***
Back at the duchy in an ornately decorated room, was a girl with a beautiful visage with platinum-white hair with goldish-orange tendrils cascading down her shoulders with her black-purple eyes adding to her allure but her eyes had swollen and her saccharine lips were dry as if the girl had just bawled her eyes out. Yet, her eyes were gleaming with murderous intent at this moment.
It was none other than Evelyn Dawner who had finally made up her mind to confront her parents and tell them about what she had done to her brother even if she was hated by them but first, she decided to deal with the guy who had dared to poison her brother.
She took her phone and sent a message to her group for a gathering to discuss their final year at Cuzlades Academy along with her plans to graduate early so as to join the global academy, their meeting place being 'Hailey's Harmonious Inn'.
The next morning, Evelyn had dressed up as her usual self and put on some make-up to cover her puffy eyes but she still had some blurry vision. She sneaked away as she did not want to meet her parents before dealing with that guy.
She went there with her personal guards which were led by a S-rank to prevent any mishaps even if this was near the duchy. They had failed to persuade her not to go, so they could only send the best protectors.
She had booked the most expensive room for their conversation and one-by-one her 'friends' arrived. Lim was the last one to arrive as he had an expectant and nervous reaction but she chose to ignore it for now.
After their discussion when everyone left, she stopped Lim from leaving and he was shocked but became elated thinking he will be rewarded. Rewarded he was, with getting beaten up by Evelyn who was a mage yet she overpowered Lim who was a warrior.
No one was inside the room and the room was soundproof, so no sound leaked as she beat him because he had already excitedly said that he had poisoned Jarien to make Evelyn happy and she could not hold it in and beat the hell out of him.
She had realised it that it was impossible for him to get such a potent poison and she was curious about who he got it from but this time he stay shut until Evelyn threatened him using his family that the provider would kill them to keep him safe and if not then she will kill them but she said she will protect them if he spoke the truth.
He told her what he knew and said he got it from Mason Hiddleton who stemmed from a high-ranking family but she could destroy them easily if she asked for her family's help.
"That crazy…stalker?" muttered Evelyn hatefully as she had rejected him and even her family had warned his family, so she decided she will deal with him herself and she was going to protect Lim's family but she never mentioned anything about him, so he along with his family vanished without a trace since that day as he was but a commoner.
His family now served in the Dawner family estate yet no one knew anything as Evelyn made sure to keep quiet and her status was too high for anyone to question her except her family but they were already aware as they knew about Lim being in the same class as Lyn.
Later, Lyn after crippling her own 'friend' which was a heavy burden as she was unable to kill him and kept him imprisoned within the estate and his family was told that he had offended someone so she was trying to protect them as his friend.
After a few days with a heavy heart she finally confessed about her deeds to Viria, her mother and upon seeing her daughter like this she felt partially guilty for not showing her daughter that she was loved too but she was also angry for her doings.
Of course, Evelyn did not let out a squeak about Lim or Mason or what Jarien said to her as she was not stupid enough to overly complicate the situation and she knew why Jarien told it to her and not their parents.
In Viria's complicated mood, her motherly side took over and she consoled Lyn which made her cry as she expected a harsh scolding but little did she know, Viria already knew about it and asked Jarien but he had rejected her help and requested for Lym to allow her to mature by her own.
Now, if you mistake Viria for a loving and gentle woman then you are wrong and right at the same time. As this side of her was reserved for her family but she was a scary businesswoman that everyone in Crepuscule and Dawner family had accepted along with all their business partners deeming her scarier than Davin and hence, she was responsible of many businesses of both families, yet she was able to find time for her children which showed her capabilities.
After the rumours regarding Jarien's banishment leaked, she started searching her companies, businesses, guild, and every other subsidiary for spies and traitors and she found many but surprising was the executive's treachery as they were all S-ranks, they might believe they were invincible as S-ranks were rare but they forgot that Dawner family has SS-ranks as personal guards over their children.
"Emma, find and erase all the moles" said Viria nonchalantly after reading the reports provided by her assistant who was a S-rank and had been with Viria since the day she was born, like a nanny or older sister.
"It may cause unrest within if we remove the executives too, My Lady" advised Emma genuinely.
"It does not matter. It is their fault to think we would let them go" said Viria while meeting Emma's gaze.
"Understood, My Lady" said Emma and went to deal with it as she had to move a SS-rank to prevent others from escaping and hence chaos ensued as all the spies and traitors within their ranks were removed within 10 days including 7 S-ranks which caused the forgotten fear in other people's heart stem back to existence.
…
…
…
"So there really were moles huh?" said Nathan as he looked at the report sent by Davin as he had left for a SS-rank dungeon in the lost lands near their territory. The report made him get up from the boulder he was resting on along with his blood-red greatsword.
"Yes, sire. Lady Viria has ordered to remove them all.'' added Nathan's butler who was Stephan's Uncle and an SS-rank hunter.
"That brat helped solve many things, although he is unaware" said Nathan chuckling.
"I don't think he is totally unaware" muttered the butler.
"Why do you believe so Alfred?" asked Nathan, intrigued by the conclusion.
"A hunch, sire" said Alfred doubtfully which made Nathan even more interested in this.
…
…
…
Meanwhile, upon hearing this news, various reactions elicited from different people across the world as it was after a long time that such a rumour had spread regarding an elite family because usually, all rumours regarding them were pushed down yet they let it spread.
Some smart people figured out that it was on purpose and their thought process was proven correct when countless people from their family were gone suddenly and they concluded that it was for this very reason that they let such rumours spread.
A youth was laughing hysterically in his dorm room upon hearing this rumour as it was confirmed due to Jarien missing from their estate as well as no rebuttal for the rumour.
"KUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" laughed the boy crazily.
This boy had a burly body with bulging muscles and anyone would say he looks like a tanker yet he was a knight who used a double-bladed battle axe as his primary weapon. He had curly brown hair with grey eyes showcasing his earth and metal affinity.
This youth was none other than Mason Hiddleton, who harboured twisted love for Evelyn and was happy that one obstacle got removed and he also placed the assassination target on Jairen for a precious artifact reluctantly.
"Heh, even if the last time failed…this time…it will surely succeed…" said Mason creepily.
He still remembered how he had gotten the beating of his life from his uncle after he almost revealed their identity so he shut up as soon as he got a chill down his spine and looked around warily.
He did not know that someone was observing his every move since the academy started and that person was reporting it to Evelyn as she wanted to deal with it herself as it all started because of her.
The boy had set up his own demise unknowingly with his actions as Evelyn finally lost it. She knew the banishment was false as her mother told her the plan but it still hurt her pride seeing someone undermine her family.
Her decision was also firm due to the fact that she had investigated his deeds, only to find his past wrongdoings getting worse and worse, so she felt determined to erase this person she deemed 'trash' from the face of their planet, YUSMA.
…
…
…
Little did everyone know that all these rumours were spread by the person himself and he was enjoying it as he had waited for a month to no news, so he understood the people behind the spies intended to keep it a secret to keep their spies in but this contradicted his plans.
Jarien used identity disguise using his ring-sword artifact and spread rumours across every place they visited whenever he got the chance as Richard also had to slip away to gather news.
Jarien had even ventured deep into the sums and found the group of kids he was looking for, he tasked them to spread rumours for money and gave them 1,000 RPD lest they get robbed and die if he gave more.
He had even asked help from his childhood friend by using their secret contact method and she reluctantly agreed, so he had thanked her first and enjoyed the chaos as he wanted assassins to attack so he can reach Volley city and his family will deal with the spies.
Everything went according to plan as the people who had planted spies were cursing at the stupidity of the one who leaked it as it resulted in all their years of effort to be wasted and the people who wanted his life will make a move soon because it became easier to do so, so more people would hire assassins.
…
…
…
A man with blonde hair and hazel green eyes had a constricted expression as he felt something amiss. He accepted the rumours in Cuzlades but the rumours in other continents made him puzzled as they had spread too fast, as if done on purpose by someone in power.
Azazel was not the only one, few smart people also felt uneasy but they let it go as it was but a small matter. To Azazel, he knew of the issue but his clients kept increasing for the assassination, so he gave in due to his dire need and gave the orders to track Jarien and inform him before making any moves.
It took one of the continent's best underground organizations led by Azazel to move by themselves to find clues as their hired people turned out useless in finding Jarien.
It took them nearly an entire month just to track a rough trail as the hired trackers made the situation harder for them since they had been tracking for the previous 2 months.
Azazel asked them to track the exact location as he did not feel bothered by the long wait as the advanced money was already enough to sustain their goal for some time but after finding the exact location, he got to know the burly man and Richard's story and asked him to ask assassins to kill him to prevent the real identity leaking and make it seem like a personal grudge.
Jarien did not know that his wild guess of events changing would really come true as his assassination would happen around June instead of August but he was struggling to come up with an excuse to reach Volley city and this worked well for him. Alas, he did not know about it yet as he was still getting tortured by the crazy knight and his nightmares.
He had been enjoying the 1 free day he got from his training every fortnight to go the fire-energy rich hot springs to maintain their façade and he found it to his utmost fascination that he felt relaxed in the hot waters as he was someone who used to take cold water showers even in winters.
Though, obviously he would not let go of such a chance to familiarize himself with fire affinity mana as his mana absorption speed also increased unnaturally here, so the water around him was less hot than the rest, so he started sinking deeper and absorb it more excitedly without others noticing as it was a vast spring which could accommodate 300 or so people easily.
He obviously used the same days to spread rumours and pay people from the slums as it was also one of the gateways to the black market which aided the spread of rumours since they would always be present observing and obtaining information.
He never met them as he came with a different identity every time so as to make them think an organization is paying money for the rumours and this territory was the border region, so one might naturally think of it as the most natural place which allowed him to do this scot-free unless the rumours blasted in proportion all of a sudden which he knew whose work it was and he was glad for it.