The chaos in the castle continued for a quarter of an hour, but even after a total lockdown the perpetrator was not found.

On the other hand Alex was lying in his bed, deep asleep. In his mattress were hidden the documents he stole, but he had no doubt everyone would look for an intruder from outside. He also had no doubts the person will never be found – the guy was a Qi master at least at his father’s level.

Of course, the intruder planned everything nicely. They even picked the best possible time for the break-in when Alvaro Morales was still away, but the castle was already surrounded by hundreds of servants belonging to the other noble families.

There was no way to perform a serious investigation without invoking displeasure from some important people Morales family couldn’t afford to offend. Thus all Alex’s grandfather could do was to do a throughout search in the castle itself.

Even though he personally searched every nook and cranny, and even looked around Alex’s room giving his previous ‘offenses’, nothing was found. The only thing Esteban found out was the obvious – the way the robber left, but how he entered the castle was to remain a mystery forever.

The next evening, when Alvaro Morales returned in high spirits, he found everyone in the castle deeply depressed. If the first person he met wasn’t his father, he would’ve thought the old man had met his maker and the rest of the family mourned him.

After killing few servants in order to calm down, Alvaro had a lengthy discussion with Esteban. Unfortunately the only plan they could come up with was to prepare for someone to to try to blackmail them. Since they were not arrested, it was obvious that the perpetrator didn’t come from royal forces and was an independent third party. Unfortunately besides preparing ransom there was nothing they could do.

When during the next three days there were still no news, Morales castle slowly fell back to the usual routine and slowly began to forget the event. The only thing that was left was the feeling of unease the old Esteban felt.

Eleven days after the incident the last guest, the governor, arrived.

Even though Morales were nobles, they were not close to the royal family. In addition, the Navada region was far from the capital and thus the governor became the highest ranking guest. Obviously the man was to arrive the last and leave as the first afterwards.

Dressed in his usual attire – gray sleeveless shirt and trousers, Alex watched from his window the grand procession of the governor arriving on a tall white horse. His life would depend on the man and unwillingly he fell deep in thought playing out his next day’s performance over and over again.

Suddenly a knock on the door signaled a visitor.

“Mona?” Alex heard his mother’s voice, “May I speak with you, please?”

Few years ago when Alex got fed up with his mother continuously ‘parenting’ him in becoming a ‘reasonable’ noble young lady, he began to ignore her and even refused to communicate in any way. The situation continued for over a month until finally Emanuela gave in.

After a lengthy negotiations it was promised to Alex his bedroom would become his own sovereign territory without anyone being allowed in, but in return he would treat his mother ‘with the respect she deserves’. Thus, even though Alex was considered the ‘block-headed’ daughter and a general failure in his mother’s eyes, his room remained relatively private and safe.

In the preparation for the grand event, Emanuela had visited quite a few times, therefore without thinking much Alex invited her in. What surprised him was she didn’t come alone – there was another middle aged lady present, dressed in a similarly luxurious dress to the one his mother wore. She was about the same height as his mother, except her stature was more robust and hair was pitch black compared to his mother’s blond.

“Sigh, Mona …” The moment Emanuela saw him dressed like a boy and with the short, couple of centimeters long blond hair, she helplessly sighed, “All your sisters couldn’t wait for the big day … they would try on their wedding dresses, stand in front of the mirror and … sigh …”

“I promised you I’ll wear the dress for the wedding, didn’t I? If you have nothing more to say, please leave, I’m busy!” Alex said with the sweetest smile he could muster.

Even though he knew his mother for over eleven years, he still had no clue if she was truly this emotional or just an excellent actress. Either way he gave up on her long ago.

“Mona …” As expected, his mother was already almost in tears from Alex’s attitude, but then the other lady spoke.

“Ramona, I’m Mia Perez, Bernardo’s mother. Is it alright to speak to you in private?” She politely asked ignoring the mother-daughter theatrics.

“Nice to meet you.” Alex nodded, “It’s fine if it doesn’t take too long.”

Even though he had no wish to see anyone, at least until tomorrow he had to pretend to follow the proper etiquette.

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But madam Perez didn’t get offended by his dry tone. She gently patted Emanuela’s shoulder with a compassionate look and waited until she closed the door behind her. Only Alex and madam Perez were left alone in the room and stared at each other as if forming an assessment.

To Alex’s big surprise, the guest looked at him for a few seconds, but then glanced around the room and sat in one of the large chairs near the mirror.

“Madam Perez …” Alex was first to speak. He wanted to get this thing over with as soon as possible, but she interrupted.

“You can call me mother … or mom if you like it better. We’ll be a family soon you want it or not.” She said with a gentle smile doing her best to sound friendly.

“Seriously? You are in the rush to get in the same boat?” Alex loudly laughed pointing at the door and unceremoniously sat on the bed with his legs crossed.

“Uhmm …” Madam Perez slightly blushed glancing at the direction Alex pointed. Indeed, no woman would dream to be in Emanuela’s shoes right now.

“You have a point.” She quickly recovered and said, “You can call me Mia, if you like it better.”

But Alex only shrugged instead of answering.

Surprisingly madam Perez didn’t get offended. She observed Alex for a minute and then said, “Truth to be said, if I judged you from what can be observed on the surface, I would run from you the way my man and son did the first time you met.”

Since Alex didn’t respond, she continued her smile turning especially mysterious, “But we know your secret.”

“Oh, no!” Alex theatrically grabbed his head, loudly exclaiming, “Not my secret! What will I do now!”

“Come on, Ramona! Don’t play games with me.” Madam Perez said, still in the same gentle tone.

“Then what do you think you are doing here?” Alex laughed back, “I know you won’t go out sobbing, but you can leave empty handed if you continue like this.”

Obviously she came with a goal, but to try and play a smart grownup in front of him was a bad idea. Alex wouldn’t kick her in the face with her being woman and all that, but he could easily close his eyes and meditate until tomorrow noon when the ceremony starts.

Hearing Alex’s reply madam Perez finally turned serious.

She said, “We know you practice Qi. In fact, we know you are quite good as well. I came to offer you a deal that would benefit both parties greatly. Interested?”

“In that case, who exactly would be the other party?” Alex grinned back.

“Perez family, obviously.” She shrugged and seeing Alex beckoning her to talk, explained, “Up until now you have great difficulties practicing in secret. Not only you have no one to guide you, you have no access to any proper cultivation resources or manuals.”

After taking a pause as if letting Alex to digest the information, she continued, “We will provide you with all of it. Not only that, you will be free as a bird as well. Of course, outside the close family no one will know you are practicing Qi. Moreover – no one is allowed to know! In the whole kingdom the only female Qi master is the queen and even that is a secret. You would be the second.”

Alex stared back at her expressionlessly. If he actually was a little girl, he would be all ears – the beginning sounded really good. Clearly few ‘buts’ will follow, but to him was much more important another thing.

“Before I let you continue, I want a detailed explanation how you found out about my training.” He plainly said. Even if he was a bit rude, they were past the ‘regular’ etiquette anyway.

Madam Perez was awaiting this question. A satisfied smile flashed across her face as she said, “Sure. It was Cesar who noticed. My hotheaded husband and the clueless son were too muddleheaded to recognize a true gem behind that piece of cr… behind what you presented them last time. But your future uncle Cesar has a strange sense of humor – he allowed his brother to fume all the way home until he finally explained what transpired.”

“Cesar?” Alex furrowed his brows trying to remember anyone by that name.

“Yes, my husband’s brother. You met during the meal last time.” Madam Perez explained.

“Oh! That guy!” Alex remembered the man with the crooked nose, “I thought he was some kind of a pervert.”

“Him? Hahaha, no! But he is a bit weird, though. He is accomplished Qi master, much more skilled than both your father and grandfather combined.” Madam Perez said, “If you like, I can ask him to give you some pointers.”

“Let’s leave it for now.” Alex dismissed her idea, “You probably want something in return, right? Me being obedient, behaving like a lady? What else?”

Hearing Alex’s businesslike tone, madam Perez said, “That is a given. You obviously have to behave properly around people, we are not even discussing that. So, until the age of fifteen you will be able to practice Qi all you want – we’ll even provide you with a separate estate where you can train for the whole day without anyone disturbing you. Our condition is – you will give birth to two sons. Before that and afterwards – you can do whatever you want.”

Alex stared back at her in disbelief. Even though ‘on paper’ their idea was great, it was way too risky for the Perez family. Clearly they wanted him to bring to the world some kind of a Qi master prodigy or something. But to think for that chance they would risk a stranger come to their home and castrate their son on the wedding night? Or even if they drugged Alex and raped him, he could just poison the whole family afterwards instead of becoming obedient! Or just kill himself if he failed! Were these people really that stupid? Or just super confident in the abilities of that Cesar guy?

Seeing Alex showing no reaction, madam Perez wasn’t disappointed. Exactly the opposite – she smiled in deep satisfaction as if what she said left a deep impression on Alex.

Then she got up, but before leaving the room turned back and said, “The world is much wider than you could ever imagine! And you need someone backing you, otherwise you would remain a capricious little girl forever ... but don’t worry, Ramona, you will be a beautiful bride!”

Only when the door closed Alex came to his senses.

‘How f*cking stupid am I? She just talked to a kid! How the hell would I know if what she said was reasonable or not? I’ve never been a girl before!’ He got a little angry at himself.

While his thoughts were paradoxical with him actually being a girl currently, Alex decided to stop judging people for being morons from his point of view and learn how they interact with him on different occasions. He’ll be born who-knows how many times in the future and any experience might prove helpful in manipulating others.