From the moment Grace’s eyes fell upon Alicia, her brain hanged for an entire second. This was a huge matter for an Origin Level 3 transcendent like her. This just showed her shock at the current situation.
Studied till too late last night? Hah, what kind of studying is this? Biology?
The other Sorofyas’ retainers standing behind her were stunned as well. Everyone’s eyes were centered on the unkempt silver-haired beauty that had just walked out from Roel’s bedroom, and naturally, the latter also noticed their gazes too.
Alicia calmly turned her gaze over, and confusion flickered in her eyes when she caught sight of the unfamiliar faces around her. With an air reminiscent of the mistress of the manor, she turned to Anna and enquired elegantly.
“Anna, they are…?”
“Miss Alicia, they are guests from the Sorofya House, Miss Charlotte’s aides.”
Anna was also put in an awkward position from the current turn of events. She quickly stepped forward to block Grace’s line of sight before struggling to explain the matter with a forced smile.
“Allow me to introduce you to Miss Alicia of the Ascart House. She’s the young master’s younger sister, and the two of them are on good terms with one another. They often spend their time reading together at night.”
“Younger sister? Reading together at night?”
When Grace heard that the silver-haired girl was Roel Ascart’s younger sister, she couldn’t help but widen her eyes in disbelief. Her heart was screaming out retorts.
Are you kidding me? They are siblings, and yet they… This is preposterous!
Grace shot another glance at Alicia, who was busy trying to tidy up her clothes in order to conceal the ‘marks’ on her body, and she felt like her mind was going to blow up.
She was aware that Carter had adopted Alicia as his daughter—this was written in the Sorofyas’ investigation reports on the Ascart House. While it was true that Roel and Alicia weren’t blood-related, that still didn’t change the fact that they were siblings! How could they mess around like that?
This unnatural relationship between Roel and Alicia, in Grace’s view, was a deal-breaker. Such a matter was definitely unacceptable. As a reflection of how she was feeling at the moment, her face turned chilly.
The servants of the Ascart House quickly attempted to cover over the matter.
“Young miss, you must be exhausted after reading last night, right? Do you want to return back to your room to rest for a while longer?”
“Alright, Anna. Lord Brother is still sleeping at the moment. I shall be returning to my room first.”
“Yes, young miss.”
Without bothering to look at Grace and the other Sorofyas’ retainers, Alicia left the area under the cover of the Ascarts’ maids without buttoning her shirt properly. Grace stared at her departing silhouette, and she noticed that there was something off with her gait.
W-wait a moment, they can’t have really done that, right? But, that child doesn’t look too old. Is it really possible for them to do it at such a young age?
Grace felt her head getting more and more muddled. She felt like an adult looking at a bunch of teenagers messing around. The first emotion that came to her was incredulity.
Could it just be a bad sleeping posture or something? No matter how I look at it, such a preposterous matter couldn’t possibly occur!
Grace struggled to find an excuse for this in her mind, but in truth, her opinion of the Ascart House had fallen all the way down to the bare bottom. A huge minus had crossed out all of the pluses she had on her checklist.
She first took in a deep breath to calm her emotions.
It was true that the Ascarts had been doing well recently, and its long history was a huge plus too, but the fact that Roel had gotten involved with his adopted sister left her with the impression that the Ascarts weren't as upright as they seemed.
It looks like there’s a need to reassess the current state of affairs in the Ascart House.
While Grace was swiftly re-evaluating the situation, the Ascarts’ servants quickly cleaned up the mess. Alicia was escorted off by the maids while Anna led the Sorofyas’ retainers around the manor to familiarize them with the environment.
Fortunately, the rest of the schedule proceeded rather smoothly. They first took a look at the dining room and the state of the kitchen before proceeding on to confirm the menu for the meeting. After that, they sat down and discussed the various taboos that their respective masters ought to take note of for the meeting.
During a short break time, Grace shot a glance at the patrolling guards, and a slight furrow formed between her brows. Shortly after entering the manor, she had already noticed something weird about the Ascarts’ guards—there were two different sets of armor amongst the guards. This suggested that the guards were operating under separate chains of command.
This was unusual.
Guards of a noble house were expected to work closely with one another in order to uncover threats. Having two separate chains of command here only created lapses in coordination, making the job harder than it should be.
Grace was in charge of Charlotte’s safety, so she was particularly sensitive toward such details. She enquired about it, but unexpectedly, she received a shocking answer.
“This is a gift from Her Highness Nora when the young master returned to the Ascart Fiefdom two years ago. It represents the deep bond of friendship they shared,” said Anna as she gestured toward the royal guards.
Anna’s casualness showed that she was already used to this, but Grace found it hard to accept this in a moment’s time. Even though Grace had heard beforehand that the Xeclydes had invoked an old promise and become Roel Ascart’s protector, she didn’t think that they would go so far as to mobilize their armies for him.
Putting all aside, just the close relations between the Xeclydes and the Ascarts meant that the Sorofyas had much to earn from this political marriage.
Of course, it was impossible for the Sorofyas to obtain a position of nobility or a fief in the Theocracy, but there were many ways that an influential noble house in the Theocracy could provide advantages to them. For one, the Ascarts could potentially propose policies that promoted trade between the Theocracy and the Rosa Merchant Confederacy.
It was for the exact same reason that Bruce Sorofya married Charlotte’s mother.
If Roel Ascart could go beyond his fief to influence the policies of the Theocracy to be more favorable toward Rosa, the Sorofyas would definitely gain much from it.
The profits that they earned out of it would then be attributed to Charlotte’s credit, giving her greater say within the house. In fact, there was a good chance that she could gain full control over the Sorofya House with such leverage in her hands.
From such a perspective, Roel Ascart was indeed one of the best marriage candidates for Charlotte. Grace had no choice but to give another tick to Roel in her mental checklist.
With this, her investigation was roughly finished.
After the break, the group moved over to the lounge to conduct an inspection of the refurbishment.
Nobles tended to collect all sorts of oddities and put them on display, so it wasn’t uncommon for there to be an artifact or two that left guests feeling a little uncomfortable. The Ascarts didn’t showcase anything particularly odd, but it did have quite a sizeable collection of swords.
Grace pointed out that the swords that were used by the generals of the Austine Empire would be a little insensitive, considering Rosa’s history with Austine. To which Anna expressed her understanding regarding it and promised to stow those weapons back into storage before the meeting.
So, Grace continued to take a look around the place, but her attention was swiftly captured by the object placed at the direct center of the room. It was a silver short sword shaped in the form of a feather, and its lustrous blade emanated a divine white glow. It felt like a holy weapon.
Grace had seen her fair share of powerful weapons back at Rosa, but even so, she couldn’t conceal her shock when standing in the presence of this weapon. Her sharp senses as an Origin Level 3 transcendent allowed her to vividly sense the unusual pulsation of power coming from the short sword. The mysterious, ancient air that surrounded it compelled her to inquire about its origin.
“You’re asking about that short sword over there? It’s part of the Theocracy’s famed Twelve Wings, and it’s known as Ascendwing. The royal family bestowed it to the young master back then, so that he could protect himself,” explained Anna proudly.
“I see. So it’s that legendary weapon…”
All of a sudden, Grace felt that the Theocracy was far more enigmatic than she had imagined. She was just about to add another tick on her checklist when Ascendwing suddenly released a brilliant outburst of light.
A beautiful figure started to form from the divine white light. In the short span of a few seconds, a ravishing golden-haired girl with sapphire eyes came into appearance, leaving Grace stunned.
Having worked at the Sorofya House for many years, Grace had seen all sorts of people. She couldn’t even keep count of the royals and nobles she had seen on Ausier Street, but rarely could anyone stun her with their appearance.
To draw a comparison, if her young miss was the embodiment of nobility, and the silver-haired girl named Alicia was the embodiment of loftiness, then the golden-haired girl standing before her would be the embodiment of magnanimity. She gave off the air of a ruler that naturally drew others to her, compelling their loyalty.
And as the truth would have it, Grace’s intuition was spot-on.
“Good afternoon, Your Highness.”
After the initial astonishment, Anna calmly paid her greetings to the golden-haired girl. The revelation of the latter’s identity left the Sorofyas’ retainers in a panic. The Ascarts’ servants bowed down respectfully, and the flustered Grace and the others quickly followed suit.
“Good afternoon, Anna. As always, it’s a pleasure to see you. Where’s Roel?”
“The young master worked too hard last night, so he’s still in his slumbers.”
“Oh? I shall look for him personally then. I do look forward to having fun with him today.”
The golden-haired girl was holding a chain-linked leash and collar with one hand, and the other was placed on her flushed cheek. There was a smile filled with anticipation and predatory desire on her lips.
It was such a shocking sight that the Sorofyas’ retainers froze in place.
They are going to play with a leash?
It was then that Grace’s brain stalled for the second time that day. Her bulging eyes were fixated on Nora, who hadn’t seemed to have noticed their presence, and she felt like the limits of her tolerance was being challenged here.
I-is this the truth behind the favor the Xeclydes bestowed on the Ascarts? Who could have thought that the offspring of the Ascart House would actually be pimping himself out to the Theocracy’s princess! No, a pimp would be putting it lightly… He was no more than a boy toy!
Just the thought of the young miss’ fiancé being no more than a dog raised by the Theocracy’s princess was enough to send shivers running down Grace’s spine. She couldn’t accept this terrifying reality.
O’ great Sia, I dare not believe that… Wait a moment, isn’t this too coincidental?
A spark suddenly flashed across Grace’s mind as she noticed that there was something rather suspicious about all of this. Her eyes narrowed sharply, and she began to doubt everything that had happened thus far.
This isn’t right. It has only been a few hours since I entered the Ascarts’ manor, and yet, I managed to dig up so much dirt on them? Is this an attempt to mislead me?
Grace suddenly remembered one of the red flags for espionage missions.
If a spy were to obtain a huge amount of crucial intelligence shortly after infiltrating the enemy base, there was a good chance that the enemy was voluntarily giving it out.
With this thought in mind, Grace raised her wariness up a notch. She discreetly scanned the expressions of the Ascarts’ servants present carefully, but gradually, she began losing confidence in her own judgment.
The de facto leader of the Ascarts’ servants, Anna, was trying her best to maintain a smile, although it appeared a little strained, which was understandable under the current circumstances. As for the other servants standing behind her, they were trying their best to maintain a straight face, and from time to time, they would sneak a fretful glance toward the Sorofyas’ retainers.
Having seen everything up to this point, Grace could only shake her head and sigh in disappointment.
It looks like I’m thinking too much into it. It’s one thing if it’s just one of them, but is it really possible for all of them to put on such a convincing act?
The Ascarts’ servants would have to go through military counter espionage training to actually put on such an act, but how could that be possible? Even prominent noble houses wouldn’t go to such an extent.
Realizing that her deduction was wrong, Grace’s heart became incredibly heavy.
She turned her gaze back to the golden-haired girl standing in front of her, and she further affirmed her thought. She couldn’t even begin to fathom the Theocracy’s princess lowering herself just to put on an act before a servant like her.
Under Grace’s stare, Nora also noticed that something was off. She turned to Anna and asked.
“I have never seen them before. Who are they?”
“They are our guests, the retainers of the Sorofya House.”
Out of Grace’s sight, Anna and Nora traded a smiling gaze with one another as they carried on the act.
Comments