Upon hearing this, Lance didn’t show it on his face, but his heart suddenly reacted.

He was wrong, he guessed wrong, the one who leaked the convoy’s whereabouts was not Michelle’s father, but the Emperor!

The further deterioration of the situation made the Emperor even more suspicious, Sofia couldn’t make him feel at ease, even in the Monastery.

To the Emperor, as long as Sofia was alive, she was a threat.

Then the only choice was... death.

So the so-called marriage alliance was a complete lie, the Empire Emperor never intended for her to live, it was just to lure her out of the Monastery.

The people the Emperor sent to protect her were actually meant to kill her, but it all had to be done gracefully, blaming it on the rebels was the best choice.

No wonder Michelle was a close minister to the Emperor, he could handle such matters.

But then...

Lance immediately felt something was wrong, wasn’t a crack elite guard and a Champion Knight lost? These aren’t trivial things, are they?

So the Emperor was quite willing to spend so much, sacrificing so many people for Sofia, something Lance couldn’t do.

Lance was contemplating and verifying his own thoughts, but Sofia’s next words changed his assumptions.

Sofia was no longer the sister from before, the long-term torment had made her resistant.

Although she knew leaving the Monastery likely meant death, she still agreed because it was a chance to escape the cage.

Her equipment was taken away, her abilities were restrained, why?

Of course, because the Champion Knight of the Empire wasn’t the Emperor’s man, but Sofia’s Guardian Knight.

These nobles followed an ancient rule, many had Knights who swore allegiance.

Not to mention Sofia was part of the Royal Family, and also a Perfumer, she too had Knights.

The Knight was raised from a young age, akin to a childhood friend, also possessing Extraordinary Talent, strong, and part of a formal Order of Knights, this was her confidence.

Hearing this, Lance understood why the Emperor wanted to kill that Champion Knight, because they were from different factions.

When she walked out of the Monastery, she had already started planning, with the Knight’s help, she regained a bit of strength, took control of a maid traveling with the entourage, swapping clothes, while she disguised as the carriage driver.

A not-so-unexpected attack occurred, those Guards, ignorant of court intrigue, fought to the death to protect, holding off the enemy.

As for the Champion Knight, he rampaged and broke through, afterward, it was Sofia who drove the carriage, taking the "Princess" to escape amid the chaos.

Those pursuers naturally wouldn’t let their target go easily, but a slight obstruction was enough to create distance, Sofia used the chance to get off mid-route, quickly swapping into a Nun’s outfit that had long been prepared in the Monastery.

At this time, the Champion Knight took the carriage on a wild run, eliminating all traces.

The two had already agreed to meet in a nearby major city, Bastia, after circling around, Sofia returned to the main road, but now her identity had turned into a Nun.

Until she encountered a caravan heading to Bastia.

It was different from what she said, it wasn’t the caravan that captured her, but she hitchhiked as a Nun.

In the Empire, even bandits wouldn’t harm Church people, not to mention they were a caravan, although they could play bandits if necessary.

There was a reason for religious belief, even the most wicked desired redemption from the Holy Light.

But more so out of fear, unless they wanted to be on a pyre or end up in Hell.

Sofia behaved exactly like those Nuns, because she truly lived and interacted in the Monastery.

Following the caravan into Bastia didn’t make her feel safe, she needed many resources to restore her strength, and it involved Extraordinary Material.

But afraid of leaving traces and being discovered, she chose a particularly unique place, which was a club in Bastia City, actually a high-end brothel.

Because prostitutes used perfume to mask their scent or disguise themselves, some high-end brothels even mixed their own perfumes, so accessing related materials wouldn’t seem abrupt.

Moreover, with many women frequenting the place, their inferior perfumes would mask her traces.

And those who operated high-end brothels generally had backgrounds, ensuring she wouldn’t be disturbed.

Finally, why she chose this place for the meeting?

Because the Mountains produced many precious materials, and these things gathered in Bastia, easily accessible.

If she wanted to quickly regain her state, she had to collect enough materials to re-mix her scent.

It’s undeniable, her planning was thorough and clear-headed, this was indeed her best choice, soon she would change her appearance to become a socialite.

Although all her equipment was taken, like Lance said, she herself was a perfume, in a way that had seeped in.

For a Perfumer, controlling ordinary people wasn’t difficult, adding a scene was just to gain Grendel’s sympathy after all.

After all, controlling a few people was too easy for her, even difficult materials were simple; just find a man and wave a hand.

The Perfumer’s ability could cause hallucinations, she only needed to watch their ugly scene with a smile, then obediently have them deliver things to her hand.

More importantly, her ability was an invisible control, even the person wasn’t aware of their own anomaly, which was the most terrifying part.

It was as she said to Grendel earlier, being sent to the brothel, but at that time, she was the hidden boss of the brothel.

Logically, she parasitized at the club quickly restoring strength, as long as nothing went wrong, nothing would go wrong.

But then an accident happened, she didn’t know what happened at the time, but the Earl cut off the trade route with the Barbarian Tribes, making it difficult to procure those materials.

This environment caused her great unease, unsure of what happened, forcing her to come out.

The Rich Merchants had limited information access, she had to pose as a Rich Merchant’s dance companion to reach higher levels and attend an upper-class banquet.

But while on the way, she was suddenly ambushed by members of the Eagle Flock, she even thought she had been discovered, as the notorious Eagle Flock’s evil deeds she knew even in just a few days.

They frequently engaged in petty theft and kidnapping of women, lackeys of the Earl, feared by those folks.

But Sofia soon discovered that the Eagle Flock’s target seemed to be the Rich Merchant, and she was just implicated.

Lance wasn’t surprised by this, as Laura had previously mentioned to Lance, the Eagle Flock’s target was undoubtedly those disobedient people, a means for the Earl to intimidate them.

Sofia, this time, was eating hotpot and singing, when suddenly she was seized by the Eagle Flock.

She shrank in a corner of the carriage showing the reaction of an ordinary person, thinking it was over, but her beauty undoubtedly attracted their attention.

She was a Transcendent, but lacked close-combat skills, the Eagle Flock members weren’t ordinary people either, using her powers on the street might alarm more people.

Without daring to expose her abilities, she was directly taken to the Eagle’s Nest, the scene that Laura saw back then.

The treachery of such a place was indescribable, Sofia panicked facing such a scene, the terror pressure from the Eagle Tribe Leader almost made her break down.

But Laura’s appearance saved her, without a doubt she seized that faint opportunity to feign death and escape.

This led to the series of events afterward.

"You’ve already built a foundation in Bastia, and it was the agreed place with the Knight, why did you leave with Laura then?"

Lance finally couldn’t help but ask, directly posing a question.

Sofia raised her head, meeting Lance’s gaze, her expression appearing complex...