Third Arc (Fallen Heart) - 32. Assassins in The Wedding Party III

Angel walked down the corridor and realized some people were following him, but he pretended not to notice them. He couldn't attack them until he and the Black Devil soldiers made sure they were assassins, not guests who wanted to meet Angel privately.

He quickened his pace and the people following him also quickened theirs. After he felt he was quite far enough from the hall, he stopped and turned around.
"Who are you? Why are you following me?" He deliberately chose an empty corridor without a guard, at least in plain sight. He had prepared this place to trap intruders like them.

As expected, several men dressed in neat suits came out of their hiding places and approached him timidly.
"F-Forgive us, Your Majesty. We are just lowly assistants from the Kingdom of Eirene. We heard about your victory and would love to talk to you. I hope you don't mind our foolish request." Despite their polite words, Angel realized they were looking for opportunities.

"The Kingdom of Eirene's delegation only brought two assistants. Why are there four of you?" he said in a casual tone. This was just a provocation since the real delegation did bring four assistants.

Those four people looked a little shocked and panicked, but they were trying to maintain their composure.
"What do you mean, Your Majesty? There are four of us from the start," they reasoned.

"Really?" he said with a smirk.

As expected, before they got close to him, their weapons popped out of their sleeves as they accelerated their pace. But before they could kill him, two arrows pierced the necks of two of them. While the two his soldiers came out of their hiding places behind the pillars, kicked the weapons in the two assassins' hands and pressed their swords around the assassins' necks, making them unable to move.

His smirk turned into an evil one.
"Take them to the prison. Torture them until they confess who sent them," he ordered.

Unfortunately, the order was answered with blood from the assassins' mouths and their bodies suddenly turned limp. The soldiers who caught them immediately laid them down and checked their heartbeats.

"They committed suicided, Your Majesty," they said.

"Check their bodies!" he ordered again. Although he wasn't sure he could find a clue from there, there was no harm in trying.

After they examined the corpses, they turned to him again and shook their heads, indicating that they had found nothing.

Although he was a little disappointed, he didn't expect much from the start.
"Take them away." And the soldiers carried out his order.

Thinking this was over, he decided to return to the hall to take care of the rest of the assassins. But as soon as he turned to the end of the corridor, Angel noticed a movement beside him.

Quickly, he tilted his head to the side to dodge the attack. At the same time, a dagger went through the side of his neck and cut a few strands of his hair, almost ripping his neck. After the blade passed him, he used his dark aura to create a barrier and pushed that assassin against the wall. But before he managed to do so, the assassin avoided him.

Deftly, the assassin pulled out his dagger and attacked again. With one precise movement, Angel hit his wrist, making his dagger fall, caught the assassin's arm and twisted it behind his back. Before the assassin could struggle, Angel locked his body from behind by choking his neck with his other arm.
"Who ordered you?!" he asked.

The assassin answered Angel with another dagger that came out from his sleeves. Angel realized it, so he pushed the assassin against the floor and stomped his neck, breaking it. The noise alarmed the guards who arrived there with pale faces since they couldn't identify the assassin.
"Take care of the corpse," he ordered again. And they immediately carried out his order.

After everyone left, instead of walking back to the Hall, he decided to use his Teleportation skill. His dark aura engulfed him. When the darkness that enveloped him faded, the guests' voices greeted his ears as he appeared behind one of the hall's pillars on the throne stage.

Several guards realized it and tried to approach him, but he raised his hand, instructing them to stay still. Likewise with Flare. As soon as Flare saw him, Angel pointed at the exit, ordering her to come out of the hall.

Without saying anything, Flare approached Rose.
"Your Highness, I will leave now. Please be careful," she said. Before Rose could answer, Flare approached her ear and spoke again in a lower voice.
"He's already here."

"I see," said Rose. That meant it was her turn now. Although she felt tense, she remained calm.

After Flare bowed and walked towards the exit. A woman immediately went out to follow her.

Without Flare, Angel and a weapon, Rose was restless. Her eyes swept across the hall, though she tried to keep her composure. She felt the seconds go by slowly.

Meanwhile, Angel watched Rose from behind the pillar. He also felt the same way with her, but he couldn't cancel his intention or it would be in vain.

Luckily, their wait wasn't that long. A male guest along with a servant bowed politely under the throne stage as a sign of request that they wanted to approach Rose. And she answered them with a nod.

As they approached her, Angel and Rose could see a dagger, behind the tray full of champagne that the servant was carrying. Rose's heart was pounding in tension. This was the first time she had to face an assassin only as a decoy.
"Congratulations for your marriage, Your Highness," said the male guest, taking a glass of champagne from the servant's tray.

As they were ready to make their move, suddenly Angel appeared from behind and patted their shoulders.
"Princess Rose still has to serve me tonight, I can't let her drink too much," he said in a calm tone. At the same time, he bound them with his dark aura. This way those assassins could neither fight nor kill themselves and as usual, he planned to seek information from them.

They tried to look at him, but their bodies could no longer move.

"You chose the wrong opponent," Angel whispered.
"I think both of you are drunk, I'll ask the guards to take you to 'the special room'," he said as he waved his hand to the guards.

Some guards came over, supported the assassins' bodies and took them out of the hall. That scene caught the guests' attention but Angel's relaxed face made them think it was just a normal occurrence. Rather than that, the guests were more surprised by Angel's presence since none of them saw him return to the hall. But they decided to swallow their confusion since the place was so crowded, they might didn't notice it or there could be another entrance to the hall.

"Miss me?" said Angel calmly as he sat down next to Rose. His eyes were on the hall. A smirk on his face.

"I'm just afraid they got you," said Rose. But from Rose's expression, he already knew the real answer.

"I won't let that happen. There's no way I will leave my wife on our first day of marriage," he teased.

His words made her turn her head the other way to cover her embarrassment. While Angel held back his laughter upon her response.

It wasn't long before Flare approached him.
"Your Majesty, I already placed both of them in the 'special room' and dealt with the last one."

Angel glanced at Flare with an evil smirk.
"Good work. Check all the places one more time, surely none of them escaped."

"Yes, Your Majesty."