Chapter 331: The Trap of Alanic Foundation (1)

When Rhode and the others returned to the base, Marlene had already changed her clothes. She stood in the hall while gazing out the window. She couldn't help but feel startled and turn around when she heard a sound of the door.

"How come you guys came back so early?"

"The battle ended quickly, that's why we came back earlier... how do you feel?"

Rhode nodded and replied. But as Marlene heard Rhode's voice, she lowered her head, feeling flustered, not even answering Rhode's question. This scene made Lize feel a little strange, due to her understanding of Marlene. She shouldn't be the type to get flustered when someone asked her something. What happened? Has she not awoken yet? Or does she feel uncomfortable somewhere?

At this moment, Marlene seemed to realize that her behavior was a little strange. She lightly coughed and when she looked up, her facial expression had returned to usual.

"How come it ended so early? Supposedly now the second game has just started, right?"

"You're right. We only had one match. Barter was difficult to deal with, but fortunately, we still won."

Rhode simply told Marlene about the bet he had with Barter. Afterward, he looked at his own cloak and said.

"Marlene, go get ready. We still have something important to do. I'll go and change my clothes."

"Okay, Mr. Rhode..."

Upon hearing this statement, Marlene was slightly startled, but she quickly answered. Rhode only waved his hand and turned around to leave. She dozed off as she gazed at Rhode's back intently. Until a moment later, Lize's voice had finally brought her back to reality.

"What's wrong, Marlene? You seem strange today; are you feeling unwell? What happened yesterday?"

"Eh? This..."

Marlene was taken aback by this sudden question. She quickly calmed down her mind and looked at Lize. Then she forced herself to smile as she shook her head.

"Something indeed happened... but don't worry, Lize, everything has passed..."

In the last sentence, Marlene's tone subconsciously lightened. Everything has passed... Could it really be forgotten that easily? She might no longer remember those hateful things, but how about the things that were deeply etched into her memories? Would they also disappear?

Marlene could be regarded as a role model among the nobility. Her strict education made her manner to be graceful, strong-willed, and sensible. During the days of adventure, she had overcome her weak side and began to transform into a beautiful butterfly. However, she's still a girl after all. Even though she was usually calm and rational, but when something like this happened to her, she was still unable to calm herself down.

Although Marlene knew that she didn't hate Rhode for what he had done, when he acted just like usual, she felt really restless. She understood that Rhode was trying to lighten down her mood because of what happened yesterday, but she couldn't help but feel a little gloomy. She couldn't even understand whether the empty feeling in her heart was because she felt relaxed or disappointed...

"It just that my mind is a little bit preoccupied, but then again... Anne seems to look unwell too?"

Marlene wasn't trying to shift the topic, it was just that Anne obviously looked very unusual. She didn't cheer, scream, and tell everyone what she did after she came back. She usually would always be lively, cheerful, and never looked tired at all. But today, she only stood quietly behind like a lady... It was indeed very strange.

"Eh? Ah... this..."

What Marlene didn't expect was that Lize also began to look strange after she uttered that sentence. She seemed to not know what to say. She took a few steps back and smiled awkwardly.

"Actually, actually nothing happened. Perhaps, Anne is a bit tired today. Well, well, I know that everyone is tired today, so let's go back and rest."

After Lize finished her sentence, she turned around towards the others. After hearing Lize's words, Lapis and Anne nodded, then they walked towards their room.

"Then, I'm going to make some preparations first, Marlene."

Until everyone had gone away, Lize finally felt relieved. Rhode forbade them from telling the others, including Marlene, what happened in the arena. Even if she was Marlene's close friend, she still didn't intend to break this promise. It wasn't only to comply with Rhode's order, but also because she was worried about Marlene's physical and psychological condition. Although Rhode and Gillian didn't specify much about what happened to Marlene, but she knew that it definitely wasn't something small. Because of that, Lize didn't want to increase Marlene's burden with this kind of thing. Not to mention, Rhode also seemed to be recovering, so there was no need to raise the matter up.

Originally, with Marlene's keenness, it was not difficult for her to perceive Lize's lie, but she was too busy with her own problems and didn't pay much attention at all. Lize also felt uneasy for hiding the truth from Marlene, so she didn't pay attention to Marlene's facial expression either. The two sides actually maintained a bizarre tacit agreement. Then, Lize walked away, leaving Marlene who was still standing in the living room while dozing off.

After a moment, Rhode, who had changed his clothes went to the living room and watched the girl as she dozed off. He shook his head helplessly and knocked on the door.

Knock knock.

The door's knocking sound awakened Marlene from her daydream. She trembled then looked at Rhode who was nodding towards her.

"Let's go, Ms. Marlene."

The temporary base that they currently lived in was a Security Corps base in the past. Therefore, there were a lot of prisons here. Followed with the relocation of the Security Corps, these prisons naturally lose their function and turned into cellars for storing food. However, even so, they still retain some of the features of the prison. When Rhode and Marlene walked into the ground, Gillian was swinging and sitting around the chair. Not far behind her, Ellenson and that man were chained by a fire whip. The man was still unconscious at this moment and Gillian looked extremely bored. It seemed that if he were a little bit later, she would have fallen into sleep.

"Oh, master, you are finally here!"

Seeing Rhode and Marlene, Gillian immediately jumped and lazily yawned.

"Yes, if you come a little later, I'm going to be bored to death. The humidity in this place is so heavy and it isn't good for the skin..."

"How are they?"

Rhode didn't seem to care about her complaints and directly inquired.

"They are still unconscious, Sir. The effect of Lapis's potion is pretty good; if I knew, I wouldn't have to guard them..."

"It's always better to be more careful."

Rhode shook his head, then he walked up towards the man and opened the potion in his hand. Soon, a pungent stench spread out.

Even Marlene and Gillian couldn't help but step back while holding their nose. Rhode himself also couldn't help but twitch his nose. He quickly came closer to the unconscious man, squeezed his mouth and poured the potion in.

The effect was very good.

Less than five seconds, the man opened his eyes. He curled up, wretched and struggled. It seemed that the potion wasn't as simple as just having a pungent stench.

A moment later, the man looked up as he wheezed. He blinked and looked at everything before him awkwardly, then he locked his sight at Rhode, who was standing in front of him.

"You, who are you!"

The man shouted and asked. He struggled hard and found out that he had been tied up. However, the man's response was really fast. He just stopped struggling immediately and glared at Rhode.

"No matter who you are... Do you know that you won't be able to afford the consequences for treating me like this?!"

"Tch."

Hearing his intimidation, Rhode only coldly snorted and heavily kicked his lower abdomen. This blow caused him involuntarily groaned and instinctively curled up. At this time, Rhode lowered his head and whispered to him.

"Alanic's son of a b*tch, it seems that you still do not understand the situation you're currently in. Did you inherit your low IQ from the orcs?"

"You...!!"

Hearing this, the man looked at Rhode in disbelief. He coldly glared at Rhode but he didn't know what to say.

Marlene also looked at Rhode in surprise as she heard Rhode's words.

"Alanic?"