The Deceitful One

Sunday, 17th November 1582.

It had been ten days since the princess of the Dicentra Empire had come to Nadir, and as expected, word of this quickly traveled to every noble household and even the common folks of the city.

Everyone was in a jovial mood, to say the least. Although very few people in the empire knew of this Dicentra Princess, it didn't stop them from drowning the city in a festive atmosphere. After all, no matter who it was, as long as they belonged to the Dicentra Family, they'd be welcomed and loved everywhere in the Western Continent.

The reason for this was naturally because of how much they revered the founding emperor, Solomon Dicentra, as well as the successive emperors because of whom this continent stands so tall in this world.

Solomon Dicentra, the founding emperor, was worshipped as if he were a deity. Even if everyone thought that he'd perished, their veneration for him never stopped to this day. Every generation of people on the continent is told about the heroic deeds of the founding emperor.

Although the founding emperor's successors to the throne were drowned by his glorious halo, they were also given great respect and admiration from the masses. And this extended down to any member of the family that had the blood of the founding emperor.

Charlotte Dicentra was also the same. Even though she was relatively unheard of in the aristocratic as well as political circles, people still paid their due respects.

After visiting Bryan that day, she naturally went to the palace owned by the Dicentra royal family in Nadir—they had palaces throughout the continent. When word got out, heads of many top noble houses came to pay their respects.

Even the king had personally come to meet her. Even though King Philip III was the sovereign of this kingdom, in terms of status he was still beneath the Dicentra princess.

And thus, for the last few days, Charlotte had been busy engaging in formal meetings. She had no choice, of course. After all, being a Dicentra, there were certain things that she needed to be held accountable for. One of them was cultivating healthy relationships with the nobles.

Amidst the joyous occasion of the princess's arrival in the City of Dreams, there was a rumor that was floating in the aristocratic circles and also amongst the people who held high positions in the government. And at the center of this rumor was none other than Bryan. To be more precise, it was Anthony.

Somehow word got out that before even arriving at her own palace in the city, the princess had actually gone to Anthony Wayne's house, and she even seemed to stay there until past dinner.

Naturally, there was much gossip regarding this. The main one being the possible love affair between the princess and Anthony. Everyone loved gossip, especially when the subjects of the gossip were a princess and a mere commoner.

After people found out that the princess had visited Anthony. Naturally, they began to do their due diligence and find every possible information about this man who, according to them, had won the princess's heart.

They found out that Anthony was actually a very influential businessman who hailed from the Demeter Kingdom and had now permanently moved to Nadir. They found every small detail about him from his birth to the point where he bought the mansion from Connor Winchester.

The reason why they were able to find such intricate details, to begin with, was naturally because of the founding emperor's doing. Solomon knew that Bryan was currently living under disguise and also knew that once Charlotte went to meet him, people would start investigating him.

Thus, Solomon had already informed his spymaster to take care of Bryan's identity as Anthony Wayne. This came as a surprise to Bryan, and he was naturally very grateful for it.

Ever since people found out about the possible connection between the princess and him, many noble households had sent their emissaries to his mansion in Calm Springs in order to develop a relationship with him.

Bryan, however, had ruthlessly declined the invitation of everyone. Only the heads of noble households that came to him personally were welcomed by Bryan. He had done this to send a strong message. And this message of his was clearly heard across the aristocratic circles.

Some were impressed by him and approved of his action. While others were furious and thought that he was acting high and mighty just because he knew the princess of the Dicentra Empire. Bryan, however, simply did not give a fuck. He had other important things to do than care about these people's opinions.

There was one noble household, though, that was the most shocked out of everyone. And that was Count Wilson's household. Everyone there more or less knew about Grace's friendly relationship with the owner of the mansion at 16 Calm Springs.

So when they learned of Bryan's connection with the princess, the atmosphere in the house became turbulent. After all, the 'war' for succession was going on currently between the younger generation of the Wilson household. And now, out of nowhere, Grace's chances had significantly gone up.

On this day, Grace was on her way to Bryan's house. She was constantly fidgeting with her fingers and her eyes couldn't hide the shock and excitement in them. Last month, when Bryan had told her about his grand plan, she was actually quite skeptical about it.

However, in the end, she decided to trust him because he was her friend. But never in her wildest imagination would she have guessed that his contact in the Dicentra royal family was actually the princess!

Actually, Bryan had only told her bits and pieces of his grand plan. Had he told her the full thing and revealed that his contact in the Dicentra royal family was actually the founding emperor, it would have been hard to say if Grace would have died of shock or not.

Regardless, the current news was greatly beneficial for Grace. Therefore, the moment she heard of this rumor, she quickly left for Bryan's house. It took her about thirty minutes in Nadir's evening traffic until she finally reached her destination.

The moment the steam car stopped in front of the mansion gates, Grace immediately alighted from the car. Without even pressing the doorbell, she opened the gates by herself—which according to noble etiquette was very unladylike—and rushed toward his mansion.

The maids and servants in the house were shocked to see Grace in such a state. Everyone knew her as their master's friend because she had come to the mansion on many occasions but never had they seen her in such a state.

Inside the mansion, Grace asked the servants about Bryan's whereabouts and then finally ran up the stairs and toward the study. She opened the door without knocking and saw that Bryan was reading a book at the study table.

Panting, she walked up to him and slammed her hands on the table. She looked at him and asked with sheer excitement, "Is it true?"

Bryan closed the book he was reading, looked up at Grace, and smiled. He then poured her a glass of water from the jug that was kept on the table and said, "Drink first."

Grace drank the entire glass in one go and then looked at Bryan with bright eyes, waiting for his answer. Seeing her behave so childishly, Bryan couldn't help but chuckle. "It's true. The princess and I are indeed acquainted."

"How did this even happen? Is she good-looking? What color are her eyes? What about our plan? And what of Nicholas Tenant?" At once, Grace fired a series of questions at Bryan.

Bryan raised his hands and burst into laughter. "Hold your horses, Grace. Sit down, I'll explain everything one at a time."

He couldn't help but find it amusing that his friend even asked him about the princess's looks. He then began to explain to her how they met. Of course, this was a lie cooked up by him. There was no way he could tell her that it was because of Emperor Solomon that they met.

So he told her that he'd met her during the time when that high-string Transcendent was training him after his teacher's death.

"And as for how she looks and what color are her eyes, you can find that out yourself next weekend," Bryan added.

"Next weekend?" Grace was puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"The princess is holding a ball next weekend at her palace. Every noble household and other influential people of the city, perhaps the whole of the kingdom, would be there. I'll introduce you to her then," Bryan smiled.

"Really?" Grace was excited. Not only because she'd be able to meet a beautiful lady but also because meeting her in front of so many people would further cement her position in her family and increase her chances for succession.

"Of course," Bryan nodded with a smile.

Grace took a while to calm down her excitement. A few moments later, she finally asked, "Now, we can proceed with the next stage of your plan, yes?"

Bryan's lips curled up into a mischievous smirk. "Yes, most of the groundwork has already been laid. Now, all I need to do is slowly but surely take the telephone company away from Nicholas's grasp."

The next part of Bryan's plan included Grace. After he robbed Nicholas dry, he'd then officially buy the telephone company with Grace's help of course.

This way, he'd have a constant supply of income from the most lucrative company of the century, and Grace would further solidify her position as the next head of the Wilson Family.

Killing two birds with one stone!