CHAPTER 77: CLAUDIA’S SNEAKY ACTION

Velastra Research Facility

"Apologies for the wait, everyone." The guard who had left earlier finally returned after a little bit under 10 minutes.

"Researcher Caroline was in the process of her experiment, so I couldn’t disturb her."

"Enough with the explanation." Leonard waved his hand and questioned, "Can we enter now, or are you still planning on barring us?"

As soon as Leonard finished his questioning, Mirelle’s eyes flared up. It was clear that she was ready to make a move if their answer dissatisfied Leonard.

Almost immediately, the guards hurriedly raised their hands to stop the situation from escalating.

"Of course, you can enter." One of them quickly said.

"Mhmm, but please beware of your presence and actions once inside the facility. Every researcher had their own unique personalities, and offending them wouldn’t do a merchant any good." Another chimed in and subtly warned Leonard to pay attention to his behavior.

"Relax, others don’t cause trouble for me. Then likewise, I also wouldn’t do much." Leonard chuckled and proceeded to enter the building.

"Researcher Caroline is on the 3rd floor, room 1A." The guard hurriedly said, afraid that Leonard might be roaming in places where he shouldn’t be.

Leonard didn’t bother to respond and simply advanced ahead.

Following closely behind were Claudia and Mirelle, who continuously exuded an invisible barrier-like pressure to block off the guards from approaching them.

Needless to say, the invisible barrier was actually a sound concealment barrier to avoid their conversation from being eavesdropped on.

"Why did the guards take that long and then allow us to enter without any further verification?" Mirelle asked in a confused tone. She had found the situation quite weird, but couldn’t pinpoint where exactly it was amiss.

"Truly an amateur." Before Leonard could even respond, Claudia had already snickered and looked at Mirelle as if she were a little girl.

"Do explain the situation to her if you know the answer," Leonard commented. He already knew the answer, but he wanted to test and see how intelligent Claudia was.

But to his surprise, Claudia simply flashed a middle finger at him.

"I may be a slave, but you can forget about ordering me around without using the slave collar. I will never submit to you willingly." She hissed coldly.

"Ah, is that so?" At that moment, Leonard’s eyes turned cold.

He quickly flung his sleeve and commanded, "Kneel and plead for mercy, you insolent slut."

Soon, the slave collar around Claudia’s neck glowed and began to tighten.

Her face quickly twisted in an ugly expression as she gasped for breath.

Simultaneously, her knees uncontrollably went down on the ground, and she lost control of her mouth.

Despite her struggle and resistance, Claudia was forced to plead for mercy.

"Please forgive me, Master. I was wrong. Please spare me the punishment. I won’t ever do it again." She begged, with tears seeping through her eyes. The tears weren’t formed from pleading, but formed because of her extreme reluctance to continue this disgraceful act.

The sudden event took Mirelle by complete surprise. Everything was well, but in the next instance, Leonard had suddenly turned into another person and was harshly treating Claudia.

Such a drastic change made her incomprehensible.

What Mirelle failed to realize was that Claudia’s action was essentially undermining his authority and trying to alert the nearby people to his weaknesses.

’I was too careless.’ Leonard pursed his lips. He couldn’t fathom the extent of the consequences of Claudia’s action.

If others were to learn that the slave he purchased was insubordinate, then they might start to pay attention to her background.

Claudia was an assassin who was a part of the Assassin Syndicate— something that he couldn’t extend his hand on. To summarize, if his enemies became interested in her background, then they could possibly find out that she was a top-notch assassin.

This seemingly ordinary and trivial clue alone could easily ruin his plan.

After all, the most probable scenario outcome was having his identity exposed, with the worst scenario being alerting the mastermind that he had thwarted their assassination attempt.

To avoid such an outcome, Leonard was left with no choice but to leak some fake information.

He discreetly signaled for Mirelle to remove the sound concealment barrier. Once the barrier was removed, he cursed loudly, "Hmph, that damn Slave Merchant Gerald really fooled me greatly. What kind of amazing slave was this? Insubordinate and untamable despite having the slave collar on."

Hearing the curses and the name Gerald being brought on, realization soon dawned upon Mirelle.

’So it’s like this.’ Mirelle was enlightened and understood Leonard was trying his best to salvage the situation. Although it pained her dearly to punish Claudia, she could only blame herself for trying to alert the enemies.

Moreover, she reckoned Leonard wouldn’t hesitate to eliminate her on the spot if she failed to react properly.

’You shouldn’t have tried to test the Crown Prince’s patience.’ Mirelle conjured a sphere of mana and blasted Claudia’s back.

Boom!

Instantly, a small bruise was formed on Claudia’s back, her clothes being torn apart as she coughed up a mouthful of blood from the impact. While the blood dyed the floor crimson, the nearby people glanced at the scene with a curious expression. They were amused for a brief moment only before losing complete interest when the injured person was wearing a slave collar.

"Not enough. Her face still shows defiance." Leonard coldly remarked. He was already feeling enough pressure with all the ongoing events, but to think that someone just couldn’t wait to add more pressure upon him.

Mirelle was placed in a difficult predicament. But she knew there was no other choice.

Just as she transformed her mana into a whip-like form, a voice echoed from above.

"Oy Oy, I was wondering what was taking so long. I thought I was going to meet my old friend, but what is this situation? Are you trying to perform a public torture event as a greeting to me?" Atop the platform, a woman dressed in formal attire with her blonde hair tied up asked in a bewildered tone.