Vance glanced back at the other Dogs with a smirk the moment Marilyn pointed at the trio, then shifted his attention toward Glassy.
"Glassy, do you see how easily I rooted them out? I already told you there was no need to trouble yourself over this. Leave every rat in this place to me." he said gleefully.
The other two Dogs remained largely silent, simply waiting for Glassy’s response.
After noticing Teresa, the Mad Dog tilted his head upward toward the ceiling for a brief moment before dismissively turning away and saying flatly to Vance:
"Deal with them. But leave the white haired girl alive."
The muscular man nodded in sheer delight. He looked far too pleased that Glassy had personally handed him authority over the traitors.
Then he waved his hand casually.
"Well then, kill them."
Kaden and Teresa immediately gripped the hilts of their swords, prepared to draw them and engage the advancing guards.
’Fuck. Fighting here with all Four Dogs present is the worst possible option. This will just end in a massacre for us. I can’t let the story end this quickly.’ Oliver thought rapidly.
Before Kaden and Teresa could unsheathe their weapons completely, he abruptly stepped forward and raised both hands into the air.
"Come on now. Let’s talk this out like rational people. We don’t need to spill blood over every little thing, right?"
Teresa instantly moved beside him. Her blade was already halfway drawn and aimed toward the approaching guards as she glared at him with irritation.
"What are you doing? What if they hurt you? Why would you walk out there unarmed like that?"
Kaden shut his eyes briefly and released a long breath before opening them again. Then he unsheathed his sword and stepped forward as well.
Oliver smirked faintly.
"Oh no. I’m just trying to make a deal here. Seems like there’s been a misunderstanding."
Vance raised a brow and stared down at the young man suspiciously.
"What misunderstanding? Aren’t you traitors?" he shot back.
Oliver glanced toward Marilyn, who was glaring at him with murderous hostility, as though suppressing a deep rooted resentment. Her gaze shifted between the three of them, though the moment it landed on Teresa, the hatred intensified sharply.
’Oh. She’s holding a grudge against Teresa? But why? Either way, I need to avoid a fight first.’
Oliver cleared his throat before replying while casually resting a hand on his shoulder.
"We’re not traitors. All we wanted was a chance to leave the Settlement quietly without being hunted down. Realistically, we’ve got no reason to overthrow anyone. Calling that a rebellion feels a little excessive, no? It was a simple request, but it seems Marilyn misunderstood what we meant. The truth is, we were actually planning to bring this directly to whoever ruled the Settlement, but since we didn’t know who that was, we approached her and..."
Marilyn abruptly cut him off.
"That’s a lie!" she spat as tears gathered in her eyes. "You were planning to destroy the Settlement completely! You were killing everyone at the top one after another while wiping out the castle’s forces. You killed Elias, Mara, and even Lara, my sister! All three of you deserve to die!"
Oliver and Kaden blinked several times while Teresa remained completely expressionless. Both boys slowly turned toward the white haired girl.
’Hold on... killed her sister? What is she talking about? Yeah, I killed Mara, and Teresa killed Elias, but Mara looked nothing like Marilyn so that definitely wasn’t her sister... Oh. Teresa got ambushed, right... Ha. Fascinating. We’re fucked.’
He slumped slightly like an exhausted old man who had just been handed ten new problems at once. Before he could continue twisting the situation with more lies, Teresa suddenly spoke in a frosty tone.
"First of all, I never intended to kill your sister. She ambushed me, so her death has nothing to do with me. As for Elias, that was simply a duel to the death. And whoever Mara is, we had nothing to do with that stranger."
Teresa knew Oliver must have been the one who dealt with Mara, so she naturally chose to conceal everything related to that matter. Strangely enough, nobody from the opposing side questioned that part.
The healer glowered at her, unable to form proper words. Inside her, hatred was accumulating in terrifying waves toward the beautiful girl. It had appeared so suddenly, yet it was overwhelming enough. She had just lost her only family to the very people she trusted. The same people who had promised to help her save that sister.
"You liar!" Marilyn screamed furiously.
Meanwhile, Oliver smiled inwardly as a fresh idea surfaced in his mind.
In truth, Teresa had just solved a major issue for him. Although her tone sounded icy and the perfect flower girl image from the original story was already crumbling away, she was becoming increasingly ruthless. As for Kaden, he was not exactly heartless, but he was hardly soft either.
The development of every character had already veered away from its original path.
Still, this unexpected shift had opened a path forward for him in the current situation.
Oliver immediately stepped in again.
"My lords, like I said earlier, there’s a far easier way to avoid bloodshed. Obviously, fighting you would end with us being completely wiped out, so why would we even attempt to overthrow the castle? Marilyn is clearly distraught after losing her twin sister. Losing someone that close must be devastating, but emotions shouldn’t cloud your judgment." he said shamelessly while keeping his chin raised as he took another step forward.
Vance became instantly intrigued by Oliver’s confidence, though irritation flickered across his face as well. Still, he restrained himself in front of Glassy and the other Dogs.
The Mad Dog remained silent throughout.
However, Oliver’s words only deepened Marilyn’s resentment. At that very moment, she regretted every interaction she had ever shared with them.
"Fine then," Vance replied. "What exactly is your proposal? If I understand correctly, you just want to leave the Settlement?"
Oliver nodded once before clasping his hands together.
"Yes. It seems we’ve already caused enough discomfort for everyone here, so our departure should be a relief to the castle. We hold no hostility toward the Settlement, and because of that, we have no reason to destroy it. So I’d sincerely appreciate it if you’d allow us to shamelessly leave."
Teresa added calmly:
"And not just us. Anyone who wants to leave the Settlement will be coming with us too."
Sable, who had stayed quiet until now, finally spoke with faint amusement in her gravelly voice.
"That sounds incredibly stupid to me. Why would you willingly leave a perfect place like this just to wander into the dangers of the Garden? Don’t you know the farther you travel, the closer death becomes?"
"Well, that’s our choice to make." Oliver replied with a shrug before directing his attention toward Glassy, the one who held the final decision.
A prolonged silence settled over the hall, gradually easing the tension somewhat, though many still looked at the trio with contempt, convinced they were merely begging for death.
Vance was already about to reject their plea for freedom when Glassy suddenly stopped him and said flatly:
"Let them leave."
The entire hall erupted into stunned gasps. People exchanged bewildered looks, struggling to believe what they had just heard. Even the other three Dogs appeared visibly astonished by the decision.
Still, no one was affected more deeply than Marilyn.
Yet she could not oppose a direct order.
Her chest tightened painfully with helpless fury.
Teresa and Kaden immediately turned toward Oliver with wary expressions, though he quickly shook his head and whispered to them:
"The second we leave this place, prepare yourselves for endless trouble. Humans, Puppets, all of it. Still, it’s better than fighting the Four Dogs head on, so we’ve got no choice but to grow stronger... And with extra burdens tagging along, meaning the others who want to leave too, their survival out there is uncertain. We should move immediately before they decide to ambush us at the gates instead of waiting until we’re deeper in the Garden with our guard lowered."
Teresa lowered her head slightly before speaking in a worried tone.
"I know you probably have a lot you want to ask me, especially about..."
Oliver interrupted her with a grin.
"I don’t."
Then he added casually:
"And from this moment onward, you’re the leader."
’Need to distance myself from this entire group as soon as possible. At least until those bastards get tired of hunting us down.’