A stormy night.
Londinium lay silent.
Countless ripples bloomed across the surface of the Thames, reflecting the streetlights like thousands of water lotuses opening at once.
Over the vast central plain, the rain clouds covered only the single city of Londinium.
Legend held that this was a sign of the Water God’s visit.
The city’s residents knew many important figures had come to Londinium, yet no one knew where they had gone or what they were doing.
Even so, the Central Guard Department had issued a curfew.
The city that never slept now lay quiet beneath tonight’s rain curtain.
Mounted officers patrolled the streets from time to time.
Their horses’ hooves splashed through the puddles on the roads.
Fortunately, only the upper district was under strict control.
The Thames marked the boundary between the upper and lower districts.
The police patrols stopped at Tower Bridge, which connected the two halves of the city.
This allowed Liz to slip in from the lower district like a ghost in the rainy night.
The air was damp and cool.
The longer she breathed it, the more the chill and the rain seemed to settle inside her body. She felt colder and colder.
After passing through narrow, elongated alleys, Liz stopped in front of a dilapidated little building.
It was her shop.
She had not returned in three years.
Liz had poured all her savings into this mechanical repair shop, yet now it was riddled with holes.
Weeds grew wildly in front of the door.
The dark windows looked like blind eyes, as if a dying giant lay sprawled between the buildings.
Liz sighed, closed her umbrella, and smoothed her wet chestnut hair.
She took out the long-unused key and unlocked the door, then froze.
The door was not locked.
Liz pushed open the door of the small shop.
A wave of warmth rushed out, making her feel much more comfortable after walking so long in the night rain.
Someone had already lit the fireplace. Firewood crackled inside.
The firelight illuminated the dust-covered mechanical parts on the shelves.
Liz sat down in the chair in front of the fireplace.
She had already sensed someone’s gaze fixed on her, so she drew the dagger she carried for self-defense and placed it on the table.
“Please come out. Who are you?”
The curtain swayed gently.
A crow-like figure appeared silently.
The familiar uniform was the mark of the Cerberus Bureau.
As the person slowly removed the black hood, two distinctive braided pigtails slid down over her shoulders.
But what made Liz’s heart tighten was the pitch-black gun barrel, coldly aimed at her.
“Class monitor!”
Liz was slightly startled.
She recognized Ophelia.
“Claire was right. You really did come back here.”
Ophelia held the rifle and stared silently at Liz. Her eyes were full of bitterness.
“Listen to me. Claire is in big trouble. She is currently being questioned at the hearing. The Director says she needs you.”
Ophelia spoke softly.
Her voice was much hoarser than Liz remembered.
“Yes. I came back precisely for her.”
Liz stood up and walked slowly toward Ophelia. She gently pulled her into an embrace. The rifle fell to the floor.
“Thank goodness… Liz didn’t betray her… The Director said you might have been coerced or lured into betraying Claire. I was so worried, so worried…”
A choked sound came from Ophelia’s throat. Tears welled from her eyes and soaked Liz’s collar.
Liz patted Ophelia’s back lightly, comforting the trembling body in her arms.
“Don’t worry, Class Monitor. I will never betray you. Tell me, how is Claire now?”
Ophelia took a deep breath and tried to steady her emotions.
“The situation at the hearing is very complicated. Claire wants to expose the truth of the Kent incident, but she has no evidence. The Director says the hawks will use this opportunity to accuse her of having connections to the Southern Continent’s imperial family. That is why we need your testimony right now.”
Hearing this, Liz suddenly raised her head.
She finally understood why Claire had been so obsessed with accumulating merits in hopes of being transferred to the Southern Continent.
At the same time, Alexander’s sharp, cold smile made her heart linger with fear.
She could not help thinking that if she had followed her killing urge and shot her enemy back then, she might have become someone who would harm Claire.
She was truly glad she had not made that choice.
A trace of determination flashed in Liz’s eyes.
“We have to act immediately. Where is the hearing being held?”
“…In the royal palace.”
Liz had expected the hearing to be held somewhere in the upper district, but she had not imagined it would be inside the royal palace itself.
By the faint moonlight, Liz searched a cabinet until she found a combination lock.
She skillfully turned the dial.
A gap appeared in the wall beside it—a secret door.
The weapons she had made for herself and Claire were hidden behind it.
After moving aside several rifles, Liz took out a revolver.
Its design resembled a honeycomb structure, using a spiral loading method.
Each barrel had been carefully rifled with six grooves.
This was actually a promotion gift Liz had designed for Claire.
Liz herself was not used to handguns—sniping was her specialty.
But for infiltration missions, a rifle was too cumbersome, so she had brought this instead.
Liz loaded the revolver with blank cartridges.
She knew that forcing their way into the royal palace would inevitably lead to conflict with the guards, but she did not want to kill anyone.
Once preparations were complete, Liz walked toward the door.
Ophelia followed silently behind her.
“Class Monitor, you should stay. Breaking into the royal palace is a serious crime. I’m already prepared to be locked in a sanatorium—maybe worse. I don’t want to drag you into this. Claire would think the same.”
Liz spoke in a low voice.
Ophelia let out a soft sigh.
“If I weren’t here to keep an eye on you two, who knows what kind of mess you would make?”
“You need to think this through. This is a road straight to hell.”
Liz said quietly.
Ophelia’s lips curved into a gentle smile.
Her fingers lightly tapped her sharp vampire fangs.
“We’ve already been devils in hell for a long time. Of course devils help each other. Besides, I’m still the class monitor of you two idiots!”
Liz could not help but smile at that.
Ophelia was still the same competitive class monitor from their student days.
The two exchanged a glance.
Without another word, they stepped out into the endless fine rain.
Rainy-night Londinium was as hard as iron.
Beneath the rain curtain, tall buildings stood densely packed, like a forest built of granite.
They passed through narrow streets, avoiding patrolling officers, and headed toward Tower Bridge.
The rain curtain provided natural cover.
The streets were nearly empty.
Only the sound of raindrops striking the ground accompanied their footsteps.
Soon, the outline of Tower Bridge gradually became clear.
However, as they approached, they discovered that the bridge surface had been blocked by heavy police vehicles.
Powerful spotlights on the roofs of those vehicles illuminated every inch of the bridge’s entrance and exit.
Liz and Ophelia pressed themselves against the wet walls and hid in a dim alley.
The sound of rain provided natural cover.
“We have to find a breakthrough point.”
Ophelia lowered her voice, her gaze fixed firmly on the blockade ahead.
She knew the hearing had already begun.
Every second counted.
Liz nodded. Her fingers gently stroked the holster at her waist.
Just as the two were frowning and thinking of a plan, a figure slowly stepped into the rain and walked toward them.
A white robe embroidered with a half-withered rose pattern marked the newcomer as a member of the Toriduo family.
“Liz, come out. I know you’re here.” The person’s voice was cold and authoritative.
Liz recognized her. It was her sire—her “mother” in the vampire sense—Kate Toriduo.
Unlike the Vandro family, which believed in continuing mortal life through flattery, the head of the Toriduo family, Alexander, advocated that the initial embrace was a new life.
Therefore, after receiving the embrace, newborns were separated from their sires to sever all connection.
Liz and Kate’s relationship was the same. Yet at this moment, they stood on opposite sides.
Liz and Ophelia exchanged a glance, then stepped out from the shadows into the light.
“You refused the family head’s invitation. That is equivalent to betraying the family.” Kate’s voice was as cold as frost.
“We have important testimony to present to the Upper House.”
Ophelia stepped forward. Although her voice was soft, it was filled with determination.
Kate let out a cold laugh, her gaze shifting between the two.
“The Upper House hearing has already begun. No one can interrupt it. These officers are simply carrying out their duties. And you, child of the Vandro family—I am here to deal with a traitor of the Toriduo family. This has nothing to do with you.”
Kate said no more.
Her figure moved, and she instantly lunged at Liz.
Liz reacted quickly, dodging sideways while drawing the revolver from her waist.
She aimed at Kate’s head and pulled the trigger.
Even a blank round would have been enough to stun her.
However, Liz’s finger felt as if it were bound by an invisible force.
She could not pull the trigger.
It was the charm art of the Toriduo bloodline.
She cursed inwardly and struggled to resist the power.
That moment of distraction allowed Kate to close the distance in one step.
Her right hand already rested on Liz’s shoulder.
Barton Technique—this was the Toriduo family’s inherited martial art.
Unlike the Vandro family, which excelled in all kinds of battlefield weapons, concealment and assassination were the Toriduo stage.
Therefore they focused more on close-quarters combat techniques.
Liz knew how terrifying this technique was.
It looked like nothing more than grabbing a shoulder, but with a little more force Kate could dislocate her shoulder joint.
Yet before Kate could exert force, Liz’s hand shot out like lightning and locked onto Kate’s wrist, using the same Barton Technique.
Kate flipped her wrist and reversed the hold on Liz’s wrist.
Seeing this, Liz immediately switched hands and slid up along Kate’s forearm like a climbing snake, aiming to lock her elbow.
The same moves exchanged more than a dozen times in barely ten seconds. It was like a dance of life and death.
Suddenly Kate paused.
She seemed to have gained the upper hand.
One more move and she could dislocate Liz’s wrist.
But at that critical moment, a delicate hand gently pressed down on her shoulder.
The cold barrel of the revolver was already aimed at her head.
While she and Liz had been locked in fierce combat, Liz had thrown her revolver.
Ophelia, moving like a ghost, had silently caught it and now held it against Kate’s head.
However, Kate reacted with lightning speed. She reached back over her shoulder.
Before Ophelia could fire, she was thrown several meters away with an over-the-shoulder throw.
The revolver fell into Kate’s hands.
She pointed it at Liz.
At that moment, the surrounding police surged forward like a tide.
Dozens of loaded rifles and hundreds of cold-gleaming batons surrounded Liz and Ophelia.
Police whistles sounded one after another. More officers kept arriving.
No fewer than a thousand people had gathered on this road.
The atmosphere was so tense it felt as if the air itself might solidify.
Suddenly someone leaped down from above. Before landing, a short knife was already drawn and slashing toward Kate.
The newcomer wore a black windbreaker.
The three-headed hound emblem was embroidered on the chest and cuffs—the uniform of the Cerberus Bureau.
Kate was slightly startled and quickly retreated. But the short knife was faster.
No matter how far Kate retreated, the cyan blade followed like a shadow.
Kate backed up until she reached the human wall formed by the officers.
She had nowhere left to go.
The short knife came to a quiet stop at her forehead.
The newcomer was Herta Vandro. Her light golden hair flew wildly in the rain.
“Herta, have you gone mad?!” Kate roared.
“I saw clearly that you did not intend to kill Liz.” Herta spoke in a low voice.
“Alexander is a madman. Everyone knows how cruel and controlling he is toward you. If the Toriduo family continues to obey him without question, you will only walk step by step toward destruction.”
Kate’s brows furrowed tightly. A complicated emotion flashed through her eyes.
“You’re right, but our position…”
She did not finish before Herta cut her off.
“As long as Liz can testify in court, we can push Alexander out of the center of power. After that, the Toriduo members in the bureau will regain their freedom.”
Herta’s words carried undeniable force.
Kate was silent for a moment, then let out a soft sigh.
“Very well. I will have my people stand down. But the police blockade is still in place, and you have no right to attend the hearing. How are the two of them supposed to enter the royal palace?” she asked quietly, a trace of helplessness in her voice.
“Who said I was taking them in?” The corners of Herta’s eyes lifted slightly.
At that moment, the rain suddenly intensified.
Sheets of rain poured down onto the bridge. Through the rain mist came the crisp sound of hoofbeats approaching from afar.
A white horse passed through the rain curtain like a ghost and slowly stepped into the center of the battlefield.
A red-haired woman sat upright on its back.
The white horse flicked its tail in the rain. The woman on its back wore a blue long dress. Her skin was fair and clean.
The raindrops seemed unable to wet her fluffy red curls.
“These are my witnesses. Make way.”
The red-haired woman’s voice was not loud, yet it carried irresistible authority.
Water God Vita—the only living god of this era!
Herta and Kate almost simultaneously half-knelt in the accumulated water to show respect to this deity.
The surrounding officers and vampires followed suit.
The entire bridge surface instantly fell silent. Only the sound of rain and hoofbeats remained.
Vita gently patted the white horse’s neck, signaling it to continue forward.
Her gaze turned to Liz and Ophelia.
“Follow me,” she said simply.
Liz and Ophelia exchanged a glance, then unhesitatingly hurried after the white horse.