Looking at the familiar emblem of the house that he used to serve, Drac didnt know what to think. He stared at the soldiers, none of them looked familiar to him. That was good news. But staying in a room, filled with them was akin to sitting on a bomb ready to explode.

He turned to the innkeeper, “It is too crowded here… By any chance do you have a room available, where my family and I could break bread in silence?”

The innkeeper looked troubled, “There is one room available which would be perfect for your family. But it costs 30 bronze a night,” then quickly added, “It is one of our more expensive rooms,”

He nodded, “Good. We will take it.” He fished a silver coin from his pocket and gave it to her, “Take this, bring our food to our room. And please take care of the little guy out there. He had a rough journey,”

The innkeeper looked surprised to see a silver coin, but then quickly nodded, “Understood. Please come this way, and I will escort you to your room,”

The innkeeper took them upstairs and gave them a room on the top floor. It was a rather large room, equipped with a fireplace, a toilet, and a bedroom. There was a sofa as well there, where he decided he would crash for the day.

It is as soon as the Innkeeper goes away, Victoria asks, “What are these people doing here?”

He shrugged, “Dont know. But their presence is indeed troubling,”

“And what happened to not showing off?” Hazel complained while planting her ass on the sofa, “You gave that woman a silver coin. Based on the clothes that you are wearing, she is bound to get suspicious,”

He sighed, “I sort of panicked there alright.. We cannot afford to get caught, not now especially when time is of the essence,”

“What now then?” Victoria asked.

“You two stay here. Those are the Marquis’s men. There might be a person among them who could potentially recognize you both. So, until all the things have been taken care of, you are supposed to stay here,”

“Well, it is not us who has his posters hand-delivered to every noble house of the kingdom,” Hazel said.

“Every noble house?” he asked rather curiously, he never thought that he would become such a sensation. Considering that there is no printing press in this world yet, and everything is either hand-drawn or handwritten. That is the case with his books as well. Which is why he was not expecting the queen to distribute so many posters of him.

“Well, it doesn't matter,” he said, “I have a beard. And if I were to cover my face, then I dont think anyone would be able to recognize me,”

“Won't the Sumor Soldiers would find it weird,” Victoria pointed out.

“That is the chance that we would have to take,” he said…

The dinner was a few minutes after they had settled in. Through their server, Drac made sure that their horse was taken care of. He then ordered the server boy to bring their trunks and two sacks of porridge grains from their cart. The trunks themselves were very heavy, as they were made of some sort of heavy and durable wood. By the time everything was brought up, the server was huffing and puffing crazily, for which he awarded the poor thing with 4 bronze coins.

And soon, they all settle in their respective place. He took the sofa, while the ladies occupied the bed inside.

That night, a lot was going through his mind. He was thinking about what his future held for him and about their journey when he sensed a movement from the corner of his eyes. He turned to see Victoria standing there, her body hidden behind the silky nightgown. He had forbidden her and Hazel to wear such things outside, but now, there was no reason to stop her.

“How am I looking?” Victoria asked.

He decided to say the truth, “Like a whore, trying to seduce a noble,”

The comment didnt offend her, instead made her smile. She came and sat down beside him, “Before getting my powers, it was people called me.. Terms like Vixen, seductress, whores… everything was used for me,”

“Why?” he asked curiously.

“Well… My late husband… He married me out of nowhere. I was a lowly daughter of a Baron, with no powers. While he was a widower, with a daughter who needed a mother. He thought that I would be the best candidate for the job, considering that I basically used to do everything for my siblings.”

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Were you the eldest?” he asked, it made sense as normally the older siblings take care of the youngest in most households of the world.

“Nope. But I was the child in the house with no potential. I was basically treated like a servant there. My husband thought that I would serve his daughter just fine,”

“Ah..” He didnt know what to say.

“He was a good man you know.. And Hazel… she is an angel. My husband treated me right, and so did my stepdaughter,”

To add something, he said, “Well, considering how close you both are… It is very hard to say that you are not mother and daughter,”

“We have been very close…” she mumbled. Then became silent, with tears forming in her eyes.

Tears? Wait, does it mean that I need to become a shoulder for her to cry on? Making him groan inwardly. But then, his mind did a quick math, and realized something crucial.

“You said,” he turned toward her, “People from Jonia's family used to call you,, names… And considering your age… When did you awaken again? When did you get your powers?”

“Three years ago..”

His eyes couldnt hide his surprise. He knew for a fact that mana wielders awaken their power around the time they hit puberty. That was the case with him, and everyone that he had known. There had been some cases of late bloomers that he had heard of, but he had never heard of cases such as hers.

He was about to ask her when he remembered a detail that was uncovered in his underground lab, which made him stop.

“Why you and Hazel were in the capital when your family was attacked?” he asked.

She turned towards him, “I… I wanted to.. Confess. I came to the capital to confess my crimes,”

“Of what?” he asked, in a rather cold tone. He let go of his persona at every second.

“Colluding..” She barely whispered, “I was giving information to Kaisel,”

His eyes widened with surprise, and then he asked about what he suspected, “You knew about me from the start, didnt you?”

She whispered, “Tara told me about you… A butler, who has been helping them cover the mess that Mikaila Sumor created,”

The gears and dials of his mind started spinning, he started connecting dots and realized something crucial, “Was your family killed because you were going to confess?”

“I didnt tell anyone,” she confessed. “I never told anyone about my intentions. But.. I think somehow they found out,” And then she silently started full-on crying.

He remained stoic. The gal on this woman.. I never would have taken her to be so bold to make a deal with those devils. It just doesn't make sense that with her personality she would shake hands… with them.

Drac put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. But, he couldnt shake off the feeling that there was something wrong here. Considering he had been reading the nature of humans for most of his life, he had gotten a good grasp on reading people. With the personality that Victoria had shown him in the past days, he would have never taken for a girl who could betray her family like that.

He had seen people that wore a mask in public, like him. But all the humans that he had met, let go of their masks at some point in the day. He had been keeping a very close eye on the mother and daughter duo, and never would he have imagined that Victoria pulled something like this.

Unless, he never saw the real her. Maybe, she is a sociopath like him. Because of the way she behaved, it seemed to him that she was truly happy on this journey. On the road, she acted and behaved like a woman, who had finally gained her freedom. She was free.

Why now? He thought, Why is she confessing her crimes to me right now? What triggered her to do so? It was not guilt, I never saw any tinge of guilt or sadness in her eyes in the past few days. So what prompted her to confess now?

The question also remained whether she knew the truth about his nature. He never really tried to hide it in front of the Ulaspas, so they all knew. But did she know? He needed more information.

“They gifted you a crystal?” He asked, “What kind of information did you provide them with?” He had read that the soul power in the red crystals could help a person awaken as well. But an artificially awakened person’s power would not go beyond two circles.

“I told them everything,” she said, “About my household, about the kingdom… About the fact, that my husband was working with a foreign Rune-Smith to build a mana-driven ship for our house,”

Hmm.. Interesting. Her husband was building the ship, so is this why she knows how to steer the ship? He thought.

“You didnt help them because they blackmailed you.” He said, “Dont worry about it. You probably did, what anyone in your place would have done,”

“You think so?” she looked at him.

As she was directly staring at him, he feigned that he was sad as well. She then moved closer to him and asked, “Why did you help them?”

With sadness in his eyes, he chuckled, “I helped them because I wanted recognition. I was like you before, I awakened. And when my father and siblings abandoned me, I just wanted some recognition. And I was willing to do anything for it,”

Victoria kept moving closer to him, as he spoke. Before he knew it, she was just some inches away from his face. “What made you realize that you made a big mistake?” she asked, with her eyes staring straight into his.

With now tears streaming down his face, he confessed, “When Mikaila… massacred 70 people, just to... appease her lust…” he said the first thing that came to his mind.

Before he knew it, Victoria moved closer to him, interlocking his lips with a passionate kiss…