"In this foul den of depravity, the only worthwhile thing I gained was getting to know my aunt."
"I'm on great terms with my aunt; she isn't a lunatic like Qinna. My original plan was to take you to seek refuge with her, and then continue our schemes of blaspheming god here."
"Because of Fanmula's extreme xenophobia, as long as we can hide within one of the families, not even the Red Hats can harm us in the slightest. Even if all of us end up on the Future Board, we can still rest easy here."
"There are six great families in Fanmula, also known as the Fanmula Six Emblems. The Six Emblems carved up the entire city between them. Information doesn't flow between them, and each has its own administrative apparatus, which gives us plenty of loopholes to exploit."
At first hearing, there was nothing wrong with this plan, but it harbored a glaring loophole—one that even Yaxiu picked up on.
However, they did not continue the conversation.
The footsteps of knee-high boots echoed outside the detention cell.
Creak—
The heavy alloy door swung open slowly. A pair of straight, shapely legs stepped into the quiet detention cell, each crisp click-clack seeming to tread right on everyone's hearts. A tall silhouette, glamorous features, an arrogant expression—the gorgeous Red Hat elf appeared before the prisoners' eyes, draining away all other color from their vision.
Several Red Hats unlocked the cell. The gorgeous elf walked in, swept her gaze across the room, and said nothing.
The young mistress, who had always been calm and composed, acted as though she had encountered her natural predator, unable to maintain her composure at all. "When are you letting us out? According to the regulations, without substantive evidence of a crime recognized by the Book of Gospel, you can only detain us for a maximum of forty-eight hours."
"Forty-eight hours?" As if hearing a hilarious joke, Qinna Sennheiser let out a chuckle. "Quite right. Normally it is indeed forty-eight hours at most, or the law would be broken."
"However..." She bent down slightly, looking down at her flesh-and-blood daughter at close range. "As a Red Hat captain, I can petition the Book of Gospel to designate you all as major criminal suspects, extending the maximum detention period to one hundred and seventy hours."
"Furthermore, over the preceding thirty days, the primary area of your activity was Azula, which makes coming to Fanmula an extraterritorial offense, extending your detention by another seven hundred and twenty hours."
"Within the limits permitted by Gospel, I can legally and properly keep you locked up for over a month." The beautiful elf sneered. "Did you think only pests like you knew how to exploit the rules? The Red Hats don't exploit the rules simply because we disdain to do so. After all, who would want to drag their standards down to the same level as parasites like you?"
Annan's lips twitched as she fought back her rage. "Qinna, I didn't come looking for you. You—"
"Well, I came looking for you, you ill-mannered ungrateful wretch."
Smack!
Before anyone could react, Annan was struck across the face with a vicious slap. With a muffled grunt, she crashed to the floor, half of her face completely numb. She had just spat out a mouthful of bloody froth when Qinna hoisted her back up, and then—
"Ah!"
Qinna drove a knee straight into the girl's abdomen. Annan felt several of her ribs snap, her internal organs violently crushed, and she could barely draw breath!
The young lady cried out as she collapsed back onto the ground. Straining to get back up, she raised her manacled hands in defense. Seeing this, the beautiful Red Hat elf showed no mercy, unleashing a full-force whip-kick with her knee-high boot!
Boom!
The sorcery manacles shattered under the brute force of the kick. Annan was hurled backward, plastered against the wall. The ferocious impact jolted her entire body numb; bursts of vibrant color flashed across her vision, and a shrill buzzing in her ears left her practically deaf!
"Stop."
Qinna pulled out a handkerchief and bent over to wipe the blood from the tip of her boot, paying no heed to Annan retching up blood. She looked toward the only cloaked figure in the cell who dared to speak up, raising an eyebrow. "I recall Yaxiu Heath was the person in her portrait... Are you her man?"
Yaxiu covered Lisi's eyes and ran his tongue over the Honeyed Words and Daggered Heart hidden in his mouth. Weighing the best moment to strike, he asked, "What, were you hoping I'd call you mother-in-law?"
"If you became a comedian, you might actually make the leaderboards," Qinna commented calmly. From her hip, she drew an elegant handgun styled like black and white piano keys. Yaxiu instinctively covered Lisi's ears—
Bang!
Buzz—
The bullet slammed into the wall right beside Yaxiu's ear, nicking his flesh. The violent gunshot blasted his eardrums in an instant, leaving a roaring ringing in his head. Though his solid combat discipline kept him marginally rational, the terror of brushing shoulders with death gripped his heart like a vice.
Strength? His opponent was a Three-Winged Sanctuary Sorcerer.
Status? She was a Red Hat representing justice.
Their situation? She was the butcher's knife, and they were the meat on the block!
When his hearing returned, he heard Qinna say coldly, "...That was your first warning. Not a warning for your rudeness to me, but for your disrespect toward the Sennheiser family head. In this world, aside from Gospel, no one speaks to the head of Sennheiser in an imperative tone. No one—not even the kings of this earth!
"Furthermore, this is a re-education for stupidity. Kid, haven't you noticed Banjie hasn't said a word?"
Yaxiu froze and looked at Banjie, who had remained silent the entire time.
Right. The one here who cared most about Annan was definitely the butler, Banjie. But why hadn't Banjie uttered a single word of protest when Annan was beaten like this? Could it be...
"Because he knows that this time, they have no leg to stand on," Qinna sneered. "Don't be so foolish as to be duped by this wretched brat."
Yaxiu forced down the dread in his chest and pressed down Lisi's hand, which had reached up to touch his ear. All he could offer was weak, hollow moralizing: "Even if there's bad blood between you and your daughter, you shouldn't abuse her like this. She isn't your property—"
"Who said I was beating her as her mother?"
Qinna reached out and gripped Annan by the neck, pinning her against the wall. She was already taller than Annan, to say nothing of her knee-high boots. Mother and daughter faced off at point-blank range, but not a flicker of warmth could be found in their eyes—only coldness and resentment.
"Nona has already told me everything about your scheme," Qinna said coldly. "Coming to Fanmula with great fanfare, then leaking your blood relation to me so everyone assumes I'm harboring you. After that, you secretly join another Emblem family, leaving Sennheiser all alone to face the Red Hats, the agencies, the other five Emblem families, and the Isu royal family, turning into the target of the entire nation... Meanwhile, you could sit back on a balcony with the best view and chuckle as Sennheiser became the scapegoat in your grand plan.
"Didn't you say you didn't want to be my daughter anymore? How is it that the moment you cause trouble, you run back to Mama to wipe your ass? I don't recall ever teaching you that. Or is that the Doran family upbringing? Hm?"
"Pfft!"
Annan spat a mouthful of bloody froth onto Qinna's face, wheezing out weakly, "Don't you... dare... insult Doran!"
Qinna glanced askance at the streaks of blood running down near the corner of her eye, her eyelids narrowing slightly. Her voice remained entirely flat. "I stand here now not as your mother, nor as a Red Hat, but as the head of the Sennheiser family, demanding an explanation from the traitor who plotted against Sennheiser.
"I'll give you just three sentences," she said coldly. "If you cannot convince me, then you can spend the next two human menstrual cycles in here."
Yaxiu and the others were completely stunned. They hadn't known the specifics of Annan's plan at all, but Banjie didn't refute Qinna's account, which proved Annan truly had intended to use her mother's family as a shield from the start. A scheming daughter going to war against a cold-blooded mother—this was truly a clash of the century that they couldn't get involved in.
"After the Weaving Ceremony ends... I will join Sennheiser."
"One."
"Succeed or fail, I will hand over every secret of Doran to you, including the manuals of loopholes accumulated over hundreds of years, and this god-blaspheming plan woven across multiple generations!"
"Two."
"That's all! That is my bottom line!" Annan ground out through gritted teeth. "Hand me over, then! Let the whole world know Sennheiser can't even protect its own daughter!"
Qinna gave her a look, released her grip, and let her slide down the wall. Then, the beautiful Red Hat elf pulled a sheet of contract weave-paper from her sleeve and unfolded it with practiced ease.
"Sign."
Yaxiu and the others suddenly realized that Annan's pattern of using contracts to control employees, as well as her deceptive rhetoric that mixed intimidation with sweet-talking, might very well have been an integral part of her childhood upbringing.
Chapter 295