Keith arrived at Dianella's apartment when he saw a plume of smoke coming from the second floor. He remembered his sister had rented a room there. His intuition proved correct. Something wrong had really happened.
The smoke had to be caused by a smoke bomb. Fortunately, there was no poison in the smoke. Someone appeared to have used the smoke bomb to run away.
It showed if that person was in a desperate situation. Keith breathed a sigh of relief as he realized Dianella had handled the situation. When he entered the second floor, a man accidentally bumped into him.
"Hey, watch your step! You must be cautious—"
Keith did not continue his words as he saw the blood on his sleeve. He quickly realized the man splattered blood on him.
Meanwhile, the mysterious man noticed that Keith would catch him. He managed to use the teleportation item before Keith managed to do anything.
"Ugh, I lost him!"
Keith could only curse when the man disappeared from his sight. Because he was too worried about Dianella, he did not see the man's face. He thought he should not be upset because Dianella could tell him about that.
Following the smoke bomb incident, the atmosphere in the apartment was completely chaotic. People panicked and called the police. Other apartment tenants came out of their rooms to see what had just happened.
Among the crowd, Keith saw Dianella talking to Radmilo. He pushed his way through the crowd to see his sister's condition.
"Are you okay?"
Dianella clenched her fists when Keith came and asked that question. She pointed at her injured face, saying, "Do I look fine? I think that madman broke my nose. I have to fix my dentures too!"
"I'm sorry. It was just a spontaneous question," Keith spoke while glancing at Radmilo.
He wanted to say something but did not because he realized that people were watching Dianella. First of all, he had to bring his sister to talk in private.
People must have seen the wounds on Dianella's face, so they could conclude the girl was the cause of this mess.
Keith put his arm around Dianella and signaled Radmilo to follow him. Now they were in Dianella's apartment, which looked like a shipwreck.
"I swear I will find that madman and torture him," Dianella could not contain her anger when she saw the broken things in the living room.
The girl took a deep breath before drinking the healing potion she had taken out earlier. Even though the potion could not repair her nasal bones, it did a good job of healing her primary wound.
Meanwhile, Keith was looking for another place to talk since the living room was a mess. He chose the television room when he saw there was a sofa.
"I think we need to talk about the man," he said, pointing to the television room.
Dianella and Radmilo followed Keith silently. The police and the people concerned would ask about the smoke bomb incident. They had the answers to the questions that would be asked.
However, the problem was the man who came to Dianella's apartment was disguised as Radmilo. This problem would not just go away because it involved an awakened.
"Have you had any problems with anyone lately?" Keith started the conversation as soon as they sat down on the sofa.
Dianella shook her head. "I don't have any problem with my current team or anyone else. You know I've been busy with my fake nails since a few weeks ago. I don't have time to find trouble with other people."
"So, why did that guy come to your apartment?"
"I have no idea," Dianella answered, glancing at Radmilo who did not look back at her. "That crazy guy disguised himself as Radmilo. I think he—"
"What did you say? He disguised himself as Radmilo?"
Keith looked at Radmilo with various prejudices. Even though he had decided to stop spying on Radmilo, his suspicions could not go away. He became even more suspicious when he found out that the person who attacked Dianella was disguised as Radmilo.
"Calm down. I understand you are worried about your sister," Radmilo decided to speak because he did not want to be suspected. "If I had a relationship with that man, then I wouldn't have bothered telling him to impersonate me."
What Radmilo said makes sense. He could come to Dianella if he really wanted to do something. That meant the mysterious man deliberately disguised himself as Radmilo so he could meet Dianella.
Nonetheless, there was still a possibility that Radmilo ordered the man to come to Dianella. It could happen if the mysterious man had something that Radmilo did not have.
Dianella, however, did not believe in this possibility. She was sure that Radmilo was not the culprit. The man was really shocked when he discovered someone impersonating him.
"That man realizes I know Radmilo," Dianella spoke again. "He took advantage of that to meet me. Something like this could happen at any time. Have you forgotten that I'm the daughter of a famous guild owner?"
Keith did not answer because he needed to calm his mind. He tried to stop suspecting Radmilo to find other possibilities. Just like Dianella had said, this kind of incident could have happened because their family had rivals.
When the others thought about the mysterious man's motives, Radmilo instead paid attention to Dianella. He had been staring at her nails since the girl had mentioned fake nails. There were traces of blood on her fingernails.
Then, he turned to look at Dianella's face, which looked better than before. He also peeked at his crumpled pajamas before going down to her feet.
There was no wound on Dianella's vital points. It indicated that the mysterious man had no intention of killing her. He had another goal.
"Did that man say anything to you?" Keith finally asked.
Dianella shook her head. "He didn't say anything important. I think he didn't come here to kill me. When he attacked me, I knew he was stronger than me. But he only attacked without killing intent."
"Ah, I see. He must want to do something else with you or maybe kidnap you."
"Could be. He used a magic rope to catch me."
"I think we need someone else's help to investigate this."
"No need," Dianella immediately rejected her brother. "Please keep the mysterious man a secret from anyone. I don't want word of this getting out. It will cover up the news about my fake nails launching!"
Keith could only nod and took a deep breath. His sister had worked hard to create artificial nails with several blacksmiths. Several months ago, Dianella had teamed with alchemists to create new potions but failed.
Those artificial nails were the first item Dianella managed to create. Because of that, Keith agreed not to make the mysterious man appear in the news. He needed to talk to the police about this since they were about to come down to investigate.
"What do you think about that man?" Keith asked Radmilo, who had been silent since earlier.
"I think he will come back later," replied Radmilo, staring intensely at Dianella. "He failed to do what he wanted today. You better move out since he already found out about this apartment."
Dianella had no rebuttal about that. She had to move from the apartment for her safety. However, she would not do that after some deliberation.
"No. I'm going to stay in this apartment. Let me face that guy one more time. I need to know his purpose. Besides, I can't run away forever."
Keith wanted to reject Dianella's idea but he also thought what his sister said was right. If the mysterious man was indeed targeting Dianella, then he would continue to find ways to catch her.
"I'll send someone to take care of you. That's my condition if you want to stay in this apartment."
Discussions about 'welcoming' the mysterious man started. Radmilo did not take an important role in the discussion. He only stayed with Keith and Dianella to avoid questions from people out there.
They would interrogate him about the smoke bomb incident if he came out. To avoid that, Radmilo decided to stay in Dianella's apartment until the police arrived to calm the people down.
After that, he had to go to find out about Ellery and the mysterious man. His goal was to meet with Flint to make sure the member of his organization was not involved.
If Flint did not do anything, then Radmilo needed to find out if the mysterious man used an item or not. He was sure the item for impersonating someone else had not appeared this year.
The attack on Dianella had also never occurred in his previous life. Even if the incident was hidden, Radmilo would have known because the IRO gave him access to any information about the assassin's target.
It meant this incident could have happened because Radmilo's actions changed the future, causing a new variable to appear.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel