A young lady with scarlet hair sat with her legs crossed in the guest room of the Dienin castle. The guest room was just as extravagant as the castle, putting the entirety of Eugene's villa to shame with its splendor alone.
The young lady with scarlet hair leaned back as her hair tripped over her shoulders and fell on her back.
"How did it go, my lady?"
A knight kneeling in front of her asked. The lady, Sophia vi Mirxa, the heiress of the Mirxa family, stretched her hands above her head and sighed.
"I am grateful to the Marquis, he was ready to leave us be and lent us a bellboy as well to show that he wasn't going to doubt us moving around at all... but.."
"But?" the knight asked. "These conditions are already better than what we could have asked for."
"The bellboy wasn't a bellboy at all. Because of him, we are going to have to deal with the vice-captain of the knight's brigade as well. Though, we are also going to get a lot of money, more than a thousand gold coins."
The knight looked up at his lady, slightly shocked. They couldn't afford to have their movements hindered, and a vice-captain figuring things out was the worst. Even though the knight brigade here was just a guard detail and the real one was at the dungeon city, he would still be a fairly strong person who would be hungry for accolades. This would largely delay their investigation.
But that wasn't the end of things. The Marquis was also giving them enough cash to buy a decent house in this city. What could have moved him so?
"Just who is this person who caused this?"
Sophia sighed again and rested her chin on her hand, her elbows digging into her thighs.
"Eugene Hall..."
The knight was shocked for the second turn in such a short time. Eugene Hall was a famous slouch who was said to have stolen achievements from his knight.
Since the Dark Moon Bandits and the Ediab forest were both part of the Margrave's matters, they had naturally looked into the situation before. And this knight, Sir Alec, was one of the people who went there personally.
He had seen well, the destruction, no the complete annihilation that had taken place in that battle. It still gave him the chills to think someone could wipe out such a large section of the forest in a single battle. There was no way a twelve-year-old could have done it. It was impossible. It must have been that man, Keith.
"We have to move with that person, my lady?"
"Listen well, Alec," His lady called out to him with a gentle voice. "That guy is smart. I don't know anything about how strong he is, but I am sure he knows very well how to exploit others. He's crafty, don't take him lightly."
"Is that so..."
"Don't worry. I know what you are thinking. The Marquis was unaware as well, he didn't push him on us with bad intentions."
Alec nodded and lowered his head again.
He heard a plop. When he looked up, he could just see the legs of his master as she fell on the bed.
"That and he's a weirdo, we might be able to use him..."
Alec sighed at her mutterings. He couldn't hear the last part that the girl who wasn't familiar with other men whispered.
"He was pretty handsome too..."
***
While Sophia racked her brain for her investigation, another similar conversation took place in the castle.
In the study of the Marquis, the blonde and charming Marquis was facing a pile of papers with his reading glasses on. The golden frame of those spectacles perfectly framed his charming red eyes while the chains extended from them curved around his jaws, making the perfect frame for his looks that were no inferior to the royal painter's magnum opus.
"So, what did you think?"
A playful voice posed the question to the Marquis.
"What do I think?" The Marquis, Ban Ket Hall, narrowed his eyes and glared at Keith in front of him. "He looked so much like that woman that I thought she crawled back out."
"Should you be saying that about your dead wife, sir?"
"Shush it, brat. I was scared out of my mind..." the Marquis lowered his gaze to the sheets of paper in front of him. He could vividly recall how that one woman with hair as white as snow used to rough him around like he was a rag. And today, that very woman's child was following in her footsteps and bullying him.
Keith knew everything about his state, yet he could joke around like that. It made the Marquis lose a bit of faith in the kid he had trained himself.
"Keith... it seems what you said about him being unable to see faces was true..." The Marquis' voice turned solemn. Keith, too, nodded with a serious look on his face.
"He doesn't even know what he himself looks like, sir."
The Marquis placed down the papers in his hand and sighed again as if pushing out the bad mood from the room. "That said, he sure is quite the monster huh? He can already use Aura Ki."
Keith narrowed his eyes at the Marquis' words, then, he faintly moved his gaze away.
'I forgot to report he's about to break through to the next realm...'
Since the beginning, Keith had been reporting everything about his young master to his liege, the Marquis. And the Marquis had been forcing him to update him on every matter regarding his child.
"Sir, do you think...?"
"Just a few more years, Keith," the Marquis said. "I'll clear away all threats to that child, he'll have to live away from his home for just a few more years."
"Sir," Keith said. "I believe he's more than mature enough. Don't you think it's about time to tell him—"
"Never."
Keith shut up in front of the Marquis' resolved words.
"I promised that woman that her heir will be safe. How can I tell that child now that the reason we threw him away was that his mother's family was after his blood?"
The Marquis took in a deep breath and shook his head again.
"I'd rather that child hate me for all his life than her. We can't tell him."
"Well, you try that. I am sure he will figure it out." Keith smirked and leaned back on his chair, pushing it off the two front legs. "That person is smarter than all of us."
The Marquis only glared at Keith, but didn't say anything else.
"Oh, by the way," Keith said again. "I made a breakthrough."
"What!" The Marquis exclaimed in joy. "Keith! You're now a Projectile Ki user?!"
Keith narrowed his eyes at the Marquis' words, then, he faintly moved his gaze away... again.
"Um, Manifest Ki..."
"Sorry?"
"Manifest."
The Marquis' jaw dropped right next to the papers kept on his table.
He thought for a few seconds, but couldn't process it.
In the end, he sat back down and decided to use the most important technique a noble, the group that gets shocked a lot, needs more than anyone else.
"What did you think of Sophia Mirxa?"
Changing the topic.
Keith smiled at the change and then closed his eyes. He raised his fingers in a ring and nodded. "She's rather pretty, she'll be a perfect fit for the young master—"
The sound of a sword coming out of its scabbard stopped him in his tracks as the Marquis jumped him without hesitation.
Keith kept Sophia's name out of his mouth for the next few months.
***
pαпdα Йᴏνê|,сòМ A loud knock resounded in my room. I looked out the window, it was still just the afternoon.
"Come in," I said.
The door opened and a person in maid attire stepped in.
"It's me, young master. Maria."
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