"Where did you co from?"
"Are the Fletchers part of the Drummonds?"
"Why have I never heard of you before?"
Eliza couldn't stop bombarding Arthur with questions, ignoring everyone else at the table. Anyone could see her curiosity about him, her eyes sparkling like two pearls.
Arthur didn't sense any malice in Eliza's questions. On the contrary, she was making her personal interest in him very clear, rather than trying to find a connection between him, and especially Aria, with Emilio's death.
So, he tried to answer her questions with as much honesty as possible without revealing his family's secrets, resulting in rather vague responses. Yet, Eliza received everything he said with an excited smile.
"Enough about ," Now it was his turn to cast a curious glance at her. "What about you? I heard the Whittlee family is quite large, but this house impressed more than I expected…" Arthur looked around, particularly at the windows at the back of the hall. "Does the property reach the lake?"
"Yeah, the lake is right at the back of the house," Eliza nodded quickly, but then an expectant gleam appeared in her eyes. "Do you want to see it? I can show you now-" She paused, realizing she was acting like an excited little girl and tried to comport herself more like a refined lady.
"Ahem-" She stood up calmly and smiled at everyone at the table. "As the hostess, it's part of my duty to show the place to the guests. Everyone is welco to co along."
Despite Eliza's courteous invitation, everyone at the table could see in her eyes a pleading request that no one but Arthur follow her. This generated varied reactions among the guests:
While Aria gave Arthur a slight nod, Josephine had an apprehensive expression on her face. Jovi and the other girls felt jealous and envious of Eliza, while Oliver and the other n smiled proudly at Arthur.
Only little Eve and Margaret started to get up to follow Arthur, but he quickly patted the little girl's head, making her stay seated. "I'll be back soon, little bug; wait here with your big sister."
"Mm," Eve nodded obediently.
But Margaret cast a pleading look at Arthur, and he quickly used ntal communication to speak with her. 'I don't know what will happen next; it could be a trap, or sothing might simply go wrong.'
'That's precisely why I want to be by your side,' Margaret quickly responded with a determined tone. 'I can fight alongside you; Master has prepared well in recent weeks, and thanks to the power you gave , I can cast many novice spells.'
'I know, honey,' Arthur smiled at Margaret and leaned in to kiss her lips. 'But I need you to stay here because of our ntal communication. If sothing happens here or to , being separated is an advantage.'
'I understand,' Margaret nodded to him, then glanced at Eliza with a thoughtful expression. 'Well… I don't know how you're going to handle it, but if you want… you know…'
'I don't plan to make her my wife,' Arthur said quickly.
'But…' Margaret couldn't help but feel jealous, but then she thought about how Arthur makes her so happy with his infinite love. 'If you decide to, I won't cause problems.'
'Neither will I,' Nyx joined the ntal conversation since Arthur and Margaret hadn't made it private. 'I an, this Eliza doesn't seem like a big deal, but if Arthur wants her, I don't mind… as long as we don't get less love, of course, hehehe~'
Arthur was so satisfied with Nyx and Margaret by his side that he didn't think about having other wives, but he couldn't deny that Eliza was beautiful and seed interesting. Yet, he still didn't know what she was really like or if he could be romantically interested in her.
'Let's see what she wants first, okay?' He comnted to his girls while turning his attention back to Eliza.
Eliza's smile grew even brighter, and she quickly took Arthur's hand. He let her pull him away from the table, casting one last glance at Aria.
With just that glance, they seed to understand each other and reach a conclusion: he could handle the situation however he wanted, and she would support him.
"Co, I'll show you all the amazing things this house hides!" Eliza said excitedly, pulling Arthur toward the back of the hall, drawing curious glances all along the way.
While so eyes cast hostile looks at the pair, there was also a pair of frightened eyes following them. That was Tobias, who used long, quick strides to block their path.
"Tobias?" Eliza gave her brother a frustrated and inquisitive look while still trying to maintain a gentle smile.
"Sister…" Tobias seed apprehensive, a radical change from his usual arrogant appearance. He ignored Arthur and approached Eliza to whisper in her ear. "The captain said that person is here."
"She?" A curious gleam appeared in Eliza's eyes as she looked toward the hall's entrance. Although she didn't seem apprehensive like her brother, she appeared at least a little less confident.
Arthur grew curious, as did Nyx inside his mind. 'Who is she?'
'Good question,' he comnted to Nyx while looking at Eliza. "A special guest who needs your attention?"
Eliza's gaze now is a mixture of frustration and sadness; she seems to be cursing in her mind but tries to maintain a gentle smile. "I'm really sorry."
"It's no problem," He smiles back at her. "It's part of being a host at a big party, right?" He comnts as he starts to let go of her hand.
Eliza feels her body reluctant to let go of Arthur's hand, and she looks at them with sad eyes before looking back into his eyes. "It won't take long; I'll be back soon."
"Sure," He nods and makes an expectant expression. "I'll wait for you here."
"Mm," Eliza nods and then begins to walk toward the hall entrance. "Tobias!" She also calls her brother, who glances at Arthur with a curious expression before following his sister.
Arthur watches Eliza quickly leave the house with Tobias and, a few minutes later, return accompanied by a woman.
Eliza's beauty can be described as comparable to Margaret's: above average for most nobles. But the appearance of that mysterious woman surpasses even that, and she can be considered a beauty among beauties.
She is about 1.7 ters tall with a curvy body, big breasts, and a juicy ass; her face, although not comparable to Aria's, has delicate and charming features like large almond-shaped blue eyes, long black lashes, thin arched eyebrows, a small perfect nose, a delicate chin, and rosy lips.
The mysterious woman wears a long black dress with a daring neckline and white wool details. She looks like an elegant noblewoman, but at the sa ti, there's sothing dark in her sharp yet calm eyes.
From that distance, Arthur can only see that the woman appears beautiful and elegant, but Nyx feels sothing more, sothing that makes her speak to him ntally in a surprised and confused tone.
'There's sothing wrong with that woman!'
'What do you an?'
'I'm not sure…' Nyx focuses all her magical energy to analyze the mysterious woman's body. 'She is very powerful, that I'm sure of, but… there's sothing more about her that I don't understand…'
Arthur just observes the woman with a curious expression while Nyx continues analyzing her body from afar. 'She has energy similar to that of an Astral Beast, but I don't sense the presence of one inside her.'
'How is that possible?' Arthur asks, confused.
'I have no idea,' Nyx responds honestly. 'So far, I've been able to sense other Astral Beasts clearly, but she… yet, she has energy similar to that kind, similar to mine…'
'Could she be…' Arthur doesn't know what to think, then he feels sothing touch his hand. He looks down, and it's a small piece of paper that ca flying through the air.
'What?' He opens his hand, and the piece of paper magically unfolds, revealing a small note written on it: 'She's a powerful Mage, a Master of Illusion, and also a Demi-human.'
Arthur recognizes the handwriting and instinctively looks in the direction of the table where his family is. Aria is looking at him; she was the one who sent the magical note.
'So that's it, she's a Master of Illusion,' He comnts ntally to Nyx while turning his gaze back to the mysterious woman.
'And a Demi-human,' Nyx adds. 'Now it makes sense that she has the energy of an Astral Beast but isn't one.'
'And we can't see it because she's hiding her Demi-human characteristics with a spell…'
Arthur rembers what he studied with Aria about Astral Beasts: Demi-humans can possess Nexuses but not Astral Beasts like humans and other races.
Such people already have the mixed blood of magical beasts, but just like other races, only a few among them have Nexuses because they inherit the blood of powerful ancient beasts.
That's why Oliver's cat-maid never caught Nyx's interest; she had nothing special, not like that mysterious woman who has powerful beast energy within her.
'Who are you?' Arthur can't help but wonder, more interested in that woman than anyone else now.
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