Chapter 8: The Disappearance of Vivian

After checking the water, Ai would head out to the back yard of the mansion in search of her maid. Envy would be hanging on the branch of an apple tree and the mansion's gardener would be watching the scene.

"Envy..."

"Oh! Boss!" Envy would swing from a branch of the tree and hang upside down, looking at Ai, who was losing her patience.

"Try to moderate your behavior."

"Ehh? But there's no one here."

Ai and Envy would hear the sound of scissors and see the gardener, who was watching the situation.

...

For some strange reason, during the 10 seconds they exchanged glances, they had made an unconscious pact of confidentiality out of sheer intuition. The gardener, who was in his old age, didn't want any more trouble.

"Ahem... I wanted to ask you something."

"What is it?" Envy starts to munch on an apple.

"Of all the mysteries I have, I was wondering... What are you doing in human territory?"

"Hm? Uhh... Ehhh..." She would start to think and burn neurons.

"I was looking for our master or something like that."

"Master? Does that mean you already had a pact before ours?"

"No, not like that. In human terms, I was looking for the king of my realm, or something like that."

"I see... So are there more of you on this quest?"

"There were... We've been searching for more than 20 years and almost all of them were killed or enslaved by humans. We don't know why he's hiding, we just know he's around here."

"Why are you looking for him?"

"Just like the royal family in the human empire, our king carries an inherited lineage that has the ability to control the world. Thanks to our master, the other tribes don't approach with bad intentions, since he has the ability to destroy the world with little effort. But since he's gone, our tribe has started gaining enemies who want to take control of our race, which is not interested in territorial fights."

"If I'm not mistaken, the name of the inherited lineage was..."

— At the same moment in Ai's parents' room.

Vivian, Ai's mother, would be reading a letter from her father, the viscount.

So, he failed in his expropriation plans, huh...

"It was probably all your daughter's plan." A small dragon that appeared to be in adult form but was reduced in size to be able to perch on Vivian's shoulders would say.

"Certainly... I don't think Kirei noticed or took action regarding the river situation." She closes the letter and heads towards the window.

"Either way, even though I wanted to stay longer, she's old enough to take care of herself... My role is finished." She starts to stretch.

"Aahh... I was getting tired of pretending... Besides, it was hard to find a reason to delay Kirei's plans of having another heir without him suspecting."

Grow strong, my dear daughter. Someday we'll meet again.

"It's time to go,

— Back to Ai's conversation.

Soterius."

"Soterius?"

"Yes, that was his name, I remembered now."

"I see..."

"Does that mean that when you find him, you'll no longer be by my side?"

"It's not like that!" Envy gets off the tree.

"I already gave up on that mission when I was enslaved. It's even a relief... I had grown tired of searching for so many years. Besides, when I asked him to make a pact with me, I already had in mind that after doing it, I wouldn't be allowed back into my kingdom."

Pride, perhaps?

Ai's father leaves the mansion worried, looking around, interrupting the conversation.

"Daddy!" What are you doing here?

Envy hides the apple.

"Daughter? What are you doing here?"

"Playing!" Ai does her angelic smile.

"I see... By the way, have you seen mommy?"

"Mommy? She's not around here..."

"I-understand... I was talking to her a moment ago, when suddenly she went to our room and disappeared."

"Mommy left?" Ai makes a sad face.

Vivian disappeared? How strange...

"Of course not, dear, don't misunderstand!" Kirei approaches to caress Ai.

"She probably went out to look for something. I'll go look for her."

"Don't leave the mansion!" He says while running back inside.

After that, my mother disappeared completely without a trace. This caused great sadness in Kirei, who believed she had been kidnapped, and sent out multiple search and exploration groups with the intention of finding her, though without success.

As for me, I sent Envy to inspect the territory of Lancaster hoping that she had taken her daughter to reorganize her expropriation plan, but it was no use.

Of course, it doesn't cause me problems, the one who cares the most is Miyamoto, who said she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen and sought to court her in case he got her body in the future.