In a dark room, a woman with platinum blonde hair sat cross legged, ice surrounded her as the ethereal blue dress draped over her body gave off an air of cold seduction.

"How’s the connection?"

A blonde woman wearing casual pajamas walked into the dark room.

Her hair was a bit messy but not unpleasant and her face showed signs of fatigue but no sign of complete exhaustion.

"It was just severed completely, Merlin’s gone"

The platinum haired woman spoke in a calm and apathetic tone. The blonde smirked, she took a seat opposite the platinum blonde woman before asking.

"So? What are you gonna do now?"

"Nothing, the plans continue as is"

"But Merlin’s gone?"

"I lost my love for him long ago"

The blonde was left speechless, she stared at the woman before her with an expression of shock.

"Really? That’s a couple of centuries worth of obsession, madness and desire- you’re throwing all that away?"

"Yes"

No hesitation, the icy woman did not hesitate with her words and replied with a complete lack of emotion. Yet, that reaction of hers made the blonde woman understand something.

Her bright blue eyes showed a mischievous light as she asked.

"Did you really fall for Damien?"

"He’s now Richard and yes, that man is perfect"

"Oho? Wasn’t Merlin perfect?"

The ice queen lady shook her head slowly as she answered in a slow, calm and deliberate manner. Each word that left her mouth lacked hesitation and her words did not try to hide anything-

"Every incarnation, Merlin’s flaws would show. I’ve experienced living with thousands of Merlin’s, each different from the last. But Richard... he’s special"

"Oh he is, he wouldn’t have been able to see through my clone if he wasn’t"

The ice queen glared at the blonde woman.

"Freyja... Your actions... I will not forget what you put me through... moreover, you made Richard see me in such a state... I have yet to forgive you"

Yet, the blonde woman, Freyja did not put her words to mind. Rolling her eyes, Freyja turned towards a corner of the room.

A group of large naked burly men had surrounded another man. His short brown hair being his only striking feature yet even that was nothing special.

If anything, the things being done to him but the naked men were more interesting.

"I could see that"

Freyja knew what the woman before her was referring to but- what of it?

She ended up in her situation because she was weak then.

She was the one who decided to reincarnate.

She was the one who stuck to Merlin’s reincarnation.

Freyja didn’t even know about the fate bond that she had made with Merlin before reincarnating!

But... the idea of making such a bond before reincarnation was something that was... expected?

When she thought about it, making a bond that allows you to search for your beloved after reincarnation was a very obvious thing to do. After all, fate does not always go one way and you’d rather awaken your memories while in the arms of your true beloved than having to deal with looking for them after sleeping with an unknown man for years.

"So? What are you gonna do now? With the severance, Richard should have already known about your plot... well, he is naive, maybe he wasn’t? We could still use that unknown Goddess to trick him right? But... What about that girl?"

The platinum blonde woman paused, she closed her eyes and fell deep into thought for a second before letting out a sigh.

"I still have a sizable amount of power from my connections in the past, I don’t know how much Richard got from Merlin but using Karen would not really do us any good. At best, she would be a good body to have... have you tracked down the rest?"

Freyja pulled at the air and her hand produced two folders.

"A struggling beauty queen in Venezuela and a cafe owner in Budapest, take your pick"

The platinum blonde beauty took up the folders and skipped all the text and focused on the photos.

"They’re both in his age range, they have attractive looks that match his preferences. Moreover, their backgrounds match his desires for a low profile individual"

"Low profile?"

Freyja looked at the two folders, one was a beauty queen who was struggling after resisting the advances of a corrupt judge.

The other one was being pressured by a pursuer who she rejected, her cafe was small and the visibility got lower as her rejected admirer was spreading rumors about her store and even using his financial power to push her small cafe into bankruptcy.

While their experiences could barely go on tv and was the type of experience that would simply be relegated to the background of larger issues. They weren’t actually that "low profile".

Though the beauty queen was not all that successful, her reputation was still good and the judge who made advances on her did so for good reason.

The cafe owner on the other hand did not start from scratch, her cafe was inherited from her grandmother.

An Italian woman who ended up living in Budapest and made a name for herself with her authentic Italian coffee and food.

They weren’t big names known worldwide but they were still "local celebrities" in a way.

But Freyja did not point that out and instead she asked.

"So? Which one?"

"Take them both"

"... you really are a pain to deal with Skadi"

"Do you want to lose your treasured purity?"

"..."

Freyja let out an exhausted sigh before leaving the room.

When she left, the platinum blonde- Skadi turned to look at the brown haired man that was going through the horror of assault himself-

"How does it feel Robert? You’ve barely experienced this for a month and you’re already broken?"

She spoke with a pleased tone of voice, the man, Robert, who was now an immortal thrall tried to speak. His expression was filled with fury and madness but before he could even say anything-

*STAB*

A spear of ice pierced through his neck, his body struggled but more ice spears impaled the man.

The more he struggled, the more pain he would feel so he stayed motionless.

But, before he could even do anything, the ice spears moved and put him in a "spread eagle stance".

This position caused his body to start slipping, the ice spear was cold but it was also slippery.

While the mystical power of Skadi prevented the ice from completely melting it did not spread its cold outward.

This caused the surface to be very slippery and the spears were made to be larger at the base and gradually forming a point at the top.

Such a state made Robert’s body endure more pain and all he could do was tense his body up to prevent further slipping but in such a position-

*PLAP*

A foreign object was thrust into his body, he was already familiar with it- as horrific as that sounds.

But the tightening of his body to prevent himself from slipping seems to have caused a reaction in the beast thrusting his hips behind Robert as the movements became even more erratic and frenziied.

"Do you like it?"

Skadi asked Robert in a mocking tone, her face was covered in a look of complete satisfaction as she continued to speak.

"Don’t look at me like that, I saved you from being burned at stake for two weeks, the least you could do is say thanks... well, not that you could talk anyway..."

Robert reacted to Skadi’s words but his reaction was an attempt at spitting at her but his mouth was held by a large hand before thick flesh rod was thrust into his throat-

"Didn’t you always ask me, "Why can’t you love me?" or "Why won’t you accept me?"... now tell me Robert- Could you love these wonderful men? Not that you could answer since you’re enjoying that delicious hot dog aren’t you? Hahahaha"

Robert wanted to say something but the ice spear on his throat prevented him from doing anything.

Yet, even then, Robert still showed a defiant look which only gave Skadi more satisfaction.

Turning around, Skadi waved her hands as she said-

"Treat him well for a couple more hours, of course, you could take longer but make sure to clean him up and feed him after. I don’t want to see a ragged idiot the next time I watch this show"

Leaving those words, Skadi vanished leaving Robert at the mercy of the men around him.

In Tokyo, Hana was going through the reports on ghost sightings and other hauntings.

Her job was varied but she was satisfied with it.

"If only that bitch didn’t call every now and then..."

She spat while recalling the face of a blonde bitch who loved wearing leather.

"That’s not a nice thing to say about the woman who took care of you isn’t it?"

"Tsk... what are you doing here- Tanya?"

Hana turned around and saw Tanya standing at the doorway of the office that should have been locked and guarded by Cindy’s pets.

"Weren’t you the one who called me over? I guess Richard’s planning something big isn’t he?"

Hana let out a sigh, while it was true that they did ask Tanya to come here, Hana and even Richard were expecting her to arrive a few days later.

In fact, Hana was still searching for accommodations!

"Where are you staying?"

Hana asked, if Tanya were to say something along the lines of "Nowhere", she would immediately snap but her reply was worse-

"Yuna gave me a room, a rather luxurious space."

"Is that so?"

It was as she expected, even now, her methods were still too amateurish. It was a wonder why Richard would rely on her for such a task even if-

"So- where’s Richard?"

"UK"

"Oh? Then how about giving me your report?"

Even if she was a double agent... Hana did not know if Richard was aware of it or not but she had long been working for Nova Munda.

Not as a simple "member" but an actual high ranking officer of the organization.

In fact, her guise was easy to see through yet Richard still dealt with her the same way he did with Cindy.

The man was either an idiot or just didn’t care about it.

Either way, Hana was not going to reject free money yet now-

’Should I just defect? Richard’s gonna make it big soon, he could make money easily and his main struggle now is related to the mystical world but this trip to the UK might just change that

Hana did not have the gift of prophecy but she could immediately tell that the man Arthur Walsh was no ordinary individual.

"This is Richard’s home base, even if my identity is an open secret, I won’t push my luck and do things blatantly. Keeping a facade even when discovered is basic courtesy to an individual who choose to look away"

"Fine, then when would I get it?"

"After Richard returns"

"And when is that?"

"Dunno"

"..."

The two stared each other in the eyes for a moment before Tanya gave up and shook her head.

"Fine, I’ll wait, you could just pass it to Yuna when it’s done"

After she said those words, Tanya turned around and closed the door. The security cameras picked up nothing, not even a shadow as the leader of Nova Munda vanished from the office building.

"Haa~ I’m not getting paid enough for this... will he give me a raise if I ask?"

Hana lamented before continuing her work. It could be considered overtime and people normally avoid doing such work but Hana was sure that Richard would pay her overtime.

Moreover, if she asks for a raise she could get even more money-

Why would a mystical practitioner like her act like a money hungry ghost?

Because even mystics need to eat!

Moreover, unlike Richard who had that Goddess who could taxi him anywhere in the world. Hana had to buy plane tickets, bus tickets, train tickets... She had to pay for transportation and that was not even considering the accommodations, food...

Simply being alive is taxable, they say its not but living needs money, money that is earned, earnings which are taxed.

As such, for Hana who wants nothing more than just to live in relative luxury and enjoy her life- finding a cash cow willing to pay for easy labor was something she could only dream off-

Until she met Richard.

’I’m going to cling to him so long as he has money!’

She declared silently before diving deep into work.