Iris was in the garden right behind of Welford's manor, drinking a cup of tea, under the beautiful sky and surrounded with flowers. It was her day off from training.
She was accompanied by her two servants, Silvi the maid and Harson the guard, standing side by side.
Iris noticed Harson kept stealing looks of unease when he thought she wasn't looking and that's when she decided to glance at him.
"Is there something wrong, Harson."
Harson flinched and flushed a bit in embarrassment when he was caught staring. "I-i am sorry for my rude behaviour, Ojou-sama. I wasn't trying to—"
"You weren't rude, but I could feel that you have something to say to me ever since that night."
Harson quickly looked away, bowing his head in shame.
"It's fine~ I'm not mad or anything. It seems like you are curious why would I made a deal with that sketchy person right?"
"Y-yes."
Iris giggled, "Fufufu~ don't worry about it, I can determine someone's personality and I can tell you that he is quite of a trustworthy person."
"But what if he is a bad person? He's someone from Underworld, the dark side of the kingdom. I am sure he is planning something bad to you Ojou-sama!"
"Stop it, Harson! You are being rather rude in front of Ojou-sama!" Silvi glared at him while she continue pouring the tea for her young lady.
"But Silvi!–"
"Are you doubting Ojou-sama words?"
"N-no...I mean..."
"Silvi, that's quite enough" Iris interrupted firmly and Silvi looked taken aback.
"My apologies for raising my voice, Ojou-sama..." She bowed apologetically
Iris sighed, sipping on her tea, "It's fine, Harson is the type to be easily worried about others, he has nothing but good intentions but he's also...rather naive."
A small smile broke across her face when she saw Harson scratched the back of his neck, looking down to his feet while he's at it
"But it's true that we cannot prove whether that person is an ally to us or not...and we don't know if they can provide us the right information or trying to set us a trap."
*CLINK*
Iris put the cup back on the table and tilted her head to look at her guard, "Harson, do you remember what we talked about before we made the deal?"
"My apologies Ojou-sama...I don't remember entirely."
"From the moment we talked about the rumors...he already admitted that he loves money, correct?"
"Y-yeah. he did say that."
"And he said what kind of merits does he get from ruining our family? Have you thought about that?"
"No...but he might only be pretending and helping someone else destroy The Welford's family!"
"True...we can say that he might provide some information about us and then also gave it to the others."
"Y-yeah!" Harson replied but somehow he felt something is so bit off about this conversation.
"But don't you feel odd? if he's a person who would do something like that...why would he proposed us to get all the information we need in one day?"
"Uhh..."
Iris smiled, "At the time I add up the money, he became nervous and suprised from the attack he couldn't see...a person who feel cornered would quickly surrender and begged to get out from the situation...in this case, he should have proposed us much longer day, maybe 5 days to 4 days~ or since he said the longest one is in a week, then he might reduce the day by 1 or 2."
"Then when I proposed 100 gold for 3 days, he was flustered a bit but he also felt that might not enough for them to provide us the information. I can tell he is going to propose how much money he want, from his viewpoint, since I'm a child...maybe around 300 gold or 400 gold."
"But I quickly cut him off by raising the money...by proposing him with 2 days and raised it with 1000 gold, what do you think he felt like when you suddenly being given the money that was higher than he expected?"
"Ummm..." Harson looked stumped but he's trying to understand where this conversation is going.
"Heh, you sure need to learn more about people Harson."
Harson sighed, finally giving up since he couldn't find an answer, "I'm sorry Ojou-sama."
Iris smiled at him, "The answer is...[Greed]. people will show their desire when they were given something much higher and larger than they expected, they will lose control over their ability to think rationally to get the things they want.
"And so, let me ask you...did you see his face when I proposed that?~"
Harson started to remember, when Iris so easily dumping out all of those money, he could see that Willam became flustered.
Instead of smiling or showing some feelings of wanting to take that money from this little girl, he was thinking and went silent for a moment.
"Get it now?~ he is a cautious person that was also full with pride when negotiating with someone~ he would never expected a little girl like me would corner him like that and have that much money to begin with, and that provoked him~" Iris smiled proudly.
"In that moment, I hurt his pride and in turn, he responded with proposing something unexpected as well...
and that is...he will provide me the information in one day. It's easy isn't it?~" Iris explained with a wicked smile.
After hearing her explanations, Harson and Silvi looked at her in awe and also shivered a bit when she smiled like that.
"And from that conclusion...I can safely assume he is a person who would hold the promise he made when we strike a deal and of course since I payed them with a large sum of money, they couldn't refuse it anyway~ fufufu~"
Iris giggled as if she was saying something normal while smiling innocently like a child.
"Do you understand now?~"
Harson was still in daze from trying to process her explanation, "E-eh? Y-yes I understand."
"Good~" Iris went back to sip her tea once more.
Harson couldn't utter any words after that but that also made his feelings to serve her got even stronger.
Silvi glanced at her and couldn't help the smile to form on her face, but then she widened her eyes a bit as if she just realized something.
"Ojou-sama, where did you get that much money from?"
Harson realized it as well, "Indeed...Where did you get that much money Ojou-sama?"
Iris blinked when they asked the same thing and put her cup back again on the table.
"Eehh? You don't know?" At their confused looks, she nodded and sighed. "Ahhh~ about that, I recently gave some ideas for brand new magic tools to Master Matilda, and yeah she end up paying me a lot for two years~"
"I never heard of this." Silvi narrowed her eyes in surprise as she slowly poured tea into her empty cup again.
"Well of course since she doesn't want any leaks about it and Mother approved of me to get my personal bank account."
"I see...then how much do you have right now?" Silvi asked again.
Then Iris gestured her hand to make them come closer to her to whisper something...
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.
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"EHHHH!!?!?!!"
From that, the whole manor can hear just how loud their yell were.
******
Iris and her followers came into the pub again at their promised time and now they were inside of that room where they met William for the first time.
"Good evening~ William~" Iris greeted cheerfully with a happy and easy-going face.
On the other hand, William was sitting on his chair with heavy bags under his eyes along with his underling–Jeff who was standing beside him.
"Aahhh...Good evening indeed...Ms. Iris."
Iris giggled and smiled at him, "You look exhausted, William."
"Heh, who's fault is that." William grumbled and noticed something was wrong with her servants behind her.
"What's wrong with those two?"
Iris glanced at Silvi and Harson who looked utterly shaken to the bone about something
"So many zeros...." Harson muttered
"Mm." Silvi mumbled in agreement.
"Ehehehe~ nothing in particular, don't mind them~" Iris waved her hand away lightly to dismiss his concern, while smiling sweetly.
"Well, whatever." William suddenly threw the document out on the table.
"Here's the information you need regarding the rumor and Allura's family. It seems they are connected with each other."
"Hmmm." Iris slowly opened the document and read the informations contained within.
"Seems like they planned this out long before they met this unknown sponsor...and they are aiming to ruin the Welford's family by targeting one of the family member."
Iris calmly read it, "And that is..."
"Duchess Welford–Eliza Luth Welford."
Iris didn't respond along with Silvi since they knew all along that someone is targeting her, except Harson who just found out about it now.
"The Duchess?! Are you serious?!" Harson asked in shock.
"I tell you nothing but the truth." William smiled proudly.
"I hope for your sake you're not lying..." Harson threatened as he grabbed the hilt of his sword.
Jeff was about to prepare for something too but both of their masters raised their hand.
"Harson, stop." Iris commanded calmly.
"Jeff..." William said as well.
The two of them relaxed for a bit and tried to focus on the conversation at hand.
"That's one cranky guard you got there...he didn't trust me at all~" William chuckled as his slitted eyes opened a bit.
"That might be so but he is the most loyal one here along with my maid and he's someone that I can trust~"
"O-ojou-sama." Harson looked at her with a pleased twinkle in his eyes, "I'm sorry for my behavior! I shall obey your order!"
"Thank you Harson~ you are such a good boy~"
"Y-yes!" He beamed and everyone in the room could see the imaginary tail wagging furiously on his back at her praise.
'Is he a dog.' Is what they thought
William shook his head as he chuckled, "Well I understand...and as you know, I am the master here. My ears and my eyes are everywhere, so you don't have to worry about me lying about the info I gave you."
"Hmmm...then, can you tell me the reason why would they target her instead of the rest of us? I wanted to know from your perspective. "
William's face looked stiff but he ended up loosening it with a smile.
"Well...I can tell from a simple observation, but promise me that you keep your guard to stay there."
"I promise~"
William sighed and began to explain, "First is your father, Henry Von Welford is the second best [Master Swordsman] of our kingdom, regardless of his strength, his body is also immune to almost every poison as well, so assassination would be pointless.
"Second is your older brother, Albert Dragh Welford, is one of the geniuses that represented your family and its heir. But unfortunately, it won't affect anything if he died because they have you.
"And finally you, the young lady of The Welfords that is believed to surpass your older brother. They had some info that you bested most of the strongest soldier in your territory but of course, if you die, rather than putting a disarray in your family, it will ended up giving them strength to push forwards, and The welfords would be much stronger than ever.
"Now we move on to the Duchess, your mother...she is both amazing on her beauty and magic...I heard that the family adores you more than anything...but what I see is that your mother is the center of the happiness in your family.
"From that...if she was gone...all of you will lose that happiness, your father losing his the love of his life...while you and your brother lose a mother at such a young age."
"It can be concluded that the most important family member in Welford is the Duchess Eliza." William finished his explanation and then smiled cheekily, "So...what do you think?~ Does my answer satisfies you? "
Iris looked at him and sighed while rubbing her forehead, "It seems I underestimated you a bit too much...I gave up."
"Ojou-sama!" Harson exclaimed, still couldn't believe this man's words.
"Thank you very much~" William bowed gracefully.
"It is true Harson...if my mother gone, it will throw a disarray towards our family...Onii-sama would feel very lost since he was born first before me and Father loved her so much that he would risk everything towards the one he loves." Iris spoke grimly.
"Remember that Onii-sama and Father always listen to her everytime they tried to act recklessly."
"Y-yeah."
"That makes her the center of our family...and I don't want to see my father and onii-sama to be thrown into depression over her death."
"I understand, Ojou-sama..." Harson couldn't help but accepted it, looking down to his feet defeatedly.
"Then how do they plan to kill Mother? Since she's still the best Mage under the guidance of the Witch before and any assassination would be very useless to her cause she learned every single magic from the Witch." Iris asked although she already knew the answer.
"True~ but I heard they planned to attack her with something special...a special poison."
"A poison?" Iris raised her brows, pretending to look surprised. "Do you know what kind of poison they use?"
William sighed, "Ummm...about that, I am sorry...since we were short of time, I couldn't manage to get it."
"A shame but it's true, you did proposed it in one day." Iris' words stabbed William's heart, once again poking fun at his pride.
"Ughh...but at least I found out about their sponsor and where do they get all of their money from."
"Oh, who is it?" Iris smiled, prompting him to go on.
But William suddenly looked nervous when he was about to say the name and went silent for a moment,
"Their sponsor is...One of the [Underworld Six King]."
"Huh?!" All three of them looked at him in shock as soon as they heared that name.
"W-who is it?!" Harson asked him instead of Iris who tried to remain calm.
"It's the Queen of the Underworld...the one who seduced men and control almost everything around this kingdom with her beauty and her wit.
[The Femme Fatale, Minerva]"
Iris widened her eyes a bit, since she's more than familiar with that name.
'The Femme Fatale...Minerva huh...the queen of underworld and also...
The one who have been supporting Iris' back when she is on her Villainess phase.'
'She gave her ideas on how to harass the MC...and almost killed her to the point of poisoning her. So she's the one who have been manipulating her life from the shadows by making this kind little girl into atrocious and evil villainess to the MC....unforgivable.' she thought and it translated to her expression, showing a hint of anger on it, but...
'I never thought I would meet her this fast...'
At that moment, Iris giggled and smirked a bit.
"Hehe."
William and the people who stood behind her, was struck in a bit of a daze due to her sudden weird behavior.
'Why is she laughing?' William knitted his brows in mild suspicion, asking to himself.
'Aaahhh~ I guess this is my luck...not only I could save mother...I could also get rid of this bitch~'
Her smile got even wider and turned more wicked but her moment of thinking was interrupted by Silvi
"Ojou-sama? Is there something wrong?" She asked as Iris snapped back to reality after being silent for a bit too long.
"Ahh! Sorry sorry~ I was thinking of something else, nothing you should worry about~"
"Okay...if you say so, Ojou-sama..." Even so, Silvi still looked at her in concern, while Harson was more concerned about this woman that was sponsoring her enemy.
"Ojou-sama...you don't have to worry, I am your sword...I will struck down this woman for you." Harson vowed and Iris knew he meant it when she looked him in the eyes.
Iris smiled, "Why thank you~ but you don't have to worry about it. I will be the one who will be dealing with her..."
Iris smile fell and replaced by a thin line, "How dare she planning to kill my mother..." She murmurred, her voice nothing but icy cold and dark.
William and Jeff gulped down seeing this little girl's sudden 180 degree change of attitude.
But Iris sighed a bit to calm herself down and took out a large pouch from her [Inventory].
*SHUUSTH* *THUNK*
"I thank you for the information and here's the reward, just as promised, 1000 gold coin."
"A-ah, Yes...thank you for choosing our service~" William thanked her, schooling his expression and put up his business smile.
"And before that, in this document...is there anything you want to say to me?"
"I don't think i have but on the document, there's the details of our investigation with Allura's family and their connection with the Kings...also if you're asking about where exactly they produced the poison...it's in there too."
"Ara~ that's perfect~ you read my mind~"
"Well if I can't do that, I am unfit to be a Dark Guild Master~" William bowed.
"Well then, I shall take my leave~" Iris stood up from the couch as she put her hood back on.
But as they were about to leave....
"Wait!"
"Hmmm?" Iris turned around to look at him, "Yes? Do you need anything, William?"
"Would you hire me again in the future?" He looked oddly flustered for some reason, "I promise I won't let you down!"
"Is there a particular reason for you to ask me that?"
"N-not really but you know that I am the best at this kind of job, don't you? I think i have prove myself enough."
"Hmmm~ well I will think about it later but I will look forward to make a new request for you."
"Then I shall accept any request you propose to me."
"Even an assassination job?~"
"Huh?"
William and Jeff looked taken aback when they heard such words coming from a little girl.
'H-how much does she–' Before William finished his thought, Iris quickly cut him off
"How do I know?~ Well...I have good eyes and ears...the same as you~" Iris smiled knowingly, as if she read his mind.
William chuckled, "Hmph...using my words against me huh. I understand, I shall look forward to it."
After they settled things out between them, Iris went out of the pub, followed by two of her servants.
******
On their way home, Silvi and Harson couldn't get her rather disturbing words out of their minds. They looked at her in concern as they followed her.
"Ojou-sama." Silvi started
"Yes?"
She caught herself and shook her head, "My apologies...may I ask you something?"
"Mhm, you can ask me anytime~"
"Are you...gonna kill this woman with your hand?" Silvi asked, looking extremely worried.
"Of course I will kill...if I don't...Mother...and everyone else I hold dear will be in danger...if it's meant to protect what's dear to me...."
*SWOOSH*
The night breeze blew through them and the hood that covered her face showed a glimpse of her shaded look.
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Red...
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In a split second...her blue eyes changed into dangerous shade of red.
"....I'm willing to dirty my hands, no matter what it takes." Iris added, there's a grim expression that a little girl wasn't supposed to have....the bloodlust she showed gave a chill down to her maid and guard's spine.
Silvi and Harson widened their eyes, seeing the master they served could create such an expression like that.
Iris slowly blinked and back to normal as her eyes changed back into blue. A sweet smile broke across her face as she urged the two of them to continue their walk,
"Well, shall we go back home now~ we have lots of work to do~ Let's! Go!~" Iris beamed, skipping a bit on her steps while Silvi and Harson just followed her quietly
'Ojou-sama...just what kind of future did you see...to make that kind of face.'
Silvi asked to herself while looking her small back but then she shook her head to dismiss the thought 'Nevertheless...I will follow your order no matter what...even I have to dirty my hands again...if it's for you. I will do anything.'
Silvi pledge to herself once again.
And so, to wrap things up, Willam managed to provide Iris with necessary information they need and to top it off, he's also revealed the name of someone that would play quite a role in her future.
As for the plan they have prepared so meticulously....
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.
.
It can finally be...executed.
To be continue...