Midnight Prince: Empire of Sin

Even though she could not see Mark, Medusa could more or less guess what he was thinking.

She sneered with a small mocking smile at the corner of her mouth, "Indeed. As a Hunter, she is an absolutely perfect being. In more ways than one, there are probably not even ten hunters who are more perfect than her for this role. She has the talent, the skill, and the training. So I accepted her but that doesn't mean that girl is alright in the head."

The criteria for becoming a hunter were both strict and loose in a certain sense. They didn't care how sane someone was or what kind of morals they had. All that mattered was if their morals and sanity would affect the job they were assigned to do negatively or not.

With such criteria, there was no way Medusa would have refused someone like Tsubasa who had been trained as Hunter since she was a child and already killed many supernatural creatures and evil spirits. She was far too experienced and valuable to ignore and shun.

Still, the impression Tsubasa left on her mind was very, very deep. Medusa could perfectly remember that day. This was the first time in a long while that she had wondered how a human could be that twisted and broken inside.

She could have understood if Tsubasa had some dark story of being abused but there were no such things on her mind. She was protected all her life and had everything she could ask for. But she still turned that way…

A malefic and obsessive monster…

Such pure malice and obsession in a human was something she had rarely observed in all her uncountable years of life.

"If I remember well, she had a story with a mortal and I ordered her family to separate them as she would most likely cause his death without meaning to…"

[Yeah… About that mortal…]

"What do you want to… Oh…"

Medusa stopped before pushing her glasses away and letting out a heavy sigh while massaging her brows.

"That Mortal was Adam, wasn't it?"

[Yes…]

It all made perfect sense now.

"What are the chances that this is a coincidence?"

[The chances are actually rather high. The mission is very high profile and as a young Gold-ranked Hunter, the Ghost Spider would not have the same hang-ups as older Gold-ranked Hunters who wish to maintain seniority.]

"I can feel a but incoming…"

[But… I could quite literally hear it in her voice. She didn't really try to hide it, after all. There is no way this is a coincidence.]

Medusa closed her eyes shut.

Her mind was throbbing in pain, and she noticed a deep problem coming her way as she noticed a particular detail that was the very reason for her throbbing headache.

If Tsubasa indeed chose the mission to be with Adam.

Then— how did she even know that The Magician was Adam in the first place?

'Ugh. I am starting to feel like my head will split at this rate.'

Medusa growled in frustration at the current situation at hand.

This was reminding her of what happened with Circe and Medea. Two extremely crazy and obsessive women who left their names in the annals of history to warn just how crazy women in love could be.

At least, Medea had the excuse of being cursed to love Jason by Aphrodite.

While Circe was simply a murderous woman who killed, cursed, poisoned, and did innumerable heinous things to all the women the man she loved was interested in.

Not even one of the men she loved was spared and was inevitably transformed into a woodpecker because he refused her love.

'Well, if we take a scale of Crazy with Circe as the standard, I think that girl is still in the relatively safe zone.'

Otherwise, there was no way she would have obediently kept her distance from Adam for years on end.

—Unless she had a way to stay close to him and observe him at all times.

"Mark. Contact [~S.K~] and ask her to make sure all the defenses of the association are still not breached."

[Do you think she somehow managed to invade the system?]

"No. She shouldn't have the skill to do something of that level and any hacker who can bypass [~S.K~] without her even noticing their interference into the network isn't the kind of person a heiress from a clan can come into contact with."

When it comes to cyberspace, her young friend was one of the highest-ranked beings to tread that path in all of history.

Though obviously there was always the option that she had indeed been surpassed by some unknown individual that loved to don the person of Anonyomous. There were a lot of cyberspace users who operated that way after all.

"For now though, we will move with the idea that she simply used a skill to keep track of Adam's whereabouts."

Medusa's mind moved quietly.

This was proving to be rather troublesome the more she thought about it.

The Hanekawa family used the concept of absorbing spirits and sealing them inside them for their powers.

Because of this, there was no special skill all the clan members were known for, unlike the majority of big clans.

Each member had their very own special skills that even the other clan members were not privy to.

"I also want you to visit the Hanekawa family. Talk with the Matriarch or forget it… That foxy woman would devour you. I will take care of her.".

[Ahem~...]

Mark wanted to complain but could only cough.

Truly the Matriarch could make nearly all men facing her completely helpless.

"Very well. This is enough. Good job informing me about this matter."

[Thanks. Should I inform The Magician?]

"Not yet. Wait until I give the green light."

[Understood.]

On those words, the conversation came to a close.

Now alone Medusa inspected her laboratory before shaking her head.

Truly— taking Adam as a protégee was making her life far more entertaining than what she could have ever hoped for.

She wondered what would happen next.

'I don't know why. But I have a feeling the mission in Paris will not go as planned at all.'

Medusa gave a hearty laugh as she walked away.

Truly ~ How fun!

(AN: First chapter of August. Let's all have a good month together. )