"Lord Liao Ji." After Irin left, Maria had quietly changed even the way she addressed him. Her burning eyes remained fixed on the young man across from her.
Finally.
She had finally waited for this moment.
Dangerous monsters surrounded Lord Ash, and the only one who could stay by his side, the only one who could protect him until the very end, was her!
This was the reunion scene Stia had meticulously prepared.
She believed that, in Lord Ash's heart, he must have already been thoroughly disappointed in that female scavenger. The hug and conversation when they parted just now had merely been Lord Ash's final act of "kindness."
After all, those who were useless should be discarded. That female scavenger was no longer capable of handling the current battle conditions. Her Contract should be terminated, her resources surrendered, and her equipment stripped away!
That had been Lord Ash's absolute creed five hundred years ago.
And as far as she was concerned, from the moment Irin hesitated over protecting Lord Ash for her mother's sake, she had already lost and forfeited her right to remain by Lord Ash's side.
After all, she—
She could abandon everything, anything, for Lord Ash!
Up to now, every step had unfolded exactly as she had hoped in her script.
Liao Ji truly had not tried to keep the girl.
He had taken the initiative to let Irin leave.
However, there was one thing that surprised Stia slightly.
"Lord Liao Ji, what are we going to do next?"
"Let's head for the Relic first."
Having said that, Liao Ji prepared to set off and continue onward. But at that moment—
Maria flashed in front of him.
"B-but you just said there were two things here that you wanted to retrieve."
"Maria doesn't understand."
"Other than