The Lowest Royal Returns

"Is he dead?" Raelis asked plainly.

Isabel shook her head. "He's alive, but I wasn't able to get any information out of him. He pissed his pants and then tried to run away while shooting this flimsy weapon at me."

"I didn't hear any gunshots, though?" Raelis brought up.

"I'm an Assassin, remember?" Isabel replied, rolling her eyes. "I have some secret techniques that I don't want anyone knowing. But since you're so entitled, I'll tell you this much at least."

She cleared her throat. "I can disable all sound in an area. It's only temporary, but it's good enough to not get caught by Lizbeth or your mother... I mean Lady Sophia."

"Aha..." Raelis nodded. "Pardon me for asking, but are you a higher-up from Black Lotus? I can't seem to put your face together with any of the Black Lotus members, especially when you're so strong."

"It's not about strength," Isabel replied plainly. "It's about authority. Those of us who are in the higher echelon are there purely because of our influence in the world of information."

She cleared her throat and began explaining. "Blue Lotus, the person you met, specializes heavily in interrogation and silent combat. She was my mentor at one point. She is strong, but not overwhelmingly strong."

Noticing his confused look, she simplified it. "Blue Lotus became the Blue Lotus because she was able to make a breakthrough in stealth techniques. She managed to create a new form of interrogation which is completely painless and also extracts all the information you would ever need."

She raised a single finger. "The only nuance is that she only shares this technique with those who are in her faction. If you are a part of Red's Faction, then she's probably going to try killing you on sight."

Raelis nodded, although he was still a bit puzzled. His father's notes never detailed a faction-based system within Black Lotus. The only thing he detailed was the general hierarchy, and that was it.

But I guess it makes sense. This organization is much larger than it used to be.

Even so, Raelis put that aside as he walked up to the unconscious man. He crouched down and parted the hair from the man's face, trying to identify him.

But no matter how much he tried recalling, he couldn't figure out who this man was.

And that was when Isabel cleared her throat and tossed the revolver to him.

His eyes widened at her reckless stunt. Still, he used his shadows to gently catch the revolver, and then he stored it inside his shadow.

In the next instant, he realized Isabel had set the man down on the grass and opened his mouth.

She mumbled a few words under her breath, words he couldn't quite make out. But what happened next was a bit shocking.

A small green bubble, resembling a balloon, floated out of the man's mouth, then landed in her palm.

Immediately, the man's complexion worsened. He turned pale, and a moment later, Raelis realized the man had stopped breathing entirely.

"Did you just kill him?" Raelis asked.

"Remember that technique I mentioned? Yes, I killed him," Isabel replied with a hum. "It is painless in the sense that they don't feel when they die. In exchange..."

She waved the green balloon around. "I get this. It's their soul, or rather, a fragment of their consciousness. I focused on the memories I wanted to extract, and this is what came out."

A faint smirk appeared on her face. "Whether it's what I'm really looking for or not is a mystery. After all, I don't remember the last time I used this kind of an ability."

Raelis sighed at her explanation.

Something overpowered like that... I wish I could do it too.

But he couldn't.

After all, he didn't even have an inkling of how she did it in the first place.

Sure, her explanation of extracting a certain memory in the form of a soul from the man made sense, but only in theory.

He had no idea how to actually put it into practice, and for his own sake, he wasn't going to go around testing it any time soon.

Nevertheless, he stared at Isabel who, after a few seconds, finally stopped waving the soul around.

And to his genuine surprise, she suddenly stuffed the soul inside her mouth, gulping it down.

She licked her fingers clean and shot him a thumbs-up.

"Give me just a second, I want to see if I was correct," Isabel added, her pupils dilating.

And then, she simply fell backward onto the grass.

As she was about to hit her head, Raelis stepped in, catching her.

Once he did, he realized she had lost consciousness as well.

"What is up with you people..." Raelis mumbled.

Everyone I meet has some sort of cheat ability that I don't have... I mean... I do have a flame that can absorb bloodlines to a certain extent, but it's not that overpowered.

Or maybe it was. He didn't really have a chance to test it out on anyone. Not yet anyway.

But maybe soon... Very soon.

Since Raelis was unsure of what to do at the moment, he tossed Isabel over his shoulder, then grabbed the corpse of the man, dragging it deeper into the forest.

Eventually, he made his way a couple of kilometers away from the mansion, then dropped the man into a nearby ditch.

He glanced back to be sure, and in the next instant, he sent a single ember of a flame down into the ditch, lighting the man on fire.

But as the horrible smell was about to escape, Raelis created a heat-resistant vacuum, stopping the smell from spreading.

With that over and done with, Raelis set Isabel on a nearby tree and checked his shadow, pulling out a revolver.

He inspected it for a few moments, trying to find a pattern, and eventually, he managed to spot something.

There was a tiny smudge on the barrel, and when he brushed his fingers past it, he realized it wasn't blood, but ink.

Raelis's gaze hardened as he didn't hesitate to toss the revolver into the air, then burn it to a crisp.

He stared at the dust and ash particles that lingered in the air, and by simply using a warm flame, he dispersed them all over the place.

And just like that, he turned back to Isabel, then sat down beside her.

After all, he was not going to leave her all alone here.