The Martial Unity

Rui shook his head. "It is sub-optimal to divulge the cause of their fiasco to them. Currently, they haven't the foggiest idea what happened. Or why they failed. Put yourself in their shoes. You hired an assassin to kill Rui Quarrier, and he supposedly does, only to trap you by revealing that Rui Quarrier was actually alive and had even recorded evidence of your misdeeds. Then the assassin then protects Rui Quarrier by deterrence and ensures that he gets away scot-free with the damning evidence."

He turned to Reina. "What questions present themselves?"

"…'Why did the assassin betray me?', 'How did Rui Quarrier find out?'" She thoughtfully replied.

"That's right," Rui nodded patiently. "What are the biggest reasons that assassins betray their contractors?"

"Money, blackmail, a belatedly-known high risk of death," She instantly replied with confidence. As the pinnacle of assassins in the Master Realm, she knew what made them tick.

"Right," Rui nodded. "Loyalty. Or the fact that the assassin is actually the target you're trying to kill. These things literally almost never happen. Thus, if one of the reasons you provided was the reason why the Voidreaper betrayed the royals, then what can be further inferred?"

"…Rui Quarrier might have paid them an ungodly amount of money," She remarked, narrowing her eyes in thought. "Or, he might have blackmailed the Voidreaper."

"…Which means?"

"…" She stared at him blankly.

Rui sighed. "It means that Rui Quarrier needed to know that he was being assassinated well ahead of time. This much is absolutely inescapable. Thus, based on the perspective we have just constructed, what does Rui Quarrier learning about your assassination attempt on him ahead of time tell you? Where did that information come from? From the assassin? Or…?"

Master Reina's eyes widened as she understood what he was conveying. "…An information leak from my operation."

information leak in their operation. He bribed or blackmailed the Voidreaper and then used that to spring a trap to gain damning evidence to blackmail you. This is the most likely

is better for me if they think it is an information leak. It means that despite them taking great measures to avoid the Martial Union or the Beggar's Sect from learning, Rui Quarrier was still tipped

believe that, then they will think they have a traitor amidst their operations, someone they trusted absolutely but has now revealed to be a traitor," Master Reina continued down the chain of logic as she realized the sheer depth of Rui's

deeper. What is the most common way of vetting trustworthiness in the Age of

We possess the ability to sense depth of mind, emotion,

them undoubtedly using Martial Masters to vet each and every single person involved, there was an information leak," Rui grinned. "Not just any information leak. The mother of all information leaks. Rui Quarrier didn't

She stared at him

another sigh. "If a tea filter allows teapower to slip through,

a Martial Master allows a traitor to slip through, then

Her eyes widened. "…!"

can be explained if there is a traitor among their Martial Masters. The information leaks, Rui Quarrier learns

protected by only two?'" He smirked. "'Why did sixteen Martial Masters fail to kill Rui Quarrier when there were only two protecting him? Why did sixteen Martial Masters insist

was one answer

traitors…" Master Reina whispered. "…All this

there's more, but the latter half of my plan

Reina stared

felt a chill crawl down

moment, she swore never to become his

that she

that would antagonize him was