There were two names inside the game 'The Phantom Huntress' that Aurora had asked Dante to look out for: Celestia Reiren, a talented assassin who the player controlled. And Princess Catherina Vil Valoria, a corrupt princess. The last assassination target.

If things continued the same way as Aurora and Serena had experienced, then the transmigrator from that game was going to be the antagonist of the story - the corrupt Princess Catherina Vil Valoria.

Dante cleared his throat.

"First, the Valoria kingdom was one of the worst places to live," Dante said. "It wasn't exactly a rich kingdom, yet corruption almost happened on every level. People were starving to death everywhere. Despite that, the noble and royal families lived glamorous lifestyles. The princess was especially fond of creating unnecessary parties and wasting money by buying pointless stuff."

Dante looked at another page of his papers." But in the shadow," he said, "a group of assassins made a move all over the kingdom. They killed corrupt nobles, stole their riches to be shared with people."

Aurora nodded. So far, what had happened was still the same with her knowledge from the game.

"But things quickly changed for the last few weeks," Dante said. "Princess Catherina suddenly sent her knights to all over the kingdom, finding these assassins' hideouts and massacring them one after another."

Going straight for a killing, huh? How scary. That must have been when the transmigrator possessed the princess's body, Aurora guessed.

"All seven hideouts of these assassins were destroyed without a trace," Dante said. "This assassins' group was basically over at this point. Of course, there were still some that survived from each hideout, but because the fact that their hideouts were found by the princess so easily, they distrusted themselves. Thinking that one of them was a traitor. I think soon even the ones that survived will end up killing each other."

What a nasty tactic, Aurora thought. Most likely Princess Catherina was doing it on purpose. Reiren as the main character was unlikely to die from that sudden attack. Main characters always had that kind of luck. So Princess Catherina purposely made some assassins survive from each branch so they would be the ones that hunted Reiren themselves.

Dante looked at his papers. "Oh, and the girl named Reiren," he said. "Fortunately, it seems like she and one of her friends were the only two that survived from the north hideout. She was moving from place to place, so I don't know her exact position, but she was one of the most talented assassins. I'm sure she was still alive, at least."

"What about the princess?" Aurora asked. "Did she suddenly become a better person?"

Dante looked at Aurora with a confused look. "No, what are you talking about?" he said. "It's the opposite. She's getting worse, especially after she successfully shut down the assassins' group. She became more open to abusing her power."

"I see," Aurora said.

Aurora kind of expected it. Not all transmigrators were going to be good people. In fact, she expected Serena to be a warmonger at first, so she was not exactly surprised that Princess Catherina turned out to be evil, even though it was obviously a shame.

Still, if she only made damage in her own kingdom, Aurora didn't need to get involved. And Princess Catherina didn't look like she had anything to do with the threat Nova was predicted anyway. But Aurora couldn't ignore this. This was a great chance to get an assassin on her side. That would definitely be useful later.

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Not to mention, Aurora had something that she could offer to an assassin that they wouldn't be able to reject. She just needed to pick it up from Marina later.

The problem was, she couldn't ask other people to do it. They might mess up and end up getting killed instead. Dealing with assassins on the edge was dangerous no matter what. Not to mention, Aurora might be one of the few people who could still recognize the Huntress's appearance even if she tried to hide it. She needed to go herself.

Though going alone would be scary.

"What are you thinking?" Dante asked. "You're not planning on going there yourself, are you?"

Aurora smiled. "Don't worry about me," she said. "Was that all you could tell me? What about the others?"

***

Ruby hugged her pillow with a smile on her face. Aurora had promised to give her an answer when they were alone, and that made Ruby excited. Now it was clear what needed to happen, and she couldn't wait until it did.

However, she knew it was still possible that Aurora would reject her. Ruby shook her head, tried to banish any negative thoughts.

Creating a chance for them to be alone was proving to be difficult. Dealing with the elves left them with no opportunity for privacy, and even if they did manage to find a moment alone, Rita was usually around.

Ruby considered forcing the issue by dismissing Rita or by taking Aurora somewhere secluded, but that didn't feel right either.

It would be great if they could end up alone without Ruby having to try too hard.

A sudden knock on her room door made Ruby glance over.

"Rita?" Ruby said. "Are you done already?"

Her knight had gone to meet the adventurer girls from before. Rita thought they might be interested in guns and could be hired to help with future fights against the Kingdom of Salamanra. Ruby was fine with it, so she let her go.

But she just left, Ruby thought. Isn't this a little too fast?

"No, it's me," the voice from behind the door replied. "Aurora. Can we talk for a moment?"

Ruby's heart jumped in her chest.

"Uh, um, wait a second..." Ruby panicked.

She got down from her bed, trying to tidy her hair a little before opening the door.

"Um, hey," Ruby said, her face starting to feel hot.

"Sorry, did I come at the wrong time?" Aurora asked.

"No, no, please come in."

Aurora nodded and came in. Ruby closed the door, her hand trembling a little. She had wished for this to happen, but when it actually did, Ruby felt more anxious than excited.

"Ruby, are you okay?" Aurora asked.

"Eh, yes! I-I'm fine," Ruby said, unable to look at her. Her face was blushing hard, and she was fidgety.

"Why are you so anxious--oh?"

Aurora finally noticed that they were alone in that room. Her own face started to turn red too.

"Ah, right! Did you want to drink something...?" Ruby asked as she tried to pick up the pot, but ended up knocking it over.

"Ah..." Ruby said, as the tea spilled all over the floor.

Aurora giggled.

"I'm sorry," Ruby said, her expression resembling that of a sad cat.

"It's fine. Why don't you sit down with me?" Aurora said.

Ruby sat down, followed by a few moments of awkward silence. Unable to take it anymore, Ruby collected her courage and asked, "So... what was your answer?"

Aurora closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again. She looked as though she had made a decision.

"Before that, can I tell you something first?" Aurora asked.

"Not again," Ruby said, disappointed.

Aurora smiled. "Sorry."

Ruby sighed, kind of giving up at this point.

"Fine," she said. "Whatever surprising thing you might tell me, I'm used to it now."

"It's not something surprising," Aurora said. "But more like my worries..."

"Oh, okay," Ruby said, a little more interested. "Let me hear your worries then."

Aurora nodded. "Now you know that I'm not the real Aurora, right?" she said. "I was somebody else using her body. But I don't exactly know how or why that happened. My worry was, what if this stops one day? What if I go back to my original world, to my original body?"

"Oh," Ruby froze. She finally understood the worst scenario that Aurora was worried about.

"You get it, right? I like you, but..." Aurora started to say.

"No, don't go!" Ruby cried as she held Aurora's hand as hard as she could. "Please stay here forever!"

"Ruby... I will if I can, but--"

"No buts!" Ruby said forcefully.

Aurora sighed. "I don't have control over this, you know? So getting closer was kind of scary to me..."

"Are you stupid? Isn't that more reason for us to stick together even more?" Ruby asked.

"But it will hurt even more when that happens," Aurora explained.

"Then don't let it happen!" Ruby said.

"But how...?" Aurora said.

"We will find a way, somehow," Ruby said, her voice quieter but still full of determination.

Aurora smiled. "I didn't know you were the type that optimistic like that."

"Don't make fun of me," Ruby pouted. "I just don't want to give up. And you better not either!"

"Alright," Aurora smiled. "Just because you asked."

Ruby snorted. "You talk as if you'll do whatever I ask you to."

"What makes you think I won't?" Aurora jokingly said.

"Really? Then try to kiss me," Ruby said, deciding to play along.

"Okay," Aurora said, getting closer.

"Wha--"

***