“I thought something happened to you, my lady!” Sofia hugged Eva tight, sobbing.

“Alright, alright, I was late. I apologize.”

“It has been almost four hours!” The maid pried her face away from Eva, her eyes about to burst into tears. “If something happened to you… how would I be able to repay you?”

Eva patted Sofia’s head. Her maid was an orphan she recruited when she was young. Eva knew best that her maid gave nothing but her all since she entered her circle, so there was nothing to repay in her eyes.

“Just you being here by my side is already enough,” Eva said, smiling.

“My lady… Such kind words are wasted on me,” Sofia sniffed, wiping tears off her face.

Eva let Sofia calm down, silently comforting her, and after a moment of silence, the maid’s eyes widened as if she just recalled something, and she said quickly, “M-my lady, when you were gone for about an hour, I went out to buy food in case you would be hungry, and I ran into another servant. He told me that his lordship is looking for you. We need to hurry.”

“My father?” Eva released Sofia and clenched her fists unknowingly, her eyes reduced to a glare. “Let’s depart, then. We don’t want to keep him waiting.”

In front of the Vallou Estate stood a pair of maids. Eva recognized them as two of her father’s personal maids. They were tall and graceful, people Eva used to look up to when she was young, but now that she had grown and developed her intuition, she could tell that these two were dangerous.

“Welcome back, Lady Eva,” they chorused, bowing. “Please follow us.”

Eva nodded. The two maids straightened up almost unnaturally, with their movements too precise and calculated like dancers who took into account every detail. One of them glanced at Sofia. “Good work getting the lady here. You can go now.”

“I am my lady’s personal maid. I go where she wills it.”

“Not when his lordship wills otherwise,” snapped the other maid.

Sofia looked at Eva, uncertain. It was strange how they wouldn’t allow her personal maid near the study. Was there something her father didn’t want her maid to hear?

“You may rest, Sofia,” Eva said, and her maid hesitantly bowed before walking away and occasionally glancing back. The two maids then led Eva to the manor’s study, a grand room in the heavily guarded zone where the most important businesses were done.

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Eva entered.

Sitting behind a wide desk full of papers was the earl of Vallou, Thalis Vallou. He was an ordinary-looking, middle-aged man with midnight hair and golden eyes. It was said that the ancestor of the earldom was a breathtaking woman who commanded attention everywhere she went with her lustrous golden hair, therefore, every generation of Vallou would try to sire a child as similar to her as possible.

Thalis Vallou was not one of them. He was born with black hair which was regarded as bad luck in the family, but even with that disadvantage, he became the lord with his scheming mind and ruthless ideology, getting rid of his competitors one by one until there was no one left but him. Eva had no doubt that her late mother was not fond of him.

“You’re here. Sit,” he said, squaring a stack of paper in his hands and putting it away, though he never looked up.

“Yes, my lord.” Eva strode up to the chair with grace and sat. “May I know why my lord asked for me?”

He glanced at Eva for a brief second before continuing with his paperwork. “Eva, I will be brief. You are already at a marriageable age, so I have already prepared your partner for you. He’s—“

“The young Marquis Minos, am I correct?”

This time, her father stopped what he was doing to look at Eva. “You are quite sharp,” he said as he put the stack of paper down for good and rested his chin on his hands, fully paying attention to her. “Then you should also know that this is your biggest opportunity to ascend the hierarchy, correct?”

“Indeed it is,” Eva replied, her expression never changing. “But I would like to refuse.”

This caught Thalis off guard as he suddenly stared at her with his eyes half-closed. The Eva he knew was an ambitious girl, one who would never settle in the same place no matter how lofty her position was. It was not that she had changed, but more so the fact that she couldn’t bear to be with Minos any longer. Every moment spent with him hurt, and she hated that she was now so vulnerable because of such a pointless feeling. Thus, she concluded: She would never have anything to do with Minos ever again after she was done putting her sister in her place.

“Instead,” Eva continued, “I would like to propose something for you.”

“Oh?” Thalis leaned back in his chair, his right index finger tapping the armrest. “Let’s hear it.”

“Please cancel the marriage with House Ganakos, or have my sister take place as the bride; any way is fine, and in return, I will increase the guild tax rate by two times with full consent.”

Thalis stopped. “So you plan on making connections and taking my place when I retire?” he said, grabbing his chin. “I cannot understand why you would want to stay in this place…” He stared at her for a second before sighing. “Very well, if you can really do what you said, then I have no reason to stop you. I will talk with Lena later if you succeed.”

“Thank you, my lord.”

“But.” Thalis slammed the desk with his palms and pushed himself up. He sauntered around the desk. “If you fail…” he said, “there will be consequences.” He continued to walk around Eva and stopped directly behind her. He reached his hand out past the chair and came back with a lock of her hair. “You should know best how I despise having my time wasted, correct?” He stayed still for a moment before letting go of her hair. “You may go.”

“Yes, my lord,” Eva said before she got up, gave him a bow, and left the room. She could feel his stare all the way until the door closed.

The road ahead was certainly long. There was much work to do.