Arriving in a colorful garden with lots of pink, yellow, and blue flowers, Vicente soon spotted three women next to a fountain, two sitting on opposite sides of a table.
On one side was a blonde woman, Mira Burt, the eldest daughter of the Burt patriarch, level 2. On the other side was an orange-haired woman Vicente knew well, who was currently at level 3.
Behind Shelby was her trusted servant, a red-haired beauty, Molly, who was currently at the same level as her young lady.
As Shelby and Mira played a chess-like game, Molly noticed Vicente's arrival and alerted her young lady.
"Young lady, Vicente Fuller is here," Molly said as she looked at the man with black hair walking behind a woman in a feminine suit.
How Molly looked at Vicente at that moment was completely different from how she had looked at him in the past.
After mastering a level 3 Basilisk, Vicente's power and influence had increased exponentially in Molly and Shelby's estimation.
Shelby looked at Vicente when she heard his name and stood up from where she was, feeling her heart beat faster.
With her wedding to Marcus Symons only a few weeks away, Vicente's recent accomplishments had relieved her heart greatly.
"Vicente!" She called his name as she clasped her hands behind her back, not expecting to be so happy to see this man in front of her.
"Shelby, it's good to see you again." He smiled at her as he greeted her, kissing one of her cheeks as she asked him softly.
"Did everything work out?"
"Yes, your things are here." He slipped a spatial ring he had received from her earlier into one of the pockets of Shelby's dress without drawing attention to what he had given this beautiful woman.
Shelby felt excited, and her heart beat faster, making her face a little red at the wrong impression she gave her friend.
Seeing how Vicente and Shelby had greeted each other, Mira raised her eyebrows as she looked at her best friend's face.
"Shelby... Don't tell me the rumors I've heard..." She murmured in a low tone, but everyone beside the fountain heard her.
"No!" Shelby's expression changed as she looked at Mira. "Vicente and I are friends. Don't misunderstand this."
"But..." Mira found Shelby's manners and how she blushed when standing beside Vicente bizarre.
Vicente laughed and said. "You must be Miss Mira Burt, right? I've heard wonderful things about you. It's a pleasure to meet you." He showed one of his hands.
"Hmm, Shelby's told me fantastic things about you, too." Mira stood up and gave Vicente one of her hands. "But I'm curious, what exactly is your relationship?"
Shelby had arranged this meeting at Mira's house because of pressure from her family. After Marcus' moves, her stepmother pressures and watches her so she won't see Vicente.
Even Shelby's father had given orders to the men in the family to prevent her from seeing Vicente and even threatened to put her under house arrest if she was seen with him.
However, Shelby wanted to talk to Vicente about recent events and get her share of what he had collected in The Rocky Gorge.
Shelby had given Vicente a lot of information that had helped him move around that forest area, maps, and also descriptions of the terrain. She had even warned him about the groups of local nobles that would be near the groups of army soldiers that Vicente had cleverly avoided meeting in the last few days.
Anyway, to meet him, she had decided to use her friend Mira to camouflage who she was meeting.
With no choice but to confide in her friend, Shelby explained to Mira. "Vicente and I are business associates. Our relationship is not what Marcus thinks it is. Unfortunately, there's no way to persuade my family or him of this, so I have to meet Vice this way.
I'm sorry to bother you like this, Mira. But without your help, I couldn't meet with Vicente to discuss some of our important business moves."
"Oh? So that's it?" Mira didn't mind that her friend used her to get to know Vicente. It was a perfectly normal thing for friends to do for each other.
But she was a little disappointed to hear that nothing was going on between Shelby and Vicente. As a young woman who loved romance novels, Mira was disappointed to discover that her friend's reaction moments before had been just a misunderstanding.
"Yes, that's exactly it," Vicente confirmed as he sat down next to the table where they were playing.
"Anyway, you must be curious about my next steps, right?" Vicente looked at Shelby.
"Yes. I think it's time we talked about my plans. We need to combine our movements so we don't block each other's." She agreed, not bothering to ask Mira for privacy.
She could discuss Vicente's plans in front of Mira without her friend understanding what they had in mind.
"What do you have in mind?" He asked her.
"I'm going to marry Marcus soon... At least that's what's on the schedule for the Symons and Staples families." She said with a complicated expression, obviously disgusted with the situation.
Mira sighed and asked. "Is there any way to avoid this? We're so close to the wedding."
"If something happens in town, there is," Shelby said as she looked at Vicente.
Vicente closed his eyes. "I don't know if I can help you with that. I have challenging problems to solve that are dangerous even for me.
Since I'm not sure they will be solved in the next two weeks, I can't guarantee that I can help you today."
"A difficult problem even for you?" Molly opened her mouth in surprise.
Shelby was shocked, too, because, considering Vicente's current power, he must be one of the strongest individuals in the city. "Are you serious?"
"Hmm, I am. I'm a bit unlucky... I've got this problem, and after that, there's a local auction that I'm told will have something valuable for me in it."
Mira and Shelby also planned to attend the auction, which would take place a few days before her wedding to Marcus.
"Do you intend to enter the fray over the items to be auctioned at this event?" Shelby asked.
"Yes, that is the intention of my associates."
"Then perhaps we can help each other on the day!"
