Chapter 312: How Did We Get Here Again?

I was surprised, and not just by the question. The tone caught me off guard.

Atlas hadn’t exactly been polite before now, but he’d been neutral about it. His condescension had structure. Through every word it was as though he was simply expressing his place in the hierarchy, letting me know he was stronger than me, that he knew where my power started and where it ended.

I didn’t mind. Everybody was stupid about that particular topic, even me. I didn’t know where my power ended. It certainly was just leaving from the starting point. I mean, what could I say, I only had two villainesses of the five available to me.

But being the good and outrightly just person that I am, I wasn’t going to cut a man’s head off for underestimating me.

Now, though? Now I felt like I would. Because Atlas’s tone hadn’t just shifted, it had dropped off a cliff into something straightway threatening.

And it wasn’t just his voice. The wind in the room picked up on the lower level, sudden and sharp, and his overflowing robe billowed backward like something invisible had grabbed it from behind.

But standing beside me was the fox lady. The moment the wind surged, it collapsed. Fell flat. Dead air. And I had a feeling that was because of her.

Well, Atlas was so freaking lucky because she just saved his ass.

’You won’t be lucky for long.’

He sighed and lowered his face, washing it with his palm.

“I got a little worked up…”

“By the name I mentioned?”

He inhaled deeply and repeated the same motion, dragging his hand down his face before taking some steps back to sit gently on his chair. The darkness that had been shrouding the room had cleared now. Or maybe it was simply my eyes that had adapted, I wasn’t sure.

“I do not keep tabs of them, but in the very least I know them when I hear their names.” He settled into the chair like a man preparing to deliver bad news. “Cressida Vale Vanatian. The second to the last daughter of the seventeenth Duke of House Vanatian and Lady Foise, the lady of the incident of the Night Hawk.”

’Huh?’

First of all, this man seemed to be speaking in cryptic patterns. What the hell was the incident of the Night Hawk and why was a lady named after it? And what did he mean, Cressida Vale Vanatian?

’Cressida is the second to the last daughter of the Vanatian house?’

I didn’t know much about this Vanatian house, but today alone I had learned enough to know their activity ran deeper than anyone would expect. Aside from them being stinking rich because they literally owned the Valdepura Pass, they also had a historic heritage with Recimiras itself.

And Cressida was from a family like that. I had no idea.

I thought back, searching through every interaction, every conversation, every moment of careless behavior for anything that could have pointed to her being from that family.

There was nothing. Nothing at all.

At first, I felt betrayed. But then again, it wasn’t like I had been lied to. I never asked or cared about what family she came from, so I had no right to feel that way. The information had always been there for the taking. I just never reached for it.

’Now that I think about it… the way the Innkeeper treated us makes sense. Did he already know who Cressida was?’

The statement Cressida had made about powerful people also clicked into place now. She was the powerful people she’d referred to. Of course, what I hadn’t fully understood then was the kind of “power” she was talking about. Not essence. Not combat rank. Bloodline. Name. The kind of power that made Innkeepers bow and Night Guard captains hold their tongues.

’She really is from House Vanatian…’

I raised my head to the man.

“But that doesn’t answer my question. Where is she?”

He shrugged.

“The second to the last lady of the Vanatian House ran away to join some killing organization even though her father was against it. I’m sure there’d be a very outrageous amount to get her back and lock her in her room.”

A frown squeezed my brows.

Now all of this had gone ahead and gotten complicated.

’All I just wanted to do was come to El Mercado and enjoy my one-day holiday, hunting for some really good spirit gears, and then before I knew it I was looking for money, I was fighting through the night, now being invited to become a captain… thank goodness I was going to enter the Night Auction, but what does he mean? Do I really have to go on a rescue mission after all of this?’

There was silence in the dark room. The man looked at me intently from the throne he was sitting on and then said:

“You do not need to answer the question I asked earlier. I do not think I want to hear your answer. Let’s just forget about it.”

He stood up again and this time walked closer, passing right between Lady Fintan and I, making it apparent how tall he was.

Put against the Fox Lady, he didn’t look so tall. But me… I hated how he looked next to me.

“Well then, Lady Fintan, Mr. Cade, permit me to waste a bit of your time before I finally grant you entry into the Night Auction. Also, since I have to report this to my superiors, there’s a bit of patience you both might need to exert.”

He looked at my eyes after speaking.

“What’s wrong, Mr. Cade?”

I shook my head subtly.

“I just didn’t expect you to have a superior.”

He threw his chin up a little and laughed.

“Oh, I get that often… there are two more people stronger than me above my chain of command.”

He paused and then added after a thought.

“And both of them come from House Vanatian. So if you were thinking of doing something very stupid, I advise you to stop it.”

I chuckled.

“If I do intend to do something, no one can stop me. Not you… not your higher-ups, Vanatian or not.”

Lady Fintan was minding her business as we walked on, but I most definitely caught a smile leaving the corner of her lips.

’How refreshing. Mission impress the fox lady is progressing.’

Cressida’s situation and all of this was very important, but I couldn’t afford to take my eyes off the main goal. My eyes must be on those massive balls.

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