I'm really not a Sanctuary Warlock.

The blindfold clung tightly to her left eye socket, and through the intricate metal openwork patterns, Lynn could even see a faint, eerie dark red light flickering within.

This is definitely not a goggle worn because of injury; something extremely terrifying is sealed inside.

The moment Lynn saw the eye, she instinctively cast an Appraisal spell on her.

A series of blood-red messages immediately popped up on my retina.

【Name:? ? ? 】

[Level: 87]

[Sanity Value: 32]

Lynn's heart sank; this was beyond his control.

"Have you seen enough?" The woman tilted her head slightly. "Using appraisal magic on just any lady is hardly gentlemanly behavior."

“I don’t like beating around the bush.” Lynn withdrew his identification spell. “Who exactly are you? What do you want from me?”

"A name is just a label; you can call me Nightingale."

"As for what I want... I've already said, I have a request."

“I refuse,” Lynn answered without hesitation.

"Don't refuse so quickly." Nightingale's smile deepened. She leaned forward slightly, and that cool fragrance wafted over again. "I know you want to enter the palace, don't you?"

Lynn's pupils suddenly contracted, but he still didn't speak.

"You're a smart person; you must have already thought about this countless times in your mind."

"You can't break the palace's defensive array, and you can't avoid the Royal Knights' patrols."

You're like an ant right now, all you can do is frantically run around in circles.

"Can you help me get into the palace?" Lynn finally spoke.

“Not only will I be able to let you walk in openly and honestly,” Nightingale’s purple eyes were filled with madness, “but if you have enough guts, I can even give you something else.”

"what?"

Nightingale's lips were almost touching Lynn's ear, and she whispered a sentence that only the two of them could hear: "The same... something that will allow you to win over that powerful Queen Mother, Enoria."

Lynn turned his head sharply, looking at the nightingale so close to him in disbelief.

How to win over the Queen Mother?

Lynn's first reaction was that this woman was crazy, and his second reaction was that this commission was definitely a deadly situation with no chance of survival.

“You overestimate me.” Lynn coldly distanced himself. “If you want to find someone to assassinate the Empress Dowager or overthrow the monarchy, you’ve come to the wrong person. I won’t do something so suicidal, and I don’t have such ambitions.”

He only wanted Alice; he didn't want to get involved in this political vortex that could tear the entire country apart.

"Assassination? Overthrowing the monarchy?" Nightingale chuckled softly, as if she had heard an extremely funny joke.

“You’ve misunderstood, Lynn.” Nightingale stopped laughing, her eyes becoming extremely serious. “I will not overthrow the monarchy. The monarchy of Toussaint is worthless to me.”

"Then what do you want?"

“I just want to…” Nightingale raised her hand and gently touched the dark silver metal eyepatch over her left eye, “to take back something that originally belonged to me.”

“Alright.” Lynn took a deep breath. “Assuming I agree to your request, how will you get me into the palace? And what makes you think you can give me leverage to win over the Queen Mother?”

"Three days later is King Olivier's fifth birthday."

"In order to demonstrate the majesty of the royal family and the stability of the new king to the entire kingdom, Enoria will hold an extremely grand birthday banquet at the palace."

"All the high-ranking nobles who remained in the capital, representatives of various forces, and even the archbishop of the Holy Light Church were among those invited."

"That will be your only chance to enter the palace and see Alice."

"The King's birthday banquet?"

Lynn chewed on those words over and over, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper.

A grand banquet signifies that the palace's defenses will be raised to the highest level.

In that kind of setting, even if a fly flew in, their entire family history would be investigated.

"How do you plan to get me in?" Lynn looked at Nightingale. "For a banquet of this caliber, the invitations must have been sent out long ago. Even if you can get a fake invitation, you won't pass the magic verification at the entrance."

Nightingale chuckled softly, took out an extremely small object from her large black cloak, and casually tossed it onto the table.

Lynn looked down.

It was a dark gold badge.

The badge is made of a very special material, neither gold nor wood, and its surface is engraved with a burning thorn rose.

In the dim light of the tavern, the rose seemed almost alive, faintly glowing with a dark red light.

"what is this?"

"The badge of a second-class staff officer of the Duke of Valerius's household."

Lynn's pupils suddenly contracted.

Duke Valerius! That name again!

"Aren't the Duke and the royal family in cahoots?" Lynn immediately became alert. "Taking his badge into the palace is practically walking into a trap."

“The Duke is indeed loyal to the royal family, but that doesn’t mean that everyone in the Duke’s mansion is clean.” Nightingale’s lips curled up slightly. “The original owner of this badge died in the sewers of the royal city just last night. His identity is real on the Duke’s mansion’s list, and there are absolutely no problems with the magical verification.”

"At the banquet three days from now, the Duke, as the chief minister, will surely bring a large entourage. All you need to do is take this badge and blend into the Duke's entourage to walk through the main gate of the palace openly and legitimately."

Lynn stared at the dark gold badge, his mind racing.

This plan is extremely bold, even insane.

Using the Duke's status as the most trusted member of the royal family as a cover, keeping things under wraps, was indeed the best way to avoid checks outside the palace.

But this also meant that he had to pretend right under the Duke's nose.

“Fine, even if I manage to sneak in.” Lynn raised his head, his gaze sharp as a knife. “And what happens once I’m inside? I don’t even know where Alice is being held, let alone how to rescue her. And what is this so-called bargaining chip you mentioned for winning over the Queen Mother?”

The nightingale did not answer immediately.

She slowly suppressed her smile, her deep purple right eye fixed on Lynn, as if trying to see through his soul.

"Lynn, what kind of woman do you think Enochia is?" Nightingale suddenly asked a completely unrelated question.

Lynn frowned: "Cold-blooded, ruthless, extremely intelligent, willing to sacrifice everything for the throne."

“You’re right, but not entirely.” Nightingale shook her head, her voice turning extremely cold. “Enolia is a woman without weaknesses. She doesn’t care about fame, money, or even her own life. The only thing she cares about is the child sitting on the throne.”

"For that child, she could transform into the most terrifying demon, tearing apart any threat that dares to approach the throne."

“But no one in this world is truly without weaknesses. Enoria’s weakness is not in the present, but in the past.”

Nightingale reached into her cloak again, and this time she took out a black wooden box that was only half the size of her palm.

The wooden box is made of what looks like the roots of some kind of dead ancient tree. Its surface is undecorated, yet it exudes a chilling aura that makes one's soul tremble.

Nightingale gently pushed the wooden box in front of Lynn.

"Open it."

Chapter 186 Don't Be Like a Mouse

Lynn's finger hovered in mid-air.

The moment the box was opened, there were no dazzling magical items as I had imagined, nor any world-destroying artifacts.

Lying quietly on the black velvet cushion was a shriveled, gray finger bone.

It looked as if it had been forcibly broken off from a centuries-old mummy, with a trace of dark red blood still remaining at the knuckles.

"What is this?" Lynn frowned.

"A hook of the fingers."

Lynn frowned: "Explain yourself."

Nightingale chuckled softly and leaned back: "Olivier, you should know very well what the young king's true form is, right? The Sky-Splittered Winged Eagle, the embodiment of the entire duchy's will, and also Enoria's most unsolvable trump card."

"But our trump card is often also our biggest weakness."

Nightingale extended her fingers, gloved with black velvet, and pointed at the withered finger bone from a distance: "This hook can bypass all magical defenses and forcibly affect Olivier's mind. As long as you crush it within a hundred meters of him, that high and mighty king will instantly lose his mind, be forced to reveal his true form as the Sky-Splittered Winged Eagle, and... fall into madness."

Lynn's pupils suddenly contracted, and his heart began to pound uncontrollably.

He knew all too well what this meant.

The birthday banquet three days later will be the first formal occasion for the new king to demonstrate royal authority to the entire kingdom and even the whole continent after his ascension to the throne.

All the established nobles and spies from various factions are watching. What if, in that situation, the king suddenly transforms into a mad monster and goes on a killing spree in the palace…

Public morale will collapse instantly, nobles will find an excuse to rebel, and the newly consolidated royal power will crumble overnight.

“Enolia is a heartless political machine. You can threaten her with power, wealth, or even her own life, and she won’t even blink. But if you threaten her with her son’s life…”

“She will panic, she will compromise; that’s her only Achilles’ heel.”

Lynn stared at the hook in the box, frantically calculating the feasibility of the plan in his mind.

“Of course.” Nightingale stood up and pulled her wide hood back up, obscuring her stunningly beautiful face. “I’m just handing you the chips. How you use them, whether you use them, and when you use them are all your own business. It has nothing to do with me. Whether or not you overthrow the monarchy is also up to you.”

"What do you want from the palace?" Lynn suddenly looked up, staring at Nightingale's back.

There's no way this woman would give him such a big gift for no reason.

“I’ve said it before, I’m taking back what rightfully belongs to me.” Nightingale didn’t turn around, her voice gradually fading into the noisy background of the tavern. “Good luck, Lynn of Holy Song City. I hope that soon I will see you return in triumph with my eyes on your back.”

Watching Nightingale disappear at the tavern entrance, Lynn remained seated for a long time without moving.

……

three days later.

Ravenhill, inner city, outside the Duke Valerius’s mansion.

Lynn, dressed in a finely crafted dark gray robe with a dark gold thorn rose badge pinned to his chest, stood quietly at the edge of a large convoy.

His face was somewhat pale, and he looked like an ordinary staff member who was exhausted from staying up all night studying magic.

Originally, Lynn was a little worried. The Valerius Duke's mansion, being a top-tier noble family, must have extremely strict internal management. Wouldn't he be recognized by the other staff or managers if he, an imposter, suddenly joined the convoy?

But when he actually stood there, he realized he had been worrying for nothing.

The Duke's mansion is too big.

The number of second-class staff members accompanying the royal entourage to the palace today alone is seventy or eighty, not to mention the guards, maids, and servants.

These staff members are usually assigned to different industries and institutions, and many of them have never even met each other.

More importantly, Duke Valerius himself was not in the entourage. As the most trusted confidant of the royal family, he had already entered the palace last night to assist the Queen Mother in arranging the security for the banquet.

"This damn weather, it's eerily cold." A chubby aide standing next to Lynn rubbed his hands together and complained, then glanced at Lynn. "Brother, you don't look familiar. Where do you work?"

Lynn didn't even lift his eyelids, replying in a flat tone, "The potion workshop in the South District is always brewing potions in the basement and rarely comes out."

"Oh, no wonder." Seeing Lynn's indifferent expression, the fat aide wisely kept quiet.

There are plenty of eccentric mages in the Duke's mansion, and no one wants to make a fool of themselves.

"Everyone, get on the bus! Get ready to depart!" came the impatient voice of the manager from the front.

Lynn followed the fat advisor into a fairly spacious carriage.

The wheels rolled, and the convoy headed in a grand procession towards the palace.

The carriage was quiet; several staff members were resting with their eyes closed, and no one had the leisure to chat.

Half an hour later, the carriage slowly came to a stop.

"We've arrived, everyone be alert! The main gate of the palace is just ahead. Prepare for the magic verification!" The steward's voice came from outside the carriage, carrying a hint of barely concealed tension.

Lynn took a deep breath and followed the others off the carriage.

Looking up, even Lynn, who had witnessed the grandeur of Holy Song City, couldn't help but feel a sense of awe.

The palace gates before me looked like a giant fortress made of pure white marble.

The archway, which is thirty meters high, is carved with so many intricate defensive runes that it is dazzling.

Two rows of royal knights clad in heavy enchanted armor stood like statues on either side, each of them level 65 or higher.