Infiltration

Moving on to some other stalls, he realized that the esteemed young master of the Chiba clan was a renowned collector and a lot of these trinkets would come the young master's collection that would be thrown out. Red half suspected that the Chiba Clan man he had seen in the auction hall was this young master. The young master was the brother of the third prince's wife and future successor of the Chiba clan.

Red came to a florist's shop. It had an assortment of cute and bizarre flowers he hadn't seen before. As he was about to walk on, a small body latched onto his leg.

"Elder brother, I missed you!" A small voice yelled. Red looked down to find that the little girl Yui had suddenly found him in the market and latched onto his leg. Smiling, he picked her up in his arms. "How is little Yui-Chan?" Yui was giggling.

Red bought a blue lily flower from the florist and put it behind Yui's hair. "That looks nice on you." Red said while smiling. Yui liked the flower and was happy. When Red was talking with the little girl, the princess Rin suddenly appeared. She had an apologetic look on her face and was surprised seeing how friendly Yui was with this young man.

"I am really sorry for the misunderstanding earlier." The princess bowed. Red stopped her from bowing and said that it was okay, that it wasn't really her fault. When the princess saw Yui playing with Red, a thought came into her mind.

"Sir, are you on planet Sakura for a visit?" The princess asked. The guards had kept an eye on Red the past week and he hadn't been seen doing anything beyond acting like an ordinary tourist.

"I am currently job hunting." Red answered. He had decided to make use of this method to get closer to the nobility.

The princess was delighted when she heard that. "Our Yui-chan is in need of an attendant and a guard. You and Yui-chan have a good affinity, would you like to consider this role?"

When Red heard this he acted surprised. "This... I am only in Qi condensation realm. Are you sure I am qualified?" Yui who was in Red's arms began tugging at his shirt looking at him with pleading eyes. Princess Rin shook her head said and said. "That isn't a problem. You just have to help her with her studies as well as accompany as her attendant for other matters. Our imperial palace won't spare any cost."

Red thought for a bit and nodded. "It would be my honor." The princess Rin was delighted. Inwardly Red was also surprised how easy it was to infiltrate the royal palace. Saving a little kid and getting a few lashes did the job.

In the palace, Red had adjusted quickly to his job as an attendant. The only thing he disliked was the need for constant decorum and the clothes. But beyond that he adjusted quickly, following the little half-princess Yui around. Now that he was in the palace he was able to learn a lot of information he hadn't considered before through the gossip of the maids.

The fight for the throne was not in a stalemate between the three princes as Red had thought earlier. It appeared as if the third prince was extremely low key and had not staked for the throne yet. However, he was backed by the nation's most powerful clan, the Chiba Clan through ties by marriage. The first prince was currently the crown prince and the front runner, but most of the country actually sided with the second prince, who was considered scheming and clever. Traits the crown prince was lacking. He was infamous as a party hopper who didn't like the duties of a ruler.

The Chiba clan was mysterious. It was said to have ties with a large kingdom and it had a heritage as well as power more than other clans. Yet it had always remained a silent actor behind the scenes without vying for any overt control.

The young master of the Chiba Clan actually wished to marry the princess Rin and the third prince had encouraged the sick King to consider this marital alliance. After all, the tying to Chiba Clan using marriage would strengthen the royal family and the young master of the Chiba Clan was known to be a martial arts genius. Despite being only in mid stage Foundation Establishment realm, he practiced a mysterious cultivation art that rendered him unbeatable in the same level. Apparently he had been trained in a large kingdom.

The princess Rin on the hand, did not want to marry this Chiba Clan young master. This had put some strain between her and the King, although the young master continued to try and woo her.

As fate would have it, the Chiba Clan young master decided to hold a party among the youth of host generation at the Chiba Residence. As a consequence, the Princesses Rin and Yui were especially invited. As such, Red also ended up accompanying Yui to the Chiba Residence.

The Chiba residence was large and had an air on ancient aura surrounding it. It felt as if it had been standing here since long before humans had ever come here. When Red entered behind Yui, Red immediately felt something amiss. He had been feeling a palpable tension even on the way here, but he wasn't able to pin point the cause. Now in the castle, he noticed that none of these other youth from high society were looking too good as if they all were aware about something awful.

The Chiba Young Master made his appearance and invited everyone into his hall. It was indeed the same person Red had come across in the black market Auction Hall. While others were tense for some reason, the Chiba Young master was unfazed and pleasantly introduced the different young masters and mistresses as well as bowed in respect to the Princesses Rin and Yui.

The young master spoke out. "I thank all of our talented youth for having graced the Chiba family with their presence. I convened this meeting because I found a treasure and I would like the help of the people here to decipher it's contents!"