Gil!? B-but why? How did—? Oh, no… Oh god, no. No. No. No. Not you too.

Grandfather, are you alright?! Doctor, come quickly!

Old man…

Adrian looks at the seven conspirators in the room. There is Prince Gael Graham, Foreign Minister Henry Hubert, Admiral Samuel Sullivan, Knight Ingrid Irving, Professor Dan Declan, Lady Tessa Tate, and…

My wife… Duchess Gilda Ambrose.

I’m sorry you find out this way, old friend.

“Report.”

The seven look at each other and Hubert steps forward.

“Yes, my lord! We—”

“I didn’t give you permission to stop licking my shoe!”

Adrian knocks Hubert down and the man crawls to lick his shoes. Adrian points at Knight Irving.

“You. Speak.”

“Yes, lord! More than one fifth of the knight order is under our control, whether they know it or not.”

“Only twenty percent? You think that pathetic number is worthy of our master?!”

Adrian hits his stomach and the man collapses and vomits on the floor.

“Clean it up—with your tongue! Next! You, sailor boy.”

“W-we work with the pirates to gain full control of the ports in Sangria! Every shipment coming in and out is under our control, sir!”

“And what about the other ports?”

“T-that is… I need time and resources and…”

Adrian forcefully tears off the man’s long beard.

“Give me a leg massage.”

“Y-yes, sir! Sob!”

“You, the other four eyes.”

“A-hem! I have been named the candidate for Umber Tower’s headmaster, and… Uh…”

“Do I even have to say anything?”

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“...NO, great one… Would you like some tea?”

“Bitter, with sweets.”

Professor Declan runs out the door, but Adrian trips him, breaking his glasses. He gets up and Adrian trips him again, and again, just for shits and giggles.

Lady Tate is on the verge of crying as she steps forward.

“Hic! M-My company makes lots of m-money and I… I designed that box and… and improved the efficiency of the booster mechanism. Hic! W-what more do you want from me?! Whaaa!”

Adrian slaps her face and has her feed him the sweets Declan brings in.

“And what about you, duchess? What do you have to report?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“That’s right, nothing at all.”

Duchess Ambrose raises her chin at Adrian. He laughs.

“Good. Very good! Do you know the price of defying our great leader, duchess? Eternity of pain. A fate worse than death.”

“There is nothing you can threaten me with, foreigner. I’m already dead.”

“Hehehe! Hahahaha! Oh, my dear duchess, you don’t know the meaning of that word.”

“Hh! Maybe so. But I refuse to betray my country, my husband, my sister… until your master delivers on his promise.”

Gilda…

Adrian raises his palm and the other conspirator leaves his side. He rests his chin on his hands and looks at the duchess with blood red eyes.

“Tell me, duchess, what is it that will make a woman like you betray everything she knows and loves?”

“My daughter—Amelia.”

Gilda…

Adrian stands up, and the other conspirators huddle in the corner of the room, fearing his rage.

“Walk with me, Duchess Gilda.”

Adrian and Gilda walk side by side along the moonlit corridor. Neither of their faces betray any emotion. Adrian stops to look out the window to the distance horizon.

“Doctor Zora.”

Adrian looks into Gilda’s eyes.

“That is the name of the man who murdered your daughter.”

“...”

“You will discover his lab along a river south of Greenfield, north-west of River State and White Creek.”

“You’re lying.”

“Doctor Zora kidnaps manaless children to experiment on them. His lab burned down four year ago. All the children killed. Your daughter is among them.”

“You’re lying!”

“My master is all powerful, but even he can’t bring back one long dead. Consider our contract voided. You can go back to your life and pretend none of this ever happened.”

“You’re lying! She’s not dead! My Amelia can’t be dead!”

“I know it’s hard to accept such a loss but—”

“I placed a spell on her! I can still observe her vitals right now!”

“Huh!?”

The Duchess takes out a golden compass and looks at the information displayed within.

“It says here her body temperature is rising… She’s fearful of something… She’s feeling stressed… A chill creeps up her spine, causing her disease to act up—”

“Cough! Cough!”

“Bless you. Why, there’s blood! She’s sweating… Nervous… According to this arrow, her direction should be north of me. No. West. No. North-west. East. South.”

Aunt Gilda moves her compass around but the arrow keeps pointing at Adrian.

“That’s odd… It never did this before…”

“A-an old junk like that can’t be trusted! Y-your daughter is dead, I tell you!”

Aunt Gilda walks around Adrian and the arrow aims at him no matter what. She looks into his eyes and tilts her head. Aunt Gilda walks to open the window.

“You’ll cough in 3…”

“Don’t be ridiculous!

“2… 1…”

“Cough! Cough! Cough! Shut the window, duchess!”

“Amelia?”

“What? You think I’m…? Ha! Are you going mad with grief, woman?! There’s no way I’d be—”

“Amelia! Amelia! Amelia! Amelia! Amelia! Amelia! Ameliaaa!”

“Shut up! You’re giving me a headache, old woman! Oops!”

“What did you just call me?!”

“Nothing!”

Tears stream down Aunt Gilda’s cheeks. She widens her arms and pulls Adrian in her embrace.

“Sniff! I missed you, Amelia… M-mommy missed you so much…”

“I… miss you too, mommy.”