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Chapter 16: I’ll Handle This

After delivering Rowan safely to Alcot Academy, Ryan rode back to the mansion.

As he returned to the mansion gates, Ryan suddenly frowned as he sensed something was wrong.

The guards who had been diligently posted at the gates were all gone?

After stabling his horse, Ryan hurried inside the mansion.

Upon entering, Ryan immediately saw that Nanali’s door was surrounded by a crowd!

The maids Darly and Daisy stood before Nanali’s door, refusing to yield an inch.

The mansion guards, armed with spears, were arrayed sternly, confronting a group of knights in silver-white armor.

Darly no longer wore her usual smile; instead, her expression was cold:

“You’ve searched every other part of the mansion; what more do you want?”

“Of course, then we’ll search this final room.”

The lead knight spoke lightly, showing not an ounce of the chivalry one would expect from a knight.

“This is our Milady’s room; none of you may enter without her permission.”

Saying this, Darly drew a dagger from her maid’s sleeve and declared, “Anyone who offends us dies!”

“You’re telling me I’ll die?”

The lead knight chuckled:

“I am the knight captain under the Marquis; dare you lay a hand on me? If you do, the entire Axi family will be implicated!”

Hearing this, none of the guards so much as flinched; they still pointed their spear tips at the intruders.

The knight captain’s face darkened as he waved his hand and shouted:

“I suspect the forbidden tomes are hidden in this room; hold these idiots back and let me search it myself!”

With that, the knight captain reached out to shove the two maids aside.

Darly, dagger in one hand and Daisy protected behind her, was about to slice off the captain’s offensive hand when a figure suddenly appeared between them.

Ryan effortlessly grabbed the knight captain’s wrist and gently pushed him back several steps.

If the other knights hadn’t caught him, the captain would have fallen to the ground.

He felt utterly drained.

Ryan thought to himself that this strength was inferior even to the knight he’d faced this morning; was this really the knight captain under the Marquis?

What a disgrace to knighthood…

Looking at the knights before him, Ryan said calmly:

“First, we have not hidden any forbidden tomes; second, this is my lady’s room… anyone who enters dies!”

As he spoke the last words, a faint aura of lethal intent emanated from Ryan, chilling the knights.

Where on earth had this guy come from?!

The knight captain trembled but forced himself to raise his head and said:

“If you haven’t concealed any forbidden tomes, why defend this room to the death? I say you’re hiding something!”

“Then it seems there’s nothing left to discuss.”

Ryan sighed, then his eyes suddenly sharpened as he commanded, “Form ranks!”

At Ryan’s shout, the guards assembled there, though barely acquainted with him, instinctively obeyed his order and formed up in ranks.

Clang!

With the scrape of armor, the guards stood in perfect unison, spears leveled, looking even more solemn than the knights!

Clang…

The group of knights drew their swords too, but at a glance few even held them correctly.

“A rabble…”

Clearly knights of the Marquis’ house, yet they were a disorganized rabble, their arrogant demeanor giving Ryan the impression they had often bullied the weak.

As he thought this, Ryan slowly raised his hand to the sword at his waist.

The murderous intent radiating from him grew even more intense.

Cold sweat beaded on the knight captain’s forehead as if he’d hallucinated: behind Ryan, he vaguely saw a sea of corpses!

This damned man was definitely not a retainer of the Count’s! Where did he come from?!

As tensions escalated with swords drawn, Nanali’s room door suddenly swung open.

Nanali emerged with a cold expression and walked beside Ryan, looking at the uninvited guests as she said:

“Ryan, let them search.”

As the words fell, all the guards lowered their spears at once, and Ryan withdrew his hand from the hilt.

“Heh heh, very sensible of you!”

The knight captain gave a lecherous grin and reached toward Nanali, intending to pat her head.

Ryan’s eyes flickered cold as he suddenly grabbed the knight captain’s hand…

Crack…

“Ah!!”

With a crisp crack, the knight captain let out a shrill scream and collapsed to the floor as he cried:

“My hand! My hand!”

“Captain!”

The other knights, seeing this, quickly drew their swords.

Ryan gave a faint smile. “What are you screaming about? I didn’t even hurt you.”

At these words, the knight captain’s cries died down as he stared blankly at his right hand.

He saw the gauntlet on his right hand covered in a web of cracks, but his palm inside was completely unharmed, free of any pain.

The knight captain’s face reddened, and he no longer dared touch Nanali as he waved and said:

“Search it for me!”

After ten minutes of searching, several knights finally emerged from Nanali’s chamber.

“We found nothing!”

“No forbidden tomes discovered!”

“I see…”

The knight captain sneered at Ryan and said:

“It seems the forbidden tomes are hidden too well. We’ll keep watch and conduct periodic searches.”

As the knight captain finished speaking, Ryan clearly felt Nanali’s small hand gripping his trousers with increased force.

Lilina must have been terribly anxious and helpless by that moment, right?

“Let’s go!”

At the captain’s order, the knights departed in a grand procession, leaving the mansion in disarray.

Nanali looked down at the ground; just as Ryan said, she felt utterly helpless.

They were up against a Marquis, a power as dominant as any in the Empire; even if the charge of hiding forbidden tomes was false, if he wanted to pin it on her, he could.

Just then, a large, broad hand gently patted the top of her head.

Feeling the warm pressure above, Nanali’s cheeks flushed as she said:

“Don’t pat my head…”

Ryan, his voice soft, said, “It’s because I taught you those spells, Milady, that these people targeted you.”

At his words, Nanali snapped her head up. “This has nothing to do with you!”

“How could that have nothing to do with me?”

Ryan crouched down and looked Nanali in the eye as he said earnestly:

“Even aside from teaching you magic, it still involves me, because I am your personal butler.”

Saying this, Ryan withdrew his hand and looked toward the departing knights, a barely perceptible vicious glint in his eyes:

“Milady, rest assured; I will handle all of this.”

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