Aimi Sitan ran wildly amidst the chaos.
Although the guards provided by her family were elites, she always felt that even if it was four against one, they might not be able to stop that strange assassin.
Stumbling between the tents, she clutched a rose brooch on her chest—thankfully, she still had one last resort.
As expected, before she could reach the edge of the camp, the shadow, like a persistent parasite, had already caught up to her.
After catching a glimpse of him out of the corner of her eye, Aimi Sitan finally pushed a family guard beside her fiercely: “Your child will be well taken care of!”
“Yes, Miss!”
The guard took a deep breath, finally stopped, and faced the assassin.
Unlike the previous four, this guard was a spellcaster; he ignited his flail with fire, brandishing it like a madman, and actually managed to briefly hold back the assassin in the shadows—the assassin tried to bypass this guard several times, but it was as if he was locked on, unable to get around him no matter how he shifted his form.
“Don’t even think about it, Ionian!” the guard shouted, “Fight me, or you’ll never pass!”
So, the assassin glanced at the fleeing Aimi Sitan and indulged him.
Flames and shadows collided in the night, triggering a series of small, dense explosions, and when the explosions ended, Aimi Sitan’s last reliable family guard also fell in a pool of blood, holding onto the hope for his child’s future.
His death bought Aimi Sitan precious time, and seizing this opportunity, she climbed over the camp’s fence and chevaux de frise, and darted into the forest.
But soon, the shadow followed close behind, finding the staggering Aimi Sitan by tracing the fallen sedges.
This time, he said nothing, swiftly bringing Aimi Sitan into his Shadow Kill Formation; as the shadow blade flashed, Aimi Sitan’s figure toppled over.
The assassin strode forward, grabbing Aimi Sitan’s head, intending to cut it off, but just then, he was surprised to find that the Aimi Sitan he held in his hand, like a Mirror Image, transformed into a wisp of smoke in the blink of an eye, disappearing into the night wind.
This Aimi Sitan was fake?!
The shadow assassin, realizing something was wrong, looked around in confusion, only to find that he had already entered the forest, and there was no trace of Aimi Sitan anywhere.
……………………
The brooch in her palm was shattered.
Aimi Sitan, who had already reached the exit of the hollow in another direction, felt a pang of heartache—she had never felt such pain, not even when her entire warband was annihilated.
“Ionian assassin… I remember this.” She gritted her teeth, “The Black Rose will avenge me; you will pay the price, sooner or later!”
After speaking, Aimi Sitan fiercely flung her hand, scattering the fragments of the brooch everywhere, then lifted her head, ready to leave the mountain.
However, before she could take a step, a calm voice appeared in her ear.
“Still making threats when you’re in this state?” Aimi Sitan stiffly turned her head, just to see a pair of pale purple eyes staring at her unblinkingly, “Doesn’t the Black Rose have any new tricks?”
“Dean?!” Aimi Sitan seemed to stop breathing for a moment, “It’s really you!”
“It is me, indeed.” Dean’s face finally showed some smile upon hearing this, “It seems… you know me?”
“Of course!” Aimi Sitan’s gaze began to grow fervent; she tore off her cloak, revealing her graceful figure, and strode towards Dean: “My dear, I thought you had sacrificed yourself on the northern battlefield; the family always wanted me to marry into the Midarda Family, but I’ve been waiting for you—”
As she spoke, she had already tightly gripped Dean’s arm, almost wrapping herself around him: “Why are you in Ionia… My dear, I have waited so bitterly for you.”
“But I don’t remember.” Dean looked confused, his pair of violet eyes meeting Aimi Sitan’s, “My past—our past.”
“But I remember.” Aimi Sitan rubbed her ample curves against Dean’s arm, “Everything, starting from Besilico, I remember.”
Then, Aimi Sitan told Dean a story of “a romantic entanglement between a Noxus old noble young lady and a Noxus Warmasons.”
The story was roughly that the two fell in love at first sight, but due to their status differences, they couldn't be together, so the previously delicate Aimi Sitan resolutely entered the political arena to contend for family power, while Dean went to the most dangerous North to try to achieve military merits, but never returned.
After a long separation, Aimi Sitan was asked to marry; to avoid the marriage, she resolutely joined the chaotic Ionia war, both to gain more power and to wait for her beloved’s return.
“Now you’re finally back.” Aimi Sitan looked at Dean, her eyes so passionate they seemed to melt him, “Nothing can separate us anymore!”
Dean’s purple eyes flickered slightly, and he finally pulled her into his arms—then, just as Aimi Sitan’s body gradually relaxed, she felt her arms being tied.
No, not just her arms, but her whole body was bound by ropes.
“The story is too cliché.” Dean clapped his hands, “Although the first person perspective is very immersive, I trust my personal taste; there’s no way I would fall in love at first sight with a perverted bitch.”
Aimi Sitan froze for a moment, then finally raised her eyebrows: “Dean!”
“I’m here.”
“If you kill me, you’ll never know your past!” she shouted, “Spare my life, I’ll help you retrieve your lost memories!”
“Sounds like a fair offer.” Dean clicked his tongue, “Unfortunately, I don’t trust you, and I don’t want to spare your life.”
“Why?! Why!!!” Aimi Sitan finally couldn’t maintain her pitiful demeanor, becoming completely hysterical, “Why do you have to be like this, why always like this? You don’t remember anything, yet you still refuse to believe me, refuse to accept me?”
“I told you.” Dean turned his head and looked at the bushes nearby, “I’m not interested in perverted bitches.”
Aimi Sitan wanted to say something more, but Dean impatiently picked up the robe she had voluntarily taken off, tore off a corner, and stuffed it into her mouth.
When her mouth was blocked, Aimi Sitan finally completely calmed down; the madness faded, and only the craving for life remained in her eyes.
She wanted to beg, to confess, to cry for help, but it was too late.
A moment later, Riven’s figure emerged from the forest, and Dean held up Aimi Sitan, who was tied up like a dumpling, and waved her twice at her.
“I told you she wouldn’t get away—those tricks of the Black Rose… I know them inside out!”
Riven stared blankly at Aimi Sitan, who was being held by Dean, her face ashen.
She first opened her mouth, seemingly with many questions, but eventually, she silently stepped forward, coming to Dean’s side.
Standing shoulder to shoulder, Riven drew the not-so-sharp sword blank from her waist and gripped the upper half of the hilt with her right hand.
“Together.”