色戒无删除版

After a day of rest at the palace, Cygnus left together with his family after the doctor checked his condition and changed his bandage. He was then ordered to stay at home and rest for the time being to let his wound close.

Inside the carriage, Cygnus had a talk with the duke and duchess together with the major. He told them of his plan and how they should proceed. They all remained silent while he was explaining and even after he was done.

"Is there a problem?" He asked with raised brows. The people in the carriage were looking at him with a frown.

So he did what he was best at and read their minds. He couldn\'t help but laugh at their ridiculous thoughts. He considered it ridiculous because they were thinking of unnecessary things. Cygnus shook his head in disbelief.

"What\'s funny?" Linius asked when he saw the master suddenly laughing. There was nothing funny with what he said but he was acting very relaxed about it.

"Why do you even worry about me when I\'m not even part of your family? You don\'t even know who I am, what I am and where I came from and yet you dare worry? Isn\'t that a little bit presumptuous?" Cygnus leaned back and rested his back on the carriage room\'s wall.

"Whether it is presumptuous or not, it is right to think whatever we want and you don\'t have any say about it." Ulysses maintained a straight face.

He already knew that the man could read minds, so even though it came as a little bit of surprise he still managed to remain calm. He looked at the young man and observed him in silence. His expression was light hearted and he appeared to be too relaxed like he didn\'t care about anything in the world. He exuded the feeling of a man who can\'t be moved by anything.

"Well if you say so but I suggest that you stop thinking like that because at the end of this cooperation some twists might happen and that care will surely turn into hate. It would also do you good if you treat this like an official business." He waved his hand to let them be.

They were right, he can\'t control what they think but it was better to remind them that the relationship they had right now was purely business. And, in a business deal unnecessary emotion and opinion weren\'t welcome.

Linette, who remained silent throughout the exchange, looked at Cygnus with concern written all over her face. He said all those but she couldn\'t stop herself from showing care towards the man. Her intuition was telling her that this person has a past that the was unwilling to reveal.

Cygnus shifted his gaze towards her when he noticed that she was staring at him. The waves of emotion coming from her was so heavy that he can\'t just ignore it like that. She was someone who was sensitive to what the others think or feel but it has no effect on him.

"Let\'s forget about this and just proceed with the plan. We can\'t afford to mess this up." Cygnus sighed, he already lost interest in whatever they were talking about.

After that, the carriage was once again shrouded in silence. Nobody talked until they reached the manor where their private physician was waiting for them inside the master\'s room. The doctor immediately checked his condition and his diagnosis was the same as the royal doctor.

A few days after Cygnus returned to the Ginehart manor, in the tower, Grand Archmage Celes was preparing for his departure. He was about to visit the duke\'s son in hopes of convincing him to join the tower. He would also need to face the duke at the same time.

"Master, are we really visiting that manor?" a woman\'s voice asked Celes who was currently reading the documents about the youngest Ginehart. They were currently inside the mage\'s study.

He did not look up from what he was reading and answered, "Yes, we need to. If I don\'t do this the other elders will surely complain about it. Besides, this child has a very interesting background." He pushed the documents towards his apprentice.

The woman took it and read through it but all that was written on it was just plain rubbish and information that they already knew. "That\'s odd, how can someone have this kind of blank past. No matter how the duke hid this son of his, our spies will still be able to dig some information about him."

Celes chuckled, "You are right. Even if the duke has this kind of power, he can\'t completely hide everything from our eyes and yet here it was, no relevant information that we can use to bargain with him."

"What are you going to do now, master?" She returned the documents to her master while she stared at it with a frown on her face.

"My dear Celestine, that\'s why we are going to visit him to see what kind of person he was." Celes stood up and took his coat before he walked towards the door.

Celestine, his apprentice, followed closely behind. She was also curious to see this man who caught the attention of the elders. This was the second time already. She narrowed her eyes at the thought of Ezio whom she met after the incident at the palace.

The man was exuding an aura that tends to keep people away. He also doesn\'t know how to smile no matter who came to get acquainted with him. If the second son of the Ginehart family was like that, she would rather convince her master to not take him in under his wings if he ever enters the tower.

They left the tower and used a carriage to reach the duke\'s manor. The gates to the manor were closed and they needed to wait outside for a while before a man came from behind the gate. With one look at the carriage, he already knew that they were from the tower.

"May I know your identity sir mage?" The guard asked after he got out using the door on the gate. He knocked on the carriage\'s door to ask those questions which Celes didn\'t mind.

Celes also brought out his token of identity and presented it to the man. The guard nodded before he signaled for his companion inside to open the gate so that the carriage could enter. The nearer they got to the manor the tenser Celestine became.

The carriage finally stopped and Celes pushed open the door as he alighted first then he escorted his apprentice. A servant was already waiting for them and he led them to the manor\'s main waiting hall. Refreshments were then served as they waited for the manor\'s butler to come.

"Grand Archmage Celes, I did not expect to see you here. What can we do for you?" The butler politely asked.

"Sorry if we came without notice, is Duke Ginehart in?" Celes asked. First, he needed to know if the duke was there so that he\'ll know what would be his next move.

"I\'m afraid that the master is out now. He had gone shopping with the duchess since they\'ll be leaving the capital in a few days," the butler respectfully answered.

\'Good,\' Celes thought to himself. If the duke was not there, and the major was busy with his military duties, it was the right time to speak with Rigel. "That\'s unfortunate then, how about Sir Rigel, is he here right now? We needed to give the owner of the house a greeting since we came here without any notice."

The butler did not think about it that much and led them to where Cygnus was resting. They went to the back of the manor and into a small greenhouse where different kinds of plants were planted. In the middle of the greenery and colorful scenery, a couch was placed and atop it was Cygnus who was busy reading a book.