ANOTHER CAPTAIN AT THE TOWNSEND HOUSE

EMMY looked at the young-looking man wearing a crisp white military uniform. It had the same design as the military uniform of the Empire. The only difference was it's white instead of black. She heard that only those belonging to special divisions of military could wear a different colored uniform. In this case, the white probably symbolized the squad under the prince – the Fenris squad.

Then, it could only mean that this young-looking man was a subordinate of the prince. Finally, they could wash their hands off of that prince. 

Hildred stared at the petite woman with ice-blue hair in front of him. A touch of surprise showed in his amber colored eyes. Because if he was not mistaken, this woman looked very similar to the only daughter of that old ducal house. But from what he heard that lady had already died 20 years ago. 

He shook that off and returned his expression back to normal before walking towards her. He was not exactly interested in other people's lives so he didn't care much if the woman in front of him was really that dead lady or not. 

He made an elegant bow. "I'm Captain Hildred Harlow. I was informed that His Highness and Captain Barton are here. I apologized for the disturbance that they might have caused. And I'm truly thankful that the Madam allowed them to enter your home. Your generosity will be compensated."

Emmy raised one of her brows. It seemed that this man was a better talker compared to that other captain. She smiled gently. "No need for any compensation. I just did what a citizen of the Empire should do."

Hildred only smiled. "May I know the name of this generous Madam?"

Emmy returned the same smile. "Just call me Emmy."

"Can I see His Highness and Captain Barton?" Hildred asked after a few seconds.

"Then, please, come inside and I will call them."

Emmy led the other inside the house. 

Hildred looked around the not so big but very cozy and unique house. One could see in one glance that this was a home filled with warmth and love. He looked at the woman's back. If she was really that dead lady, then she must have found great happiness after 'dying'.

At that moment two teenagers suddenly walked out from one of the doors in the first floor. One was tall and had the same ice-blue hair as the madam. It was obvious that he was her son. But his eye color was teal-gray instead of the blue of his mother. When he saw the other one, Hildred's eyes widened for an instant. 

The boy had black hair as dark as the night sky and a pair of obsidian black eyes. A very rare combination. That wasn't enough. Even the shape of his eyes was very unique – long and slightly tilting upwards. It added charm to his already overly beautiful face. But the redness of his eyes was quite eye-catching. Did he cry? Although that didn't retract from his beauty. In fact, it would only make people want to spoil him more. 

Appreciation filled Hildred's amber eyes. He didn't expect to see such a beautiful teenager in this planet. Such a beauty would definitely cause an uproar in the capital. But that was all that he felt – appreciation. The same way he would appreciate a finely made ship or a powerful blaster canon. 

The same way he was observing them, the twins were also staring at the man wearing a white military uniform. He really didn't look that old. And with the special uniform he was wearing, added to the noise they heard from outside, they quickly realized that this man was definitely a subordinate of the prince. 

Reas wanted them to just go. He almost wanted to say, 'go and take your prince away from here, oh, and make sure to never come back'. But he held back and looked disinterestedly at the babyface man.

Astrid, of course, felt the same way. With the appearance of this guy, they were closer to getting rid of the prince. Once they're gone, he could finally let out that sigh of relief he had been holding. 

Hildred took away his gaze and turned to the petite woman beside him. "These two are?" 

"They're my sons," Emmy simply said. Then he turned to the twins. "Entertain Captain Harlow while I call Captain Barton."

Then she climbed up the stairs to the second floor.

Hildred looked again at the twins. He actually didn't expect that the black-haired teenager was also the madam's son. Did he get his hair and eye color from his father? 

Astrid smiled politely at this man his mother called 'Captain Harlow'. "Would you like to sit at the drawing room, Captain?"

Seeing the other smiled, Hildred once again confirmed how good-looking the kid was. "No, it's okay to stand here," he answered with an equally polite smile. "I hope His Highness didn't cause much trouble to your family."

Reas let out a loud snort at that. 

Astrid quickly acted nervous. If he wanted to appear like a person who was scared of the prince and the power and influence he held, then he needed to act thoroughly until the end.

"His Highness didn't cause us trouble!" he immediately said, as if trying to make up for his brother's action just now. "I-It's our honor to received such an esteemed guest like His Highness." 

Hildred raised one of his brows at the other's nervous appearance. He looked like a small animal that was scared that a larger predator would eat him. Did Wulf bully this kid? Maybe that was even the reason why the other cried. 

At that moment, they heard movements from the stairs and a tall man with a shiny head rushed down.

"Hil!" Edmund called.

Hildred turned and looked towards Edmund. That glaring egg-shaped shining bald head was the first thing he saw. Seeing the other again after more than a week, he remembered the reason why he poured glue onto the other's hair, causing Edmund to shave all of it. Surprisingly, seeing the other's stupid mug made his annoyance for that event completely vanished. 

So, he smiled quite generously. "Ed."

Seeing this smile, Edmund almost stopped. He didn't really have that much good memories whenever Hildred smiled at him. But he still continued at the end.

"Where's Wulf?" Hildred asked.

Edmund scratched the back of his head. "Ah, the general is sleeping."

Hildred's smile completely vanished. "What?"