Eleanor of the Shadow Palace

XIII

Ed and I were in our rooms. It had been a few days since we received the information from Shadow Palace as well as investigating Baron Gregalis ourselves. Our skills back on earth became really handy during our investigation.

We first dug more about Baron Gregalis’ darker affairs. Since I already had an idea about it, my leads were actually quite spot on. Back when I lived this life the first time, Katherine would always boast about her achievements while drawing mine and my tin brother’s blood. She would also right down insult us at the same moment by mentioning how useless we were.

Getting Baron Gregalis under her wing made the Vimi Family had a steady foothold as well as put their foundations in the southern territories of the Primavera Empire. She was very proud of that fact. One of the things she told us back then was about the monthly Black Market auction at the basement of a high-class casino in the Commercial District of Ylvich City.

As for the when, well our investigations took care of that.

“So this Friday night, right?” Edmund said as he took a bit of his pie.

“Yep.”

“And how will we exactly get there? I thought you have to be invited or something?”

“Or something.”

“You have a plan?” he asked.

“Yep.” I answered, nodding my head and giving him a knowing look.

Edmund returned it with a sigh and then asked once again; “Whose invitation are we stealing?”

I just flashed him a smile on his direction and did not give any answer. Later that evening, I found myself watching the Herlais Estate from the edge of their property, perched on a tree branch as I took note of anyone that went in and out.

Viscount Killian Herlais was involved with the Black Market. No, he was not a seller or a supplier of any sort instead he was someone who bought auctioned slaves on a whim. Not just him, even his wife the Viscountess and their children were used to having slaves. His eldest son was also a d**g user, who was a regular at Dandelion Candy Shop, and his daughter would t*****e slaves for her own pleasure.

Now s*****y is banned and is illegal in Primavera Empire. In about five years the family’s illegal affairs would be brought to light by the third prince, Vincent, which led to the fall of the Herlais Household, and his rise to power on becoming the crown prince. The entire family was executed apart from the third and youngest child who was sent away to study abroad, stripped of his family name, status and wealth.

-It wouldn’t matter when. Might as well get rid of people like them early on.

Using magic to mask my presence and make my movement swift, I managed to slip inside the manor and head to the Viscount’s office undetected. According to the reports I heard when he was arrested there was a ledger of everything he did illegal on a secret compartment of his desk. It was what was used as evidence to arrest the viscount and his family.

I won’t take the ledger after all it could alert the entire Black Market. Instead, I planned to make a copy of the ledger, steal a few valuables (and send them far away) to get them off my back and get the invitation.

Or at least that was the plan.

“Who’s there?!” a voice suddenly interrupted me as I tiptoed inside the office. “Show yourself! Don’t bother hiding, I can feel you!”

I turned to the source of the voice and saw a boy just a couple of years older than me. He was holding a sword and it was pointed at my direction.

-How did he do that? No one should be able to detect my presence.

I stared at the boy whose violet eyes was slightly glowing.

-Unless he’s one of those few that has a special pair of eyes.

There are special sets of eyes in this world and they are wide in variety. It could range from shooting lasers from their eyes, to having x-ray vision. Only a few possessed such eyes though and they were either scorned or praised like gods, depending of what kind of eyes they had.

-This kid seems to be able to see the flow of mana, that’s why he could sense… well, see me. Hmm… he doesn’t look like the eldest child though.

From what I could remember, the eldest son of the viscount was the same age as Gregory, so nineteen. Viscount Herlais had three children; two sons and a daughter.

-He must be the youngest child. I thought he’s studying abroad? Hmm… I just had an idea.

-This feels like those scenes on anime when a lightbulb suddenly lights up on my head all of a sudden.

Henrick Herlais was one smart kid. I never met him personally on my first life but from what I heard from gossips, he was a freaking business genius.

Despite losing his family’s name, wealth and noble status, he rose as a genius merchant in the southern part of the Phlegein Continent, and monopolized the trade of luxurious goods (which nobles adored) and sugar (which is vital to the culinary sector of the country).

-It would be nice to have him as an ally.

With that in mind, I dropped my cloaking spell and faced him. Of course, I still had the hood that hid my hair and my mask that hid my lower face. I also used magic to alter the color of my eyes so it looked the same shade I used when I met Richard rather than my mismatched eyes.

“Who are you?” he asked, his sword still pointed at me.

“Hmm… Not sure if I can tell you to be honest.”

“You seem younger than me. And you sound like a girl.”

“So?”

“Erm… not that I’m insulting you or something. Girls can be thieves or warriors or something too. I mean, girls can be awesome.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the flustered look he was sporting.

“Hello young sir of the Herlais Viscounty.” I said with a small bow. “Are you aware of your father’s businesses?”

“Huh? Of course I do. My father is a big name in the among the Aristocratic Faction and is a big name in the Merchant Guild.

“I’m talking about businesses in the darker side of the spectrum young sir.”

He did not answer but he looked rather guilty and his eyes flashed into something I knew very well.

-So he knows.

“What are your thoughts about it?”

“Ha? It’s… it’s not my business.”

“If it continues like this, this family will head to its doom. You will lose your status and worse, you can lose your lives.” he did not answer but he did purse his lips already knowing such a conclusion. “I can help you save this family and be it head instead of your druggie of a brother.”

“A ‘druggie’? What is even that? Wait, what are you talking about?”

“I’m saying, I can help you become the next viscount Henrick, for a price.”

That perked his attention, I could already tell. Henrick Herlais knew what his family would come to if his older brother became the next viscount. For one he could get kicked out of the family or worse, his brother could kill him.

Despite the internal war I could obviously observe on his eyes, I knew Henrick was allured at my offer. He was a genius and he had the pride of a noble.

“If I say yes to your proposition, can you ensure I will become the next viscount?” he asked.

I couldn’t help but smile. “Of course.”

-You are the only choice, after all your parents and siblings would be rotting in the dungeons.

“What do I need to do?”

I was internally celebrating.

“Tell your father you’re the one who’s going to attend the auction on Friday at Jazz Sands Casino. Tell him you are aware of their… extracurricular activities and would like to take part in it. I’m pretty sure he’ll be ecstatic since he had always been planning to introduce you to his… hobbies.”

“Won’t he suspect it?”

“Do not worry, your father will be unavailable anyway. Your brother is currently outside the city and both your mother and sister are busy. He’ll have no other choice but to let you attend.” I explained, a plan already forming inside my head.

“How are you so sure?”

“Just leave it to me. Ah, I’ll be your plus one by the way. I’ll meet you on your way to the casino.”

“I don’t trust you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Can’t I at least have a name?” he asked, obviously curious.

-A name, it will be dangerous if I give him my real name, so let’s go with-

“My name is Ellie Bloomfield.” I curtsied, my head and face still hidden. “I’ll see you then young lord of Herlais,”

-And now, let the show begin.