A pleasant surprise (4)

"You mean…the young lady?"

- Yes, her. As long as the duke is alive, Alfred Winford can only be the heir. The girl is six now, right? Give it a couple of years, then a marriage proposal with the excuse of softening the relationship between the West and the East. That girl could be a successful product. I can't afford to let her run wild.

"You want a political marriage, Your Grace?"

- Political, love, it doesn't matter. Why are you hesitating? It's too late, stop acting like a hypocrite. Besides, if the girl is in my territory, doesn't that mean you won't have to worry about a shortage of blood if anything happens?

"Still…"

- I wanted to brainwash her first to make the situation smoother in the future, but I did not expect a powerful third party capable of infiltrating the facility to appear.

- Alfred Winford cherished his little sister, right? How do you think he would react if his sister is married off like this? He might explode and do a siege, or, if we play this right, completely devastated.

"Based on the young master's personality, the first scenario sounded more likely…

- It has a more than 98% chance of happening. The second one sounds too good to be true. However, what I needed isn't to destroy him, but to lower Winford's power. A siege isn't something you could prepare quickly. It takes time and effort. No matter how dumb that duke is, he won't give in.

- Meanwhile, we'll do what we have to do. Stop worrying, there's no use fretting over those things that had already happened. For now, keep on doing what you have to do and soothe Charles IX well. Show him loyalty and, if possible, try raising his force a little bit. We can't let him lose too soon, can't we?

- When the time is ripe, I'll pull you out from that mess. We signed a blood contract, James. You know I keep my promise. We Rustwells are originally tradesmen – it's in our blood.

"Yes, Your Grace. I will do as you command."

- Then, until next time. Remember, sometimes, ignorance is bliss. I believe you could vague see the big picture. You cannot stay in that small city forever, Baron James. Your potential exceeds that.

Baron James nodded and replied respectfully. After a brief click, the image of the silver-haired man disappeared. The orb was turned off, leaving the Baron alone in the darkness.

The man looked at the night sky, clapped his hands together, and prayed piously.

"I'm sorry, Goddess." he mumbled, "please forgive this mortal for running after trivial wealth and power. Please believe that my mind, body, and soul belong to you."

In front of him was a small ornament shaped like a four-pointed star. Its blue radiance indicated it was made from precious gems, and the star was placed on the table by the window with candles and other decorations surrounding it.

"Mother Avalina, my existence belongs to you. Material wealth and useless power meant nothing to me. However, your child is but a mortal. I could not bear seeing the kids experience such unfairness. Oh, Goddess Avalina, please forgive this stupid mortal."

Baron James prayed and mumbled to himself a little more before opening his eyes. He stood up slowly, devoutly prayed once more before heading straight to bed.

The Baron closed his eyes. Soft snores could be heard minutes later. It seemed like after confessing to the Goddess he believed in, the man slept quite well.

However, it was not the same for the person sitting inside his vast wardrobe. Adelaide's brain was busy filtering and processing all the information she just heard.

'Fucking conspiracies upon conspiracies. I've never wanted to be a politician, damn it. Why drag me into that shitty power play of yours?' she swore internally and changed into a more comfortable position. Fortunately, the wardrobe was huge. It was big enough for Adelaide to lie around and roll even if she were an adult.

'I'm one hell of a reckless individual myself.'

She felt like her brain was working at its highest capacity. If her mind was a personal computer, Adelaide thought she was in dire need of a cooling fan.

'First of all, Rustwell? As in, Edel Rustwell?'

Edel Rustwell was the name of the beautiful boy that Adelaide met in Baron James' office before she escaped. If it were the last name alone, she would not connect them together immediately.

It was because of the silver hair and faint identical features between the middle-aged man and the boy. Combined with how Baron James called the man 'Your Grace', that man must be Duke Rustwell, the young and powerful household of the East.

The only duchy left aside from Winford.

'Edel called himself a token of trust. Perhaps, Duke Rustwell sent his son to Baron James as a hostage? To ensure the Baron's trust?'

'This could only happen if the power between two parties is too unbalanced, or the content of the contract itself brings more benefits to one of them. But Edel seemed like an unloved son; what use does he have?'

Adelaide laid down and put one leg on top of another. With one hand behind her head and the other tapping her stomach lightly, the little girl looked nothing like the nice and noble young lady that everyone praised.

Her position was so unladylike that if Viscountess Collins, her etiquette teacher, saw, she would scream and faint from shock.

'They interpreted my escape as some type of grand plan that a powerful third party made. That's understandable. The Duke suspected me to hold some type of new power too, which is also logical, given how I absorbed those aie doses like a sponge.'

'And a political marriage? Fuck, I'm six!'

She could not help but wonder if there was anything deeper behind this. Duke Rustwell couldn't have wanted an order of knights made of demi-humans with supernatural abilities for no reason. And demi-humans whose abilities were artificially made by injecting aie, too.

Not all demi-humans possessed abilities. The original Adelaide and Alfred was a valid example. While Alfred got a strong elemental power from birth, his sister Adelaide had nothing. The same applied to other demi-human races.

Frankly speaking, although hard, it was not impossible for Duke Rustwell to just simply source out demi-humans with abilities from birth. No one could stop him from creating an order of knights. Adelaide was sure even the Emperor himself possessed a group of supernatural bodyguards.

'Why all the hard work of forcing people to receive such painful doses with high risks? Pure aie is like electricity. You could get killed after the first one. I survived, but I wouldn't want another one of those.'

Never in her life would Adelaide think of herself as special, and here she was, becoming a delicious piece of meat due to this body's special physique.

'Why the trouble? He doesn't look like a sick bastard who does things for fun. He's more of a businessman who acts based on profits.'

The Rustwell Duchy was a new power. Like a young and powerful racing horse, they managed to grow exponentially after only three generations. Along with their rise, the power scale became balanced – Winford was no longer the only duchy.

She was sure the royal family was happy about this. Before the first Rustwell became a noble, Winford was the nobles' main leader for more than seven hundred years.

'He must be plotting something. Either it's him, or…'

Avarua.

Her face turned grim thinking of the possibilities. History had proved that royal families had always envied or stayed vigilant against generational powerhouses. Keeping both in check by slightly enhancing the one with weaker foundations is something the ruling classes learn by heart.

'It may not be the Emperor himself, but as they said, the crown position is still vacant.'

Although the princes were still little brats, it was nothing strange for nobles to start picking sides. Most of the time, the power the princes get based on how much influence their maternal side has.

'Duke Rustwell is right. If Charles IX keeps being the duke for years to come, our duchy is bound to get dragged into this whirlwind. I wonder how they plan to use him?'

'What ideology did they inject into his head?'

Adelaide sat up and opened the wardrobe door slowly without making a noise. Her eyes rested on Baron James' silent silhouette. The only sound in the room was his breathing and the clock's ticks.

It was half-past ten.

'It's unfortunate to go back now that I'm here. Should I?' Adelaide pondered.

She must wake up at six on Wednesdays for her morning practice with the knights. However, she did not want to go back yet.

The girl closed the door shut and laid down comfortably inside the wardrobe. She hid herself behind big coats in the corner just in case.

'Ah.'

As if reminded of something, Adelaide raised her hand before her nose and took a quick sniff. She did wash up all the blood on her hands earlier when dumping the corpses, but the faint smell similar to iron rust still somehow lingered around her nose.

It was unpleasant.

She sighed and closed her eyes.

The girl's surroundings turned into the familiar study hall/room of subconsciousness after a while. With quick footsteps, Adelaide walked to the door, pushed aside the small shelf used to block the door, and opened it wide.

Red strings connected her room with various places within the galaxy-like space greeted her. She scanned different places before looking at the two closest to her.

'Which one is it?'

Adelaide got ahold of the nearest red string and took a step outside. Unlike before, she was no longer that nervous.