CHAPTER TEN

"Now this...is some serious eye candy."

When they reached the exit of the forest, Leila instantly knew that on the other side of it, lies another version of heaven.

So, when they passed through, Leila had squeezed her eyes shut due to the sudden explosion of sunlight.

It took her a few blinks and squints before Leila's eyes finally adjusted.

And when it did, her eyes widened with amazement. "Woah."

It was a place straight out of a historical French movie. Not the dreary and miserable place of Les Misérables, but rather, it was a bright and chirpy setting resembling the bustling town in The Beauty and the Beast.

It was a historic town with typical commoner houses and buildings with bodies made of bricks.

Roofs, windows, and doors made with wood painted with bright colors; lined and supported with black iron.

Vendors and their goods lined up on the edge of the streets yelling to passersby. Street musicians blaring dancing songs to couples who danced in return, horse carriages would pass by once in a while, and there were children with their parents playing happily in the town square.

Other than the bustling streets and the sincere smiles of the people, what made this town look so happy and pleasant were the brightly colored homes and beige cobblestone pavement that gave off a fairytale atmosphere.

The sight was kind of nostalgic that Leila can't help but mutter, "It's France's Colmar, minus the canal."

"What?" Senpai asked, but Leila just dismissed it with a shake of her head.

He shrugged and held out his hand to Leila. "Hand me the satchel, you go should look around for a bit. I'll come back with some money."

"Meet me at the town square?" Leila asked. "Oh, and make sure you buy some stores. The more the better, it would provide us a great source of income and information. Since most of the gossip usually shared in those."

Senpai just turned to his back, started walking away, and waved his hand in both farewell and approval.

"This place never fails to amaze me," A friendly-looking woman said. She smiled; her head tilted up to bask at the morning light. "Duke Amaryllis did a great job holding down the fort."

Leila studied her features. The woman looked like a fortune teller slash gypsy with her wild curly hair, tanned skin, and a stunning pair of blue eyes.

As for why she looked like a gypsy, it was because of her gorgeous dancing costume that was kind of similar to a belly dancer.

It might be a great opportunity to extract current information about the foreign kingdom. But she was still oblivious of the culture or the people here, so Leila can't help but raised an eyebrow, "Who?"

"The biggest supporter of the Crown Prince, the Amaryllis ducal family." She explained as the woman started walking to accompany her. "You are not from here, are you?"

"Yes. I'm a frequent traveler from the north. It's my first time being here."

"Oh, is that so?" She smiled and held out her hand. "I'm Priscilla, by the way. Just Cilla for short."

Leila smiled and shook her outstretched hand, "Pleasure to meet you, I'm Leila."

"Likewise."

"So, can you tell me what you're talking about earlier?"

"Hmm...before anything else." Cilla glanced nervously around her and whispered. "What we're going to talk about, they're all dangerous things, and people consider it as taboo. She has ears all over the place so might as well be careful."

"Who's 'she'?"

"Queen Roselia. The wretched queen." Cilla replied, her voice grave. "But before anything else, let's give you some background about everything."

She opened her mouth once more and stories began to flow.

The Kingdom of Candor.

It's current monarch, Helrad Octavius Candor, a just and mighty ruler, originally had three sons and two wives.

His first wife, the former queen Isabelle Diothe Gaillardia of Gaillardia ducal household, gave birth to two sons: Crown Prince Xavier and 3rd Prince William.

Unfortunately, both the queen and the twelve-year-old William died after the carriage swerved out of control and fell off a cliff. Rumors claimed they were traveling back to the castle after a week's vacation at the ducal mansion when it happened.

Next came the first concubine, Roselia Sasvia Foxglove, a daughter of Baron Foxglove born out of wedlock, renowned as the most beautiful woman in the kingdom.

Even if she was born into a family with no money or power, Roselia was smart enough to scheme a night with King Helrad and bore him a child which was the 2nd Prince Nicholas.

She immediately assumed the queen position after Isabelle died in the accident, used her wits to gather support, and quickly rose to power.

"She got herself pregnant from one night?" Leila blinked. "That's some serious fertility."

"She's a natural-born slut, after all." Cilla snorted, "I've heard rumors about her appearance. People say if you ever see her face-let's just say I'm betting half of my money you'll mistake her for a prostitute."

"Wow."

"Other than that, there are worse things." Cilla had disgust written all over his face, "She hosts sensual masquerade parties every night where she had this particularly sick habit of renting out slaves to attending nobles for fucking."

"Slaves personally trained by her or slaves brought by slave traders who attend her parties?"

"Both."

Leila's brows furrowed. "Is the king even aware of this?"

"Of course, he was," Cilla replied. "Every noble in the kingdom knew about it, but not everyone can attend it. You have to receive a formal invitation from the bitch herself."

"How is he not doing anything?!"

"We suspect magic is involved." Cilla replied with grave seriousness. "But we weren't able to identify what kind of power is used."

"In Candor, it is improper to inquire nobles about their powers, especially those of royalty." Cilla added. "You can be accused of 'scheming against the royal family or worst, 'regicide'."

"Regicide?" Leila was puzzled, then realization dawn on her. "Aah...the knowledge itself gives you an advantage if you ever intend rebellion. Such you can prepare a more flawless and effective strategy against them."

"Precisely."

"Only a fool would openly ask." Leila clicked her tongue, "Besides, hiding your powers is a futile mission, you're bound to expose them anyway."

"Then again, you have a point."

"That reminds me..." Leila started. "Is it true that nobles inherit their powers?"

"Yes."

"Can you elaborate on how the process works?"

Cilla blinked; bewilderment clearly displaying on her face.

"If we're talking about that," Cilla cleared her throat, "It's usually just sons inheriting their powers from fathers and daughters' from mothers."

"Why mention 'usually'?"

"Well, there some cases where the process is reversed," Cilla replied. "And rare ones inherit powers from both parents."

"Is that so? Do children with both powers receive some sort of special treatment?"

"Depends, if the powers inherited were terrifying and capable of producing massive damage, it usually ends with them being enslaved or cursed by society and thrown out." Cilla shrugged. "In my case, I belong to the 'reversed' group."

"...You're a noble?!"

"Oops, sorry about that. Can't believe I slipped." Cilla flashed her a sheepish smile. "Well, to answer your question, I am a noble. My full name is Priscilla Spiderlily, from a marquis household."

"Holy shi-I mean, Oh my! Then shouldn't I call you Lady Priscilla or Lady Spiderlily?"

She giggled when she saw Cilla shivered in disgust. Though she may be a noble lady, it seemed like she never liked being called with such a title. "Please don't, it's just Cilla when we're not around other nobles."

"Alright. So...about the thing you talked about earlier before the background information? What of it."

"Ah, it's about factions." Cilla waved back at the vendors who all seemed to know her. "There were three of them: The Crown Prince's faction, the neutral faction, and Queen Roselia's. Unlike our household who always swore to remain neutral until the ascension of the next king, the Amaryllis household has publicly pledged loyalty to Prince Xavier. This town is under the jurisdiction of the current head of the family-Duke Alexandrius Amaryllis."

"Really? I just thought it was some façade to mask the rotten personality of aristocrats, I guess I thought wrong."

"The Town of Rainbows." She smiled fondly. "It is one of the very few towns in Candor who remained uncorrupted since the ascension of that fucking concubine to queen."

Cilla stopped on her tracks when she noticed Leila fell behind her. She was standing with her eyes slightly wide open. "Leila?"

Curious of what had caught her attention, Cilla retraced her steps, turned towards where Leila was gazing at and froze.

At the far, slightly dark end of the narrow alleyway, a woman was using her body to protect a crying child from the stones being thrown by a group of five people, who had been abusing them.

The victims were in bad shape. The appearances muddied, full of wounds. Their clothes dirty, tattered and barely doing its job. With the right sleeve gave way, showing the woman's breast.

The child's clothing was merely nothing but a piece of fabric covering his lower part.

The woman's back and forehead were bleeding from the impact of the sharp rocks. They were both trembling from what it seemed like pain and helplessness, the group laughed- clearly amused by their reaction.

Humans.

Those two were humans.

Cilla turned her gaze back to Leila and felt her blood turned to ice.

She had never seen such overwhelming pressure lurking underneath the suffocating silence.

Though Leila was merely staring at the situation in silence, Cilla had never seen-felt such a murderous and terrifying, icy bloodlust.

Her dark brown eyes, which were usually filled with warmth and playful amusement, were now cold and blank.

Leila wasn't gritting her teeth or clenching her fists or showing any physical signs of anger. But just the way the air around her suddenly dropped zero degrees and the atmosphere became so tense she had a hard time breathing, Cilla realized. 'This girl is hella pissed.'

"Would you mind waiting for a bit?" Cilla jumped slightly; she was a bit startled with the sudden change of atmosphere.

Leila, who asked the question, titled her head and was smiling, waiting for her response.

"Sure."

She nodded gratefully and entered the alleyway. Her smiling face immediately shifted back into a murderous, icy look, the moment the darkness of the alley swallowed her. "Thanks. Be back in a jiffy."

When Cilla felt Leila's power surrounding the area and a barrier clicked into place, she muttered. "Oh, dear."

***

"What in the blazes is this?"

Senpai had spent all morning running around town for stores with enough money to afford the jewels, he's currently carrying.

He first went to the best and most popular jewelry shop, followed by the best clothing store, where both immediately went broke with the amount of one shooting star diamond.

But since, it'll be too troublesome to carry everything he got from the shops. He just simply transferred the ownership to Leila's name and carried on with five large bags of coins to separate the nickels, coppers, silvers, gold, and platinum coins from each other.

He took one glance at the number of bags he's about to carry, Senpai cursed and went toward his next destination, which is the bank.

Inside, he demanded to see the manager with his domineering and intimidating character, asked to take him to his office, where Senpai had blocked and threatened the life out of him, and finally managed to lock Leila's satchel in the most secured vault without the bank inspecting the insides of it, as part of the protocol.

He, of course, paid for the vault at the right price. Senpai had not fallen to a state where he would act and live like a bandit and threaten people for freebies.

Moreover, being a very meticulous person, Senpai also placed a bit of his power unto the lock of the satchel, where he would be immediately notified if someone had tried to open or steal or intrude it in any manner.

Taking nothing but the five bags of coins with him, Senpai had placed an order for two horses before finally departing to their meeting place, which was the town square.

Imagine his surprise when their original two-person party had doubled in the last two hours.

Apart from their unusual beautiful and captivating features, Leila and another stranger woman were enough to garner attention. because their exquisite features are might be proof of their noble standing.

In addition to another captivating man with a heart of a maiden joining the fray, passerby can't help but stop with whatever they were doing and watch the situation unfold.

While he worked his ass off carrying her orders, his master was busy playing Good Samaritan. Just great.

Moreover, what made Senpai swore, was the fact that Leila had brought two filthy strangers and an immortal dancer along with her.

The situation couldn't be any more unusual as it is. But clearly never failed to give Senpai a strong sense of déjà vu.

"Look who's back!" Leila exclaimed in a tone that was once again pure and innocent. A sarcastic remark that clearly suggests she had almost run out of patience. "We've been waiting for you."

Leila had given up the cloak she was wearing, and the extra cloak she kept in her satchel, which she planned to use as a blanket, for the two strangers, which was the root of all the attention they were currently receiving.

Their faces hidden by Leila's cloaks also kept Senpai from digging up any more information about their unexpected two-party additions.

Leila flashed him a smiled and gestured for the dancer next to her, "Senpai, meet Priscilla. Cilla, this is Senpai."

The dancer, Cilla, gave a slight nod. "Hello."

He turned toward his master who gave him a look that said, 'long story, will tell later' and sighed. Senpai placed a hand on his chest and bowed with the grace of an experienced butler. "Greetings, milady. Apologies for the late introduction."

His usual high-pitched voice turned low and masculine. Senpai ignored his master, who covered her mouth with a hand and was trembling from fighting off laughter.

'What are you laughing at?' he shot down the bond.

'Nothing. I was just surprised you had it in you. Why don't you give up being gay and be a real man instead?'

'He sent an image of his middle finger at her in response and she inwardly laughed. As he fought the urge to roll his eyes, Senpai gestured his companions to follow him, "I already reserved two rooms for-uh, I'll just prepare another one for our...guests."

The dancer nudged at Leila, "Hey, would it be alright if I tagged along? Do you guys have plans to go to the Capital?"

Leila glanced at Senpai, who just shrugged in response. "Yeah, I don't see why not. I'm bound to go sightseeing there anyways."

"Thanks a bunch."

Leila approached Senpai and whispered, "So, look, can you guys go on first? Still need to buy clothes for the two of them, and if possible, more food. Hm? Pretty please?"

Senpai stared at her as if she was insane. Then again, after spending time with her for almost two weeks, he learned in disbelief that Leila always had a bit of doing the oddest of things.

All his life, Senpai had never exerted so much effort just to know how people's minds work, as his specialty had always been mind games and flawless facades.

But much to his frustration, he had to annoying admit that Senpai had never once broken through the shield Leila had built around herself.

Seriously, the girl has a mind barrier made of diamonds.

Unyielding.

Unbreakable.

Leila is as mysterious and peculiar, as she is good-natured and friendly.

Leila kept shaking and pleading him, batting her eyelashes, and continued pestering him until he finally raised the white flag.

"Here," Senpai said, handing her an empty purse. He dug on his backpack and brought the five bags of coins he was carrying. Senpai kept a close eye on his surroundings, keeping the contents from attracting unwanted parties.

He dumped 50 nickels, 50 coppers, 20 silver coins, 20 gold coins, and 20 platinum coins, on the empty purse Leila was holding, "Remember, fifteen nickels is one copper; thirty coppers is one silver; a hundred silver is a gold coin, and thousand gold coins is worth one platinum coin."

Leila strained her ears, following his every word, and engraved it permanently in her brain. When Senpai made her repeat what he said, he didn't let her go until she had fully memorized it.

"Got it?"

Leila muttered a few words and said, "Yep, all set!"

"...Right" Senpai was a bit nervous that Leila might get lost, he shook the thought out of his head. "We're staying at the Steward's Hotel by the way. There's only one in this town, so feel free to ask people for directions."

"..."

"What?"

"I was just thinking...are you sure you're not my father?"

Cilla, who was listening nearby, cleared her throat to stifle a laugh. Senpai rolled his eyes at Leila's remark. "God, I could already envision the duct tape in your mouth."

Leila turned on her heel and started walking away, her hand up in the air gesturing 'see you later', "Well, that is some impressive duct tape."