Informing the princess that there is a possibility of something happening tonight had always been part of Zorat’s plans.

Only she or the king himself could get the royal enforcers to proactively make a move, which would be essential to his plans.

Moving through the exit hallway, the same guard led Zorat back through the unfamiliar paths, and went through the throne room again, before going through the exit doors, and Zorat saw Florielle right where he had left her. Though now, she was crouched by the side and fast asleep as always.

Zorat approached and forced her awake as they slowly began to make their way back towards the cabin.

Zorat’s plan was for later in the night, when the princess and enforcers must have had enough time to prepare.

Also, he intentionally led Florielle back in the direction of his cabin because he plans to pay a visit to the maidservant’s quarters after getting all his other business in order, and make her a beautiful present as he had intended.

Zorat has an intuition that Florielle’s special skill hinges upon her remaining her typical happy, naive, and good-natured self.

And since he hasn’t yet discovered what this skill does, he intends to reduce whatever variable that would threaten to jeopardize that.

There is also the small fact that Zorat had become quite fond of her. For a demon, that means he no longer gets the urges to dismember when he looks at her.

That’s saying a lot because only one other person in this current world has that privilege.

Though for Florielle, it was Zorats’s own conscious decision, probably formed through constant exposure to Florielle’s nature, which he found amusing and weirdly soothing, that made him feel that way. Still, it remains valid only as long as his interests don’t get mixed in hers. While for Ava, it was something entirely different.

They soon arrived back at the cabin, and with Zorat’s permission to spend the night, Florielle excitedly changed into the sexy nighties she had intentionally prepared for such a situation according to her seduction playbook.

She jumped into Zorat’s bed, doing a little too much to show her appeal, while also extremely nervously, because in reality, she still had zero experience regarding what she was trying to make happen.

But all Zorat did was get into a meditative pose on the floor as hours flew by.

Unfortunately for Florielle, while the ambition was there, she still fell into a deep sleep after the first twenty minutes had passed, her master plans foiled yet again.

Myrra had a similar idea to Florielle, but was less bold, and she was still a little bit afraid of her lord, definitely not as free around him as Florielle.

So after being informed by her lord that Florielle would be spending the night.... She at first imagined something like what had happened the previous night would repeat itself....

But she just watched Florielle try and fail spectacularly at her glaringly obvious attempts at seduction, while her lord simply meditated, and in a short time, she too was fast asleep on her bed in her nighties, just like Florielle.

A couple of minutes later, seated on the wooden floor, Zorat’s starry eyes sprang open with a crimson glint flashing through. His face stretched into a disturbing grin as he muttered...

"It’s time."

Saying that, Zorat walked out of his cabin bare-chested; he had only his pants on, without footwear as well.

Zorat let his bare feet sink lightly into the soil underneath him as he allowed the sensation of soil wrapping his feet and getting in between the spaces of his toes.

"Ah...this feels good."

As a demon, Zorat had never worn shoes; he only did so in this world for the purpose of trying out something novel, but as it turns out, he didn’t like it.

He, of course, understood why humans wore shoes, because their bodies are just so fragile.

That his form is currently human does not mean he has to do everything their way. Going barefoot now and then is more convenient for him.

With that, Zorat instantly vanished from view.

There were no powerful mana reactions or a purple void opening up like when he used his portal skill.

Zorat was just gone, completely removed from all sense of perception, both physical and spiritual. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Well, not gone per se.... Zorat was still there. Standing exactly where he had been, but to any other living being..... He no longer existed.

Zorat was currently applying the spell.... Void domain.

He could feel his mental strength slowly draining, so he began moving.

He moved past the training grounds, gardens, stables, the workshops, and every other location until he reached the most imposing building, behind which was the royal wing.

With his hands folded behind his back, Zorat walked past multiple royal guards, some talking nervously, some standing still in their positions, and some patrolling, all of whom did not even feel the wind shift.

The number of royal guards stationed all around the palace grounds seemed to have tripled, and they were all on high alert. And he could also sense that those elusive presences had spread out in every direction of the palace....

Zorat was glad to see the princess had taken his words to heart.

He arrived in the throneroom and proceeded to phase straight through the large double doors that led to the royal wing, as if it wasn’t there at all.

Now came the part that needed a little effort: locating his target area through the spiralling pathways of the royal wing.

Zorat attuned his senses to reach out for any strong mana reading, and after a few minutes, he realised that wasn’t working as he was being led to only unnecessary areas, even the princess’s bedroom.

He decided to change tactics and instead check for areas with zero mana readings.

This led Zorat toward an area that appeared completely devoid of patrolling guards and any mana signatures....

But underneath the hallway, he felt something exhuding ridiculously large amounts of mana....

So Zorat peered into the readings and deduced that the device was actually rendering the use of any form of mana in that passageway..... inert.

"Hehehe."

Zorat grinned as he followed the path along this hallway until he came upon a round silver metallic contraption flat against a wall with a space that looked like a receptacle...

Looking at the metallic door, Zorat surmised that it would likely take the continuous bombardment of several paragon-level powerhouses to get through...

Which would also be impossible because they wouldn’t be able to use their mana.

Zorat’s grin drew wider....

The artifact underneath the hallway rendering everyone who neared or entered this area unable to use their mana....

The lack of guards to either throw intruders off, or simply keep the location a secret.....

The unnecessarily, excessively sturdy metal door.....

"Quite meticulous.... Impressive." Zorat muttered as he walked ahead.

Soon, he was in front of the silver door, and proceeded to effortlessly phase through the last security feature and straight into a brightly lit and very large white open space with white crystal floors and walls, which looks nothing like it appears on the outside.

"So this is the fabled royal treasury...." Zorat mumbled as a genuinely pleased smile creased his handsome face, that somehow still looked disturbingly evil.

Before him was a spectacular view of hundreds of shelves with various treasures, artifacts, weapons, jewelry... and mountains upon mountains of golden imperial coins....

"Hehehe...."

"How exciting!"