The guards were anxious. By now, almost everybody had arrived except for the last honor guest, Duke Callisto von Wagner and a few others. That infamous duke, who led them to lose half of their paycheck 3 months ago, still wasn't here.
In spite of not believing gods, they prayed desperately in their mind for him to come on time or else the one the royals would unleash their anger onto wasn't the duke but them. On top of that, their anger was a petty one which would result in the reduction of their payment.
Fortunately, a carriage with the insignia of the Wagner family stopped in front of them right before they had to close the gates. The guards were relieved they didn't have to lose their biggest source of income, being able to keep their current job.
Stepping off the carriage, Duke Callisto escorted Val and two kids to the gates. The guards, blown away by his beauty, were dazed.
The duke wasn't in his usual monochrome tuxedo, but dressed in a suit enumerated with Eastern elements to it.
Val was proud, almost wanting to boast out loud. The attire and his face both complemented the other. As he was passing through the gates, he could see the noble ladies gushing about him. It only further boosted his ego.
The dark blue robes were embroidered with patterns of white lilies. Underneath it was a white long sleeve shirt that was adjusted by Val for him to move easily in. From the waist down to the ankles, the blue pants gradually faded, turning white at the wide hem of the trousers, which were secured tightly in place by a thin leather belt.
He encouraged them to talk more about it. The more they do, the more rumors will spread about it. No matter what the customer's intentions were, he would welcome them openly.
Duke Lecter's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Greetings, Your Grace, Callisto and Val Asmodeus. I welcome you to my ball."
"Thank you for your wishes, Duke Lecter."
"It's my honor that both of you attended."
"I think I will also enjoy the feast you prepared very well. So I appreciate your hard work." He nudged Callisto lightly for him to say something but he remained silent.
"No problem. We have some interesting events playing out in the evening so stay tuned for it."
"Of course, I will." He pulled Raul and Rune behind him, as if to protect them.
However, Duke Lecter wasn't paying attention to them, instead his eyes were fixated on the duke's outfit. "It's a wonderful masterpiece that you've created once again, blue pearl."
"I have only heard of the nickname, blue mermaid, never a blue pearl. Is it something you personally came up with?"
"Yes." He nodded his head proudly. "Isn't a blue pearl so delicate and charming? My meaning is better than those who call you a blue mermaid that bewitched and enraptured people's hearts."
Val was sure they didn't mean it that way by the nickname. Somehow, Val found the lecherous look in his eyes unpleasant. " You have other guests to attend to, right? Then we will be taking our leave." He signaled Lis by tapping on his arm to go as far away from Duke Lecter.
He complied. "Why didn't you talk to him?"
"I don't want to waste my breath on the likes of him." Did Callisto hate Duke Lecter before that much? Was it a personal vendetta? But then, Callisto didn't seem like a person who would hold onto a grudge since it would only cloud his judgment.
Callisto knocked his head lightly. "Stop the absurd thoughts."
"But I wasn't…" Val pouted.
His sharp ears picked up a conversation between two noble ladies, who debuted fairly early this year. "That's the blue mermaid beside him right?"
"Shall we go up to ask him?"
Wait, why were they eyeing him all of a sudden?
"I am so curious about the teal robes he is wearing."
"Oh, I know! It's similar to the ones from an East Asian country, China." The other girl pointed out. "Isn't that turquoise though?"
"Turquoise is more vibrant than this, idiot!"
He wanted to laugh at the ridiculous conversation the two girls were having. He had no idea this teal gender neutral dress would be popularly received since it was a pretty old hand-me-down from someone else.
Embroidered with a variety of repetitive geometrical patterns at the hems of the outer teal robe, the inner white dress was tied at the waist with a blue sash and other accessories. Hopefully, no one will approach him with the intent to buy this out of him.
They already knew Val's designs were unconventional, nevertheless, the garments that the duke wore today were on another level of innovation. Despite two opposite cultures being combined into one, the customized attires didn't even look disheveled. Instead, it exuded magnificence at the same time delicacy and fragility.
The two outfits brought out mixed feelings amongst the many nobles in the ballroom. Some ladies were envious of Val for being accompanied by Duke Callisto.
A few old fashioned ones were irritated by the change, as it seemed as if the dress was mocking their long standing traditions. Nonetheless, they had no intentions on destroying it, rather deep in their mind, their interests were piqued.
The rest were avid fans of his products, which they wanted to offer the highest price in order to ask for an order as soon as possible. Under the hawk eyes of their parents, they were already warned not to go outside the hall before the royal purebloods appeared.
It was a tradition for all vampires to be present for the imperial family's appearance in social activities. If one went to the balcony for fresh air when the royal family arrived, it would be considered an insult to the family. Many nobles believed this hidden law to be true, except for Callisto and 2 others who had broken this rule plenty of times discreetly.
Val's design silently triggered the spark within the noble ladies to obtain these designs from the blue mermaid designer. Upon hearing his dream of his pay rise going up soon nearly granted, Val seemed calm on the surface, however, internally, he was excitedly jumping to and from as he was able to hit two birds with one stone.
First, he was able to promote his dresses using Callisto as a model to skyrocket their value. Second, he was able to implement Callisto's plan exactly on time.
Tiptoeing close to his ears, he cupped his hands and informed Callisto cautiously about what he found out, warning him gravely to be careful around those 5 people he suspected. Strange. He could feel his mouth moving, saying something yet he couldn't focus on what he was saying at all because he was fixated on Callisto's long silver eyelashes.
He wondered if natural looks could even be this perfect? He held back his desire to caress Callisto's face and put his hands at his side.
Even though Val stopped talking into his ears a while ago, he only realized Callisto was staring lovingly at him. In silence, they remained in the same position before Val broke away their eye contact abruptly.
Feeling a few gazes on them, he could hear the noble ladies gushing and subtly pointing at them, most of them generally thinking they were a suitable pair.
Despite the fake show they promised to play professionally, the duke didn't look like he was acting at all. Displaying such a genuine looking expression from his face was unfair!
There was no way his heart could flutter from a temporary eye contact. Right…it might be because the duke's charming face was too near him that seeing his surreal features up close amazed him. Although he was denying it vehemently, he could feel a lump in his throat as he felt his desire to touch him, to be near him, to hold a special place in his heart and…
Enough! It was best to ignore this feeling for it was nothing. It was nothing but admiration.
Composing himself, although he wanted to block this feeling completely, he managed to stand his ground and not back away.
Avoiding eye contact with Callisto, Val remained by his side as he had nothing better to do, occasionally commenting on topics the nobles were discussing in their conversation.
Greeting the royals, who made their appearance a bit later, they parted their ways after deciding on a point they would meet around 20 minutes later.
The children aimed straight for the table in order to feast upon the delicacies and the desserts. They rarely got to eat anything since they were at school for half a day, and they couldn't stop anywhere with the carriage because they were late.
Rune's eyes lit up at the scrumptious desserts and hearty meals laid out, 2 times larger than a normal hotel buffet. She selected a plate and placed several chocolate cakes and marshmallow sticks onto her plate.
"You shouldn't eat cake first. Dessert comes after eating a proper dinner. It is bad for your…." When Raul nagged at her, he was spitting image of Val, who was overly worried for her.
By the time Raul finished his lecture, Rune was sucking her fingers clean, which were messy with chocolate from the chocolate fondue fountain. She clearly wasn't listening to his words.
"Anyway, don't you think father and mother looked so dreamy just now?" She gushed over them like a fan. "Oh, they were so cute! Mum was avoiding dad, who was still staring at her even after she left. It was such a shame that mum didn't look back even once."
"Hey, by dad, you don't mean…?"
"Duke Cal…"
Raul covered her mouth gently, looking around to see if any nobles heard their conversation. He bent down, explaining to her patiently. "Even if you think that, the duke may not find it pleasant. Besides, if you want to help mum, call her dad. You would help her more if you do so."
"Won't that make Duke Callisto more suspicious?"
Raul pondered. "Just in case my assumption is wrong, keep calling Val mum in front of Duke Callisto. Don't do it in front of the nobles. Got it?"
Seeing her brother so serious, Rune shrugged his hand off her shoulder. "Got it." And she took off in search of more food.
Raul smiled at his sister's childish behavior. Only hoping that Duke Callisto hadn't figured out Val's true identity, he distracted himself with a hearty, juicy meal so that his brain wouldn't come up with any more ridiculous theories.
Seeing his children enjoy the banquet with ease, he was relieved. In his first social activity, his day there didn't go as well as he thought he would. Despite thinking that the children could take care of themselves, Val sat down on a sofa nearby to supervise them.
In a straight posture (which was an eccentric ball "etiquette" set for nobles), he was about to doze off when a shadow blocked off the chandelier's light which was shining on him. A person whom he interacted with before stood in front of him.
As he opened his eyes, he was stunned to see green eyes gazing straight at him. He backed away immediately, leaning against the sofa. In the first place, he never liked people coming close to him except close people in his circle which wasn't too many.
Um, He nodded his head. That explained why his heart was palpitating just now when seeing Callisto up close. That must be why…
Her voice interrupted his assumptions. "Ehh, seeing me for the first time in a while and reacting like that? Aren't you too mean?"
For a split second, his eyes widened in surprise before he returned to his normal grim visage. No wonder he felt familiar with the aura she was exuding, it was the lady whom he first heard a divulgence from. The one who told almost everyone that his boutique could be used as a church to own up and get solutions from.
The lady pouted, grumbling. "I will be really angry if you keep this up!"
"Acting cute would do no good."
"Oh!" She covered her mouth as if she was taken aback. "You do realize I am cute."
This woman certainly knew how to act. "Well, at least I know that many others have used the same trick with me, thinking I am a pushover." Val retorted.
She was stumped. No one had ever treated her like this before. No matter how much she flirted or signaled him to make a move on her, he never jumped on the opportunities she gave him. He even tried to keep away from her after she spread word of the banquet in hopes that he would come to look her way for once.
"..." She was downhearted.
"And what business do you have with me?"
"How cold of you." She looked sadly at him. "But I still like that about you."
'But I still like that about you' was a phrase she would often say whenever he warned her to mind her own business. By now, he got used to hearing it and was fed up with the fact that he would play along.
He couldn't understand himself.
Why did he even waste his energy on her? Because she was like a sister? Or was it because she resembled Callisto in her beautiful green eyes? Or was it because of Lisa, whom he hadn't seen in such a long time?
"What have you found out?" Val asked as he patted the sofa, gesturing to her to sit beside him.
"Would you like to go to a private room? It's not too good to openly talk about such matters out here after all." Val considered this option. The duke would be fine on his own but the twins wouldn't be able to protect themselves if something happened.
"No need." Val replied as he cast an illusion barrier. "Now, you can speak freely. Others are misled by the copies of us talking about normal topics."
"This is the first time I've seen you do this."
What did she...? Ah, she meant his illusion ability.
"We meet too little to know too much about the other."
"Do you mean…?"
"No, Elaine. Stop." Val denied. He knew what she was about to say. She probably wanted to meet up more in order to get to know each other.
"That's cruel. I was going to invite you over…"
"Immediately denied." Val spoke without hesitation.
Handing over a potion with a note, she turned serious. "Duke Lecter is no good."
"You mean…"
She shook her head. "He's gone quite, no, absolutely, deranged. Though he's been hiding the scandal within his house quite well and signs of drugs, the moment they would order a command, he would execute it without will."
"What other events had he buried under the rug?"
"Nothing. He only limits the abuse in the house, knowing that his servants wouldn't have any other options but suck it up." She thought it over. "But I do know that his servants are here to brew some trouble in this mansion. It's best to tread with caution."
"..." Val pondered. Should he do something about them? Maybe it would be better to ask Callisto firsthand.
"That potion." She pointed at the mini glass bottle. "Use it wisely. My master said he would take 4 more months to make them."
"Likewise. Please tell your master to keep an eye on his little one so that she won't do something reckless again. I wouldn't be able to pay for the consequences if she went out of control."
"Got it!" Saluting to him, she ran off, returning to her own circle that she was in before.
Feeling the dense murderous intent spread around the room, Val turned his head, only to meet Callisto's loving gaze. That terrifying feeling just now….! It disappeared.
Was it from Callisto?
No, it couldn't be. He had every intention to keep up the fake act of a pursuer admiring his beloved. Even while others were busily talking to him, trying to butter up to him, he was clearly uninterested, only focused on Val.
If that intent was really from Lis, how could he change his facial expressions so versatilely when he was so expressionless in the house?
Val knew something was weird. Ever since they were living together, whether it was out in public nor in the room, Val had a feeling Callisto was approaching him more often than before. Clutching his shirt for courage, he put on a poker face and waved back to the duke.
"He's cute." An old gentleman, who was supported by the cane, standing beside Duke Callisto commented. "Quite unbelievable from his physique that he is a man."
"He is. Well, in his personality, he is more manly and as ferocious as a cat."
"Hey, are you belittling him or praising him?"
"Both. How's your business going?" Callisto asked Marquis Montreal.
"Well." Knowing the duke had no intentions on probing and genuinely cared, he felt safe to spill his worries out. "My idiotic son. He's been on the run for years. Even when I was younger, I wasn't that stubborn. Who did he even get his strong personality from?"
"Perhaps your wife."
"Well, well. You've learnt how to talk bad about people, haven't you, young master?" A young looking lady with curly blonde stepped up, boldly hugging tightly onto the marquis's arm.
"Linette, don't call him a young master." Marquis Montreal insisted.
Linette Albertroiz was someone who care nothing about the noble's rules. She only started to care when she realized her behavior could cause some problems to her husband. She minded herself and faked her social identity.
Because of a photo in the family album, consisting the members of two families - Montreal and Wagner, she learnt that in front of Duke Callisto and her supportive family, she was allowed to speak her mind freely regardless of status. Her personality became more open minded and flexible, as a result, she was able to raise her social status in the noble society.
The Montreal family could be said to be his second family after Richard's betrayal. Due to certain circumstances, he had to stay at their mansion. During that time, he was close to Alexis. Though they had opposite personalities and interests, because they never longed for the same thing, they never once fought each other and became close friends.
The young Alexis, who was fairly naive that time, despite his mischievous pranks, disclosed all his schemes and even seeked advice from him.
Though Alexis didn't tell him the truth of what happened after his plan was carried out, he could vaguely guess what happened by piecing together Alexis' words and clues from his wife's death.
"It's okay. I don't mind." Callisto replied.
"Then, Callisto."
"I told you not to call him that!" Marquis Montreal tried to correct her behavior.
While the Montreal couple were arguing with each other, Callisto was lost in his own thoughts, wondering whether he should tell them.
It had been a long time since the parents saw Alexis. It should be fine to drop a little hint about his whereabouts. "I don't know if this would help you, but ever since the woman who was always next to him died all of a sudden, he had likewise disappeared and been living quietly in the dark side as if he was dead." Callisto's closed eyes were smiling insidiously. "Does that help you?"
The couple was shocked, not by the bomb he dropped onto them all of a sudden but due to a little change in his character. Did he originally have a foxy personality? Linette questioned him, skeptical that his clue was a decoy. "More than that, how did you know?"
"I have my own sources." By stating that he refused to answer directly, he showed her that he had the authority to avoid her question simply because he didn't want to tell her.
"Then, why didn't you tell us earlier?" Her eyes filled with worry, Linette looked as if she was about to burst into tears at any moment. If such a tenacious woman would cry so weakly for her son, just how precious was Alexis to them?
"I didn't tell you since Alexis made me swear on my name. Besides, he is my friend. I have to be trustworthy to keep a secret or two for him."
"Even if we are his parents?"
"He had already considered you as an option. But he knew the trouble he would stir was too much for a marquis family of a small domain to handle. He knew that and wanted you guys to stay safe. For your own good, you better not probe further. I can handle it." He said coldly. "I assure you, in the name of Duke Callisto von Wagner, that Alexis is still safe."
Declaring his vow, he walked away from the couple, who was hypothesizing about the possible causes of his change in behavior, in search of Val, who was no longer in his previous seat.
It was nearly time for the waltz.
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"Master, the plan Duke Lecter carried out to kidnap the blue mermaid had failed." He reported the mission's failure.
Louis Shaw, the man, whom he called the master, paused before responding. "Even after I sent my men to collect some traces?"
"They're professional. Their traces were erased. No person alive was found." The shadow servant appeased his master. "It's my fault that I arrived at the scene too late."
"Check if they are still alive. Knowing his personality, my son would make sure this incident would never appear on the surface. Just in case, get rid of any servants who were sent by my idiotic son after Duke Lecter's men."
"Yes." The shadow guard answered as if he was a robot.
"And also, send some men to help escalate his plan tonight. My dear son will have to pay a price later for cleaning up his troubles on my awaited day off."
"Yes, sir."
"Don't let them detect you."
"..." The shadow guard didn't respond as if thinking it over was feasible to erase his traces completely on his own.
"You are dead if you return to us with your tail leashed onto something else. I am the only master you will ever serve. Got it?"
"Yes." At his last command, his minion disappeared to carry out his task.
Louis Shaw Heather sighed while gulping down wine scrumptiously. "If only my son could be as obedient as you were…"