Chapter 210

Nick held back a sigh. His first instinct after the System notification was to eliminate the threat. He would have been justified in doing so, considering he was now a full noble and had been subjected to a mind-altering effect.But doing so in front of the entire House Poules would have meant war.

Sure, the Captain was away with his top warriors. That made the prospect of defeating them fairly easy. A quick decapitating strike would have taken out the smiling seductress, and everyone else wouldn't have stood a chance to fight back.

But that wasn’t why Nick had been sent here. He needed to establish House Crowley’s dominance, and eliminating what should have been one of their most important vassals as an opening act would have been too troublesome.

That, however, did not mean he could ignore the attempt.

That would set a bad precedent, and while he doubted his father would be susceptible to such manipulations, the mere fact that this Chandra thought she could attempt it with him meant she probably had plans.

He did not know the circumstances that led to the previous lady’s demise and Chandra’s marriage to Sir Poules, but he suspected foul play.

Looking around the room he had been given for his stay in Oakenhallow, Nick had to admit that whatever shady backstory the woman had, she knew how to run a household.

Luxurious furnishings decorated the chamber, from a four-poster bed with green and gold curtains to an elegant desk of carved wood and a plush woolen carpet that felt soft under his feet. This room seemed more like something from the city nobility than from the frontier.

And if this was what was provided to guests, he could only imagine what the actual household had.

A knock on the door snapped him out of his thoughts, and he crooked a finger, opening it telekinetically.

The maid who was revealed stood there for a moment, hand raised, with a surprised look, but quickly composed herself. “Milord, Lady Chandra invites you for lunch.”

Nick briefly considered refusing her. He didn’t really want to get involved with the woman any more than necessary, but he figured there was no way to get out of this without being rude, and he still needed to learn a few things before drawing his conclusions.

It’d be up to his father to decide what to do with the woman, but he wanted to give him as much information as possible.

“Let’s go then,” he said, pulling away from the bed and following the maid, who silently turned around.

She seemed to be feeling a mix of curiosity and trepidation, which he supposed wasn’t too unusual. House Crowley’s elevation was very recent, but he was still true nobility now. He doubted they saw much more of those here than in Floria.

Walking through the manor's corridors, he paused to look at the decorations. They weren’t anything special, but better than the plain house his family lived in—still simple, but reasonable. A suit of armor here, a tapestry there, but nothing truly luxurious.

It sharply contrasted with the luxurious furnishings of the room he’d been given and only confirmed his suspicions that the change in fortunes was recent.

“We’re here,” the maid murmured, gesturing toward an open door. Nick thanked her before walking in.

As he’d sensed, only Lady Chandra was there. Both Tim and his mentor seemed to be eating somewhere else while practicing kinetic magic.

“Oh, Lord Crowley, welcome,” the lady of the house greeted him with a sly smile. A large wooden table had been set up for their meals, but despite its size, their chairs were very close. Almost intimately so.

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“Lady Chandra, thank you for your invitation. Is Tim not joining us?” He asked innocently. He knew he wouldn’t, but there was no reason not to needle the woman.

“Oh, he always takes his meals in his room. He’s studying really hard to pass the Magic Tower’s exams. I wouldn’t want to interrupt him at such a crucial time, you understand.” She said, waving a hand as if it was just the way things were.

Nick supposed that if he were just a regular teenager, he would have been distracted by the vast tracts of land she so eagerly showed off. A private meal with a beautiful woman didn’t sound bad at all, even with his level of maturity.

But he knew better than to trust the poisoned offer. After all, the more colorful a snake was, the more likely it was deadly.

“Ah, that’s a shame. I was hoping to build a rapport with him. You know, with the upcoming changes, it would be good for us to be friends.”

For the first time, the woman faltered slightly. To her credit, she quickly regained her composure, and he would have missed it if he couldn’t see into her inner self.

There was a deep hunger inside her. Not one born from physical needs, but solely driven by the desire for power. It didn’t matter that he was a child; to her, charming him was just par for the course if it meant she could grasp higher.

That he even showed a hint of not wanting to be alone with her told her that her hooks weren’t as set as she’d hoped. Some confusion swirled before it was smoothed out by experience.

Really, the more Nick observed her, the more he was certain he’d stumbled upon something very peculiar.

I'll make sure to pass along your wishes next time. After all, you'll be spending some days here, won't you? There will be plenty more chances for you to build your friendship. For now, I was hoping we could get to know each other better.” She was nearly pouting at the end.

Nick felt a different pull this time. Instead of the charming effect she’d tried to use before, Chandra appeared to rely on good old charisma. It was much more effective, as he could feel his resolve to needle the woman weaken.

Unfortunately for her, Occultist was a class designed to endure much harsher conditions. It had to allow its bearer to survive in societies that didn't understand its purpose, and therefore, it granted much more charisma than a typical mage class.

While Nick had once fallen under its influence, his defenses simply overwhelmed by the old crone who had given him a mysterious grimoire before disappearing, he had now grown enough that even the extremely high charisma wielded by Chandra couldn’t do more than give him pause.

After a moment, his resolve washed away any hold she might have had on him, and he was back to normal. “I am here to receive the oath of fealty of House Poules, Lady Chandra. If Sir Poules will not come to give it within the next day, then I will go to him.”

The words were enough to shatter the atmosphere. Nick could see the woman reevaluate him in real time. She didn’t sneer or spit the venom he could see in her, and instead adopted a more demure attitude. “Of course. We have received the Royal writ, after all. I will send a man to recall my husband, if that is what House Crowley desires.”

Nick nodded and took a seat, already feeling exhausted. The meal hadn’t even started! “That would be good. I understand there is some chaos across the grassland that might need his attention, but this is an urgent matter. My father wants every knight to swear fealty and then rush to Floria to prepare for what’s ahead.”

Chandra simply tilted her head in acknowledgment, trying her best to appear submissive. It was an improvement over her earlier attempts, but Nick could tell that it was just another way for her to try to win favor.

Without the emotion-sensing provided by Spiritual Affinity, he could have been in serious trouble. This woman clearly had a lot of experience in manipulating others, especially men, and it wasn’t surprising that she quickly became the lady of House Poules so soon after the previous one’s death.

In the end, the meal went by fairly smoothly. Chandra seemed to have understood that her attempts were only making him more cautious, so had shifted to a more passive stance, agreeing with his every request and relying on her aura of beauty and elegance to handle the rest.

If Nick was honest, it was a much better attempt. The woman was drop-dead gorgeous, after all. But he’d seen enough from her to know not to trust anything, and he managed to escape her rooms unscathed.

The rider sent to recall Sir Poules was expected to take at least half a day to reach him. Even if the man decided to rush back, Nic would still have to spend a full day in Oakenhallow, so he decided to explore the town in the meantime.

He was still eager to learn more about Chandra, but after seeing how effortlessly she commanded the household, he suspected that even with his skills, he wouldn’t uncover anything.

The rest of the town, on the other hand, was open game, and so after he took a quick nap to recover from the hard ride, he slipped out the window, dodging the eyes of the few guards who patrolled the manor with ease.

Only two people seemed capable of offering some resistance, based on what he was feeling, and it wasn’t the heir or the old mage he was learning from.

The other person was who Nick was on the hunt for.

He’d noticed him right after entering the town, but there hadn't been enough time to check it out. Now, however, he had several hours free, so he went to satisfy his curiosity.

The bakery his target was inside of didn’t look like much from the outside. It was built in the same style as almost every other house in Oakenhallow, with a massive tree serving as a load-bearing wall, and had a wooden insignia outside that proudly proclaimed it to belong to a “Zoran, baker of the finest goods.”

Walking in didn’t reveal anything he’d missed with his senses. There was a middle-aged man napping behind a counter, surrounded by rows of baked goods.

Most of the good stuff had already been bought, since it was early afternoon, but a few tempting cheese loaves still remained.

Nick had already eaten, but he’d been tense enough during the meal that he hadn’t really enjoyed it, so he rapped his knuckles on the counter, intending to buy some before striking up a conversation.

The man jumped in fright, looking around wildly before his eyes settled on him. He noticed the fine clothes and immediately bowed. “Milord, you honor me.”

“Ah, no need for that. I just wanted one of your cheese rolls," Nick said, eyeing the man. There was no hesitation there. For a place with so few nobles, he supposed it shouldn’t be too strange for his clothes to reveal who he was.

But the level of anxiety radiating from the man couldn’t be explained by that alone. No, something was going on in this town, and he was about to find out what.