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— Who says she\'s «promised» to anyone? My Maxie has never yet yielded to anyone!

— Rachel was the first, so you have no right…

— Yes, I do!

The two stood opposite each other in the office of the Duke of Cassius, and argued as if the future of their families depended on who Lady Ashford stayed with. It had been going on for more than an hour.

The Marquis of Windsor was shocked to be the last person to know about his daughter\'s personal preferences. To him, a seasoned warrior, the «new trends» among the young seemed a complete surprise. After all, until then, the man had rightly believed that Maxie was in principle interested only in battles and nothing else…

And so, the news of his only daughter\'s relationship with some girl obviously stunned him. The Marquis could never have imagined that such a thing was even possible…

And, even more outrageously, almost everyone knew about it except him! It was as if the Marquis of Windsor had an empty seat in his own family.

Suddenly, it also dawned on him why Maxie had been so insistent on saving the Archduke\'s daughter. It turned out that it was far from an accidental awakening of mercy, or of the interests of their kind… The true reality was unfolding in an entirely unexpected way.

But it\'s worth saying, even from that the knight recovered soon enough. Razor didn\'t even have to run for valerian for him. And all because the Duke Cassius began to pile accusations on Maxi about it.

That was something the knight couldn\'t stand, no matter what the reason.

Even if it was the suddenly discovered relationship with Leriane Ashford, whom all along the Marquis had considered only their backup trump card… His daughter was bound to prevail in everything!

In the end, before he knew it, the man himself began to argue heatedly about what Maxie was best suited for Leriane.

Anything to smear that red-eyed devil!

— Maxie graduated with honors from the Imperial Knights Academy! — He declared, — Beautiful as her mother, educated and intelligent. Also won first place in last year\'s junior knight tournament. Your daughter is no match for her!

— Indeed! — Snorted the Duke of Cassius. «Rachel can outrun anyone without all that tinsel. Besides, she\'s the future Duchess of Cassius. No one in yours or the Empire of Azeroth can match her power.

— Ha…! You think money and status is all that matters?!

— All your knights put together can do nothing if one day, the Cassius clan decides to destroy your family.

— We\'ll see about that…! Don\'t you dare underestimate the fighting spirit of our warriors.

At this rate, the two of them could have stayed in their offices 24 hours a day, trying to prove whose clan was better. But in the end, it all came down to Lady Ashford having the last word. And there was nothing they could do.

The Marquis of Windsor suppressed the urge to say a lot more things to the creep until he remembered why they had come here in the first place. And he\'d almost forgotten it already…

Considering the discussion that had just erupted between them, he doubted Cassius would listen to him now. And anyway, asking a bastard like him for help was too humiliating…

The Marquis was silent for a while, thinking about it. Duke Cassius watched bewildered as his face, flushed with anger, quickly returned to its normal color.

Was he at last going to confess his wrongdoing?

But the next words of the Marquis were quite different.

— Y-You… Well that…» he mumbled reluctantly, «You could have… Well… That\'s…»

— What?

— It\'s… Well… I… Uh…

The duke stared at him dumbfounded. Has he lost the last of his wits during the journey if he can\'t speak a word?

— In short! — The knight braced himself, «You\'ve got to help me!»

Raymond Cassius frowned, having no idea what the man was talking about. But before his initial emotion was followed by a sharp refusal, the Marquis hastened to clarify the situation.

The man\'s pupils grew wider with each word.

— So you\'re saying someone is threatening your family? — Summed up.

— Y-yes…

— And who might that be?

Marquis Windsor was silent. In the blink of an eye the knight was as dumb as a fish.

Duke Cassius sighed wearily as he poured himself a glass of red wine and drained it at once.

In fact, he had no reason to help this worm. Moreover, the Duke wouldn\'t even be the last person to lend a helping hand to anyone at all. In this world, he only cared about his own family\'s interests.

And so the news that some nobleman from Oberon was being threatened didn\'t move him one bit.

— If that\'s all, you can leave,» Duke Cassius said coldly, «I\'m not going to waste time on such nonsense.»

— Nonsense…?! — the knight asked angrily, «Do you think my family\'s lives aren\'t worth anything?»

— I have no interest in that.

If he would not leave willingly, Raymond was prepared to summon the guards. They\'d throw him by the scruff of the neck and leave him in the woods somewhere. Unless the second prince could be treated a little more gently…

But the Marquis of Windsor did not want to give up so easily.

— You may not care about the Windsor clan, but what about Lady Ashford?

The man in the chair looked at him with surprise.

— What do you mean?

— The bastard is more ruthless than any devil. And… If he has to, he will not hesitate to get his hands dirty with this girl.

Duke Cassius was silent. Could it really be true?

Now it was too long to sort out how the empire\'s first knight, Oberon, had come to be associated with Leriana. Obviously, a great deal had happened since her escape from Azeroth. But the fact remained. Rachel would never forgive him if anything happened to that girl.

Marquis Windsor, meanwhile, quickly came up with a backup plan. Convinced that Raymond Cassius did not wish their erstwhile hostage to die, he decided to use this as the only possible chance to arouse the Duke\'s pity.

For the sake of his family\'s safety later on, the knight was willing to step on his own pride right now.

After all, all the man had been doing these past few days was weighing who was more dangerous to him. And surprisingly, it wasn\'t Duke Cassius who topped that list.

Sure, he was cruel and indifferent, and even more so-no other warrior or mercenary had had as much blood on his hands in his lifetime. But at the same time… he had one very unexpected quality. Integrity.

When attacking someone, Raymond Cassius never did it from behind, and came out in a fair fight with any opponent. Such a man, if he agreed to an alliance, was incapable of betrayal. And still less capable of plotting any secret intrigues.

Thus Rodrigue was certain that Cassius would never slip poison into his food, but would prefer it to a fair fight. This could not help but be bribed.

Compared to that, the man who had held the Marquis under his rule for years seemed far more unprincipled. And therefore more dangerous. The man could not expect to be stabbed in the back at any moment. To betray such a man was as dangerous as to remain in league with him.

And if one had to choose… The knight decided to make the first attempt in his life to get out of this vicious circle.

While the two were silent, each pondering his own thoughts, the duke finally asked the question:

— Who is this? I want to know this man\'s name.

— I-I… I cannot…

Raymond Cassius raised an eyebrow.

— Are you making fun of me? You are going to drag me into this, but you cannot even tell me who I am to fight against?

The Marquis was silent again.

The Duke absolutely did not understand the reason for this strange behavior. The knight had decided to betray his long-time ally, but he still could not confess his identity to anyone. It seemed that at this moment, his tongue was simply being taken away.

How badly had the man managed to intimidate him…?

When he realized that, at least now, it was useless to force a confession, the duke rubbed his temples tiredly.

— Well…» he said slowly, «I\'ll think about what you said.»

The Marquis looked up sharply.

— Really?!

— I can\'t promise anything,» he warned beforehand, «and certainly not to risk the safety of the Cassius clan for this event.»

Well, thank you for deciding on that as well. Marquis Windsor felt a rush of relief that the duke had not driven him away at once. Now, at least they had a chance.

— Well… Is there…

— Anything else? — Raymond frowned.

— Anyway, we\'ve only got one day left. And we\'ve taken that time to get here. Tomorrow… I don\'t know what might happen.

Duke Cassius sighed.

— I understand. I will send men to guard your manor.

The knight rejoiced.

— Cassius, you\'re not the piece of shit I thought you were!

— What?!

— Ah… Oh… I mean, you\'re not a bad man.

Marquis quickly corrected himself so as not to ruin their already fragile agreement. He slapped his forehead irritably.

It was nearing evening when they found that they had already spent hours on this discussion. Duke Cassius finally swung open the door of his office when Razor came flying out to meet him almost immediately.

— Y-Your Grace! — He said in a hurry. «May I ask you something?»

— What?» the Duke stared at him in surprise.

— What… What was your wife\'s name?

— What? Why would you want to know that?

— It\'s just…» the prince hesitated. «It\'s no secret. You can tell me.»

The man frowned, not quite sure what was going on.

— Adelina,» he said slowly, «Adelina Cassius.»

— And what was her surname before her marriage?!

The Duke hesitated.

— \'I don\'t remember it…\' he shrugged, \'She simply said that her parents had disowned her when she announced our relationship. Then we got married, and I never asked about it.

Razor exhaled as his head swirled with all sorts of speculation. And it seemed that the Duke of Cassius was not going to give him the answer he needed.

— Your Grace, in that case, would you allow me to use your library?

The man was at first taken aback by this unexpected request, but then he agreed. After all, there was nothing special about his library anyway.

— Thank you, Your Grace!

The second prince immediately rushed away, and the duke stared after him in surprise. The king\'s youngest son is a strange one…

Upon reaching the luxurious library, which was in a separate wing of the manor, the boy immediately rushed to study the archive. He was looking for a book that was found in almost every aristocratic dwelling.

The so-called «Genealogy of the Kingdom of Azeroth,» which listed all the noble families of the state, with detailed descriptions of their membership. For the most part, such books were always gathering dust on shelves, and no one was interested in studying them.

But it was this book that Razor needed right now in the first place.

Finding the necessary thick-bound reference book on the topmost shelf, the prince opened it and began leafing through it. Until he reached the aristocratic families with surnames with the letter «E».

The very first name in the list was Ashford.

On the first page went the names of ancestors, and the closer to the end, the more contemporaries. On the last page of the Ashford family tree was the current generation.

At the very end was Leriana, the youngest heiress of the Ashford family. Just above was her father Henry, her mother Emily, and her late grandparents.

But… What is this?

Just when Razor was relieved to think he was mistaken, he suddenly stumbled upon another name next to the current Archduke.

«Adelina Ashford is the second daughter of the Ashford family.»

The second prince felt as if the ground literally collapsed from under his feet. Especially when there was a brief description of her appearance at the bottom, which completely matched the woman in the portrait.

It couldn\'t be…!

The now deceased Adelina Cassius is the Archduke\'s younger sister?!