"My lady, I'm Alex, butler to the dukedom of Astrid. Our head maid Luna has already met you."

"It's a pleasure to meet you both. We are about to leave. Thank you for your hospitality".

Rachel smiled politely to both.

When Rachel smiles at Alex and Luna, they nearly experience a heart attack. It is such a modest description, but they overheard people calling her the goddess of the north.

The lady in front of Alex has an honorable demeanor, and the aura of nobility permeates her being, so he does not want to judge the well-known scandals she had in the capital.

"The duke commanded that the lady may remain in the castle until he returned. I received a letter from his knights that they will be back in three days".

"Thank you for his majesty's care, Sir Alex but I must leave right away because I have business to attend to. I'm sure his majesty will understand."

When Alex is unable to convince Rachel to stay any longer, he asks their coachman to drive her to her home. Rachel didn't decline the offer because she wanted to leave this place as soon as possible.

"In that case, my lady, I shall see you again soon".

Rachel pondered the possibility that she would never see Alex again as he waved goodbye.

***

After three days, Sebastian returned to the dukedom with his knights and troops. They successfully subjugated the monsters near the temple.

He stopped by the temple and met with the Pope before returning to his dukedom. The pope felt that the dark energy in his blood calmed down.

The Pope is perplexed but before he can ask questions, Sebastian tells him about Rachel which shocked the Pope about this recent development.

"Your Majesty, if the lady reduced the dark energy in your blood, this means she is blessed by the Goddess of Light Dragon, but I wonder what happened because she was tested here in the temple when she was young, and the wisdom stone hasn't lied for a thousand years,"

The Goddess Light Dragon crafted a stone of wisdom to bring prophecies and aid this empire in carrying on Astrid's lineage.

"Hmmm I was baffled too. Could it be there's changes to the oracle?"

"Your Majesty, I'll set up a meeting with the council to look into this odd development. But for the time being, we need to plan her succession as the duchess of Astrid.".

"Don't do anything yet. I will talk to the lady first".

Sebastian is uncomfortable that the news might scare her away.

"I follow his Majesty's command."

Even though it's a strange phenomenon, the Pope felt relieved that they had already located the Goddess of Light Dragon's successor, he is pleased that they found her just right in time.

Following his return, the duke seems to be in a very bad mood. Alex informed him that Rachel left the duchy the moment she awoke the following morning.

'Let's see what game you'll play after you realize it's me you sleep with.'

He is upset that she left so abruptly. He anticipated that she would remain and demand something valuable from him.

'Well, she was a virgin when I took her'.

The memory of how much he lusted after her body caused a flush on his face. In fact, while they were in the forest, he couldn't help but to think back to their sultry nights.

'Hah! Why it's hot in here suddenly in my office?'

Alex and the three nights look at each other and appear to be thinking of the same thing.

"Your Majesty, should I write the lady an invitation letter?".

The knights gave Alex a thumbs up, saying, "This man is braver than we are."

"Hmm". Sebastian hummed and tapped his finger.

'Hah he is sure is confident'. The Duke smirk at Alex boldness.

"Your Majesty, I got word from our spy that Diablo, the Demon King is furious over your recent murders in the Ashkar forest."

Sir Alfred handed over the report to the Duke and Sebastian look at the documents with a furrow look in his face.

"It will only be a matter of time, your Majesty, before he decides to start a war with us."

Sir Ian added and waited for his response.

"He is getting bold. Surely he can't wait to be whip again".

The Duke gave a smirk and cut Ian not to continue his dialogue.

"William, I need you do something for me".

William suddenly jumps on his seat and bend his knee.

"Look into the lady's activities and social circle. Don't leave out any details.".

"I obey your command, Your Majesty."

"Everyone dismissed".

Given that William was assigned to handle it, the two knights are taken aback when the duke dismisses them. William is not interested in this type of work, where he would have to follow someone and listen to all their gossip, so they will fare better in this field.

William has a mocking expression on his face as he looks at the two. He believed that the duke would value this work highly, so he managed to defeat his annoying comrades this time.

"You..you...."

***

Over the past week, Rachel has been anxious. The Duke wrote her a letter asking her to visit his palace for a conversation. She hasn't responded up until this point because she isn't sure if she will accept his invitation.

'This isn't part of the plot, why am I so reckless? The story is changing right now, and then my life will be in danger.'

She grabbed her hair while her face twisted.

"My lady, please leave your hair. Have you thought of responding his Majesty?"

Corine asks hesitantly out of fear that her lady will offend the most powerful man in the empire.

"Corine, let's ignore it for the time being perhaps his Majesty will forget that he wrote this invitation. He won't waste his time on me because I'm just a minor character, ha ha ha."

She convinced herself that this was the situation.

"But your lady, we can't ignore this invitation especially from the Duke of Astrid".

Corine is horrified of her lady's way of thinking.

"Corine, trust your lady. I can handle it well".