Cassin stared at him for a long moment, then he burst into a loud laughter.
He found it hard to believe that a noble like Adonis would be interested in someone so useless as her.
"Her?" Cassin said. "You want Serah?"
"Is there another her in the room?"
Cassin shook his head still smiling. "Your Highness she is a disgraced knight. Stripped of her rank. She has no house or title. She's barely above a servant at this point. Surely a prince could ask for something more valuable."
Adonis looked at him with patient eyes.
"I want her."
Cassin shrugged like a man giving away something worthless. "Fine. She's yours. Now about the scroll—"
"Leave it." Adonis waved a hand. "I said I'd sign it. I'll sign it."
Cassin rolled up the other copy tucked it under his arm and walked out looking like a man who had just won something.
Adonis watched him leave.
The woman at the side hadn't moved through any of that, she didn't even react when she was traded like a piece of furniture.
She did look at Adonis or at anything, she just stood there by the door with her hand resting on a sword that Adonis noticed had a cracked hilt held together with wrapped leather.
Someone who couldn't afford to replace it.
Or wasn't allowed to.
The door closed with a click sound filling the room with an awkward silence.
Upon noticing Adonis's gaze she looked at the wall.
"You can look at me," he said. "I don't bite."
"I am aware Your Highness." Her voice was flat like an empty vessel without an emotion. Like someone who had learned to take up as little space as possible.
"What did you do?" Adonis asked.
She finally looked at him. Her eyes were dark brown with a blank expression of hopelessness on her face.
"Your Highness?"
"To get disgraced. What did you do?"
A pause.
"I refused an order."
"What order?"
Serah bit her lip slightly clenching her first.
"Lord Cassin ordered me to stand down while his men burned a village that owed him taxes." She said. "I didn't stand down."
Adonis nodded slowly.
So she had a spine. Good. People like her would be very useful.
He stood up from his chair and walked toward her. She was taller than him by a few inches which he found personally offensive but kept to himself. Up close her face had an old scar running along her jaw. Her armor was worn and repaired in three different places with mismatched material.
She had been surviving on scraps for a while.
"New arrangement," Adonis said. "You work for me now. Not Cassin. Not anyone else. Me."
She looked at him carefully. Trying to figure out the angle.
Smart.
"And what does working for you involve Your Highness?"
"Honestly?" He tilted his head. "Probably a lot of things that will seem strange at first."
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
[Ding! Bind available. Do you wish to bind Serah Voss?]
[Warning: Binding is permanent. Target will be linked to the Sovereign Bond System.]
[Estimated potential unlock upon bind: Exceptional.]
[Confirm?]
Adonis read the prompt twice.
It was clear that the system rated her highly and he would be a fool to pass by such an opportunity so he confirmed.
---
Adonis was waiting for something dramatic to happen but to his disappointment the only thing that appeared was a system message.
[Bind successful!]
[Serah Voss — Status: Bound.]
[Potential unlocking... 12%... 34%... 71%... 100%]
[Fallen Knight → Awakened Blade.]
[Host reward: 10,000X multiplier applied.]
[Strength +14,000. Speed +11,000. Instinct +19,000. Sword Mastery — Inherited.]
Adonis stood very still while his body processed an amount of power that should not have fit inside a fifteen year old prince.
It didn't hurt exactly.
It felt like every muscle in his body suddenly remembered something it had never been taught. Like his hands already knew how to end a fight before it started. Like the room got smaller and slower and every exit lit up in his mind automatically.
These were his old instincts but ten thousand times sharper.
He exhaled slowly.
'Okay then.'
Across from him Serah had gone completely still. Her eyes were wide. Just barely which was the first real expression she had shown since walking into the room.
Her hand went to her sword.
She drew it.
Adonis watched her stare at the blade like she was seeing it for the first time. She turned her wrist slowly. Then without any warning she moved.
He had been around elite fighters his whole life. Men and women who had trained since childhood. Killers who moved like water.
What Serah did was different.
It wasn't just fast but was deadly precise. Every movement landed exactly where it was supposed to with zero mistake or hesitation. She ran through a short sequence of strikes and then stopped.
She was breathing harder than normal but it was not because she was tired.
She looked at her hand, then she looked at him
"What did you do to me?" she asked with a genuinely confused expression.
"I upgraded you," Adonis said simply.
"...What does that mean?"
"It means you're significantly more dangerous than you were five minutes ago." He walked back to his chair and sat down. "Don't waste it."
She stared at him for another long moment. The sword still in her hand. Her jaw tight.
"Who are you?" she asked.
Adonis picked his book back up.
"Officially? The third prince. The useless one." He turned a page. "Unofficially?" He glanced up at her with a small smile. "Someone who is going to fix this empire whether it wants to be fixed or not."
Serah looked at him for a long time.
Then she sheathed her sword.
"The scroll," she said quietly. "The one Lord Cassin brought. You're actually going to sign it?"
"Of course not." Adonis turned another page. "I'm going to use it."
"Use it how?"
"Every noble who signed that document just handed me proof they've been stealing from the empire's treasury." He closed the book and looked at her properly. "I now own every single one of them."
Serah was quiet.
"You planned that," she said slowly as her mind began putting everything into a piece. "From the start. You let him walk in here thinking he won."
"He did win," Adonis said pleasantly. "He got my signature. I just also won at the same time." He shrugged. "That happens a lot with me. You'll get used to it."