Asher saw the royal physician, who was an old man, and it seemed as if he rushed here after waking up in the middle of the night without even properly sorting his clothes out.
Asher was barely enduring the pain the ring was giving him but forced himself to put up a composed expression as he saw the physician come closer.
The royal physician looked at Asher as he sat beside him and gave him a gentle smile, "Your Highness has nothing to worry. Since Your Highness may not recognize this old man's face, my name is Igrid, and I will quickly fix you up."
Asher felt that this guy was friendly enough and showed him the gaping dark red hole in his palm, wanting to distract him from a certain something
"Ohhh…Fortunately, nothing too serious has happened," Igrid mumbled to himself as he took out a vial containing a dark red liquid and poured two drops onto Asher's palm, making him wince.
"It will only sting for a while, and then you will feel comfortable," Igrid reassured.
Rowena stepped forward as she looked at Asher's injury and asked, "You used your own hand to block the assassin's attack?"
Ceti shifted her gaze from the corpse as she focused on Asher and her queen's conversation.
Asher shrugged as he smiled, "I couldn't see any other way to protect myself. All I had was my hands."
Ceti took a good look at the room, especially the mess created, and said, "Your Majesty, it seems like the assassin got here a while before we got here. That means he knew he did not use his mana since the castle's defensive arrays would have killed him earlier."
"What are you trying to get at?" Rowena asked with knitted brows while Asher narrowed his eyes in displeasure.
Ceti briefly shot a glance at Asher before looking at her queen, "It's just that I find it quite surprising but not unfortunate that the assassin failed his job despite getting into this room way before any of us knew about his presence. He was just a level 3, but the werewolves from his Darkmoon Tribe are born for assassinations. Even if those with weak potentials know they will stay stuck in the weaker levels, they still train their body and mind to the extreme for assassinations. So I am just curious if some expert helped His Highness to fight off the assassin till we got here."
Asher clicked his tongue inwardly, seeing how Ceti was feeling suspicious about how he managed to not die after getting attacked by such a skilled assassin. Even he thought that a level 1 cripple should have died to a trained level 3 werewolf who also had the advantage physically.
Still, he knew it was the mysterious ring on his finger that actually saved him on its own. This only made him feel more interested to know what kind of ring this was while also realizing that he couldn't reveal the specialty of this ring to anyone, not even Rowena. He can't trust anyone here, and since Ceti was feeling suspicious, he had to quickly think of something.
Rowena furrowed her brows, thinking that Ceti had a point. An expert assassin like that could have easily finished someone as weak as Asher in just a second. The fact that this assassin was forced to use his mana only meant that he was forced to a corner by someone.
"The assassin's hand seems to have been severed with utmost precision and skill. Clearly, we have some expert who helped His Highness," Ceti added as she observed the severed wrist of the corpse.
"Who helped you, Asher?" Rowena asked while wondering who it was.
Asher shook his head with a sigh as he said, "I just got really lucky. Even if I was not really scared by what was going on, my mind was fully focused on protecting myself from the assassin. So all I saw was some kind of blade coming in through the window and slashing off the hand of the assassin. That was when he tried to use one of his mana skills to kill me quickly. It must be because he knew he was a dead man and wanted to at least finish his job."
"So you are saying you didn't see which expert helped you?" Rowena asked with a narrowed gaze.
Asher shrugged with a look of regret, "Haa, I wish I could have to thank whoever it was. But everything just happened so fast."
Ceti had a skeptical look, wondering which expert would bother themselves to protect this weakling and why they would be standing right outside the window when this assassination attempt happened. There were just too many questions left to be answered.
Rowena also felt the same, but then she felt it was natural that someone like Asher wouldn't be able to have noticed who saved him in the midst of all this. It was actually surprising that he didn't really seem frightened to his core and seemed quite calm for someone who almost got killed.
But other than this subtle fact that intrigued Rowena, she felt there was nothing else here for her to pay attention to.
"Ceti, try and find out who saved the Royal Consort since they deserve a handsome reward. But finding out the mole is the priority," Rowena ordered.
Ceti firmly nodded as she bowed, "Yes, Your Majesty. I will definitely find the culprit."
"Your Majesty. We may have found who was responsible," A guard suddenly announced from outside the door as he dragged in an old man who had the attire of a servant.
The old man's eyes shook in terror upon seeing the queen, and he kowtowed, "F-Forgive me, Your Majesty! I have committed an unforgivable sin! But I didn't do it on purpose. I lost control of my body and did things I didn't want to do, like letting that assassin in. I-I swear on my family this insignificant thing would never dare to wish harm upon the royal kingdom or its subjects."
"He must be telling the truth, Your Majesty. Somebody witnessed this servant letting in a cloaked stranger through the back door, which can only be opened from the inside," The guard said.
Ceti crossed her arms as she coldly looked at this fumbling old man, "He must have got possessed and had his body controlled. So this must be the work of a Mindslayer from their tribe. But why would somebody as powerful as a Mindslayer risk themselves by targeting His Highness?" Ceti couldn't believe they sent a Mindslayer to kill some weakling. It was just overkill in her eyes.
Asher ignored Ceti's contempt towards him, though he was surprised a Mindslayer actually targeted him. He knew Mindslayers were demons who could manipulate minds to a great extent and make people do things as they helplessly watch everything through their own eyes. Mindslayers were greatly feared due to how frightening their abilities were, and any skilled warrior would think twice before going up against them."
Rowena's expression became thoughtful for a while before shaking her head, "They must be getting desperate. It seems we have to make some rules stricter than before," She said as she looked at the old man kowtowing before her and asked, "I know you didn't let the assassin in on purpose but tell me one thing. Did you report yourself to your supervisor like everyone else should before entering the castle?"
The old man's chin quivered as he knew that every maid, servant, and guard should first see their supervisor to not only mark their presence but also to make sure they weren't being impersonated. Due to the number of assassination attempts in the past, the Demon King had already put in place many rules to discourage such attempts, and they did indeed work since there have been no such attempts ever since.
"I take your silence as your answer. So this is indeed your fault. Your ignorance and your selfishness almost resulted in the death of the royal consort. So…are you going to accept the consequences on your own or let somebody else do it?" Rowena asked coldly as Ceti dropped a dagger before the old man.
Asher, who was silently watching all this, could guess that the system here was quite cruel. Even if this old servant really didn't let the assassin in, his mistake of not seeing his supervisor had put him in a situation of no escape, even though this mistake seemed too small.
But in the end, it was none of his concern.
The old man slowly raised his head as he picked up the dagger with trembling hands. He knew what he had to do and that even if he had a genuine reason for not seeing his superior today, it wouldn't really matter to the Demon Queen. He knew by law that if anybody was even remotely responsible for a royal family member getting harmed, then death would be the penalty.
"Your Majesty…I will pay for my sin but my family…"
"They will be compensated as deserved. You can die in peace," Rowena said while Asher saw Igrid let out a low sigh of pity.
"Thank you, Your Majesty," The old servant said with a look of gratitude and no longer seemed that worried.
"Long live the queen!" He shouted with red eyes as he stabbed himself in the chest before slowly succumbing to the floor.
Asher was surprised by his expression right before he died. It seemed like he believed he was doing an honorable thing by killing himself for his mistake. Asher felt he had yet to understand the strange ways of the demons.