NoGift

ARGENT gently put the thick quilt on her sister's sleeping form. After drinking the herbal tea Nelly made, Aurum finally fell asleep. Thankfully, she didn't catch a cold. Though her temperature was a bit higher than normal. That's why Argent asked Nelly to prepare some herbal medicine for Aurum. Now, she was kind of regretful that she never really got into medicine. Maybe she could have made a lot of medicine by now. That would be pretty useful during a time like this.

After making sure that Aurum was really asleep, Argent silently walked out of her sister's room. She walked down the stairs and suddenly, Black came running out of nowhere and hugged her arm.

"Master!" Black greeted. "I saw Nelly preparing medicine for Aurum. Did she get in some kind of trouble?"

"No. But some people tried to get her into one."

"Should we beat those people up?" Black asked innocently.

"Oh we will. Just not right now. So how was your mission?"

"Black successfully did his mission!" Black excitedly answered.

"Let's go to my study first." Argent led Black to her study. She sat on the couch and made Black sit beside her. "Now, let's hear your report."

"Black spent the whole day with Merissa. She's really nice. She kept giving me candies and sweets. But Black told her that he couldn't eat that much or Master would be angry at him. She also has a very beautiful voice. Black loved hearing her sing. And then--"

"Black, please, only tell me the important details."

"Oh okay. Merissa didn't really say anything important. When Black asked her how could she have such a wonderful voice, she said she was a singer before. Black asked if she ever performed in front of a crowd. She smiled and said 'once'. And she also mentioned in passing that Black reminded her of her son. There was a really sad smile on her face when she said that. Was that helpful, Master?"

Argent smiled slowly. "Yes. That's plenty. Good job, Black." Black grinned. "Go and call Gregory. Tell him I need to speak to him in my study. And as a reward for your hardwork, you can go and ask Nelly to give you any pastry you wished to eat."

"Yey! Thank you, Master!"

Black immediately ran outside the study. Argent stood up and sat behind her desk. A little while later, Gregory knocked and came in.

"You called, Your Grace?" he asked.

"Are you familiar with the affair the King had with that opera singer?" Argent asked.

Gregory was kind of puzzled why the young lord suddenly asked that. But if it's something she asked, then he could only answer in the best way he could. "It was a huge scandal back then, Your Grace. So yes, I was a bit familiar with the said event."

"Tell me all the details."

"The girl was a rising star in the opera. She caught the attention of the King when her theater company made a special performance at the palace. Since then, the King often visited the theater. Most of the times, he was seen with the girl. Then one day, the girl suddenly disappeared and was never heard from again. That is, until the King brought the second prince back 12 years ago."

"I see. And what is the name of this singer?"

"She was known as Madame La Chanteuse."

"Hmm..." That was definitely not the singer's real name. But no matter, Argent could almost confirm her conjecture.

"Is there something else, Your Grace?"

"No, that would be all. Thank you, Gregory."

Gregory bowed and went out of the study.

Argent opened her light brain to check the report she asked White to compile earlier. It was about the opinion of the common people in Albion in regards to the first princess. White compiled it from a considerable number of [Jiffy] accounts. The report only said one thing; that the masses think that Icelyn Jade di Albion was a kind princess. She performed charity events, donated multiple school buildings, does food drives once a month for the homeless. She also has a deep connection with the Temple of Gaia.

In short, to the people, the first princess was almost regarded as a saint.

Argent smirked. A saint, huh? Having her reputation tainted was probably the last thing she wanted. Especially since, from the looks of it, she badly wanted to be the next monarch.

She connected to White.

"Do you need me, Master?" White asked with her sweet voice that almost has no ups and downs.

"White, connect to the sPhone of Icelyn Jade di Albion." The first princess has a [Jiffy] account, which meant she has her own sPhone. And since she used her real name, that meant she also used her real identity to register on the [SilverCorp] app. Which also meant that White could easily connect to her sPhone. "Send me every data in her phone."

"Yes, Master."

After ten seconds, a folder was sent to her light brain. "Good. Spy on her through the camera of her sPhone. Send a recording to me once you discover something that would incriminate the princess."

Spying on the princess would be easy. After all, White could easily connect to her sPhone. She wouldn't even notice a thing nor suspect that something was wrong. It wouldn't even cross her mind that something like that could be possible.

"Understood, Master."

Argent ended the call. She was about to open the folder White sent when she suddenly received a call. There were only four people that could directly connect to her - White, Felicia, Aurum, and their mother. She immediately accepted the call and her mother's face appeared on the screen.

Anthea grinned, her amber eyes shining brightly. She was obviously in a very good mood. Argent could see snow in the background. It looked like she was still in the Northern Continent. Their mother has been travelling around the world for the past seven years. But sadly, she could still not find any useful information about their father's whereabouts.

"Mother," she greeted.

"Argent, how was your visit to the palace?"

"Well, the Queen certainly has some hatred towards us," she answered.

That caught Anthea's attention. "Did that delusional b*tch do something to you and Aurum?"

Argent raised her brow. It seemed like her guessed was right. There's definitely a bad blood between her mother and the Queen. According to what Aurum told her, as soon as the Queen saw her, she acted like she forgot her brain somewhere else. Argent could only think that the Queen was probably acting on hatred. Because surely, she wouldn't be that stupid during normal situations.

"Don't worry, Mother. I already took care of it."

Anthea stared at her eldest daughter's face. A face that looked so similar to her missing husband. But unlike her husband's, Argent's face leaned more on the beautiful side. Maybe because she was a girl. She would definitely look very beautiful in a dress. But sadly, Anthea couldn't ask her to stop masquerading as a boy. At least, not yet.

Anthea was not afraid that they would lose their wealth when the people learned about Argent being a girl. With the amount of wealth that Argent gathered from the company she built, they would probably never be poor in this life. And she was so proud of Argent for managing to do all that in just a span of seven years. Who else could say to others that their kid invented a gadget that could easily connect people around the world?

What Anthea was afraid of was losing the manor and everything in it. Because she knew just how important the manor was to Dorian. She couldn't just let it be taken from their family when Dorian was still missing. But luckily, with the latest clue she got, it seemed that she could find him soon.

"I'm sorry that you still have to dress up as a boy," she said apologetically.

"Mother, I don't mind. Being a boy is much easier than being a girl," Argent said. That was her honest opinion.

Anthea almost laughed. She was afraid that if Argent continued to act like a boy for another five years, she might totally forget that she was a girl at all. "Well, don't get use to it so much. Because I found an important clue regarding your father's whereabouts."

"That's good, Mother." So that's why her mother was in such a good mood. Argent doesn't really have any opinion on this father of hers. But if finding him would bring happiness to her mother, then she has no complaints.

"So I might not be able to contact you and Aurum for a while. I got to go. I love you. Send my love to your sister as well."

After the call, Argent decided to go to the kitchen to get a glass of water. And just like her first night back, she found Merissa in the kitchen, humming some tune and baking a pastry. But unlike that first night, when she saw Argent, she didn't pale in fear. Instead, she smiled.

"Your Grace," she greeted.

Argent stared at her. She planned to talk to her tomorrow. But now was a good time too. It's not like the content of what she has to say would change. She walked towards the maid. "There's one thing that keeps bugging me."

"What is it, Your Grace?" Merissa asked, a bit confused on why the young duke suddenly said something like that.

"How come the former mistress of the King and the mother of the second prince is here masquerading herself as a maid? Would you please enlighten me, Madame La Chanteuse?"

What answered her was Merissa's stricken face.