The Young Master in the Shadows

Chapter 449: The Memory

“He can’t be Theodor’s son…. No… He can’t be… He promised…” As soon as the three women got out of the garden and into a side office, Rosette began to mumble like an obsessed mad woman.

“Seriously… You just caught your daughter fucking a guy who is supposed to be her half-brother and all that you care about!” Mirai, Ariana’s second disciple exclaimed, raising one eyebrow.

“But….” Rosette seemed a little too dismayed.

“Honey, Theodore is a man… He will not wait for you… “It was Ariana who finally began to speak. She pushed Rosette to sit on a couch and sat beside her. “And all men in our family marry another woman sooner or later!” Ariana sighed, knowing better than anyone what her disciple was thinking about.

“The patriarch didn’t!” Rosette said angrily.

“That pussy sucker can’t be considered a man!” Ariana spat. She clearly didn’t like Marcos at all! “I don’t understand why Ann chose him out of all the good men in the family!” she sighed.

“That’s not important… We are not sure that the guy is Theodore’s son, he can be any heir from the family… “ Rosette refused to give up hope.

“No, that kid is definitely Theodore’s son!” Ariana spat. “You know that better than me… ”

“But…” Rosette spat. "Others can also have ‘that’…” she said.

Hearing her, Mirai blushed. Can others have something like that? How many men did Rosette see? None of her own partners had even come close! Not even that slave she secretly kept at her mansion, and that guy had a giant bloodline in his veins.

“Well…” Ariana sighed. “Let me explain something… Back then, right before the old patriarch died, the elders' council made Ann go on a critical mission into a Ruin to retrieve a lost family artifact… They wanted her dead… We all thought she was dead when she didn’t return for more than a year, but then when the patriarch died and the fight in the family was at its strongest she appeared again, her level was high enough that no one dared to oppose her when she presented the long lost artifact and demanded that Marcoss her nominal husband would be the patriarch!” Ariana said.

“We all heard that story!” Mirai complained, that despite her being from a branch family, she heard a lot of juicy things from the elders in her hall. Those guys were tasked to keep traditions, so practically they had nothing to do but gossip and such.

“Back then no one knew it, but she was pregnant, she gave birth 8 months later and the baby was Theodore….”

“Eh…WHAT? Really?” Mirai exclaimed. “Why are you telling us this? Wait. Who was the father?”

“...” Ariana glared at her, if this was not a different world and they had no chance of ever going back, she would have never told this to her gossip-loving disciple. “The father was an otherworldly being who saved Ann’s life. He had a strange bloodline that I noticed on the newborn baby, though that bloodline effect seemed to have faded as Theodore grew up…” Ariana sighed, her class allowed her to feel bloodlines, that's why, back then, she was appointed as the head of the Secrets Hall despite her young age. “In addition to the Von Weise bloodline, I felt that same bloodline from that guy, Victor!” she said. “This bloodline is unique and couldn’t be from our world! He can only be Theodore’s son!”

“Ah! So that’s how you knew!” Mirai, “So it was not…” she didn't continue as she blushed. She completely misunderstood.

“...” Ariana glared at her, her disciple was hopeless, she should really stop being a whore who only had dirty things in her mind. “Rosette, you couldn’t have missed that!” she told her disciple who could also feel bloodlines in others thanks to her unique one.

“But Theodore….” Rosette frowned. She was in denial.

“The family might have forced him to take a wife!” Mirai suggested changing the subject.

“Ah… Right… He would never…” Rosette wanted to say something, but the door opened abruptly and Aeirth, who seemed to have made herself presentable in a hurry, walked in running with a heavy blush on her face.

“Mom… Don’t misunderstand…. I just….”

“It is ok honey, it happens….” Ariana interrupted. She was always worried about Aerith, who because of her bloodline didn’t normally feel any affection for human men. Now, look at her acting like a little girl who was caught red-handed.

“It’s not that… I just lost the bet with him… It must have been the artifact’s effect!” Aerith complained.

“What?” Rosette who could finally think straight asked. “You lost?” she asked in shock.

“Yeah, she lost!” the one who answered was Victor who hurried after her, dressed in a coat that didn't fit. “Now she is my wife!” he said proudly.

“Ah… WHAT?” Everyone asked, including the nervous guard at the door that was left open.

“Your wife?” Mirai asked as she looked between the two.

“CLOSE THE FUCKING DOOR!” Ariana ordered, making the curious and jealous guard quickly retract his neck and close the door. Damn! Prince Lizor was definitely going to make a ton of trouble if he were to hear that the girl he declared to the world was he had been snatched!

“NOW YOU TWO SIT AND EXPLAIN WHAT HAPPENED!” Ariana looked at Victor and Aeirth then commanded.

“Ah…. I lost the bet…” Aerith began to speak as she naturally sat down next to Victor. She didn’t notice that, but the other older and wiser women in the room did and gave each other a knowing look.

“Wait… We have to make some things clear first… You… What’s your name?” Ariana asked Victor in a calm voice.

“Victor… Victor Von Weise!” he said with a smile. “An elite heir from the Von Weise family!” he added proudly.

“What’s your father’s name?” Mirai was the one who asked.

“Theodore Von Weise!” Victor replied directly.

“And your mother?” Ariana asked, giving Rosette who was biting her lip a glare.

“Her name is Elena Carlson, she is my father’s second official wife!” he said.

“Second…” Rosette froze.

“How many wives did Theodore marry?” Mirai was the one who asked feeling strange, she had on crush on Theodore in the past, but knowing how attached he was to Rosette she gave up.

“Officially or off the book?” Victor asked innocently.

“Both…” Ariana sighed, noticing how Rosette began glaring at Victor.

“3 official, and more than 100 unofficial ones… Maybe much more if you count all his mistresses and his one night s….” he paused as he felt an intense murderous intent targeting him, more than 5 death fate threads began to entangle him…. The source was Rosette who was glaring at him with red furious eyes as if he were her mortal enemy. “Ah… According to the rumors…” he lowered his voice, “Father was very hurt when he lost a lover years ago… Ever since then, he had been on a quest to find someone to replace her in his heart, but no matter how many women he courted, he could find none, he keeps searching to this day…” he sighed, casually throwing in a random lie that might ruin all of his father’s future extramarital affairs. “He only married his wives following the family rules…” he added with a sigh.

“Ah…” Rosettee exclaimed as she blushed a bit, the death fate threads all disappeared.

Hearing him, Aierith who was sitting at his side began to glare at him. This guy definitely knew that her mother was his father’s supposed lover… He was clearly scamming her! Damn it!

But looking at her mother calming down a bit, she decided not to say a thing, as she knew quite well how unstable her mother could be at times.

“I see…” Ariana sighed. Unlike her gullible disciple, she couldn’t believe that the Theodore she knew was that kind of a devoted man but regardless... “Let’s return to the subject at hand… Starting from the beginning… How the hell did you get to this world?” she asked.

“Ah… It’s a long story…” Victor sighed… “Let me start with my grandmother’s birthday…”

With that, he began to tell them an extremely censored version of what happened.

…

BAM!

Margret, who was sitting in the Mansion’s Theater room and enjoying an ice cream fudge as she watched an old R-rated romantic spy movie, was startled when the entire mansion shook, forcing her to stand up in shock.

Was it an earthquake or was one of the girls trying some new skill?

Whatever… She sat back down.

If it was anything important they would definitely call for her, she was not going to bother checking things and missing her favorite scene,… With that thought, she continued to watch as the evil enchantress entrapped the protagonist with her legs, refusing to let him escape as she seduced him while at the same time searching him for weapons…

Too bad no one else in the mansion liked such a movie, except for Victor, too bad he was not here… she sighed. According to him, after the reckoning, most of the movies would be lost due to all digital mediums failing and all physical film rails having materials that turned very reactive and exploding… That’s why Horizon Media had been in the process of secretly archiving many films by itching them on glass using very high-tech new technology. It was a costly operation and playing them back was hard as fuck, but it would definitely make a ton of profit in the future after the reckoning when recording crystals would become more abundant.

Margret sighed as the scene ended with the enchantress losing to the protagonist’s wits and ending up taking the aphrodisiac then getting assaulted by him… They don’t make such movies anymore with all the moral shit going on…

Knock knock…

“Enter…” Margret said as she hit the pause button.

The door opened and a little maid entered and then bowed.

“Mistress… Mistress Lin demands your presence at the Gym’s baseball court!” she said politely, giving the scene on the big screen a look before looking away with a blush, it was too lewd for her.

“Ah…. Right… The ritual!” Margret, who completely forgot that it was happening today, quickly jumped from her seat and ran out of the room, not forgetting to turn off the projector before she left. Hilda would kill her if she were to teach the maids any strange things… She had already been warned twice after some of the girls began to show interest in her movies!

…

“What the hell happened here?” Margret exclaimed as soon as she reached the baseball court that was in a complete mess and had a large hole in the wooden floor in its center… It was as if an explosion happened there as black soot filled the place.

“Ah… sorry…” Lin who was standing there with Elise said. “The ceremony got a little out of hand… But I got it!” she said, holding a strange crystal in her hand.

“Oh….” Margret exclaimed. “Did it succeed?”

“Yes… “ Lin said. “But sadly I only had the memories of Abe’s last few minutes… “

“It should be fine… Are you ok?” Margret asked again, noticing a long scratch on Lin’s arm.

“Yeah, I am fine… The parasite spirit was really agitated… I had to force it…” she sighed.

“Oh… Then how do we use this?” Margret asked again, looking at the strange pulsating blue crystal.

“Easy… Just make sure to close the door then activate it, it would create an illusion projecting what happened in Abe's last moments before he lost his soul!” Lin replied.

“Ah right!” Margret said, closing the court door behind her.

“Now come stand together with us… This scene can only be played once…”

“Wait… can’t we record it?” Margret exclaimed.

“I already prepared everything!” Elise replied holding a rare recording crystal artifact in her hand as she pointed around the court.

“Oh ok…” Margret said as she finally noticed the many cameras placed around over the rubble. It was a good call making Elise responsible for this, the girl thought of everything!

“First let’s isolate this place!” Elise said, taking a group of talismans and then throwing them in the air. As if attracted by something, they were quickly distributed around the court walls forming an intricate mesh that shone once before vanishing.

“Let’s see….”

BAM!

…

Margret and the girls watched as the scene around them morphed into that of a dim room that was illuminated by strange flickering crystals. The atmosphere of the place was very similar to that of a dungeon.

Abe who was naked and bloodied from head to toe was strapped to a torture table as two women stood above him.

One of them was someone they knew, she was the girl called Bianca, while the other was a gorgeous woman in her thirties wearing a strange military uniform that Margret could not recognize. Bianca was wearing a slimier uniform too.

“Finished here?” the woman asked coldly.

“Yes, commander…” Bianca replied respectfully as she used a handkerchief to wipe the blood off her hands. “We got all the info we could from him!”

“So… Is he a returner?”

“Yes!” Bianca replied. “In his past life, he was no one important, just a dandy who was kidnapped from the streets and then was tortured to death by a woman who called herself Lady M… The incident should have happened 5 years from now…”

“Oh… Those demons do like to give themselves single-letter names…” the woman said as she seemed lost in memories, “What about his current life?”

“The same as what the investigation team figured out. He seemed to have returned 3 years ago. First, he began plagiarizing famous novels and publishing them online to make some money, too bad that the public was not ready for such depraved materials yet, so he only had limited success…. We confirmed those facts after we inspected the computer’s history at his home; the novels were originally published from there!” Bianca said. “He seemed to have a crypto wallet, a lot of GreenSun coins!”

“Oh… Typical…. Then he doesn’t know the reason for his return?”

“Not at all! He just believes that he is some kind of a protagonist of some novel!” Bianca chuckled.

“Don’t laugh!” the woman spat angrily. “I thought the same until our Lord spared my life and showed me the way!”

“Ah… sorry Commander… I didn’t mean to…” Bianca apologized as bowed down.

“It’s ok… Is there anything of interest around him?”

“A few things! He seemed to have been connected to Victor Von Weise. They met when he sold his cousin Margret to him… “ Bianca said, looking at the half-dead Abe with disgust. “According to the conversations on his phone, they seemed to have become secretly friends after that, and this led to him selling the rights for the novels to Horizon Media which is owned by Victor!”

“Oh… All of them?”

“Yes!”

“If he knew how precious those were he would never do that…” the woman analyzed with a frown.

“Ah… Right… About that… Abe had an accident a few months ago… Right after he met Victor, he got castrated in a bizarre brothel incident. He needed the money really badly to fix his stuff…, and Victor, who loved the novels, gave him an offer he couldn’t refuse!”

“So it was a coincidence, or maybe that Victor was behind it…… “

“Yeah… we are not sure as the official investigation reached nothing, and we don’t have agents in Vein City!” Bianca said. “But the brothel was owned by Victor’s cousin and the two are not on good terms…”

“The usual aristocratic family shit… Anyways, what really matters is that we need those rights…” the woman said as if pondering.

“Ah… Why?” Bianca frowned as she couldn’t get why her mattress would want anything to do with that filth.

“The movies' early release would create too much disruption in the timeline I know and stop us from locating the other returners… “The woman frowned. “This is one of the main missions our Lord entrusted us with!”

“Yes... Commander…”

“The profits we can get from them in the future would be huge too!” the woman said. This was clearly her original goal!

“Ah right… Commander… How many others do you think there are?” Bianca asked.

“I don’t know, but other than me and this guy, there is definitely one other guy! THE ORIGINATOR!” the commander sighed. “The Lord believes that he must have used our souls as a guiding beacon before returning to the past, so he would definitely be the source of some big changes, we just need to keep an eye on things that differ from the future I knew!”

“Ah… I understand!” Bianca replied. “Then what shall I do about this guy now?”

“First use the soul-replacing doll to control this idiot and take the rights back from Victor… Then make the ones who are set to inherit him sign a few documents to give away all the rights to his estate in case they inherited it… Then we kill him!” the woman said. “Ah… And make that guy Victor do it,… This would be enough to make him unable to use any of the materials without incurring a public backlash!” she smirked. “Take Little Mouse with you, that guy had been nagging me for some action!”

“Yes, Commander!” Bianca said as she turned to face Abe, then from her storage ring she took out a strange-looking caterpillar that she inserted into his mouth…

Boom…

The scene ended.

“Let's call Lily!” Margret said directly as the scene around her returned to that of the gym. “I think she would want to watch that!”

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