Hearing From Esme

After some more minutes—nearly spanning an hour—of discourse concerning the company, its assets, and a bunch of other technical things kept brief, the official handing down was over.

Of course, this was just the official state of things.

Rey still appointed Rebal as the CEO, and Kara as the Deputy. Asher's role, as well as the other staff's responsibilities, would be decided by the two heads of the company.

Even though he was the true Head of The Reaper Group, he didn't have to do anything.

'I guess being Ralyks is enough for them…' Rey mused, considering how they readily agreed with no caveats.

Just as he expected, this must have been what they were after all along.

'I don't even really mind that they're using me. I'll be using them plenty in the future…'

The people of the Reaper Group knew that he could kill them at any time, so they wouldn't dare scheming against him. He was also sure he had shown a fair amount of intelligence to accompany his power, so they wouldn't consider him to be dumb.

'If I was all muscle and no brain, they could have manipulated me and used me for my strength while offering nothing of real value in return.'

But that wasn't what happened.

The KariBlanc Group, now Reaper Group, knew what he was capable of… and they probably suspected him of even more feats.

'I'm sure they won't betray me.'

"A-ah… Sir Ralyks, I apologize for not remembering until now. Lady Esme informed me that she would like to see you now."

Rey's eyes nearly bulged the moment he heard those words.

'He knows her name?! Did Esme tell him?' That seemed to be the only explanation, all things considered.

"Did she tell you that personally…?" Rey asked, his tone as calm as possible despite feeling all sorts of turbulence within.

"Well, no. She told the maid attending to her. But, we spoke after I was informed of that for a brief moment."

"What did you speak about?"

"She just wanted to know when next you would be coming, and I told her that I didn't know. Then she asked a few questions about you, and your relationship with our Group."

"S-she did that? What did she… ah, hold on…"

Rey told himself to calm down, as his excitement and shock was breaking his Ralyks persona. If he wasn't careful, he would completely ruin what he had been trying to build up for so long.

'I can't allow that!'

Still, this was quite the development!

'Esme didn't speak to anyone because they were Evil in her eyes. Even back then, when she informed them that she didn't want to see me, she did it by way of a letter.'

The only time she spoke to Rebal, and Kara was due to the circumstances surrounding the Dark Gathering—nothing more, nothing less.

'Yet, she's having conversations and revealing her name? What is going on here?' Rey's heart began to pound as he considered the possibilities.

'In any case, it seems like she wants to see me. I can just ask when I see her!'

It had been over two weeks since he last laid eyes on Esme. In the past, he hadn't really considered her to be a big deal, and even up until this very moment, she hadn't really played an important role in his life.

Rey didn't think he was particularly close to her either.

'And yet we know so much about each other…' His thoughts trailed as he narrowed his eyes.

Perhaps that was why he felt so attached to her despite their interactions being brief and on few occassions at best.

There was also the fact that he saw her naked, but Rey didn't want to think about it.

"Very well. We shall conclude our discussions here." Rey said, now regaining his respectable aura of calmness.

"I'll go and see how she is doing."

As soon as he rose to his feet, everyone followed suit and nodded in understanding.

It seemed they still thought something special was going on between the two of them despite that not being the case. Rey didn't feel the need to correct them, though.

He didn't know why, but he felt strangely pleased that he was being paired with someone like Esme.

'As long she and I know it's not true, there's no need to ruin the whole thing…'

Besides, him denying a relationship with her would only raise further questions, and he didn't want any new issue centered around misplaced romance.

'Welp… this is farewell for now.' He stared at all three of the people before him, wondering if he should give any words of encouragement or admonition.

After a while of internal deliberation, Rey decided against it.

'Make tons of money for me!' Was what he shouted in his head before he teleported away.

***********

~VWUSH!~

Rey appeared in front of Esme's room in an instant, and while he stood in front of it, he remembered what happened just two weeks earlier.

He recollected her pain, and the more time passed after then, he could understand how deep her despair ran.

'For the first few days, I was tempted to go back and see her. Maybe even knock the door over if that was what it took…'

Rey thanked Ater for stopping him during those moments. His Familiar talked some sense to him every time, allowing him to calmly assess the matter.

After the first week passed, he became a lot more stable and decided to give Esme her space.

That didn't mean that he didn't miss or think of her at times. However, he just reached the point where he unerstood her intentions and was willing to truly respect her wishes.

'I still can't believe she spoke to a maid, and even Asher, before me, though…'

Rey didn't want to admit it, but he didn't feel the best of emotions after learning that Asher spoke to her.

'I still want to know what they talked about, but…' He took a deep breath as he stepped forward.

'... Seeing how she's doing comes first.'