Nobody knows how to be a villain better than me.

At this moment, the witch of calamity had changed from her usual smiling face to a cold and sinister one, with eyes as sharp as knives.

Wow...

Darius, having lifted the rubble and shaken off the debris, immediately straightened up, bowed respectfully, and raised his hand to stop the two Ainsworth dolls that were about to step forward, speaking solemnly.

"As you say, Your Highness!"

Seeing that the saintess's expression had softened, Darius felt a great sense of relief, but he couldn't help but raise his hand to tap his head in frustration, muttering to himself.

Honestly, how could they be so presumptuous and not even realize it?

It seems that he has indeed become somewhat arrogant since obtaining the power of the Giant King Surtur.

From that time onward, his personality became increasingly arrogant and irritable, and he became less and less like himself.

It's been eroded?

Darius frowned as he stared at the flickering afterimages on his hand.

As expected, divine power and divine cores are not something that ordinary people can easily control.

Fortunately, this body can hold on for now. As long as I achieve that long-cherished wish, it will all be worth it!

After a moment of contemplation, Darius lowered his arms, struggled to his feet, and looked at the saintess in the distance. He moved his lips, but hesitated to speak.

"What, are you doubting what I'm saying?"

Pandora, with her keen senses, glanced back and noticed the subtle movements of the head of the Ainsworth family. She stopped and asked quietly.

"Don't dare..."

Darius immediately bowed to show his loyalty.

Seeing that the head of the Ainsworth family, after being reprimanded, had regained some of his rationality and caution, Pandora was not annoyed at all; instead, she nodded in satisfaction.

Whom God would destroy, He first makes mad.

What she needs are subordinates who can help her achieve her goals, not a "director" who wants to monopolize the situation and boss her around.

After all, I don't want to be dragged into a fire pit by someone else.

If you're going to jump, you should at least do it on your own initiative.

At this moment, Darius paused for a moment, confirming that the saintess before him was not truly angry, and slowly spoke, offering a deep reminder.

"But Your Highness, we have suffered heavy losses. We only have Archer, Berserker and your Ruler cards left to barely keep us intact. After all, Rider and the others will soon be transformed and lose their minds, which will greatly reduce their combat effectiveness."

However, in both battles, the enemy not only suffered no losses, but also gained two powerful allies, Saber and Assassin, who defected to the enemy.

Given this shift in power, we have virtually no chance of winning in a direct confrontation.

As a lonely soul that has survived for a thousand years, Darius at least still has some insight.

The current analysis simply states the facts and does not contain any exaggeration.

"If this is all you see, then all I can tell you is..."

Using the cool moonlight streaming into the cave, Pandora examined her vibrant, translucent nail polish with great interest. Her cherry-red lips curled up in the darkness, her gaze meaningful.

"Winning or losing often happens not on the chessboard, but outside of it."

Then, the witch of calamity paused, and a playful smile appeared on her beautiful face as she turned back, adding the second half to her previous advice.

"No matter how strong a fortress is, it often cannot hold out until the last moment; similarly, no matter how strong a fortress is, it can be broken from the inside."

Break it from within?

Darius frowned, pondering the key words in the sentence. His eyes flickered, as if he had some understanding, yet also seemed to have some vague comprehension.

A cool breeze was blowing, and the moonlight was soft and gentle.

After seeing Samael off, Artoria, lost in thought, returned home under the moonlight. She entered the doll shop, went upstairs, pushed open the half-closed door, and entered the bedroom. Looking at the figure sitting on the bed with his head down, she couldn't help but frown slightly.

"Sierra..."

"Ah? Ah! Miss!"

The head maid awoke with a start, abruptly rising from her chair and looking around.

"It's okay, Alice is safe."

Artoria stepped forward, gently patted Sera's shoulder, pointed to the sleeping figure on the bed, and softly reminded her.

"I'm so sorry, I accidentally fell asleep. It's my fault!"

The head maid looked embarrassed and ashamed.

"It's probably because too much has happened lately. If you're tired, you should go back and rest. I can take care of things here."

Artoria shook her head dismissively, offered a casual word of comfort, and then pulled over a chair without further ado, sitting down by the bedside to take on the responsibility of caring for the patient.

"Then I'll have to trouble you."

After bowing respectfully, Sera did not insist further. Holding her slightly drowsy forehead, she slowly left the bedroom.

Watching the Einzbern maid leave, Artoria turned her head back to the chair, hesitated for a moment, then took out a card with characters written on it from her bosom. She would sometimes bring it close to examine it, and sometimes lower her hand to let it out of sight, muttering to herself all the while.

beat?

Don’t fight…

beat?

Don’t fight…

beat?

The Knight King by the window, repeatedly, stretched to the limit.

A gust of cold wind brushed against her cheek, startling Artoria, who was muttering to herself. She subconsciously looked up and couldn't help but see the deep night outside the window.

Why did you open the window? How careless of you...

The King of Knights glanced at the still unconscious patient, shook his head inwardly, then stood up from his chair and reached out to close the open window.

At this moment, Artoria's gaze swept over the card tucked between her right hands, and she seemed to have made up her mind. Then she loosened her grip and muttered something under her breath.

"Trying to fool me again? Only a fool would make this call!"

"Snapped!"

The windows were closed, and the long night was silent.

Meanwhile, at the Tohsaka residence.

"came back?"

"How's it going over there?"

As Samael entered, Ereshkigal and Rin Tohsaka, who had been waiting in the hall, instinctively went to greet him. One took his coat, and the other handed him slippers, just like wives waiting for their husbands to return home, completely natural.

"It's neither good nor bad."

Samael, relieved of his burden, leaned back on the sofa, rubbing his temples helplessly, and answered casually.

The twin goddesses exchanged a glance and tacitly refrained from asking further questions.

After a brief rest, Samael slowly opened his eyes, looked around, and casually asked a question.

"Where is Tokiomi?"

"He had just shown signs of waking up, but for some reason, he suddenly collapsed and fell into a coma again."

Rin Tohsaka replied, rubbing her forehead, looking rather annoyed.

Given her personality, she really didn't want to take on the heavy responsibility of the Tohsaka family's numerous trivial affairs ahead of time.

Did she faint again?

Samael's mind flashed back to that stunning shot that had been fired in the alleyway, and his gaze wandered. He silently made the sign of the cross for his unfortunate Master.

Immediately, to avoid arousing suspicion from the victim's family, Gu She quickly cleared his throat and changed the subject.

"By the way, is there any news from the church?"

"The commotion caused by the Battle of Ainsworth was too great, and Kirei Kotomine is busy dealing with the aftermath and cannot get away for the time being."

Rin Tohsaka leaned back on the sofa with her arms crossed, rolled her eyes, and responded with a soft hum.

Especially when mentioning the priest's name, his tone unconsciously became more forceful, clearly indicating that he didn't get along well with the mediator of the Holy Grail War.

"However, the subsequent matters were taken over by Tamamo-no-Mae... no, now I should call her Koyanskaya, that woman."

Ai Lei took the opportunity to fill in the missing information and proactively answered Samael's questions.

"Currently, the additional killing hunters dispatched by NFF have arrived in the deep mountains of Xindu, sealing off several key passes in and out. Additionally, people are keeping watch at places like the Linglong Pavilion Dojo, the ruins of Enzworth Castle, and Yuanzang Mountain. Any news related to Enzworth's group, the Box of Calamity, Pandora, etc., will be reported immediately." — She

"That's good."

After listening attentively to the summary, Samael breathed a sigh of relief and nodded slightly.

Due to Irisviel's sudden fall, the Battle of Ainsworth had to be hastily concluded.

Now that the situation has stabilized for the time being, Samael naturally needs to take necessary precautions and remedial measures just in case.

However, once his identity is revealed, he no longer needs to do these things personally.

It was rare to find someone to care about him, and Samael couldn't help but show his approval, highly praising the fox spirit's awareness and sense of responsibility.

"Uh, actually, Koyanskaya has something she asked me to pass on..."

Ai Lei looked troubled, hesitated for a moment, and then coughed before speaking.

"...You will be responsible for reimbursing the NFF company's project expenses."

"...You damned fox!"

Realizing he had been taken advantage of again, Samael's lips twitched slightly. He cursed inwardly at the cunning canine creature that only wanted to take advantage and refused to suffer any loss. Then, his eyes darted around and he sneered.

“Okay, put it in the [Parliament]'s account and let her ask for it herself.”

You should know that the person in charge of the accounts is his own stingy and wise older sister. As the speaker, he has a hard time allocating funds for himself, let alone this competitor, NFF Company, which is coming to collect debts.

If you dare to open your mouth then, see if those tigresses in parliament won't tear you apart and turn you into a fox scarf!

However, what Samael didn't know was that, as the saying goes, "the devil is always one step ahead of the saint," and for a long time to come, he would regret this decision.

I regret it.

Chapter 229 The Wife is Underage (8.1k)

In the living room, after discussing important matters, Rin Tohsaka hesitated for a moment, then coldly snorted and pulled out a letter from her pocket, tossing it to Samael.

"By the way, while you were away, someone slipped this to you."

"A letter? From whom?"

The ancient snake took the letter and subconsciously asked a question.

"I didn't even read the letter I sent you, how would I know!"

Rin Tohsaka rolled her eyes at Samael, crossed her arms, and gave a snort of annoyance.

It was just a casual question, why get so worked up?

Samael muttered to himself, casually opened the envelope, and quickly read the letter. His eyes finally fell on the delicate Japanese signature "Sajō Aika" at the end, and he gave a helpless bitter smile.

As expected, what was bound to happen could not be avoided.

Although Kosho was inevitably overwhelmed by a series of tedious matters, he dared not break his promise to Ayaka Sajou. His seasoned yandere brain circuits were really not going to hold him back once they were stimulated and went astray.

"Well, I have something to do tomorrow, I'll probably have to go out by myself."

"Something wrong? Hmph! I bet you're in a hurry to go on a date with those two sisters from the Sajō family!"

Rin Tohsaka raised an eyebrow, crossed her arms, and sneered, revealing someone's true intentions without any politeness.

Samael glanced at the letter in his hand, then at Rin Tohsaka, who was standing in front of him demanding an explanation, and his lips twitched slightly.

"Didn't you...see it?"

"..."

Rin Tohsaka, who had unintentionally revealed her mistake, was so angry that she was momentarily speechless and quickly turned away in embarrassment.

Samael rolled his eyes slightly and explained helplessly.