Horst Manor

Ford's Study...

Ford Horst stirred in his chair where he had passed out unconscious hours before. He opened his eyes groggily and squinted at the daylight shining through the one window in his large study.

He winced slightly at his aching head, this was his worst hangover ever. Although to be fair, he had never been as drunk as he was yesterday.

He circulated cosmic energy in his body and cured the headache barely a second later returning him to prime active shape.

"Headache?" Said a sarcastic voice that caused him to jump as he had somehow missed her presence.

"Emily! You startled me" Ford widened his eyes as he stared at the woman who always made him realize how insignificant he was and how those in this city were merely fishes in a well

"Oh sorry" Emily said in a tone that showed just how not sorry she was while she took another elegant sip of wine as she had been doing for hours as she watched the dummy sleep

Suddenly Ford perked up and stood to his feet with his nose flaring but it might as well been the invisible movement of an atom for all the awareness that Emily showed

"Don't bother" She said in a perfectly relaxed tone "He's gone"

"Oh...that's good" Ford said as he sat back down but she was not done...

"Of course not before he finally helped Amelia graduate from her 'innocence'" She said with a beautiful smirk

Ford narrowed his eyes "What?"

"What a lackluster response. Alright then, They boned" Emily said, obviously enjoying herself

"WHAT?!" Ford yelled as he leapt up, his eyes smoldering with anger

Emily laughed boisterously "There's the response that makes sense, you should have heard them too, they were insanely loud"

"How dare he?" Ford snarled and looked close to thrashing his study

"Oh sit down" Emily said with a smile

"Why are you so happy? She's your daughter too" Ford pointed out in hope for support but Emily simply giggled

"Exactly, It's long overdue"

"What?" Ford's jaw unhinged

"Where I come from, she should have had her First time at Sixteen" Emily said with a moan of reminiscence

"Sixteen? How could you?"

"Oh, she would absolutely be in charge. It's for her cultivation after all, she has to take the reins" Emily sighed with slight disappointment, the fact that Amelia had not being in charge of the activity did not make her happy. But, we don't always get we want.

'It still counts as a win' She thought

Ford on the other hand had widened his eyes further and found himself asking the same question he had been asking since he met her 'Where the hell is she from'

"I did what you asked, I was cordial but now that bastard has gone too far"

"Oh lighten up, you did what I asked? Nonsense. It was obvious that you were just bursting to be unpleasant" Emily sneered while she savored her drink

Ford gritted his teeth "You made it harder when you brought up his relationship with other women"

"Something you were already aware of. You are just upset your daughter might be just another one" Emily said with an understanding sigh

"So what? It's a genuine concern"

"I know it is, but this is her choice, she wants him" Emily said in a surprising soothing tone

Ford fist was clenched as he fought to control himself

"*sigh* Say you kill him, what then? what about Amelia" Emily had finally said the one thing that would calm Ford down and just as expected he took a deep breath and relaxed.

"Moving on, You seemed to have bonded well with the philander" Emily said with a slight smile but her eyes were cold

"What do you mean?" Ford asked, what bonding? He hated Hal the philander and the idea that they would bond seemed to him a complete insult

"Oh, I don't know. No one has a friendly wager with a stranger right?" Emily's smile grew wider and her eyes colder still

Ford gulped.

This was not good.

"Well, It depends on the wager. If it's a wager that portrays respect towards a certain someone, it can be made with anyone"

Emily nodded "Actually, I'm not angry. I'm pleased that Twenty years later, you are finally starting to understand me and the nature of this 'relationship'"

"Okay, Now, I'm just curious, but you once said I don't have a chance and could never have one" Ford said as though forcing the words out

"Yes?" Emily was unconcerned

"Well, does he? Have a chance that is" Once again he was forcing the words out

Emily nailed him with her gray eyes "Not your business"

Twenty years together told Ford, he should give this up, but he couldn't

"Emily, I'm asking you for the sake of the children we have together. Does Hal Payne have a chance with you? Keep in mind that he is already involved with your daughter"

Emily smiled "We'll see what happens"

Ford's frown turned into a smile "That's not a yes"

Emily simply shrugged

"It's not a No"

***

Krast Estate

It was barely dawn but The Krast household was quite busy. A recruitment was been organized for the servants and maids that were interested in working for the household.

Unfortunately, the Krast estate had a terrible reputation among the lasses of Salmon city, courtesy of the Family head; Edvard Krast.

Normally, they would not care that much about said reputation as they could purchase slaves at the Slave house, however that is now impossible following the destruction of the Holger Family.

All things considered though, they were still able to pull in open minded females who were ready to take the risk, after all, working for a Great family was always lucrative.

Now all 'finalists' stood in a line before the cold eyed scrutiny of Edvard Krast. He looked at them closely and shook his head at the lack of 'quality', however one of the ladies caught his eye.

Her face was much prettier than all those present, she was taller than average and her curves were quite attention grabbing. Also, While she was smiling, her eyes seemed...wild?.

Edvard stood up and walked towards her, eyed her thoroughly and then smiled

"What's your name?" He asked

She smiled in return "Karmen"

...

Melinda's Mansion

Marlon sat awaiting his Master's return. The moment Hal's voice came out of the shroud, Marlon had lost control of said shroud, and then Hal had made use of his Cosmic Armament cultivation base to augment his Fear! Ability and thereby display dominance.

After which, He moved Marlon away from the Fidwud family Home to leave him here with only one word "Wait"

And so Marlon did, starting to worry about someone noticing he was missing at Edgar castle but mostly worrying about Hal's possible reaction at him calling him the 'Malevolent one'.

Eventually, Hal arrived with and walked into the room to take the only seat present

"So, I'm Malevolent" Hal says with his face blank of expression

Marlon began to sweat "Well Master, in my defense I was riding on an high and said the first thing that popped in my head even though I never thought about it prior to last night" He said in a rush that threatened to render his whole speech meaningless.

"Don't you dare lie to me, I know you've been thinking about it since I branded you" Hal sneered

"You're right. I'm such a fool for trying to hide something from your all seeing gaze" Marlon said in an heraldic tone but Hal simply snorted

"While I do like your embellishments, I need you to stop butt kissing"

Marlon nodded vigorously and kept his mouth shut then Hal chuckled and Marlon looked up to see him smiling to himself

"Actually, I'm quite proud of you for calling me the malevolent one"

"You want to be called Evil?" Marlon was confused, To him the whole point of cultivation was mainly to have the strength to justify actions whether good or bad. This was the first he had ever heard of someone readily admit to being on the dark side by incorporating it into a title.

Hal shrugged "It's better than Maleficent at least"

"What's wrong with Maleficent?" Marlin asked, after all the malevolent, maleficent and evil all meant the same thing

Hal shrugged again "It's seems feminine"

"Feminine?" Alright now Marlon was genuinely questioning Hal's state of mind, how could Maleficent be feminine, Evil had no gender.

Hal looked at Marlon's confused look and sighed "Of course you don't understand. You see there's this movie and the female lead was called maleficent so now every time I hear it, I immediately think of her"

Now Marlon had no idea what was going on anymore.

"Master. Movies? Leads? what are you talking about?"

'Damn it. I miss my TV' Hal grumbled

'Add that to your list of goals; Get strong enough to go back to earth and catch up on shows and movies' Grimiore chuckled

'That's probably more important than arming myself against those who want to kill me'

The strange thing was, Grimiore could not tell if Hal was kidding or not.

Hal then spoke to Marlon "Anyway, Go and prepare for the Auction. I'm going to bid indiscriminately, so you should have a hefty amount of Gold ready" Hal stood up to leave and that statement shook Marlon from his contemplation of what movies and leads meant.

"Master, will I be broke after this auction?" He asked in a timid voice and the reply he got...

"Absolutely"

...was depressing.