After dinner, Eduardo Tercero worked in his study as usual, while Claudio Belles paced the stairs with nothing else to do.
The Villa Real suddenly had a guest, not properly a guest, this man was Rufo of the Occult Organization, a ministry of Eduardo Tercero.
Claudio Belles had heard of this man, Rufo and his brother Mario, both belonging to the Occult Organization and considered to be Eduardo Tercero’s right hand man.
Rufo entered from the courtyard with a half-human German shepherd, who was casually shaking his head and shaking his body as if ready to attack at any moment.
Rufo’s brow furrowed when he entered the room and saw Claudio Belles, but Claudio Belles’ eyes were so wide that Rufo merely assumed he had mistaken him for someone else, nodded slightly in greeting, and led the huge German shepherd up the stairs to the study.
After Rufo entered the study, Claudius Belles gave a slightly long sigh; fortunately, Rufo did not seem to recognize her.
She had had an encounter with Rufo in Valencia, when she had just followed Esteban Zaragosa on a mission, but it was dark that night and she was not sure Rufo would have recognized her.
Her exposure, too, was just that one time.
Claudio Belles looked at the closed door of the first-floor studio and his heart squeezed a little.
…
In the studio, the big, half-grown German shepherd wagged his tail excitedly at the sight of his master and ran toward Eduardo Tercero, his two lanky front paws dropping into his master’s lap with the look of a dog begging to be petted.
“Woof woof woof woof …”
Eduardo Tercero stroked the big dog’s head and frowned slightly, “Why have you been eating fat?”
Mario touched his nose and coughed slightly, “Master of the Court, he was well bred by me.”
Edward the Third shot him a cold look, “It’s easy to eat too fat to run and catch your prey.”
Mario: “…”
Is that so important? You like a slim figure, don’t you?
Eduardo Tercero pushed the big dog’s paws away in disgust and threw them to the ground. The German shepherd had the good sense not to bother his owner anymore and sat against the leg of his chair, lazy and content.
Eduardo Tercero scrutinized Mario and, seeing that he had sent the dog away but it had not yet left, asked, “What, is something wrong?”
Mario interjected, “Mr. de la Corte, that pretty young lady downstairs, what is … she?”
Eduardo Tercero’s hand, clutching the pen, suddenly faltered, he dropped it and closed the document with a snap, his eyes shone with a sharp, cold light: “My man.”
Mario: “…”
What the hell is that murderous intent in Master’s eyes, it’s not like he’s in love with that girl!
“Are you interested in her?”
Mario, as a man, is not interested in women, let alone having heard him compliment anyone pretty out of his mouth.
The light in Eduardo Tercero’s dark eyes grew even more arrogant and cold.
Mario secretly sweated, aggrieved, “I didn’t do it, Master of the Court.”
Not to mention that he had absolutely no interest in the young lady below, and even if he did, he would have had to kill the thought in his mother’s womb, for God’s sake.
It was the first time the Lord of the Court had ever explicitly said, by name, that he was her man.
How dare he steal a woman from his master?
“You say she’s pretty?”
Mario flinched as soon as he could, and the Court Master’s questions were really sharp one after another, he was a real killer.
If Mario boasts that he is beautiful, the Court Master will think he is coveting; if he says she is not beautiful … well … how can the lord’s wife not be beautiful.
To say that she is not beautiful would not be to slap Edward the Third and question his look.
“Master, I was only there for a moment, I didn’t pay much attention, and as you know, I’m not at all enlightened now, I don’t have much heart for women. Just now, when I came in, I only noticed that the young lady looked a little familiar.”
Eduardo Tercero’s eyes sank slightly, “Where have you seen her before?”.
Mario now recalled seriously, “Anyway, she looked familiar, I always had the feeling that I had crossed paths with her.”
No sooner had he blurted out the words, the murderous intent in Eduardo Tercero’s eyes flashed, and Mario immediately said easily, “But since she was my master’s girlfriend, I think I must be misremembering, and I really don’t remember exactly what the woman I crossed paths with looked like, except that I thought the woman was pretty, but as you know, my master, I have a certain face blindness when it comes to looking at women. The ones that are pretty, I think look about the same.”
…
Mario came down from the studio and bumped into Claudio Belles again.
Mario was not supposed to greet Claudio Belles, but he was attentive: “The maestro said you were his new girlfriend?”.
Claudio Belles was stunned, he did not expect Eduardo Tercero to be so generous as to admit something like that in front of his men.
Mario asked again, “What is your name?”.
“My name is Claudio.”
“Oh, Miss Claudio, I don’t know why, but I always thought Miss Claudio looked familiar, has Miss Claudio been to Valencia?”
Claudio Belles’ heart skipped a beat, but his face remained unperturbed and he looked straight at Mario, saying nonchalantly, “Are you hitting on your master’s wife?”
Mario: “…”
She’s not a woman to be trifled with. No wonder it was the master who took a liking to this woman, she was a bit like the master in temperament, a rather nasty fellow.
Mario smiled, “Miss Claudio did misunderstand, how dare I, I met a woman in Valencia who, to put it mildly, did look a bit like Miss Claudio, but I must have misremembered, our master has a good eye for people.”