**Balder—Christian Reindl, Lucie Paradis**
"Mother's informants have it that the Duke Heir of Shantaville has prepared the contract for the Seven Thousand Blood Slaves," Ember mused out loud the moment Alaric Ashwyck departed from the side drawing room.
"True." Calyx confirmed with a nod, "yet the Duke Heir has been mysteriously missing from recent happenings of society."
Ember frowned. "I have noticed that. He hasn't been moving around even with his group of misfits in the name of friends. Do you think he is perhaps catching up with the fact that he is just a discardable heir? I find his silence quite unnerving."
Calyx shook her head slowly. "I truly wouldn't know. He seems like an unpredictable person."
