The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

The sound of footsteps from the staircase alerted Bree of Isabella's arrival, and she hurriedly rubbed her face to make sure at least some of her fatigue wasn't so obvious.

Of course, how could Isabella not notice her obvious dark circles?

"What's going on? Didn't Evelyn say the ritual went well?!"

Bree sighed. It was indeed futile to hope her sister wouldn't notice it.

"It did… In fact, it went so well that I almost feel uneasy. But no matter how I look, I can't find anything wrong."

The young mother sighed in relief. "Hah… my little puppy always worries too much about things. I say, if you can't find nothing wrong, then everything is okay!"

She then dragged her little sister by the hand towards the window, and nodded in the direction of the children playing outside the mansion.

"Look how that little fox is perched so peacefully on my little baby's head? The two of them look perfectly fine. And they seem to get along well with each other too. It doesn't worry me at all!"

Bree gazed at them for a few moments along with her sister, then nodded. Perhaps she really was overthinking things. It's not necessary for a ritual to go exactly as described in her inheritance. There could be many factors that could cause a change, and not all of them were harmful.

Isabella then clutched her shoulders, worry apparent on her face. "They don't worry me, but what does, is how clammy my little puppy's youthful and glowing skin has become."

Rubbing Bree's pale cheeks that seemed almost devoid of blood, the young mother smiled. "If you don't explain to your sister really well what's going on, I might have to 'make sure' my little puppy isn't hiding anything!"

Bree looked depressed. It was no use hiding anything from her when her sister was dead set on finding out. So she could only honestly confess.

"I knew you will find out eventually. Well, the runes for the ritual had to be made from something filled with spirit power, and the only thing I could think of was blood.

Of course, I couldn't just use little Evelyn's blood, since she doesn't have much anyway, and blood loss takes too long to recover from with our physique."

Isabella squeezed her cheeks, feeling distressed for her little puppy. She was really too stupid!

"Why are you so silly?! Ugh… if you'd just told me earlier, I gave my little baby a pen that can draw using spirit power, won't that be perfect for this?!"

Bree blinked, a little surprised, but then shook her head. "No no, of course that won't work. A grade three, or even a grade four spirit power based tool won't be able to leave lines that still contained spirit power. The tool is only able to channel the power for specific effects."

Isabella's eyes went wide. "Oh… the auctioneer scammed me?! He said it will draw whatever color you want without any ink, as long as you pour spirit power!"

Bree's exhausted expression eased a little as she smiled at her older sister's angry face. "Uh, I didn't say you got scammed or that it didn't work. I'm just saying it doesn't work like you think. The tool uses the spirit power to make ink. Once the ink is created, it doesn't contain spirit power anymore. That's it."

"Ohh… say that first, then! I spent almost three hundred thousand gold on that, you know. If I really got scammed I would cry."

"Fufu… you really love your little baby. Spending so much on a gift. But to be honest, I think seeing big sister cry would be worth that much. I'd pay happily."

Isabella rolled her eyes. Normally this would already be enough to earn Bree some punishment, but looking at her pale face, she couldn't bring herself do it now.

She squeezed her little sister's cheeks. "Since you're tired enough to dare think of making fun of me, take a rest."

As she turned to leave, however, she felt Bree grab her by the hand.

"Won't you tell me what had you so anxious before you came in? I don't think it was for me, not before you saw my face."

Isabella frowned. 'Ugh, busted.'

"What is going on, sister, why do you look so anxious? Even if I look like this now, with my strength it's not difficult to recover completely within a few weeks. This is totally not a big deal."

The young mother sighed as she finally gave up. Sometimes her little puppy was so stubborn she even considered renaming her to little mule instead.

"Little puppy… I really don't know if I should tell you with your body in this state. I guess you won't let me go without knowing though, so I'll just say it."

Isabella looked uneasily at the children downstairs as she remembered how close some of the attacks had gotten to them without their knowledge.

"While we were out in the city today, a bunch of 'thugs' attacked us."

Bree squeezed her sister's palm, trying to calm the sudden surge of anger in her heart. She allowed Isabella to continue without interruption.

"They were all pretty strong, and only made sneak attacks. It didn't cause a commotion while attacking at all. Poor little Vivian didn't even know anything went wrong the entire time. Hah… but one of our protectors died."

Bree finally let go of her sister's hand, feeling exhausted. Why do these big powers want to harass small fries like them? Why can't they leave them alone?

Although it was fortunate that they were only using small fries to do their job, or they might have already died. But even these small fries were impossible for Bree to deal with at the moment.

"Looks like those bastards are really becoming more unscrupulous now… Don't worry, sister, with me here, if they actually dare to attack, they'll regret it."

Isabella still looked a little worried. She knew her sister very well, and if there was a threat to her life she could deal with, she would have dealt with it already.

"Are you sure, little puppy?"

The fact that the so called 'Justice Envoys' still existed meant that Bree had no way of dealing with them.

Bree seemed to know what she was thinking. "Of course. In fact, if not for the fact that I have no idea where they all hide, I would have uprooted their base entirely before coming here."

The young mother looked a little more relieved now, and Bree continued to assure her.

"I may not dare to take on the main forces of the big powers, but these bunch of thugs don't possess a direct threat in a frontal fight. Their threat lies in the fact that they can attack at any time, from anywhere."

Her gaze moved once again to Evelyn and the two Gilmore sisters outside the mansion. The pink haired girl had taken out her bow and was shooting at a tree not far away, while the smaller redhead fetched back the shot arrows from time to time.

It was sad to think that such young children who didn't possess a threat to anyone were also considered eyesores to the big powers.

"It's good if there's nothing to worry about."

Bree shook her head, not wanting to delude her sister. "It's not that there's nothing to worry about. They always target the weaker and younger members of our ancient families first. And they do possess enough strength to be able to threaten anyone but the leaders of the ancient families, and in a polished ambush, even that is questionable."

Isabella looked worried again, feeling that the constant ups and downs in her mood were really bad for her heart. "T-Then, in your state…"

Bree smiled. "Don't forget that I'm not alone here. Your father-in-law is also there. Trust me, they dare not attack us right now, not in the mansion. But do try not to go out too much. Especially now that another one of your elite protectors is gone. Our situation is not desperate, but you can't be careless."

The young mother sighed.

"I understand…"

----------

Meanwhile, in the outer reaches of Moreen city, the same cloaked figure who had been reporting to the leader of the Justice Envoys was now facing a handsome looking pale green haired young man.

"What did you just say?"

"The leader has ordered you to deal with the Knox family in our stead. You may take your time, but you must report the results to the leader within five years."

There was a sarcastic smile on the man's face. "Hold on… is your stupid leader aware that I'm not one of his thugs?"

"The leader has ordered your gang and all your establishments to be uprooted from the Moreen city if you do not agree."

His smile disappeared. The thing he hated the most in his life, was being threatened.

"Bastard! Do you think I'll just become your lapdog if you threaten me?!"

The cloaked figure gulped nervously. Today really was his unlucky day. Perhaps this was a form of punishment set by the leader, but it was also good not to be killed on the spot for bringing news of his brother's death.

"Calm down, master Blaise. The leader is not unreasonable. As long as you deal with the Knox family in a satisfactory manner, the Justice Envoys will acknowledge your ruling over the underground of the southern part of the Moreen city. Of course, whatever spoils you gain will also be yours to keep."

Blaise was silent for almost a minute before he spat on the ground.

"Fuck off! Tell your leader that if he wants something done, he can do it himself! I'm not one of his thugs, and neither are my men."

The cloaked figure shook his head before turning around.

"The leader said, if you don't agree, then maybe some things you don't want anyone to know might become known."

Once the words had been spoken, the cloaked figure's heart chilled as he felt a feeling of doom approach from behind. He regretted saying it, but there's no way he could leave without conveying the leader's words either.

"Who told you that you can leave after spouting bullshit like that? Was it that moronic leader of yours?"

Although his hands were clammy from nervous sweat, the cloaked figure pretended to be calm. "Haha… I'm just a messenger. Even if you kill me, it won't change the end result. Just know that the leader knows about the incident in that orphanage. He knows how you got where you are, and most importantly… he also knows what you don't want your number one toolman to know."

He had barely finished his words before the cloaked man's head was slammed into the ground. His hood was torn off, and a chunk of his scalp was ripped clean off along with his hair.

Blaise ignored the man's anguished screams as he flung the torn off part in disgust.

"Tell your leader it will be done. But if a single word gets out, I will become his biggest nightmare in Moreen city."