It was early in the morning and Adrius was asleep on his bed, then A knocking on the door woke him up.

He woke up and went to the door to open it, opening the door he saw Hadith standing.

“ Master, you asked me to wake you up in the morning. It is now morning. Also the city lord has sent a maid to invite you for breakfast with him and his family.” Said Hadith

“ hmm okay I will get ready and by the time I’m ready I want you and Lilly to be ready, understood?”

“Yes master” said Hadith

Lilly was asleep in a room next to Adrius’ she and Hadith took turns protecting Adrius. It was easier to kill a magus apprentice than knights in their sleep. That’s because magus apprentices usually have weak bodies because not everyone is like Adrius or Sophie. Most of the magus apprentices are normal people who have magic talent and their family doesn’t have a knight technique. So when they use a meditation technique the body strength goes down by half so a normal person can kill them with ease because they have half the strength of a normal person.

As for knights they are stronger physically than magus apprentices but they are weaker compared to an official magus.

But if a magus apprentice knows you are going to attack them, then it is nearly impossible to kill them because they have magic and with magic they can sense around them. Thus making it harder to kill them.

Adrius went into the room and started to prepare himself. He took a shower and wore his robe and covered his face with the hoodie. He didn't hide his face when he spoke with Hadith, that was because he knows Hadith can’t betray him because he will die.

He then walked out of the room and saw Hadith and Lilly waiting for him: “ let’s go and eat” Said Adrius.

After walking around the palace, they finally arrived at the eating room. Maids were everywhere and servants were serving food. The servants opened the door to Adrius and Adrius walked in, he told Hadith and Lilly to stay outside and eat.

The room was a very big room with an aristocratic design. There was a big table at the center of the room and there were five people sitting around the table and there was a chair that was in front of the main chair that was booked for Adrius to sit in.

Seeing Adrius walk in, Brandon Saloman and his family stood up and greated Adrius: “ Lord Adrius it’s my honor to meet you, my husband has been talking about you all night and how powerful you are.” Said a middle aged woman who wore white lace dress with jewelry all over her neck. She was a really pretty woman with blond hair. Adrius knew exactly who she was; she was Brandon‘s wife, the city’s lady.

Adrius nodded his head as a courtesy, she was a mortal and he would never bow to a mortal. There were rules in the Magus world that were unwritten. One of the rules is: you should never bow your head to a mortal even if they were a magus’ offspring.

The Magus consider themselves as a higher being and they will never bow their heads to someone who is weaker than them. Except of course if the person has a big power backing them.

“I have heard of the city’s lady beauty but today when I have seen it myself I can see the rumors are false, you’re even more beautiful than that” Said Adrius, in his previous life Adrius has met a lot of powerful people and that made him very good at social gatherings and social life.

“ Oh you’re making me blush” Said Alison Saloman.

Brandon then started to introduce his family: “ Lord address I present to my oldest son Brad and my youngest son Chris and this is our family's flower, my daughter Veronica Saloman.”

All of the people mentioned bowed to Adrius and said the in the same time: “It is an honor to meet you lord Adrius”

Adrius nodded and then sat down, they all sat down after him. Adrius noticed that Veronica’s chair was very close to his and he knew what the father and the mother were trying to do by making her close to him. They were trying to make him fall for her, so she will get out of here and be a magus apprentice’s wife.

They didn’t know that Adrius didn’t care about love and anything else; he just cared about benefits.

‘ I mean if I get enough benefits from my marriage with her then I will do it, but if I don’t get any and just get into trouble with their family’s problems then I will never do it’ thought Adrius.

They ate in silence and when they were finished and the servants took the food from the table and brought dessert, Chris couldn’t hold himself and asked Adrius a question: “ Lord Adrius what can you do with magic?”

Chris was still eight years old so he was still naïve about how the world works so his question was full of innocence.

“ Chris, don't be crazy! My Lord you don’t have to answer this question I’m sorry for my son's behavior” Said Alison

“ No no it’s OK I will show him” Said Adrius.

He then extended his hand and suddenly a ball of flame appeared in his hand he then started to play with the ball of flame and made it levitate to a 60 cm away from his hand.

Everyone at the table was shocked and impressed, Chris’ eyes were lit with flame of ambition, Veronica's eyes were looking at Adrius with a new light and Brad‘s eyes looked at Adrius with envy like he wanted to take this power from him.

Adrius noticed Brad‘s look at him but he didn’t give it much thought Brad was a mortal, he can’t do anything to him and he was still a knight so he was weaker than him. But if Brad wanted to do anything stupid Adrius will teach him a lesson.

After they finished the desert Veronica got up and said: “ Lord Adrius, can I take you on a tour around the palace?”

Adrius nodded: “ Sure”

Veronica's face gloat with happiness: “Please follow me”

Adrius and Veronica walked through the Palace and she told him about everything at the palace and explained to him the history behind it. It was a Palace built by the city’s builders. It was a family that was a very strong one in the mortal world but then they offended a magus . And the Magus annihilated them then the Saloman family came to power and seized the city lord title.

They then went to the garden. The garden was very big. There were all kinds of flowers and trees and you can see only green for a half a kilometer around the palace, they found a bench and sat on it. She then started to explain to Adrius the history behind the garden, her mother liked gardens a lot so her father did everything he could to make this one for her.

Adrius didn’t care actually about the garden or anything but he wanted to use Veronica to get the secrets of this family without her knowing and by accompanying her and making her like him he can do it with ease.

“ My Lord, can I ask a question?” Asked Veronica

“ go ahead”

“ Why do you hide your face?”

Adrius thought about how he would answer the question and then he came up with an answer: “ Well I did something very horrible and it has scarred me for life so I cover my face to hide it from people and to hide that I’m a monster in a human being's body.” Of course Adrius didn’t believe a word of what he said, but with him saying so he will gain her empathy and then her liking, making his job way easier.

“ What happened in the past is in the past. I think you’re beautiful. Can you please take off your hoodie?” Veronica only turned 14 this year and she has spent most of her life in the palace so she was very naïve and didn’t think Adrius was using her but she really felt bad for him.

Adrius understood why her parents didn’t let her go out of the palace. She looked exactly like her mom but with a younger face.

“ I don’t want to take off my hoodie in this public place do you have a good place for me to take off my hoodie so you can see my face like in your room or my room”

Veronica blushed at the thought of Adrius in her room; she has never let any man in her room except for her father and brothers.

“ Follow me to my room” Said Adrius while walking ahead.

While walking an idea came to Adrius’ head:

‘Wait Veronica is Brandon’s daughter and he is the city lord so what if he dies and mysteriously her brothers also die. Then she will take the title and if I make her love me then I can control the city without even breaking a sweat’

A plan formed in Adrius’ head but he was too weak to achieve it, so he will lay the groundwork now and will get the results then.

A very sinister grin formed on Adrius’ face, he was going to play with the feelings of a 14 year old and he won’t regret it.