CH19 – Forgotten Cupboard
"Good afternoon sir Charles. Why don't you join me for some lunch?"
As soon as Arlott went down into the tavern, he heard Claire's sweet and innocent voice greeting his ears.
With a smile on his face, he walked closer to her seat and sat down.
"Why not?"
Soon, Alia began to set up the table once again with a multitude of dishes, each more tantalizing than the other.
Though eating them for 3 days straight, Arlott wasn't shocked as he used to be, but it was still a pleasant phenomenon.
Even Alia had gotten somewhat warmer to Arlott's presence after seeing Claire having no reservations against him.
When her master herself was being so nice and kind to him, who was she to be an arrogant bitch?
"Mm, today's food is good." Arlott hummed in delight, picking up a piece of pasta by fork and eating it under the helmet.
"Did you get what I asked you to, lady Claire?"
There was a cold glint in Arlott's eyes as he raised his head and gazed at the petite woman across him.
"I…" Claire hung her head in shame, "It's too hard to do, sir Charles. Even after spending a lot of hours in the young duke's room, and searching his room once he was outside, I couldn't find a single blueprint of the castle."
"Well that won't work now, will it?" Arlott calmly kept down his fork, "Time is running low, Ms Claire. I already gave you enough time."
"But-"
"I don't want any buts, Ms Claire." Arlott interrupted, "I need those blueprints to begin the next phase of the plan to make you the duchess. I know you want it to be finished faster too, please look into it."
"I am trying, sir Charles." Claire pursed her lips, looking at him with moist eyes as if she was wronged, "I didn't dare ask the young duke about the blueprints in case our plan might get caught."
Hearing her words, Arlott felt that they indeed made sense.
If the young duke figures out there might be something off ongoing, the security of the castle might get bumped up.
And unlike the Zordian duke who was the owner of sin of Sloth, the sin of duke Paxley was unknown… if there was any to begin with.
And in such case, attacking blindly by overestimating his own strength was a fool's errand.
His magic was barely above average among the 4th circle mages and his physique was at top of 4th circle.
Yet, the duke must be at least 6th circle in strength.
Arlott was talented and hailed as a prodigy in the arts of assassination, but even he can't bridge the gap of 2 magic circles alone.
If the Zordian duke wasn't sleeping and the assassination plans weren't handled by professionals of the Red Flower clan, Arlott doubted that he could have managed to kill the duke. Even if he had the crew with him.
Thus, now beware of his strength Arlott breathed out a sigh.
"Okay. Take your time, but you better not take too long."
With his warning hanging, Arlott pushed himself off the chair and walked upwards into the room.
'Guess more IP farming.' he chuckled before glancing at the cupboard where Emily was kept.
It had been over 2 days since he last fed her food or any water.
"Disgusting." Arlott cringed his nose the moment he opened the cupboard, finding Emily sitting there with closed eyes and weak body.
He pulled her out of the cupboard before taking her into the bathroom and cleaning her body himself.
In these 2 days without any pain afflicted upon her, most of her visible scars and flesh wounds had filled up, leaving only faint marks upon her skin.
"I am impressed by your healing powers, Emily." Arlott chuckled dryly.
Emily didn't reply as she sat on the stool blankly, even when her naked body was open for Arlott to see. She didn't react when she felt his hands on her skin, cleaning the dirt and grime over it.
After a brief 10 minutes of uncomfortable contact between them, Emily was dressed up again and her bounds were cut open.
Visibly confused by getting her freedom, Emily rubbed her wrists in pain where a nasty mark was imprinted on her skin due to the tightrope.
"Why?"
"Hmm, I have some questions." Arlott leaned back on the bed, "I don't care if the Sin is a taboo, I want to know more about it."
Emily refocused her gaze at Arlott and then some mana rushed into her eyes, making her breathe a dry chuckle.
"Hah, so you reached the 4th circle."
Now it made sense to Emily why Arlott removed her bounds, he was confident in his strength to subdue her if she tried something funny.
"Answer the question, Emily."
"What do you want to know?" Emily replied in a tired and weak tone, "I… just don't want pain. Please just ask me anything without hitting me."
Hearing her pained request, Arlott resisted the urge to laugh or scoff. He maintained the emotionless look on his face and nodded.
"First thing I want to know is when did you get associated with the duke Zordian and when did he start to blank out for many seconds. Maybe he got increasingly lazier too."
It was a question that Arlott figured was important. It would let him know when the system was given to the duke and when he started to gain power.
Maybe it was from the birth, or maybe it was till the death of the previous owner, just like how Arlott stole Zordian's system.
"I… I met Duke Zordian at the royal gala hosted by the crown prince." Emily began, "He was normal back then, he didn't used to blank out but he appeared sad due to his father's death.
After meeting in the gala and hitting it off, we met a few times in secrecy and shared some good times, till he asked for my hand. I was visibly ela-"
"I don't want your lovestory, Emily. Tell me what I asked." Arlott interrupted, annoyed.
"Ah…" Emily cleared her throat and shrugged, "Duke Zordian had always been a lazy man ever since we first met."