“Madam Masha, you’re as punctual as ever.”
The speaker had a deep, resonant voice, but Masha didn’t let her guard down. She stared intently at the burly man who approached step by step.
The man’s face was unfamiliar to Masha, but she immediately spotted the dirty beast pelt draped over his shoulder—that was the prop Samuer used to disguise himself.
It seemed that even meeting outside the city, Samuer was still cautious enough not to show his true face. Masha breathed a sigh of relief and responded indifferently, “Why did you suddenly choose to meet outside the city this time? And it’s not even our usual meeting time yet, is it?”
“Doesn’t Madam Masha know the reason?” Samuer stepped forward, looming over her with an overwhelming presence. “Isn’t it all because of that Xiliya—”
“The City Guard of Camberlan City is now impregnable. Dodging their night patrols isn’t easy anymore.”
“At this rate, I’m afraid our ‘business’ will be completely impossible to conduct.”
Samuer’s cold gaze left Masha speechless for a moment. Sure enough, was Samuer dissatisfied with Xiliya’s control and planning to take her out?
“I know exactly what you’ve been up to lately, Madam Masha—framing others, manipulating public opinion… that was all your doing, wasn’t it?”
“You’re quite useless, Madam Masha.” Samuer delivered the cold evaluation.
“You—”
Anger surged in Masha’s heart. This was the first time Samuer had insulted her so directly, but she had no right to lose her temper now and could only swallow her rage.
“Fine, then what do you suggest? I can cooperate with you to deal with Xiliya, but on the condition that you don’t go too far, or I won’t be able to clean it up.”
“Besides, the envoy from the Imperial Capital is in Camberlan City right now. Killing Xiliya now would be too conspicuous. We should wait a bit longer—at least until the envoy returns to the Imperial Capital… It’s fine to let Xiliya become City Lord for the time being.”
When mentioning Xiliya, Masha’s tone carried a hint of gritted teeth: “Worst case, after she becomes City Lord, we pause our smuggling trade for a while. Once the royals stop paying attention to Border City matters, I’ll cooperate with you to kill Xiliya. After her death, the City Lord position and the Camberlan Family will still be mine.”
“Mm…” Samuer nodded emphatically, seemingly in full agreement with Masha’s words. “So, Madam Masha—you’re admitting to smuggling, aren’t you?”
Masha was stunned. “What do you mean?”
Masha suddenly realized something was off. The oppressive gloom in front of her vanished; he smiled pleasantly, as if he’d gotten a satisfactory answer.
“Lady Selina,” Samuer clapped his hands and called out loudly, “you heard it all, right? Madam Masha admitted it herself.”
The figure before Masha suddenly blurred. He reached up and removed the necklace hidden around his neck, and the rugged man’s image flickered. In the next second, the person standing in front of Masha transformed into a cute little maid in a proper maid outfit.
Hearing the system prompt in her mind announcing the task’s completion, Ximo stuck out her tongue smugly.
【Congratulations, dearie, on completing the plot task “Clash with Masha (Completed).” Rewards will be settled shortly.】
“What?”
Masha paled in shock. At that moment, the quiet underbrush rustled to life as teams of City Guard soldiers emerged from their hiding spots, weapons trained on Masha.
“You… you all…”
How could Masha not understand what had happened? She glared with gritted teeth at Xiliya and Selina, who approached leisurely from a distance. “Xiliya! This was you—you knew all along!”
“Madam Masha,” Selina frowned and shook her head, “I truly didn’t expect you to be this kind of person. As the acting City Lord of a city, colluding with outsiders for smuggling… I’m so disappointed.”
Masha opened her mouth instinctively to argue, but she knew there was no room for excuses. She had just admitted everything herself!
Masha looked around, but the City Guard soldiers had surrounded the area airtight. There was no way she could escape alone.
“Auntie Masha, do you like my gift?” Xiliya laughed freely. “I’ve finally waited for this day—how does it feel to lose everything?”
This was all, of course, a trap set by Xiliya. She could have gone straight to Selina with evidence of Masha’s smuggling, but she didn’t want to let Masha off that easily. She had said she wanted to kill the heart.
She wanted Masha to admit her crimes in front of Selina herself, to let her taste the helplessness of being toyed with and outmaneuvered.
Masha’s liquor had been secretly swapped by Xiliya and Ximo—they already knew the Beastmen Clan’s communication method well and turned it to their advantage.
Xiliya had previously gotten a case of Black Currant Chamber’s fine brew from Luo Keke, then mimicked the Beastmen Clan’s method to lure the snake out of its hole.
Ximo’s necklace allowed her to disguise herself as the Samuer that Masha expected—Xiliya had learned how Samuer disguised himself while eavesdropping on Masha and Samuer’s conversation last time.
The beast pelt Ximo had draped over her shoulder earlier was just an ordinary one.
“Did you really think I was at the end of my rope, Xiliya?”
Facing imminent doom, Masha suddenly calmed down.
“I didn’t expect you’d really push me this far… You’re definitely different from before, Xiliya.”
Confronted by the aggressive City Guard, Masha quickly pulled something from her bosom and shoved it into her mouth.
“Stop her!”
A soldier shouted, and several rushed forward to subdue her, but Masha didn’t resist. She simply blew hard on the skull-shaped bone flute she’d put in her mouth.
A shrill, eerie sound pierced the night, and then the small bone flute fell from Masha’s mouth onto the snow. The City Guard soldiers had already restrained her; the usually elegant and luxurious Madam Masha now looked utterly disheveled.
“What’s she…” Ximo asked puzzledly, “playing a tune to send herself off happily before the end?”
Only Xiliya keenly sensed the sudden shift in the magical elements in the air. The bone flute on the ground began to crumble and disintegrate, soon turning into a puff of flying ash.
“Cough… cough cough!”
Masha suddenly coughed violently. The two City Guard soldiers could barely hold her as she spat out a large mouthful of blood—“Pfft!”—staining the snow a glaring red.
“Not good!” Xiliya realized something and shouted to the two soldiers, “Get away from her!”
