Katarina kicked the cabinet over in one blow. The cabinet crashed to the floor with a series of clattering sounds, and because it had not been cleaned in too long, a cloud of dust rose from it.
After waiting for the dust to disperse, Katarina's calm gaze turned toward the wall.
The wall looked no different from usual. It was made from large bricks stacked piece by piece, appearing heavy and full of age.
This old manor of her family had a history of at least a hundred years. Katarina rarely returned, but with only one glance, she noticed that the layout of the wall the cabinet had been leaning against seemed slightly abrupt.
She spun the dagger in her hand and looked around the surface of the wall, pondering for a moment.
Then she suddenly raised the dagger and stabbed it toward one of the wall bricks.
With a dull thunk, the brick actually sank inward.
Immediately afterward, as if some mechanism had been activated, the wall automatically made a sound and opened a square entrance, only about half the size of a normal person's body.
Inside, there was clearly a hidden space.
After observing it for a few moments, Katarina's figure flashed. Shunpo activated, and she had already arrived inside the dark wall.
Her eyes flickered slightly in the darkness. Through the weak light, she saw a torch hanging on the wall.
After lighting the torch, the space inside brightened all at once.
It was a path leading downward to some unknown place.
Without hesitating too much, Katarina walked down. Her footsteps landed on the stairs, echoing with a rhythmic clack in the quiet, long tunnel.
She continued downward until she stepped onto one particular stair. Suddenly, several sharp sounds rang out.
In an instant, several arrows shot toward her from both the front and back, their tips flashing with a deadly poisonous gleam.
Katarina reacted instantly. Her figure flashed again, dodging those arrows with even greater speed.
She immediately understood that there would probably be even more traps on the path ahead.
"I'd like to see just what you hid down here."
A glow of interest flickered in Katarina's eyes. She showed no intention of retreating. Instead, she seemed to have gained a sense of challenge.
There was no doubt that the one who had set up this kind of trap was that old bastard Du Couteau.
So Katarina grew serious and continued all the way down. On the way, she encountered traps many times. Every single one was fatal, but she easily avoided them all.
In the end, Katarina arrived before an even thicker wall.
This wall gave off a strong sense of age. Green moss grew all around it, making it look like the gate to some ancient ruin.
On the door, there was an obvious groove, only the size of a palm.
Seeing this, Katarina took out the leader's token and pressed it into the groove. The size matched perfectly.
Just like when the council member had tested whether it was genuine, the moment the token was embedded into the groove, it suddenly released a burst of blue light. Immediately afterward, the edges of the entire door lit up in response.
With a heavy buzzing sound, the door opened automatically.
As the torchlight illuminated the interior, the world behind this magic door was revealed before Katarina's eyes.
Gold coins.
At first glance, what she saw was the gleam of gold. Gold coins were everywhere, glittering brightly. Chests of coins, bags of coins, and countless coins spilled into piles across the ground. The inside was practically shining with golden splendor.
And atop the piles of gold coins, there were countless precious treasures, golden crowns, gems...
The scene before her was just like the treasure hoard of a dragon in legend. Even Katarina's eyes flashed with shock when she saw it.
"Old bastard... just how many treasures did you hide?"
She walked inside and casually picked up a gold coin. The moment she held it, she knew this was a genuine gold coin.
And inside this place, there were at least tens of thousands of them, perhaps even more.
Because ordinary eyesight simply could not calculate at first glance the heaps of gold coins that had piled into small hills and spread in every direction.
This was probably the accumulated wealth of several generations of House Du Couteau. There was so much of it that it dazzled the eyes and left one unsure where to look.
"Now I don't have to worry about having no money."
Katarina let out a long breath and casually tossed the gold coin away.
Next, she was going to use the Assassins' Guild to confront the Black Rose openly. The pressure she would have to bear would not be small by any means.
But with money, things would be much easier.
Gold coins were hard currency anywhere.
Money was not everything, but without money, nothing worked.
This thing could help Katarina solve many, many problems.
Of course, what Katarina cared about most this time was not the secret room full of wealth.
It was the several standing shelves on the other side.
She stepped carefully, still guarding against mechanisms and traps as she walked over, but there were no sudden attacks along the way.
Once she reached the shelves, she saw scrolls, ancient books, manuals, and secret texts arranged upon them.
As a publicly recognized master assassin, Du Couteau had made every assassin accept him wholeheartedly during his time in power. Naturally, what he relied on was a body of superb assassination techniques.
Aside from the family's Shunpo and assassination arts, Katarina had also experienced many of his assassination techniques that day in Demacia.
Clearly, he had learned them from the things on these shelves.
Her victory that time had not been easy. If not for using that guy's poison, the winner might not necessarily have been her.
That made Katarina feel that she was still not strong enough.
Before the pressure and danger she was about to face arrived, she needed to become even stronger.
Especially when she would soon be facing the mysterious Black Rose.
Looking at these things on the bookshelves, a determined light flickered in Katarina's eyes.
In the blink of an eye, four days passed.
In Noxus's capital, on the widest street, a crowd of people had gathered. They marched together, raising banners high. The person leading them shouted loudly, "Down with the Black Rose! Reject a puppet regime! Return light to Noxus!"
This was a protest march. The moment those words fell, thousands behind him answered in chorus.
At the front of the procession, an official led a group to block the road. The official shouted loudly, "The matter of the Black Rose is pure fabrication, deliberately invented by people with ulterior motives! Their goal is to shake Grand General Darkwill's rule. You must not become tools in their hands!"
"Fuck you!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the answer that came flying at him was a rotten egg.
It was as if the civilian procession had found an outlet for their anger. All kinds of things were thrown at once.
The official was furious and ordered, "They are gathering to cause trouble. Suppress them all!"
The moment the order was given, the soldiers around him immediately marched forward in unison.
However, the civilians did not retreat in the slightest. They resisted with all their strength.
Over these past two days, anger throughout the entire nation had been ignited. The matter of the Black Rose had caused an uproar across all of Noxus.
No one had expected that the organization that had vanished without a trace more than ten years ago was still active in the shadows to this day.
Moreover, its influence had already far surpassed their imagination.
Even the political center of Noxus was suspected of being controlled by the Black Rose.
And even the decision Darkwill had made eight years ago to send Noxus's troops to attack Ionia had supposedly been the will of the Black Rose.
Over these eight years, in order to conquer Ionia, Noxus had sent an unknown number of people into that war.
Naturally, the ones charging at the very front had been common people from the lower classes like them.
They had answered the government's call, joined the army without hesitation, and fought for the so-called soul of Noxus.
They had risked their lives and struggled desperately. Yet after all that effort, it had actually been for someone else's vested interests?
Now, after eight years, the invading army led by Swain had suffered a crushing defeat at the Placidium in Ionia, with countless soldiers missing or dead.
When this news returned, combined with the matter of the Black Rose, the anger throughout the entire nation exploded.
Although this protest was still suppressed in the end, it was obvious from the eyes of the watching civilians that their anger and will to resist would not subside.
They fought for Noxus. They absolutely did not fight for the Black Rose, or even for Darkwill!
The council hall of the Immortal Bastion.
An officer hurried over, glanced at the high-ranking officials seated around the hall, then looked toward Darkwill on the throne, whose face was full of irritation and hostility. The officer bowed and reported, "Grand General, there were two protest marches in the city today, one after the other. Both have already been suppressed."
"I know. Leave."
Darkwill waved his hand impatiently, his brows twitching, showing the anger in his heart.
Those ungrateful rabble. Did they not know who had given them the right to protest as they did now?
And now, of all things, they had even turned their spearhead against him.
After the official withdrew, one minister stood up, bowed, and said, "Grand General, your subordinate believes this matter must be handled quickly. Similar incidents are currently happening all across the nation. News of the Black Rose has already spread panic among the people. Moreover, I predict that if we allow this to continue, all of the anger will eventually be directed at you."
After hearing this, Darkwill grew even angrier inside, but his expression remained unchanged. He said coldly, "Have you discovered who is behind this?"
One official answered, "It is still unclear. The other side has deliberately hidden its movements, and they have a strong sense of caution. They basically leave no traces."
Darkwill's gaze flickered. After thinking for a moment, he ordered, "Stop denying whether the news of the Black Rose is true or false. Starting today, pick a few death-row prisoners from the dungeon every day and say they are captured members of the Black Rose. Behead a few of them every day, for ten days straight!"
Once his order was given, one official immediately accepted it. "Yes."
Darkwill took a deep breath, unable to suppress the irritation in his heart.
At this moment, another official rose and said, "Grand General, a decision should also be made regarding Ionia. General Swain was defeated in Ionia, and whether he lives or dies remains unknown. I estimate that our invasion army is now being pushed back again and again by the resistance forces, losing battle after battle. The situation is not ideal."
The moment his words fell, the entire hall grew quiet.
Darkwill seemed to sink into thought and did not speak. His gaze flickered as he asked, "Is there no more news about the elixir of immortality either?"
Seeing that this was actually the point he cared about, the official froze for a moment, then answered, "The investigation squad has not found anything related to immortality. With this great defeat, I'm afraid it will be even harder to investigate now."
After he finished speaking, he sensed that the atmosphere was wrong.
Looking up, he saw the veins bulging on Darkwill's forehead, his fists clenched tightly, already faintly on the verge of erupting.
Even so, the official still gathered his courage and advised, "Grand General, your subordinate does not recommend continuing to commit troops. Our defeat is already within expectations. I suggest withdrawing the army."
"Withdraw?"
Darkwill still endured the anger in his heart. His icy eyes looked toward that minister. "Noxus, which claims to be the strongest in all of Runeterra, has spent eight years unable to conquer an Ionia without a nation. And now you want us to retreat in disgrace?"
"Right now, the entire Runeterra is watching us as a joke. Fleeing in disgrace like a defeated army, such a thing will only nail us to the pillar of shame. Pass down my order. Mobilize more troops and reinforce the invasion army at full speed. Send General Du Couteau to lead the army."
"Yes!"
As his words fell, another person accepted the order.
Among those present, several officials looked at one another, each seeing the helplessness in the others' eyes.
They sighed inwardly and did not stand up to object again.
The Grand General was Noxus's highest decision-maker. As subordinates, what they were supposed to do would always be to support his decisions.
In truth, during Darkwill's time in power, he had indeed done quite a few things. He had increased the income of many commoners in Noxus and allowed many people to eat their fill.
Judging by his political achievements, he truly was a qualified ruler.
Over all these years, one of the few mistaken judgments he had made seemed to be the attack on Ionia.
Many people could tell that he had an obsession with immortality. But if one looked at it from his perspective, this was indeed something many rulers cared about immensely.
Who would not want to live forever and keep royal power in their own hands for all eternity?
What they did not know, however, was that there were far too many unknown reasons behind Darkwill's attack on Ionia this time.
The meeting was about to end, and the two main matters had already been explained.
The first was that news of the Black Rose had caused a huge uproar in Noxus.
The second was that General Swain had fought a great battle against the local resistance at the Placidium in Ionia, ultimately suffering a crushing defeat. Whether he was alive or dead was still unknown, while the remaining army was retreating all the way.
This seemed to mean that the horn of counterattack raised by Ionia was already close to success.
Now, what they had to do was drive the invaders completely out of their homeland.
This news directly caused an uproar throughout all of Runeterra.
Noxus, which had invaded Ionia for eight long years, had actually lost.
One had to know that the Noxian army had always been publicly recognized as powerful. Otherwise, they would not possess such vast territory.
By comparison, Ionia had no national borders, no government, and before this, not even a proper army.
The people there lived freely and loosely.
Yet it was precisely such a place that had stubbornly endured Noxus's invasion for eight long years. In the end, it had even miraculously turned defeat into victory, achieving one of the greatest reversals in history.
And the person they had defeated was Swain, the legendary general hailed as a hero of Noxus.
This news could not help shocking many people.
It also seemed to show that the people of Ionia truly possessed astonishing potential. They should never have been underestimated.
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