V1: Chapter 37: Why Do You Look so Sad?

Only after everyone was lying on the ground groaning did Liang Lin stop. She wiped the blood splattered on her face with the back of her hand and spat, "Disgusting. I'll have to wash my face ten times, no, twenty times when I get back."

"Look there."

Liang Di walked into the room and pointed ahead.

Liang Lin had been blinded by rage and hadn't noticed the scene inside. Now, reminded of her mistake, she looked in the direction Liang Di was pointing and felt a chill run down her spine, gasping for breath.

In the darkness, she saw several chairs. The girls on the chairs were deathly pale, devoid of any color, bound to the chairs, with red tubes inserted into their wrists. No, not just red tubes, but blood-stained tubes.

The room was exceptionally large. In a corner, a group of girls, their mouths gagged and hands and feet bound, trembled and dressed in tattered clothes. They had all been tricked into coming here, or perhaps, knocked unconscious and kidnapped.

Among the girls, Liang Lin recognized a familiar figure—Laura.

Liang Lin walked over, cut the ropes binding Laura, and pulled the rag from Laura's mouth.

"Hey, are you alright?"

"Waaah~"

Laura hugged Liang Lin tightly, like an octopus, her mouth agape as she cried, "Thank you! Thank you! If you had come any later… I would have…"

Thinking of that ugly man, reaching out his hand towards her, Laura felt nauseous. Fortunately, before the man's hand could fall, Liang Lin and Liang Di burst in.

Liang Di frowned, walked over, grabbed Laura by the back of her collar, and pulled her off the helpless Liang Lin.

"How are we supposed to help the others cut their ropes if you're like this? Go stand over there."

Laura, tears streaming down her face, trembled and sat in a corner. She glanced at the man's corpse on the ground, and the stench of blood filled her nostrils, causing her to gag.

The girls were rescued one by one, but one of the girls having her blood drawn from the chair was already lifeless. For the first time, a look of desolation appeared on Liang Lin's face. She hated this feeling; the people she was trying to protect had died before her eyes, as if testifying to her own powerlessness.

A sentence flashed through her mind:

"The mission of every member of the Kronin family is determined from birth! It is to protect all innocent lives! For this, we can stop at nothing, we can abandon everything!"

Liang Lin raised her hand and gently stroked the face of the dead girl, covering her lifeless eyes.

"Rest in peace. May your world be free of pain from now on."

Liang Di stood to the side, quietly observing everything.

Why did Liang Lin show that desolate expression?

The girl who died was someone she didn't know, an insignificant person. Why should she feel sad?

Shouldn't she be happy? Everything was finally resolved.

Liang Di couldn't understand. She just stared, her eyes filled with utter confusion. All Liang Di knew was that if she resolved this matter, more and more commoners would support her, and the kind old man, Donald, would also favor her more. She was one step closer to becoming the head of the family.

Inside the magic tower on the border of the Soteland Empire, a tall woman looked at the magic crystal sphere before her, extending a finger to magnify Liang Di's face.

"Look~ she still has that bewildered expression. Monsters can never learn to love..."

"No," a gentle voice interrupted her, "I believe that child can. And I think the little monster isn't as cold-hearted as we imagine."

"Your thinking is still so simple, but I hope so too."

On the other side.

Liang Di opened her pocket watch. After all that commotion, it was already seven in the morning.

“Let’s go. We’ll find the local knightly order and leave the capture of the Baron and his wife to them. Of course, the knightly order needs a major overhaul, after all… there’s a traitor.”

“A traitor?”

Liang Lin put down the dead girl’s body.

“Yes, if there weren’t a traitor, how could such a simple matter have dragged on for so long without being resolved? There must be someone in the knightly order covering for the Baron and his men.”

“…..”

On the way back, the sky was clear and blue, unlike the gloomy sky they had seen on their way there, as if celebrating Liang Lin and Liang Di’s victory.

However, unlike on the way there, there were two more people in the carriage.

“Miss Liang, Miss Liang Lin, so you are the ladies of the renowned Langwendi family.” Laura nervously rubbed her hands together in the carriage, occasionally glancing up at Liang Lin and Liang Di across from her.

Beside her, Gladys was bound hand and foot, her mouth gagged, making muffled sobs. Just by listening to the sounds, everyone could tell she was cursing, and cursing in particularly vulgar ways.

"I understand about Gladys, but why did you bring that nun along too?"

Liang Lin, her head throbbing from Gladys's nagging, raised her fist and threatened the poor girl twice. Gladys, tears welling in her eyes, finally stopped struggling.

"You'll find out later, don't ask."

Liang Di didn't want to answer, and Liang Lin was too lazy to ask more.

This woman had too many secrets; it was too difficult to uncover them all at once, and asking too much would only make her angry.

Just as they were about to leave Orlando, the carriage suddenly stopped. Many civilians appeared around it. Due to the sudden arrest of the Baron and Baroness, and the exposure of their misdeeds, the news spread like wildfire throughout the city. Every household knew about it, and at the same time, they learned (as Liang Di had spread the word) that the person who resolved the matter was Liang Lin and Miss Liang Di of the Langwendi family.

The commoners carried fruit baskets, bouquets of flowers, and even steaming hot food. They crowded around the carriage, expressing their gratitude and admiration.

"Miss, this is just a small token of our appreciation..."

"Thank you all. Without you, who knows how many more girls would have disappeared in Orlando."

"You are our heroes!"

Liang Lin seemed used to this scene. She stood up, opened the carriage window, and waved to the commoners outside.

"Thank you everyone. We can't take these things. We appreciate your kindness. No need to thank us; it's what the Langwendi family should do! Orlando is also the land protected by our Langwendi family."

The carriage slowly drove out of Orlando, leaving a shallow trail of tire tracks in the mud.

"Alright," Liang Lin pulled the handkerchief from Gladys's mouth, "now it's time to talk about your matter."