Alice stood at the door and finished reading the letter before letting Nandi into the house. Ares and Hill were still locked in a staring contest, and Dopey barked aggressively at the unfriendly newcomer. "What are those two doing?" Nandi asked, pointing at the glaring pair.
"Don't mind them, they're a couple of nuts!" Alice had her guest sit in the chair opposite her. She looked Nandi up and down, a flicker of recognition in her eyes, but she couldn't quite place where she'd seen her before. Just as she was about to speak, Nandi beat her to it. "You're Vega's aunt, so why do you look even younger than her?"
"Should I call you Ma'am? Or Miss?" Alice replied, sidestepping the question.
Nandi stood up apologetically and introduced herself, "It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Nandi."
Alice introduced herself in return. The contest between Ares and Hill finally came to an end. Noticing the extra person in the room, Ares asked, "Who's this woman? She looks really weird."
Nandi let out a snort of laughter. "I'm not the one who looks weird. You're the one wearing a mask."
The robot dog yapped at Ares. Ares nodded, understanding, and walked over to Nandi. "Are you hiding something on you?"
Alice jumped to her feet and scolded him, "You damned pest, don't be rude! Get away from her."
"This woman is dangerous. You need to be careful!" Ares said, pointing at Nandi. A sense of alarm flared in Alice's heart, and she moved to stand behind her chair. The atmosphere grew heavy with tension. Nandi's original plan had been to earn their trust and lure them to Thailand. Now that they were suspicious, she had to consider using force. She stood up with a smile, making a show of preparing to leave. Seeing she was going, Alice, ever polite, went to see her out. Just as they reached the door, Nandi spun around and sprayed a clear liquid in her face. Alice's vision went black, and she collapsed, unconscious. It all happened in a flash, without a sound.
Ares hadn't seen the danger. When Nandi came back in, he called out, "Why are you back?" A smile fixed on her face, Nandi pretended she had forgotten something. As she got close, she repeated the trick, spraying the liquid at his face. "What are you doing? Giving me a face wash?" Ares asked. Nandi was stunned to see him completely unharmed. "What in the world are you? Are you a robot, too?"
"Dopey, bite her!" Ares finally understood it was a poison meant to harm him. "Woof!" The little dog leaped forward, sinking its teeth into Nandi's calf. She cried out in pain, trying to kick her leg to shake him off, but Dopey only bit down harder. She pulled out a gun, aimed it at the dog's head, and fired with a "bang." She expected it to drop to the ground, but the bullet seemed to disappear into thin air as if shot into cotton. She tried several more times with the same result. "What is going on today? One unbelievable thing after another," she thought.
Ares seized the chance to grab Hill and bolt. As they passed the doorway, he didn't spare Alice a second glance, running straight outside. The pair flagged down a car and raced to the docks. They wanted to find De Silva in Zi City. Sitting in the car, Ares sighed again and again, "My life is so bitter! Everywhere I go, someone's trying to kill me."
When they arrived safely at the docks, Hill asked, "Are we just going to leave Alice?"
Ares rolled his eyes with a sneer. "You're just thinking of her now? You were running just as fast as I was. You never thought about saving her for a second, did you!"
Hill's face flushed as he defended himself, "You were the one dragging me!"
"Then you go back and save her."
"I wouldn't dare! That woman is terrifying. What if she killed Alice?"
"How should I know?"
Dopey only let go after Ares and Hill were far away. Furious, Nandi grabbed the dog and hurled it out the window. Her goal was to bring Ares back. Now that he had escaped, she was left with the problem of Alice. What was she going to do with her? The woman was a dead ringer for Daechir. Maybe she could give her to her brother as a gift? With this thought, she immediately called the nearby Nine Stars United staff to pick Alice up. With Ares having fled to Zi City, she was at a dead end. She decided to rent a house nearby to enjoy the view and wait.
It was three days before Ares saw De Silva. Zi City was accessible by invitation only, and during the war, the screening was even stricter. "Can I rejoin the city-state?" he asked.
"Normally, it would be impossible. But right now, the city-state is in desperate need of technicians. I'll go ask. It should be fine," De Silva replied.
"Go on, then! I'm a real talent. You'd be wise to hold on to me."
De Silva was gone for most of the day and still hadn't returned. Hill began to worry. "Are they going to kick us out?"
"What are you talking about? I'm a..." Ares's mouth fell open, leaving the sentence unfinished as he saw De Silva walk in, looking dejected. "Well?" he asked.
"The majority of the Grand Council disagrees. They say a knight who has left the city-state cannot be allowed back in unless there were compelling, unavoidable reasons."
"I did have unavoidable reasons!" Ares shouted.
"You left of your own free will. You were officially removed from the city-state's registry long ago."
Ares couldn't stop himself from swearing, "A bunch of damned old fools!"
"I'm sorry, I can't help you. You have to leave the city-state tomorrow," De Silva sighed.
Ares cried out, "That woman will kill me the second I leave the island! Are you trying to send me to my death?" Hill was on the verge of tears. "What are we going to do?" For the first time in his life, Ares knew what it felt like to be completely trapped.
The next day, the two left the city-state as if they were walking to their execution, Hill clinging to Ares's arm. Once they were on the shore and away from the docks, they looked around wildly, as if everyone in town was an enemy. They had only gone about three hundred meters when a voice called out from behind, "Hey! Where do you think you're going?"
At the sound, the two shot off like startled birds, with Hill dragging the slow, short-legged Ares along. Neither of them dared to look back. They ran blindly until they found themselves in a forest. Finally, out of breath, they hid behind a tree, gasping for air. After a long moment, Ares asked, "Did you see who was chasing us?"
"No, I was just following you."
"It sounded like a man, right?"
"Then why were you running, you coward!"
"You're calling me a coward? Your face is as white as a sheet right now."
"If you weren't wearing that mask, yours would be white too!" Hill retorted. "Shh! I think someone's coming." Ares peeked out from behind the tree. Not far off, a man and a woman got out of a car. The man took a picnic blanket from the trunk and spread it on the grass. The two of them sat down, gazing into each other's eyes, and in a heartbeat, they were wrapped in an embrace. Ares's face turned beet red, his breathing grew ragged, and his hand unconsciously drifted downward.