"Err!" Struggled the man in the hood, trying to free himself.

Trembling underneath the hood, he looked up to find a pair of cold emerald eyes glaring at him. His opponent was much stronger than he had expected.

Seeing that he was caught, he pulled out another blade from his robe, aiming for Ann's neck as a last resort.

*flick*

However, Ann was quick to react and caught his hand again. She twisted his hands into a tight lock rendering him unable to move.

*bang*

Using her head, Ann head-butted him with force, subsequently knocking him to the ground.

"Ughh..." The man groaned as he crawled in pain trying to get to his feet.

Without a moment to waste, Ann knocked him to the ground by hitting him right on the back of his spine with her elbow.

*thud*

The man in the hood fell to the ground like a lifeless ragdoll.

Since the tea shop was in close proximity to the city square, the sudden commotion attracted the attention of the passersby around the shop, and soon people started whispering among themselves.

From their perspective, a fight had broken out in front of the shop and the shopkeeper was being attacked.

While a few people went ahead to call the city guards, the rest stayed and spectated as if watching a theatre performance. It wasn't every day they got to see a live fight.

Ignoring the crowd, Ann rolled over the unconscious man to the other side and kicked away the blades he was holding. The blades were made of high-grade metal that would be hard for an average pickpocket could obtain.

And for him to target her specifically and sneak up from behind. It raised a lot of questions.

A number of scenarios were running inside Ann's flared-up mind.

Were the Frosts trying to track her down? Did they send Ezra to spy on her? Were the entirety of the Orion merchants in on it or was it just Ezra?

For that to be true, Edward must have somehow found out that she was alive the whole time. How did he figure that out?

If the Frost Knights were indeed stationed in the city awaiting her arrival, it would be only a matter of time before they discovered her presence. There was no way, Ann would give in after living a secluded life away from the novel's storyline, only to be caught like a fish in the end.

But before dwelling on it, she wanted to see who it was that tried to stab her from behind.

'If my assumption does turn out to be true... I'm so gonna punch Edward's stupid smug face in!' Ann cursed as she kneeled down next to the unconscious man and pulled off his hood.

But even Ann didn't expect what she was about to find.

"Snaky boys?" Ann blurted out, surprised to find a familiar-looking mask underneath the hood.

The image of a white mask with a dark red snake slithering across it was etched in her memory as fresh as the day she first saw it under the thundering skies three years ago on that fateful night on the cliff of Mount Zion.

The mask that the assassins were wearing was an exact match to that of the man who tried to stab her today.

'How is this possible?' Ann's eyes wavered.

Unconsciously she leaned back, puzzled by the sudden appearance of one of the assassins who were sent by the male lead's enemies that were not supposed to be there.

As per the novel's timeline, the person on the recipient side of their hatred should be the heroine of the novel, not the killed-off cannon fodder.

Moreover, aside from Edward and his train of troubles, Angelica did not have any enemies. Those too were shaken off when she severed ties with that life.

At that moment, a thought struck Ann. It does not necessarily have to be the antagonists of the novel. And the only person that came to her mind was... Edward.

But.

Nobody knew that Angelica was alive except for her family members. As she calculated before, even if Edward were to somehow use his male lead buffs to find out about her existence, why would he want her dead?

Edward Frost might be a cold-hearted obsessive maniac, but his obsession was entirely focused on one person and one person only. And that was Helen Layton. He would not waste time looking for his dead wife unless it was somehow threatening the position of his loved one.

In the worst-case scenario, if Edward really wanted her dead, why would he send the same assassins who tried to kill her? Were they not the ones who put the Havu curse on him in the first place?

Ann furrowed her brows, her head throbbing from the overload of information.

All the while, Ezra had been watching the scene unfold in front of him with eyes wide as a football pool.

'What on eorthe am I witnessing!?' Ezra gulped on discovering yet another side of the young lady.

Not only was he stupid enough to run his mouth to the worst person possible, but he was also being held captive by two of the most crafty beastmen he had ever known. The twins were blocking him on both sides squashing any chances of escape.

Even if he were to fight his way out of this mess, it would still put a dent in their well-crafted plan that took years of preparation.

After staring at the masked man for a prolonged time, Ann turned her attention towards Ezra.

"!"

Ezra flinched at the sight of her hostile gaze.

Although the attack had nothing to do with him, Ezra could instinctively feel that he was the obvious suspect in line.

"You!" Ann growled under her breath and walked over the masked assassin towards Ezra.

"This is you, isn't it?" She interrogated, holding him by the collar with a dagger pressed to his neck.

"No, my lad-... miss. You are misunderstanding..."Ezra stammered on his words.

Neither was he in a position to reveal the truth nor was he able to comprehend the situation. The only option left was to defend himself.

"Who are you?"

"I'm... I'm... I'm a member of the Orion Merchants Miss. You know this. We have been on the jour-..."

"You don't have the liberty to lie"

Ann interrupted him before he could complete his obvious lie. From the way, Ezra was talking in circles while taking glances at her facial expressions, it was evident that he was stalling.

"My patience is limited Ezra or whatever your real name is... So I'm only gonna ask once"

"Who. Are. You?" Angelica asked looking him in the eye,

"Why are you trying to kill me?"

"My lady, you are mistaken. We are on your side. I don't know who that is" Ezra denied.

The real bad guy was out cold on the ground, while he was being treated like a criminal. It was his duty to protect her, although she didn't seem like she needed any protection.

"..."

"But we'll protect you this time. Just let me explain everything..." Ezra stopped talking noticing the downcast expression on Ann's face.

"My lady?" Ezra called out hesitantly. The words had spilled out of his mouth naturally.

"For the last time, I'm not your f*ckin lady!" Ann roared, causing Ezra to flinch back again.

After years of effort, she was not going to let everything go down the drain just because she stood against the plotline of the novel to live her life the way she wanted.

*BOOM* *BOOM*

Right then, loud explosions were heard in the direction of the merchant headquarters.

"What the..." Ann let go of Ezra and turned back to find the merchant headquarters engulfed in a sea of fire.

Flames rose to the sky as if there was a volcano erupting as one half of the building collapsed into nothing leaving behind a large sinkhole.

Black smoke covered the starry skies with darkness, polluting the air and making it hard to breathe.

Countless screams were heard as people started running across the streets in an effort to save their lives.

"?"

At that moment, Ann felt three sets of eyes on the back of her head. She looked back to find the twins and Ezra staring at her with a dubious expression.

Just a few minutes ago, she had joked about bombing the city as if she was prophesying the future.

"Why are you looking at me like that?! I was with you the entire time!" Ann felt wronged. Under no circumstances would she ever hurt innocent beings in her own violation.

"I would never do anything to hurt innocent people!"

"Then who did?" Noah pondered while Ann eyed Ezra, who in turn shook his head left and right to deny the unspoken accusations.

Before they could recover from the first attack another series of explosions followed, sending the people in the streets into a frenzy.

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

"Again?"

The explosions this time were considerably smaller than the previous ones but still left a lot of damage to both life and property.

Since the group was away from the explosions they were not injured, but the people nearby weren't as lucky enough.

Fortunately, the city guards were the first responders to the blast, having been called in to deal with a small commission near the city square.

With the help of some civilians, the guards evacuated the building and the stores beside them, while stopping the fire from spreading.

Although the Nero mercenaries wanted to join in with them, they already had their hands full at the moment.

"Guys... I think I have a pretty good idea about that" said Oliver his eyes fixed on the cold empty ground.

In the heat of the bombings, they had completely forgotten the assassin they had subdued earlier.

"Where did he go?!"

Ann's eyes searched across the people running around in a panic.

In the distance, she could see the masked assassin stumbling amongst the wave of people headed to the town square.

"There he is! Let's go guys" Ann pointed and gestured the twins to follow her.

"What about this one?" asked Noah, reminding her of the man they were in the middle of interrogating before the bomb blasts.

"Toss him. He's useless"

Ann couldn't sense any ill intentions from him aside from the fact that he was a bad liar. The assassin on the other hand was a top priority since he could have been associated with the people behind the bombings.

'I'll deal with him later' Ann clicked her tongue and after the assassin.

Leaving behind the dumbfounded Ezra, Ann and the twins went after the assassin.

"Excuse me... Make way please... Coming through..."

Navigating through the crowd they found the assassin blankly staring at the Theodore statue placed at the center of the square.

"Stop!" Ann tried to stop him, but it was too late.

After taking one last look at the trio, he raised his hands in the air. A red ball of fire launched from his hand that illuminated the dark sky in the shape of a snake before disintegrating into nothing.

*boom*

"It's a trap" Ann muttered, understanding the meaning of the assassin's actions.

The assassin was sending a signal for the rest of his colleagues indicating their location and Ann had fallen right into their trap.

Not long after, the area around the city square cleared as more men wearing snake masks emerged from the crowd and surrounded the trio in all directions.

"We're surrounded" Commented Noah, revealing his sharp claws.

By looking at the scale of destruction the masked men brought upon the city, it was clear they were dealing with a higher power. And Ann was somehow connected to this.

"Are you a disaster magnet?" Oliver joked in an attempt to dissipate the tension.

"I don't know" Ann smirked, pulling out her sword.

"But one things' for sure" She added with an amused chuckle,

"Troubles' gonna follow where I go"

Side by side, the trio got into a defensive stance anticipating an attack.

However, the assassins stood planted on their feet without the slightest of movement.

"Why are they not attacking?" Oliver stated, noticing the strange behavior of their adversaries.

With the masks covering their faces, it was impossible to get a read on their countenance. They were assembled in silence as if they were waiting for someone to come.

"Are they... waiting?" Noah hypothesized.

This sort of action was common in books, where the lackeys waited till the arrival of the big bad.

As if to answer their confusion, a masked man, who seemed like the leader of the bunch, walked out and stood up front, facing the trio.

"..." The leader tilted his head, his eyes fixed on Ann.

"It's done" Another assassin stepped forward and whispered into his ears.

With a nod of his head, the assassin went back and brought forth, what looked like a box tied to a cart with the use of magic and placed it in front of the head assassin.

"Isn't that?" Oliver uttered, pointing at the box.

On closer inspection, the box that was carried in was none other than the Orion relic, the Nero mercenaries had just delivered to the merchant headquarters. The smooth surface of the glister under the lights of the street lamps, as if it was made of gems when the leader removed the tarp covering it.

"This is deja vu" Ann scoffed, thinking how similar the past was overlapping with the present.

It seemed like the novel was hell-bent on finishing her off the same way she was intended to die as per the original storyline.

But if she was able to beat fate once, she simply had to knock it down so that it never stands back again.

"Noah. Oliver. Listen to me very carefully" Ann took a step forward and spoke in a clear voice.

"These people are not like any of the foes we have faced so far. Be careful...."

Ann took turns looking at their faces and then turned to the head assassin. With the corner of her lips rising into a wicked grin she said,

"Be careful not to kill them all"