What no one in Morales castle expected was the arrival of the messenger from Perez family half a month later informing the head of the family, baron Alvaro Morales, about the intent of Bernardo Perez, the heir of the Perez family, to officially propose. The full delegation would arrive in two months and it was expected for Morales to provide the appropriate reception.

Both Alvaro and his father read the message dozens of times over and over trying to understand the underlying implications. Neither politically nor economically it made any sense! Without asking for any compensation Perez’s offered to take that damned vixen off their hands! Obviously it would strengthen the current partnership even more, but the question was ‘why?’!

From the looks of it there were some undercurrents they were not aware of and both immediately decided to perform a detailed investigation. Meanwhile Alvaro would find a pretense and cross the mountain range in south east to pay visit to the future in laws. Maybe after drinking few jugs of wine with baron Hector Perez he could find out more.

Alex was also informed about the upcoming proposal and was shocked not less than his elders. One had to note that the marriage between the nobles in Hallancia kingdom was no small matter. The traditions were centuries old and the rules were strictly set.

First of all, the two parties would already previously agreed on the marriage itself and the following events were only a technical, but extremely entertaining formality. Both sides would invite an enormous amount of guests – aristocrats, scholars and even royalties. People would flock from nearby regions and use this time to have fun, establish contacts and do business as well.

While the goal of the event was for the hosts to show off and for the guests to have fun, everything had to go ‘by the book’. After the guests – lords, barons, viscounts and marquess were gathered, the groom would arrive in a huge entourage, bringing expensive gifts to the bride’s family. The blushing bride would accept them and the two week long celebrations would begin – the dames would flaunt their dresses and gather in batches to gossip while men would hunt and often compete in riding and archery skills.

The crowd would drink and eat for several days until the last guest left and afterwards the couple would be finally considered married. Since the bride now belonged to her husband’s family, she would be brought away only to visit her childhood home on special occasions.

Alex knew of this tradition very well – he experienced it during the three weddings his sisters had. In a ‘regular’ situation he would embrace such event, but he didn’t intend to become an eleven year old bride. Unfortunately he could not act in front of several hundred nobles like he did a couple of weeks ago in the courtyard.

Luckily the storm that went through the castle had mostly calmed down. Dozens of servants disappeared without a trace, but Alex didn’t care about it. What he noticed was that there was no one watching over him. Indeed, since the incident he behaved well, but it was an unlikely reason for Alvaro to suddenly trust him.

The best explanation Alex could think of was that they actually caught few spies thus cleansing the castle and there was no one left who could ‘badly influence’ him. In addition, after the marriage deal was finalized, daughters of any family succumbed to their fate and Alex, being an eleven year old, was expected to do exactly that.

Alex’s suspicions were verified when he was visited by his mother and grandfather for several days straight and had to listen to long lectures about how his life would change and how he had no choice, but to learn to be obedient since he had no more backing. In the end Alex finally pretended to give in, wore a dress and a blond wig and practiced the proper etiquette at the table – the aspect of a noble’s life he completely ignored up until now.

Him being reasonable almost completely untied his hands and the fact that his father was absent allowed him to freely move around the castle. Of course, Alex did his best to look crushed and devastated and that also helped his cause – people began to ignore and even avoid him.

Unfortunately there was a complication in his plans – while he could move inside the castle freely, the outside was strictly guarded. The previous events made Morales family weary of anyone suspicious, thus he had no chance of climbing the castle’s walls unnoticed even during the night.

That only left Alex with one option – to enter his father’s library through the door. The lives of the two trusted guards didn’t matter to him much, in fact, since he learned about the reincarnation being a fact, no lives really mattered to him, even his own. Thus Alex began to prepare for the first robbery – up until now he considered himself a harmless burglar and it was finally the time for an advancement in his carrier.

The most difficult part was the wait. Normally Alex had to investigate the target location, observe the guards, find weaknesses and then make plans. This time he already knew everything he needed and only had to wait for the last day before his father’s return to strike.

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Meanwhile the castle was busy. Both Morales and Perez families already sent out tens of invitations and one after another representatives of the guests arrived. Their task was to prepare the arrival of their masters – to erect lavish tents for the guests to stay in and install facilities for their convenience.

Since this was not the first marriage in the Morales castle during the recent years, the process went smooth both for the hosts and the guests. Everyone used the previously allocated spots and without any incidents a small, but luxurious village formed in front of the Morales castle, right next to their picturesque garden. The fact that it was currently late spring made the whole venue look more beautiful with most flowers in full bloom.

Alex observed the servants busying themselves around the many colorful tents from his window, deep in thoughts. Once again he went over the whole plan – from the moment he’ll step outside his bedroom door tonight, till the time his family members will get arrested few days later. Alex repeated the process in his mind few more times and then went back to cultivation – him keeping a calm mind during the action was the key since this will be more of an oral battle between actors.

It was quite realistic for Alvaro and Esteban actually to get imprisoned or executed. Both Morales and Perez families had their backings in the royal circles, but the accusations Alex intended to bring forth could not be shrugged off easily. And while the two families will deal with those, he intended to disappear. In addition, the several hundred people arriving during the next days should make the whole process easier.

The sky was already dark when Alex slowly opened his bedroom door and peaked behind it. The spacious hallway was dark and spooky, but after not noticing any signs of life Alex stepped on the soft carpet outside. He inwardly snickered at the habit of the silly aristocrats to decorate the floors with woven fabric only to make his job easier.

It was expensive, impractical and served only to elevate the ego of the owners who, in fact, rarely saw the carpets themselves. Of course, Alex considered living in a castle impractical as well.

He soundlessly ran through the hallways while trying to remain as close to the walls as possible. Mostly it was unnecessary since his black outfit was not noticeable at all and the previously shoulder long blonde hair had not grown back yet.

During the past days Alex walked around the castle looking all downcast and sighing, but when no one was around he kept smearing butter on the hinges of every door connecting the hallways. This part of preparation now became really handy.

Even though his father’s library was on the opposite wing of the castle, without making the slightest noise like an agile monkey’s ghost Alex arrived within a minute. Seeing the two bored guards quietly chatting at the door, he tightened his grip on the umbrella shaft.

This was good and bad at the same time. According to their orders, one of the guards should have patrolled the hallway while the other guard the door. Alex was confident in his ability to deal with a regular Qi warrior by ambushing them, but with two?

After stopping for a split second he threw the disturbing thoughts out of his mind. This was his trial by blood!

With a wide grin, Alex slowly approached the two unsuspecting guards unnoticed by staying close to the wall. When he was not more than three meters away, without pausing he dashed towards the two men and in a lightning speed performed two thrusts. Afterwards, mostly out of habit, he retreated back to his original position only to see the two lifeless bodies fall to the floor.

Alex felt his heart beating as if it could jump out of his chest at any moment – he just murdered someone for the first time and for some reason found the feeling exhilarating. Of course, he killed the thirty-ish chosen in the college, but he didn’t really count them, because those bastards died in flames and not by his hand.

After taking a deep breath, Alex fully exhaled and concentrated once again – it was just the beginning. He carefully pushed one of the guards to the side and gently pressed the door handle.

He had not visited the library in a couple of years and was not certain if the door would squeak, but luckily it didn’t make any sound. Alex opened it just enough for him to pass through and slipped in, but then immediately froze in shock.

Next to his father’s table with few papers in hand stood another person, dressed all in black. The only thing Alex could discern in the darkness were the person’s eyes, since the face was covered with a black mask as well. The two people stared at each other for a second in surprise and then the person at the table moved first. They took two quick steps towards the window, but at that moment Alex also finally reacted.

He loudly whistled two times in succession, raising the alarm and charged towards the intruder who blurted a curse under his nose and disappeared through the window. Alex, on the other hand, jumped towards the father’s desk and kicked the top away. He knew where the documents the intruder was looking for were and, after meeting them, immediately adjusted his own plans.

This was a unique opportunity Alex didn’t intend to pass on – he could pin the deed on someone else while maintaining the complete innocence! The only thing he needed was to act fast.

After breaking the table, from the hidden drawer at the top he grabbed a small, approximately two palms wide book in a leather cover and a tightly tied up bundle of letters. Then he scattered the rest of the papers found in the lower drawers on the floor and dashed towards the door.

Approximately five seconds had passed and he had at best five more to disappear. Alex already heard the shouts and footsteps of the guards in the distance, but that only meant he only had a couple of seconds left. Without a second thought, he performed the most trivial evasive maneuver possible – he hid behind the door between hallways and a split second later the strongest Qi master in the castle charged by, roaring in fury. Esteban Morales just noticed the two lifeless guards on the hallway floor and verified it has not been a false alarm.

Alex, on the other hand, silently vanished into the other hallway.