Hidden Blades Beneath Smiling Faces

For a moment, the peaceful garden atmosphere vanished entirely. The pressure radiating from the peak Silver Realm expert made the nearby flowers tremble faintly.

He looked at the two women standing before him and ordered coldly, "Liza, continue gathering important confidential information. Make sure we can crush the D’Aurelius Group in one blow when the time comes."

His gaze shifted toward the tall green-haired beauty beside her.

"Lina, you work from within the D’Aurelius Family. I want a great fire when chaos erupts, erasing this family from Valemont."

"Yes!"

The two women responded in unison.

A cold glint flashed through their beautiful eyes, accompanied by dense killing intent.

At least... that was what Evan believed.

In reality, both women were already experiencing complicated emotions inside.

Lina Ashford lowered her head slightly, hiding the flicker in her purple eyes.

Erase the D’Aurelius Family?

Young Master Julian would probably cry to death hearing that.

Meanwhile, beside her, Liza Voss maintained her usual cold and petite appearance, but inwardly she was already cursing Evan dozens of times.

This idiot really thought they were still loyal to him.

The atmosphere in the garden grew silent again.

Evan slowly exhaled.

"Go," he said calmly while waving his hand. "I’ll notify you when I take control of Valemont’s Old Martial Arts forces."

During his stay in the hospital, he had secretly arranged many things.

For instance...

The upcoming Old Martial Arts Conference.

Thinking about it, confidence slowly returned to his eyes.

He planned to seize control of Valemont’s Old Martial Arts forces in one move and use them as his greatest bargaining chip.

Currently, the four major households had temporarily allied themselves around the D’Aurelius Family to suppress him.

Given the situation, he had no choice but to alter his strategy.

After taking control of the Old Martial Arts forces, the first thing he would do...

Was crush the D’Aurelius Family.

Destroy the center holding the alliance together.

Once profit and fear entered the equation, those so-called allies would immediately turn on one another like starving wolves.

Human nature was always like this.

Loyalty sounded beautiful.

But benefit—was what truly moved people.

Only after muddying the waters completely could he regain control of Valemont.

As for Julian D’Aurelius and Lucas...

A cruel smile slowly spread across Evan’s lips.

He already had plans for them.

He had already arranged how these two would die.

Thinking of this, he suddenly laughed softly.

Then louder.

He laughed at Julian’s supposed foolishness.

He laughed at Lucas’s lack of strategy.

The laughter echoed faintly through the garden paths, causing even the nurses in the distance to glance over uneasily.

Meanwhile, Lina and Liza exchanged subtle looks before silently turning to leave.

...

After leaving the Jones Family’s private hospital, the two women walked side by side down the quiet roadside.

Neither intended to speak first.

Cars occasionally passed by in the distance, while fallen leaves rolled lazily across the pavement under the afternoon wind.

Their relationship had actually been fairly good before.

They had trained together.

Fought together.

Completed missions together.

But now...

Everything had changed.

Both women secretly believed they belonged to Young Master Julian.

And because of that, each suspected the other might still secretly belong to Evan.

That uncertainty transformed them into potential enemies.

The orders Evan gave today only deepened their anxiety.

Destroy the D’Aurelius Family.

Gather intelligence.

Create chaos.

Neither of them could allow such things to happen.

The silence between them became increasingly heavy.

Lina casually brushed a strand of long green hair behind her ear while secretly observing Liza through the corner of her eye.

Liza, meanwhile, walked with her hands in her coat pockets, expression indifferent.

But internally, her thoughts raced rapidly.

Should she kill Lina now?

If Lina truly remained loyal to Evan, leaving her alive would be dangerous for Young Master Julian.

After walking for several minutes beneath the shade of roadside trees, Liza finally made up her mind.

Her black eyes narrowed slightly.

It was time to eliminate the threat for Young Master Julian.

She suddenly stopped walking.

"Lina," she said quietly, "come with me. I have something to tell you."

"Alright."

Lina nodded with a small smile and followed behind her naturally.

Neither woman relaxed her guard even slightly.

Soon, they entered a relatively secluded alley behind an abandoned storefront.

The surroundings became eerily quiet.

Only the sound of wind remained.

Liza walked ahead for two more steps.

Then suddenly—

She spun around violently.

Her face instantly filled with undisguised killing intent as a gleaming dagger flashed toward Lina’s throat like cold lightning.

The attack was fast.

Decisive.

Lethal.

At almost the exact same moment, Lina’s expression also changed sharply.

A military spike instantly appeared in her hand.

Clang!

The two weapons collided violently, sending sparks flying into the dim alleyway.

The impact caused both women to retreat backward simultaneously.

Two steps.

Three steps.

Distance opened between them once again.

Their beautiful eyes were now filled with wariness and killing intent.

For a brief moment, neither moved.

So...

They had both planned to ambush and kill each other.

Lina tightened her grip around the military spike and stared coldly at Liza.

"What do you mean?"

Her voice carried obvious hostility now.

Why did Liza suddenly try to kill her?

Did she discover she had already betrayed Evan?

Liza sneered coldly.

"Nothing much. You’re Evan’s lackey, I’m Young Master Julian’s person. Killing you is only natural."

The moment she finished speaking, she rushed forward again.

Her petite body exploded with surprising speed.

The dagger in her hand sliced through the air mercilessly.

For Young Master Julian...

That fake plastic sisterhood meant absolutely nothing.

Lina nearly coughed blood hearing those words.

Young Master Julian’s person?

What the hell was she talking about?

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Several rapid exchanges echoed through the alley as the two women continued fighting fiercely.

After blocking several attacks in succession, Lina finally lost patience and shouted angrily,

"Stop fighting! I’m also Young Master Julian’s person!"

Liza paused for half a second.

Then her eyes became even colder.

"Don’t try to trick me. You think I’ll fall for it?"

"Why would I lie?!"

Lina almost exploded from frustration.

She quickly blocked another dagger strike before gritting her teeth and saying,

"Doesn’t Young Master Julian often compare our boobs sizes? Wondering if our diets are different, hence the disparity?"

"..."

Liza froze instantly.

Her face turned red with fury almost immediately afterward.

Indeed...

She had often heard Young Master Julian muttering those exact shameless thoughts inside the office.

Sometimes while secretly staring at Lina’s huge chest.

Sometimes while glancing at her own petite figure with disappointment.

At that moment, realization finally dawned on her.

Lina...

Was just like her.

She could also hear Young Master Julian’s inner thoughts.

The hostility between the two women instantly became strange and awkward.

The cold wind continued blowing softly through the silent alley.

Neither woman attacked again.

Instead, they simply stared at each other with complicated expressions.

Somewhere far away, a car horn echoed faintly across Valemont.

And for the first time since meeting again under Evan’s command...

The two women finally understood they had never been enemies at all.