The Princess And The Lord

__Elsewhere__

In a luxurious hotel room, a thick ambiguous atmosphere filled the air and there was a woman's moaning and a man's heavy breathing followed by the continuous creaking sound of the bed but the tense atmosphere was suddenly broken by the sound of a cell phone ringing.

The woman was reluctant to take her cell phone, but she still took her cell phone to check who the annoying person was. However, when she saw the name on her phone screen she immediately jumped out of bed.

"Honey, where are you going?" The man whines.

"Hold that thought!" She coyly said then she picked up the silk robe that had been scattered on the floor then took a long step to the balcony. She closed the glass door behind him and then cleared her throat before she answered the phone, "Yes, boss!" 

"Bella, how is your investigation about Raven Jane?" The man's voice was deep and mellow but the the woman's attitude immediately became serious.

"I've checked but there's nothing out of the ordinary about her and her husband, and the data I got from the beast's slayer is also unreliable, maybe someone is deliberately covering up their identity." the woman's long fingers brushed her long platinum hair from his face then leaned his back against the glass railing with upset look.

The woman then continues, "However she and her husband manage to get the Hamilton family favor so I have a guessed it got something to do with the Ethan Hamilton recovery because the time is too close to be coincidental"

The man behind the phone got quiet for a while then he said again: "Do you have any idea how to rope her into our side?" 

Bella took an annoyed breath, "You want to recruit her?" her voice coated with anger and jealousy.

"You have a problem with that?" The man hints with a warning.

Bella knew she made a mistake so she quickly changed her tone, "No!... I mean, do we really need him, I don't think she's that good..."

The man scoffed in a deprecating tone "Yet she's alone managed to wipe your a*s and three of your men's faces right to the ground"

Bella was speechless, she had words to refute because she and her three friends had been beaten badly by Lory like defeated dogs, thus she could only hold her burning anger.

"But boss, I already tried to offer her to join us but she said no—"

"Figure it out!" said the man in a peremptory tone.

Bella bit her lips "Yes boss" she forced the words out of her lips.

"Don't disappoint me again, Bella," there's an obvious threat in the man's voice, later on, he hung up the phone.

Bella heard the disconnected sounds with a twisted face.

If Lory were here now, she would recognize her as the woman in the yellow dress who was one of the people responsible for her kidnapping. Just like Lory, she also changed her appearance with makeup and changed her hair color. Unfortunately, because Lory saw her in a club that only had minimal lighting, Lory failed to recognize her.

No one would think that the famous artist Bella Quinn is an elite assassin who works for the Underground Guild, even though she is only a freelancer because she has to prove her abilities first before being accepted as a permanent member of the Underground Guild and her efforts were almost successful until Lory destroyed her perfect record.

This made Bella harbor a deep hatred towards Lory and what was worse was that her superiors gave direct orders to recruit Lory into the underground Guild and only a few people received this honor, therefore, Bella couldn't help but worry that not only Lory would immediately be accepted as a permanent member she was also worried that Lory would have a better position than her if that happened, even she becomes permanent member her position will inevitably below Lory and that mean Lory had the authority to boss her around, how could she live then? this is unacceptable!

Bella's hatred grew rapidly like a wildfire soon her face contorted into a sinister mask.

_________________________________

Lory was in her room checking Jason's work, after checking carefully she was happy to find that Jason's work wasn't that bad, at least it would take a very experienced officer to see the flaw.

For now, it should be enough, Lory put down the ID card then her phone suddenly rang.

Lory checked the caller's name but it was anonymous "Hello?"

"Yo, princess!" a familiar gruff voice was heard.

The corner of Lory's lips lift "Hi, Garrof, how are you"

"Alive" he laugh at his own witty answer.

"Well, that's all the matter" Lory chuckled.

"Oh, how is the hacker I introduce to you, I heard your husband scare the sh*t out of him!" he laugh exhilarated, he sound happy to hear Zhao scared Jason.

"Let's just say, my husband wasn't in a good mood at that time," Lory defended her husband.

That's why Lory hoped that Zhao Li Xin would stay at the Manor because she knew very well that everything that Zhao Li Xin hated was in that club, like big crowds, loud noises, and a bunch of pathetic and annoying people causing trouble and commotion. 

"It's okay princess, after all that boy needs to be spanked to stay motivated, so how is his work going? Are you satisfied?" Garrof hoped Jason wouldn't embarrass him, otherwise, he would show him what scared really looked like.

"It's not bad," Lory said in a casual tone. 

"That's good then!" Garrof feels relieved.

Lory immediately remembers she got important news "Oh, by the way, Ethan Hamilton is missing"

"WHAT!" Garrof exclaimed.

Lory reflexively moved her ear away from the phone, then she put the phone back to her ear before continuing "He, ran away about three days ago..." Lory then retold the story to Garrof.

Garrof listened attentively then he sighed heavily, "He's just making it more complicated" he clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"He was just trying to protect his family in the only way he knew how" Lory could sympathize with Ethan's decision because no one knew better than her the feeling of wanting to protect their family so badly.

"Anyway, I asked Jason to look for Ethan's whereabouts," said Lory.

"Jason?" Garrof sounded confused.

"The hacker you introduced to me" Lory clarified.

"Dirty fingers?" Garrof question it.

"Yeah, I'm not gonna call him that!" Lory firmly said.

"Ha - Ha, got it!" Garrof understands Lory's reluctance.

"You think he can help?" Lory still does not know how good Jason's ability is.

Garrof was quiet for a moment then said confidently, "Don't worry, even though he likes 'that', his skills can compete with the top five hackers in the world."

Lory was quite impressed "He's that good? I had no idea..." Lory mumble.

Garrof sighs "Yeah, he just a bit—"

"Pervert" Lory cuts in.

"Pretty much..." Garrof didn't care to defend Jason.

Poor Jason had no idea that he had been embarrassed in front of his idol.

Lory blew her cheeks "Well, as long he is good with what he's doing" His private matters are not her concern "Oh, yes, I will leave Eagle Rock City tomorrow, maybe we can meet somewhere"

Garrof got excited "That's awesome, then I hope you will kindly lend your hand to help us" 

"Sure, I call you later in this number okay," Lory said.

"I'll be waiting" Garrof answered politely then hung up the phone

Lory tapped her phone while contemplating for a few minutes after that she proceeded to call Madeline at the Beast's Slayer guild, the phone rang several times before finally answering in a sullen voice, "Beast Slayer guild, who is this?"

"Hi, Maddy, is this the wrong time?" Lory was amused by how contrasted Maddy's sweet appearance with her fierce attitude.

"Raven, is this you? I miss you so much!" Maddy shrill with excitement.

"I'm sorry I have no time to visit you" Lory regretfully said.

"No - no, I understand you have a lot on your plate" Maddy suddenly stopped, she seemed to move to another room after that she whispered, "Raven there are a lot of people looking for you..."

"Oh...?" Lory was not surprised.

Nevertheless, Maddy continued "Yes, not only someone hacked our system but Jack said a few people had been bribe people that work in our guild, he then figured it out they were from Underground Guild" Maddy's voice coated with concern for Lory.

"I feel like more and more people are looking for me, that's why I want to ask you to remove my name from the names of the hunters who work for you," said Lory.

"Why?" Maddy balked.

Lory was touched by Maddy's kindness "It's nothing, I have a feeling there will be more people looking for me and this will involve your guild—"

"It's fine!" Maddy interrupted "You don't have to worry about us, even though Jack may be a stupid womanizer, and lazy as a sloth, but you can count on him...sometimes!"

Lory's brows shoot up "Does Jack know you think this way about him?"

"Of course, I say this every day in front of him" Mady frankly said.

Lory's mouth twitched, why did it sound like Maddy showing off their relationship?

"It doesn't mean that we will break up after I leave, it's just a formality so that those people can't pressure your guild to 'hand over' me, this will also make it easier for me to avoid their attention and investigate them, meanwhile we can still exchange information secretly" Lory explained so that Madeline wouldn't worry.

Maddy eyes widened then she slapped her forehead "You're right, that will make everything easier!" she felt so stupid not to think about this before.

However, another bothers her, "But... won't this affect your reputation as a hunter?" Maddy was worried that this would cause trouble for Lory when looking for work in another guild because hunters who were expelled from other guilds would be considered by other guilds to be unreliable.

"Don't worry, I'll figure out something" Lory replied casually without the slightest worry.

Lory became a hunter to solve her and Zhao Li Xin's identity problem and at the same time to make a lot of money in a short time but now she has solved the identification problem, and with the support of the Hamilton family, Lory does not need to worry about money plus she has already collected quite a lot of money from the previous job so she had no problem other than multiple dangerous people try to kill her.

Lory's calm and relaxed answer amazed Madeline, she knew from Jack that many dangerous organizations were looking for Lory and Zhao Li Xin, but Lory was able to face the situation with clear-headed, and this made her admiration for Lory rise several levels again.

"Okay, I will talk to Jack about this!"

"Thank you Maddy~" Lory then hung up.