Do You Know Me?

18

"What?"

Athanasia looked a little sheepish. She scratched her cheek and said

"Well.... Not exactly the orphanage but rather somewhere nearby. There's a small inn two blocks away from the orphanage i fund. It's called the latia inn. It looks pretty basic but it's actually a meeting place."

They moved inside the orphanage and were seated inside a small waiting room. The Buttler brought in some chamomile tea.

"A meeting place for what?"

"The underworld of obelien empire"

Claude, who was elegantly sipping the tea, almost spat it out. He sucked in a short breath before raising his eyebrow.

He had known that there existed an underworld ,of course. He even has his own connection to it. But he didn't realise that his own daughter was a part of it.

"What relation do you have with the underworld?"

"I use it as my spy network and you know, the normal stuff."

Both of them clearly understood what other stuff was mentioned. All the dirty work. No matter how good of an Empire obelia is, there was still a need for one to get their hands dirty. Even royalty. Besides, the fight for the throne, the war that followed and the massacre at the Ruby palace during the time of Athanasia's birth was just telling the world killing when needed is a very common thing.

"Hm. Are you a member?"

"No. But a member does work for me in the inner circle. Although young, he's quite capable"

Sir Mataies. A 26 year old bachelor. The third son of Baron Soeli. He is a pretty smart man. Brought up as an unfavorable son. With him being the youngest of three had left him with not much to do for the territory he turned to making his own standing and planned to eventually leave the Soeli family. He mostly works as Athanasia's middle man.

Claude's eye twitched at the mention of a male partner. It reminded him of that brat who dared to dance with Athanasia on the day of the debutante.

"I've been meaning to ask.... Who was that boy you danced with on your debutante?"

"Hm? Oh, that was Lucas"

......

No explanation? No background about who this 'Lucas' is?

Claude wanted to ask but he held himself back as he knew his daughter preferred keeping secrets. All he knows about her are what her favourite things to eat are, favourite colour, favourite time of the day. Small stuff like that. This was the first this she had revealed work life and Claude is not going to make her regret involving him by asking questions she would rather not answer.

He tried his best to look calm while asking but the light furrow of his eyebrow gave him away.

"Ppft-. Father, i can just look at your face to tell that you desperately want to ask something. I won't get mad. Go ahead."

"Well.... That boy.... Do you- no. Are you and him, perhaps....."

"You want to know our relationship?"

She took his silence and a yes.

"Hmmm. We're dating"

".......WHAT?!"