Escorted

The night sky was turning brighter with every moment as the sun started to rise from the east for the second time since his stay in here, unlike the first he wasn't asleep awaiting its rays to wake him up, instead he was surveying an extravagant room through the balcony three floors high

'Yet another couple, this one with two maids too...'

Seeing the intertwined figures going at it he sighed and jumped off the rails, sliding down to the ground using the ropes his spider made before pulling it down to remove any evidence of his visit

He walked out the villa as he would in a stroll, not minding the sleeping guards leaning on the wall

Quickly making his way around the mansion he headed toward the next one, but not before sending the slithering infiltrator to put the sleepy guards to slumber

Patting the snake which finished its job pretty quickly he climbed over the wall to avoid having to put everyone to sleep through the main hall before throwing his sticky rope to the balcony and climbing up

As he peeked carefully through the window he saw a woman talking to two maids carrying her dress

'She's about to leave...if I knew they get up so early I would have come when they were sleeping'

He thought he should use the sky's light to look into the rooms when he checked so he wouldn't alert anyone with a light of his own thus he waited till dawn, it was a smart choice since almost every couple was very wide awake, he also wanted a lone target for his plan to move without a hitch, only this woman and another man were alone and he missed his chance to put his plans into action before their maids came

'Hmm?'

He saw the maids put the dress on the table and walk out under the woman's orders before she started to undress herself in order to change

This was the first person he saw among the others to dress themselves, others had the maids dress them, or wore no dress...

Not one to miss his chance he moved along the rails so he wouldn't be seen before letting the snake slither through the ventilation on the wall and into the room

With runes covering its white body the snake was very quickly spotted in the red-carpeted room but the woman could not make a sound before she was tranced with the hypnotizing eyes, she wasn't dazed for long but it was enough for the small slitherer to open the balcony window door for Yu to come in and aim his deadly crossbow at the alarmed woman

There was a moment of silence between them, then the woman spoke

"Who are you and what do you need from me"

Her tone was cold and forceful, void of any fear

"I am the person half the city is looking for and you're my ticket out"

He answered straightforwardly, there was no point in hiding his fugitive identity when it would be easy to guess from the current situation

"Oh, so your the thief who stole the baron's heritage"

"News travels fast"

"All the nobles already know, some commoners already got wind of it too, it won't be long before everyone learns of the matter, the viscount would love nothing more than to slight his rivals dignity"

"You are as fierce to your enemies as you are to your own"

"That is so, I'll have you know that your trader friend isn't faring too well though, they are hunting him down as we speak"

"Trader? Who are you speaking of?"

He was confused as to who got involved in the mess by accident

"The one who sold them the elemental water, they are tracking down his energy"

He looked at her like she was spouting nonsense

"I am the trader"

"?...I see, so who stole the treasures?"

"No one, we traded for them"

"Then who have they been tracking down for an entire day?"

"I have no idea...."

"....."

Silence prevailed once again between the two as they pondered on the joke of a situation the chasers were in now, but it was once again broken by the woman

"Have you enjoyed the view enough now? May I dress myself"

She brought his attention back to her half-naked body, with only underwear to cover her dignity he believed it wasn't the best way to talk her into smuggling him out, so he nodded at the snake which made it slither up her leg and wrap around her waist electing goosebumps from her

"You may"

He turned around so she could take the rest of her clothes off and wear the new dress, unafraid that she would do anything under the snake's supervision

After the short shuffling of clothes she called out telling him she was done, now was the time to discuss-

"Miss, are you okay"

He heard the maids call through the door with a knock, the woman reacted fast in her response

"Yes, leave me be, I need some time alone"

Hearing those words he took his finger of the trigger aiming at her forehead, he was about to shoot a warning shot if she tried anything else but it seems he didn't need to, not like she was going to be hurt anyway with how Dead Silence functioned, unless he had that smoke in him again the bolt would disintegrate as soon as it was shot

The two of them waited for the maid's steps to get further away down the hall before speaking once again

"What can I do for you?"

"Escort me out the city"

"I can't do that, I only have permission to exist myself, I can't let you go out, not even with an inspection"

"Alright then, let me rephrase it, let me escort you out"

He smiled at her sneakily promoting her brows to raise in question

...

"Next!"

The fancy cart moved into the inspection gateway after the other one left, the guards gave a salute to the driver before asking for the cart's blinds to be pulled apart

A fragile-looking maid opened them allowing him to see a very much annoyed lady, much like every other noble that had to go through this unnecessary inspection

"We are sorry for the inconvenience lady Heather"

The guard bowed and allowed the cart to go through the gate without any further hassle

"Haah"

After closing the blinds Yu sat down with a heavy sigh, the process was so very easy yet he found himself holding his breath for the longest time

"I told you not to worry, your plan was simple but the viscount wasn't really trying to find you that bad, this is only a show for the baron I would presume, he would actually prefer they never found you, not under the baron's watch at least"

Seeing how nervous he was made her think the guy dressed in maids clothes wasn't as experienced in escapades as she thought

He didn't respond as he was busy loosening the maid outfit after taking off the cap on his head, it was going to be a long way to the next city and he didn't want to feel squeezed for breath the entire journey

The ride after that was quiet, the only sound within the cart was her constant fanning

"Have you ever considered settling down"

Her question brought his focus back to her, wondering how weird a way this was to break the ice, but he was bored and honestly lacked a person to talk to most of the time so he went along with the conversation

"With beasts roaming the land outside the cities and nobles bearing down your neck within them how could one ever settle down peacefully?"

"By becoming a noble of course, it saves you much of their trouble"

He gave her a glance asking if she was serious, he just escaped thanks to their internal strife so how could it ever be less troublesome

"Don't give me that look, its much simpler to deal with them than you think, with power instead of wealth you wouldn't face many who would rather be an enemy than a friend"

"What you say might make sense but how is one to get into your closed circle? Work hard for the country in hopes by some miracle the king notices him and gives him a title and land?"

His question was filled with probes for this unknown land

"Thats one way to do it, but it is much easier to marry me and get all the privileges and more"

"Marry you?"

"Yes, Im not much older than you, I'm only twenty eight"

"How old do you think I am?"

"I would belive your eighteen?"

Yu puased and looked down at himself, his soft looking skin, fragile and thin body, and rather pale skin, all this put his looks a few years under his actual age

"I actually twenty one"

He corrected, looking her dead in the eye

"Oh? All the more reason to marry me then, we aren't that far apart"

"Marriage doesn't seem to be that beneficial to me, I would only fall under your families name"

"Perhaps so, but the benefits far outweighed the small loss, you would acquire all the wealth I have, access to businesses and connections I have built up over the years, and I will have you know I am more than capable of satisfying you in bed as well"

"Enough of the benefits, I care more to know what you would want me for"

That was the most intriguing part, why would this lady want to marry a thief who kidnapped her to escape the viscount

"Your strength of course, you don't look that sneaky or cunning on first glance but your actions prove you to be of quite the masterful escapist, your capable of keeping a calm mind under this situation and I can tell by this little one that you have more up your sleeve than you show"

She patted her stomach where the snake was still wrapped

"Just say the snake convinced you, no need to spew nonsense"

Her flattery worsened his mood rather than brightened it, he knew just how bad he was at escaping and how hard he took pressure after today, just riding out the gate almost stopped his heart

"Hmm, it is not mere flattery, I might have exaggerated a bit but I can see that you have great skills, you wouldn't have two of the nobility spinning around in a circle if you weren't good at what you do, you might not be as strong as Ulv and his wolf but you sure are quick-witted and sneaky"

He words brought a smile to his face this time, not by flattery but by humour

"I don't think I could benefit from marrying you even with everything you listed, furthermore, I don't think Ulv and his little pup got a chance against me"

The fan in her hand stopped for once as she took a moment to register his extremely arrogant yet confident words, she didn't know whether he was clueless as to how strong Ulv was or he really had the power to best him, if he truly did though....

Seeing her surprise he smiled smugly to himself, very confident whatever that man and his Bronze rank beast were they wouldn't hold a candle to his Silver ranked double pure wolf

'So naive, you could have at least compared me to the entirety of the beast contractors from both cities, maybe then they would have a chance'

He lamented her lacking knowledge, as for her being the one that was really naive in her thoughts, well, only time would tell...