The Young Master in the Shadows

“Mister Abe, Now that we finished with the contract, let’s talk about a few things!” Susan said as she put the signed contract aside. The fool had signed it.

“What?” Abe asked as he looked up from the bag of money in front of him that he was busy counting.

He was pondering running away with it, but the temptation of more money to come made him change his mind… He was really undecided.

“The day after tomorrow there will be a fan meeting… I will need you here by noon…” she said.

“A fan meeting?"

“Yes... You already agreed to this..." she frowned.

“I know, I know... I just want to know how much will you pay me for my appearance?” he asked.

“We already did…” Susan said. “You just signed the contract!”

“Ah… yes. Yes…” Abe nodded. “I will be there…” he added as he closed the money bag and stood up, intending to leave. Susan didn't stop him.

“Mister Abe… I need to remind you to dress up for the meeting… Many actresses will be there to promote the movie with the press, so we need you to be well dressed!” she said.

Abe paused… The press? Maybe he should really escape. If his scheme got exposed, he would be in big trouble.

“Is there anything wrong?” Suzan asked.

“Ah, no... Where will the meeting be held again?” he asked.

“Here!”

“Then I will come…” he casually lied as he hurried outside. He was in a hurry to pay back a certain ruthless money lender her money back and then escape the country... No, wait!

With all this cash, he might be able to escape without paying!

…

 

“So… You are basically telling me that you are here from the future where the world is facing an apocalypse?” Yullian asked, frowning.

“That’s what I was telling you for the last 30 Minutes, and only my memories are!” Lily clarified. “You immediately believed me when I told you about Players, why do you keep arguing about time travel?“she asked, acting a little frustrated.
She even demonstrated her skills in front of him! Things she didn’t show Victor yet!

“Ah… I was already suspecting there was something unnatural going on, with the family teachings already telling us about magic and shit!” he confessed. “Time travel, on the other hand, is a little hard to believe…” he said. “Especially that you are only telling me very few things…”

“But I can’t risk you going around changing things!” She lied, manipulating him to play right into her plan!

“That’s my point… Why tell me in the first place?” he asked, raising one eyebrow.

“Fine, I guess I can tell you a few things…” Lily sighed, she seemed hesitant. “But you must promise not to tell anyone or change a thing without telling me, or we will be in great danger!”

“Ok! I know!” Yulian nodded. Truth be told, he already believed Lily, especially when two pairs of ethereal wings sprung from her back allowing her to fly into the air when she demonstrated her skills, but he needed her to tell him a few juicy details.

“Ok,” Lily heisted. “What do you want to know?” she asked.

“Oh…” he licked his lips. “Will I marry Alice?” he asked.

“In the other timeline, you met her after you returned to the family, but mother refused to let you marry her… Then she was killed before you could make a move!” Lily said.

“WHAT? WHO DARES TO KILL HER?” Yulian asked as he flared up, he already considered Alice his wife.

“You met him… the one who cursed you,” Lily replied.

“That douchebag, CASPIAN?”

“Yup… That’s why I arranged it so that you will meet her at the wedding,” Lily said blushing a little. “This way, you will get to know her before mother could intervene!”

“Oh… I see…” Yulian nodded, although he only had a few memoirs about his mother from his childhood, he does remember being a control freak “Wait... What? You arranged that?”

“At the wedding, didn’t you find it strange that you managed to get a ticket this easily and enter the venue?” Lily chuckled. “We were even the one who arranged the taxi driver from prison and the man who gave you the ticket!”

“Ah… So that guy was working for you?” he asked in shock, remembering Tom.

“Not exactly, that idiot was seriously trying to ruin the wedding, and we just used him to our advantage!” Lily confessed. “Every pawn must always serve more than one purpose!”

“OH… And those guys who insulted me… That Lulu…” Yulian asked.

“No, that was a pure coincidence, we prepared another plan to make you meet up with Alice, another guy was supposed to make trouble with you in front of her and let her help you, but we didn’t need to make a move after all!” Lily said. “You and Alice might be more connected than you think… I think it is fate…” she lied.

“Oh…” Yulian smiled and nodded remembering Alice’s cold glares that made him shiver.

“But you still have to move fast when you return to the family. Only by publicly marrying Alice will you be able to save her for sure!” Lily said, “That’s all we can do to help…”

“I WILL DEFINITELY DO THAT!” Yulian said as his eyes sparkled. “By the way, you keep saying ‘we did this’ and ‘we did that’, who do you mean by we?” Yulian asked.

“My husband and I of course!” Lily said casually, too casually!

“WHAT!” Yulian asked in shock as he stood up. “WHAT HUSBAND?” he flared again. Was Lily married? To whom?

“Victor of course… Alice’s brother… You met him!” Lily said, saying it as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

“WHAT! That pervert, Victor, was your husband?” Yulian gasped. Tears in his eyes as he pointed at Lily.

“Don’t act so surprised… You were at our wedding, you even signed the marriage certificate as a witness!” Lily said, stating a fact.

“I SIGNED WHAT? When… Wait… You were a part of that depraved wedding? I didn’t see you on stage!” he exclaimed.

“I was in disguise… Victor’s family didn’t want him to marry me because I am still officially just a maid…” she sighed. She was technically right. “And with that stupid James Trove in the audience, I had to convince Victor to keep me hidden and let you bear witness in case my mother decided to make trouble after that!”

“Keep you hidden? Does Victor know about all this time travel stuff?” Yulian asked.

“Of course NOT!” Lily said. “I have been manipulating him ever since the moment I returned about 5 months ago… He is so cute when he is gullible!” she said. “In the other timeline he was in a very miserable state at this point in time!” she added. Yulian would surely dig out some files about Victor when he returned to the family and would have a good explanation for Victor’s sudden change of personality in the reports!

“THAT’S NOT THE POINT!” Yulian exclaimed. “Why would you marry that Pervert?”

“Call him brother-in-law!” Lily scolded him without correcting him about the ‘pervert’ part. “And He was my husband in the other timeline! I feel the same for him as you feel for Alice!” she said, making Yulian swallow his next words.
This was the best way to convince Yulian! She wanted to spare him her tragic story, and she couldn’t simply tell him that she fell in love at first sight… That was too embracing.

“Then why did you let him marry all those girls with you?” Yulian asked finally, frowning.

“Ahh… The wedding was only with Nova and Lin… I had to make it into a mass wedding to drill myself in and make our wedding official! And remember, he is still an arrogant young master at this point in time, and I need to give him some benefits!” Lily sighed. Her frustrated expression was genuine.

“I still don’t like him…” Yulian said.

“Don’t be like that, Victor will be a great person! In the other timeline, after a tragedy struck his family, he became a better man, not only did he save my life, but he also saved yours multiple times! The two of you grew to be great friends!” she said, lying a little, she didn’t want Yulian to know the full truth, especially the fact that Victor scammed the shit out of him. “

“Me? A friend with that pervert?” Yulian exclaimed. He didn’t like Victor one bit.

“Yes!” Lily nodded. “In fact, he was your only friend! And that’s what we are here to correct!” Lily said. It would take time to make him get along with Victor, maybe a trip to a local brothel would do the trick.

“What do you mean? “ Yulian asked. “Does this have something to do with us being here?” he asked, looking out of the cave's door to the wilderness outside.

“Yes… “ Lily nodded, “The problem is with our family, someone had been trying to undermine Father's power. that person was the one who orchestrated my accident, and is planning to ruin your awakening ceremony after you return!” she said.

“What? The one where I will become a player?”

“Yes! A player’s Authority, Class, and Fate usually decide the position he has in our family!” she said.

“What do they plan to do?” Yulian asked, getting a little serious. He decided to push the ‘Victor’ matter to the back of his mind for now.

“They plan to manipulate the results of your ceremony by making you spend a depraved night at a brothel right before the ceremony,” she sighed.

“What would that do?” Yulian asked. He would never refuse a paid trip to the brothel.

“Usually nothing… But not in your case….” she sighed. “Well, let me phrase it like this. A player’s thoughts while awakening into players will always affect his awakening result to a certain degree, especially if he has a strong Fate Power like our family does…”

“Oh… Is it like how your mood would affect your character roll when playing some role-playing game?” he said.

“Something like that… But you will never get classes that you don’t deserve…” Lily clarified. “It will always have something to do with your life experience!”

“Then… Wouldn’t all our family heirs end up as beggars?” Yulian asked. He was smarter than he looked.

“That’s why the family will let all heirs go through a cleansing ritual… I don’t know exactly how it works, but it has something with the soul… It destroys all curses and negative effects…” she said. This was the reason Victor decided not to make her his blood slave.

“Oh… And in my case?” he asked.

“They will sabotage the cleansing ritual… We won’t be able to stop them at that stage as no one will believe that this was possible…” she sighed. Her uncle was really devious, researching ways to cheat the system. “So if we let things go as is, you will definitely end up with a stupid class…” she said.

“What class?” he asked.

“An Escort….” she said.

“A wh…Ah….” Yulian opened his mouth wide.

“It is not a bad class… But, it is not really suitable for a prestigious family heir…” she clarified. “You will have skills like FLASHING and WHIP IT OUT…” she added, blushing a little.

“WHA… WHO IS THE BASTARD WHO PLANNED THIS?” Yulian exclaimed. “Was it Aunt Lamar?” Yulian asked immediately with a hateful expression. He remembered her telling him in the past that if he didn’t pass the family test, he would have to use his handsome face to work in the streets for the rest of his life…

“No… Aunt Lamar, although a little stern and headstrong, she is not a bad person…” Lily shook her head, “The one I am talking about is Uncle Aarak, the patriarch!” she said.

“WHAT? Why would he mess with us?” Yulian asked. “Although he is very stern, Father respects him greatly as he has taken care of him since they were young!”

“Because he fears father!” Lily said.

“What? Why?”

“Simply because father was the true family heir!” Lily said, “This is an unknown secret, but grandfather’s true heir was our father… That’s why he married him to our mother who was a princess!”

“Oh…” Yulian frowned.

“Unfortunately, after our grandfather’s sudden disappearance with most of the elders 20 years ago, the family had to go into hiding using an old prophecy as an excuse. A temporary patriarch had to be chosen to lead the family at such a troubled time and our uncle who was one of the few remaining ones who knew about the will, hid it and as the eldest took the throne without so much of an opposition!” she said.

“WHAT?” Yulian exclaimed. Shouldn’t his father know about such stuff?

“Still, uncle is always afraid that grandfather or one of the elders would ever return as their life jades were only fractured, not collapsed! So he was doing his best to undermine our father and his offspring so that in case someone who knew of the will ever returned, our father would no longer be a viable patriarch!”

“Oh!” Yulian’s brain was about to burst. He had no idea that the situation in his family was like some stupid TV drama. “Do you know where Grandpa is?” he asked.

“... Not a place we can reach now…” Lily said solemnly, even if she could go into the abyss and get her grandfather, she would not do that, not before securing her position! “And we better not tell Father… Not until we are strong enough!”

“Oh… Can’t this class be changed?” he asked in a worried voice.

“Changing class can be done in three ways, the first one was to upgrade the class itself to its next level, but in your situation it was hopeless… You could only aspire to be a male prostitute or something…” She didn’t tell the whole truth, the last class evolution for an Escort was an Incubus, but the method of achieving that was totally unknown, and Yulian wasted more than fifty years trying to get it without results in his past life.

“The second way?” he asked.

“To get a subclass then to make sure it reflects you better than the main class….” she said. “In your case what father offered you to do, but you had to give up a few things and you refused…” she sighed, making Yulian who got what she meant almost gasp. Of course, he would refuse!

Lily sighed, this was the method she was planning to fix her class with, although being a Shadow Dancer was not a bad class, it was not powerful enough.

“The third method?” Yulian asked, noticing Lily going silent.

“To get a class changing scroll… I only heard about 3 ever existing, and that’s the way you ended up going finally… father had to pay a lot of money and carry a lot of favors to get one for you, and in the end, your class became a Drunk Warrior,” she shrugged. “You really did develop an unhealthy drinking habit with Victor back then.”

“Oh…” Yulian frowned.

“Don’t worry, we are here to stop all this mess from ever happening!” Lily said.

“Doing what exactly?” Yulian asked.

“If my guess is right, we will be brought to the family very soon, so before that, I thought we would go on a little adventure together… To get more powerful and build our own team!” she said.

“Oh… And that can be done here? In the middle of nowhere?” Yulian asked, looking around.

“In a way… This place is not what it seems to be!” Lily said as she stood up and looked outside to check the position of the moon. “Follow me, it is about time…” she said as she turned around and began heading deep into the cave.

Yulian quickly stood up and followed her, wondering what she was up to. Strangely, he didn’t doubt her one bit, it was as if he was under the influence of some magical wine!

Akaichi Sorry for the delay...

Enjoy!