Cold wind whistled by outside the house. Feather-like snow had fallen for a whole night but the room was as warm as spring.
Merlin had just woken up from his sleep. He had a fixed schedule every day. In the morning, he would meditate for an hour but today was a little special. The usually energetic Merlin, in fact, felt a little tired today.
He turned around and saw a beautiful face beside him. Her fair arm was still wrapped around Merlin's body tightly.
Merlin rubbed his head and pulled the sheets up lightly. At the edge of his sight, he saw the beautiful sight underneath the sheets.
Merlin and Charise's clothes were scattered around the room, all over the place. There was even a strange smell in the air.
Merlin shook his head slightly. The situation in the room was enough to show how crazy both had been last night. Merlin's body was initially weak, but after a long period of practicing the posture of the mysterious sculpture, his physical attribute had become terrifyingly strong.
Merlin's movement had probably disturbed Charise in her deep sleep so she woke up slowly.
Charise wore a calm expression but her gaze toward Merlin was complicated. She said softly, "Baron Merlin, don't forget what you've promised me."
Merlin turned around and came to Charise. With an absolute tone, he said coldly, "Charise, before this, we may still be business partners. After this, you're Wilson Merlin's woman! Your matter is now my matters to attend to!"
Unknowingly, there was a certain commanding air around Merlin, enough to make others nervous. Charise was no different as she felt the strong male aura from Merlin and listened to his certain, domineering words. In fact, she was stunned because of it.
"Alright, tell me about the origin of this ring."
Merlin let out a faint smile and lightly patted Charise's body. That smooth sensation made Merlin unable to restrain from touching her more.
However, Merlin had always restrained himself when it came to this matter. He would not be addicted to it. Thus, when he saw a shy redness crawled onto Charise's face, he took his hand out. Instead, he took that black ring and lightly caressed it.
Charise gave a knowing glance to Merlin. She felt a sense of belonging apparently because of Merlin's determined words, so her tone softened a lot. She was not as cold as she was before.
"Uncle Frederick gave that ring to me."
Charise appeared to have drowned in her memory. She slowly said, "When Uncle Frederick was young, he has visited many countries. Above all, he has stayed in the Kingdom of Blackmoon for as long as ten years. After that, Uncle Frederick returned to the Kingdom of Light and became the commander for Firebird Legion… In fact, no one knows that Uncle Frederick has become a strong Spell Caster during the ten years he was in the Kingdom of Blackmoon. Due to the influence of Church of Light, he did not dare to expose his identity as a Spell Caster."
"Until the ambition of Church of Light was exposed and they initiated coup d'état, Uncle Frederick gave this ring to me in order to cover Benin and my escape from Light City at the last minute. Unfortunately, Benin and I don't have the Spell Caster Quality…"
After Charise said that, she shot a knowing look at Merlin. She still had not told him everything, but Merlin had already guessed it. Charise and Benin did not have Spell Caster Quality. To them, this ring did not bring much effect. Since they were in danger now, only Spell Casters could see the value of this ring and Merlin just happened to be a Spell Caster.
This was also the true reason Charise dared to meet Merlin.
Prince Frederick was, in fact, a Spell Caster. Merlin was very surprised at this fact. Even though he did not spend a long time in the Kingdom of Light, he also knew that Church of Light's punishment toward "heresy" was absolutely strict. The death of old man Etha was a clear evidence.
A prince was a Spell Caster, the "evil heresy" the Church had spoken of. To hide his identity right under the church's nose, Prince Frederick must have had something up his sleeve.
Prince Frederick was probably a strong Spell Caster who had exceeded Merlin's imagination.
However, even such a powerful Spell Caster had probably met a terrible end, in the end, judging from Charise's tone.
"Tell me more about Baron Warren."
Merlin kept the ring and asked monotonously. The reason Merlin mentioned Baron Warren was because he felt it was still Charise's first-time last night. She was not as close to Baron Warren as she had shown during the dinner.
When Merlin mentioned Baron Warren, Charise shivered slightly but soon calmed down. It was such a strange turn of event. Last night, Charise still despised Merlin a lot just as she hated Baron Warren.
However, she actually began to care about Merlin's feelings now. Thus, when she heard Merlin mentioning Baron Warren, Charise was a little nervous. She first sneaked a glance at Merlin, then explained herself, "Benin and I came to Prakash City after a long journey. We initially wanted to get far away from the Kingdom of Light. Little did we think that our identity as the Royal Family is still known by many people. Forced, I could only reach an agreement with Baron Warren and let him protect us for some time. However, he made things worse by surrounding the place we live. He even said that he's protecting us."
"In a moment of desperation, I can only promise to marry him and become a baroness after some time. He may think that he'll attain all of the Royal Family's wealth this way, so he did not hurry to make a move."
After hearing Charise's explanation, Merlin gradually understood the whole matter. For the sake of attaining the wealth or marrying an honorable princess like Charise, Baron Warren had controlled Charise by threatening and cajoling her.
Following that, Charise met Merlin at the dinner by chance and got to know Merlin's position in Prakash City now. Therefore, she came to Merlin in the middle of the night and offered many generous terms to exchange for Merlin's aid.
After asking all the questions, Merlin sat by the bed and watched Charise got dressed without a word. Even though Merlin had restrained himself in this aspect, watching such an elegant princess like Charise got dressed was still a rare visual delight.
Almost under Merlin's outrageous stare, Charise had quickly got dressed while biting her lips and her face turned furiously red.
After that, Merlin brought Charise out of his room and went downstairs.
"Uncle Prat!"
Merlin called for Commander Prat. The latter did not show any surprise when he saw Merlin and Charise standing together. Obviously, Commander Prat had known about Charise entering Merlin's room last night.
"Sir Baron, what can I do for you?"
Although Merlin still called him "Uncle Prat", Prat did not dare to be arrogant. In the whole Wilson Castle now, the one with the highest status was Baron Merlin.
Merlin replied, "Uncle Prat, bring one hundred knights and accompany Charise to her place. Bring all members of Firebird Legion to the castle. Along the journey, listen to Charise's orders."
Prat shot a look at Charise strangely but soon answered respectfully, "Sir Baron, please rest assured that I'll definitely bring Princess Charise and other members of Firebird Legion back."
Charise showed a hint of worry on her face. Merlin immediately said, "Don't worry. I believe Baron Warren is a smart guy. If Prat follows you, he'll know what he should choose."
"If he doesn't let you go, I won't mind going there myself!"
Although Merlin's tone was calm, a piercing killing aura seemed to stir in his cold voice. The air around Merlin's body even made Prat, who had experienced killing for a long time, felt a chill down his spine.