"I understand, Master" Alfred, with one white-gloved hand placed elegantly on his chest and his feet gracefully distancing himself from Avendial, proceeded towards the few nurses at the scene while attending to his task. His eyes observed the surroundings as he noted, 'twenty soldiers, one Empyreal, and five servants.'
While moving, he noticed the remaining number of individuals after others had left accompanying nobles and princess.
He needed to be aware of his surroundings as he will move closer to his plan to secure the woman hidden behind the trees in the garden, exactly 63.5 meters away from where he stood.
Even though his master didn't mention the exact location of Rivia, from the information provided to Alfred, he was able to draw a few conclusions:
Under the influence of an aphrodisiac and guided by hints from his master, Alfred deduced that his master and Rivia must have become intimate.
The fact that his master was in the presence of noblemen indicated that someone from the royal palace might have set a trap to exploit the situation. In order to counter this, his master probably tried to escape but was surrounded because the Palace was under surveillance and ended up being in the midst of a gathering of nobles.
Alfred noticed that in this cold weather, his master was in a bathrobe, and the only significant water source in the garden was a small lake.
He concluded that the most feasible way to divert everyone's attention would be for someone like the Marquess to jump into the lake in this weather.
And with this, his master probably tried to distract everyone by sacrificing his image.
Though he found it disgraceful to deplete the image of the Marquess only to save a mere bodyguard but in the end Alfred respected his master's choices.
He focused on another conclusion that told him the exact location of Rivia, which he derived from the fact that if anyone wanted to jump into the lake without the attention of noblemen, they needed to do it from the other side where several dense trees were present.
He also saw an open window at a great height in one of the palace rooms and concluded that they must have jumped from there.
Alfred was certain that the woman must have hidden among the trees and was likely without any clothes.
'Hmm, I need to have a conversation with you, Miss Rivia', Alfred felt a sense of dissatisfaction knowing that due to the woman's selfish actions, his master's reputation had been tarnished and depleted.
Of course, he knew that his Master had already made all the arrangements by using poison as a pretext.
But still, orchestrating against their own Master is not something Alfred could tolerate.
Now, the question remains: how was he so sure that the aphrodisiac event was caused by none other than the Marquess's own bodyguard?
Simply because he knew of the woman's potential and possessiveness.
Putting aside these thoughts for now, Alfred focused on the task at hand. Halting in mid-stride, his eyes glanced towards a white-cloaked figure standing at the entrance of the hallway, about 20 meters away from him, with four soldiers nearby. The figure appeared much more mysterious, with a clear heat haze surrounding his body.
'An attack type or defense.' Without hesitation, Alfred's white-gloved hand moved inside the pocket of his coat near his chest where an antique watch with a golden chain was resting. He then took it out.
In a sequence, he clicked the single button of his watch three times, causing it to pop out and break. Despite this, he prioritized his task at hand. Using his other hand, he took out a pen and a small notebook from his pocket. After writing something on a small piece of paper, he tore it off and rolled it onto the needle-like part that had popped out of his watch.
Twick!
Without delay, he maneuvered the sharp object towards the cloaked figure and threw it with the snap of his thumb. He appeared composed, trying not to let others notice that he had thrown something towards the figure at a potentially harmful speed.
By analyzing the 20-meter distance between himself and the figure, he realized that to achieve maximum speed, he needed to use something sharp, small, and strong to be perceived as a threat.
'?!'
'Did he just tried to attack me?', Standing at a distance, the cloaked figure narrowed his gaze under the mask. He observed a tiny, sharp needle-like object halting just an inch away from his pupils. The contracting muscles within his eyes showed the visible coldness passing as he gazed towards the man standing in a butler outfit.
The golden needle, which appeared to be floating in the air, seemed to be held back by a blue aura from piercing the cloaked figure's pupils, which remained fixed on the butler as his hand reached out to grasp the needle.
'This?', The cloaked figure, who was an Empyreal, subtly glanced between the butler and the letter, which was carried in a needle as it was opened: I am doubtful that three soldiers from the northern and eastern sides are responsible for all of this. Additionally, two maids who are sweating even in this cold weather seem suspicious. It is essential to interrogate them.
Written in shorthand language*, even on that small piece of paper everything was readable to the cloaked figure. He glanced towards the soldiers and maids, taking note of the clues mentioned. Doubt began to creep in as he continued to look towards the butler for a few moments before vanishing.
In the end, he prioritized his duty, which was to support the Marquess in the investigation of his poisoning as much as possible, instead of thinking about how a mere butler had thrown a needle up to a distance of 20 meters with precision that aimed at his pupil.
'Interesting....a defence type', Alfred finally achieving two tasks in a row felt the first hurdle in his way vanishing, which was an Empyreal—the most threatening entity in this place—while also gathering information about the ability type of one of the two Empyreals serving Princess Katheria Arinphiam.
Generally, Empyreals were the most loyal awakened individuals under the Royal family. They were precious, exclusive and irreplaceable soldiers in the Royal family's arsenal.
But mostly, those awakened individuals appeared to possess abilities of two categories—attack type or defense—prompting them to have vulnerability if someone is already aware of their ability type, then they can adjust and strategize their fighting style accordingly.
Though, of course, it was impossible to identify the ability type considering the fact that there were no records published or available to any secret organizations in the world since every Empyreal's identity was secret and heavily guarded by the Royal family itself.
This was a very valuable and vital information that could only be verified by someone who had battled with an empyreal.
No Empyreal changed under a specific heir, which led to a high demand for information about the types of abilities Empyreals possess. This information could be sold at a high price, ranging from 10 to 100 million Imperial Crowns depending on the heirs under whom those Empyreals worked.
And ironically, there were 3 Royal heirs assassinated within a span of 10 years, while their Empyreals were killed solely because their ability types were revealed and sold for 30 million, 20 million and 60 million Imperial Crowns.
And at that moment, Alfred had thrown the needle aimed at the Empyreal's pupils to make it seem like a threat—which prompted figure to reveal his ability type by creating a shield near his pupils—but it wasn't considered an attack because Alfred had attached a letter to it, marking the whole endeavor as a secret message being sent—thus manipulating the situation into something else.
By utilizing the maids who were sweating from helping nurses and doctors carry heavy equipment, Alfred had distracted an Empyreal while obtaining information that could easily be sold for 20 million Imperial Crowns.
However, it could have fetched more if it weren't for Princess Katheria's weakened position in the heir battle.