The Extra of The Lunerra-Chapter 492 - 27: An Overlooked Minor Detail

According to our plan to get rid of Stephen, the person who would attempt to 'assassinate' me had to both fail and be aware of the plan.

Therefore, trusting anyone other than ourselves was out of the question.

For this reason, the person who would attempt the assassination was Alex himself.

I thought that while no one was watching us, we would simply stir things up a bit and not get involved in anything more.

However... the moment I saw the knife in front of my eyes, my mind changed.

This... wasn't just simply stirring things up.

The knife's target was truly to kill me.

Still, it wouldn't be able to achieve that goal so easily, obviously.

Because even though my reaction time was limited, even though I didn't have eyes everywhere...

Sith was a separate being from me.

~fwoosh!

The sudden change in the air currents around me caused the blade to change direction. Its path bent so it would pass right by my ear, and it embedded itself in the wall behind me.

At that moment, even though it was daytime, the entire mansion suddenly lit up as if it had never seen light before. As if that weren't enough, an alarm began blaring throughout the building.

"Tch."

When I heard a click of the tongue that wasn't my own, I quickly turned toward the sound.

In a different spot from where the knife had flown, there was a figure clad in grayish clothing that covered its entire body. Still, his eyes were uncovered, and I could see them. That silvery glint clearly revealed that the figure was indeed Alex.

The moment we made eye contact, instead of trying to attack me again, Alex was enveloped in a hazy, indistinct mist. Then he simply vanished.

I just stared blankly at the spot where he had been standing.

Tch, huh?

Really?

This lunatic... did he really just try to kill me?

My mind was racing. Was he doing this to be convincing, or did he have a grudge against me that I wasn't aware of? As I pondered this, the office door suddenly swung open with a bang, and my focus quickly shifted there. I then saw a group of suited bodyguards walking in one after another, and I sighed slightly.

I quickly raised my hand, and all the guards turned toward me, standing at attention.

"I'm fine, no need to check my condition. More importantly, he's gone. So search the entire mansion from top to bottom, increase the security to the utmost as well. Get reports on all the employees we've hired recently and bring them to my office. You can leave."

They all bowed simultaneously, then headed outside.

Finally, silence enveloped me once more, but it didn't last long.

Because shortly after, the figure I expected to see entered.

Stephen stepped into the room, middle-aged in appearance, not particularly muscular, with piercing red eyes.

"Are you all right, sir?"

He was calm. He possessed a calmness I couldn't quite comprehend. He didn't look worried at all, even though the Family Head he worked for had survived an assassination attempt.

Stephen's red eyes shifted to the knife embedded in the wall behind me.

"With your permission."

I nodded in approval, and he approached the wall, grabbed the knife, and pulled it out with one sharp tug. He looked at the knife first, then at the small hole it had left in the wall.

"Hmm."

His eyes and expression became so thoughtful that I couldn't help but frown.

"Is something wrong?"

Stephen answered my question without taking his eyes off the knife.

"He must have been a strong assassin."

"…?"

Ha?

"What?"

Stephen slid his finger lightly along the edge of the knife. Blood seeped from the small cut he made, wetting the blade, but his expression suggested he didn't care much about the wound.

"The knife is quite ordinary. It has no runic properties. Yet it managed to pierce the wall of the main building. The person who threw it must have considerable strength."

My eyebrows furrowed further, and I narrowed my eyes slightly.

"An assassin can't be weak, right?"

"You're right. But that's not the problem."

Stephen's red eyes slowly turned from the knife to me.

An absolute calm still reigned over his expression. So much so that... I couldn't help but feel the atmosphere between us grow heavy.

What's going on?

"The problem lies elsewhere."

As I tried to make sense of his words, what happened next caught me so unprepared that I didn't have time to use either my caora or my mana.

That's why, just like when Alex attempted to assassinate me, someone else intervened.

Stephen suddenly threw a knife at me, but Sith deflected it by directing the air currents around me.

The knife was quite weak and passed by me much more slowly than the one Alex had thrown. It then hit the wall, but instead of sticking, it bounced back and fell to the floor.

Silence reigned in the room.

A few seconds passed as Stephen focused on the knife bouncing off the wall, and I stared at him without even blinking.

"Hey, what does this mean?"

"Who are you, if I may ask?"

"…"

I fell silent again in response to the sudden question.

Who am I?

Did this man realize I wasn't Franz?

"I don't understand the question, Stephen. I want you to explain the situation immediately, or I won't remain silent and unresponsive any longer. My patience has its limits."

"My question was quite clear and straightforward."

At first, he seemed to be ignoring the order I had given him. He had been acting as if he had complete control of the room from the very beginning.

But he still explained himself.

"I am a weak man, as you already know. As you saw just now, even though I used the same knife as the assassin, the only thing that happened was that it bounced off the wall."

His red eyes narrowed as he looked at me. He raised his hand slowly, pointing his index finger at me.

"But the Young Master is a powerless man, just like me. Intelligent, yes. Someone who knows how to read a situation, yes. But he is not a man who could survive the unannounced and planned attack of an assassin who could pierce a wall like that with such a normal knife."

He lowered his finger. Maintaining absolute calm, he kept his eyes on me. It was as if he expected me to attack him at any moment. Still, he continued.

"I ask again. Who are you? Where is the Young Master, and what have you done to him?"

I had to force myself not to snap my tongue.

"I'm stronger than you think, Stephen."

"No, you're not."

"Are you going to continue this disrespect?"

"It seems you haven't researched me thoroughly enough."

Stephen sighed softly.

"I am not merely Phillip Inferesse's most trusted right-hand man. I am also his brother, his closest confidant."

Huh? 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Stephen… Inferesse?

Wait... what?

"Therefore, I know everything about him and his son. Every plan he has made, every step he intends to take for the future, and more. Of course, his son's talent and strength are also among this information."

I quickly recalled every report I had read about Stephen, every detail.

This man's surname... it didn't appear anywhere.

Only his first name was on every document related to him.

No matter how influential he was, I hadn't paid attention to this detail because he was simply a steward, but... that was really the case. His surname was unknown.

"I'll ask one last time. Who are you, and where is the Young Master?"

So, in the end, the only thing I could do after accepting the situation... was to sigh deeply.

A tiny, minuscule mistake.

The only deviation from the plan we thought we had prepared flawlessly. A tiny detail we hadn't paid attention to.

"You ask who I am."

No matter how much you prepare, sometimes things just don't go as you want them to, huh...

Although considering my past, I should know this better than anyone.

Why am I even surprised?

Well, anyway... This situation is not impossible to get out of.

In fact, it's quite easy.

"That question is a little difficult to answer. But I can answer the one about your Young Master."

I slowly brought my hand to my neck, swiftly pulling my thumb to the side as if I were cutting my own throat.

Stephen narrowed his eyes in response to my gesture.

"I see. So the Inferesse Family is already lost."

If he hadn't been so calm, it could have been quite a tragic scene.

But I didn't care.

We were alone right now.

Only Stephen and I were in my office.

I had ordered everyone else to leave, after all.

And that 'assassin' who was trying to kill me wasn't necessarily gone.

Most likely, he was hiding somewhere in the mansion, out of sight, trying not to get caught...

But his existence was enough.

Even if I couldn't use him, I could use his existence to get out of this situation.

I raised my hand, pointing it at Stephen with my palm open.

He, however... did nothing.

Instead, he stood upright, waiting as if accepting his fate. The fact that his family had already been captured was the final nail in the coffin for him, apparently. He seemed to have no purpose left in life.

Still, he opened his mouth one last time.

"If possible, make it painless."

"Sure."

Thus, the last member of the Inferesse Family breathed his last breath in the Family Head's own office.

The story was simple.

Stephen Inferesse, known for his loyalty all these years, was actually a cunning snake. He was the one who hired the assassin.

After his brother's death, he thought he could take over the family by eliminating his nephew as well.

However, after the assassin's failure, he made an attempt himself this time, but failed yet again.

It was a rather cliché story, but it was easy to believe for that very reason.

This way, we had eliminated the last obstacle preventing us from taking complete control of the Inferesse Family. There was no one left to question our strange actions.

And the plan to kill two birds with one stone could still continue as well.

Because the insidious Stephen had collaborated with the Helmon Family for his plans. He had hired the assassin by contacting them.

This information was discovered a few days later when the assassin, unable to escape the mansion due to heavy security, was found dead and revealed to be a member of the Helmon Family.

The Helmon family, of course, denied it.

However, as a result of everything Alex and I had prepared, their end was also inevitable.

They were expelled from the Alliance and then swallowed up by the very Alliance that had expelled them.

Thus, about five days passed.

The next target...

Was to swallow up the entire Alliance.