"Your Step-Uncle? He's the bad guy?" Soul was surprised.

Nora Booker, the current Marchioness and Selena's Step-Mother married into the Booker Manor shortly after Selena's birth mother died. The Marriage was proposed by Nora's parents. Nora's father is Count Aaron Connors and he has another child who is Nora's younger brother, Bradley Connors.

A Count is not an official title in the Kingdom of Evergreen. But it is in the Kingdom of Grand Sky. The Connors Manor belongs to this kingdom and they knew Marquis Booker's Manor due to their businesses. A Count is a title in the Kingdom of Grand Sky that is above Baron but below Marquis. As an outsider, Nora Connors had to pass the Aristocrat exam in the kingdom of Evergreen and had to go through a very intense background check to marry the Marquis since she was from a different country.

"I thought we agreed that your step-mother isn't evil." Soul said.

"She's not... but just because one fruit is not rotten, it doesn't mean the rest of them aren't." Selena replied as she walked to her room with the note in hand.

"So you think this Bradley is working without the knowledge of your step-mother?" Soul asked.

"Probably..." Selena replied as she sat down in front of the fireplace in deep thought.

"He would visit from time to time, so it wasn't hard for him to find out about my teacher's identity and approach her. He may also have been able to slip the cursed red bangle among the gifts to me."

"But why?" Soul scratched his non-existent head.

"If my guess is correct, he felt threatened by me, similar to how Grant felt." Selena rubbed her chin in thought and continued.

"The Kingdom of Grand Sky is weaker than our Kingdom of Evergreen. Many people from there approach our country's nobility to do business and form bonds in hopes of getting a foothold here."

"Nicholas is Nora Booker's son and a blood relative of the Connors family. If he succeeds in getting Father's inheritance, the Connors will be in a better position in our country which would increase their status and also boost their business here."

"So Bradley Connors sabotaged you because he felt you would probably inherit the Manor?"

"That's the most logical conclusion. Nora Booker doesn't have a scheming personality, in fact, she is gentle in nature. Her parents used that to approach my Father when he was emotionally fragile. They urged him by saying that I shouldn't grow up without a mother. To think this scheme goes this back, it surprises me how patient some people are."

"Wait, so now that we know, why don't we go ahead and kick their asses...?" Soul asked Selena in an energetic tone.

"It's not that easy..." Selena shook her head. "First of all, we don't have any solid proof. A mere Teacher's statement won't be enough. Also, I doubt Grant's testimony will hold since he is himself not sure. Secondly, if we approach this carelessly, we may end up alerting them instead and since they have been so patient, they would definitely have some backup plans ready to execute when they feel like that they have been exposed... and lastly." Selena rubbed her temple.

"We have no idea how Step-Mother will react when she learns of this. She will be stuck between a rock and a hard place. It will induce disharmony in the family and would indirectly affect the entire manor."

"So what? We just do nothing?"

"I didn't say that. All I am saying that it is not the right time. Currently, the Connors don't know that I know. I also know how to be patient. We will wait for them to make a move and collect evidence along the way. The best way to do it is to make them feel threatened by my presence."

"That's a good plan. They are currently at ease because they think you will fail the exam. So, if we showed them that you are still a threat, they will take action again. I am in. How do we do it?" Soul asked.

"It's simple..." Selena replied as she burned Grant's letter in the fireplace. "We use the Royal Court Case..."

"The Case? I thought you got your closure."

"Closure?" Selena chuckled darkly, "Maybe with Grant but I still have a score to settle with his scheming Father and Patricia's Father."

Grant's actions today were out of desperation. But Marquis Johnson and Baron Turner shamelessly tried to pin everything on Selena and even resorted to underhanded methods to corner her. If Selena didn't have Soul's help, she could have turned into a monster in the eyes of everyone. They did not care that they were ruining her life with this, and for what? Money, Deals, Land, and Social Status? Is a single life really below all of this? When you hurt someone, you must be prepared to be hurt back. They tried to destroy Selena and the Booker Manor's reputation. If she didn't pay them back tenfold, wouldn't it mean that Marquis Booker's enemies would think them as weak?

"Cool...!! I always wanted to be a part of a Court Drama...!! Let's get ready to rumble...!!!" Soul replied excitedly.

"Sure, but I have to ask, can you really alter the inscriptions on a magic item?" Selena asked.

"If the code is not complex and I have enough time, then sure. What's on your mind?"

"I think... I have a good plan to annihilate both Manors with a single shot."

"Ho-oh... I like the sound of that. What do you need me to do...?"

***

Several miles away, in a prison, a middle-aged huge man laid on the floor. His broken arm was given emergency treatment and he was given stomachache pills to stop him from vomiting.

He is Urak Blade, the leader of the Black Roots. After being brought to the Royal Guards by the Old Guard of the Booker manor, he was detained immediately. To add to his bad luck, a Captain was present and Guard Rhys offered the Captain to claim the credit for capturing him. The Captain was more than happy and after receiving a letter from Selena, he interrogated Urak and whenever Urak tried to rat out Grant, he was beaten up. It did not take him long to understand that Grant and Selena came to an agreement and pushed everything on him. He was obviously furious.

"You bastards...!! Just you guys wait till my men get me out of here. I will chop you both to pieces and serve you to the pigs...!!" He gritted his teeth.

It was normal for him to be enraged. Grant was the one who approached him and even promised to use his special seal to make some business contracts with him. A Business Deal with a Marquis? Of course, he was ecstatic to accept. If he can create a legitimate business, he can transfer his illegal goods and wealth to it and turn them legitimate, lowering the risk of his funds being taken away from the country.

But who would have expected the little girl to be so vicious that she didn't even care about her younger brother being crippled and even pummeled him with the help of an equally vicious old man.

"Selena Booker... just you wait."

Clang...!!! Clang...!!!

The Jail bars sounded as a guard hit it with his stick.

"Prisoner...!! You have a visitor, make it quick."

Urak tilted his head up to see a guard. Alongside him was a middle-aged man who wore black clothes.

"It's you...!!" Urak's eyes shone as he recognized his right-hand man. He quickly got up and approached him as the Guard left.

"Boss, what happened...?!" The middle-aged man asked with a distressed face.

"It's a long story, Crane. But forget that, did you attack the Manor of Marquis Booker as I ordered?"

"Attack the Booker Manor?" What are you talking about Boss?" Crane was confused and continued with an irritated tone.

"I am asking what happened to your brain, Boss?!"

"WHAT?! How dare you speak to me like that? Did you forget I am the Boss of the Black Roots? Or are you planning a mutiny?" Urak bellowed.

"Leader? Mutiny?" Crane was thoroughly confused now.

"Could it be... you have no idea what's going on?"

"What do you mean?" Urak asked with a dark face. He had a bad premonition.

"Well, didn't you commanded the guys who were going to attack the Booker kid to kidnap Duke Rant instead?"

"EH? WHAT...?!" Urak jumped in shock.

"Why the hell would I order something like that? We can take on Marquis' manors but a Duke, we will be courting death if we accidentally provoked one."

"That's... see... I was confused too but the message you sent via the communication ring said so." Crane continued.

"For some reason, you also asked us to bring all our secret documents and personnel names in a bag when we were supposed to kidnap the Duke."

Urak clenched his chest with his hand. Secret Documents? Personnel names? Weren't they the records of his entire business?

"You buffoon...!! Did you seriously did not think something was wrong...?! It's obvious that I would never issue such commands."

"I... did. But then I remembered what happened to the last guy who disobeyed your commands..." Crane spoke meekly.

Urak felt like slapping his past self. He severely punished one of his men back once when he questioned Urak's orders. It was simply a scare tactic to keep his men under his control. Who knew it would come back to bite him at such a critical moment.

"This... what happened out there?" Urak asked in a distressed tone.

"What else? The Duke's guards clobbered our men. They also managed to seize the bag of documents and names. Duke Rant was furious after being attacked and he has sworn that he will eradicate our gang completely. His men have already captured many of our people. The only ones who were not captured are the ones who weren't inside those hideouts."

Thud...!!!

Urak fell on his knees. It's over. He stared blankly at the floor and did not move at all.

"Boss, I am afraid we don't have the capacity to break you out. I... am also leaving this country as I will be captured too if I stay here. I am sorry." Crane spoke as he slowly left the prison.

However, Urak was in deep thought at the moment. He did not even notice Crane leaving.

'Where did I go wrong?' He recapped the entire day in his head. Then suddenly, his eyes widened in realization as he lifted his head up.

"Selena... Booker." he muttered under his heavy disoriented breath.

She was the ignition to his demise. She was way too calm when she met Grant. Not to mention she did not even bat an eyelid at Urak's presence. Urak ignored it as he thought it was just her Aristocrat flair but in reality, she was in control of the whole situation. That was not right, Selena was supposed to be a meek little girl who almost killed herself. When did she become a monster that invokes nightmares?

He thought that Selena was heartless to her own brother, but on the contrary, she was fully prepared to save him. When Urak mentioned the Communication ring, even the old expert Rhys twitched a little, but she... she was still calm as ever.

"She... altered my message?" A scary thought came to Urak. Considering everything that happened, it seems she knew of the ring and had taken precautions against it in advance. How scary can she get?

She was just a 16-year old girl and he was a behemoth in the Underground Crime organization. How did he lose this badly to her? Feeble... No... Monster... Scary... That woman's scary...

"He He HA HA HA....!!" Manic laughter reverbed out in the prison that made a guard rush over to Urak's cell.

What he saw made him shook his head in disappointment.

On the floor, Urak lied in a fetal position, pulling his hair out and tears streaming down from his eyes with a burst of manic laughter coming from his mouth. His brain had snapped from sheer despair.

The Guard went back to report to the Captain about it who in turn thought it was himself who broke the notorious criminal's mind and for many years to come, he would flaunt about it to new soldiers.

As for Urak Blade, the Ex-Boss of the annihilated Black Roots, he never regained his lost mind and many years later, he would die in a prison fight while serving a life sentence.

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