Reborn Heiress: Taking Back What Is Rightfully Hers!
Chapter 407: Relentless Pursuit

Chapter 407: Relentless Pursuit

"Anne, you’ve arrived at a grand estate, its gardens filled with beautiful roses. Your prince is in the garden, waving at you. His voice is gentle, and his smile is captivating. Step by step, you walk toward him."

Anne’s breathing quickened, and her feet moved slightly.

How could she forget? Leonard’s favorite outfit was always a white suit. From the moment she first saw him, Anne had thought he was the most handsome man in the world.

"Anne, you can close your eyes now and slowly imagine the world I’m describing to you."

Anne relaxed, following Eric’s instructions. His voice was so gentle and soothing that all her worries seemed to vanish.

"You follow the prince into a tunnel. Tell me, what does it look like?"

Eric’s forehead was beaded with sweat as he focused intently on guiding Anne’s emotions.

"It’s... the young master’s room... He brought me to his room. I thought he would do something to me, but he didn’t... He told me to crawl under the bed. I was so scared that I did, and that’s when I saw an entrance."

"Take your time walking down. What do you see? Do you see your prince? Tell me."

"I walk slowly... The young master said I should go work as someone else’s maid. I saw the letter K, and then... he took me through a passage marked D. So many... so many hallways. It seems... I saw B again!"

"Who did you see? Or was it more letters? Take your time; you’ll see your prince soon!"

Anne’s eyes remained closed, her expression tense as if struggling to recall something.

Eric’s face was grim. Leonard was truly cunning to make the basement so complicated. If he tried to escape blindly, he’d probably get lost in the maze and be discovered before he found the exit.

"I saw J, then... H. I followed the H passage and found a room."

"Now, slowly stand up and open that door! Otherwise, your prince will leave you!"

Eric’s gentle voice carried a commanding power, and Anne couldn’t help but stand.

"Take slow steps, slow steps!" Eric urged softly. "Now open your eyes and walk slowly toward the door. Push it open, and you’ll see four demons guarding the room. You need to grab the stun gun from one of them."

Anne panted heavily, her gaze vacant. She was clearly in a state of moderate hypnosis.

Eric had practiced this on classmates before, and his best result was achieving moderate hypnosis.

Anne’s reaction, however, made his heart skip a beat. Could she be resisting this level of hypnosis?

Anne’s face turned pale, and Eric’s heart sank. From the look of her, her mind couldn’t handle such a deep level of hypnosis.

"Anne! You see those four demons, and you let out a piercing scream. Scream now!"

Thinking quickly, Eric realized that if the hypnosis failed, he’d have to face escaping the basement alone. But having the maid under hypnosis still had its advantages.

Under the intense hypnosis, the maid’s mental defenses crumbled. She let out a bloodcurdling scream.

The four guards outside immediately kicked down the door and burst into the room.

They saw the maid collapsed on the floor as Eric cradled Anne in his arms. "Anne, Anne, what’s wrong?" he cried.

The four bodyguards, though highly trained, found Anne’s sudden scream bizarre and disorienting.

They rushed into the room, their initial suspicion falling on Eric as they cast wary glances at him. However, seeing him anxiously patting Anne’s back, their guard dropped slightly.

As one of the bodyguards bent down to lift Anne, Eric seized the opportunity. With lightning speed, he snatched the stun baton from one of the guards and swept his leg out, taking the guard down with a single, decisive kick.

The other three guards were caught off guard, and before they could react, Eric launched a powerful strike with the baton, knocking them back. Their cries of pain filled the room as Eric moved with the precision and power of a seasoned fighter. His years of taekwondo training and rigorous physical conditioning gave him the upper hand against the guards, who were used to handling ordinary threats, not someone with his combat prowess.

Eric swung the baton again, delivering blow after blow until the guards collapsed, unconscious.

The remaining bodyguard, still holding Anne, reached for his gun, but Eric was faster. With a single, forceful strike, he took him out as well.

Anne, now sitting on the floor, stared wide-eyed at Eric, overwhelmed by his strength and decisiveness. How had he managed to take down all the guards in just a few moves? But as she tried to piece together what had just happened, her mind felt hazy. It was as if she had just woken from a deep sleep, only to find herself in the midst of chaos.

Eric let out a cold chuckle. Leonard had clearly underestimated him, relying on these guards to keep him contained. Still, Eric knew better than to underestimate Leonard in return. His adversary wasn’t an ordinary man.

"Give me the keys!" Eric demanded, his tone icy as he extended a hand toward Anne.

Anne hesitated, confusion and fear written all over her face. Eric’s patience snapped, and without a shred of mercy, he struck her with the baton, knocking her unconscious. Searching her pockets, he quickly found the keys. He also stripped the guards and Anne of their communication devices, collecting two handguns and a stash of ammunition.

Once he was done, Eric wiped the sweat from his brow and left the room, locking the door behind him to trap the unconscious guards.

Following the sequence Anne had described, Eric navigated the labyrinthine basement. But as he proceeded, doubts gnawed at him. Was Anne’s information even reliable? She claimed Leonard had left the estate, but how could she know for sure when no maid had ever left this basement alive?

Eric took a deep breath, examining one of the confiscated communication devices. Unfortunately, they were only programmed to connect to others within the villa. The guards’ earlier screams had likely alerted reinforcements.

A grim smile crossed his lips. He dismantled the devices and scattered them across several corridors before slipping into one without a transmitter.

With a swift motion, he turned off several lights, plunging the passage into dimness.

Moments later, the sound of footsteps echoed through the halls.

"Something’s wrong—move in!"

"Damn it! How could four men fail to guard one person?"

"Be careful! Check where the comms are—they might still be fighting him!"

Eric pressed himself against the wall, sweat slicking his palms. This wasn’t his first time in a high-stakes situation. He had survived multiple assassination attempts before, relying on both wit and grit.

The footsteps grew louder, each step bringing his enemies closer.

Memories of an ambush a decade ago flickered through Eric’s mind. Back then, he had been just a boy, barely in his teens, yet he had outwitted and defeated his attackers.

A cold, feral grin spread across his face. He wasn’t just a survivor—he was a demon forged in the fires of hell, and no one could take him down.

With that unshakable resolve, Eric steadied his breathing and tightened his grip on the handgun.

The footsteps were nearly upon him. He pulled the trigger.