Do You Think Otherwise?

The smile on Artie's lips slowly dropped as she grew confused. "Uh, but they were… just like Miel, right? Maybe they were picked up by House Wessel and House Princesley a lot earlier than you had, but… they were… bound to be sold to someone. Then again, they are living well now. Isn't that what matters the most?"

Larkin softened his gaze and shook his head. "Not at all. They were handed to the maids of the two houses at infancy. It seemed that even though the accursed princess was nothing next to a human, she knew how to shield her daughters properly." A sigh of relief actually escaped his lips as he gestured at Artie to follow him to his office again. There seemed to be things that he wanted her to deal with.

However, Artie was even more confused now. The information on the page seemed different from what Larkin knew. Did Miel find out the truth or a solid rumor about his sisters? 'System, the notes in the cheat sheet… are those Miel's notes?'

[Heaven's Creation is capable of cross-referencing all written documents and facts in the world, be it spoken or hidden in letters. Every piece of library item stored in it contained truths scattered all over the world. Should you wish to falsify them, you would be billed accordingly. Would you like to edit Miel's Nobility Cheat Sheet?]

'Does that mean… there are actual documents that showed they were trafficked instead?'

[Your Reverence is too low to pull out proof of this truth.]

Artie only sighed in defeat as she picked up her pace and walked behind Larkin. He led her inside the office and showed her a pile of letters. She sat down on the seat allotted for visitors and went through the letters of acceptance and decline of their wedding invitation. Some were even real letters that were asking Larkin to reconsider and—better yet—marry their daughter instead.

Her eyes hooded in suspicion as she began sorting them out to deal with the personal letters first. She skimmed through all of them, making use of the cheat sheet to get an idea of who these people were. Then again, she wasn't willing to convince Larkin otherwise. She had no reason to decline, and she was also looking forward to the wedding itself.

"It feels like you have so much influence in Galacia. Everyone in this pile wants you to marry their daughters instead. Why would they marry a fifteen-year-old to a forty-year-old? For power and politics? That's very shameless… and downright disgusting." Artie continued to browse until she found a rather peculiar letter. She placed everything else down and read the letter again with more attention.

'Lord Ellis, we have yet to see each other for a long while, and we have long made use of each other's wisdom to get by. However, this rather strange action of yours baffled me greatly. You have long abstained from women after tracking down your children, and yet here am I perusing a wedding invitation from you. This Artie Shen has no legal documents from any kingdoms in Kaigansa, and there is no House Shen in that region.

'I must admit that I fear that you are being deceived by this Artie Shen. If you find the time to step away from her, please heed my advice and send agents to Kaigansa. Postpone the wedding and find out her true identity.

'Galacia is currently locked in a war with the glass spirits, and the other regions are beginning to mobilize their troops to take advantage. Even if Kolorantha has no movements, no one knows when they will be sending their harbingers to initiate war against Tetrokan forces here. If anything, there will be wide-scale damage. Having ties with someone who originated from outside Galacia might not be in your best interests.

'I hope this letter finds you in the best condition. I will be setting forth to see you soon. By then, I hope you have answers to my concerns.

'Ashen Plains…'

Artie's eyes flickered as she frowned at the letter. When she placed down the letter, her eyes met Larkin's gaze which seemed to be laced with shock and amusement. She then folded the letter and slipped it inside its envelope. "This Ashen Plains… they seemed to be very worried about you marrying me… a phantom from Kaigansa..."

His hand then slowly took the letter from her hand before opening it again and scanning the letter. "Hm, this kind of ciphers are nothing to angels? Kingdom agents had less luck, not being able to extract the message as fast as you had." He then placed it inside the envelope again. "So what's on your mind, Artie?"

"Cipher?" Artie was shocked. The letter didn't look any stranger to her than other letters would have. If it was indeed written in a cipher, then… 'System, I can decode ciphers?'

[All known written and spoken languages will be automatically translated to a common tongue for your convenience. Would you like to lose the ability to tap into the language of the universe?]

'No way! I was just curious!' Artie strongly closed her eyes before flashing a nervous grin at Larkin again. "I… I didn't think this was supposed to be a hard cipher. Moreover… I'm more concerned about the contents. Didn't you say you'd help me solidify my identity? How come this person knew that I am a fraud? Could it be that you haven't started with that yet?"

"Do not malign me. That person is a master of networks and whispers. She is capable of uncovering secrets and baring the truth underneath. I asked for her aid when I was searching for my children." Larkin could only vouch for the other person as his efforts were being questioned. However, Artie still had this very confused look on her face as if he wasn't making sense to her. "Do you think otherwise?"

Artie then shook her head. "I just… felt like something's wrong. Then again, it won't be your fault. How about this? I'll let you know after I meet this Ashen Plains?" The woman said she would be arriving shortly, and letters tended to arrive late. If anything, that woman could be here in a matter of days.

A look of unease flashed across Larkin's eyes as he realized that something was indeed wrong. Artie never questioned him lately, but right now, she was continuously making that face he didn't like. His hand gripped the pen tightly as he continued to watch Artie who moved to check the letters of decline. In the end, he still managed to put the pen down and laced his fingers before him.

"I, for one, cannot wait for so long. What is it that you cannot tell me as rawly as I wish for you to do so?"