Everyone who heard it was immediately shocked. Including Dean, he was shocked.
Alen only raised his eyebrows slightly. His gaze was still focused on Viana.
Brien stammered after hearing Viana's words. “What... what did you say?”
Dean returned to the situation quickly. “Commander of Royal Intelligence, second-ranking official in the government, his power is above everyone else and below the king. Mr. Brien, are you clear now?”
Brien's eyes rounded. He only knew there were members of intelligence coming to his area. But he absolutely did not expect the supreme commander of intelligence to come here in person!
What could he do now?
Alen did not make any expression from the start. His gaze only fell on Viana. He looked at her bound hands and feet, then her bleeding right arm.
Alen's eyes involuntarily grew cold, and he ordered sternly. “Finish it quickly.”
Dean immediately stepped forward. “Catch him!”
“Ugh!”
Viana's arm suddenly slashed by the knife once again! Right where the previous cut was! The already bleeding wound now became deeper and longer. Viana gritted her teeth so hard that she accidentally bit her lip. Her pale face was covered in cold sweat. Her body was trembling violently.
Just imagine you're already wounded, then your wound opens wider and deeper with a knife!
Viana gasped for breath. Brien really was a psychopath!
“She's in my hands now. If you want her to survive, destroy all the evidence you have and stop trying to catch me! Otherwise, I'll take her dead with me!” Brien threatened seriously. “Back off!”
Alen remained silent for a few seconds. His aura that was used to leading now felt very oppressive. Brien unconsciously became a little nervous at his silence.
“Stand down, everyone,” Alen said with an order. All of Alen's subordinates retreated out of the woodshed into the spacious courtyard.
Seeing them all retreat, Brien immediately dragged Viana quickly out of the woodshed. Viana couldn't match Brien at the moment because both her legs were bound, and her leg bones had just healed. However, Brien didn't know this and continued to drag her mercilessly. Viana stumbled and then felt a sharp pain in her leg. Apparently, she had sprained her leg.
“Lord Commander of Royal Intelligence, once again, if you don't want to see her die, then destroy all the evidence before me right now!” threatened Brien.
Alen snorted and smiled slyly. “A guilty little regional official now dares to threaten me? Do you think a girl can be your savior?” His hand that was next to his pants pocket suddenly reached for a gun and pointed it at Brien, who was holding Viana.
Brien frowned. He immediately used Viana's body as a shield. Viana blinked slowly and saw Alen pointing the gun at her. The man's face was expressionless. Viana couldn't guess what was on this cunning man's mind. If Alen decided to kill her for the sake of the mission, then she could do nothing about it.
Too bad she would die before she could remember who she was. Viana regretted.
The gun actually pointed at her head.
Alen narrowed his eyes slightly. “You really are a fool. Apart from the king, no one may make such a bargain in front of me.”
Bang!
It happened too fast. When Brien had not had time to react to anything, the bullet had already pierced Brien's right shoulder, which was almost level with Viana's head. Viana also did not have time to react until she heard a loud noise and the wind rushed past her ears.
It all happened in the blink of an eye.
It all happened in the blink of an eye.
Because Brien's shoulder was shot, the hand holding Viana immediately lost its power. Brien let out a loud cry and staggered backwards. Dean and his subordinates immediately moved quickly to catch Brien.
Meanwhile, Viana was still in shock. She just stood in place and couldn't return to herself yet.
If Alen's gun missed just a little, it would be her head that the bullet would pierce.
Viana's body became cold.
Seeing Viana so scared that she couldn't move, Alen felt helpless. Taking advantage of Viana's unconsciousness, Alen immediately picked her up and gave orders to Dean. “Hold him and bring him to the headquarters first.”
Dean. “Yes, Commander!”
Together with the other two members, Dean grabbed Brien and brought him to the car.
Speaking of which, Dean now understood why Alen had told Brien to back off at the last moment. If Alen had done the action inside the woodshed, his movement would have been difficult because of the narrow woodshed. But after retreating to the courtyard, his area of movement became wider, and it became a new trap for Brien.
Alen really knew the best way to solve the problem quickly.
***
Meanwhile, Alen brought Viana to a place close to the previous location and sat her near a tree. He removed all the ropes binding Viana's hands and feet, then looked at Viana's blank stare.
It looked like Viana was so shocked that it took her a long time to recover.
“Viana? Viana?” said Alen, while patting Viana's cheek gently. But the girl still didn't respond. Alen felt a little guilty. But, in that situation, there was no better and quicker way than to do that.
Viana, who had lived safely and comfortably all her life, must have never experienced such a situation.
Alen sighed and turned to the wound on Viana's right arm. He easily tore the cloth over the wound and examined it carefully. The pain immediately awakened Viana. “What are you doing?”
Alen was still staring at the wound. “Checking your wound.”
The wound was deep. He did not expect the perpetrator this time to have a psychopathic nature. Viana had suffered a lot.
For now, Alen could only wash the wound with water and tear a bit of cloth from his own clothes to bandage Viana's wound.
Viana was silent as she endured the pain. She looked at the man kneeling before her with annoyance. “Mr. Alen, do you have anything to say to me this time?”
Alen immediately said. “I'm sorry.”
Viana was a little surprised that this man would apologize so quickly. She pretended not to understand. “What did you do wrong?”
“You must have thought I planned all of this, right? I didn't mean to,” Alen said calmly as he continued to bandage Viana's wounds. “I already knew Brien had a problem. I also had all the evidence of his guilt. However, I didn't mean to drag you into this at all. Yesterday's dinner party was just an annual event in this small area. I purely just wanted to take you out and enjoy dinner. Please don't misunderstand my good intentions.”
Viana was silent.
Alen continued. “But what I didn't expect was that Brien had been spying on us at the party, and he learned of our conversation about my identity as royal intelligence. That triggered his vigilance and made him do this crazy thing to threaten me. This was my negligence. I sincerely apologize to you.”
What Alen said was exactly what she had guessed. Viana finally smiled slightly. “You're great, Mr. Alen. But this is not entirely your fault.”
Alen was stunned.
“I was the one who asked you about your identity as a member of royal intelligence. I was the one who made trouble first for not understanding how important it was to cover up your secret work. This is the consequence. So now, I understand,” Viana replied casually. “You've also fulfilled your duty and saved me, so now we're even.”
Alen's originally flat face now smiled, making his face even more handsome and gentle. “You are really wise. All of us are also helped because of you.” As expected, the eldest daughter of the Harvey family was wise and smart. No wonder she could overcome various problems and was liked by everyone during her time in the capital.
“But I'm still upset with you for hiding your identity from me for so long. I will not forgive this easily,” Viana snapped back.
Alen felt helpless. “Alright, alright, I was wrong. In our first sincere introduction, I should have told you my true identity. I'm sorry.”
Here, Alen had deceived Viana, his good ally.
“Hmph,” in annoyance, Viana turned her face away and immediately stood up from her sitting position. However, she suddenly fell back down as her leg was in great pain. Viana winced.
Alen held both her shoulders. “What's wrong? Where else does it hurt?”
“My leg...”
Alen immediately checked Viana's leg and found that it was sprained.
“Hold on for a while,” Alen said as he held her leg. Viana knew what Alen was going to do, but she wasn't ready. Again, everything happened so fast that she could only squeal as Alen fixed her back up. That hurt so much!
Viana trembled and lost her strength until her head fell onto Alen's shoulder. Alen could feel Viana's forehead breaking out in a cold sweat.
“It's okay, it's over now,” Alen said, patting her back gently, unconsciously comforting her.
Viana didn't want to answer. She felt exhausted. All the torture and injuries she had received today had exhausted her.
Fortunately, Alen was very sensitive and immediately lifted Viana with both hands. Viana was shocked. “Put me down...”
“It’s okay. You’re hurt. I’ll take you home and call a doctor to check your wounds later. Be obedient and don’t move.” Alen said and gave her no room for rejection. Viana could only remain silent and surrender. Alen’s arms that carried her felt strong and safe. The exhaustion from panic and pain all day immediately enveloped her body like a tidal wave. Viana’s eyes became increasingly heavy to open, and she finally fell asleep on the way home.