Lord Rufus had a strange smile on his face.
Well, Lucian continued, "As for the other favors, I don't need anything in particular now, so I will tell you when I need them. I just want you to give me your word you will fulfill them."
Lord Rufus looked at him then nodded. "Well, I don't know how much my grandson told you about me, but I hold to my word. So when you feel like it, feel free to ask me."
Then he asked, "Are all the remaining captives going to come with us to the kingdom?"
Lucian replied, "Well, only the people I listed. As for the twins, Miss Sarah has agreed to support them back to the elf settlement. She and I believe it's the safest option."
"A sensible precaution," Lord Rufus nodded.
The conversation continued for another hour, touching on logistics of travel, arrangements for Jake and his school accommodation, and various points of recent court gossip that Lady Rufus seemed eager to share. Throughout, Lucian observed Lord Rufus's careful questioning, the way he would circle back to previously discussed topics, approaching them from different angles.
"Testing me," Lucian realized. "Checking for inconsistencies in my story."
But Lucian was no stranger to such techniques. He had played these games before, trying to approach all questions from different angles. And he had the advantage because, from the start, he had played it all in his mind, well before presenting any logical response to any questions.
Finally, as the meeting drew to a close, Lord Rufus addressed Lucian directly once more. "One last question, young Marcellus. Why do you think these experimenters targeted noble children specifically?"
Lucian looked in his direction and kept silent. After a while, he said, "I want to say power, Lord Rufus, due to noble children often having high magical potential and their bloodline, but I dropped that theory. I can't say for sure, so I don't want to make any assumptions till I'm correct."
Lord Rufus nodded slowly. "A reasonable hypothesis. And one that aligns with certain... concerns... I have had for some time." He stood up, signaling the end of their discussion. "We will speak more of this when we reach the capital, young Marcellus. For now, prepare for departure. We leave at noon."
Lucian nodded and stood up to leave. He could feel Sarah's gaze and her sister's; it seemed they wanted to talk to him. So he turned to Sarah and told her, "I will make necessary preparations for my departure. You can come to my room if you want to talk."
Then he turned and left. He didn't want to sound rude, but he wasn't saying anything about them here. He figured her sister probably came to see Lord Rufus and check on him, not that he cared. He made his way to his room, still carrying Aurora in his hands, with Aria guiding the way.
He got to his room and still felt Aria's presence behind him, so he turned to her and asked, "What is it?"
Aria, seeing that he had not shown any emotions ever since he left that lab, and knowing from the twins what happened during the festival outing, bit her lips before saying, "Can't I accompany you to your place? I can be your maid there too and attend to any of your needs."
He looked at her with a frown on his face. He noticed she had been often quiet ever since they left the forest, so he asked, "What's wrong?"
Then she knelt down. "Please, Lucian, let me stay with you, please."
He looked down at her and asked, "And why do you think I will accept that? You think I've forgotten about what you did to me at the lab? Like I said, I will repay that ten times the pain you caused me. You are going with Julia and going to keep her safe. If she dies, then look for a way to get into the academy she talked about. Both you and her are my investments, so I want something different when I come to the academy."
When she heard he was coming to the academy, her face brightened. Then she said, "Yes, I will make sure I get in."
Then she stood up and left the room. He was staring in the direction she left, wondering what all that was about. After that, he turned back and sat on the bed, turning his gaze to Aurora. He said what was on his mind, "You're unusually quiet. Or don't you want to come with me back to the capital?"
She didn't reply. He could feel her gaze on him. He pulled his clothes up, taking off his shirt. He felt uncomfortable in it, so he planned to change it. He heard a gulping sound, so he turned to Aurora. Then, before he knew it, she jumped on him and started pressing her small frame on his body, started kissing him, licking his face.
He just lay there, wondering what was happening to her and why she was acting this way. Then he heard the voice say, "She's losing herself to her instinct, to her nature."
He had a frown on his face. "To her nature?" The voice said Aurora was a succubus, and a strong one at that. It shouldn't be possible unless something was triggering it. Then he asked the voice, "What should I do?"
The voice replied, "Don't do anything, just stay there. She's still conscious; it's something she can fight herself. She just let it control her, probably testing how it's affecting her. Well, let's just see. If you started moving, it might even be more active than it already is."
He just stayed there. After a while, Aurora stopped and was now looking at Lucian with a frown before saying to herself, "He is far more dangerous than I thought. It was even able to affect me. I wanted to see how far my instinct would consume me if I let it, but it seems it won't stop until I forcefully pull myself from it."
Then a cold glint passed in her eyes while thinking, "I will just have to kill him then."
Lucian, who already heard the ringing in his head, knew she was thinking of doing something malicious to him, so he calmly said, "I have no problem with dying. At least from the way I see it, death seems to be a peaceful place. So I won't stop you from killing me, since you are far stronger than me. I could feel you had genuine fun. I don't know why you came to me or what is affecting you, but why don't you use this opportunity to study me more and find out more about me? If I could affect you like this, what if there are others who are stronger than me that could affect you even more? I can't tell my race, but I believe I'm a druid because I can feel it. At the same time, I'm not sure I am one. I can't say what race I belong to. We still have a long journey ahead of us, so I'm pretty sure I will find out what I am. It's all up to you."
Aurora looked at him. Seeing his lack of care about living, like he had already accepted death, she was even more confused. After a while, she said with a giggle, "Hehehe, it seems daddy has seen the other side."
He had no change in his expression; he just moved his gaze in her direction. Then she stood up from him, thinking, "It affected me again when I saw that Aria woman kneeling to him. The look she gave him—I don't like it, and I don't like the way I'm feeling too."
After that, she turned to stare at Lucian, who still didn't have any upper clothes on. His build was unusual, even for a mortal. His muscles were on another scale. Well, his body looked average, but it was well-defined—not too tall, not too short, average. As he was planning on getting new clothes to wear, he heard a knock on the door, so he just said, "Come in, it's open."
Smelling the familiar scent coming in, and smelling another, he frowned. Sarah, who had just entered his room, noticed his frown and clarified things. "Lucian, I'm sorry—she said she wants to tag along. Well, I couldn't stop her, and I told her almost everything that happened to me." Her voice sounded a bit shaky. "And... even the things we did." She had a blush on her face, probably due to embarrassment.
He turned to her before saying, "It's fine."