Marcus Clover

Cyril quickly arrived at the tent belonging to Marcus Clover. It was night time so he expected to find Marcus in his tent.

Sure enough after asking for permission to enter the tent he heard Marcus' voice.

"Come in."

Cyril entered the tent to see Marcus sitting behind his desk drowning himself in wine. He chuckled thinking it was going to be far easier to achieve his goal– now that he found Marcus intoxicated.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of being visited by the Great Commander Denver?"

Marcus spat.

He was a black haired brown eyed man with a stocky build and a neatly shaven face. Though he seemed to be under the influence of alcohol, there was a hint of intelligence in his eyes.

Hearing his voice filled with bitterness Cyril had the urge to smirk at him. But that would only enrage the man which wouldn't be good for what he was about to do, so he schooled his features and took out a bottle of the Empire's most expensive wine 'Crimson Dew' from his space ring.

He placed the exquisite bottle on the desk and took his seat in front of Marcus. He needed to fatten the sheep's wool before shearing the fleece.

"Oh, come now! You are the head of Clovers, you don't have to be so bitter about not being the Commander. Here, take this gift and let's start on a new foot, shall we?"

He consoled Marcus while handing him the wine bottle.

"What do you want?"

Marcus asked with narrowed eyes.

Cyril had a small smile on his face and pointed towards the wine bottle.

"You know, it's not nice to keep this lady waiting, we can talk later."

Marcus nodded and poured the wine into two glasses before handing one to Cyril.

Cyril sipped the wine and gestured for Marcus to drink his share. Both of them didn't speak as Marcus kept pouring himself drink after drink for a while. As a connoisseur of fine wine Marcus wouldn't let go of the chance to taste 'Crimson Dew'.

After more than half of the bottle was emptied out by Marcus, Cyril started off with small talk to test the waters.

"So….How are things at home? I heard your son is a very intelligent boy."

Hearing about his son, Marcus' chest swelled with pride.

"Aye, he is smart for his age."

Marcus slurred.

Cyril waited for him to continue but Marcus just poured himself another drink and started gulping it down. Cyril felt his irritation growing at the awkward atmosphere but Marcus didn't seem to notice it as he kept drinking.

Cyril had enough of these niceties and went straight to the point.

"What about your nephew? How is he doing? It won't be long before he marries the princess."

Cyril said, trying to mask his anger at the thought of a trash marrying the princess. His son was a far better match for the princess than a guy who couldn't even cultivate.

"Pfft, what nephew? I haven't seen him in years."

Marcus chuckled.

Cyril raised an eyebrow at him. Now this was some interesting news.

"What do you mean you haven't seen him?"

"What else does it mean? I haven't seen him ever since he went up that mountain, if not for his maid informing us about him from time to time we would have thought he was dead already."

"Oh!"

Cyril said surprised. Now that he thought about it he hadn't seen this so-called Raymond Clover, he had only heard about him from others.

"Tell me one thing, Marcus. Why didn't your nephew make his social debut when he turned 18?"

Marcus threw his glass to the ground and stood up abruptly with his eyes blazing in anger.

"What do you know? He is no nobleman to make a social debut, he isn't even a Clover. All of us kept quiet because my brother called him his son, but you know what? He is NOT my brother's son, anyone with a working brain could tell he does not share our blood, that brat has zero resemblance to my brother."

Marcus banged his fist on the desk in anger. Cyril's eyes widened at this new revelation. He did not expect this when he came to talk with Marcus tonight.

"I even asked my brother about it, you know what he said? Hah, he said– 'he looks like his mother'– as if I would believe that. He even warned me to watch my words. Isn't that a threat? What kind of a man threatens his own brother like that if he wasn't hiding something."

Cyril was really confused now.

"Wait! What? Surely, your brother must be right, you know, he might look like his mother,"

Marcus snorted at his comment and sat down on his seat. He directly lifted the bottle and drank from it.

"None of us back at the family has ever seen this so-called mother of his. One day my brother bought an old man and a newborn baby with him and told us that he was the father of the baby and the old man was his father-in-law and expected us to believe it. Of course, no one questioned him, he was the Great Thomas Clover after all.

"He even went so far as to have the baby named by His Majesty. Raymond Fucking Clover– that's what His Majesty named him and who was going to go against His Majesty? so everyone kept quiet."

'Woah.'

Cyril's eyes widened after hearing this new piece of information. This mission was going to be easier than he thought.

"As a fellow nobleman of the Empire, I think I can help you, that is– if you allow me."

Marcus looked at Cyril seriously for sometime and asked with a hint of suspicion.

"What do you have in mind?"

Cyril chuckled and took out a parchment from his space ring and handed it to Marcus.

"That's the annulment notice for the marriage between your nephew and the seventh princess."

Marcus furrowed his brows and read the parchment carefully, well– as carefully as possible given his drunken state.

"Hmmm, what's in it for me, eh? What do I get for signing this?"

Marcus asked, keeping the parchment to the side.

"Come on, what else do you want? You can get rid of your nephew this way, can't you?"

Marcus felt his lips twitching in anger everytime he mentioned his nephew. He leaned forward on the desk coming face to face with Cyril and uttered with hatred filled eyes.

"He is NOT my nephew."

Cyril coughed awkwardly and backed off a little bit.

"Alright, you win. You sign this annulment notice and I will arrange for a new contract to be signed for a marriage between your son and the eleventh princess. A princess for a princess. Fair trade, isn't it?"

Marcus sat back down and took the annulment notice and asked curiously.

"And how are you going to do that?"

Cyril smirked confidently and sipped on his wine.

"I have connections in the Imperial Palace that can make this happen, you don't have to worry about it."

Marcus nodded and took out his quill to sign on it. But just as he was about to sign on it, he stopped and smirked at Cyril.

"Commander Denver,"

"Yes?"

"Hehe, do you take me for a fool?"

Marcus sneered.

"What do you mean?"

Cyril asked, irritated.

"Come on, no need to act dumb. That marriage between Raymond and the princess is the only way for us to keep our nobility intact from others and strengthen our diminishing influence. Do you think I would give it up so easily?"

Cyril's face darkened when he heard that. He had miscalculated, this bastard still had enough wits even after drinking so much, he shouldn't have rushed things.

Alas, it was already too late, he was caught off guard. He clenched his jaw harder and asked through gritted teeth.

"What more do you want?"

Marcus had a sinister smile on his face and replied:

"I don't want anything extra, just bring the marriage contract between my son and the eleventh princess to me before I sign this one."

Marcus threw the parchment to Cyril and again lifted the bottle to take a big gulp of wine.

Cyril had to use all of his willpower to not kill him right then and there. He slammed his fist on the poor desk and stood up.

"That's impossible. The Imperial Family will never allow this."

He bellowed.

"Shhhh! Don't shout. Don't you have 'Connections' in the palace? Get it done or else I am not going to sign this."

Cyril cleared his throat and gulped down the wine from his glass.

"It seems you are clearly drunk, we will continue this conversation at a later date."

With that he stormed off of the tent with murderous rage bubbling in his chest. He didn't notice the predatory smirk on Marcus' face before leaving.

*******

Cyril entered his tent and activated the sound barrier runes around his tent.

He took a vase that was near him and threw it hard on the ground. After nearly destroying half of the things in his tent, he somewhat regained his cool.

'Fucking Clovers.'

Now that the older one was dead his brother was being a thorn in his side. Soon there was an evil glint in his eyes as if he had thought of something.

He quickly took out a parchment and a quill and started writing a letter to his son who was in the Capital city.

*******

[ A/N :

Writing this chapter was painful, I am not good at writing long conversations.

Please tell me how you felt about this chapter, if there is anything I can improve.

If you find any errors in the chapter please mention it in the comments.

I am new to writing, so please leave behind your honest review if you have time.

I would appreciate your constructive criticism.

Also, if you like what you read then please give power stones and add this to your library.

Thank you:)

]