“Who are you, Rudolf?!” Joane stared at me aghast while I shrugged. What should have been the question, but I didn’t point out the obvious flaw.

“Just a butler, Joane. But, how did you manage to veil the [Abyss]?” I asked, equally surprised.

“I didn’t,” she smiled haughtily. “It’s hidden in my cupboard.”

I stared at her incredulously before a sigh found its way out of my mouth. What else did I expect from mortals?

“So, how are we supposed to stop the reinforcements?” my lady asked with a fervent gaze. She looked interested in the job, which meant we were leaving irrespective of my qualms about not getting fresh bread on cogs.

“There are secret envoys of Prince Balar residing in the mercenary guild of Port Achlon. Lykan, the exiled prince of Halurath Isle and the His Majesty’s brother, is leading the crew, or so I heard. I haven’t seen him in over twenty years, so I don’t have a clue about his appearance. One thing I know is that the nobility of Halurath Isles detests commoners. So, Rudolf will receive open hostility without you, Letitia.”

My lady nodded. “Do you have any clue about their attire?”

“Within the usual cloaks, they are dressed in red tunics, all festooned with embroidery of a small ship on the back of their tunic. “Red mounts” would get you the same reply, which should be enough indication that they are the envoys. It’s a derogatory term among the port residents, so don’t use it on every other person you meet on the streets. I don’t know how good they are, but we don’t have any better choice. Unless your mongrel–“

“Rudolf,” my lady corrected her patiently.

“Rudolf decides to help them out. That butler is at least a progressive mage, and I am not sure if the envoys have any high-ranking mages among them.”

“How much are we getting paid?” I jumped on to the vital question, and Joane appeared slightly amused.

“The Prince will handle your payment,” she returned the crafty smile. “So, don’t expect any meager amount. But the problem is you must absolutely succeed because there’s no other way out. The royal mages of Halurath have factions among them, and more than half of them are supporting the ascension of the second prince. But even one Cognoscente mage from this kingdom will turn the tide of the battle, so the news must never reach here until Prince Balar drinks the blood of his brother.”

“Aren’t you scared that we’ll rattle you out?” I asked, drinking my cold coffee. The coffee that had gone cold, I correct.

“Letitia and I hate the kingdom for the same reason, and you are nothing more than her lackey, Rudolf,” Joane laughed, and I half expected my lady to back me, but she just shrugged much to my dismay. “When I was browsing through my acquaintances to ask for help, I found none. Terrified was an understatement to describe how I felt at the prospect, but then I remembered the interview. And Letitia. And then the gossip that she was looking for a commendation letter. I knew this had to work because, by my age, you start trusting your hunches. So, I have been tailing you since yesterday. I was disappointed to see you buy bread and while away your time walking the empty streets of the capital, but somehow when I was about to give up, I witnessed your assets and ruthlessness. That was just what I needed.”

“A risk, Joane,” I said, but I understood her, nevertheless. When you reached my age, the hunches became the absolute truth. “But one that was worth it.”

She nodded, wiping the perspiration off her forehead despite the chill. “I haven’t stepped out of the gates since the Nerken Dukedom was wiped out, so getting myself to Port Achlon is out of the question. It’s prince Girizin Arlikia’s fief, and he is known for his loyalty toward his brother, so you might have some trouble helping out the envoys. But, though hasty, we have to make do with half-baked strategies. We are pressing for time.”

“That’s plenty, Joane,” my lady said with a smile. “We always make things work with half-baked ideas.”

“We don’t, my lady,” I shook my head. “Half-baked bread is a disastrous mess that is irredeemable.”

“But we are talking about ideas here, Rudolf,” my lady giggled, and I realized I had misinterpreted despite hearing them correctly.

Never heard of such weird things? Try becoming a bread devotee, and then let’s talk about our conflicting ideologies.

My lady had become strangely talkative after spending the past month indoors. I didn’t mind, as long as she continued walking down the wrong road. She was learning to understand other people’s emotions, which I greatly appreciated. Torture was best served when you crumbled the person from within, and not just outside, so getting to know the emotional state was a crucial part of her journey to become an ideal villainess. She would be seventeen tomorrow, but her birthday plans had to be stalled for the more significant cause.

“I am sorry, Letitia,” Joane’s eyes didn’t have as much guilt as her weighty words. “But I have no one else to turn to.”

My lady nodded as he glanced at me with an excited gaze. “It’s our first visit to the port, and I couldn’t have asked for a better chance. But, will they let me inside the gates, Rudolf?”

“You got your license from the Academy, so going on missions should be excusable,” I said with a brief nod.

“And Yule? Should we take it?” my lady asked, already fantasizing about the trip despite the impending threat Halurath Isle was facing.

“I’m not quite sure about that, my lady. That brat might bring us more trouble than needed, particularly when we need to be discreet about our identities. And most hounds hate traveling in ships, so that’s another reason not to let it tag along.”

“If you have a pet at home, then I can take care of it for you,” Joane offered with a kind smile, and my lady glanced at me for affirmation.

I nodded, hoping that it wouldn’t just gobble up more heads. Not that the seal would ever allow the mutt to return back to its demonic form, but even that tiny brat had enough teeth to tear my suit.

“Then we would not be kind enough to reject your offer, Joane,” I said, emptying the cup of coffee that had gone cold. My lady followed suit, and I took both the mugs to the kitchen with Joane tagging along, her knees giving her some trouble.

“Thank you, Rudolf,” she said once we were inside, “for taking care of Letitia. She has become a fine woman.”

“Well, I have my selfish reasons for helping her out, Joane,” I said.

“But that doesn’t change the fact that you helped her grow up, little boy,” she smiled and ruffled my hair before moving over to the sink. She was tall, and the height gave her more problems than advantages in her old age.

Then again, her words made sense. However, it irked me to know that I unintentionally did a good thing.

Joane grabbed the mugs from my hands and opened the tap, which made it evident that she wasn’t a water attribute mage. At least partially.

“Just Dark and progressive high-tier, Rudolf,” she said, without looking at me and turned on the facet. I almost thought the rusty tap would break under the force, but it somehow survived the aftermath. “Your curious gaze is not very hard to discern.”

“Hard attribute for combat,” I said, leaning against the wall behind me.

“Yes, but I was good with swords back in the days, and [Blood Forge] did the rest of the job. Saw that halberd you forged in Platique. Hadn’t seen such a perfect forge ever before. Though its utility was a bit crazy.”

“Practice makes all kinds of forging perfect,” I said with a flat, which had her nodding.

“But you need a healer by you for practicing. It’s different from [Ice craft] or [Umbra] and much harder. The dark attribute might be the most useless attribute for a combat mage, true. But the support it provides is phenomenal. [Abyss], [Dark memory], [Devil eye], [Dispel], [Quagmire], [Darkness]. They are mostly support spells, but I like them much better than either summoning spells of other attributes or large-scale destructive advance spells.”

“Can’t rebut that,” I nodded, and I stepped out of the kitchen, leaving the old mage to fend for herself.

When I reached back to the great room, my lady had finished the cookies on the tray and quickly munched away the final one in her mouth.

“They were tasty,” she said, aggrieved. “Don’t you finish every last piece of bread, too?” she countered with a blush, which had me laughing.

“I never said anything, my lady,” I waved my hand and wiped the crumbs from her lips with my napkin. “But your teeth will rot if you eat sweet without respite. Toffees were already an exception, but you eat too many deserts.”

“And you? How much bread do you eat every fortnight, mongrel?!” she sounded defensive. “You can always heal my teeth, can’t you?”

“Well…” I sighed. “Yes, I can, my lady.”

She grinned and got up. “Can you kiss me back tomorrow? It’s my birthday,” she fiddled with her gown, her eyes searching my lips for an affirmative.

“No, my lady,” I flatly denied her. “As I said before, I will resist.”

“So, you do want to kiss me,” she moved closer, and I took a step back.

“I don’t,” I said. “Why are you twisting my words, Letitia?”

She pouted and pounced on me, holding my waist before I could take more steps back. “Because I want to eat you.”

I laughed. “Then I’ll give you some of my meat.” I fished out a breadknife from my pocket and grinned at her.

She groaned and released her grip on me. “One thing I don’t have is time. And one thing you have is time. Why the hell are we so inconsistent?”

I ruffled her hair. “Because you feed me less bread, my lady.”

“Bastard!” she punched my abdomen lightly. “I will bake the tastiest bread ever and torture you for eternity.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing you bake it,” I said with a smug. “How you will beat chefs with their lifetime worth of training will indeed be an amusing sight.”

“I will teach you, Letitia,” Joane joined us at the door. “Drop by my house once you return from the mission, and I’ll teach you to bake bread.”

“Yes!” my lady stopped short of raising her hand. She coughed and retained her uncaring expression. “Then I will trouble you, Joane.”

“You’re always welcome here, baby,” Joane smiled fondly. “I hadn’t visited you for fear that my plight would implicate you, but I have no more worries. Thank you for your understanding, Letitia.”

“Like I said,” she scowled. “I’m a woman, old hag!”

“Yes, yes,” Joane laughed, her winkles appearing more profound this time. “I am looking forward to spending my days with you. I wish you luck with your endeavor. May the mana winds surround you with everlasting warmth.”

“Thank you for your hospitality, Joane,” I said as a matter of courtesy.

We didn’t linger in the house any longer and walked out of the ramshackle house. The journey to the port was going to be an arduous one, but where my lady went, I followed without questions.

She was the villainess, after all, and I, her sincere aide.