After killing Henry, we did one urgent thing: show all the guards that Henry was dead and that Emily was alive.
Now it was obvious who held the power and who their employer was, so they were quickly subdued.
Some soldiers remained — those who knew Henry's scheme. Most guards and soldiers didn't know everything. Surprisingly, Emily forgave them.
The next day we sat in the office of the head of the Viscount's family.
Emma asked, "So what are your plans now?"
Emily replied, pondering, "Well, informing the capital of Henry's death takes priority, so I can gain full control as quickly as possible."
Lucas said, "Leaving those soldiers involved might not have been a good idea."
Emily smiled and replied, "Oh, I am not leaving them. Slowly I will find evidence of what Henry was going to do and destroy it. Then I will send the involved soldiers on missions one by one — missions from which they will never return."
Emma frowned. "Since when did you become so calculating?"
We all had the same thought in our hearts but no courage to say it aloud.
Emily looked sad and replied, "I know you're all thinking the same. But thanks to someone I was able to understand the importance of life, and even if I need to take cruel steps, I am ready for them."
All Claw members' heads snapped toward me. I felt like I had seen this scene before.
Emily continued, looking at me now, "It's not like every problem is solved. Many things remain to think about — like the successor of this family." After that last sentence she winked at me.
Emma narrowed her eyes and looked at me suspiciously. "Sir, we are already late. We should leave," she said.
Emily laughed and continued, "But thank you, Adrian. Thanks to you I can live well. Please visit again — I will show you around the city, the mansion, my bedroom…" She was growing bolder and bolder.
Emma looked at me like I was about to jump on her sister any moment. As for me — Emily, at thirty, still looked so beautiful that I don't know what Henry was thinking. She was in fact more beautiful than Eleanor and had a mature vibe. I needed to leave.
I announced, "Alright everyone, let's go. I'm already late," and started leaving like I was running away. Emma gave her farewell and we left the city.
But something was wrong....her intentions they weren't happy. It didn't even change much.
She was anxious...why is she afraid?
Is it what's to come because now she have a lot to do and no one to support?
Well I can't tell so I will leave. I helped how much I could.
---
After we left, Emily was sitting in the office chair when a shadowy figure entered through the door.
Emily shook heavily but upon seeing who entered calmed.
If anyone else had seen him they would have thought he was an assassin, but Adrian recognized the "vulture" symbol: this was a member of an organization that had dealings with the Viscount.
The man said standing " You are always anxious when he might come. It's amusing really."
Emily glared
He sat in the chair and said, "The Viscount is dead. I was thinking of controlling this land, but my plan got ruined."
Emily looked at the man and said, "Your plan? It was mine."
The man laughed. "Well, I don't care. Since the plan failed…"
Emily replied, "After my father died I saw no value in looking like a good wife. So I slowly hypnotized Henry. Then, a year ago, I made him fall for Eleanor. I thought I would make myself look dead."
The man interrupted, "But it all got ruined."
Emily sighed. "I never expected Eleanor would die like that. I had no choice. If I had known, I would have hypnotized that boy."
The man laughed. "But now you can do my work, so it's all good."
Emily said, "It becomes hectic — that's why I was doing that. I could have killed Henry myself. If I'd known this would happen, I wouldn't have killed my son."
For those who haven't caught up: Emily and this man are both executives of this organization, whose goals are not good.
Emily asked, "So you brought information about Adrian?"
The man tossed a file and said, "Here's the report."
Emily started reading it. "Oh — so his merchant family is in trouble. Interesting. And the one pulling strings is Duke Richard Medici, the Duke of the North of the Star Kingdom. He is researching the effects of demons on humans."
Then Emily looked at the man and asked, "What about that teleportation? There's nothing in the report about that. It wasn't normal."
The man sighed and replied, "It wasn't something to write in the report. I looked in the organization's library and found a description — at least the closest thing. It's called Nature Force."
Emily looked shocked and repeated, "Nature Force?"
The man said, "Yes. We don't know how they are made, but the leading theory is that Nature itself creates them. Thus there are a few around the world. Being lucky isn't enough to describe how difficult it is to find one. Since it's a gift of Nature, it's hundreds of times more powerful than human spells."
Emily sighed. "That I saw personally. Well, keep an eye on him. But don't use too many resources — he isn't a priority."
---
In the dukedom of the Duke of the North, in his office, the Duke sat reading reports on the Lewin family members. "So one is going around selling and another is still traveling. But this report also mentioned experiments on demon effects on humans."
The Duke asked the man standing behind him like a statue — the captain of his personal knights — "What do you think I should do? If I inform the king about these experiments, depending on the results so far, he might help them. They wouldn't have to sell anything more and would have security. More nobles would invest too, so the economic crisis would be solved. But all my efforts might be wasted. They might not succeed, and then my losses won't benefit the kingdom."
For the first time, the knight Edward Payens replied, "We should kill them quickly, starting with the current head Adrian Lewin. Since we have spies around Belhart Lewin, killing Adrian Lewin takes priority." A short, clear answer explaining the order — that's what the Duke liked about him. He wouldn't say more unless the matter was grave.
The Duke asked again, "And how should we go about it?"
The knight thought and suggested, "My discipline is now S-Rank. We should give this task to him."
The Duke nodded, then called the butler through a magical device. Just outside the door the butler entered immediately and inquired, "Master, is there something you need?"
The Duke nodded and ordered, "Summon Relliks Black."
The butler left quickly and returned with a handsome young man. He looked strict and like an ideal of discipline in appearance. Relliks Black bowed. "You summoned me, master?"
The Duke remained silent and let his knight speak for him. "I require you to assassinate the current head of the Lewin merchant family, Adrian Lewin."
Relliks, like most in the Star Kingdom, knew who the Lewin merchant family was. He asked, "Should I leave immediately?"
The knight shook his head. "We don't yet know his exact whereabouts. When we do, we will inform you."
The discipline nodded and asked, "By any chance do you have blood of the head or any family member?"
The knight asked, "Why?"
The discipline smiled unexpectedly and said proudly, "I have the treasure of the nameless dwarf. The treasure can find him if I have his blood or a relative's."
The butler interjected, "But isn't the nameless dwarf's creation said to be defective?"
The Duke chuckled and replied, "He wouldn't be famous if that were the case. In fact, every royal family must have at least one of his creations in their treasury. Now he is dead, so those who don't know any better say that the truth is: he realized nothing can be too powerful, so he himself created restrictions. In exchange, his treasures are very powerful within those restrictions."
Relliks Black nodded and continued the explanation, "Like my treasure — it can find anyone no matter how strong. Other devices fail when the target is too strong. But in exchange, if the target knows and wishes, he can't be found. Even if the target is a baby, we can't find him. Though this sounds easy, only he could do this."
The Duke thought and told the butler, "Don't we have the corpse of one of his uncles? Bring blood from the corpse."
The butler went away. The knight frowned and said, "But how will the treasure decide who it finds — Belhart or Adrian?"
Relliks replied, "It will randomly choose one. If you have a general idea who it points to, we can reset it until it points to the one we need. However, the first result will be whoever is closer."
The Duke said, "Then first it points to will be Belhart." Soon the butler brought the blood. The blood was used and the treasure activated. The result surprised everyone.
The knight Edward frowned. "Why is it directly pointing to Adrian?"
The Duke remained silent, then said, "We don't need to care about the juicy family drama. Just go and kill the current head."
Relliks nodded and asked to leave.
---
Meanwhile, ignorant of Emily's mask and the danger closing in, I continued on my way.