Bam!
Someone has barged into Grizel's chamber abruptly when she was enjoying her tea on the veranda with Lucy and Levi serving her.
Levi frowned in annoyance while Lucy almost shouts in anger but choose to quell it when she looks at the culprit, it was her Lord's precious personal maid, Emma.
"M-miss, the Archduke is calling you"
Emma said without any permission from Grizel to speak nor enter the room.
'How insolent! It's good that your role is reaching the end, when the time comes I'll take turns with Levi to tortu-, no, I mean to interrogate you'
Lucy and Levi glance at each other, and as if could see Lucy's plan clearly, Levi nods with a small smirk.
"Thank you, Emma. Please let them know I will be there in a moment"
Because this is Grizel's first actual meeting with the Archduke after 10 years, she needs to be presentable enough.
-â¢-
Grizel walks on the corridor wearing a beautiful yet modest black and white dress, the side-braided silver hair makes her look like a graceful doll even without any touch of makeup.
She could hear the commotion in every corner of the mansion, the gossiping maids along with the worried eyes of the workers.
Grizel peeks at the huge glass window, she could hear the horses' shrieks leaving the mansion with 5 men wearing Azure Empire formal uniform.
'The convoy of the Imperial messenger arrived earlier than expected'
Grizel thought they would be arriving at noon today, but the sun didn't reach its peak yet.
Knock! Knock!
"Come in"
A cold voice could be heard from the inside of the room, the head Butler opened the door for Grizel and welcome her with a slight bow.
"Thank you, Sir Roze"
Grizel thanked the old man while smiling warmly. The Archduke is sitting behind his fancy wooden work desk didn't bother about her arrival still reading the letter in his hand with a serious face.
"Greetings, Your Grace"
Grizel bows and greets the Archduke in courtesy, doing her maiden etiquette gracefully, she did it far better than the other noble daughters taught by the elite instructors.
The Archduke, Diablo Brent Von Belial, the man who obsessed with Belial bloodline more than anything.
After finished reading the letter from the Imperial family, Diablo lifted his head and widen his eyes in shock when his gaze meets with Grizel's, with a shaky voice he started muttering her first name.
"Lager...tha?"
He called awkwardly, ironically, everyone called her Miss Grizel, yet her own Father didn't know her nickname, but Grizel never once called him Father either.
"Yes, Your Grace"
Grizel's voice is still calm, there is no trace of hatred nor fear.
"You... Are a pure-blood? How could I wasn't aware of it...Urgh!"
Diablo groaned in pain holding his head that felt like going to explode, it's always hurt every time he tried to remember his daughter as if something purposely gets in the way of his thoughts with a sudden burst of memories over memories like a broken record flooding into his head.
Neither the high priest nor the physician knows the cause and how to cure it, fortunately, they said it would only affect a little piece of his memories.
"Your Grace, are you alright?"
Grizel pretends to be concerned about his headache while holding her smirk, she needs to play innocent even though she was the culprit behind this all the time.
Instead of being ignored, Grizel was more likely been forgotten by her parents.
In these 10 years, she has been avoiding the Archduke and Archduchess, but as long as they live under the same roof, the accidental meeting couldn't be avoided, in truth, they have met several times, however, anytime they meet Grizel will flawlessly conceal her appearance, erase her presence and stealthily blending in among the workers.
In the end, the Archduke and Archduchess unconsciously passing by Grizel, even though in other people's perspective, it looks like they are ignoring their only daughter.
Moreover, as Grizel controlling the flow of information by manipulating the memory of the spies, the Archduke and Archduchess were not the exceptions to her victim's list.
All they could remember was a vague existence of a worthless daughter and every time they tried to remember or ask about her a sudden headache arises, hence, they would deliberately avoid anything about her to the point of forgetting their only child.
The Archduke and Archduchess are known for their obsession with the Belial's appearance, the combination of the white-silver hair and the blue sapphire eyes could only be found in Belial's bloodline, within the Belial territory, people called those who inherited this combination of colors as the Belial True-blood.
In the novel, the Archduke and Archduchess didn't ignore Grizel whatsoever, instead, they treated her as a valuable tool to prolong their bloodline and tried to engage her with another Belial True-blood many times before formally engaged to Prince Rex.
Fortunately, they always stopped by their trusted man who stayed with them all the time by saying...
"Your Grace, why don't you wait for the best potential spouse to show up among the true-blood before choosing the best candidate?"
This trusted man would always successfully stopped their plans until the day of the Imperial messengers arrived and bring the Imperial decree at Grizel's 10th birthday.
Thanks to their informant, the Imperial family knows that a simple marriage proposal will end up with a refusal because the Archduke intended to marry Grizel with Belial True Blood, that was why they take the extreme measure of issuing an imperial decree which couldn't be refused.
And of course, the naive Grizel in the novel thought the decree was the Prince's way to save her from the arranged marriage.
Angela Samael who possessed Grizel's body didn't want to be treated as a tool then started to manipulate their memories of her being a Belial True-blood, she made them purposely forget about her.
"Your Grace, please drink and calm yourself down"
Grizel glanced at the Head Butler of the Von Belial family who put on a glass of water to calm Diablo, the trusted old man by the Archduke and his wife, the one who always stopped the early arranged marriage of Grizel in the novel.
'Sir Roze, the anagram of Zero, or should I say the ex-Zero who retired and devoted himself as the watchman in the Belial family for the Emperor. How admirable of him'
Grizel respected this expressionless old man, even as a spy he is a very capable Head Butler and a fair neutral old man who trained Levi as a perfect Butler regardless of his origin.
"Roze, is it possible to refuse the Imperial decree?"
The archduke asked the old man who stands next to him.
"I am afraid it's impossible Your Grace, the punishment of disobeying the Imperial decree is the same as committing treason against the Empire"
Even though in this life Roze didn't need to stop the arranged marriage between Grizel and another Belial true-blood simply because the Archduke and Archduchess mostly forget about Grizel, he still has a duty to convince the Archduke to approve the engagement between Prince Rex and Grizel.
"Tch! I couldn't make her my successor, and now she won't be able to give me a True-blood grandson either, what a worthless daughter"
The irritated Diablo glared at Grizel, refused to be blamed he vents all his anger towards his daughter.
"You! Prepare for the Prince arrival in a week, I refuse to be involved in your engagement, suit yourself"
Besides the Imperial decree, the Prince also gives prior notice of his visit to the Belial castle in a week.
"Is that alright, your Grace?"
Roze asked in concern, preparing the visit of a member of the Imperial family is not a simple matter, there are a lot of preparations needed, giving this task to a 10-year-old child is reckless.
"Isn't it great if His Highness get disappointed in her and cancel the engagement in his own volition"
Diablo said scornfully, he almost forgot about his daughter means he never assigned any tutor to teach her yet, unlike the other noble children who have prior education at a young age, Grizel is supposed to be an uneducated one.
'As expected of someone ignorant of political affairs, isn't my failure will tarnish Belial's name in the upper-class society? Well he's not the type to care about the other nobles though'
Grizel sighed inwardly, Belial family is a reliable ruler of the territory and well respected by the people, though excelled in governing the land, their nonchalant attitude towards external affairs will make them be the easiest prey on the upcoming conspiracy by the traitors of the empire.
"Understood, Your Grace"
Grizel bows once again then excuse herself from the room, as Roze with his worried eyes closed the door Grizel walks away while whispering...
"Proceed everything as planned"
Grizel's shadow beneath her feet nodded before dispersed and replaced by her normal shadow under the lights.
To be continued...