The Young Master in the Shadows

Chapter 516: More Golden Threads

“You girls had fun getting to know each other?” Victor asked as he walked back into the living room with Axel. Margret, Elise, and Lin were sitting with Gloria, Yue, and Bianca, who was currently known as Zorana.

Anyways, the sight of the two Victors side by side was very strange.

“We are… Wait… Which one of you is which?” Margret sat with the girls, talking about stupid things, frowned, and asked.

Victor and Axel turned and looked at each other.

“Guess…” they both said at the same time, then looked at each other. Yeah, they were definitely brothers.

“...” the girls all rolled their eyes, then began to inspect the two young masters.

“They are really identical… Can I make you strip?” Margret asked as she leaned forward to look.

“No!” Both Victor’s replied.

“Tst…. I thought the real Victor would say Yes….” Margret clicked her tongue and then relaxed in her seat. “Anyway, I now know!”

“You do?” Gloria, who was not sure, asked.

“I know too!” Lin said. She could smell the real Victor. He smelled like Margret, especially his head… That bitch must have been making him perform some weird poses again!

“Me too…” Elise also said. She could see the truth perfectly due to her bloodline. And although both victors appeared the same, the real Victor had an extra demonic aura around him.

Yue frowned. Feeling a little overwhelmed. Why could Victor’s harem tell him apart while she couldn’t?

“I know…” Bianca finally said slowly, walking toward the real Victor and hugging him. “This is my one…” she said as she made a secret move with her hand, making a strange sigil appear on Victor’s back.

“Then I will go with Bianca’s choice…” Gloria said.

“Me too…” Yue added.

“Sorry to disappoint you girls, but I am the real deal!” Victor, who acted as if he didn’t notice what Bianca did, said as he glared at his brother. “See… I told you, I am more charming!”

“WHAT!”

“DAMN!”

All the girls gasp, especially Bianca, who acted flustered as she quickly hurried away from Victor.

“Damn it!” Axel cursed silently.

“Sorry…” Gloria apologized to him, feeling a little guilty. So did the other two, blushing a bit.

“It is ok… we are just very similar….” Axel said angrily, glaring at Victorʼs harem, they clearly knew who the real one was from the start. Damn it!

“I am just more charming!” Victor sighed.

“We look the same, damn it!” Axel glared at his stupid brother. “It must have been a coincidence… “

“Whatever suits you, bro…” Victor shrugged.

“...” Axel looked away with annoyance.

“So, have you guys agreed on your plan for the future?” Margret asked, changing the awkward subject.

“Yes, Axel will take my place for the foreseeable future,” Victor said. “We will make the switch after I attend Gary’s wedding! After that, I will keep low and focus on leveling up!” he said with a tired sigh.

“Exactly…” Axel nodded. “That is, until the family fixes my situation…”

“Oh… Then what about Axel’s girlfriends?” Elise asked as she looked at the three girls.

“For now, Axel will live in the hotel under the pretext of avoiding getting found out by you…. And after everything is over, he will hold a grand wedding where he will reveal himself and marry the three of them!” Victor said.

“You are!” The three girls all looked at Axel at the same time.

“Eh… I am?” He glared at Victor.

“Weren’t you the one who told me that?” Victor winked.

“Ah… Right! It will be the biggest wedding in the country!” Axel swallowed, silently cursing Victor as he said with a smile. He was not brave enough to be as perverted as Victor and only planned to hold a private wedding. The reason was that he planned to take a lot of wives, and doing a grand wedding with those three only would make all the future others demand the same, which would be very awkward coming forward…. Still, seeing the girls’ sparkling eyes, he could no longer back off!

“...” The three girls could only look at each other with big smiles, hearing him. Only Xue among them seemed to have noticed something and shot Victor a thankful glare. Although she hated his guts before, now, as her future brother-in-law, he didn’t seem that bad!

“He also said he planned to build a grand palace for you and all your future children!” Victor said.

“...” Axel glared at him. “We will talk about this later… I wanted to keep it a surprise…” he said, gushing his teeth.

“He also had plans about the Maids, like…”

“Since everything was arranged, I think that’s enough for today, and we should leave now…” Axel suddenly interrupted, feeling that if he were to stay here, Victor would take control over his future life.

“What? But we just started to get to know each other,” Margret complained like a sultty wife trying to seduce her brother-in-law.

“We will get a chance later!” Axel said with disgust. “Let’s go…” he told his girlfriend.

They looked at each other, then with smiles all stood up and began to say their goodbyes to Victorʼs wives!

In a few minutes, they were gone in a car arranged by Victor, which would deliver Axel to the hotel, then circle back to the mansion as the latter was still in it!

***

“It’s finally over!” Victor said as Axel took his harem and left, “Now let’s go inside and have fun…” he said as he inspected what Bianca left on him.

INVISIBLE YASOR SIGIL, S

TRACKING, EAVESDROPPING, AND REMOTE DETONATION

RANGE 1000 Miles

Shit… This thing was evil. Well, for him, it was just another inconvenience!

He silently activates his disguise over it, deciding to either throw it on Lin or remove it when he meets his mysterious master after Gary’s wedding. Those guys wouldn’t ‘Remote detonate’ him anytime soon.

“Did the thing with him work out?” Lin asked, as she threw herself into Victor’s arms and began to rub her face against his chest as soon as the guests left, not even waiting for them to get inside!

“Yup… Margret, prepare me a box of the stuff for tonight… Make sure they can’t be tracked!” he said.

“Already prepared!” she smirked. “I might need to change a few things though… I didn’t expect him to already get three!”

“Yeah, I was surprised too…” he sighed.

“What are you talking about?” Lin asked, squinting her eyes.

“Will talk about it later,” Victor smirked as he inspected all the girls. Thankfully, it was only him with that Sigil. It was probably not cheap. “What do you think about his girls?” he asked as he pulled Lin, then carried her like a princess and walked toward the living room.

“You mean that girl Zorana?” Elise, who walked behind him, asked while shooting Lin an envious glare. She had already noticed something very wrong around that woman, but even with her bloodline, she couldnʼt clearly make it out.

“Yeah…”

“She kept looking around the mansion, getting lost twice on her way to the bathroom, itʼs like she is some spy!”

“Totally!” Margret nodded.

“Well, she is a spy…. In fact, she is the same Bianca who scammed Michael before… I didn’t tell you, fearing she might find out!” Victor sighed.

“Hsssssssss…..” the girls gasped. “WHAT!”

“Apparently, she works for that Oblivion lord!... She even left a tracker on me!” Victor said with annoyance. “This is not bad, though, now we can throw everything about time travel info on Axel and act freely… You can continue with your expansion plan!” Victor told Margret. “No need to act very cautiously! Just make sure to keep it lowkey!”

“Good point!” Margret nodded. “Why do you sound troubled then…”

“Now we are sure who is behind that Malcolm guy…” Victor sighed.

“What did this guy do now?” Margret asked as they entered the living room.

“...Well…” Victor sighed. “One moment… Come out!” he said as he flicked his finger and made Alpha, who was locked in his cauldron, appear in her newly acquired short maid dress... She looked super sexy in it like a badass maid who was going to murder her young master at any moment.

“Your guests left?” she asked as she looked around, confirming that she was in the mansion’s living room.

“Yeah… It was more trouble than I expected…” he said. “Now, sit down, I got some new info from Lily that I will have to tell you… Just make sure not to ask any questions, some info might be ‘cursed…’...” he said as he relaxed on a couch with Lin, naturally climbing to his side. Elise took the other with Margret sitting on an armchair opposite them.

Alpha hesitated for a moment, then sat next to Margret. “This info… Does it differ from what I told you?” she asked.

“It complements it… “ he said, turning to one of the loli maids. “Make sure not to disturb us for the next hour or so unless it is an emergency!”

“... Yes, young master…” the maid bowed, then walked out, closing the door behind her.

Victor flicked his finger, creating a disguise around the place, then cleared his throat.

“Let’s start with naming our adversary, since I can’t mention her real name, let me call her the Grand Bitch… This bitch, is like me, a time traveler!” he said. “According to Lily…”

***

“What? An idol band?” Roy’s mother, Jewell, asked her daughters, who sat around the breakfast table, after they told her of what happened yesterday. Her eyes were on the 6-figure number that was on the draft contract they brought… Although they were no longer struggling after Roy returned to the family, they still needed the money for the girls’ education.

“Yeah… “ Roy said. “It was out of nowhere, but as the Harmony said, my little sister Lara is going to study abroad all of a sudden, but she was reluctant to leave behind the band she made, so it just happened that she thought that Harmony and the others are well suitable to ‘Take her Mantel’ or something…” he sighed shaking his head. “I don’t think they are ready for something…”

“BROTHER! THIS IS OUR MATTER!” Harmony yelled at him before turning to her mother. “Anyway, Miss Mira said that we will need your approval before we can sign the contract… Can you help us? PLEASE, MOM….” she said with upturned eyes.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“Mira as in…That Mira Elven?” Jewel asked in surprise.

“Yeah! She is even prettier than when she was on TV!” Cadence, who sat to the side of the table, said passionately. “Her skin is so smooth and sparkly… I bet she uses that new cream she appears in its advertisement!”

“Oh…” Jewel squinted and then turned to look at Roy again. “Is that brother of yours who ran that company reliable?”

“I am not sure… His name is Victor white…”

“Right… Mira’s husband…. “ his mother raised an eyebrow. “The one with the harem wedding?”

“Yeah…” Roy nodded.

“Oh… Did he try anything funny around your sisters when you were in his mansion?” she asked, squinting her eyes.

“Not really…” Roy said. “I just didn’t like the way he was looking at my sisters….”

“STUPID BROTHER! Big-brother Victor was acting as a gentleman all the time!” Harmony yelled, interrupting him as Melody blushed a bit and nodded.

“Big brother?” Jewel raised one eyebrow again, looking at her eldest daughter.

“Yeah… That’s how Sister Lara told us to call him, since we are Roy’s sister and he is Roy’s brother…”

“I see… Well. I did hear a few things about that guy… On the streets, they say he is into ‘more experienced’ ladies… Did he have a lot of older maids at his place?” She turned to her son and asked out of nowhere.

“Eh.... No, it’s quite the opposite in fact… He had a lot of young maids, that’s why I was a little worried about my sisters….”

“How little?”

“...The-kind-that-would-get-you-arrested little…”

“Oh…” Jewel squinted her eyes. “What is his relationship with them?”

“No idea… But according to one of the maids, they are ‘Privately employed,’ and their wages are something that made even me consider….” he stopped talking as he felt that telling his mother that he considered working as a loli maid himself was stupid. “Anyways… On the surface, nothing is wrong, but… You know how things go…” he sighed.

“...” Jewel squinted her eyes. “How about his wives?”

“Ah…” Roy frowned, wondering why his mother was asking about this. “They are all around my age. Only one of them seemed to be a minor, but she was actively denying that…”

“I am not asking about their age, but whether they seem happy or depressed… This would tell a lot about a man!” Jewel explained.

“Pretty normal… One of them was pregnant and… He seemed to have gotten a new one who came from abroad… That chick is not bad…”

“...” his mother glared at him. “Did you talk to them?”

“Just a bit…”

“Then you just sat there silent?”

“No, that foreign wife had a little sister who came along, so we just hung together…” he said nervously.

“How old is she?” Jewel, who noticed her son’s expression, asked. As a mother, she could naturally read her son’s stupid mind.

“... I didn’t ask…” he looked down at his dish.

“The police would not believe that… And you are not your brother!”

“Nothing happened, ok…. Let’s discuss the stuff about my sister now… I don’t think they should become idols, but focus on their studies…”

“STUPID BROTHER…. THIS IS…”

“Harmony…. Watch your language!” Jewel scolded.

“Ah…. Sorry…” Harmony pouted. “It is just that… Mom… Please… This is important to us…” Harmony begged.

“...” Roy shook his head.

“...”

“...”

“Fine, but you have to promise me a few things!” Jewel said after thinking for a few moments and inspecting her daughters.

“Ah…. But Mom!” Roy wanted to say something, but his mother just raised his hand, making him shut up.

“Listen, I can approve of all of this, but your agent will be an acquaintance of mine… “ Jewel said, flipping her old RealY phone open to send a message to a ‘friend’.

“Wah… Really?” the girls asked in unison. They were surprised their strict mother agreed to this quickly.

“Don’t be so glad yet, I will have Nola check things for me first… we will see after…” she sighed. In fact, she also felt that this might be a bit inappropriate, but this was a good chance for her daughters, who, after having that kidnapping incident, began to develop some fear toward men.

Unlike Roy, she was more sensitive about those things and had already noticed how they got very wary when some strange man walked near them on the streets… Probably some kind of PTSD. That’s why she told Roy to take them to the amusement park that day to try to fix this before it became a problem.

Now, this Idol thing might be a good chance for them, as she really doubted anything wrong would happen to them with her son now returning to his family! Better than anyone, she knew how deep the White family influence went! She learnt it the hard way!

And if that Victor guy were to take interest in one of her girls… She didn’t mind it, as long as he swore an oath to treat her well! She had personally gone snooping around to see how that woman Luna, who was about to marry Theodore, got treated… It was not bad at all! Damn, he gave her an entire restaurant!

Really, what better future could she have for any of her daughters? She had long realized that love was just a fantasy, and she was not going to allow her daughters to make the same mistake she did and miss this chance!

“Right… What happened with the date you were planning to arrange for me with Theodore?” Jewel suddenly asked.

“Ah….” Roy, who has been delaying this after that incident with Rosette, didnʼt know how to respond. “I… I forgot…”

“Forgot?” Jewel squinted. She thought that Theodore was the one hesitating and delaying their meeting after he expressed his willingness to go back together, but it seemed like it was all her stupid son’s fault. “Then youʼd better remember by the end of the day, or you will not have dinner tonight!”

***

“This is too complicated…” Elise finally said after hearing Victor recount what Lily told him. “But it makes sense!” she pondered.

“Yeah…” Victor said, turning to look at Alpha. “So don’t even think that you have become invincible by becoming a lord! In the end, we might all be just pawns in a bigger game!”

“...Is Lily credible?” Alpha frowned.

“I believe so,” Victor nodded. He didn’t refute Alpha for suspecting Lily, as he himself had also developed the habit of becoming extra skeptical lately.

“What a headache….” Margret sighed as she relaxed and looked up at the ceiling, lost in thought.

“So right now, we just need to add a new variable to the list…” Lin said. “What does it matter?”

“It matters a lot… First, we thought that the other families and that dark chamber were the ones to look out for… Then we discovered the Lords who are moving things behind the scenes, and now there is this ancient Plot going on… This is too layered to be a coincidence, including that Oblivion lord actively hiding tracks… It is clear that someone is trying to hide…” Elise pondered.

“The questions are why? And from who?” Victor continued.

“Yeah, and why does that ’Bitch’ go out of her way to bring Lily and the others along?” Elise added. “I just don’t believe that she would care about a few disciples… I mean, in the other timeline, she must have lived for 1000 years or so and taken many other disciples… Why only bring those in the last batch…”

“It might be to stabilize the timeline… Think about it, if you make sure that certain individuals were to be born, the divergence in the timeline wouldn’t be that big!” Victor speculated.

“It might be… “ Elise nodded.

“Troublesome…” Margret sighed.

“How was your raid?” Victor turned to Lin and asked.

“A standard dungeon raid, nothing to write home about… Axel should file the report to the family tomorrow and get the excavation rights to that Harpy shit… Guano, as they call it…” Lin sighed.

“Nothing fishy at all?” he asked. According to his grandfather’s report, the dungeon should have been open before, but everyone seemed to have forgotten about that, and the dungeon they found was closed. This made Victor suspect that the Oblivion master might be behind this, maybe exploring the dungeon… That Bianca was nearby was additional evidence.

Now, after he knew that dungeons could be locked back, he suspected that someone like Lily might have been there… But why not clear it?

“Not at all… Right, Axel did find one of those Skeleton keys inside… that Zorana… I mean, Bianca was very surprised when she saw it, and the accident where she slept with Axel happened quickly after…”

“Oh… It must have been when she confirmed he was a scion…” Victor nodded.

“Did Lily tell you what that Jade dungeon is all about?” Elise asked.

“She was sure it was something left by her master, as that bitch had something similar in the other timeline, which she used to choose disciples… Lily believes that it might contain something other than the way to become the emperor of the world, maybe a relic or a message left for her disciples…” Victor said. “In the other timeline, the Von Krone family got the way to become an emperor, and many scions seemed to have powered up after leaving it, so it must be true!”

“Oh…”

“Wait, that tournament is being conducted to distribute the keys, right?” Lin asked.

“Yeah…”

“Since you have a key…. 2 of them already, why are you participating?” she asked with a frown.

“Oh… For three reasons!” he said. “The first is to gather information… Just by being there, I would be able to appraise all kinds of people! The second is to eliminate some guys… If killed in the tournament, no one can seek revenge….”

“And the third?” Lin asked again.

“It is to introduce Vic Volt to the world!” he smirked evilly.

Knock Knock…

Someone suddenly knocked on the door.

“Come in…” Victor said as he dispelled the room’s disguise.

“Young master!” It was Hilda. “The twins are back!”

“Oh…” Victor jumped from the couch and immediately walked out toward the entrance, where the twins and the Alphabet girl were getting out of their cars.

“Husband!”

“Victor!”

“Young Master!”

“Come here!” You too!” he said, spreading his hands, making all the girls hurry to give him a big hug.

As they did that, he activated his appraisal to check on each one of them and make sure nothing was wrong and…

As expected.

Three of the girls had a Golden thread similar to Alpha!

Mina, Mana, and… Theta!

What did this all mean? Well, those three were among the few who underwent the greatest fate changes, but was this really it? Why not others?