At noon that day, in the royal domain, in the palace of Agnes.

Lucius was standing by the door, conscientiously fulfilling his duty as a guardian of the princess, when a young knight arrived in a hurry.

"How's it going?" Lucius asked quietly, afraid of waking up the princess who was napping.

The knight couldn't help but bow his head, it was obvious that his mission had not been successfully completed.

"I'm sorry, Lord Lucius, we did find some clues, but we couldn't find the results, I'm afraid that the person who attacked Mr. Herbert has been killed by his own master."

"......," Luciuus paused, and continued, "I guessed it would be like this, but it doesn't matter, you and your colleagues have worked hard. ”

"Yes, thank you for your concern."

The young knight expressed his gratitude from the bottom of his heart, but he was not at all happy, because he knew Lucius's character, this meticulous paladin was better than he looked, and he had never been arrogant to people because of his noble status, but it was precisely in this way that he was even more disappointed in himself for not completing the task.

"It's really okay," Lucius smiled and patted him on the shoulder, "Now it seems that our enemies are difficult to deal with, so for the sake of your safety, you only need to seriously protect Your Highness, and I will take care of the rest." ”

"But you ......"

"What? Do you think I can't trust you? ”

"No, no, I'm just worried, if the other party's real target is Her Royal Highness, then can we still handle it? So it's up to you to ...... it yourself."

"......" Lucius touched his chin and fell into thought.

The young knight had a point, the other party instructed Herbert to poison Agnes, which was obviously related to the struggle for the throne, so the murderer's master was among the remaining candidates for the throne, and there was no need to conduct unnecessary investigations.

However, Agnes had instructed to find the person who had picked up Herbert.

Lucius had always been obedient to Agnes, so he naturally had to think about this, but after a few seconds of thought, he made another decision.

"I understand, let's all focus on protecting Her Royal Highness."

“…… Well, that's the best," said the young knight, nodding his head, still frowning, "but I don't know if Her Highness will understand us." ”

"Don't worry, I'll go and tell Her Royal Highness that she's not the kind of person who can't understand reason." Lucius comforted.

However, he suddenly noticed that the young knight's face was wrong, and he kept staring at his back.

"Lucius, who do you say doesn't understand reason?" A female voice like a silver bell came from behind her.

“…… Ahaha, no, you heard me wrong," Lucius quickly turned back and said with a grin, "I mean you don't understand the reason. ”

"Really? That's why I misunderstood you," Agnes rubbed her sleepy eyes, "I'm sorry, I just woke up, and my mind is still a little foggy. ”

"It's okay, you don't have to apologize."

"......," Agnes suddenly glared at him with a resentful look, "Lucius, haven't you known me for so long?" It doesn't matter who I am, I have to apologize for doing something wrong. ”

"Yes, I see."

"It's good to understand, so has the man who plucked Mr. Herbert found it? Let me guess, is it Marika, or Leonard? Or Byron...... No, it shouldn't be him, that kid doesn't have such guts. ”

"Uh, sorry, I didn't find it." Lucius scratched his head.

"Oh?" Agnes froze for a moment, then looked him in the eye.

At this point, the young knight hastened to explain that he thought Agnes was going to be angry.

"Your Royal Highness, this is my dereliction of duty, not Lord Lucius's fault, if you want to punish you, punish me."

"Really?" Agnes' gaze stayed on him, but she only sighed, "Well, forget it. ”

Hearing the princess's compromise, the young knight couldn't help but be even more disappointed in himself.

But then, instead of turning the page on the matter, Agnes asked with interest.

"Lucius, who do you think it is?"

"You ask me? How can I know about your candidates for the throne, I'm just a knight. ”

"Oh, don't perfunctory me, aren't you usually quite smart?"

"It's been awarded, it's been awarded."

Seeing him continue to excuse herself, Agnes' originally slightly smiling expression suddenly changed.

The young knight didn't want to get involved in any more flirting between them, so he quickly found an excuse to slip away.

"Don't forget to get everyone on patrol." Lucius beckoned to him.

"Understood."

"Hey, Lucius!" Agnes crossed her waist and looked puffed out, "Can you talk to me properly?" ”

“…… I think it's Leonard. ”

"What?" Hearing him answer the question suddenly, Agnes's mind couldn't turn around, but she went on anyway, "...... Oh, yes, I think so too. ”

"So do you want me to investigate him?"

"No," Agnes shook her head, "he's dead. ”

“…… What? Lucius's eyes widened, and he hurriedly asked, "Who gave you the news?" ”

Agnes didn't answer immediately, but waved her hand into the palace, and a few seconds later, a lilt, petite figure jumped from the beam, clearly looking like a young girl.

Lucius instinctively pulled Agnes behind him, then pressed his hand to the scabbard.

"Oh, don't be nervous," Agnes quickly explained, "Quick, introduce yourself to Lucius." ”

"Hehe," the girl smiled, "Hello, my name is Anne Castella, and I'm a witch, so please advise me for the rest of my life." ”

“…… Witch? Lucius became more cautious when he heard the word.

In his mind, there was no trace of the witch in the entire king, except for Pandora's box, so it was very likely that this person named Anne came from the notorious organization, and he also knew that the leader of this organization had been eyeing the throne.

"Well, I am indeed a witch, from Pandora's box, Mr. Lucius, have you heard of it?"

"Hehe, it turns out to be the infamous organization." Lucius couldn't help but sneer, then looked at Agnes, "Your Highness, why do you know such a guy?" And let her into your palace, it's too dangerous. ”

“…… Stinky, notorious? Anne was incredulous, she had never heard this kind of assessment from her organization.

"Oh, no, Miss Anne is such a lovely girl to hurt me." Agnes hurriedly stepped forward to play the round.

"That's it," Anne chimed in, "and Pandora's Box shouldn't have done anything bad, aren't we on our mission to destroy the demons?" How can we be said to be infamous? ”

"Hmph, less nonsense, the witch's words are not worth believing."

"Hey, why are you like this?"

Anne is also impatient, and if she is doubtful, she will only end up raising the prejudice against her to the whole group of witches.

In fact, Lucius was indeed unhappy with Anne's appearance, but it was not because of his prejudice against Pandora's box, but because of the news of Leonard's death, Agnes actually got it from Anne, which made him a little jealous.

However, he will not always be rash, so he still came back to his senses as soon as possible.

“…… I'm sorry, Miss Anne. ”

"Hehe, it's okay, Miss Ben is generous, as long as she treats me sincerely, I won't care too much."

Anne seemed to anticipate that he would compromise, so she prepared her words.

"That's great," Agnes smiled and pulled their hands up, "Come, you two shake hands." ”

Lucius reluctantly complied, and then found that Anne was still looking at him with a grin, and he felt a little uncomfortable being stared at by such a lovely girl, and he did not relax until his gaze rested on Agnes.

"So, is the news of Leonard's death true?" Lucius gets to the point.

"Really, do you want me to take you to see his body?"

"No, then who is the man who plucked Mr. Herbert? Miss Witch, do you have a clue? Lucius couldn't help but say in a weird way.

"It's Byron." Anne's face suddenly darkened.

"Oh? What about the evidence? ”

"This is my own experience......"

Later, Anne told them how she accompanied Byron to the royal capital, and then mentioned that she accidentally bumped into Byron's dealings with Cornes, but was finally discovered by Byron, and if she hadn't been clever enough, she might have ended up with Leonard by now.

"That's right." Agnes nodded, she was still a little incredulous, she didn't expect that her brother who was so cowardly in her impression would become like this, and he would not hesitate to cooperate with monsters in order to achieve his goals, but Annie's words were here, so she couldn't believe it.

"Your Highness, this has come to this, what are your plans next?"

“…… Don't worry, let me think about it first. Agnes returned to her chair and fell into deep thought.

"Okay, I see, then Miss Anne, let's go out first."

"Get out? Why? ”

Seeing her look harmless, Luciuston became impatient.

"Don't disturb Your Highness's thoughts, okay? Also, I have never been able to trust a witch, and isn't the leader of your organization vying for the throne? ”

"But that has nothing to do with me," said Anne, perked, "besides, my eldest sister has been missing for a long time, and who knows where she has gone, and perhaps someone has killed her." ”

"Hehe, this kind of thing is not strange, maybe it was because of the high-profile announcement that he was going to compete for the throne, so he was eliminated by other candidates for the throne in advance."

"Hmph, it has nothing to do with me anyway." Anne spread her hands.

Although she didn't care about the life or death of the eldest sister on the surface, she still had a sad mood in her chest.

Later, Anne wanted to go to the palace with Agnes, but Lucius always stopped her.

"I said, don't disturb Your Highness, and I want to talk to you about Byron alone."

"Okay......" Anne reluctantly agreed.

But the other person was not happy, and she couldn't stand Lucius whispering to the other girls, so she hurriedly rushed over and pulled Anne back.

"It's not good at all, Annie, it's the same discussion with me."

"Hey, Your Highness, you have to watch out for this witch."

Lucius was still uneasy, but only to see Agnes wave at him, and even stuck out her tongue mischievously like a child.