The meeting with the heroes party went as smoothly as one would expect, I listened to their part of the plan, and they listened to mine, we each made adjustments to each others and that was it.
Now all that was left was for all of the puzzle pieces to meet and start the plan, but not with one piece being unaware of his part.
And that piece was no other than Victor, Lev's dear butler who was blinded by his loyalty. I originally planed to ditch him once i got to my destination where I had planned to hide out for the next few months, but I thought of a better way to separate from him that would test his loyalty as much.
Now that Victor and I finally got back to my room, Victor sat me down and helped me take my shoes off, not that I needed the help, though they were lace up knee high boots, so the help was appreciated.
"Victor," I said to him, making him pause and look up at me with the same blank expression he usually wears when he doesn't want me to know what he is thinking or feeling, "There is something I want to discuss with you."
"...Alright," He replied blankly, before looking back down and adding, "But may I finish this first? I don't like having to stop in the middle of things."
"Huuu, Fine. Just make sure you do the rest quick," I ordered, sighing and leaning back on my chair.
"Of course," Victor assured solemnly, resuming unlacing my shoes. Once he was done he slipped a pair of black slippers onto my feet, then stood up and backed away from me a bit, "Okay, I am finished. What is it that you wish to speak to me about, M'Lord?"
"It's about your part in this plan," I started to say, then closed my eyes and messaged my temples feeling a headache about to start forming, then sat up straight, "I don't want you coming with me to the Silversun Kingdom."
For once, a bombshell looked as if it dropped onto Victor. His face was suddenly twisted into a dumbfounded expression, like he never thought he would hear the words come out of Lev's mouth pertaining to something along the lines of, "I don't want you to escort me."
"I-I'm sorry, My Lord. Perhaps I was miss hearing things, what was it you meant to say?" He closed his eyes and fixed his posture. Making a straight face, but biting his lips a bit.
"No, you heard me right. You are not to come with me to The Silversun Kingdom, I want you to stay here," I repeated, seeing him fight his own face to hide his look of disbelief.
"May I ask why, My Lord?" He asked, his head down in shame of his own making. Though, I knew it was most likely because he thought that in Lev's eyes, he failed his job.
However, it wasn't Lev looking at him with an expression full of seriousness, it was me. Saito Anzhong, a Major General from earth who had never had the luxury of having a butler or attendant, looking at him with eyes full of pity.
Knowing what he was thinking at this exact moment, not being able to tell him the truth, feeling everybit of guilt about taking his master from him, the one where all of his true loyalty was felt towards.
"It would simply be easier if you stayed behind. As Atlas said, Dame Aysu and Sir Viatrix will be bringing a sorceress here to play the part as me while using an Illusion spell…However," I started to say, before stopping myself to go over the plan again.
"However what?" Victor questioned, looking at me not like my butler, but like someone he used to be, a nobleman.
'Huh, guess he is even more hurt than I thought he'd be.'
"Haaa, However, I will instead need her aide while in the Silversun Kingdom," I resumed, watching Victor purse his lips, "So, I instead, want you to stay here acting as me."
The feeling of hurt was instantly lift from Victor, and in its place, was now shock. He looked at me stupefied, like i had just dropped a giant boulder for him to hold.
"What? Did you think I thought of you as useless or something?" I burst out laughing, getting a kick out of his ever changing emotions.
"Mmm, Maybe." He muttered, embarrassed, "But why me exactly? Why not have Miss Araluen of Dame Aysu pretend to be you?"
"Heh, because no matter how much one tried, they could never come to portraying me as close as you would. After all, you do know me the best," I put my elbow on the armrest of the chair, then rested my cheek on my knuckle and smiled at him, still chuckling to myself.
"Y-You…Haaa, I am very honored to hear that, M'Lord, but are you sure?" Victor asked again, his ears reddening from embarrassment, but face staying the same blankness as ever, minus a hint of hopefulness.
"HA! Of course I'm sure, after all, If not you, then who else would do the job so well?" I reassured him, lightening my smile a bit and rasing my eyebrow.
Victor just stood there for a bit before his face turned bright red, and covering it with his hands, embarrassed by what I just said.
"HAHAHAHAHA! Oh, you are so entertaining, Victor," I laughed and smiled, before getting up and walking past him, making him remove his hands from his face and turn towards me with a puzzled look.
I walked over to the desk, grabbed a piece of paper, envelope, dark green wax and seal stamp, then put the wax over a fire to melt it and started to write on the paper.
Curious as of to what I was doing, Victor walked over and stood in front of the desk, leaning slightly forward to see what I was writing.
"A letter? Just wondering, who exactly is it for?" He asked, unsure of my intentions.
"This one is for King Roman," I explained, then paused my writing to pick up another piece of paper to hold up for him to see, "And the next shall be for Duke Casilda. You do know teleportation magic, no?"
"Yes, I do, though I can only teleport myself and one other person…Oh, you want me to deliver the letters to them after you are are make in the mainland. Am I right?" Victor exclaimed, finally getting a grasp of my true plan.
"Heh, right on the mark! See, this is exactly why I wanted you to stay in the sorceresses stead, you get exactly what I put out," I replied smiling, then finishing up the letter and putting it in the envelop, sealing it with my wax seal, "This one is for his majesty, it holds the truth about this whole ordeal and the reason for my absence over the next few months."
"...And the one for Duke Casilda holds a lie?" Victor questioned, tilting his head, knowing exactly why the contents would be a lie.
"Indeed. I cannot let him know about my forced engagement to King Vellamo, considering his odd possessiveness over me. The only ones that can know are the people that already do, and His Majesty and His royal Highness," I confirmed, continuing to write the letter addresses to Oryn.
"Yes, that is likely the smartest decision for you to make. After all, not even I have an idea for his odd behavior," Victor sighed, leaning back and messaging his temples and rolling his eyes.
"Huuu, yes that is the unfortunate case. I don't want him to make any decisions that he will regret and get himself exiled for. The best thing to do is leave it up to King Roman and Crown Prince Emeric, they will know and decide what is best to do with the current situation," I finished, signing the letter with my signature, putting it in the envelope and sealing it, then putting the name of whom it is addressed to on the backs of them both.
"I understand…And once again, I am so sorry about all of this," Victor apologized, still feeling responsible for nt being able to stop my kidnapping and the "accident" from a few days ago.
'Why is he sorry? It's my own damn fault for being so stupid and falling for his trickery.'
"No need to apologize, it is not your fault. Here," I responded, handing him the letters, "Keep this on you until it is time for you to make your departure, then immediately return to the estate and mail this to them."
"Haa, if you say so, and understood. I will do my best to fulfill your orders with the most satisfaction I can give you," Victor reassured, stuffing them into his inner coat pocket, then bowing and looking at me with a smile of confidence.
'Never in my life have I ever seen a man experience some many emotions in such a short amount of time like Victor has…As a fellow man, even I find it odd.'
***
Around three days later, it was finally time to bring our long awaited plan to fruition.
I was laying in my bed, tapping the sides of my shoes with my cheeks slightly puffed and my lips sucked in together, waiting for Muriel, Lancelot, and Atlas to show the sorceress to my room and finally get this damned show on the road.
"My Lord, I have finished checking everything one last time and put together all of the work you have done the last few days. Is there anything else you would like me to do before the four of them arrive?" Victor reported, coming over to the bed and looking me in the eyes.
"Hm, nothing for now…Oh, uh, could you fix my hair for me? I don't really want it down, it'll get in the way of me fighting if that happens," I asked, getting off my bed and looking at him.
"Of course, you don't even need to ask," Victor smiled at me in return, then sat me down at the vanity and used the comb to start brushing my hair.
"Oh! Also, make sure to bring that hair brush with us, I don't want Llyr to pick out the hair and track me down with it…or some other weird voodoo shit," I commented, shivering a bit at the imagination of him mind controlling me in someway.
"Alright, then I will have to take care of the tracking spell on it and put it in the suitcase with the other things," Victor replied blankly, tying my hair into a pony tail in the middle of my head.
"Ugh, did he seriously put one on this too? Fucking obsessive creep," I added, my face scrunching up with weirded-outness and disgust.
"I could not agree more, though with less vulgar terms," Victor laughed, styling my bangs to the side, then putting earrings on my ears.
"Hm, whats these?" I asked, curious of the amethyst pair.
"Just a little parting gift. I don't know when I will see your Lordship next, so I imbued them with a protection enchantment and a way to contact me," He smile, messing with my hair a bit before continuing, "Just press on the both of them at the same time and it'll open up a communication system that will connect our thoughts."
"Ho? Quite clever of you, thank you, Victor!" I smiled at him, rubbing one of the earrings.
"No need to thank me, I just wanted to repay you…And it goes well with your outfit today, no?" He smiled back, tilting his head and turning my back to face the mirror.
"Yes, I suppose they do," I replied, examining my self. Victor had brought me an light purple button-up with bishop sleeves, black pants, and a dark purple corset-looking thing, that was actually a sort of abdomen armor. Then he paired it with dark purple finger-less gloves, and long knee-high lace up heeled boots that made about five feet taller than my usual height, a way to disguise me. And finally, he finished it off with an Black tie with an obsidian broach that held a spacecial enchantment on it and a bow in my hair, plus the Amethyst earrings he just gave me.
"Yes, they do indeed…You have done a very good job this past week, I will make sure to reward you and give you a raise when I see you again," I exclaimed and smiled solemnly, feeling a bit sorry for the naive butler.
"...My lord, I-" He started to say before he was cut of by the set amount of knocks the heroes party and I agreed to, in order to know when it was time to leave, "I will go get it."