Because Xio Derecha had already advanced to "Imperative Mage," even though she had been "hypnotized" back when she was in the mid-sequence, if she encountered something tied to her "obsession," it was still possible for her to break free of control and regain herself.

So the best method was to make her believe she had already found her enemy and completed her revenge. Only then could the obsession be eliminated, allowing her to be controlled more effectively by "Pride."

Of course, all of the above was merely a justification for Hvin wanting to kill Viscount Stratford in front of George III.

As for whether George III believed it, Ebner didn’t actually care... and George III himself wouldn’t care either.

He was nothing more than a guard captain who rose to power by betraying his former superior. For George III, who could even abandon his own son for the sake of his plans, why would he care about such a person’s life or death?

Moreover, as far as George III knew, Viscount Stratford had privately interacted with Hvin before, even having quite a bit of cooperation with him at one point. It was only in recent months that this relationship had gradually faded.

Now that Hvin wanted to kill Viscount Stratford, whether it was due to personal grudges, or because the other party had learned some secret and needed to be silenced, or—as he claimed—just to better control the young lady of the Dere family, George III had no intention of asking further.

A mere mid-sequence Beyonder—if he had to be sacrificed, then so be it...

What’s more, ever since agreeing to let the "Saintess of Purple" use him to lure Trissy Cheek, George III had already abandoned Stratford.

Thus, the King of Loen almost didn’t hesitate before granting Hvin’s request.

After that, the three discussed the timing and specific details of the operation, and only then did Ebner end this audience.

...

In Empress Borough, beside Viscount Stratford’s residence, a heavy iron gate emitted the sound of metal scraping as it slowly opened backward.

Immediately after, a figure cloaked in deep black slipped out from inside, head lowered, walking to a hired carriage and lightly boarding it.

This figure was the witch cultivated by Trissy—once the young man with a different orientation, "Sherman," now the beautiful girl "Shirley"... and also the female protagonist of the tragic love story Xio had obtained in the "Dream Labyrinth Tower."

At this moment, Shirley was immersed in the joy of Viscount Stratford proposing to her. She first broke into a genuine smile, but soon her eyes became misty, feeling that all the suffering and torment she had endured in the past had been for the sake of welcoming this moment of happiness.

But suddenly, she heard someone call out her former name: "Sherman!"

With that somewhat familiar voice, Sherman noticed that at some unknown point, there was already another person inside the carriage—someone who had once understood her, someone who hadn’t mocked her.

Bounty hunter Xio Derecha!

No, an intelligence officer of MI9, Xio Derecha...

Still unaware that Xio had already attained the rank of general, Shirley first felt fear, then instinctively recalled some of the things Trissy often said:

"You must not let people from your past see you now.

"Do you want your husband—your beloved—to know what you used to be like?

"Only by completely severing ties with the past can you gain a new life, can you be saved!"

Such words flashed rapidly through Shirley’s mind, causing a thought she herself feared to suddenly emerge from the depths of her heart:

"Kill her!"

This thought was like a demon from the abyss, constantly whispering in her ears, echoing within her heart:

"Kill her!

"Kill the one who recognizes you!

"Only then can you truly escape the past, without losing the present!

"Kill her!"

Shirley did not respond to Xio’s greeting. Her left hand at her side slowly clenched, trembling slightly as it tightened.

But in the end, she couldn’t truly harden her heart. Her lips moved a few times, her left fist loosened slightly, and with a trembling voice she said:

"I’ve already started a new life. Can you please stop disturbing me?

"I... I don’t want to lose everything I have now. I don’t want to see people from my past!"

The more she spoke, the faster her speech became, her pleading growing more obvious.

Hearing this, Xio sighed, gazed steadily at Sherman, pressed her lips together, and said:

"Viscount Stratford isn’t a good person. He’s using you... If you withdraw now, it’s still not too late."

"No, you don’t understand him... He already proposed to me... He said meeting me was a blessing from the Lord. Even though my background isn’t noble, he’s already been married once, so he doesn’t need to care about such trivial matters... He also said he would find a way to have a merchant acknowledge me as an illegitimate daughter to raise my social standing..." Shirley muttered, her eyes full of longing.

How can such sweet talk be trusted? You should look at what he does, not what he says—like Ebner! Xio shook her head helplessly and decided not to persuade her further.

It was obvious that Shirley had already fallen into the vortex of emotion. No matter what outsiders said, she wouldn’t believe it... Coming here despite the risk, as a friend, Xio had already done her best.

Thinking this, Xio said calmly, "I hope you won’t pay too great a price for your choice," then glanced at the empty seat on the other side of the carriage. Without lingering any longer, she opened the carriage window and leaped out in a forward motion.

Shirley silently watched the entire process, finally letting out a long breath as she collapsed weakly into her seat, as if all strength had left her.

She had barely managed to suppress the demon within her heart.

At that moment, she saw on the opposite side a figure rapidly take shape, appearing out of thin air.

The figure wore a gloomy, old-fashioned black dress, yet it did nothing to diminish her sweet and gentle appearance and temperament. Simply sitting there without speaking, she drew all attention.

Demoness Trissy!

The two looked at each other in silence. Finally, Shirley nervously asked, "You saw everything just now?"

"I saw it all." Trissy nodded slightly, her expression somewhat grave.

"Please don’t hurt her... She... she’s one of the few people who didn’t discriminate against me and even helped me," Shirley pleaded with courage.

"Heh, don’t worry. How could I possibly harm a demigod?" Trissy mocked herself. Without the "old grandpa" backing her, she might have jumped out of the carriage to flee just now!

"A demigod?!" Shirley’s eyes widened in shock. "Xio is that powerful?"

I even had the thought of killing her to silence her... Fortunately, I didn’t act... Shirley felt a wave of relief.

"The truly powerful one is the Viscount of Beldan behind her... But letting Xio Derecha notice your situation isn’t necessarily a bad thing..." Trissy let out a soft "heh," skipping over the topic and instead said:

"You seemed to be in a very good mood when you came out."

Recalling what had just happened, Shirley showed a trace of shyness:

"Maybe... possibly... I might have a chance to become a mother..." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

As she spoke, her right hand moved to her stomach, the corners of her mouth lifting uncontrollably.

"I feel him kicking me... kicking me..." Shirley suddenly froze, blurting out in shock, "How could it be this fast?"

She wasn’t even sure she could conceive today!

Seeing her reaction, Trissy’s smile became even more enchanting.

...

On a dim street, Xio, her expression somewhat gloomy, had just lifted her head when she saw Ebner standing not far away.

She wasn’t surprised. She never believed she could hide anything from Ebner’s "insight." Being able to meet Shirley smoothly must have been with his tacit approval.

"Met her?" Ebner asked with a smile.

"Mm." Xio nodded, then asked, "It didn’t ruin your plan, did it?"

"Don’t worry, no problem." Ebner patted her hand, signaling that everything was fine. After all, the "old man" disguised with Insight was watching over Trissy—everything was under his control.

"I could have easily rescued Shirley... even if she might have hated me for it... But for various reasons, I didn’t!

"If it were the old me, I wouldn’t have had so many concerns... Am I really becoming worse, like Fors said?" Xio murmured.

Becoming a demigod inevitably brings some influence from divinity. Unless you join the "Unknown" big family,’ this kind of change is relatively mild...

Ebner sighed inwardly, then, half-comforting, half-jokingly said:

"You’re just becoming more mature in how you handle things.

"After all, experience and knowledge aren’t like height—they can ’grow’..."

Before he could finish speaking, Ebner felt a sharp blow to his knee.