However, it seemed that he would never be able to see her again. At this thought, Young Lord couldn't help but feel a bit of loss, yet there was also a sense of relief. He was saddened that, in the end, he couldn't see the person he most wanted to see one last time; but relieved that at least she wouldn't have to live in fear because of the assassination attempt.

“Tomorrow is my fifteenth coming-of-age ceremony.” Young Lord Charles Parker muttered to himself, “Fifteen years old, the age when a noble on the continent truly inherits the family at their coming-of-age ceremony.”

“Young master, please don’t exert yourself like this. Please wait quietly, the reinforcements must be arriving soon.” The vice-captain 'Mark Allen' said anxiously. Every word Young Lord spoke seemed to take a tremendous effort, and he truly feared that Young Lord might die from speaking with such force.

“It’s fine, I just suddenly felt like talking for a while.” Young Lord Samuel Parker said with a smile. Fear seemed to have completely left him, and even his pale face seemed to regain a bit of color: “Besides, I feel much better now than I did just a moment ago.”

But this state was not a good sign. On Earth, this condition is known as a “last rally before death”—a final struggle before dying.

Leaning against the wall, Young Lord Samuel Parker tried hard to move his body, doing his best to make his sitting posture less disheveled.

“Hoo……” After sitting up straight, he gently exhaled, letting out all his worries and anxieties with that breath. It was as if Young Master Samuel Parker had been completely freed. A faint smile appeared at the corner of his lips.

At this moment, sitting upright in the snow, he exuded an indescribable elegance—a kind of elegance that sent chills down one’s spine. This elegance was enough to make his enemies’ scalps tingle.

“Young Master? Young Master!!” The vice-captain, who had been watching the young man closely, saw Young Master like this and suddenly felt as if something in his chest shattered with a crisp “crack”—it was his pure and fragile heart.

Young Lord was gone!

With the passing of Young Lord Samuel Parker, naturally, some grieved while others rejoiced.

The silver-armored swordsmen were overwhelmed with grief, while the assassins were delighted.

Behind the hundred or so black-clad assassins, two assassin leaders who had been standing motionless at the back exchanged a look of silent satisfaction. It was done!

Though it had cost many lives, it was all worth it.

“All of you, go finish off these stray dogs, then send someone clever to check if that kid is really dead.” The assassin leader on the left shouted, gently stroking a hunting dog at his feet, and said to the remaining eighty or so assassins, “Wealth and glory are right before your eyes.”

A classic tactic of temptation, but very effective.

Enticed by the promise of wealth and glory, the remaining eighty or so assassins surged forward, overwhelming the last seven elite silver-armored swordsmen. Though the seven who remained were all elites and wouldn’t die immediately, it was only a matter of time if things continued.

The two assassin leaders once again showed ambiguous smiles at the corners of their mouths.

At the order of the assassin leaders, a gray-clad assassin darted to the corpse of Young Lord Samuel Parker. The gray-clad assassin’s task was to confirm whether the youth was truly dead.

The gray-clad assassin rushed to Samuel Parker's side, and at first glance saw the youth’s strange yet incomparably elegant smile.

“Damn.” The gray-clad assassin shuddered! Even though he often did this kind of dirty work, it was the first time he had seen such a bizarre smile. If he had a choice, he really wouldn’t want to be near this youth’s corpse for even a second. If he could get as far away from the body as possible, he would.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t escape now.

Breathing had stopped, the heart no longer beat, and the life signs had faded away. The youth’s body temperature was slowly turning cold.

[Target confirmed dead!] He turned around and made a hand gesture to the two assassin leaders behind him, while also letting out a sigh of relief in his own heart.

The assassin leader nodded, gently patted the head of the hunting dog beside him, and the dog let out two low whimpers, looking very content.

“Heh heh, I didn’t expect things to go so smoothly. I didn’t even have to play my trump card. Looks like even the gods are helping us.” The dog-owning assassin leader chuckled, then made a chopping gesture, signaling the gray-clad assassin to cut off the target’s head. Although their employer only required the target’s death, the assassin leader thought it would be better to take the head as well.

The gray-clad assassin nodded, drew the short blade from his waist, and pressed the cold blade against the youth’s noble neck.

This was a head worth a fortune! Sixty million Aegean gold coins! Sixty million Aegean gold coins was equivalent to the total annual tax revenue of a medium-sized country! With this head, this group of men who lived by the blade could disband and use their share of the money to find a peaceful place to live out their days.

The black-clad hand gripped the hilt tightly, searching for the right spot to strike. Sometimes, beheading was an art—especially when the head was worth sixty million Aegean gold coins.