Inside the late-night mansion, the lights of the living room were surprisingly bright, as if warding off the encroachment of the rainy night outside.
Thanks to the soundproofing magic apparatus placed on the cabinet, no one inside could tell how hard the rain was pouring, or whether thunder was rumbling in the distance.
In this usually relaxed and cozy parlor, the tension among the two women and one man was stretched taut like a bowstring, threatening to snap at any second.
Hyperion and Sigrid locked eyes with unyielding, possessive intensity, their gazes clashing like sharp blades right across Lanqi's silhouette.
Neither was willing to give an inch, and the air was thick with the hush before battle.
"Meow, meow! You two..."
Boss Cat had intended to mediate, but the moment it opened its mouth, the twin glares of Sigrid and Hyperion swept over it.
It tucked its head back in, trembling with terror, and scurried right back under the sofa.
That was pure murderous intent.
Whether it was Sigrid’s frost-cold eyes or Hyperion’s fury-laden glare, both made it abundantly clear that neither would yield a single step.
Boss Cat was friends with both Hubao and Side now. If this powder keg truly detonated and forced it to take a side, it couldn't even bear to imagine what it would do!
"Final warning. Let go of my Holy Son."
Sigrid's voice turned even colder, her grip tightening by half a fraction.
"You've known him for two months at most! How can you have the nerve to say something like that? Don't you feel any shame?"
Hyperion had turned fiercely combative—or rather, this was exactly how she had spoken back when she first met Lanqi.
"Holy Son, tell her. Are you mine or not?"
Sigrid looked at Lanqi as she spoke. She rarely asked a question without an inquiring tone, as though refusing to allow any negative answer.
"..."
Lanqi drew a deep breath. Just as he was about to defuse the fight, Hyperion turned to him, frowning in utter bewilderment.
"...Holy Son?"
Hyperion suspected Sigrid was lying to her.
Yet at this moment, it was also a plausible explanation—for why Lanqi would cooperate with the Domination branch.
If he held a high position within the Domination branch himself, then everything suddenly made complete sense!
Hyperion stared at Lanqi, her eyes wide with disbelief, practically begging him for an explanation.
If Lanqi truly gave an affirmative answer to Sigrid's question, she felt her world would simply collapse.
Back on the Southern Continent, he had been such a staunch enemy of the Resurrection Church.
"I am with the Domination branch now. To save the Protos Empire, the Protos Royal Magic Academy and the Domination branch are currently an indivisible alliance."
Lanqi helplessly let Hyperion keep clutching his forearm. He also couldn't understand why she was so fiercely opposed to the Resurrection Church.
When they parted, hadn't they already agreed to infiltrate the Extinction Branch? Yet upon meeting again, she seemed to have become sworn enemies to the death with the Resurrection Church.
"No... You—did you really join the Resurrection Church?"
Hyperion felt this was far beyond mere undercover work.
If he were infiltrating them, he should have dropped hints to her long ago, rather than openly bringing her to the Domination branch's stronghold inside the academy—acting as if he were genuinely collaborating with them in earnest.
"Of course. He swore an oath never to betray the Bishop of Domination in this lifetime."
Sigrid glanced at Lanqi, answering on his behalf with a touch of smugness in her tone.
"Then he was definitely coerced."
Hyperion couldn't believe it. What kind of bewitching poison had this woman fed Lanqi to bring him before the Bishop of Domination and force him to swear fealty?
She knew that before a powerhouse like the Bishop of Domination, Lanqi was merely meat on the chopping block. To survive, he certainly would have agreed to join the Domination branch!
"He did so willingly,"
Sigrid stated with absolute certainty.
"Liar!"
Yet Hyperion realized that no matter what this woman named Side said, Lanqi didn't offer a single word of rebuttal.
"Say something,"
Hyperion could only stare at Lanqi, her voice trembling.
If Lanqi had been forced, he could at least blink or give a signal; she would definitely understand.
"..."
Yet Lanqi’s calm, unruffled gaze seemed to tell her that what Sigrid said was pretty much spot on.
"What on earth happened these past two months..."
Hyperion shook her head. The person she trusted most had actually defected to the Resurrection Church, and was even entangled with a woman from the Domination branch.
"Understand now? Don't go pawing at other people's belongings,"
Sigrid said to Hyperion.
"He is not your belonging!"
Even now, Hyperion did not let go of Lanqi. She knew that if Lanqi ever truly went astray, she would be the only one who could pull him back from the abyss.
She then turned back to Lanqi.
"No matter what you say today, there is no way I will cooperate with the Resurrection Church. I swear in the name of the Goddess, I will never abandon my faith for personal feelings."
Tears shimmered faintly in Hyperion's eyes as she spoke resolutely to Lanqi.
She was laying all her cards on the table, showing him why her reaction had been so intense upon learning he had joined the Resurrection Church, and just how deeply hurt she truly was.
"The Goddess... You're from the Church of the Goddess of Fate?"
Sigrid frowned, studying Hyperion as realization dawned.
"Then that settles it. We have nothing to cooperate on, and whatever he says now is useless. Today, I'll show you who truly runs this household."
Sigrid gave a cold snort, finding the situation utterly absurd. The Holy Son had actually brought back a spy from the Church of the Goddess of Fate! From now on, she really couldn't let him mingle with other women as he pleased—he was so easily fooled.
"You're a friend of the Holy Son, so I won't kill you. But if you still don't understand who he belongs to, I don't mind teaching you a good lesson."
Sigrid stared down at Hyperion's hand, her icy gaze stripped of its last shred of patience.
"You want to duel me? I'm ready right now,"
Hyperion retorted, meeting Sigrid's gaze without flinching.
If they were going to fight, they could head to a semi-restricted or unrestricted area to settle not just superiority, but life and death.
"You're not worthy of dueling me. Besides, he has an obligation to protect me."
"Do you really think he's fallen for your charms?"
"Try putting me in danger and see whether he protects me or not!"
"He won't protect you! He'll only protect me!"
Their words collided, voices and tempos growing more heated by the second, neither waiting for the other to finish, each striving to drown out the other!
This frantic shouting match was vastly more explosive than their earlier exchange of barbs.
In the end, both turned at once toward Lanqi, who had stood speechless on the sidelines the entire time. Their furious glares demanded an answer: whose side was he on?
On this question, and this question alone, there was no brushing it off.
Boss Cat realized that the ultimate deadlock had finally arrived.
Chapter 382