Sorry guys, some RL stuff caused this chapter to be delayed. I'll try to be on time with the next chapter. 

With the auction concluded, the attendant led Marcus and Sophia to a waiting room so that they could claim their prize. Inside, there were two men and two women, all of whom radiated strength and power.

“Your highness, our South Sea auction house will provide your protection from now on,” one of the men said.

It would seem that these four would be Marcus’ new escorts. After offending the eldest son of the mayor, of course there was no way that Marcus and Sophia could continue to rely on the mayor’s guards. So Marcus dismissed them, and in truth, they seemed rather happy to leave.

“Marcus, I’ve been wondering about this for a while now. Why didn’t you bring any of your own guards?” Sophia asked. “Surely your father could have sent a few Mortal Soul Practitioners with you.”

Marcus simply turned to her and grinned. “What makes you think that he didn’t?”

Sophia suddenly felt the slightest trace of a bone-chilling aura that sent shivers down her spine. So that’s how it is, she thought. Of course the crown prince of a nation would have some sort of protection, but instead of sending a bunch of flashy soldiers, the king sent a hidden expert who specializes in stealth!

She couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly. The escorts had been mocking the prince all day, not the least bit aware that they had a knife to their throats the entire time!

…

The attendant called for a few servants bring in tea and snacks while they waited. In the meantime, Marcus and Sophia chatted with their new escorts.

They were delighted to find that these escorts were far more pleasant than the last ones. They were always respectful and treated Sophia with the same level of courtesy as Marcus.

“Ha-ha-ha, it was brilliant the way that you put that bastard in his place, your highness,” laughed one of the female escorts. “It’s about time that somebody took that arrogant little shit down a notch!”

Marcus grinned a little. “It was rather enjoyable,” he admitted. “Although, I hope that this doesn’t create too many problems further down the road.”

One of the men waved his hand dismissively. “The mayor isn’t nearly as powerful as he’d like to believe. You two are about to become disciples of South Sea academy. There’s no way that he’d be willing to risk offending them just to satisfy a grudge for his idiot son.”

The other female guard chuckled lightly. “In truth, the mayor’s eldest son is something of an embarrassment,” she added. “Despite all of the resources that his father provided, he turned out to be such a failure that he couldn’t even cut it as an outer disciple.”

“Outer disciple?” Sophia turned to Marcus for an explanation.

“Sophia, people who attend a magus academy are divided into outer disciples, inner disciples, and conclave disciples. Outer disciples are basically just regular students. Anybody can become one as long as they have enough money or talent, but they don’t really have any connection to the academy itself and will only be permitted to learn the most basic spells and techniques. Inner disciples on the other hand receive the full support of the academy. They’ll have access to superior spells, treasures, and resources, and the academy will often intercede on their behalf. Basically, an academy won’t really care much about outer disciples, but offend an inner disciple and you offend the academy itself!”

Sophia spent a moment processing Marcus’ words. So as long as I can become an inner disciple, I won’t need to worry about exposing my Vast Ocean Spirit Realm.

“What about conclave disciples?” she asked after a while.

As soon as she said it, Marcus and the four guards got a dreamy look in their eyes.

“Conclave disciples are the elites,” Marcus said, “the best of the best. They’re the ones that an academy grooms to be the next generation leaders. They’re the ones that, in the future, will have the best chance of becoming Heavenly Soul Grandmasters!”

Sophia scratched her head for a moment before hesitantly asking “is becoming a Heavenly Soul Grandmaster really that hard?”

Everyone in the room suddenly looked at her like she was an idiot.

“Sophia, becoming a Heavenly Soul Grandmaster is ridiculously difficult! Only a few ever appear in each generation, and each one is a legendary genius, without exception!”

“I see.” Sophia decided that she’d definitely need to learn more about Heavenly Soul Grandmasters once she reached South Sea academy.

“Excuse me.” A voice from the doorway drew everyone’s attention.

A servant entered the room with the succubus girl in tow. She was even more alluring up close, causing the two male bodyguards to turn red. To their credit though, they showed no other signs of being influenced, at least proving that they possessed more self-control than the mayor’s guards.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

The servant bowed to Marcus and held out a jade slip. “Your highness, the demon has been marked with a slave crest. This jade slip contains the other half of the crest which will allow you to control her. All you need to do is bind it with your Spiritual Energy and the crest will be transferred to you.”

Marcus shook his head and gestured to Sophia. “He’ll be this demon’s master.”

The servant looked at Marcus strangely for a moment before nodding and handing the jade slip over to Sophia.

“Marcus, are you sure about this?” Sophia asked. “You paid a lot of money for her after all.”

Marcus just laughed and waved his hand dismissively. “Ha-ha, I only bought her to satisfy my conscience and to throw my weight around a little. Besides, it’s about time that you got a few servants of your own.”

Sophia smiled and decided not to argue anymore. In truth, this was the outcome that she had hoped for. Although Marcus was too young to have any interest in women now, once he reaches adolescence there’s no way that he’d be able to resist the charms of a succubus.

Sophia took the jade slip and infused some of her Spiritual Energy. Almost instantaneously, a magical diagram appeared on the back of Sophia’s hand, linking her soul to the soul of the succubus. She could tell that, with a flick of her thoughts, she could punish or even kill the demon on a whim. It made her feel… dirty.

Ugh, I’m getting rid of this thing as soon as I can! Sophia found the very idea of having so much control over another living being abhorrent. Even on Earth, slavery had never been maintained through such insidious means.

The succubus still trembled slightly, but her eyes showed a trace of relief. She was actually relieved to have Sophia as her master. Sophia didn’t want to judge other cultures for their customs, but this whole situation felt so fundamentally wrong that she decided to add eliminating slavery to her ever-growing to-do list.

“What’s your name?” Sophia asked the succubus.

“My name is Evangeline, my lady,” the succubus said dipping into a graceful curtsy. “If it displeases you, you may call me whatever you wish.”

Sophia shook her head. “Your name is a precious gift from your parents. You should treasure it.”

Evangeline curtsied again. “As you say, my lady.”

“Um, Evangeline,” Marcus interjected, “although Sophia has a feminine name, he’s actually a boy. So it isn’t appropriate to refer to him as ‘my lady.’”

In an instant, the room went silent.

…oh crap, Sophia thought. I didn’t really want him to find out this way, but I guess the jig is up.

“Sophia?” Marcus turned to her in confusion. Everyone was staring at him as if there was something wrong with his brain. Clearly, there was some kind of misunderstanding, and he was waiting for her to clear it up. But Sophia simply stood there and said nothing.

Eventually… “Pfft! Pahahaha!” Sophia burst out laughing. “Oh man! You should see the look on your face! PRICELESS! Hahaha!”

“S-Sophia?!” Marcus was even more confused than before. “What’s going on?!”

“Whew,” Sophia finally calmed down and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “Oh come on Marcus. Did you really think that I was actually a boy? I mean, my name is Sophia! Of course I’m a girl!”

“W-Wha?!” Marcus was reduced to stuttering. “B-But, you t-told me that story! The one about your mom-

“I totally made that up!” 

The big reveal was going even better than Sophia had hoped. Marcus was completely dazed and confused. We’ll be laughing about this for years to come! She thought. 

"..." 

"..." 

“...Why?”

“Eh? What do you- 

“WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO ME!?”