[Duke's Mansion]
Night came upon the land, Duke Alan is currently sitting on his working chair while looking out of his window in order to see the bright clear moon shining in the sky. This was his form of taking a break after the stressful day that he had undergone due to the surprise engagement announcement he had made during Sephiria's birthday celebration.
Because of what he did, many nobles on his side begun questioning his decision while some nobles who have a feud against him used this opportunity to drag his reputation to the mud. And by doing that, they would need to get ahold of his daughter in order to enact some of their schemes.
Naturally some of this attempts were blocked and prevented by him in order to protect his daughter, but the moment he focuses on defending his daughter, his offenders then decided to switch their target towards another person that is close interest to their family, the commoner Shun himself.
Of course Duke Alan tried to protect Shun from harms way too, however because of a way bigger number of attempts they had launched towards Shun, he was unable to stop some ploys from bypassing him and had no choice but to trust Shun in dealing with the other troubles that he couldn't stop.
At this moment sensing that there may be attempt from his offenders during the dead of night, he then stationed a lot of guards all over his Mansion, while also trying to stay awake for the sake to be ready at any given situation.
In that moment while taking a break from a stressful day, a maid suddenly walked in from the door after a light knock, while saying.
"Master! The madam ordered me to send some bitter tea to you in order to keep you awake"
"Is that so? Well then give it to me"
Following the Duke's words as he stood up from his chair, the maid then brought the bitter tea towards the Duke, before letting it down on his table and bowing down as she leaves. Once the maid has left, Duke Alan then picked up the hot tea from his table, as he gazed back at the moonlight. Taking a sip at the tea, he then relishes the taste of the tea as he seemed satisfied by how good it is.
"This taste a less bitter than I thought"
For some reason this bitter tea tasted more bearable than it usually is, it was a perfect fit to his palate. With it the Duke then further sip down the tea as he enjoyed its warmness in the middle of the night. Under juts few minutes the tea was emptied out till its bottom, as Duke Alan seemed satisfied by the drink.
After that he Continued to look outside as he glances at the beautiful moon itself. However the moment he did such a thing, his vision started to get blurry as his bones and muscles becomes weak and fatigue itself. With that he then supported himself with his table I order to not fall to the ground as he doesn't realize what just happened to him.
Was he drugged, hex, or even poisoned? That was the question that was running to his head as he cant seem to remember what made him this way, after all there was literally nothing out of ordinary from what he interacted this day, except for one thing his tea. Upon coming to that realization, the tea itself was indeed much more sweeter than it regularly is, so with that Duke Alan stumbled to his table for a bit before he looked closely at the tea cup and discovered nothing of such sort.
He don't know what kind of drug was used on him, but he is confident to say that whoever did this to him, is part of the opposing nobles who wanted to destroy him from below.
"Damn it! Anyone! Guards! Help! Help me! Is there anyone there?!?!"
As Duke Alan called for help, he then fell to the floor as he looked at the door, before slowly falling asleep from the drug that was given to him. In that moment the Duke was knock out with none to be able to stand against the offending nobles.
Once the Duke was out cold, the maid that had given the Duke his drink then entered the room, as it checked the Duke's clothes himself. After properly inspecting his body, the maid then stood up as it took off its maid clothes and change into a original outfit that looks like an assassin from the shadows.
"The Duke is asleep! The coast is clear! Let's begin the operation"
The moment the woman said that, numerous figures rose from her shadow as they all received their orders and begun the operation itself. The goal for their operation is to successfully capture Sephiria and bring her to a place given by their client. With that they them moved in unison as all twelve of her units vanished to the corridor with an intent to finish the job. As for the woman who pretended to be a maid, she then sunk into the shadows as she plans to find Sephiria during this commotion.
Natural this group of assassins moved silently and sneakily, they try to literally avoid any confrontation from any possible guards. But whenever they have no choice but to intercept some guards along the way, they then put them to sleep using the drug, before moving on from the spot. But as the mansion was so big, they have no choice but to split ways from every intersection in order to widen their search area.
Not long after, one of the assassin finally arrived before the door of Sephiria's room, he he couldn't help but feel relived that he had found the right room himself. But before he could open the door, he then sensed a hostile pressure from his right, as he instinctively put up his guard in order to defend himself, only to see a spear coming his way and squarely struck the knife he was holding which is used to protect himself.
In just one impact, the assassin was sent flying away as it crashed unto the wall and fall to the ground. The force of the attack was so strong, that the assassin was taken in surprise and couldn't help but realize his hand becoming numb after just one attack.
Looking towards his attacker, he then saw Shun angrily looking his way while holding a water spear conjured from the Power of the Aquasphere. Taking note that the Aquasphere is no simple power, one can even imagine just how strong it is even if it just a portion of its strength.