A man in a black suit and pants was hurrying through the streets of northern Routledge.
He was sweating profusely.
There were not many pedestrians in the street.
The roads were the cleanest in the City.
There were no shops present.
All the pedestrians were either working in the administrative office of the city council or were serving in a noble household.
Many big and highly sophisticated buildings can be seen from which many people were coming out and moving towards the eastern direction.
The bell tower can be seen at a distance where its bell reflects the noon sunlight.
As the scenarios of the administrative buildings ended a colony of large mansions came into view.
If they didn't belong to the nobles they could have been part of the city attractions.
Among those mansions, one stood out.
A pristine white mansion like the governor's but also had towers attached to it with home turrets on top of it.
The black iron bar gate was guarded by two fully armoured guards.
The guards squinted their eyes.
And after realising the identity of the person moving towards the gate the guards opened the wicket present.
The black-suited man went through the gate and hastily moved towards the mansion.
A big decorated wooden door saw the arrival of a man from the garden full of white and red flowers.
The man skipped through the large stairsteps and opened the doors.
The servants working in the hall were startled by such actions.
But before one could complain the man rushed to the third floor and reached the door at the end of a long corridor but was stopped by two guards.
"Master butler you can't enter now "
" I have some urgent matter to discuss with master "
"No, you can't master is busy dealing with something important "
" Yes I have brought news regarding a very 'important matter ' "
The guard squinted his eyes and looked at the other guard.
The other guard shrugged his shoulder.
The guard hasn't much choice and lets the man enter.
The man knocked on the door and asked
" Master, Butler Trevor ask permission to enter the room"
A solemn reply came
"Enter"
The butler entered the room with a bow.
The room was fairly large with three moderately sized tables perpendicular to each other.
One of the tables had paper works the other was empty and was used by the second in charge in his absence.
There was bookshelves on the corner of the room.
Behind the middle table, where little paper and a pen were lying next to it, a man who looked in his mid-30s was sitting.
The man has a very cold face.
Icy black eyes and fairly long black hair up to his neck with his moustache gave him an intimidating appearance.
He was a true aristocrat.
Unlike the previous two generations.
He heard many rumours about how his grandfather looked like a sly man and he found some resemblance in his father but he inherited the dignity of a nobleman from his mother's side.
He had to fight with his other brothers to gain the title of count. But that's the story for later.
The Clauver family was a merchant-aristocratic family.
His grandfather was a merchant who turned the crisis in the empire into an opportunity and gained the favour of the then-imperial Lord and bought a title.
This was the reason they were looked down upon but the nobles couldn't openly show their disdain as the family was the third richest among the nobles in the empire and took their root in the City of Routledge turning it into a megacity.
"What happened?" asked the man.
" Master I have visited the kid as you have asked, but there seems to be a problem"
" Problem?"
" I have talked to the kid and before I could offer him any form of assistance I enquired about his origins due to his seemingly rude behaviour and I found out that he was from the slums"
"Hmmm...slums....."
" If I may overstep my boundaries to say that we don't have to get involved with the army for the sake of a slum boy "
The master of the Clauvers went into deep thought.
After a while, he opened his mouth" Next time go and deliver a letter promising him pseudo-citizenship and see how he reacts I will have to look into the case more deeply it might not be a simple espionage case maybe other nobles are involved"
The butler's face paled and he stammered
" N-No, Master it's more of a reason to not get involved with the boy we can soon find more suitable candidates no need to get entangled with other families"
The man looked at the butler and asked
" Trevor, are you defying my orders?"
"No master, I would never do such a thing"
" Then do as you're said I will take care of the army and nobles if any are involved "
After a small silence, the butler replied
" Yes master"
" Now leave "
"Yes master "
Saying so the black-suited butler bowed and left the room.
In the room, only a man with his maroon suit was left.
He got up from his seat and walked towards the window present behind him and looked at the scenery of his garden.
"Are the Elidys and Amulis's involved?"
There were five jewels of the empire among them the two jewels Elidys family and the Amulis family were fighting.
The Clauver family was a follower of the other jewel, The Hermengio family.
His family has been in the city of Routledge for five generations even before the creation of the empire.
Two generations as a commoner merchant and three generations as an aristocrat. He can't let those two families mess around his territory even more so as this place is already in a power struggle between the imperial family and the Clauver family.
___________________________
The morning routine was usual for Sebastian
Wake up and see the food already served, eat it and then get visited by Marcus trying to pressure him to confess he is the spy, Marcus was getting more aggressive with time maybe because Sebastian was ignoring him now.
Then sometimes gets visited by Velor alongside some other officers who enquire about the knight apprentices and why he was in the garbage pile.
He had to repeat the same lines over and over again.
At this point, he hoped if any devices were made that could record voices then he could record himself and let the device do the talking.
But he couldn't complain.
He got his meals three times a day but never was able to see who brought them.
Sebastian gained a little weight and his pale skin gained some colour.
He was always locked in this room napping except for food eating and bathroom.
He hadn't been in any part of the place he was locked except the bathroom at the end of the corridor accompanied by a soldier.
While Sebastian was thinking of taking another nap a knock was heard on the door.
𝑻𝑶𝑪𝑲 𝑻𝑶𝑪𝑲
Sebastian was surprised no one did this before except Marcus during his second visit which was ignored by him.
The door opened without waiting for an answer.
Then came the man.
The same butler who visited him a few days ago.
Sebastian didn't care and laid down.
When was about to close his eyes.
The man said in a respectful tone, "Sir Sebastian, I would like to have a few moments with you if you don't mind"
" I mind " Saying so Sebastian turned his back towards the man.
Veins popped on the man's forehead but he kept his calm and said,
" Now sir, please listen to this poor man's words I promise you would not regret"
" I don't talk to rude people "
" It was a misunderstanding sir, beside sir was the one who started it first"
Sebastian didn't reply.
The butler continued
" Sir I have enquired about you as you have asked and I came with a proposition"
" I don't want to"
" You could reject but please listen to the proposition first sir it's for your benefit"
This piqued his interest.
Here, Sebastian was treated as a criminal by some and indifference by others. It didn't bother him.
But it was the first time in his life someone was giving him choice and was requesting something.
" What proposition?" Sebastian asked with an uninterested voice.
" The Clauver family will defend you against the false charges and will provide you with a pseudo citizenship"
It was a dream come true deal.
But Sebastian knew Unpriced goodwills are dangerous.
And no one gives you a freebie in this world, especially the nobles.
Also, the fact the man was acting too respectfully towards him, who was accused of espionage and was from the slums.
Something suspicious was going on.
" What's the catch?" Sebastian asked.
The butler's eyes widened, he said with a smile,
" You're a smart one aren't you? Well all you have to do is give consent to become the second young master of the Clauver family and act as a noble"
Sebastian frowned. It was too sweet of a deal to be true.
Not only he would get out of the mess but live as noble.
Something seems off about it.
" And nothing else?"
" No nothing else ahh maybe a contract declaring that you won't compete for the title of Clauver after the present Count's death and also be respectful towards the true heir and not treat him carelessly as you're adopted but there will be many benefits"
" It's too great of a deal for me what's the Clauver family would get?" Sebastian posed the question.
The butler realised he couldn't coerce the boy, he was too cautious for his own good.
"Why so suspicious? " The butler smirked losing his earlier respectful tone.
And continued " Don't worry the Clauver family want nothing more than your presence as unfortunately you're unknowingly in the eye of a brewing storm "
" If to say in your slums antics, you're nothing more than a useful pawn second young master "
While saying so, the man went to the door and looked back at Sebastian and said
"Don't worry young master endure the night we will send a team of escorts tomorrow at dawn. And take this envelope, your father is worried about you"
The butler threw an envelope towards him.
Sebastian didn't like it because even though he was from slums at least he knew that the butler was mocking him.
But he was powerless in such a situation.
Even if he didn't want to believe the words of the butler he knew he got involved in something dangerous as evident by the agitated behaviour of Marcus, frequent visits by officers alongside Velor and the visit by the Clauver family's butler.
Sebastian took a look at the envelope with a seal having the face of a lion with antlers.
" Regarding the envelope bearer to the concerned party" was written over it.
He wanted to open but his instincts said otherwise.
If it was another time his curiosity would have won but now his cautious reasoning screaming to not.
Sunny carefully put the envelope under his pillow and slept.
He was not able to sleep properly that night as he felt he was doing something illegal and things gonna get more hectic from now.
As he was getting more relaxed and was about to go into a deep sleep.
𝑫𝑶𝑵𝑮 𝑫𝑶𝑵𝑮
He heard the sound of the bells waking him up.
If it was other times he would have been in a bad mood but now he was excited and worried.
He was going to be free after so much time and even though he showed no reaction he was going to visit a noble household that many regular citizens weren't able to do in their whole lifetime.
He hurriedly got up from his bed and looked under the pillow. He carefully took the envelope in his hands and scanned if there was any damage.
After finding there was none he looked at the small table.
But for the first time after coming here, he saw there was no food there.
He was surprised.
Whenever he woke up he saw food present.
But why not now, because he didn't wake up so early usually.
' If I can wait a little longer I can see who used to put my food ' Sebastian thought.
Sebastian was not a light sleeper but neither a heavy sleeper.
Coupled with his wariness he was sure he would wake up if he heard any sound.
While he was having such thoughts, a knock was heard on the door.
𝑲𝑵𝑶𝑪𝑲 𝑲𝑵𝑶𝑪𝑲
"Mr Sebastian are you in there?"