Carrying the tray filled with cookies, a tea set and the day’s newspaper, the maid made her way towards Grim’s room with a hint of apprehension.
A slight nervousness wafted across Mina’s face that she found it hard to mask despite her years of professionalism.
You may wonder what’s going on?
The story dates back to a few days when she heard that the sister whom she protected from the shadows had been kidnapped by a narrow-eyed old man who turned out to be the butler of Wargrave.
Silvia was her younger sister from whom she had been separated because her parents sold her for some meagre money, but she wasn’t brought by a lustful guy to become a toy of pleasure, rather by the Hounds named Glaive.
A secret organization that was in charge of intel, assassination and all types of shady deals. They brought children when they were young and trained them severely. Many died while those who survived became the Wardogs.
After getting her freedom back, she returned to look for her parents. Not out of worry, but to question them why they did that.
She didn’t know she had a sister until she looked for them. Her parents were dead, leaving behind a sister.
She was quite beautiful, innocent and truly pitiful, who was struggling to make ends meet. To protect herself, she even scarred her face.
Despite years of training, her heart softened a bit and she decided to protect her.
When she came back to see her sister she found that her sister had been taken by someone from Wargrave.
She disguised herself as one of the maids to find out more. And naturally, her first suspicion was the cold-eyed bastard.
Why would a butler act on his whim?
It must be the order of his master.
He might be the only one who could be involved in this nefarious deed. After all, he was pretty well-known in the black alleys, involved in gambling.
The butler was strong and problematic while it would be easier to take down the cold eyes bastard because he didn’t have any powers.
She thought everything would go well, but her actions displeased the man even.
It was the first time her seduction failed on the target.Every target she had seduced was now lying in a coffin except this guy.
Since the first step faltered, she had to be careful.
Standing before the door, she took a deep breath to knock, but the door swung open with a creak, exposing the sight of a man with an aura of dread sitting on the sofa in the middle of the room.
His entire demeanor was solemn, like pondering over the solution to some world-shattering problem.
Taking a bow, she went towards the table and, placing the plate, picked up the bread and knife.
Slicing the butter, she was about to spread it when Grim spoke.
"Your sister, I had freed her."
She stopped and turned towards him with a look of shock.
’What did he mean?’
A sense of bad foreboding welled up in her heart.
’He knew something... Is he planning to blackmail me?’
’I can’t let him set the pace. I need to act.’
With that thought, she acted.
"Isn’t she your sister?"
Grim’s words hadn’t even ceased when a gleam flashed and a blade shot out towards the neck with breathtaking speed.
SWISH!
Mina’s eyes narrowed as she saw the knife caught barehanded by Grim, who gave her a deadpan look, catching her off guard.
She didn’t plan to kill him. It was purely foolish. She just wanted to threaten him by placing the knife against his nape but the man managed to react well.
Amidst this, she heard him speak again.
"You are misunderstanding something."
Mina didn’t buy it. Rather, she was already coming up with the plan to leave, but the next words perplexed her.
"I didn’t mean to kidnap her. Rather, I meant to protect her."
"Protect her? Why?" Mina asked incoherently, unable to make sense of any of it.
"She had been blessed."
The hand holding the knife shook and Mina took a step back.
"Blessed... By whom?"
Instead of relief, worry washed over her entire being.
Lineage...
There were lineages that were welcomed by all, while at the same time there were some that dragged you into the depths of depravity.
People who crawled at the bottom of society were mostly found by the latter.
The man looked at her face and spoke softly, "She is Blessed Light."
God knows what these words meant to her. However, she was still doubtful, which was naturally understood by Grim.
"I know what you are thinking, like how I know this and that. Before all that, I think it’s better if you look after your sister."
"You see, I am a bit constrained and things won’t go well if my family finds out, which they surely will, so before all these nuisances, I want you to protect her tonight."
"I have left her clues to seek the Protection of Light, and your task is to see that her path remains unhindered. Along the way, you can verify your dilemma."
His words didn’t bring her relief. Rather, they drew her thoughts into obscurity.
It was totally random and forceful.
How did this man know so much and what was he thinking? It might be possible if he was the heir of Wargrave, who had an extensive network, but from what she knew, he was just a pitiful man drowned in the misery of failed expectations imposed by the world, unless...
Her face became pale as if she had seen a ghost.
’Don’t tell me he is hiding His Excellency.’
The thought made her shrink, but before she could think, a deadly voice echoed.
"Stop wasting time with odd thoughts."
His gaze met hers and seemed to look down on her.
"Quit being a nuisance. You can either gamble or try to take me on, but let me warn you, the consequences of the latter won’t be something that can be afforded."
Mina calmed down and asked, "What do you want?"
Hearing this, Grim’s face curled devilishly.
"I like understanding people."
"I have a task that you can do, but before that, I need your trust, for which I am sure you need to look after your sister. She is in the shed and might escape tonight, so go to her."
"Once she escapes safely, come back to meet me. We will take them."
With that, he dismissed her.
Mina didn’t linger and immediately shot out to leave with astonishing speed, after which a faint curse lingered.
"Fucking hell!"
"That was intense."