In the carriage, Sol, Setsuna, and another maid were sitting in silence.

Looking curiously at the brown-haired maid wearing a rather short white and black skirt that showed a glimpse of her white panties, Sol asked to break the silence,

"Your name was, Ketia, was it?"

Hearing her name, Ketia gave a polite bow while giving a perfect smile,

"Indeed your highness. You, remembering my name, brings me great joy."

Ketia was a human serving as Lilin's personal maid.At least, on the surface, she looked like she was human.

'She smells weird.'

No matter how he tried to ignore it, her scent was something that always made him curious. It was as if her scent had been mixed with that of a cat.

'Truly intruiging.'

Of course, the very moment he found something weird about her when he met her, he talked about that with Milia, who promised that she would explain everything to him tomorrow.

But more than her scent, what really brought his attention was another identity of her,

"So, how is it going? Will everything be ready?"

"That I do not know. We are currently understaffed you see. Well, Milia should be the one explaining everything to you since she is supposed to be your handler."

The way she phrased it ticked him, "My handler?"

"Indeed. Our name says it all. Crown's Shadow. Our job isn't to protect an individual in particular. But only the one who holds the crown. I was assigned to Lilin and after you were discovered, Milia was assigned to you."

Sol had many questions about the situation. Firstly she used the words 'assigned' meaning someone was above her at that time. Secondly,

"I thought it was my father who created the crown's shadow?"

Ketia nodded, "In a way, you aren't wrong. In the past, we weren't called the crown's shadow but the crown's hound. Some people called us the hunting dogs or the pet of the crowns."

She spoke in a rather derisive way as if she wasn't concerned by such opinions.

Then, with a serious expression, she continued, "Your highness, to be honest, I do not mind explaining everything to you if you order me to, but doing so would mean sharing Milia's past. Perhaps it would be better to wait for her to do so on her own."

Sol could only sigh, "Indeed. I wish for her to be the one to explain everything."

Thankfully, she had already promised to explain everything tomorrow morning. So he wasn't in a hurry.

In reality, he was even a little relieved to have more time to gather his thoughts. Without a doubt, the past of Milia wouldn't be rosy, and sharing it with him would re-open old wounds. He didn't want to show her a pitiful expression.

Ketia, inwardly smiled, as a friend, she was always worried about Milia because she was infatuated with Sol. After she came back and learned that she gave her body to the prince, she became even more worried.

After all, because of her past and her current profession as an assassin and a spy, she knew about the darkness residing in the heart of most people. She feared that the prince was only using Milia for his personal pleasure and would discard her. But now, it seemed that she worried for nothing.

'Good for you, Milia.'

Cheering for her friend, she began to wonder if she should also be more forward and seduce the dunce who always acted dense toward her signals.

[[Milaris Mansion]]

'What a sinister atmosphere.'

The moment Sol stepped out of the carriage in front of the mansion, he immediately felt as if he was being stared by at.

Following his feelings, he looked at the different gargoyle that decorated the front and the sculpture on the sides.

'I heard that the duchess fused her talent as an artist with her martial art.'

Ketia, who stood behind Sol, murmured with a serious tone.

"Those gargoyles are basically watchdogs. They were personally created by the duchess. She can see everything in a certain zone surrounding what she created."

"Truly impressive."

He could only compliment in awe. Her power was simply too versatile and without a doubt, it was just one facet of it.

“Welcome your highness.”

Compared to the row of warriors with the highland or the row of maids with the Traver, the only one welcoming Sol in front of the Milaris mansion was the partner and butler of Arachne.

“I apologize for the unbecoming welcome, all the servants of the house are still in the duchy. With the war coming and our duchy being the frontline, we are rather busy.”

Sol’s frown eased at this and nodded, “I see.”

“Please follow me, would you rather rest a little, or do you wish to meet my lady?”

“Well, send my maid to the quarter I will occupy. I will meet the Duchess now. After all, I should at least salute the host.”

“As you wish.”

Giving a bow full of grace, he turned on his heel and entered the house, Sol and his retinue in tow.

Watching his back, Sol began to remember what kind of being this man was. A rare type of demon called Dark Phantom. Their specialties resided in shadow manipulation and teleportation. They were a dangerous race that was known mainly for their assassination technique.

‘Now that I think about it, Milia shadow power does indeed have similarities with the power of a dark phantom.’

This situation was becoming weirder the more elements he pieced together.

‘Still, I really wonder what kind of contract the duchess formed.’

Not all contracts needed virginity. The type of contract, the requirements, and the results were multiple.

More precisely, there were seven of them. Obviously related to the seven sins. The contract he wished to form with Setsuna for example was a lust-type contract. The most optimal for him since he was blessed by luxuria. The main condition for this contract being the virginity of one of the partners.

From what he remembered, the contract between his parents had been a pride-type.

‘I can’t wait.’

“We arrived.”

Bowing, the phantom indicated a closed door with his hand.

Sol, surveying his surrounding was once again creeped out. He had tried to tune it out, but the whole hall was filled with sculpted black knights. Even though they should have been inanimate, Sol had the distinct impression that all of them were staring at him.

‘Knowing the duchess power, I can already confirm that they are indeed staring at me.’

“Very well, Ketia, follow him and arrange our quarter. Setsuna, stay here. At the slightest alert act at your discretion. I believe in your judgment. If necessary, simply blow up everything.”

Openly talking about the chance of being attacked was a little rude, but Sol didn’t really care. He absolutely didn’t trust the duchess. He was already gently circulating his mana in his body. At the slightest problem, he would simply go all out and destroy this mansion.

The butler's lips twitched at how brave Sol was acting. The worst was that there was nothing he could do about it. It took a great deal out of him to not give a retort at how Sol was basically threatening to destroy everything if something went wrong.

“Your highness is indeed very prudent.”

“It’s better to be prudent and alive than reckless and dead.”

Sol didn’t know how he managed to get a second chance at life, but there is no way he would waste it in false bravado.

“Then, let’s go I guess.”