The Deceitful One

The smoke barrier soon dissipated and Bryan and Charlotte stepped out of it. The former had already changed his face back to that of Anthony Wayne's. When the pair had come out of the barrier, Donald was already waiting outside.

He was in the kitchen helping the butler and the other servants out when Benny rushed to him and informed him that Bryan needed to be attended to. He didn't know just what happened, but seeing the urgency on Benny's face he thought something serious might have happened.

And when he finally saw Bryan in the garden, his jaw nearly dropped to the ground. Bryan's clothes were torn in various places and he was currently bathed in blood. Donald hurriedly rushed to him and asked out of extreme concern, "M-Master, what happened!?"

Bryan waved his hand nonchalantly, "Ah, nothing really."

"How is this nothing!?" Donald circled around Bryan, completely ignoring Charlotte. "You need to be treated immediately." He then grabbed Bryan's arm and took him upstairs to the meditation room.

Meanwhile, Benny was also there in the garden. When he saw Bryan so severely wounded, he was overcome by apprehension. But when Bryan mentally transmitted to him that he was alright and it was nothing serious, Benny finally breathed a sigh of relief.

If Bryan said it was nothing, then it was indeed nothing. He trusted Bryan's words. He saw Donald help Bryan go upstairs and felt grateful for having such a person to help out Bryan and him.

Then his gaze fell on the beautiful stranger who was earlier standing with Bryan. Charlotte looked at Benny curiously looking at her and wondered if the white cat earlier had any relationship with this black cat.

When she found that such a powerhouse was actually present in the house, she was greatly taken aback. After all, the white gem artifact that she had earlier used allowed her to see through everything and everyone.

The fact that the artifact broke when she used it to view Mathew meant that the latter was at least a high-string Transcendent. Hence, now when she saw another cat—albeit much weaker compared to Mathew—she couldn't help but wonder just where all these creatures were coming from.

She looked at Benny and smiled gently. "Hello, little one."

Benny tilted his head and sent a mental transmission. 'Who are you?'

Charlotte was not surprised that Benny could speak. She replied with a smile. "A friend."

'A friend?' Benny looked at her dubiously. 'What kind of friend?'

Charlotte's eyebrows twitched as she wondered. 'Just what kind of question is that?' She was about to answer when all of a sudden the white fat cat from earlier appeared out of nowhere and delivered a flying kick to Benny.

"Meeooowwww!!" Benny screamed in agony as he flew across the air and landed a dozen feet away.

Mathew looked at him and snorted. "You fool, where's the food I told you to get?" With that, he walked toward Benny with heavy strides and continued. "Looks like I've to discipline you even more."

Benny got up to his feet and looked at Mathew with a suicidal expression. 'N-No… please…. NO!'

And then he started running all around the garden as Mathew released dozens of invisible wind blades at him. When Charlotte saw this scene, she was speechless. She couldn't help but incredulously mutter, "What the hell is going on?"

She stared at the two cats for a few minutes longer until she snapped out of her shock. She then turned around and entered Bryan's mansion. Meanwhile, Benny continued to scream 'No more! No more!' as he experienced another round of brutal training.

...

About fifteen minutes later, Donald had completely bandaged Bryan from head to toe. The only visible area was his face. Although Bryan had told him that it was not needed and that he'd be fine with just taking a healing potion, Donald insisted.

In the end, he could only helplessly allow Donald to tend to his wounds. At the same time, his heart warmed when he saw the concern in Donald's eyes. He soon got up from his seat and asked him, "Where's our guest?"

"As per your instructions, I've already asked Carl to lead her to your study, master." Donald respectfully replied as he scrutinized the bandages on his master's body. He then added, "I've also instructed the maids to serve her tea and snacks."

"Good," Bryan nodded as he buttoned his shirt. "She's a very important guest, Donald."

Curious, Donald inquired, "Might I ask who she is, master?" After all, except for that party that Bryan held when he initially moved into this mansion, he had barely had any guests come over. Hence, he was surprised when Bryan mentioned 'very important guest.'

Bryan tucked in his shirt and then walked toward the door. He nonchalantly replied without looking back, "Princess of the Dicentra Empire."

Donald froze.

Meanwhile, Bryan walked into his study and found that Charlotte was curiously looking around at the library in his study. When he entered the house, she praised, "Not a bad collection of books."

Bryan smiled. "Thank you."

The next moment, she looked at Bryan and chuckled. "Do you mind changing your face? I like the other one much more."

Bryan's eyebrows twitched but he still agreed to it. "As you wish, princess." The next moment, Bryan raised his hand and wiped his face. When he lowered his hand back, his face changed back to his original one.

Charlotte couldn't help but marvel. "I've never read or heard about any spells that can physically alter one's appearance except for the ones in possession by Transformation Path Transcendents. And they're said to be very reclusive and strongly gatekeep their spells and techniques."

"If you're wondering whether I'm a Transformation Path Transcendent, then no, I'm not," Bryan replied as he walked to his seat at the study table. He remained standing by the chair and gestured for Charlotte to sit. After all, she was the princess of the Dicentra Empire and he was a mere commoner, so to speak. Thus, he had to show proper etiquette.

Charlotte approached the study table and smiled at Bryan. "No need to be so formal with me. You can just call me Charlotte." She then sat down and proceeded to have tea that was kept on the table.

Bryan sat down and respectfully shook his head. "Apologies, princess, but I dare not."

Charlotte chuckled. "I insist. Besides, Grandpa told me to treat you as my equal. No, to be precise, he asked me to treat you with respect."

Bryan was taken aback. He asked with a raised eyebrow, "Grandpa? You mean the emperor?" He was now beginning to think that this beautiful lady in front of him could very possibly be a thousand-year-old hag in the body of a youth.

Charlotte found Bryan's expression to be very amusing. "The Emperor has many descendants so he simply tells everyone to call him 'Grandpa.' Of course, this doesn't apply to his direct sons and daughters."

"Ah," Bryan was slightly relieved for some reason. "So, that's how it is."

He then suddenly thought of something and asked, "So, all his descendants know he's alive?"

Charlotte profoundly spoke, "Only a select few."

Bryan nodded as he understood her implied meaning. After all, the whole world—at least the regular humans and low-ranking Transcendents—knew that the emperor had long since perished. Hence, in order to tightly guard this secret, the emperor must have divulged the knowledge about his existence to only very few people.

After all, even within one's family, not everyone could be trusted. Especially so in a royal family.

Charlotte then handed over the identity token that she had earlier shown to Nicholas and the two Belize Intelligence Officers to Bryan. "With this token, you'll be recognized as an official of the Dicentra royal family."

Bryan grabbed the token and looked at the sigil of the Dicentra Family which was that of a balance scale surrounded by a laurel wreath. He then heard Charlotte continue. "With this token, you'll be granted access to almost all places on the continent. No matter where you go, you'll be treated like one of us."

"It's that precious, huh?" Bryan asked in surprise. After all, from the way Charlotte had just described it, the token seemed to be a pretty big deal.

"Yes," Charlotte nodded with a smile. "To be honest, even I was surprised when Grandpa asked me to give this to you. This is the highest level of token that a citizen of the empire can receive. And till this day, only a mere handful have been given out."

Once again, Bryan was taken aback. He knew that the emperor would treat him favorably not just because they were in the same gathering hosted by Lady Fate, but also because he had given the emperor valuable intel about the Belize Kingdom.

But he didn't know that the Emperor would be this sincere in his approach. Bryan kept the token and looked at Charlotte. "Thank you very much, princess."

"Charlotte!" The princess jokingly glared.

"Ah, I'm sorry." Bryan scratched the back of his head. "Charlotte it is then."

"That's better," Charlotte smiled.

Bryan's face suddenly turned solemn. "By the way, did the emperor mention anything else?"

"You mean the Belize royal family?" Charlotte too became serious.

Bryan simply nodded. The next moment, Charlotte's necklace glowed once again as she declared, "Scrying is outlawed here." Following that, the grey barrier covered them once again. She then looked at Bryan and solemnly said, "Grandpa indeed has a plan. And he hopes that we can work together."

"I understand," Bryan nodded.

"And there's another thing he's asked me to tell you," Charlotte added.

"What is it?" Bryan inquired.

Charlotte replied, "He wants you to go meet someone."