CHAPTER 201: THE SLUM

Being addressed as Auntie repeatedly, Mirelle’s face turned beet red with anger and shame.

She definitely didn’t resemble an Auntie one bit!

Still, she had to bite her shame and answer respectfully.

"The little girl is correct," Mirelle said and shifted her sight to Ellie.

"You’re Ellie, right. I’m a Sister, and not an Auntie." She corrected, hoping that Ellie wouldn’t address her as some old woman anymore.

"But you’re an Auntie." Ellie shook her head and refused to change her address.

"Master, I’m not wrong about her being an Auntie, right?"

"Not wrong at all." Leonard patted her head and agreed with her statement.

"Someone like her embodied the word Auntie from top to bottom. It wouldn’t even be wrong if you were to call her Granny."

"Granny? If I call her that, do I get some food?"

Ellie then rubbed her stomach in anticipation. She had noticed Leonard’s disdainful attitude toward Mirelle, so she was doing her best to alienate them using her young age as a cover.

Her tactic worked like a charm!

Leonard was very pleased and satisfied with Ellie’s behavior. Needless to say, he already discerned her sneaky action, but he didn’t bother to expose her.

At the very least, Ellie’s intention was straightforward and very easy to accomplish, unlike Mirelle’s.

If it wasn’t for the fact that her power as a sixth circle mage still held some use for him, then he would have discarded her a long time ago.

’Once I return to the capital, I’ll have to tell Spence to find another replacement.’ Leonard had made up his mind already.

He had given her a total of 3 chances.

And each time, she disappointed him more than the previous ones.

Although he greatly appreciated her effort in the aftermath of the outbreak, that merit alone only made him decide to honor his promise to ensure equality in the academy.

"Enough with the jokes!" Claudia suddenly lashed out. "Do you still want to capture Redflow or not?"

"That should be my question to you." Leonard sneered coldly.

"I have no interest in following you for the progress. I only want results. If you can’t bring me results, then you’re dead." He pointed his finger at Claudia and warned solemnly.

However, he wasn’t done yet and reminded the trio who was the Master and who was the servant.

"Swallow back your disrespectful tone from now on. As the Crown Prince, daring to speak to me in such a manner meant death."

"Master, Ellie would never speak to you disrespectfully." Ellie’s body tensed up as she explained.

"Yes, Ellie is obedient." Leonard smiled and asked, "Let’s leave the slum. Master shall have someone treat your injuries and give you good food."

As soon as the word food was brought up, Ellie’s eyes lit up.

"Master is the best!" She cheered excitedly.

"See this attitude, Mirelle?" Leonard shifted his attention to Mirelle. "Even a little girl knows who to be grateful to and treats me with utmost respect. But what about you?"

Mirelle didn’t even get a chance to reply when Leonard snapped his fingers and signaled for Ellie to follow him to leave the slum.

Seeing that he was about to leave, Curtis quickly got up from his knees and followed after him.

"This Crown Prince sure is coldhearted." Claudia taunted and glanced at Mirelle. "You saved him before, but one mistake had completely overturned his opinion of you."

Needless to say, Claudia was sowing discord among them. It was just a pity that her tactic failed miserably.

"If someone repeatedly betrayed the trust you have in them, then you would also behave the same." Mirelle calmly said. "Weren’t you also like that? Untrustworthy of others because of the betrayal you received constantly?"

Silent, Claudia had nothing to refute that claim. The trust she had in others was long gone with the experience she received.

"Are you here to give a lecture or find the assassin?" Claudia rolled her eyes and said. "I still wish to regain my freedom, so if you’re not here to help, then leave."

Shortly after saying so, she continued to investigate the trail.

As for Mirelle, she followed closely behind with a determined gaze. She knew how much Leonard wished to capture Redflow to obtain vengeance.

’If Redflow is captured alive, then there’s still hope to mend our relationship.’ Mirelle prayed silently. She might have wanted to mend their relationship, but she still wanted to bring Redflow down.

An innocent life was taken away from her watchful eyes, so Mirelle would never let the culprit go.

...

While the two of them continued to investigate, elsewhere, Leonard was asking Ellie where she usually stayed.

"I know you’ve told me that you wander around aimlessly, but there should still be some place where you store your items, right?"

"There is a place."

Ellie pondered for a moment and pointed in the direction they had left earlier.

"Because Ellie is always hungry, I need to constantly participate in a fight to gain food. So I have a temporary place where I store some leftover food to eat."

Silent, Leonard didn’t expect they would have to turn back from where they left. Had he asked this question earlier, he wouldn’t have wasted time walking over here.

Now it was just great. His previous cool demeanor in leaving was in jeopardy if he were to be caught by those two despicable women.

"This is all your fault, Curtis!" Leonard snorted and gave the latter a kick. "If you didn’t disturb us, then I wouldn’t have wasted my time."

"I apologize, Crown Prince." Curtis lowered his head in shame. Even though Curtis knew he was being scolded for no reason. As a subject of the Crown Prince, he must accept and endure every criticism thrown at him.

"Hmph, you are the same as the slum. Dirty and untrustworthy!" Leonard rolled his eyes and requested Ellie to lead the way.

Ellie readily agreed to the request, granted that she also wanted to retrieve her leftover food now that she was going to follow Leonard from now on.