"You look well, brother"

"Same to you"

"So? What brings you here?"

"Small matters we can leave for later"

"Later? No. Come on, tell me"

"...I would like you to sell the house on Amista and you said you wanted it"

"Oh? Why are you selling it now? No, wait, don't tell me. Maybe your gambling problems finally got to this stage"

She was wearing an elegant dress and spoke while making exaggerated expressions. She was trying to test my patiance.

"No. Not to this point.. yet"

"Oh? then why do you need the money? Come on, you can tell me"

"Maybe I can tell you at dinner"

It was a battle. She was making me speak in a way that if I refused I would be the one looking bad. The servants stood still, waiting for us. They weren't looking at our exchange. It was part of their job to make it seem like they were not there if they were not called. She smiled and gestured for them to continue their work.

"Of course, brother. My servants will lead you to your room"

She walked away and a few maids followed right after her. I looked at Bertrand and he nodded. It meant that he would bring my baggage to my room soon. I followed the butler with black tidy hair combed backwards. I couldn't stop myself from noticing the perfect posture and how well designed was his tailcoat. He definetly came from a very traditional family with some wealth.

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He guided me through the hallways and stopped near a dark wood door. I looked at him and then at the door before opening it and stepping inside. When he was about to go, I asked for a quill and two pieces of paper.

Bertrand arrived to leave what I brought. He bowed down and left politely as I put the baggage over the bed. There were a lot of papers. Strange drawings that couldn't make less sense and exquisite writings all over as if they were explanations and cluttered notes. I tried to read it again, but the terms written were not something I had ever seen. There were some names written bigger than the others, titles.

"Piano.. Pendulum clock... Telescope... optical microscope... What are all those things..?"

There were thousands of inventions, drawings he could never give life to.

I heard a knock and looked at the door. I quickly put everything back as I said to come in.

"Milord, here it is"

I thanked him and got the paper and quill to quickly sit in a chair made of wood with a red pillow to sit in. I started to write quickly but carefully. It needed to have perfect grammar for me to convince them, to make a good first impression.

I openned the door slowly, making nearly no sound and found a maid. I told her to call Bertrand and she nodded before going after him.

He arrived in a minute.

"You didn't tell me you were going to sell that house"

"I decided it on the way here"

"And why are you going to do it?"

"Remember the projects you talked about?"

"Yes"

"I will not sell them. Instead, I am going to make them work. Something he could never do"

He widened his eyes and stared at me for a few seconds. I smiled to him and he acknowledged my intentions.

"Milord.. You have no money.."

"That's why I am going to sell that house"

"Your father tried to do it with ten times that much and he couldn't"

"That's why I need you to personally get those letters to the bank and to the east isles company"

"..They didn't accept it when your father offered either..."

I smiled to him. If we couldn't do it asking them to help us, we had to deceive them.

He saw my vicious smile and hesitated, but grabbed them anyways.

The stage was set.