"What are you afraid of, Banjee?" Hanna turned to look at the housekeeper, slightly tilting her proud neck upwards, her gorgeous appearance in no way diminishing her overwhelming domineering presence.
"...Denzel?" Banjee’s gaze was intensely focused, like a long needle poised to stab towards the unknown creature before him: "What happened to Miss Hanna!?"
"She’s asleep, didn’t she say goodnight to you?"
"Hand over the young lady!" Banjee clenched his hand cannon, but did not draw it.
"You can’t," Denzel said leisurely: "Since you’ve pulled me back from the Void Realm, let me properly enjoy the pleasures of being alive. During this time, I’ll be troubling you with my daily needs. Don’t worry, I’ll undertake your requests as well—in case I’m in a good mood."
"Then, Banjee, my first command."
"Kill everyone here, all of them."
With a splash of blood on the camera, the image data of the Deceit List’s number 10 comes to an end.
The next second, everyone looked at Hanna at once, especially Mercury, whose presence was like a long needle, firmly targeting the Purple Moth.
"One of the people in that banquet hall was my brother," he said solemnly.
"Oh," Qinna said calmly: "Then he’s lucky to have avoided becoming a Shadow Spirit."
Mercury suddenly deflated. Qinna was right; their family would inevitably become Shadow Spirits for Harvey eventually. Compared to that, dying in confusion at Hanna’s hands might be a better end.
It was also evident from this that Hanna’s deceit took place before the "Family List"—after all, the Mercury family had all turned into Necromancy on that list.
But this did not prevent him from glaring fiercely at Hanna, saying coldly, "She must hand over the ritual for the Sinful Crown’s descent, Senheiser, you simply cannot monopolize it!"
Before Qinna could answer, Hanna immediately shook her head: "That’s a ritual I’ll receive in the future, I don’t know anything about it now!"
"Who is ’Rusted Crow’?" Cleos suddenly asked: "In the video, you personally said that the ritual was given to you by him."
Hanna continued to shake her head: "I don’t know this person yet, I have no idea."
"All this not knowing, that not knowing..." Kesray said: "You must at least know about the Doran family’s legacy, right? What is the authority to watch the infinite future?"
Faced with the aggressive Holy Sanctuary Mages, Hanna directly bowed her head to avoid, pulling on Ash’s sleeve and hiding behind him. Ash was not at all intimidated, boldly pulling her behind his aunt Nona, as if a bullied child seeking refuge with a parent.
Nona wasn’t surprised by their closeness; after all, the only family Hanna had since childhood was her, and her only friend had been Banjee. As for Ash... Nona glanced at her sister, but her sister playfully winked, as if to say, ’take your time.’
Nona couldn’t be bothered with her sister and turned to whisper to them: "Hold onto my waist; when necessary, I will fly you away."
Ash blinked, looked down at Nona’s slender waist, and was about to reach out when Hanna slapped his hand away.
At this moment, Liss, as if sensing her father was about to be lured away by another woman, quickly pulled the young Banjee over. The little boy was only wearing an oversized shirt, which caused him to trip and stumble halfway there. The young boy with blue hair didn’t cry though, merely biting his lip and puckering up while tears fell.
Ash took Liss’s hand, unable not to say: "How come you, Miss, show up in the rankings more than we do? Are you also from out of town?"
Hanna crouched down to wipe away little Banjee’s tears, replying irritably: "You think I want this? This isn’t the Beauty List; it’s the Deceit List... now my reputation is just as awful as yours!"
Indeed that was the case.
According to the list’s introduction, Hanna’s deceit this time was supposedly just for money, but once the ritual summoned ’Denzel’ to possess her, the mad ’Denzel’ slaughtered all the guests present. With both money and lives lost, the financial powerhouses appearing in the video couldn’t hate Hanna more.
One more important point was, unlike Ash and Harvey, Hanna was a bona fide local, which meant that the prophecies of the Weaving Festival could be trusted!
Furthermore, since there were no foreigners seen in the vision, the possibility that the prophecy had been tainted could be ruled out. In other words, barring unforeseen circumstances, the scenario where "Hanna conducts the Crown Ritual, conspiring to steal wealth and slaughter the masses" was destined to happen!
Even if Qinna could keep Hanna safe for now, other families would surely send countless assassins to Vatican Mura to kill the Purple Moth!
Moreover, whether Qinna could keep Hanna safe was now an unknown. Hanna’s appearing on the Weaving Festival list twice showed the Gospel’s significant interest in her, and with the Crown Descent Ritual and the Doran family heritage, her overall worth in everyone’s eyes had subtly surpassed Ash and was second only to Harvey!
"Hanna Doran receives the reward ’Sinful Crown’."
"Sinful Crown: When you don this crown, your crimes will not be recorded by the Gospel, and those who die because of you will be seen as victims of natural disasters."
Hanna blankly stared at the crown in her hands, feeling like she was being scorned by the Gospel—Would she really violate Criminal Law if she were to commit a crime!?
Ash leaned over and asked, "Empress Hanna, should we kill someone to test its effect?"
"There’s no need for such trouble; any crime will do, so merely injuring someone is also fine," Hanna glanced at him. "Stick out your tongue for me to bite, and let’s see if the Gospel Society will judge me guilty of intentional harm."
Liss looked enviously at the bejeweled crown. Noticing her gaze, Hanna asked, "Do you want it, Liss?"
"Then what should you say?"
"Thank you, Auntie Hanna!"
Hanna elbowed Ash in the waist, and Ash hurriedly shook his head—not my doing, I swear!
If I had taught her, she would have called you old purple hag Hanna!
"That’s not right, Liss. Think again?"
Liss hesitated, her gaze struggling between Hanna and Ash for a long while, but ultimately, the allure of the crown was too great: "Thank you... Mama Hanna?"
"Wrong again," Hanna sighed but still placed the crown on Liss’s head.
Little Banjee cocked his head, then suddenly jumped up happily, "Empress Sister Liss!"
At that moment, the Gospel Book emitted a bright light and updated with a new ranking.
"Deceit List Number 9: The Ritual of Cross’s Resurrection of Wisdom"
"Synopsis: The ancestor of the Kastere family, Cross Kastere, was a Legendary Mage specializing in the Fate Faction. To obtain his ancestor’s wisdom, on April 10th, 1678, Zuvendas decided to murder another Holy Sanctuary Mage of the Kastere family and 100 ordinary Kastere clan members as a sacrifice to conduct the Resurrection of Wisdom ritual."
"The Puppet Master Behind the Scenes: Zuvendas Kastere."
Suddenly, the opposing team of Mages scattered, leaving only a Holy Sanctuary Mage standing there, stunned. Ash asked in surprise, "What happened?"
"He is Zuvendas Kastere," Nona replied.
Is this the joy of watching the list together—finally, the gossip falls upon an enemy for once!