The Vampire Duchess's Secret Marriage Contract

4| Scheming a Certain Fae's Downfall

The gears in my brain turned, trying to think of a plausible lie.

“I saw my father was troubled over the Gustav Enterprises, so I wanted to help him. I never would have guessed you own this company, Sir. I swear to not tell a single soul. I will make an oath if you want.” I settled on a half truth in the end.

“What a dutiful daughter,” he said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

I looked down.

‘Damn it all to hell. Why did it have to be him, of all people?’

A moment of silence passed between us.

Suddenly, I felt the bonds gripping me disappear. I gazed up at him in surprise. Was he letting me go, after all?

“Don’t even think about escaping. Walk with me, if you value your arm, that is,” Azrael ordered and started walking, a small silver string still attached to my arm. I prayed to the Lord that my plan would work.

I swiftly took out the magic resistant dagger from my cane without him noticing and cut off the string of mana. Mana resistant metals were used to directly interfere with the flow of mana, so it gave me a split second to break free from his magical bonds. He looked back in surprise, but I had already run and jumped out the window.

I wasn’t going to miss a second chance at escape. I landed on the hard floor with an enormous thud and looked up to see him staring at me with a clenched jaw, but then he relaxed, turned around, and walked away from the window. Was he letting me go so easily?

I did not know, but I ran as fast as my feet could carry me toward the Duchy. I had to inform my father of this as soon as possible. In less than twenty minutes, I was home. I hurriedly climbed up the wall to enter my room through the window.

I quickly changed into a normal dress and ran to my father’s office, bursting into the room. My father looked up in surprise.

“Tia, it has been a little over an hour since you said you were going out. Back already?” He asked.

I took a few seconds to catch my breath and composed myself. I couldn’t show an unsightly side of myself to father and make him worried. He looked at me in curiosity as I walked over and sat in the wooden chair before him.

“Yes, I got an urgent missive from our information gatherers. It was red,” I lied. Red was used to convey extremely important information. And judging by the situation, I thought it was apt.

Father put down the papers in his and looked at me, a steely resolve in his eyes as he looked at me.

“Have you destroyed it?”

“Yes, father. Set it aflame as soon as I read it.”

“Good.” He nodded as he set up a magical sound barrier around us. He was a mage, a very good one at that. Too bad I hadn’t inherited his large mana reserves.

“You can talk now, Tia. I have finished setting up the barrier.”

“Azrael Gvantsa is the one behind Gustav Enterprises,” I said, making his eyebrows shoot up. Father fell into deep thought.

“That is indeed a grave matter. We may have more influence and power on our side, but he is rich. I suspect he is currently the richest man in the empire. We can’t possibly try to go against him head on at the moment,” he contemplated. I nodded in agreement.

“There’s one more thing. Mr Gvantsa is a Fae of the Night Court.” I had felt the dark mana from his magic. It could only belong to a fae from the Night Court. Day Court fae had a different kind of mana.

My father swore. I had never heard him swear before, so I looked at him startled.

“Are you alright, father?” I asked, concerned.

“Are you sure about this information, Tia? What would a Fae want in the human realm?” He asked, his voice alert.

“Positive,” I replied.

“This is… concerning. We better steer clear of him, since we don’t know if the Night Court is behind him or if he’s an individual. But I must inform his Majesty of the matter. A Fae meddling in human affairs, that too one as rich as him, will not bode well for the empire.”

I agreed with him.

“We should also leak the information to the Mage Tower,” I suggested. Father nodded in agreement and went over to his magic communicator, probably to order our people to leak the info.

The Mage Tower and Azrael Gvantsa were competitors. The Mage Tower was the official organization for mages in the Empire of Kainosia, and sold magic tools that were approved by the Royal Association of Mages.

Mr Gvantsa also sold licensed magic tools, but he was a private individual, and his prices were just a bit cheaper than the tools sold by the Mage Tower, so humans, vampires and werewolves flocked to his tools since they were cheaper than the ones sold by the Mage Tower. Rumors had it that his magic tools were superior, too.

Hence, the Mage Tower had been hounding Azrael to join them, but he refused every offer, making them his enemies. Leaking the information that he was a Fae would keep them both occupied for a short while.

Along with the vampires Azrael was already dealing with, he would hopefully have no time to contemplate a princess breaking into his office and escaping him. I decided not to tell father that the recent murders in Reinhardt territory were because of vampires.

He would definitely tell his majesty about it and it would become an international issue which we could not avoid getting involved in. It was safest to not involve my father in it. I would take care of it myself.

“It’s done Tia, I will take care of the matter with his Majesty. Also, there is another important matter that we need to discuss.”

I stiffened. Ah, I could already sense where this was going. I sneakily tried to stand up, trying to escape.

“Celestia René Kadirah, sit down!” He ordered.

I sat down meekly, making myself look as pitiful as possible. It did not work on my father at all.

“You will attend the Imperial Ball next week.”

W/N
Our heroine managed to escape! But now what? Will Azrael let her go so easily? Don't forget to vote, comment and share!