Chapter 640: Innocence.

‎"Those people have been following us since we left. Is there a reason you don’t want to get rid of them?" Rullein looked at Rasmus with her brows furrowed. "At least let me have fun with them and find out who they are."

‎"They’re not doing us any harm, or at least they’re not hindering us in any way. We will take care of them once we don’t want to be seen," Rasmus answered and looked out the window at the tallest mountain in Neva, the Immortal Mountain. "Sooner or later, your disguise will be exposed as well. When the time comes, what are you going to do?" He asked and glanced at Rullein, who was sitting beside him.

"What else? I’ll challenge them all who are against it," Rullein grinned.

Aris shook her head, and there was no need to say anything to express her disappointment. She then suddenly furrowed her brows when she looked out the window at the crowd that blocked their path. She saw a group of warriors protecting the carriage from a group of armed bandits.

"There are people in danger ahead of us," Aris informed.

Serena took a peek out of the window and saw four escorts surrounded by twenty bandits. She slowly pulled her head back inside with a grimacing expression. Rasmus and Rullein tilted their heads back to pop their heads out of the open window.

"They’re so dead," Rullein muttered.

"Which side?" Rasmus asked as he looked at the bandits, then the escorts.

"Those four. They’re strong, but there’s someone stronger on the other side that even the four of them fight together, they’ll be no match," Rullein pointed out. "Even bandits are experts in martial arts, huh?" She arched her brows.

Rasmus looked at the group of bandits, and they didn’t look like one based on how they held their weapons and by how the weapons were in great conditions. There was something else that stood out that made him believe they weren’t bandits, and it was their postures.

"Should we do something about it?" Rullein looked at the back of Rasmus’ head.

"No, if we kept quiet, they might ignore us," Rasmus shook his head and pulled his head back inside.

Rasmus told the coachman to stop the carriage and stay still. The moment the carriage stopped and the bandits saw the coachman raising their hands in fear, and the carriage looked ordinary like a rental carriage, they ignored him, especially since they had four escorts to deal with.

Rasmus and the others stayed quiet as they listened to the clash of steel, grunts, and shouts that followed. They were so quiet that they could hear everything clearly and imagined how the fight went until finally the battle was over. Aris had been using ears to listen to see if the bandits were approaching their carriage or not, but the bandits had no interest in them, at least not yet. However, when they heard a high-pitched shriek of a woman, Serena winced slightly and closed her eyes.

They could hear a loud thud sound of a body being tossed to the ground from a higher ground. They could imagine the woman was being pushed or tossed out of the carriage. Then they heard the woman scream when she found out her escorts died and it was revealed one of them was her uncle and the other one was her older brother from the way she mourned in hysterical and the way she cried was genuine, heart-wrenching. Serena lowered her head, her eyes still closed, and her hands instinctively wanted to cover her ears but ended up settling around her neck.

"Do you want to save her?" Rasmus asked as he looked at Serena.

"She’s an innocent child. I can tell..." Serena muttered.

"Then go and save her," Rasmus nodded with understanding.

Serena walked out of the carriage door, which was in the back. She took a deep breath and walked around the carriage. She walked slowly until she saw the bandits and the girl knelt with a sword on her throat that was ready to decapitate her. She released her divine energy until all of the bandits and the girl got enchanted and hypnotized by it. They all turned their heads toward Serena, and their eyes were blank like a drowning person saw a hand reaching out to them.

The bandits dropped their weapons, and Serena walked past them without batting an eye, her focus was on the girl. Rasmus and the others peeked their heads out the window and watched it all happen. Rasmus had seen the effect of uncontrollable divine power during his time teaching Aurelia in the academy back then. The divine power that could turn people mindless and saw her like nothing but the savior, their master to obey.

"Go to sleep," Serena knelt and cupped the girl’s cheek.

The girl’s eyes suddenly became heavy until they fluttered closed. Serena carefully placed the girl’s head on her lap and wiped off the tears from the girl’s cheeks while the bandits were staring at her with blank gazes. She looked over her shoulders at the bandits with a gentle gaze and then smiled at them.

"Kill yourself, all of you," Serena commanded.

The bandits reached their weapons on the ground before they all slit their throats. Serena didn’t bother to look at them when they did it, her focus was on the girl. She knew the girl was innocent, and she was right because she could sense and smell the innocence from the girl with her ability.

The moment all the bandits collapsed and were covered in their own blood, Serena carried the girl and walked past the dead bodies without looking at them. She saw a puff of smoke appear beside her and Rullein came out of it, walking past her toward the dead bodies. She glanced over her shoulder to find Rullein touching the bandit’s head, taking in the memories while he was on the brink of death.

Aris took the girl from Serena’s arms so Serena could get inside the carriage. As soon as she got back inside, she already saw Rullein sitting beside Rasmus as if she had never left to begin with.

"We can go now," Serena commanded the coachman that was still affected by her power.

The coachman nodded slowly and set the carriage in motion, steering the horses around the carriage in front of them and avoided from getting any blood on the horses’ feet. Rasmus and the others looked at Serena, who was already holding the girl, and let the girl lay beside her and put the girl’s head in her lap. She slowly looked at the three of them with her brows raised, finding their stares to feel a bit uncomfortable.

"What?" Serena asked.

"You know, I thought I was the most sadistic in the group. Who would have thought," Rullein said with her brows raised.

"Being compared to you will never be a compliment, Rullein," Serena chuckled softly with a gentle smile on her face as she stared at the girl’s face that was filled with grief and pain. "I’m sorry, Rasmus..." She muttered and lifted her head to look at Rasmus.

"Don’t be," Rasmus shook his head. "There are no witnesses, nobody knows, nothing changed," he pointed out.

"But, this child. I brought her with us," Serena frowned.

"You have decided to make her your responsibility, and I don’t see that as an issue for me," Rasmus responded.

Serena nodded in agreement, and she already planned to make this situation her responsibility, and she would handle everything on her own. However, she knew that Rasmus would get affected from this as well indirectly, but knowing that he had stated that it was fine, she knew he wouldn’t mind it even if he ended up getting dragged into it.

"What did you find?" Aris looked at Rullein.

"Those bandits? They weren’t bandits just like Rasmus said, they were hired assassins. I know who sent them, but I don’t know who hired them and for what," Rullein answered as she shrugged. "And it’s none of our business to dig even deeper," she added.

"Yes, I’ll handle this myself if somehow I get involved in whatever this situation I’m in," Serena said as she looked out the window as she took a deep breath, already sensing what she had put herself into.

"On your own? You have us. Well, let’s not include Rasmus in this, but you have the two of us if you need our help," Aris pointed out.

"Yeah, don’t just hog all the fun to yourself," Rullein grinned.