Chapter 96 CH 87: MEETING (1)

In the carriage, Sol, Setsuna, and another maid were sitting in silence.

Looking curiously at the brown-haired maid wearing a rather short white and black skirt that showed a glimpse of her white panties, Sol asked to break the silence,

"Your name was, Ketia, was it?"

Hearing her name, Ketia gave a polite bow while giving a perfect smile,

"Indeed your highness. You, remembering my name, brings me great joy."

Ketia was a human serving as Lilin's personal maid.At least, on the surface, she looked like she was human.

'She smells weird.'

No matter how he tried to ignore it, her scent was something that always made him curious. It was as if her scent had been mixed with that of a cat.

'Truly intruiging.'

Of course, the very moment he found something weird about her when he met her, he talked about that with Milia, who promised that she would explain everything to him tomorrow.

But more than her scent, what really brought his attention was another identity of her,

"So, how is it going? Will everything be ready?"

"That I do not know. We are currently understaffed you see. Well, Milia should be the one explaining everything to you since she is supposed to be your handler."

The way she phrased it ticked him, "My handler?"

"Indeed. Our name says it all. Crown's Shadow. Our job isn't to protect an individual in particular. But only the one who holds the crown. I was assigned to Lilin and after you were discovered, Milia was assigned to you."

Sol had many questions about the situation. Firstly she used the words 'assigned' meaning someone was above her at that time. Secondly,

"I thought it was my father who created the crown's shadow?"

Ketia nodded, "In a way, you aren't wrong. In the past, we weren't called the crown's shadow but the crown's hound. Some people called us the hunting dogs or the pet of the crowns."

She spoke in a rather derisive way as if she wasn't concerned by such opinions.

Then, with a serious expression, she continued, "Your highness, to be honest, I do not mind explaining everything to you if you order me to, but doing so would mean sharing Milia's past. Perhaps it would be better to wait for her to do so on her own."

Sol could only sigh, "Indeed. I wish for her to be the one to explain everything."

“As you wish.”

Giving a bow full of grace, he turned on his heel and entered the house, Sol and his retinue in tow.

Watching his back, Sol began to remember what kind of being this man was. A rare type of demon called Dark Phantom. Their specialties resided in shadow manipulation and teleportation. They were a dangerous race that was known mainly for their assassination technique.

‘Now that I think about it, Milia shadow power does indeed have similarities with the power of a dark phantom.’

This situation was becoming weirder the more elements he pieced together.

‘Still, I really wonder what kind of contract the duchess formed.’

Not all contracts needed virginity. The type of contract, the requirements, and the results were multiple.

More precisely, there were seven of them. Obviously related to the seven sins. The contract he wished to form with Setsuna for example was a lust-type contract. The most optimal for him since he was blessed by luxuria. The main condition for this contract being the virginity of one of the partners.

From what he remembered, the contract between his parents had been a pride-type.

‘I can’t wait.’

“We arrived.”

Bowing, the phantom indicated a closed door with his hand.

Sol, surveying his surrounding was once again creeped out. He had tried to tune it out, but the whole hall was filled with sculpted black knights. Even though they should have been inanimate, Sol had the distinct impression that all of them were staring at him.

‘Knowing the duchess power, I can already confirm that they are indeed staring at me.’

“Very well, Ketia, follow him and arrange our quarter. Setsuna, stay here. At the slightest alert act at your discretion. I believe in your judgment. If necessary, simply blow up everything.”

Openly talking about the chance of being attacked was a little rude, but Sol didn’t really care. He absolutely didn’t trust the duchess. He was already gently circulating his mana in his body. At the slightest problem, he would simply go all out and destroy this mansion.

The butler's lips twitched at how brave Sol was acting. The worst was that there was nothing he could do about it. It took a great deal out of him to not give a retort at how Sol was basically threatening to destroy everything if something went wrong.

“Your highness is indeed very prudent.”

“It’s better to be prudent and alive than reckless and dead.”

Sol didn’t know how he managed to get a second chance at life, but there is no way he would waste it in false bravado.

“Then, let’s go I guess.”