Chapter 277: Heading Back

He and Marcus went their separate ways. Marcus still had to take care of some things, but he made sure to remind Julius that they were leaving the next day.

When he got back to the living quarters where he and Reinera had been living, he sensed the girl in question immediately.

She was pacing back and forth in front of the entryway, fiddling with her fingers like she always did when she was nervous.

He took a deep breath before he finally grasped the doorknob and opened the door.

Reinera immediately swiveled to where he walked in and strolled toward him with an aggressive pace. At first, he thought she was going to hit him in or at least give him a good wack. He had already closed his eyes, accepting his fate. But he was pleasantly surprised when she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.

She continued to hold onto him for a while before she finally spoke up. “Aren’t you going to hug me back?” She asked offendedly.

He grinned and proceeded to wrap his own arms around her.

“How was your mission, huh?” He asked.

“Surprisingly, not awful. That boy they wanted me to spy on didn’t really pan out. He tried to hit on me and tried to get me alone several times, but he wasn’t that bad. Just a little too arrogant and cocky but then again what noble boy isn’t? Sadly, I didn’t catch him saying anything about his father’s operations or if they were the traitors. It seemed like the son had nothing to do with it and was merely a spoiled teen,” she explained to him.

“How about you? Nobody has told me anything yet. Did everything go to plan?” She asked.

“It went about as I expected. We got some vital information and even captured a number of their stronger members, so hopefully, they have some things that might help House Easten,” he said truthfully.

She must have been skeptical though because she pulled away from him so that she could stare him in the face.

“So you weren’t in danger or anything?” She asked, looking directly into his eyes.

Seeing that he was being scrutinized, he ended up telling her most of the details. Even the ones pertaining to the Tier 5 he fought briefly. As well as Marcus and Stella showing up to save him at the last moment.

When he was finally done retelling the events, he found himself getting smacked on top of the head.

“What did I say before you left?”

He closed his eyes and made an honest attempt at trying to remember what she had said to him. To be fair, there were a lot of things to review and he couldn’t remember everything. But when he failed to answer her, he had to take another smack to the head.

“I had you promise me that if you were in any danger, you would prioritize your life over everyone else’s. That includes not taking on a Tier 5! What were you thinking?”

He put his hands up placatingly. “I promise you, it’s not like I had a choice. I promise I tried to run. He just ambushed me before I could even try. Plus, there wasn’t supposed to be anyone that strong going. It’s something that Marquis Easten and the others are going to figure out though.”

“They better! They could have gotten you killed.”

“I know,” he said with a solemn nod. He knew better than anyone just how close he was to death once again. While he liked to pretend it wasn’t that dangerous, the fact remained that he got lucky once again.

“There is something more important that I wanted to tell you,” he said to her before she could continue berating him.

“What? What could be more important?” She asked sarcastically.

“They know,” he said simply, knowing that she would understand what he meant by that.

Her eyes pinched together. “What do you mean they know?”

“I don’t know how, but it seemed like they had realized it a while ago,” he said softly.

She grabbed her hair and pulled on it. “So they know that I am not Grace but Reinera?”

He nodded hesitantly at her, not knowing how she might react.

She stalked around the room angrily and kept on muttering to herself, but after a few minutes, she calmed down.

“I had a feeling they knew,” she finally admitted with a frown.

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“Really? Why’s that?” He asked with a tilt of his head.

“Because they prevented me from going on that mission with you. The one they had me assigned to didn’t even seem like it was a real mission. It was more like I was just supposed to dress up and mingle with the other noble children. Looking back on it, it was probably just an excuse for them to not risk my life on that mission,” she said, shaking her head.

“Huh, I hadn’t thought of it that way before.”

“Yeah, which is also why I think that they knew how dangerous it could potentially be and that makes me mad because they still decided to send you anyway,” she grumbled angrily.

“That’s not the whole reason,” he tried to calm her down. “I insisted on going to. I wanted to find out some answers for myself and I did.”

“Yes, but are you really that surprised? House Greyson sounds like it’s full of greedy nobles. If a noble House like House Townsen is a part of them, then it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say that other influential Houses are connected too.”

“No, it wasn’t exactly a surprise, but it was nice to confirm some of my feelings as well as get some more information for House Easten,” he pointed out.