This whole plan revolved around her, so Ryan slapped her several times to wake her up.

"Dear Professor Sara, wake up. It's time for you to be the star of a hot night, full of beautiful explosions in front of the whole city," he taunted.

After the blows, she began to regain consciousness. Those words echoed in her mind.

Her racing heart began to calm down. 'A dream?' she thought.

Yes.

That whole nightmare was naturally a dream.

There was no way she would be found. There was no way she would be treated as a traitor. There was no way the ninth prince would be her executioner.

There was no way...

She opened her eyes and smiled, seeing a peculiarly handsome face in front of her. For a moment, she saw the face of her only boyfriend reflected in it—perhaps because he was just as young as when she met him.

Strangely, she thought he was still alive. So she tried to kiss him.

PAP*

"Gross." Ryan grimaced as he slapped her to wake her up. "Are you awake yet, Professor Sara?"

That voice...

Sara shuddered. She turned abruptly and trembled when she realized who it was.

She attacked him, thinking of killing him to get him out of her beautiful dream and finally get rid of her nightmares. She didn't care that he was a prince; her blow was meant to kill him, destroying his neck.

Or so she thought, but her hand was firmly held in Ryan's.

"It seems that you are finally awake." He stood up and put one leg on top of her. "You know, Professor Sara, I initially respected you quite a bit. I came to admire you because my older brother always told me you were a great teacher. Talented, although a little boring, you didn't get along badly with the students."

"You..." She tried to speak, but Ryan kicked her in the face. "Aghh." Her head hit the floor, and a terrible headache struck her.

"But when I met you…" He continued. "I realized that you don't have any qualities that everyone says you have—all muscle, no brain. You're arrogant, even though you don't come from a respectable family, and you haven't made it past level 5. I was very disappointed.

So when I found out that you were the traitor working for The Butler, I was happy. It was like seeing my savior, you know? Don't underestimate your importance, Professor Sara. You are very important," he said with a sly but mocking smile. He bent down to grab her face tightly so that she would look at him intently.

Her nose and teeth were broken, so she looked quite terrifying and made his skin crawl.

"Thanks to who you are and how easy it was to capture you, I've come up with a plan in which you'll help me rise to the top. See those explosives over there? I prepared them for you," he said, pointing to them. "They contain the power of a level 6, plus they're boosted by a level 5."

"My plan is simple, Professor Sara. I will blow up this room, where you and that dying civilian over there will be the orchestrators. I found you and fought with my people until you and the Kazaks decided to blow yourselves up. But I will risk my life to catch the traitor and not let her die unpunished, so in the end, you will live. You will suffer great torment in the prisons of my kingdom."

"You... What will you gain from that?" she asked, swallowing hard at the cruel fate that awaited her.

"Obviously, status, riches, and points to obtain the throne. I will hand over traitors who will help other traitors be handed over... Don't you think that's amazing?"

She frowned. "Aren't you afraid I'll tell them it was all your plan?"

"Who would believe you?" He dropped her to the floor. "Besides, I haven't orchestrated anything. The evidence of your betrayal is on your body and in my hands. I've also been able to track down your allies. Do you want to know where we are?" He looked at her, but she didn't answer.

"I'll take that as a yes. We're in the district built for retired elders. In the famous, largest, and richest neighborhood in the capital. Does that ring a bell?"

She shuddered a little. "You... How did you do it?"

"Hehe, you're not qualified to know. You just need to know that you will lead me to find your master. So be proud, you will serve a purpose in your life."

"Don't even dream that I'll tell you where my master is!" she roared from below, but Ryan shrugged.

"It doesn't matter whether you want to; you'll do it sooner or later." He looked at the pocket watch in his hand and smiled. "It's almost time. Now is when my master plan begins."

He turned and left the room. "Don't move, Professor Sara. Those grenades won't activate without my colleagues' orders," he said and closed the door.

Outside, Cecily came running, and when she saw him, she immediately spoke: "Ryan, Brandon is on his way here. There are a lot of organizations searching tirelessly for you in the areas near the hospital, while he is slowly moving here with his people."

"Good." Ryan smiled. "It looks like we'll have some valuable witnesses."

Seeing him carefree made Cecily put her hand to her head and take a deep breath. "Tsk, damn it. The new you makes me lose my calm very quickly. What the hell am I doing worrying about you?" she complained.

Ryan put his fingers on her jaw and made her look at him. "Isn't that nice? No one has ever seen Cecily von Larsen worried. But these last few days, you haven't stopped being worried. It's a change."

She took her face out of her hands and snorted. "You just want me to have some kind of heart attack, then I won't worry about you anymore," she declared firmly, though she then sighed. "Shall we begin?"

"Ten minutes. Get everything ready. Tell Martin three important things. First, not to show himself, but to stay behind Brandon's troops. Second, allow Samuel to watch the surroundings with all my men. Third, when the explosion occurs, he should come running, without disguise, to try to help, as he feels that one of his members is in mortal danger. Nothing else."

Cecily stared at him for over a minute. "Will you be okay?" she asked.

"Haha, worrying again? What did you just say about not worrying about me?"

She realized what she had said, and her face turned red as a tomato.

"Damn it. Bastard..."

"All right, stop throwing a fit. Just do what I tell you. Once you've done that, come back and stay in this hallway. Remember, the explosion should affect you, but avoid fatal injuries." He reminded him, and he turned around without saying goodbye to enter the room again.

"I'll say the same to you, bastard!" she shouted, but he didn't hear her because he closed the door as soon as he did.

"Damn it, give me back the old Ryan, he never left the library!" she roared, banging on the door, but obviously, no one answered. She resigned herself and left, fuming.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.