Victoria stared at the man responsible for taking out her entire group.

His hair is now shorter, his back is now straight like an arrow, and his strength is beyond the means of a regular human, but she could still recognize her. Even though he changed his appearance drastically, she could somehow still recognize him.

"Deklan…? Is that you?"

On the other hand, Deklan tightened his grip around the woman's neck.

She struggled fiercely, trying to break free, but her strength was incomparable to Deklan's.

"Stop struggling so much," Deklan squeezed her neck harder, urging her to stop or he'll crush her neck right now. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm fonder of cherishing women, not hitting them. Don't make me do things that I don't want to do."

Hearing this, the woman stopped struggling, enduring the choke as saliva dripped to her chin.

She only tapped Deklan's arm lightly, begging for mercy.

"Hmm, that's more like it. Now, I'm going to let you off with a love tap," Deklan smiled, then raised a finger and tapped on the woman's nose. "Don't do anything stupid, or I'm going to kill you regardless, okay?"

Bam—!

Deklan drilled his fist into her stomach hard and then let her go.

She crumpled, hitting the ground hard.

A sharp gasp escaped her as she clutched her stomach, her body curling inward.

All she could do to ease the pain was press her forehead into the dirt and bite her lower lip hard.

"Now…" Deklan turned around; his sharp eyes fixated on Victoria, who was the strongest in the whole group. He assumed she was the real hunter the system was warning him, "Did my little brother send you here? Answer truthfully while I'm being nice."

'He talks differently, too…' Victoria thought inside. 'Is it really him? And why is he looking at me like he didn't know me?'

Ever since their arranged marriage was annulled a few months ago, they never met again.

Considering this was their first meeting since the annulment, Victoria expected him to be more subdued than usual—that was simply how spineless the Deklan she remembered was. If his exile had somehow made him grow a semblance of a spine, he would more likely resent her for the past humiliation.

One that sparked the downward spiral to him being pushed away by his own family.

But she didn't expect him to act like this.

Almost like whatever happened between them never existed in the first place.

"Are you really Deklan?"

"Hmm? How is an assassin that lame? You couldn't even recognize your target?"

"Wait, what are you saying? What target? I'm not here for you!" Victoria exclaimed, flabbergasted.

"Yeah, yeah," Deklan picked his ear with his pinky. "Like I'd fall for that bull-crap."

"Did you forget about me already? Did you not recognize me?" Victoria took a step forward—pointing at her face like she couldn't believe that Deklan really forgot about her already. "Or are you pretending not to know me? It's me, Victoria."

"Victoria? Hmm…" Deklan folded his arms and contemplated. "That name doesn't ring a bell."

"What…?" She couldn't believe it. "Are you really being serious?"

"Enough talking. Draw your weapon, lady," Deklan lowered his stance, summoning his spear again, and activated the Shadow Beast Weapon Persona. "I'm merciful enough to spare your underlings since they were only following orders, but you… You came here to kill me. And I have to return the intent."

"You got it all wrong!" Victoria gritted her teeth. "Do you really think you can beat me now?"

"I took down your entire group under your watch. Hell yeah, I can beat you. Get rea—?!"

Slap!

Deklan straightened his back and held his head, that was slapped.

He stared at Kaelyn in annoyance, "Fuck was that for? I told you to wait, didn't I?"

"Had I not stepped in, you would've mistakenly killed the wrong person," Kaelyn shook her head—she came to check out of worry, and she was correct in doing so. "Did you hit your head somewhere? How did you not recognize her?"

"Am I supposed to recognize her?" Deklan scratched the back of his head, confused.

"Yes. Look at her cloak, that butterfly crest means she's one of the Karthwells. And judging from how young she looked—she should be your ex, Victoria Karthwell," Kaelyn turned to look at Victoria, eyes narrowing. "Isn't that right, Victoria?"

Upon hearing this, Deklan's entire body froze.

He was expecting this group to be the one hunting him, but it wasn't.

And this woman, whom he thought was the leading hunter, turns out to be his ex.

My ex…? Did the previous Deklan have someone like that?

Deklan closed his eyes and searched the memory of the previous Deklan, and to his surprise, there was someone called Victoria. She's the eldest daughter of a wealthy merchant family, the Karthwell family, and was betrothed to him a few years back.

But that arranged marriage was annulled when the Karthwells realized Deklan was talentless.

It was immediately cancelled when they realized the heir to the Tiernan Family is not Deklan.

Doing so would normally be impossible.

That would be besmirching Marquis Victor's reputation, which would be the same as suicide—after all, the arranged marriage had already been announced to the public. It would be impossible for the Karthwells to do, but they got help.

It was the First Lady who helped them.

Had it not been for her influence, they would've remained trapped in the binding agreement.

Victoria would still have to marry Deklan, even though he's not even an Exorcist.

The feeling was still fresh, as that was only a few months ago.

No wonder my chest is tight when I saw her. I thought it was my instincts warning me that she's more dangerous than the others, but I guess not.

It was clear now why he felt tightness whenever he looked at Victoria.

That was the previous Deklan's feelings.

Lucky bastard… Having a woman like her betrothed to her. But seeing how she talked, loud and unruly, even though she was supposed to be a lady, I guess it's good that she's an ex. Kaelyn might be cold and unresponsive, but she sounded good.

Shit… What am I thinking about? What am I going to do now?

Deklan snapped out of his trance when he realized he almost killed someone the previous Deklan knew.

He needed to salvage the situation, and he needed to do it fast.

Come on, Deklan, you're now an Oscar-winning actor! Play it cool.

"Of course, I know her," Deklan cleared his throat—trying to sound as natural as possible. "You know me, I like playing around like that. Besides, I have an excellent memory. And I'm also smart. No way I've forgotten someone like her already, she is my ex! It has only been a few months."

"Right…" Kaelyn gave him a side glance. "Of course you are, Sir Pumple."

"Why are you bringing that up again?!"

"To make sure you don't forget how stupid you are. Go on," Kaelyn nudged her chin towards Victoria. "Go and ask her how she managed to track you down. I dare you."

"Err…" Deklan turned to look at Victoria, and immediately caged his intention. "I'd rather not."

Kaelyn sneered and turned to face Victoria.

She elbowed Deklan on his stomach, signaling for him to ask something.

"Ask what she's doing here," She whispered.

"What? She probably missed me or something," Deklan shrugged, but got elbowed again.

It was harder the second time, forcing his body to fold.

"Ask her!"

"Alright, alright! I'll fucking ask her!"

Deklan fixated his gaze on Victoria again, who seemed to be glaring at him for some reason, and then stepped forward. "So, care to explain to me why you're here—Victoria?" He asked flatly. "I believe we have nothing more to say to each other."

"I… I wanted to warn you about Callen's scheme," She answered truthfully. "That he sent someone to kill you. But it seemed you already know that."

Her gaze shifted to her underlings; all of them groaning and whimpering on the ground.

"Hmm, yeah. Not the first time he sent someone to kill me," Deklan shrugged—it was the system that warned him about a hunter, but he'd already been on guard even without it. It had been some time since Rock disappeared, so a hunter is to be expected. "Thanks for the heads-up, anyway."

Deklan walked away, intending to go back to the carriage.

"Oh," He stopped again, glancing at Victoria. "Keep this a secret, will you? Don't tell my brother about this."

It was a simple request.

But Victoria heard it—a faint, unmistakable edge of threat in his tone.

Something she never imagined she'd hear from him.

Just as Deklan was about to leave again, Kaelyn pinched his waist hard, stopping him mid-track.

"What now?!" He whispered loudly. "I did what you asked!"

"Are you stupid? Ask her if she knows who's the one sent to hunt you!" Kaelyn whispered back, clearly annoyed at what Deklan was doing right now. "I know you wanted to look cool in front of your ex, but not right now!"

[Hahaha! She knew, host.]

Shut the hell up!

As he was about to ask Victoria again, she already beat him to it.

"What happened to you, Deklan?" She asked, her darkening face tilted down slightly. "You changed… Drastically."

"Almost dying did that to people,' Deklan replied nonchalantly.

"But still… you even acted like you didn't know who I was," Victoria clenched her hands into fists, as anger welled up inside her, making her shoulders tremble. "It hasn't even been that long… yet you can change this much? And doesn't seem bothered at all after seeing me? I hate you."

"Hey, hey…" Deklan tilted his head as his eyes turned sharp—and cruel. "How am I supposed to act? Grateful that you came all the way here to warn me? Happy to see you? Do you really think I am that much of a fool?"

"What…?" Victoria raised her gaze again, eyes widening in confusion.

"Huh, you must really think I'm dumb, huh?" Deklan smirked condescendingly as he raised his index finger to point at her, like a sword stabbing into her. "You're sent here to warn me… that's because you heard I became an Exorcist, right?"

"What happened?" He cackled. "I thought I was a useless trash that you regret even thinking of marrying. Is it scary to think that you made a grave mistake by leaving me? Victoria… Just keep that condescending energy like you usually have. It suited you better."

Just as he said that, he straightened his back as he sensed a distortion in the air.

Deklan glanced over his shoulder.

On the horizon, a hooded figure came to appear.

He pulled down his hood, exposing his elated smile and excited gaze, "Found you, young master!"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.