"Was it?" he asked with no change in his expression.
Aurora giggled. "Oh yes. The centaur is completely smitten with you. And you..." Her small finger traced a pattern on his chest. "You played her perfectly."
"She's useful," Lucian said simply.
"Is that all?" Aurora's voice held a teasing note. "She seemed to enjoy herself quite thoroughly. And so did you, if I'm not mistaken."
Lucian's expression remained impassive. "Physical responses can be controlled and utilized, just like any other tool."
"Such a pragmatic daddy," Aurora said with another giggle. Then her voice turned serious. "But be careful. Her feelings are real, even if yours aren't. And feelings can make people unpredictable."
Before Lucian could respond, a knock came at the door. "Enter," he called, sitting up and adjusting his blindfold.
The door opened, and he recognized Damian's scent immediately. "Captain," Damian said, his voice tense with excitement or worry—Lucian couldn't tell which. "A carriage bearing the Rufus crest has arrived. My mother is here."
Lucian nodded, absorbing this information. "How many guards accompany her?"
"Four, all wearing the family colors. And..." Damian hesitated, "my grandfather is with her."
This caught Lucian's attention. "Your grandfather? The Ether sage?"
"Yes," Damian replied, his voice dropping lower. "He rarely travels these days, but he insisted on coming personally when he heard I had been found."
Lucian nodded then asked, "Have you met them yet?"
Damian replied, "Not really. I've just been staring toward the window throughout this morning so I could tell when they arrived."
Lucian nodded and didn't say anything else.
Aurora made a small sound of interest, drawing Damian's attention. "Good morning, little one," he said, somewhat awkwardly.
"Good morning, big brother Damian!" Aurora replied with perfect childish enthusiasm. "Is your mommy here to take us home?"
"It seems so," Damian said, then turned back to Lucian. "What should we do, Captain? My mother will most likely want to meet you, to thank you for... well, everything. And my grandfather... he will have questions."
Lucian considered for a moment. "Go to them. You don't need to do anything extra. I will be down shortly. Have Aria prepare the twins for their departure with Sarah. As for your grandfather..." He paused, weighing his options. "I'll speak with him directly. A man of his position deserves proper respect."
Damian nodded and departed to carry out these instructions. Once they were alone again, Aurora looked up at Lucian with a smile that seemed too knowing for her childish face. Feeling her gaze, he turned to her then asked, "What is it?"
She answered, "Well, nothing, just wondering what explanation daddy is gonna give this man, hehehe." Then she asked, "Are you ready? Just so you know, there's a big difference between Arcanist and Ether sage, so I was just making sure you're ready."
Lucian looked at her with no expression on his face before asking, "Are you?"
She probably knew what he was about because if a centaur of an Arcanist stage could call her out to be a demon, what would stop an Ether sage from seeing through her disguise? But she replied with a smile even if he couldn't see it, "Oh, you don't have to worry. That centaur is a special case, hehehe." She giggled and hopped off the bed before saying, "I'll go get dressed properly. A young nobleman deserves a properly attired daughter, doesn't he?" With that, she skipped to the door, pausing only to say, "Don't worry about your blindness around the nobles. It makes them underestimate you." Then she was gone.
Lucian sat alone, considering the day ahead. Lady Rufus would likely be grateful for her son's return but wary of the stranger who accompanied him. The grandfather—an Ether Sage—would be more difficult to deceive. Such powerful awakeners often had heightened perceptive abilities.
And then there was Sarah. Their encounter last night had changed the dynamic between them. She would expect some acknowledgment, some continuation of their intimacy. He would need to manage that carefully.
The door opened, and the sweet scent of jasmine told him it was Julia who entered. "Lucian," she said, her voice soft but urgent. "I need to speak with you. Alone."
"Come in," he replied, curious about her sudden need for privacy.
Julia entered, closing the door behind her. "Damian's grandfather," she said without preamble. "I know of him. Lord Rufus is a powerful figure at court, with connections to nearly every major noble family."
Lucian raised his eyebrow, wondering how she knew of the court while the original owner of this body knew nothing.
"Including yours?" Lucian asked.
"Yes," Julia confirmed. "His influence helped my father secure certain trade monopolies. But more importantly, he's known for his ability to see through deception. They call him 'The Truth-Seer' in court circles."
Lucian nodded slowly, absorbing this information. An Ether Sage with heightened perception would indeed be dangerous, so he asked, "Can he detect lies directly, or does he merely observe physical tells?"
"Both, according to rumor and what my father told me once. He said he can sense the disturbance in one's mana when they speak falsely."
"Interesting," Lucian said. Then he nodded, since she was still in front of him. She probably needed something, so he asked, "Anything else?"
Julia hesitated, then asked, "What will you do?"
He directed his blindfolded gaze at her, simply not expecting her to answer that question, but he still answered. The strategy of careful half-truths and misdirection might not work on someone with such abilities. But he still knew how to play his cards right.
"For now," he said calmly, "we will play the roles expected of us. You, Damian, Jake, and I will head back with the Rufus family. From there, we will part ways. If you had any connections, I would ask you to go with your family directly, but I think it's safer if we go with them, at least I hope."
"And then?" Julia pressed.
He stared at her as if he could see through the blindfold before saying, "And then we find out exactly if Lord Rufus is involved in this whole mess somehow, because I don't believe for a second the nobles aren't involved in this. But for now, I won't say anything. From my conversation with him, I will be able to tell what kind of man he is and know if it's possible to handle the situation my way or let things play out."
After saying that, he was expecting her to leave, but still feeling her hesitation, he asked, "What is it?"
Julia looked tense but still asked, "Are you and Sarah a couple or such?"
He stared at her with no expression before asking, "What makes you say that?"
"I saw her come out of your room with a blushing face, so I figured something might have happened and you two are probably an item or a couple."
He looked at her. After a while, he said, "No, we're not. I only needed to get close to her for the twins' sake, that's all."
He could hear a sigh of relief. Julia, who had just heard this, had a smile on her face before saying, "I'll be going now. I just came to tell you about him."
After Julia left, Lucian prepared himself for the meetings ahead. He dressed carefully in the clothes Damian had provided—a nobleman's attire, suitable for a formal introduction. As he adjusted the blindfold, ensuring it was secure and properly positioned, he left the room.
As he made his way downstairs, guided by Aria who had appeared silently at his side, he could sense the tension in the inn. The common room had fallen mostly silent. They probably had exited everyone from the room because of the noble family. He could feel two powerful gazes locked on him, and besides that, it felt more like they were using mana sense to check him. He followed the direction where the ringing in his head sounded the most, directing his nose that way.
The first scent he noticed was that of a woman. "She smelled of wet earth after rain, like the deep woods had kissed her skin. Beneath the smoke of old campfires and the sharpness of steel, there was a trace of wildflowers—free, fierce, and unashamed." All he could say was that she was probably a woman from the wild.
Then he directed his gaze to another. "He carried the scent of old libraries and spiced oils, like time itself had dressed him in silk and scented smoke. Every breath near him felt like stepping into a world of firelight and forbidden decadence." From this scent and the powerful mana pressure coming from it, far stronger than that snake magical beast they met in the forest, he could tell this was Damian's grandfather, though he didn't know his name.
Then he heard him say, "Hmm, quite sharp for a mortal, but his aura is something else entirely."
Then he heard the woman who was beside him say, "I can't believe it was this pipsqueak my sister chose, and he's even blind at that."