Exchange(3)

Emilia is a methodical woman, her looks kempt and her manners disciplined. Her voice is soft and melodic, each word carefully chosen and spoken with a gentle warmth. She carries herself with an effortless elegance, her clothes impeccably tailored, yet never ostentatious. She is a vision of sophistication, a woman who embodies the timeless beauty of grace and refinement.

She also hates dirt like they were the most horrible thing to ever grace the world. To no one's surprise, her greatest fear was her accidentally rolling in a pile of shit. So when she was tasked with the assignment of delivering a message to all their lower members, she was not amused.

One, because their underlings were always stationed in the middle of nowhere. Two, because those places were always filled with dirt of all kinds and she hated going to one of those places.

She stepped out of her carriage when the horses stopped just in front of a small dilapidated house on the outskirts of Port Hane. She walked towards the horses whose furs were of the deepest shades of red and their eyes the shade of midnight black. Emilia cooed to the horses who looked like they were enjoying her presence.

"Ohhh…. who's a good boy." She patted one of the horses. "Mommy's doing some business for a short while, be good while you wait for me yeah?"

She smiled at her beloved horses who took her to every place she demanded of them. One look and any person could see that they were not normal horses, which was very evident in the fact that there was no driver present on Emilia's carriage.

She walked towards the small house, her steps seeming to float across the ground, her posture straight yet relaxed. There's a subtle sway to her hips, a gentle rhythm to her stride.

In front of the small house stood five men of all sizes. The biggest one of them, with a bald head and a scar on his chin, was greeting Emilia as she approached them.

"Nice to see you here, ma'am. We were not notified of your visit beforehand so it's quite a surprise for us. If I may ask, what could be the reason behind your sudden visit?"

"Hmm.."

Emilia did not grace any of them answers. Instead she continued to stride towards the house. The bald man was getting anxious, as one of the upper members suddenly making a visit could mean something had happened, or was about to happen. None of the possibilities point towards anything good.

"Ma'am, we thought we were supposed to lay low for about a week. We also did everything as per orders. The products are also in good condition. No one had died till now and they are all inside the house," the bald man spluttered.

Emilia stood in front of the bald man and softly smiled at him.

"You don't have to be so anxious," her voice was sweet, like every word was dripped with honey. "I'm not here for the products. Instead I'm here to deliver a message from our liege."

"What?! From our liege himself?!"

All five men were dumbfounded. Having one of the upper members making a visit to them was already breaking news in itself, but now they suddenly hear that upper member saying the liege himself had a message for them, the underlings. All kinds of thoughts went through inside their heads.

What if we make some kind of mistake and she's here to deliver our punishment?

Are we finally getting promoted? Man I would love to have my own underlings if that were the case!

I didn't do anything wrong, did I?

Did we accidentally take a kid we were not supposed to take?

Man are we going to have a raise? I would love some high quality booze.

Emilia started laughing as if she heard their thoughts. The men were stunned, because just what could be the reason why she was suddenly laughing at them like that? Unbeknown to them, it was because their faces were giving away every single one of their thoughts.

"For the upcoming event in the capital, our liege is preparing a huge gift for the king and he wants all members to take part in the preparation. That's why all activities are to be done before the coming week. That includes transferring the products to the hideout before the designated time. We're moving forward with all our plans and activities," she told them.

"Oh, is that so," the bald man sighed with relief. "We can do that. If you wish, we can move them to Lukhia tomorrow itself."

"That'll be great. But be careful not to cause any trouble in this crucial time."

Emilia was about to head to her carriage, but something else caught her attention and she peeked her head towards the inside of the small rundown house.

It was a boy, who couldn't have been older than sixteen. His hair was pitch black, and it draped down to his shoulders. His eyes were crimson red, looking like it could have belonged to a wild animal, or a beast. The boy was staring at her like he had seen a ghost, stupefied.