Failed.

No matter how many times he tried, his beautiful teacher Cynthia Delaroche couldn't wake up and smile back at him.

Siren's tears, Dragon Blood, and even now with the Philosopher's Stone, nothing could raise her from the dead.

He had searched all over the world and had even almost waged war for his master. The beautiful woman, who was lying weakly in a wooden coffin, had dark purple hair. Her face was covered by a transparent white cloth, and her eyes were tightly closed as if she was just fast asleep.

"Cindy..."

Henry called out his teacher's nickname. The man raised the woman's cold and pale soft hand while kneeling by the side of her coffin.

"I'm sorry..." he whispered.

As Henry, who was kneeling with his back to the hall door, began to feel a pang in his chest consuming every cell in his body, he heard the door behind him violently open.

CRASH!

The double doors broke off their hinges and swung weakly on either side, while the figure that was breaking them, a white wolf that was shining in a golden glow, appeared and walked slowly closer. Henry turned around, watching the figure growl at him with sharp, pointed canines, which were full of blood still dripping onto the floor.

Henry saw that the blood might not be someone else's blood, as the wolf's chest looked badly injured in a crossed shape. And even if the blood in its mouth wasn't from itself, it must be the blood of someone specific.

"Did you come to kill me?" asked Henry. The wolf came to make Henry pay for everything Henry had taken from him.

Henry knew it all, but that wasn't all he knew.

"Liam Almandine," Henry called the wolf. "I am really surprised to see you here. No. You will surely die soon with your condition like that, right? Don't you want to hurry and kill me?"

The white wolf then began to run forward, and pounced on Henry, tearing his body into shreds of flesh and clots of blood splattered on the floor.

Henry's eyes saw Cynthia's pale hand still stretched out of the coffin toward him. He wanted to grab it with one hand, but the wolf didn't give him a chance. He breathed his last immediately. And as soon as his magic disappeared with his death, the pale hand that was extended to him slowly disappeared into dust.

Cynthia…

"Cindy!"

Heinrich awoke from his sleep.

The morning sun stung his senses of sight. With mixed feelings and waves of memory rushing through him, Heinrich could feel his head being stirred with a spoon like a bowl of cereal. But Heinrich found it amusing.

He laughed.

He almost suffocated to death from laughing so hard.

He felt almost insane.

"Liam Almandine… we meet again."

***

"Uugh," Liam groaned softly in Harriet's arms. The man complained and wanted to be spoiled because his body was all sore after transforming into a wolf last night.

How many decades had he not transformed into a wolf?

No, not because he was dying. But because he seldom needed his wolf form in combat or mobility. His human body was sufficient because he was indeed stronger than a normal Alpha. But since Harriet's plan required him to turn into a wolf, he had no choice.

It was he who was in charge of turning the bastard mage into a Lycan, while the Old Duke and his brother-in-law were tasked with distracting him.

"Madam, I want to sleep again today. Stay with me, will you?" he asked in a sulky voice.

Harriet felt all guilty. She stroked Liam's shoulder gently, trying to ease the pain he was feeling. "Of course, Milord can sleep again. But I have to go and take care of a lot of things today. I'll be back this afternoon, so…"

Harriet felt her heart ache when she saw Liam's golden eyes glistening with tears. She couldn't bear to say anything against her husband's plead and finally hugged him tightly.

"Okay, I'll stay with you until you sleep," said Harriet then, feeling defeated by the giant goldie dog that hugged her body on this bed.

Liam smiled triumphantly and hugged Harriet tightly. The man closed his eyes and fell back asleep quickly. A few minutes later, Harriet, who felt Liam had fallen into dreamland, slowly shifted away from his embrace. But after a few tries, Liam always somehow tightened his hug once Harriet made a move.

Harriet was starting to blush, annoyed, feeling that she was being toyed with.

In her heart, she calculated what she had to finish today. She had to explain to the townspeople about last night's events.

She had sent an army of Lycans into the city just in case the mad mage ran into the city and endangered the residents, and she had also planned the mage's escape route by blocking the road leading to the city with a bunch of Lycans either.

She had to visit the only injured Lycan, the dungeon guard of Almandine Pack, who pretended to block Julian's escape so the mage wouldn't be suspicious…

Oh, she also had to make sure the two crown princes and their guards were okay after they got their injuries. Then, she had to send a letter to the Emperor about turning Julian into a Lycan.

They would claim that the decision to turn him into a Lycan was an impromptu decision that was spontaneous, not premeditated.

It was done because they were afraid that Julian would hurt a lot of people with his power, so Liam attacked him to kill him. Yet, he 'stopped himself' because he remembered that Julian was a venerable prince of the West Continent, which resulted in infecting the prince with Lycanthropy 'accidentally'.

Julian's escape from custody had spread throughout the north. Harriet not only confirmed this, but she also spread rumours that support Almandine's actions in solving this problem.

Unless they saw what happened, they wouldn't be able to protest in any way.

But of course, Ezekiel and Heinrich's eyes were also on the scene, so they needed to be wary of the opinions of the two of them. If they suspected Harriet was the one who planned all this by provoking Julian in his cell, Harriet would probably applaud and commend them for guessing right.

After all, it was Julian's own fault that he was easy to be provoked. It was Heinrich's fault that could not convince and calm his brother to stay in the cell. As for Ezekiel, well… At most he'd hate Harriet even more, and Harriet didn't feel like it was something to care too much about.

Heinrich and Julian wouldn't have known that this was her plan, considering that Harriet was just a pretty wall decoration to them. At most, they would get angry at the Old Duke and Heath.

Now what was left was giving Heinrich and Julian their final offer, which she had planned from the start.