"Seems like someone got assassinated, fufufu…"
Clarity returned to Lith and he noticed the beautiful smiling face of his mother.
He was momentarily confused but after hearing his mother's words, he understood that he probably got assassinated by someone on the battlefield.
Lith was about to think more on this topic when he noticed the state he was in.
He was at the rooftop of the castle and it seemed like his mother and sister were having tea around a round table. But that wasn't the most concerning thing.
The thing that concerned Lith was the fact that Lilith was holding him. Not normally but in a princess carry position!
Lith quickly got off his mother and cleared his throat to hide the fact that he was in such a position before. But he was slightly late. Lucy had already captured a photo of him and eternalized it forever.
The Queen was holding her son in a princess carry position, except, there was no princess but the prince himself. It was definitely an embarrassing thing for the poor prince.
Lith wouldn't lie, it surely was embarrassing, but he didn't show it on his face. He had been through many embarrassing situations and he was a professional at handling things now.
Lith coughed again and asked, "what exactly happened, mom?"
Lilith waved her hand lightly and a chair popped out of thin air. Lith sat on it and Lilith said with a smile,
"You were assassinated, baby. What else?"
"Yes, you did say it. But I am asking how did it happen?" Lith clarified.
Lucy interjected this time and said, "If mom answers that to you, you'll get major spoilers about your own death."
"What? Wait– I died?" Lith was slightly shocked.
"No. But you would've, had there not been an artifact protecting you." Lucy said snarkily.
Lucy didn't like the rashness of her little brother. She wanted him to be more alert. So she did not miss this chance to call him out this time.
"Ah…" Realization struck Lith and he nodded in understanding.
Though his sister's taunt made him understand the stupid things he was doing, he also realized at this very moment that there must be some higher level being on the battlefield who assassinated him.
If that wasn't the case, the artifact his mother gave him wouldn't be activated and he wouldn't simply teleport out of that place and arrive here in Nightingale.
"Tch." Lith clicked his tongue and rubbed his temples as he realized his own rashness.
Lith turned to look at Lucy and said, "Yeah, big sis, you're right. It seems I really was rash."
Lucy nodded. "Be careful next time, because you know? There's always a bigger fish."
Lith nodded. "Right, right."
He then thought to himself, 'those witches gave me incomplete information despite the payment. Though I wasn't the one who asked them and neither was I the one to pay them, it still hurts knowing the information wasn't complete.'
While in his thoughts, Lith placed his chin on his hand and started tapping the table with his index finger of the other hand.
Lilith and Lucy didn't disturb his thoughts and they were pretty much used to his overthinking tendencies.
'If I didn't have protection, I would have been pretty much dead. I was too careless…'
'It seems that no matter how much you're prepared, there still would be many uncertainties that you must face.'
'My assassination could've been avoided had I not charged head-on like this. I should've waited for others to move first. But… What if I was the one who was supposed to move first? Hmm, then I guess it isn't avoidable.'
'However, I've learnt from this that unless you've got absolute power and know about the overall situation, only then should you charge ahead. This war was one between two Saint Rank powerhouses and one Half-King Rank. These people would definitely have enough wealth to hire someone of a King Rank or probably even a Half Emperor. I should've thought about this before.'
'But whatever the case, it doesn't change the fact now that there's someone above Saint Rank present over there. This makes things a bit troublesome. So what should I do…'
Lith kept tapping on the table and thought about things deeply. His recklessness may have cost him his life today and he learnt to always get information from a very reliable source.
Previously, Dennis was the one paid to the witches to get information about the two clans. They only needed to answer one question and the question that Dennis asked was, 'Is there anyone from the two clans above Saint Rank?'
This question could be twisted in many ways and Lith assumed that the witches probably only gave Dennis the answer regarding whether anyone in the two clans had a cultivation of Saint Rank and above or not.
The question dodged the possibility of external factors and even if there may be any external help present with the two clans, the witches weren't obliged to answer it.
Lith's frown intensified and his impression of the witches was starting to degrade. All his life, he's just dealt with one witch and it was Hecate. Though he was told by everyone that witches were greedy beings, he never once felt that coming from Hecate.
Hecate was also always nice and ready to do things for him. Though the only problem would be the amount she charged. To have someone of her level work, it surely cost a lot of money and for this, Lith didn't really get her services too much.
Despite asking his mother, sister, and even the servants about how much Hecate charged for his things, they never answered him and just said that it's a reasonable price and he could continue to use her services if he liked.
Lith obviously found it suspicious. Though he had thought of stopping the usage of Hecate's services, he didn't actually do it as he needed the witch's help.
Whatever the case, Lith hadn't dealt much with the witches to come to a conclusion about whether they were good or bad. Especially in his current case, he could only blame himself for not asking them the right questions.
Lilith and Lucy were starting to wonder what Lith was thinking about. It had been quite a while since he was lost in his thoughts. The two of them saw a variety of emotions flash on his face, arousing their curiosity.
A few minutes later, Lucy couldn't help but ask, "What are you thinking so much about, little brother?"
Lith snapped out of his thoughts as he heard his sister's voice. He looked at her and shook his head while saying, "It's nothing important."
"Is something bothering you?" Lucy asked again, clearly concerned.
Lith shook his head again. "No. Anywho, I am going to leave now. I need to figure out things."
"Leaving already? It's not even an hour since you came here." Lilith said.
"I am in the middle of war, mom. I need to leave or things would turn for the worse." Lith explained and prepared to leave.
"Is that even war? It seems more like kids playing around." Lilith teased with a chuckle.
Lith walked towards her and held her hand. "Yeah, yeah, you'll obviously think like that since you're strong. Anyway, drop me off there. You know I can't do continental jumps on my own, right?"
Lilith chuckled again. "Alright."
She then turned to look at Lucy and said, "Dear, did you send the messages to the others?"
Lucy nodded her head. "Yes, mom. They know of the situation and are patiently waiting for him to get back to the continent."
"Good. I'll be back in a minute then." Lilith finished saying and was about to teleport away when Lith asked,
"What messages are you guys talking about?"
Lilith stopped what she was doing. Looking at Lith, she covered her mouth with her hands as she giggled. With a mischievous smile, she explained, "My daughter-in-laws thought that something bad happened to you. They were about to invade the battlefield and wipe everyone out in their panic induced rage. Thankfully, Lucy messaged them about your situation in time, sparing the lives of those people."
"What…" Lith was shocked to hear such news. His wives… weren't they too crazy about him?
There was not even a scratch on him and just his disappearance caused a moment of unrest among them. What would've happened if he actually died?
Lith felt a jolt of electricity run down his spine as he thought of such a possibility. His wives sure were going to do crazy things if that happened but…
Lith turned to look at Lucy and saw an imaginary scary aura coming out of her body.
He then turned his head to look at his mother who was currently ahead of him. He could only look at her back but looking at even that made him feel shivers down his spine.
As he noticed it now for the first time from a different perspective, his mother didn't have any gentle aura that she usually did and replacing it, there was a horrifying pressure of absolute terror.
Lith couldn't even imagine what his mother would do if by any chance something were to happen to him.
Cold sweat dripped down his back but it soon disappeared when Lilith turned around and asked with her usual motherly gentle smile, "ready?"
Lith took a deep breath as he heard that. Right… his mother definitely wasn't someone who would do things he was imagining. It was probably his own imagination. How can a beautiful and gentle being like that ever hurt anyone?
Lilith's gem-like purple eyes that radiated a calming aura, her silky smooth silver hair, and the gentle motherly look on her perfect face, how can a being that appeared this gentle ever do such a thing? It was obviously not possible.
Lith shoved aside his thoughts on this topic and walked closer to his mother.
A few seconds later, Lilith and Lith both vanished from their spots.