21 MEETING THE GRAND DUKE

She came towards me, sat in the chair in front of me, and started recounting what happened when she left the village to get the awakening pill.

"After leaving the village, I went to the capital, 'REEVE city' for an awakening pill. I thought very much about what kind of pill I should get for you to help you enter the path of the cultivator and searched all over the black market and city market.

While I was roaming among the streets of the city market, a guard belonging to the grand duke's house came and gave me a letter, which said,

' I want to talk to you, Ms Lily Carter, do you have some time? And I have something that is what you are looking for. You can follow the guard to meet me.

J.Hamilton.'

I was surprised to see that they found me very quickly, and even though I am not fond of meeting him, I went to meet him to see what kind of thing he has. Later I followed the guard and reached a mansion which was in a remote part of the capital.

When we passed through the gate, the guard left and a maid welcomed me and took me to the room the duke was waiting in."

***

Lily POV

As soon as I entered the room, the maid was sent out. On the right side of the room, there is a middle-aged man sitting on a red luxurious sofa. In front of him, there is a small table to place snacks and tea and then there is another sofa which is empty.

I went and sat in front of the man and looked at him sharply. He is tall and above average looks, with brown hair that falls till his shoulders and light black eyes which have a little bit of green mixed in them. He is none other than the Grand Duke, James Hamilton, cousin of the emperor of the 'REEVE EMPIRE'.

"What do you want James? Why did you call me here? You know what little ties we had were broken when I left my husband, right? If you didn't have a sufficient reason, to call me here, then it won't be good for you." I said with irritation to him.

He simply smiled and took the teacup in front of him and took a sip leisurely which is kind of irritating to me and then he said, " I have sufficient reason to call you here, I know that you are looking for an awakening pill all over the market. And I am quite surprised when I heard about it, I thought that your son has already awakened his mana, guess he only inherited your looks, not your talent for cultivation."

"If you call me here just to insult my son, then I will leave soon," I said furrowing my brows.

"Cool, Ms Lily, I am not insulting him, I am just stating facts. Now, coming to the topic, I have what you are looking for, but the question is what are you willing to pay for it?" he stated calmly.

Narrowing my eyes at him, I said, " First tell me what you have for me, then we will talk about the price."

"As you wish..." Saying this, he took a wooden box from his storage ring and placed it on the table in front of us and continued, "...this is an awakening pill but not just any ordinary pill you can buy. This is the 'Imperial awakening pill' only used for the Imperial Descendents, it can help anyone to awaken mana in their body even if they are not attuned to mana. If they are attuned to mana, they will be more favoured by mana. This is the open secret of the Imperial family to produce talented rankers almost every generation."

Then he stayed silent for a few seconds to let me digest the facts and said, " Now tell me, are you interested in it? Before you make a decision, let me add something else, based on your son's condition, it will not only make him attuned to mana, but it will take him to the peak of F-rank after completely absorbing the pill. This is the BEST your son can have." he completed by emphasising the word 'best'.

I contemplated for some time about it, I spread my mana sense into the box to probe the pill, it seems to be genuine. 'Since it is a genuine product, it can help Max to give a boost so that he can catch up to his peers on the ranking journey. But, what can I give him to pay for it? It's not like he is lacking anything. Thinking for some time, I said to him, " Alright, what do you want in return for the pill?"

"Nothing much, You just need to sign a mana contract which says that from now on, you belong... to me."

As soon as he completed his sentence, the room shook violently, no the whole mansion shook violently as there is a heavy earthquake, the whole mansion is enclosed in a magic barrier so that no one can read any magic disturbance happening in the mansion.

Many wind blades started to manifest around the body of Lily and she disappeared from her position and appeared in front of the duke with a speed that is overwhelming even to the S-rank duke with a dagger in her hand coated with her SS-rank mana, resting on the duke's neck.

"As expected of the genius SS-rank of her generation, you are quite fast even for an experienced S-rank like me."

"Shut up, how dare you ask to be your slave? Do you think you can have anything just because you are a Grand Duke? Don't forget that before absolute power all your titles are nothing, if I want, I can kill you now and take this pill with me. Please mind your words."

"Relax, Ms Lily, I am not asking you to be my slave, I am asking you to become my subordinate who will do my bidding. Rest assured, I won't treat you like a slave. And about killing me and taking the pill, do you think, I am that naive to meet you here without any safety measures ensuring my life?"