Unravel (1) - An Unbelievable Truth or A Very Convincing Lie

"Well, why is the attendant speaking in behalf of the mistress? Isn't she the one sitting beside you or is she lazy? I mean your name isn't Emily Aurum, it's Lara Aurum."

?!?!?!?!!!?

With Stigma sudden announcement, all the surrounding people were stunned from disbelief as each one had different thoughts going through their respective minds.

But as the silence continued to the room, other than Felix, they all had the same question in their mind: "Who is this boy?"

The woman who Stigma identified as 'Lara' stared at him with great shock, but she stopped to stare at the guard who brought them in, Roger.

Roger had stood behind Felix and Stigma so they could not read his expression, but from his position he also made a dumbfound expression then faced his mistress, motioning his eyes that he said nothing.

The young girl, who was identified as 'Emily', had tilted her head to the side like a cat as she stared at Stigma. For whatsoever meaning was behind the stare could only be known to the person they belonged to.

Veil, Han and the Leader could not follow them all the way and were staying outside as the number of guards were the issue.

From their position, they used a techniques called lip reading and used their heighten senses, and when they Stigma's last words they all had similar reactions and kept their distance. As their mission was related to the market, important figure had been investigated such as the Top, such they were aware who was the real 'Emily'.

'Stigma, what are you...'

Before he could finish the thought, Felix started to recall that Stigma claimed to have an ability relating to his Cultivation. Felix immediately believed Stigma, as he himself had gained abilities in the same manner.

With the guidance of his seniors, Felix was able to obtain the skills and abilities of a Heavenly Beast of the Mountain Boar, a behemoth of size and momentum. His presence techniques was an example of how far his training had lead.

As his Cultivation grew, Felix slowly realized that once mastered, one can continue to grow and may reach the pinnacle of their abilities or go beyond their limits and gain the possibility to be a Heavenly Being at their peak of their Cultivation technique.

Felix was also informed that any Cultivation technique, that enables the practitioners to gain special abilities, must have belonged to powerful cultivators that had reached the peak of their strength and recorded and left behind their finding before ascending to the Heavenly Realm like the legends say.

Some were handed down to whom they trusted such as close kin or hidden in secret to dangerous areas to test worthy successors.

Royal families were prime examples of successors from a Cultivators bloodlines, so many try to either usurp the line of the degrading power or steal their secrets for personal gain.

What was right before Felix's eyes, may be one of the living proof of those supposed rumors of their late predecessor's Heaven Defying Cultivation Technique - the ability to see the truth through the mind, which was still believed it to be a legend.

'....It looks like Stigma is unaware of the danger he possess in the future if great powers know of him, I have to inform him later on for his own safety...'

Stigma was not aware of what was going on everyone's mind as he did not care. Beside him and Felix, Stigma found that everyone in this room was emitting a Zen aura so he remained vigilant.

When Stigma activated his skill 'Essence Reader from the start', he found that one of them was Cultivator within the First Tier but kept quiet about the matter, he only wanted to detect any lies during the conversation and warn Felix if they were trying to fool him and didn't expect to fin another Cultivator.

So far, none of the information they have given were false, but that does not mean Stigma's method was absolute.

As the wealthiest merchant in the area, Stigma had to be wary of their methods of persuasion as they could only speak the truth by hiding important details similar to the Demon Imp method. With such negotiation tactic, they while also gain their hidden goal and they lower their chances of heavy loss if such risk were willing to be taken.

In his previous life, Stigma had been repeatedly been swindled by this method, so he had to be careful to who he meet in this life time.

As for Stigma's reason for speaking the truth without much thought was very simple - he did want to be fooled for no good reason and wanted to see their reaction in cooping.

It annoyed him that they gave such vague terms and shrouded their intentions, so Stigma gave out their identities and surveyed how they would react when the conversation was heading towards a different direction than they expected.

Within the next few minutes, the first one to responded was the woman who Stigma identified as Lara. With a stern expression, Lara gave one long look to Stigma before giving her response.

"....Sir Stigma, let me remind you that Sir Felix has given much importance to you to be called his little brother. So it would be in the best of interest to give him face, there is a limit to courtesy when addressing to someone to whom you have never met before. Just this once, your offense will be forgiven, so cease further unnecessary remarks. Understood...."

The woman named 'Lara' had responded with a low voice at the last line, not only that she also exhibited her anger by releasing a Zen aura with a trace of fury in her eyes.

Stigma could tell that 'Lara' had taken the matter seriously and was offended from his remark.

If any man looked at her right now, they would cower in fear from the glare alone, but Stigma was not intimidated in the slightest as killing a Heavenly Beast with his bare hands was far more daunting to handle than a woman just glaring at him.

Stigma did not turn his head but was also far more concerned about the little girl's reaction towards his remark, as she was had been quiet the entire exchange and was identified as the real 'Emily Aurum'.

"...And, in what way have I made an offensive comment?" Stigma was not tense and removed his footwear then crossed his legs on the sofa, which by itself was a sign of a disrespectful behavior as it was not his residence.

".....Then you are obviously not aware of giving face to the Aurum family by not expressing regrets by bowing your head to the floor. Unless a proper explanation is given, Sir Stigma will receive severe consequences for such actions."

Felix was aware what was going on from the start of the conversation and was about to step in, but Stigma motioned him to let him handle it and gave an explanation that had some interested, but left the the rest confused.

"Then how should I interpret my reason as...an unbelievable truth or a very convincing lie?" Stigma squinted his eyes then gave a confident smile.

From where the confidence originated, only Felix knew, but all were curious as to how Stigma will 'explain' a blatant lie to convince all of them.

Was Stigma capable enough to stand his own ground or giving a false bravado, Felix along with everyone in the room wanted to know.

While Felix was expecting that his little brother wanted to proved his worth to not be looked down upon, Stigma only followed his intuition that he was allowed to follow was due to him being investigated.

Stigma had not been very 'careful' or 'subtle' when he arrived in the market, and it was obvious that the recent incidents he caused will be looked into due to violent behavior.

Yet it had only been two days at most and nothing had happened, which greatly confused him from the delay.

There hasn't been any attempt to remove him when it was obvious that he had been living inside the grand tent even with the arrest of the four followers when the three assassin.

The employees may have kept his a secret to hide their mistake in offending him, but Stigma could only guess from their reason.

There was also the time Stigma left to find Kirin and found the guard by the gate recording every resident who had left and returned.

It wasn't hard for Stigma to realize that he was bound to be arrested for his actions if that had already been sent to their employer's hand anytime soon as the four guards were found hanged by the tree.

And yet again, nothing had happened.

With the recent event of him inspecting the product, it was obvious Stigma should have been the center of the Top's attention and could not be ignored.

Adding all those events, Stigma made the verdict that he was still a suspect and was being observed from a distance to avoid drawing danger to what organization he supposedly belonged to.

Before he arrived, the time it took to conclude the event was faster than Stigma expected, which means the person he was about meet is extremely proficient and wanted to meet him in private, proving his theory of he was the main target.

By that logic, Stigma assumed that they knew by now that he was a cultivator with special abilities. And what was happening right know was not different to Stigma walking into a spider's trap, while Felix's status was just an excuse to bring him here.

"...What do you mean by unbelievable truth or a convincing lie. Let this be clear, an explanation is needed or punishment is unavoidable for offending the..."

"That is why I'm giving my reason and giving a choice to believe the unbelievable truth or a very convincing lie? So decide which to believe, the truth or the lie, alright."

With nothing else to say, Lara gave silence as the reply, Stigma gave a small smiled then cracked his neck. Stigma began by raising his right arm and each time he spoke one finger was lifted.

"Now then, when I came here the objective was to meet Senior Felix, is that correct?"

"....Of course, he is part of a respected clan, many would have the honor of hosting such an opportunity."

"Then why am I here then?"

"Because you were recognized as an important acquaintance to Sir Felix, was that not obvious. Welcoming an acquaintance of Sir Felix was to give face, Sir Stigma was to be treated with respect and under the assumption that you would not make a fool of yourself towards your venerable Senior."

"True, but I was not needed here if convincing Felix alone was the whole point. If this concerns about his groups, does it not sound redundant for me to enter and listen. I mean, how much influence could I have in changing his suggestion or have any relation in the clan when it was only two days at most when we met. So I hold no importance, ergo should not be listening to such "

"..."

Though she did not show it, 'Lara' was shocked to find out that such a loophole had been found so easily.

It was true that Stigma had been investigated, but there was no information about his interactions with the Boar's clan men until now and only heard that Stigma was saved by Felix, as such she had expected both of them to be close for a long time.

'...What a blunder'

At the same time, Felix nodded his head when he heard Stigma's verdict. Felix also tried to hold his laughter when he realized that his little brother Stigma, was still unaware of his importance to him and his clan.

"...."

"I'll take the silent as confirmation then, next would the extra guest..." Without a second though, everyone understood what Stigma meant and turned towards the young girl who had been silently watching the entire time.

"...In what way does her presence make a different? As I have already informed you, she is a relative, a talented one who came here as a means of first hand experience." From 'Lara's reply, Stigma did not answer yet and only showed his hand to her.

"Remember we exchanged greetings by shaking hand."

"....It's customary to show respect to any visitor or high standing, if not or your unique position, Sir Stigma should have been the one to bow or kiss the back of her hand. Is the handshake of any importance?"

"Oh, but it does, as it tells me who and how one lived until now. For example, the hand of someone who had exercised for years should have shown rough hands, I noticed that the fingers were slightly deformed, stipulating that ink and paper had been repeatedly used for a long time. Am I correct?"

"....Of course, she is part of the distinguish family of merchants, the Four Lotus company which dates back even before you were born. Because of her talents was recognized, she has studied advance subjects such as mathematics and had been trained in at a very young age of four, it was not long ago she had just finished her training until you arrived."

"Then why stay here when a meeting of an important guest was at way and gain risk during the conversation. I believe the age ten or fifteen below is still to early to start working don't you..."

'Lara' glared at Stigma with animosity but only for a moment as her previously distorted face had returned to an emotionless poker face.

"Sir Stigma....let me remind you that she belongs from a different type of heritage, so please refrain from comparing yourself to her. Is that to be understood..."

"Of course, but that was not my point." Stigma crossed his arms as he started at the girl across him, who sat with her hands on her legs.

"Well how about this, same as my position, is their really any relevance in bring her here? It was already stated that I was an important acquaintance but already pointed out that I hold no importance, so in what way can another have any significance in a meeting if the goal was for observation only. I find it hard to believe that using a meeting with an important member of a distinguish clan is enough of an excuse for 'observational training' when one has finished training. From what I know, starting from less important deals should be an appropriate start than to have a meeting with a high value client, is that not correct..."

'He found another one...' Though she was silent, 'Lara' was clenching both of her fist, it hasn't been that long and the truth had been revealed.

Not only that, everyone was shocked from hearing Stigma's insight, stump from hearing another loophole and slowly realized that the girl before them was the real 'Emily'.

Although it was true, 'Lara' was prepared to give out any reason such as the young girl 'Emily' being present as a pretense of training, as she assumed that Stigma and Felix had no knowledge on the profession.

She had not expected the boy in front of her to have knowledge on how to train employees.

Even Felix was starting to believe that Stigma was not from a normal background, and questioned whether his memory lost was but a lie.

But on that thought, Felix could not bring himself to hate the boy, as Stigma may have had his own reasons for trying to hide his identity as Felix did to him.

Roger was not sure who Stigma was, but if he was important to the Boar's clan, then Roger made his best efforts to show respect. But Roger was shocked to find the boy to be quite....mysterious, for his abundance of intelligence and wisdom despite his age.

"....And the for last one. What else did you find." Lara did not want to continue due to realizing her mistakes and damaging her pride, but compared to repeating her blunders, she was willing to listen and do her utmost to avoid such mistakes again.

"Well as for the last one I surmised that both of you were actual relatives, instead of changing, the same family name was used in the introduction. There was only a statement that I was insulting the Aurum family not the person in front of me. Am I correct?"

"....*Sigh*" With nothing else to say, both hands were raised in the air, as a sign that 'Lara' was indicating her surrender.

"Sir, no, Young Master Stigma is indeed correct. My identity is Lara Aurum the assistance, caretaker and....sister of the young lady beside me is the real successor and Lady of the Four Lotus."

Stigma noticed that Lara spoke from the sister part with a red face, for some reason she was embarrassed to be called her sister, but he had no idea why was she bashful.

Lara was about to continue with the introductions but was interrupted by hearing a cheerful laughter beside her, instead of bowing, Emily took of her foot wear then stood up from the sofa with her arms crossed and gave an innocent grin.

"Ha ha ha! A pleasure to meet the both of you, as you may have heard my name is Emily, but my full name goes by 'Emily Album Aurum [1]', a fourteen years old girl known as the 'Lady of the Four Lotuses' don't be too formal as we both have our own reasons. OK."

"....?...."

After the sudden energetic introduction, Stigma and Felix could only look at her in confusion and could not say anything in the return. From the side they could see that Lara had placed her palm to her face and bowed her head.

From her mumbling, they could understand that Lara was complaining about Emily's lack of proper conduct and forgetting her training of etiquettes. They understood that the girl before them was Emily's actual character and was not a doll with only a pretty face like her appearance suggested.

Her pretty face with small smile turned wide showing of her teeth and gave a hearty laugh making her act like her age, while her arms were crossed as if her little prank had been found out and didn't mind as no one was hurt.

If Stigma didn't know any better, the girl before him was someone from his previous life, an innocent girl who has not experience any form of hardship in life.

Felix was puzzled but said nothing out of respect, while Stigma had expected Emily to act like a proper lady speaking in behalf of her family or a snobbish b*tch that though she was in a higher position due to her birthright with a demanding attitude.

What Stigma had not expected the girl before him was like an energetic tomboy, he also felt that Emily was a little negligent if she had not prepared a proper substitute.

'If she let her assistances do most of the work, then she really is lazy.' Stigma mumbled under his breath, but did not notice that Emily reacted after hearing his mumbling and stared at him with a deep smile with squinting eyes.

"....I suppose you met my uncle Roger behind you, he is also my chaperon and protector. The woman beside me is my caretaker who I treat as my older sister Lara Aurum, I still love her despite not having any blood ties so I had her adopted to the family but held no position, so be nice to her she is still learning. By the way, did you really believe she was the real 'Emily, wasn't her acting really great.'" - Emily

"Oh? Have I ever mentioned that she was the real one, I was speaking with 'Emily' the entire time. Remember."

..........!?!?!?!

When such a reply was given, everyone in the room was in deep thought and tried to remember the conversation, and not even once had Stigma mentioned or pointed out that he was speaking with 'Lara' but with 'Emily'.

The more they remember the conversation, the more they realize that Stigma was beyond normal and may rival the intelligence of an old swindler.

Although in the highest importance, Felix said nothing as he noticed for a while that Stigma was the main target. Felix did not mind as he also believed that Stigma deserved such attention, not just by his abilities but by his level of wisdom.

Lara, on the other hand, was not offended but entertained by Stigma's level of negotiation. Even with her years of experience, she had not paid attention to the conversation in whole, as she spoke out of loyalty to the Aurum family and Emily to whom she owed for giving her a better life.

"Also, apologies for ignoring you Miss Lara, I never expected you had such heart warning story about your relation. If I insulting you enough to hate me, I apologize in the bottom of my heart."

Stigma was not lying, the one thing he avoided the most was to be hated when it was not done on purpose. He had inadvertently hurt a number of people due to misunderstandings, so he avoided talking to most people in general and only spoke up when he was argued, insulted or slandered.

When Stigma bow his head towards her, Lara only chuckled a little then assured Stigma that she was not offended and had him lift his head. With apologies said and done, Stigma turned his head towards Emily.

"I suppose your reason for using a double during the first meeting was because you were vigilant against Felix's identity or mine?" - Stigma

"Both....apologies, you know the recent rumors I assume, we had to be careful in who to meet so I followed my sister's suggestion. We should get down to business, but before we get started, I am quite curious about something Stigma...." - Emily

"....In what way have I piqued your interest?" - Stigma

"You said the unbelievable truth or a convincing lie, I suppose you deduced everything just by looking around but you only lied half way and had Sister Lara explaining everything with provoking lines. Hence a believable lie, as she provided most of the information herself, is that correct?"

Emily could tell that Stigma was using a method interrogation that made her sister Lara

speak out of pride. Most of the information was about her, and Stigma had been profiling her in just a few exchange.

"Who knows? What do you believe? Maybe the unbelievable truth was that I was able to give a very convincing lie when I stated it out in the open."

Emily could tell that she was being tested and went along as Stigma was her main target, Felix's position was indeed important in a business sense, but she wanted to meet the famous 'white haired boy' that had been causing trouble for two days straight and giving her so much joy.

All who were present in the room were awkwardly watching a strange scene of two children, who are bellow fifteen, were controlling a high level conversation and the adults were the children watching from the sideline.

If an outsider were to watch this scene, the following words would come to mind: 'What the hell is going on?'

Emily smiled and did not break her confident grin.

"I believe you started out with convincing lies that supported one another, but that was only to convince us remember, you haven't said anything about the unbelievable truth so I'm curious. You had only looked at us once and immediately saw the truth didn't you, is it because of your Cultivation skill?"

....

The room was silent for a while but everyone was also curious, Lara and Roger knew how advance 'Emily's' way of thinking so they trusted her judgement as she had handled difficult task before, while Felix had experienced or heard about Stigma's abilities and trusted his judgement.

Dusk, who had been in the room the entire time, was standing like a statue doing nothing. Hilda remained silent but was surprised that her master was able to fool her and remain confident. Kirin was still sleeping inside his robes, but Stigma crossed his arms to cover him.

"Well, believe me if you can...*Ahem!*, because of my Cultivation, I have a skill that tells anything as long as I can see a soul, such as the names and talents of a Cultivators or skills of a Heavenly Beast, I can also see the properties of an object and characteristics."

'Oh I see, that makes sense.....Like hell! Do you expect us to believe that!!!!!!'

Stigma could tell that other than Felix, the three people in the room were thinking the exact same line and gave a small grin.

"Oh? You don't believe, by this distance, I am able to tell that Emily is wearing a space ring on your left hand by the ring finger."

Roger and Lara could only reply with their mouths wide open as Emily had worn numerous black rings to avoid suspicion.

Emily also replied with shock in her eyes, space rings do not emit any type aura as they are made with special material.

Felix was dumbfounded and said nothing, but was still awed from Stigma's ability as Emily removed her excess rings and revealed the space ring's ability to store all the excess rings.

?!?!?!!

When they heard such a statement Roger, Lara and Emily were shocked and could only accept it. Not only did Stigma found the space ring, he was able to identify where she was wearing it.

When they remembered Stigma's lie moments ago, they could only believe his convincing lie, as such a statement was truly unbelievable.

'So he is real...jackpot!' Emily smiled after verifying his abilities, but Lara and Roger had only heard about Stigma's exploits just recently so they were hardly believing what was happening, Felix remembered what Stigma attempted and sparked his hope.

While Emily was celebrating on how to use Stigma on her future plans, but her silence was too long and snapped back to reality.

"I see, I see, the rumors about you are true...By the way Stigma, are you interested in working for me, I can pay you a large sum of money for your services. You see I have important business to attend too later on and need time to prepare, all you have to do is do half my work load easy right. With both of our intelligence, we can live in luxury in the future."

....

Stigma was confused from the sudden proposal and stared at Felix for help but gave a shrug as a responses, Roger was no help and only made a praying gesture telling him to comply, when he turned his head for Lara's advice he saw her shaking her head in dismay with a blushing face.

From how he understood, Lara must have experienced the same manner and was fooled to do her workload. Yet in actuality, Lara was actually complaining that her 'sister' was trying to recruit a guest without her grandfather's permission, again.

When Stigma looked behind her, a large pile of scrolls were placed behind a desk that looked like a small hill, Stigma could only shudder from the thought of working behind such a workload, which he misunderstood as Emily's excuse to push her work on to others.

"Sorry, I want to experience life through joy, adventure excitement by experiencing the world, and I won't work for you just because you want to slack of and be lazy."

'Lazy...'

'Lazy....'

'Lazy...'

'Lazy.....'

'Lazy.......'

Unknown to Stigma, he had spoken a taboo word.

For some unknown reason, Stigma looked at Lara for support, but saw that she had a pale face and covered her mouth. When he turned for Roger's support, he had his mouth wide open.

After a while, Stigma had slowly realized that he tripped on a verbal land mine.

"Oh I see, I see........By the way Stigma, I have something important to inform you........please die!!!!"

Stigma was about to reply but his animal like senses warned him that he was in danger.

Without waring, Emily suddenly flipped her hand then released Zen energy.

Before anyone had time to react, Emily focused the energy on her feet and gave a powerful stomp to the table, propelling herself towards Stigma with a small knife at hand.

Felix was not surprised to find the girls was a cultivator as he felt her Zen aura the before he entered, but had not expected a surprise attack out of nowhere and towards Stigma nonetheless.

Veil, Han, the leader, Roger and Lara were surprised to see the girl Emily attack Stigma and tried to step in. But due to their distance, they could not save him in time, as Stigma was too near the attack range.

Dusk was in a similar situation and was of no help.

At the distance he was in, Stigma could not dodge in time, so he only had one option and tried to block with his arms and positioned himself to cushion the incoming collision.

*Crash!*

[1] Album - fun fact, album is Latin for white. I wanted her actual name to be 'Emily White Gold' but changed some parts to Latin hence 'Emily Album Aurum', but when I translated for white gold it was backwards. white gold = aurum album. check for yourself in google translate.