Atlas was dragged by the Vampires towards the restaurant, and he couldn’t resist. He was here to free Lancaster, but he didn’t think he would be caught instead.

Lancaster was slightly happy though. Atlas was here as a witness, which was going to help him. Moreover, he didn’t know that Atlas couldn’t show himself inside the restaurant, so in his eyes, there was no problem with Atlas coming with them. They just needed to tell the truth, and they were going to be free.

If only he knew the troubles that Atlas was going to face just by being seen, he wouldn’t have been so lax.

“My Lords, you don’t need to take me. I told you the truth. He is innocent. Please let us be free.” Atlas kept talking to the Vampires, trying to wriggle his way out, but the grip of the Vampire was so strong. Without showing his true strength, Atlas had no way to free himself.

“Say what you want to say before Lorenz,” the Vampire exclaimed as he reached the restaurant. The guards stepped aside while one of them opened the doors for them to enter.

Atlas was finally taken inside the restaurant along with Lancaster. He was still wearing the same old cloak that he was wearing in the forest, so he was sure that he was going to be caught, even if he hid his face. And if his robe was taken off, his clothes were going to become visible.

He kept his head down as he sneakily glanced at his surroundings to see if there was anyone from the first. As he expected, the entire outer hall was surrounded by the Vampires that were with Yovana in the forest.

All the guards glanced toward Lancaster and Atlas. Some of them even frowned a bit as they felt as if the man in the cloak seemed familiar.

“Nah, he can’t be the person from the forest. Tristan killed that guy. Moreover, his cloak is much dirtier. But still… What a coincidence…”

Most of the guards of Yovana tried to convince themselves that the man wasn’t the one they saw in the forest. Especially since they couldn’t see his face. However, there was one who felt that it was too big of a coincidence. The man not only had the same attire as the one in the forest, but he also had a similar physique.

Jon stepped towards the ground of four and blocked the path.

“Step aside. I need to meet Lorenz.” The man leading Atlas glared at the person blocking their path.

“I would step aside. I just want to see the face of this man,” Jon commented as he reached out his hand to take off the cloak of Atlas.

Atlas clenched his fist, keeping his head down. Was he going to be caught? If he was caught, not only was he going to be exposed, but these people were also going to think that Atlas worked with Lancaster to poison Yovana. They were going to be considered guilty!

Atlas took a subtle glance at his surroundings to count how many Vampires were here and how he could get out of this place if he was caught.

“There are fifteen Vampires here. You can’t escape. See what happens when you don’t listen to me? Now you’re in trouble, all because you were stubborn!” Lilith also started scolding Atlas, seeing him in trouble. She had no way to help him either. In her shadow down, she couldn’t do anything, similar to how she couldn’t stop Atlas before.

Atlas also felt bad that he was in this situation, but he really thought he could save Lancaster. The situation just escalated out of his control. He let out a deep breath as he prepared for his face to be revealed.

The hands of Jon inched closer to Atlas with each passing second.

Atlas prepared himself to punch Jon and free himself if his face was revealed since that was the only way he could get out without much bloodshed, but even that wasn’t easy. The problems were stacking up for him only as more and more Vampires in the room surrounded him, blocking all paths of sudden edit.

Jon’s fingers glazed the cloak of Atlas. Atlas planted his feet firmly on the ground, gathering momentum for his upcoming attack.

“What are you all doing here?” Came a voice from the back just as Lancaster was about to remove the cloak of Atlas.

Jon and everyone who was facing Atlas turned around. Jon freed the cloak of Atlas.

“Captain Lorenz!” Everyone exclaimed in respect, seeing a red-haired man standing at the door with a grim look on his face.

“Jian, what are you doing standing there? I told you to bring that Lancaster here! Why aren’t you still in the room?” Lorenz asked, glaring at the man who was holding onto Atlas.

“Sir, I brought him here. I was just coming to you.” Jian moved Jon aside and stepped towards the door. This time, Jon didn’t block him and let him pass.

Lorenz walked back inside the room. Jian entered with Lancaster and Atlas behind him. The door was closed. Atlas breathed a sigh of relief, being saved at the last minute.

~~~~

Three minutes ago~

Inside the room with Yovana, each second was like a thousand years, passing extremely slowly. The restaurant owner kept looking out the window through the curtains, hoping for Lancaster to be brought urgently so he could be free. The silence was killing him.

His eyes lit in excitement as he saw Jian enter the restaurant with Lancaster. Finally, that guy was here.

“He’s here!” He exclaimed.

“Who is here?” Lorenz asked, frowning.

“Lancaster! That bastard is here!” the man responded, pointing out the window. “For some reason, they stopped outside.”

His words prompted Lorenz to check himself why things were being delayed. He opened the door and saw all the vampires standing in a group.

“What are you all doing here?” he called out, not knowing how fortunate his timing was for Atlas. He came as a savior for the guy.

~~~~

Atlas and Lancaster were brought inside the room. The door was closed behind them. Atlas once again observed his surroundings to see if there was anyone here who had seen him before. However, there was only one person who had seen him, and that person was unconscious on the bed.

Except her, there were four humans and a Vampire who had donned similar attire to Tristan, who he had killed. It was clear that he was important person here, the way he was treated by everyone here.

Atlas could relax. He had no risk of his identity being exposed, at least not here.

“Who are these two?” Lorenz asked Jian, frowning. “Which of them is Lancaster?”

“He is Lancaster,” Jian pointed towards Lancaster, pushing him forward.

“That’s right! He is the bastard who I fired today! I’m sure that he’s the one who poisoned the food to bring the restaurant down in revenge!” The restaurant owner exclaimed as if he was sure about it.

“Who is the other man?” Lorenz asked, glancing at the hooded person.

“He is a witness who says that there is no way Lancaster could’ve poisoned the food here since he was with him after Lancaster was fired,” Jian explained. “I brought him here for you to decide if it’s the truth.”

“Nonsense! There is no one who could’ve poisoned the food but him! I don’t know who this hooded person is, but he’s lying!” The restaurant owner yelled fiercely. If Lancaster was proven innocent, that meant he was going to be killed. He couldn’t let that happen!

“Silence,” Lorenz frowned, glancing at the restaurant owner. As if frozen in fear, the man found himself unable to speak. It was as if his mouth was frozen. The deep red eyes of Lorenz were too scary.

Lorenz shifted his attention to Atlas after the man went silent.

“Take off the hood,” he commanded.

Atlas took off the hood, revealing his face as he went down on his knees. “My Lord.”

Lorenz grimaced seeing Atlas. He didn’t know what, but he had a strange feeling coming from Atlas. Firstly, the man was too pale. However, that wasn’t the odd part. There were some humans who were pale to that extent. He didn’t have red eyes, so he couldn’t be a Vampire. Then what was it? What was the feeling he was getting? He just couldn’t put his finger on it.

Lorenz went down on his knees and looked deep into the beautiful green eyes of Lancaster. His long silver hair looked really charming on that pale face.

“Who are you?” Lorenz asked, looking deep into the eyes of Atlas.

“My name is Atlas, my Lord,” Atlas replied.

“So, Atlas. What did you see?” Lorenz enquired. “Tell me everything!”

Without taking long, Atlas took a deep breath as he started speaking. He also lowered his gaze since he couldn’t look into the eyes of a Vampire. “It was about an hour ago when I was passing from here…”

Atlas kept telling the story about how he met with Lancaster and how he took him home after he was fired. He only changed a small part in the story, saying that he left around thirty minutes ago from the house of Lancaster instead of staying here since he needed to justify how he got here.

In any case, thirty minutes weren’t enough for Lancaster to come here from his home and then to go back.

“Alright,” Lorenz muttered, but he didn’t stand up. Instead, he placed a finger under the chin of Atlas and raised his head to make sure their eyes met.

Lorenz’s eyes started shining very minutely. Most wouldn’t have noticed it either. However, as Atlas was looking straight into his eyes, he saw it very clearly and noticed the change. Lilith also noticed the change.

“He’s trying to use Compulsion!” she exclaimed.

Atlas clenched his fist, preparing. He made sure his expressions went blank.

“Have you told the truth only?” Lorenz asked. “Was there no lie in your story?”

Atlas needed to make sure that he looked as if he was under Compulsion. He blankly responded, “Yes.”

“Fascinating…” Lorenz stood up as an amused smile graced his lips.

He started walking back and forth before bursting into laughter. “Very fascinating!”

He abruptly turned back to Atlas as his expressions suddenly became grim. “My compulsion didn’t work on you, did it?”