Theo and Gyllena brought Dorita into the mansion as stealthily as possible. They avoided every knights and entered Gyllena’s room through the opened window.

Once they were inside, Theo locked the window back. He then faced the two after setting the books and the vials down.

"The only problem left now is where Lady Dorita can live inside the mansion while still out of the knights and servants’ eyes," said Theo with low voice, trying not to let Gyllena’s knights hear anything.

Gyllena approached the door and peeked out of the room. She shook her head. ’My knights are guarding the exit. How can we sneak out unnoticed?’ she gestured.

Theo pinched his chin, pondering over the matter. He shifted to Dorita after that. "By the way, you disliked normal rooms, right, Lady Dorita?"

Dorita nodded in response. "Yes, I prefers damp and dark places. The basement was a good example."

"The problem is how we sneak you into it," said Theo, planting his hands on his waist. He turned to Gyllena. "There must be knights guarding the basement as well, right?"

"The basement is the place we stored the food reserve and weaponry, so..." Gyllena answered.

"It will be hard then," Theo muttered. He walked back and forth while he was trying to think of a way to resolve the matter. "We have to take the knights down without alerting them. And even if we succeeded, Lady Dorita will still have to hide whenever someone entering the basement."

Both Dorita and Gyllena also noticed the problem. If they kept the witch inside the basement, it would be just a matter of time before the servants found her. They invited Dorita was not to prison her, but to give her a better place and a better resource in exchange of her protecting the mansion from the Abyssal New Gate’s influence. For that, she had to continue to create potions and growing her mushrooms. She couldn’t hide herself that way. Theo’s footsteps matched the ticking sound of the clock.

When they were still pondering that, Gyllena suddenly recalled about something. "If I am not wrong, had once saw an old wooden shack at the back of the mansion. It also has underground rooms. My father once showed the shack to me. He said that the shack was my grandfather’s workshop. The place where the Layver Family started."

Theo and Dorita exchanged glances, smiling.

"Doesn’t sound like a bad place for me to grow my mushrooms," said Dorita.

Theo raised his hand, stated: "Let’s go check it out then!"

Of course, he said that with a low voice.

They carried the piles of books and vials as they exited the room through the window again. Fortunately, the back garden was empty. Gyllena didn’t have enough knights to guard it. And with its destroyed state, surely no one would ever think to do anything suspicious about that, right?

To avoid being spotted by someone from the mansion, they were walking without light now. Only the moonlight was left to help them navigate through the debris and stones. And even the moonlight was only slimmer glint, for it being covered by the looming shadow of the City of Sky.

After about 15 minutes of walk, they reached the shack. It was built at the corner and was hard to spot due to the greeneries that were growing around it. They would’ve missed it entirely if Gyllena was not with them.

The door of the shack was locked and chained. There was a padlock on the door. With the key she had with her, Gyllena the padlock. The crisp, rusty click spoke volume of how long the shack had been waiting alone in this corner.

When being pushed, the door creaked. Dust that had been accumulating on it fell, filling the air with mist-like dust smoke for a moment.

"This is the place," said Gyllena, looking somewhat embarassed when she realized that she hadn’t properly taken care of the shack since the last time her father introduced it to her. "I may look old, but It is simply covered by dust. With a quick sweep, everything will become better..."

Gyllena started explaining, fearing that Theo and Dorita might think that she was rude by telling a great witch like Dorita to live in here. But contrarily to her thought, they reacted enthusiastically toward the shack.

Dorita stepped into the shack, her eyes scanning the interior. "It’s more spacious than I thought!" She exclaimed.

The dust that covered the floor and the tables were not something unclean in her eyes, but a sign that the place was perfect for her mushroom’s growth.

Theo approached her, smiling. "And don’t forget that it has a basement as well, Lady Dorita."

Dorita’s eyes widened. "What a perfect place!"

Theo chuckled. "I know, right?"

He acted as if the place was his property, bragging about it to Dorita like a elementary kid trying to impress his crush with something in his friend’s possesion.

Gyllena was being left alone there, standing at the entrance of the shack while the two had started to explore the shack. When she came back to reality, they had already gone into the basement.

"W-wait!"

Didn’t want to be left behind, Gyllena immediately followed them.

Dorita’s impression about the place was: a perfect place to continue her research while cultivating her mushrooms. After they brought the books and the vials in, Gyllena and Theo’s jobs were practically over. They wanted to help Dorita sweep the place, but she said her mushroom could do that for her later. Which made the two wondering what kind of mushroom had an ability to sweep.

Before the two left the shack and Dorita alone, the witch gave them two vials filled with yellowish powder.

Dorita smiled at them after giving them each one of the vial. "I could sense the presences of people who had been mind controlled by the cultists in the mansion. Spread it around. The spores stored inside the vials were of a specially cultivated mushroom that had developed a habit to eat Dark mana. By the time the spores grew up, the mind-control should have been cleaned completely."

Gyllena hugged the vial with trembling hands. Finally, she could completely get rid of the Abyssal New Gate’s influence over her mansion. "Thank you very much, Lady Dorita! I, as the head of the Layver Family, sweat to my name, that I repay your generousity with my utmost effort!"

The witch smiled gently seeing how serious Gyllena with her statement. She shook her head a little. "Don’t worry about repaying me. Your parents had done way more to me than what I just did. Just live well—and make your parents proud of you."

Gyllena’s eyes became wet. "Yes!" She replied.

Watching from the side, Theo looked at the vial Dorita just gave him. He and Tizmilly might could eliminate the Abyssal New Gate’s influence. But their method would require the lose of lives of the victims. Dorita’s method, on the other hand, could do that while maintaining the lives of the victims.

"As expected of her," Theo muttered, a thin smile formed on his face.

That’s why she is my favorite character, Theo thought.

It was still winter. Staying outside for too long would be too much for a Noble lady like Gyllena. After saying a good bye to Dorita, they returned to the mansion, the vials’ valves were left open. They let the spores followed the wind and spread by itself as they walk back to Gyllena’s room.

The long night was finally came to an end.

A rest time needed for them for the work that was waiting for them the next day.

The day of the engagement party was approaching. Now that he had secured Dorita in the Layver Family’s mansion, Theo could finally let out a relieved sigh. Nothing could went wrong with the party now.

...

Meanwhile, inside a room that was purposedly left dark.

Seventeen servants were gathering. They looked normal at first glance. Their complexion were as healthy as before. Nothing suspicious at all.

However, if someone checked them more closely, they would notice how slow and delayed their eyes’ blinks were. As if they had forgotten their instinctual habit of blinking and had to blink manually to do that. Their movements also looked stiffer than normal persons.

Some of them were sitting on the floor, while others were standing and laying on the bed. Resembling a group of people hanging out with friends. But there was no laugh, no joke, only cold, empty stares.

"Jahreon, that kid... He failed so spectacularly I almost die laughing," said a man, his words constructed like a joke, but his voice was flat.

A woman raised her hand, playing with her hair while laying on the bed. "Well, no wonder. He was merely a protected prince in the core, after all. What can you expect from him?" She giggled mockingly, but her voice was, just as the previous man’s, was flat.

Another man, who was standing near the door, looked at them. "But he still possessed the core information about us. We have to silence him."

While stretching on the floor, a girl smiled widely. "Well, well, now everyone. Kill him, or not?"

They exchanged glances. And smiles. They knew the answer. The decision was made.

"But his inner demon is a rare one, so can I have it before we execute him?"

With the last one’s question, the hidden meeting was concluded.