"Lady Aveline, gentlemen. I am butler Guiscard. His Grace, Duke Luc Valderic, awaits you for a private audience."
"Luc Valderic is the descendant of Edwin Valderic and now the head of the family." Aveline whispered to Maxime before dismounting her horse.
She replied politely:
"Good. Please take us to him."
Butler Guiscard bowed slightly, then opened the manor gate with a precise, controlled gesture.
The group moved forward in silence, Maxime in the lead, his senses alert despite the apparent tranquility of the premises.
As for the Saber-toothed Tigers, they walked quietly through the grounds.
The new masked mercenaries were casting complicated glances at each other.
This was not how they had expected to land in the mansion of their sworn enemy.
Aveline and the mercenaries quickly reached the mansion's great hall, a room of austere grandeur, dominated by a huge portrait of a man with hard features and piercing eyes.
