664. Louisa's Old Acquaintance

"My Lord, there are traces of high-level earth magic residue."

Listening to her subordinate's report, Eleanor unconsciously raised her hand, pressed her fingertips to her lips, and bit them lightly.

This hideout had already been turned upside down. Not only were there traces left by battle, but the outline of a ritual array still lingered inside.

The Hand of Passing?

Or was some restless Lord nearby secretly making some little move?

Whatever it was, Eleanor felt a sense of crisis.

Things had only just begun to improve for her recently. Relying on that silly Mushroom Race creature, she had sold quite a lot of Delicious Mushrooms to other Lords, and the research on Blood Jade Wine seemed to have made some progress as well. Everything had been moving in a good direction.

But now it seemed someone had already grown jealous.

Did they want to cause trouble? Or did they want to take a share from her hands?

After the deeply worried Eleanor returned to her estate, she took a box from a hidden compartment.

Inside the box lay a red ribbon, silent and still.

Its material was soft, its color so vivid it looked as if it had just been fished out of fresh blood, yet it carried no smell of blood at all.

Only by leaning close and looking carefully could one discover countless fine runes flowing deep within that red—the Slave Rune Ribbon.

It was a treasure she had paid an enormous price to obtain from Prince Vesalius.

When the prince had named his price, there had been a smile at the corner of his mouth. He had clearly known she had no room to bargain at all, and had slaughtered her for a fortune.

A high-grade contract item. As long as she used it to restrain