“Why can’t I hold onto it?”
Hearing the Fake Lord’s roar, the Beggar Girl looked clearly confused.
“Don’t flaunt your wealth. Just don’t let others know you recently came into a large sum of money, isn’t that enough?”
“Don’t you understand human speech? You’re a stinking beggar without even a home. Do you think you can keep money safely?”
The Fake Lord’s anger grew, and his tone unconsciously carried deep disgust at his own identity.
“Where would I hide that money? Every day I have to sleep under a bridge with other beggars just like me. If I dare hide the money under my bowl today, another beggar might steal it while I sleep! If I use it to change my appearance, buy a house, and get decent clothes, then beggars roaming the streets will know that a beggar girl struck it rich.””
“Tell me, would it be faster for the Royal Capital officials to finish reviewing my identity and approve my residence, or for other beggars to rob me of the compensation money?”
“You ask me to not flaunt my wealth, then let me ask you in turn: what part of me isn’t blatantly exposed?”
Faced with the Fake Lord’s sudden outburst, the Beggar Girl finally showed rare timidity.
“This… if you’re worried about trouble, or if something like that really happens, you can go to the Royal Capital’s law enforcement…”
“You!”
Hearing the Beggar Girl’s reply, the Fake Lord became even more enraged.
He was about to step forward when Aide stood between them to block him.
“Enough. Both of you, say less.”
Aide’s gentle voice sounded in both their ears, stopping the escalating quarrel.
“What do you have to say now?”
Seeing Aide blocking his way, the Fake Lord instinctively shuddered from Aide’s earlier threat, but still glared fiercely at Aide.
“I’m telling you, since we’ve come to this point, I’m not going to listen to your damn threats!”
“No, I’m reminding you that it’s time to get back to business. When you return to the real world, you can argue with her or argue with me all you want. No problem.”
Aide bowed to the Fake Lord.
“Actually, I should be the one apologizing. Moya has already scolded me. I really shouldn’t have pushed you so hard today.”
Under Aide’s apology, the Fake Lord’s expression softened slightly.
He then looked at Moya, who had a calm expression.
He actually didn’t have a good impression of Moya.
Compared to Aide’s slow threats, she was the one who had directly lashed out without any pretense from the very beginning.
Yet from Aide’s tone, this time she was the one who had defended him.
Moya still had that lazy look of indifference, even showing slight impatience with the argument between him and the Beggar Girl.
But she didn’t seem to misunderstand his anger.
The Fake Lord had a vague feeling that this angel lady, who had started the topic but never interrupted, might be the only one who understood his situation.
“Alright, alright, enough talk?”
Moya yawned, her feather-like ears twitching impatiently.
“Since you’re done arguing, we should get moving. Don’t bring this resentment to the upcoming confrontation, or the circus master will laugh at us.”
She raised a finger and pointed ahead.
The Fake Lord looked in the direction she indicated.
During their argument, a tent had appeared at the end of the road without him noticing.
“But I figure he can probably hear us through other means anyway.”
Moya muttered, looking at the circus members clearing the path.
The circus members were no longer surrounding them.
They had returned to their own performance areas, happily continuing their solo shows.
“They’ve all scattered after leading the way. The big shot must be inside this one.”
The tent at the end of the road was colorful, shimmering under the lights of the other tents with a dreamlike luster.
The tent flap moved as if by wind, inviting the four of them inside.
The Beggar Girl’s neck instinctively shrank.
She was clearly scared.
But Moya had already taken the lead, walking toward the deepest tent.
Aide followed closely behind.
The Fake Lord hesitated for a moment, then stomped his foot and caught up with them.
Looking back at the circus members absorbed in their own performances, the Beggar Girl decided after an inner struggle to follow the others.
She didn’t want to stay with these puppets who only rejoiced in their own acts.
When she had come here in her dream, she hadn’t felt much.
But now, with clear consciousness, it only made her feel a creeping dread.
The moment she lifted the tent flap, a strange fragrance hit her—
Like aged wood mixed with the scent of orchids.
The inside of the tent was much larger than it appeared from outside.
The ceiling was high, hung with dozens of crystal lamps emitting a pale blue light.
In the center stood a long rectangular table covered with dark red velvet.
On the table rested a huge crystal ball.
It was the very tool the Cloaked Figure had used—
The culprit that had taken the Beggar Girl and the Fake Lord away.
But what drew everyone’s attention most was not the crystal ball, but a figure sitting on top of it.
“Welcome, welcome.”
A pair of full lips moved in the candlelight.
Her voice was lazy and delighted, like a host who had been waiting a long time for her guests to arrive.
A dark purple dress wrapped her voluptuous body.
Ink-black hair cascaded down her back.
A pair of amused light purple eyes surveyed Moya and Aide.
What stood out most were the goat horns on her head.
A demon.
Moya’s eyes instantly shifted from lazy indifference to focused coldness.
She raised a hand and used divine magic to form a long spear of holy light, pointing it at the demon woman sitting on the giant crystal ball.
“Is this the etiquette of the Church as a guest? This is really—”
Before the demon woman could finish, the holy light spear had already pierced her chest.
The demon woman’s eyes widened.
Her lips moved, and she collapsed.
Seeing Moya unhesitatingly pierce the demon woman, the Fake Lord was startled.
“What, you just killed her? What if she dies like that and we can’t go back?!”
“Dead is dead. If she died that easily, it would definitely be more convenient.”
Moya shrugged indifferently.
“I can only say that many people often jump to conclusions about demons out of ignorance. For me personally, it’s best to just get rid of them on sight, to avoid future trouble.”
“Maybe there are one or two innocent ones, but clearly this demon doesn’t fall into that category.”
“Am I right? The one who extracted the Cloaked Figure’s soul, the mastermind of the Dream Circus.”
“I warn you, if you keep playing dead, it won’t just be one holy light spear next time. I’ll go all out while you’re playing dead and help you achieve the perfect fake death.”