Although Princess Sophia was quite outgoing, as a well-educated princess, it was very unusual for her to burst out laughing like that. Seeing that Sophia was so amused by the trick, the rest of the n.o.bles were very jealous. They wondered what Beaulac had told the princess and why it made the princess so happy.

It took Sophia a few seconds to calm down, and then her beautiful green eyes blinked. "Beaulac, you"re very interesting. More interesting than I thought."

When the princess first became active in those social events, Beaulac was frustrated with the fact that he was not getting any attention. Facing the elegant and n.o.ble princess, as a hopeless inheritor, Beaulac never dared to take one step forward, although he knew that marrying the princess could for sure consolidate his position.

Therefore, the impression Beaulac left Sophia with was not good at all: gloomy, silent, and there was no hope for him at all to become the next Gorse Duke.

Lucien bowed deep to the princess, "Thank you so much for your sweet comment, Your Highness."

At this time, Lucien sensed that the mouth of the old lady standing behind Sophia slightly opened. And then the princess smiled again. Sophia held the corner of her dress in her hands and leaned forward. She whispered in Lucien"s ear right in front of the public, and Lucien could feel her sweet scent from the breath.

"You"re much better than these n.o.bles who only know how to fight against each other and how to enjoy their extravagant life. They are so boring. I hope you won"t become one of them."

Lucien was very surprised that, all of a sudden, the princess just became so close to him. He tended to be very suspicious by nature, thus Lucien did not believe that the princess was simply in love with him.

There was something unusual behind it, but what was it?

Did the old lady just tell the princess that Beaulac was already a knight? Maybe the princess wanted to get involved in the selection of the Gorse family"s next duke to keep the family in better control of the royal family?

Although Lucien had many thoughts in his mind, he pretended to be shy and also excited. He nodded hard and said in a low voice beside the princess" ear, "I"ll stick to who I am, Your Highness, and I won"t let you down."

Lucien"s response was so reasonable that he would even regard himself as a good actor. When he was talking, he made his breath hot and deep. The breath touched the princess" earlobe, and the princess" ear and neck began to redden.

As a very experienced actor, Lucien was sure that the princess was not in love with Beaulac.

However, what Lucien was thinking did not matter. Many of the n.o.bles were now staring at Lucien very aggressively.

Sophia dropped down the corner of her dress and tried to put on a sincere but casual smile, "I"m glad that now I know you better, Beaulac."

Before Lucien could respond, she looked at Deniz and hurriedly said, "I"ve got something to ask you, Deniz."

"Let"s go to the dressing room, then." Deniz held the princess by her arm and led her out of the hall. He was also curious what Beaulac had told Sophia.

With his eyes slightly squinted, when Lucien was looking at the princess from behind, he sensed a burning feeling on his face. Turning around, he noticed that the old lady wearing a black dress was staring at him coldly.

He nodded to the old lady, but only received an even colder look. The n.o.bles spread out in small groups after the princess left, and Lucien was now all alone by himself.

Some tried to talk to Beaulac, but they were just doing some casual greetings. Lucien was definitely excluded, especially when compared to Arthen who was having a heated conversation in his group.

Picking up a gla.s.s of Gold Rum, which was Beaulac"s favorite, Lucien tried to make himself look more decent.

"Beaulac, you"ve changed a lot."

When Lucien was taking his first sip, a soft female voice came to him.

It was Jocelyn.

Lucien saw that Arthen was surrounded by a bunch of young n.o.bles, laughing and making small talk. He turned around and smiled to Jocelyn. "When one is desperate, one seeks for changes. Only changes can bring new hope. I have nothing to lose, so I"m not afraid of changes."

Lucien was quite satisfied with his ambiguous response.

"If… I mean if you had been like this last year, I wouldn"t have…" Jocelyn sighed, but she did not finish her sentence. Turning around, Jocelyn"s figure looked rather lonely.

Swirling the golden liquid in the gla.s.s, Lucien thought to himself that if the real Beaulac was there, he would probably show mercy on Jocelyn because of what she just said, but Lucien would not. When they were in the underground palace, Lucien would still do what he should do.

Holding the gla.s.s, he casually walked around in the hall. He saw a blond beauty dressing in black walking toward him. The blond beauty had deep blue eyes and looked a bit like Beaulac.

"Dear cousin, I am glad to see you like this." The beautiful lady gently clinked her gla.s.s against Beaulac"s.

"I thought you"d be glad that one of your compet.i.tors was gone, Claire," said Lucien casually.

Claire von Anjou was Beaulac"s cousin, a female knight, and also a compet.i.tive inheritor of the t.i.tle. In most countries, since both men and women could become a knight, women also had the heirs.h.i.+p to the t.i.tle.

"No, without you, Beaulac, I would become Arthen"s target. I know I am not able to handle him." Claire smiled. "He is too flamboyant and aggressive, and if he is the winner, it"s a piece of bad news for all of us. He is for sure going to give us a very hard time. So, comparatively speaking, I would rather have you to be the Gold-eye Count."

"So, what are you trying to say?" Lucien put on a confident smile as if everything was under his control.

Claire grinned, "We cooperate with each other and teach Arthen a good lesson in the underground palace. After we solve the biggest trouble, we can have a fair compet.i.tion. What do you think?"

"My pleasure," Lucien answered simply, without mentioning anything that would take place after beating Arthen.

Seeing that Beaulac did not care about the following compet.i.tion at all, in her mind, Claire was quite concerned. She had no idea why Beaulac seemed so confident. Before turning around and leaving, Claire reached out her left hand and held Lucien"s, and her fingers gently scratched Lucien"s palm. Her voice became deep and arousing, "No matter who wins in the end, we can still enjoy a wonderful night together."

"Claire…" Lucien was quite shocked.

She put on a sophisticated smile, "Don"t pretend, Beaulac. You even sleep with your father"s mistress, and I am just your cousin. If you can awaken the blood power, Sun, we can even get married."

The blood power called Sun required the pure blood, therefore, in many empires, it was very common that close relatives got married, such as the Rafati family from the Duchy of Violet, and the Gorse family was no exception.

Standing with her back to Lucien, the smile on Claire"s face disappeared, and it was replaced with a sarcastic sneer.

Lucien slightly shook his head. Although he had no idea what she wanted from him, he was clearly aware of the fact that what he wanted was different from all of theirs. After a while, when Lucien walked close to the balcony, a blond man suddenly approached him and invited him to the balcony to have a conversation.

"Yes, Relph?" asked Lucien a bit impatiently.

Relph was another possible inheritor from the family. He was quite good-looking, but he had not awakened his blood power yet.

In the cold wind, Relph looked rather serious but also excited, "Beaulac, I wish to work with you to beat Arthen. He is too powerful. If we don"t unite, there would be no chance for us to win."

"That"s good." Lucien"s att.i.tude remained uncertain.

"I know who your father is. He"s the youngest brother of the duke. And I know you must have got a lot of extraordinary magic items or magic potions from him. You can"t see my worth, right?" Seeing Lucien"s att.i.tude, Relph was a bit irritated. "Look, I"ve awakened my blood power, Sun!"

"What? Sun?" Lucien was quite surprised.

Relph first looked back and then he turned around, "This is my biggest weapon, and I"m now telling you this to show my sincerity."

When he was saying it, a ray of sunlight appeared in his hand, which showed that he could use magic.

"I"m glad to have you on my side," said Lucien using Claire"s words. "Our biggest compet.i.tor is Arthen. We first beat him, and then we see who is the winner."

"Good. You"re seeing this very clearly. I gotta go now, or Arthen would see us…" said Relph. "By the way, be careful with Claire. It seems that she has been involved with the royal family."

"Understood." Nodded Beaulac seriously.

As soon as Relph left, the look on Lucien"s face relaxed. As a senior-rank arcanist, sorcerer, and a member of the Review Board, Lucien knew that the power that Relph used to cast the sunlight ray was not his blood power! Obviously, Relph had his own plans as well.

However, Lucien did not care. He knew that none of the n.o.bles could become his concern.

...

In the study of the Gorse family"s manor, the old duke was reading a report carefully. Part of his hair had turned gray.

"Greed… Demon Greed…" There was a sophisticated smile on the old duke"s face. Fredrick, one of the men protecting Beaulac, was right now standing in front of the old duke.

Fredrick nodded seriously, "I"ve read the piece of parchment and I heard it myself, Your Highness."

"Good. This time you will go down into the underground palace as well. As the invisible power for protection, you need to keep things under control," said the duke seriously.

"Yes, my lord," said Fredrick very respectively.

After Fredrick left, a figure covered with a long black robe sneaked out of the shadow in the corner, "Why do you want to send him there? He"s going to help Beaulac. Have you changed your mind and now you want Beaulac to win?"

The only duke only sneered. His eyes focused on the word "Greed" in the report.