You Win, Congratulations

"Well, that's just how I am! Can't help it!" Jenna Summers spread her hands cheerfully. "Lucky for me, in the end, I still won! I won at birth, and I'll win at the finish line! The journey? Not so important!"

Lucia Lu nodded lightly. "Yeah, you win. Congratulations."

Jenna grinned smugly. "I'll be there tomorrow! I want to see you die with my own eyes!"

"Just don't have nightmares, and karma will catch up with you."

"Hmph!" Jenna sneered. "Relax, I'm going to live fabulously! Not only will I be Second Highness's most beloved woman, I'll be his Main Wife! Glorious, unrivaled, second only to one, above all others! Too bad you won't be around to see it! Otherwise, it'd be even more thrilling!"

Lucia didn't say anything more.

She wanted to grind Jenna to dust, but she was powerless.

Right now, she just wanted to sleep.

......

When she woke up, she saw two more people.

One was Leo Li.

The other was a masked man in a black robe.

Lucia Lu yawned. "Liam Leshan."

The black-robed man smiled faintly. "Sharp eyes."

"You were the one who implanted the Beyond-Shore Sigils in me and my brother, right?"

"That was me."

"How much did you get for those two talismans?"

"Quite a bit," Liam Leshan replied. "But some things can't be measured in money."

Lucia asked, "So what are you here for now?"

"To give you two more talismans." Liam Leshan took out two—one was ordinary yellow paper, the other a ghostly deep blue.

"This yellow talisman is a Lightning-Attracting Talisman. Once embedded in your body, it will attract all lightning within several meters right to you," Liam Leshan said. "The blue one is a Hellfire Talisman. After you die, underworld hellfire will burn your soul to ashes, erasing you from existence."

Lucia slowly sat up. "Why? I have no grudge against you—why do you want me utterly destroyed?"

"Two reasons," Liam said. "First, we're not without grudges. Your parents—Bianca Whitefan and Ethan Sang—killed many of my clansmen."

Lucia suddenly understood. "So that's it."

"Second, and most important: as Rune Masters, we can glimpse pieces of the future. I want your soul annihilated because I'm afraid you'll come back someday."

Lucia: "Wow..."

Liam Leshan made both talismans invisible and drove them into her body, then turned and left.

Leo Li, who'd come with him, shook his head regretfully. "Such a rare beauty—what a shame!"

Lucia looked at him but said nothing.

Leo Li left too.

......

The day before the execution, in the Radiant Domain.

Ethan Lu knelt before Qilin Divine Lord Soren Lann. "Divine Lord! I just came back from the Sigil Sect."

Soren Lann: "The Sigil Sect?"

"I don't believe Lucia would ever hurt the Celestial Emperor on purpose! I kept feeling that someone must've tampered with me to threaten her, but there were no marks." Ethan Lu said, "So I went to the Sigil Sect and asked the Sect Leader to check. He said I'd been hit with a talisman."

"What kind of talisman?"

"It's transparent—the Sect Leader said you can't see any runes! But I think this must be why Lucia's acting so strangely."

Soren Lann's gaze turned icy. "Bring the Sect Leader here. We're going to Drake Abyss!"

"He's already on the way!" Ethan Lu said. "I rushed ahead to report to you."

Soren Lann nodded, about to speak, when a scout reported via Messenger Charm: the entrance to Drake Abyss was now guarded by large numbers of divine soldiers. No one was allowed in or out—supposedly to prevent Lucia's allies from rescuing her.