"So, Miss Grace, is it, you did not drink the potion, did you?" Hira asked.
Ever since he has gained his abilities, everyone that he targeted, had injected some of his blood one way or the other. But this was the first time, that this plan has failed.
Hira looked at Daniel
"To think you are this bad at doing a job." He spoke.
"No… master she definitely drank the potion. I saw her with my own eyes." Daniel tried to explain himself.
"Calm down dumbass… and you miss Grace, you did not drink the potion, So, looking at your idiot brother's behavior, you wanted to know what's going on here, I presume?" He spoke.
"… Yes…" Grace calmed herself down and replied curtly.
"Grace… huh, you sure are graceful." Hira laughed as he complimented.
"…" Grace did not say anything.
"Please sit down miss Grace, I am sure you want to talk, we can talk, there is no need to be afraid of each other." Hira invited her to sit.
"Sure…" Grace sat down before asking
"What did you do to him?" She asked as she pointed at Daniel.
"Him… oh… that's a secret. I can't tell you that." Hira replied.
"So, what do you want from me." Grace continued, without beating around the bush.
"Well, I want to get the Baron drink one of my potions." Hira answered.
"Does your potion contain some curse?" Grace asked again.
"No… it's not some curse or shit like that, it's just that… wait, you sure are clever miss Grace. But no I am not telling you any more than this. Anyway, I have a lot of stuff to take care of so if you don't mind, can you help me with the task or not?" Hira asked directly.
"You won't force me to drink your potion?" Grace was a little surprised, this young man seemed a lot easier than she had expected.
"Yeah… it's not like it will do anything different then what I can do on my own." Hira shrugged.
"It's just that there are some scums who need to be taken care of, and I would like if it happened fast, If I can't get it done fast, then whatever" he said.
"What is it that you want to do?" Grace continued her interrogation.
"Look lady, I am not some inmate you can interrogate. I am answering your question that much should be enough. Moreover, I have utter disgust for your family, so you better not cross the limit." Hira warned her.
"You… hate the Crest family?" Grace was interested.
Hira looked at her, then he looked at Daniel
"Yo Daniel, it seems like your sister doesn't know about the human trafficking you have been doing in the past few months."
"…"
"Master… she really doesn't know. She is called a disgrace in the house, so nobody ever informs her what is happening in the family." Daniel replied.
"…" Hira remained silent for a few seconds before uttering
"Oh yeah… I forgot your family is full of shitheads. Sorry lady, it seems I misunderstood you. But you see that's that. The Crest family is trying to do human trafficking in this territory and I want to inform the Baron before they can do so. It would be good if he drank the potion, since that would make things a lot easier. But even if he doesn't it doesn't matter, I have the proofs so I can still tell him. What he does after that is his problem." He answered Grace's question.
"But… but what will you do if the Baron doesn't listen to you?" Grace asked.
"Well, if he drank my potion, then there is no chance of that happening. But since that option is out now. Then it's his problem. I only want to do my duty as a good citizen. I don't care what the Baron does." Hira replied.
"… So, you won't save the citizen if the Baron doesn't do anything." Grace felt a little disappointed, but hey, that's human nature, why would someone go out of their way to save commoners?
"Umm… I don't know. Things would have been more fun if I had made 'friends' with Baron, but since I can't do that now, I will have to look for some alternatives. You see, I am not the hardworking type." Hira replied honestly.
"So… would you like to help? Or would you like to bail?" He asked.
"Why do you tell me everything? Do you think I won't sell you out to the Crest family." Grace asked.
"Does that confidence come from the friend in your shadow?" Hira asked.
"…"
Grace's eyes widened, the words that were about to come out of her mouth suddenly fell silent.
The 'friend' in her shadow, no one had seen that 'friend', at least seen it and lived to tell the tale. Then how, how did he find out.
Her shadow vibrated. Was it trying to get out and attack. What should she do? Was she going to fight or was she going to back down?
"Heh… Hira smirked. Don't worry lady grace, just consider today's incident as a strange encounter. We can catch up next time."
"What do you mean next time?" Grace asked.
"Next time, I mean when we meet again." Hira replied.
"And why will we meet again?" Grace asked again.
"To catch up of course. I have started to like you lady Grace." Hira said shamelessly.
"You… do you know you can die saying things like that to Baron's wife." Grace said angrily.
"I know that… I shall never say something like that to the Baron's wife." Hira replied playfully.
"…"
"You… how… how do you know… no… what… how do you know that?" Grace stuttered. She didn't know what was wrong with this day. It's like all her secrets were laid open in front of this young man.
Who was he? Why did he know so much about her. She could not comprehend this young man at all.
"See… I told you we would need to catch up soon. If you had helped me, we could catch up anytime. But now, it seems it will take some time before we are able to meet each other. It already saddens my heart to think about?" Hira clutched his heart and played around.
"What… What are you doing." Grace was losing her mind, what's wrong with this boy, one moment he is like some dark villain, and the other moment he acts like a spoiled brat.
"Help me if you want to find out." Hira demanded.
"…" Grace fell silent for a few seconds
"Sigh… I don't think that will be necessary." She sighed.
"… So, you won't help huh… whatever, next time then." Hira was about to stand up but Grace talked again.
"No, that's not what I mean. I don't know what your power does, but it won't work on the baron. Because… the baron is dead."
"Eh…"
"Eh…"
Both Daniel and Hira looked at her with dumb looks. She looked back at them, her face expressionless.
"Crash…" Hira threw the cup from his hand.
"Damn it… another plot twist."