章節 139: 40 YEARS

Mia, who had not spoken from the start, suddenly opened her mouth. "Even although I talked to him only for a few minutes, I got the feeling that he is not simple."

Earl Carson looked at his wife in doubt. "Why do you think so?"

"... I don't know, just a feeling. Right, he asked me to thank you for the gift you sent him."

"Gift? What gift?" The Earl wrinkled his brows.

"I don't know. He did not explain."

The Earl put on a thoughtful expression. Claus's words seemed to indicate something, but no matter how long he thought, he could not discern anything.

Prince Alan, seeing Alice's interested gaze and his uncle's serious expression, could not help but interject.

"You are overestimating him too much. Actually, simply by the fact that he chooses this kind of time to go around playing with my sister means that he doesn't have a good future. Anyone else, after learning that he will be exiled in five years, would be trying to find a way to avoid the exile. But that little brother of mine is still coming to see the newest attraction of hidden cave. Or he is very confident in his abilities, or he is a fool." A smile of derision appeared on Alan's face.

Alice's eyes flashed with a cunning light. "The new attraction huh. I heard that it's an array that uses illusions to simulate enemies."

"That is right." Young master Albert said with a hint of pride. "It was created by an array master of our family to train our troops.

The illusions are very realistic and attack the people inside the array using many different methods. Although they can't cause any kind of injury, the feeling when you fight them is very real."

Alice grinned. "... However, I find the attraction a bit dangerous."

"Oh? Why is it?" Asked Albert.

"You see... An assassin can use the illusions as cover to kill his target and then escape without anyone noticing anything."

"Huh? Now that you say it, maybe it's possible. I guess I have to tell my family about it." Albert smiled at Alice, but it was obvious that he did not take her words seriously.

However, someone else did.

Without anyone noticing, the servant behind the prince left for an instant before returning.

Seeing that, Alice smiled mischievously, but her smile disappeared in the next instant.

She then looked at the prince and the earl and opened her lips.

"Earl, prince, I think it's time for you to tell us why did you invite us here?"

Prince Alan looked at the earl. Once seeing him nod, the prince took a deep breath.

"... As you know, I was chosen as the crown prince a few days ago, so it's necessary for me to forge ties with the different noble families. Think of this meal as an opportunity to talk about future cooperation between your family and the empire."

"Mmm... However prince, I think you are not qualified to talk about cooperating with my family."

Prince Alan froze. He looked at Alice and narrowed his eyes sharply. "... Care to explain the reason?"

"After all, the emperor is still alive and young." Alice stared right into prince Alan's eyes and smiled bewitchingly. "With the emperor's age, he can live easily another 40 years."

Looking at Alan, the earl, and young master Albert, Alice chuckled gently.

"... And if the emperor does not die, nobody else can become emperor."

Strangely, nobody found anything wrong with her words.