all.

Superfluous investigation.

However, Agnes had ordered to find the person who instigated Herbert.

Lucius had always obeyed Agnes, so he naturally had to consider this, but after a few seconds of thinking, he made another decision.

"I understand. Next, all of us should focus on protecting Her Royal Highness."

"...Well, this is best," the young knight nodded, but still frowned, "But I don't know if Her Royal Highness can understand us."

"Don't worry, I'll go and tell Her Royal Highness the Queen. She's not the kind of person who doesn't understand the truth." Lucius comforted her.

However, he suddenly found that something was wrong with the young knight's face, and he kept staring behind him.

"Lucius, who do you think doesn't understand the truth?" A female voice like a silver bell came from behind.

"...Ahaha, no, you heard it wrong," Lucius quickly turned around and said with a smile, "I mean you don't understand the truth."

"Really? That means I misunderstood you," Agnes rubbed her sleepy eyes, "I'm sorry, I just woke up and my mind is still a little confused."

"It's okay, you don't need to apologize."

"..." Agnes suddenly stared at him resentfully, "Lucius, you have been with me for so long and still don't understand me? No matter who I am, I have to apologize when I do something wrong."

"Yes, I understand."

"As long as you understand, has the person who instigated Mr. Herbert been found? Let me guess, is it Marika, or Leonard? Or Byron... No, it shouldn't be him, that kid didn't

Such great courage."

"Uh, sorry, I didn't find it." Lucius scratched his head.

"Oh?" Agnes was stunned for a moment, then looked into his eyes.

At this time, the young knight quickly explained that he thought Agnes was going to be angry.

"Your Highness, this is my dereliction of duty, not Lord Lucius's fault. If you want to punish you, then punish me."

"Really?" Agnes' eyes stayed on him, but she just sighed, "Oh, forget it."

Hearing the princess's compromise, the young knight couldn't help but feel even more disappointed in himself.

But then, Agnes did not tell the story, but asked with interest.

"Lucius, who do you think you are?"

"You ask me? How do I know about the affairs between your candidates for the throne? I'm just a knight."

"Oh, stop trying to deal with me, aren't you usually quite smart?"

"That's a great prize. That's a great prize."

Seeing him continue to refuse, Agnes' originally slightly smiling expression suddenly changed.

The young knight didn't want to get involved in their flirting anymore, so he quickly found an excuse to escape.

"Don't forget to ask everyone to patrol carefully." Lucius waved to him.

"clear."

"Hey, Lucius!" Agnes put her hands on her hips, looking angry, "Can you talk to me properly?"

"...I think it's Leonard."

"What?" Agnes was a little confused when she heard his sudden answer to the question, but she still went on, "...Oh, yes, I think so too."

"So do you want me to investigate him?"

"No need," Agnes shook her head, "he is already dead."

"...What?" Lucius couldn't help but open his eyes and asked quickly, "Who gave you the news?"

Agnes did not answer immediately, but waved her hand towards the palace. A few seconds later, a light and petite figure jumped down from the rafters, obviously looking like a girl.

Lucius instinctively pulled Agnes behind him, and then placed his hand on the scabbard.

"Oh, don't be nervous," Agnes explained quickly, "Quick, introduce yourself to Lucius."

"Hehe," the girl smiled, "Hello, my name is Anne Castella, and I am a witch. Please give me your advice in the coming days."

"...Witch?" Lucius became more cautious when he heard this word.

In his impression, except for Pandora's Box, there was no trace of the witch in the entire royal capital, so the person named Anne most likely came from that notorious organization, and he also knew that the leader of this organization had always been eyeing the throne.

"Well, I am indeed a witch from Pandora's Box. Mr. Lucius, have you heard of it?"

"Haha, it turns out that it is really that notorious organization." Lucius couldn't help but sneer, and then looked at Agnes, "Your Highness, why do you know this kind of guy? It's too dangerous to let her enter your palace.

Already."

"...Stinky, notorious?" Anne was a little unbelievable. She had never heard such a comment about her organization.

"Oh, it's okay. Only a lovely girl like Miss Anne would hurt me." Agnes quickly stood up to smooth things over.

"That's right," Anne echoed, "and Pandora's Box probably didn't do anything bad, right? Aren't we tasked with destroying the demons? How can we be said to be notorious?"

"Hmph, stop talking nonsense, the witch's words are not worthy of belief."

"Hey, why are you like this?"

Anne was also impatient. It would be fine to say that she was worthy of suspicion, but in the end, the prejudice against her would escalate to the entire witch community.

In fact, Lucius was indeed unhappy with Anne's appearance, but it was not because of his prejudice against Pandora's Box, but because Agnes actually got the news of Leonard's death from Anne.

This made him a little jealous.

However, he was not one to act on his impulses all the time, so he regained his senses as soon as possible.

"...I'm sorry, Miss Anne."

"Hey, it doesn't matter. I'm a generous lady. As long as you treat me sincerely, I won't care too much."

Anne seemed to have expected that he would compromise, so she prepared this speech.

"That's great," Agnes suddenly beamed and held their hands together, "Come on, you two shake hands."

Lucius reluctantly complied, and then found Anne still looking at him with a smile. He felt a little uncomfortable being stared at by such a cute girl, and he didn't relax until his eyes rested on Agnes.

"So, is the news about Leonard's death true?" Lucius brought up the topic.

"It's absolutely true. Do you want me to take you to see his body?"

"No, then who is the person who instigated Mr. Herbert? Miss Witch, do you have any clue?" Lucius couldn't help but said in a sinister manner.

"It's Byron." Anne's face suddenly darkened.

"Oh? Where's the evidence?"

"This is my personal experience..."

Later, Anne told them how she accompanied Byron to the royal capital, and then mentioned that she accidentally bumped into Byron's interactions with Cornes, but was discovered by Byron in the end. If she hadn't been smart enough,

Maybe he will end up like Leonard now.

"That's it." Agnes nodded. She was still a little unbelievable. She didn't expect that her brother, who was so cowardly in her impression, would become like this. He would not hesitate to cooperate with monsters to achieve his goals, but Anne's words were placed here, and she couldn't help it.

She didn't believe it.

"Your Highness, now that the matter is over, what are your next plans?"

"...Don't worry, let me think about it first." Agnes returned to the chair and fell into deep thought.

"Okay, I understand, then Miss Anne, let's go out first."
To be continued...