Chapter 70 - A New Assassin Is Born

  A timid Kiood in the castle hall with my mother and Aunt Margie. My cousin had already darted towards the fox girl iement.

  Kinue is going to live with us? That’s... surprising.

  I approached, searg for Professor Adrihna.

  “Professor Adrihna has entrusted her to us. Just as you were taught by Adrihna, it’s now our duty to help Kinue bee strong,” my aunt said.

  “I want to tihe training I was receiving from Professor Martha,” Kinue added.

  Professor Martha?

  “Actually, I want to bee as strong as her. I want to be a battle maid.”

  “What?!” I blurted out in shock.

  Kinue being one of those battle maids? That would shatter the image I have of the kied fox girl...

  My aunt looked at her with a slightly puzzled expression.

  “I’m not sure we should be teag you these things... You do know we’re ly a normal family, right?” Aunt Margie asked.

  “I don’t have any other family to pare. I like it here,” Kinue replied.

  Both my aunt and mently patted Kinue’s head.

  “We’ll tih the basic training, and when Adrihurns, we’ll discuss this further,” Aunt Margie said, and Kinue nodded in agreement.

  My mother then approached me.

  “Kinue is our retive, Nathan. She has no one else, and we are her family now. It’s going to be fun having another child around,” my mother said.

  Kinue is my retive? How is that possible?

  As soon as I asked myself the question, the answer became obvious.

  My mother and I are desdants of a High Elf, and so is Kinue. So the same aor ects us. It makes sense, especially since Professor Adrihiohat there’s only been one recorded case of a High Elf reprodug with another species sihe Founder Emperor established the three realms.

  “Kinue is an Evenhart?” Chloe asked excitedly.

  My aunt approached her.

  “Kinue is reted to Nathan and Katie, but while she’s living with us, she’ll be treated as an Evenhart,” Aunt Margie expined.

  “Please take good care of me from now on,” Kinue said with a bow.

  “I told you that you were family. Now it turns out you really are family,” I said, trying to ease the shy fox girl’s nerves.

  Martha then approached us.

  “Lady Katherine, I will prepare a room in the mansion,” the maid said.

  My aunt nodded.

  “Will I be staying with you all in there?” Kinue poiowards the hallway with the rge metal door.

  “Of course. From now on, you’re an Evenhart, not just a guest. We won’t leave you alone in the castle. You’ll have to learn to follow some rules, okay?” my aunt asked.

  Kinue nodded in agreement.

  “Are you afraid of the dark? I know you’ve slept in the mansion before, but it’s very important in this pce that people aren’t afraid of the dark,” Aunt Margie said.

  “I see better in the dark... because I’m part fox.”

  “ht.”

  Chloe took Kinue’s hand.

  "e o's py!" the little monster said, dragging Kinue along.

  Poor Kinue, she's going to suffer in the hands of that brute girl.

  My mother and aunt approached me.

  "Nathan, you'll be apanying your aunt somewhere," my mother said.

  "Let’s take a little walk," Aunt Margie added as she passed by me, heading towards the hallway that led deeper into the mansion.

  I g my mother, realizing she wasn’t ing with us.

  ***

  I followed Aunt Margie as she walked silently ahead of me.

  “Did something happen?” I asked.

  “Nothing happened, my love. We’re just going to a different pce,” she replied.

  A different pce?

  I tio walk with her through the corridors, and we eventually desded the stairs that led to the underground levels. Over the years I’d lived here, there were rules that limited where Chloe and I could go, and in the underground areas, we were only allowed to access the ke room. Of course, my cousin and I had tried to explore other pces, but the doors were always locked, and whehe maids caught us, they would ask us not to peek through the doors.

  Aunt Margie stopped in front of a door and pulled a key from her pocket.

  “What are we going to do?” I asked.

  She turhe key and opehe door. The room was small, with a desk and a chair, where a maid was sitting, reading a book.

  The woman stood up, gave a respectful bow, and theuro her seat.

  “e, Nathan,” my aunt called.

  There was a hat the room, and she ope, leading the way dowairs. I followed her, resisting the urge to ask unnecessary questions.

  “Your training begins today,” she said as we walked down a dimly lit corridor.

  “Training?” I asked, surprised.

  “A training to bee a master i of Assassination.”

  So the day had finally e. My mother had old me much about what would happen or what it would be like. She only said everything would happehe time was right.

  “Our family has preserved the aeags feions. Even though we no longer live in barbaric times, we maintairaditions and ensure our childreaught properly,” Aunt Margie expined.

  As we walked down the corridor, I started to hear screams of pain.

  Aunt Margie paused.

  “Those are just the maids practig what they’ve learned about torture on some prisoner, don’t worry,” she said before tinuing to walk.

  I remained silent but couldn’t help myself and asked a question.

  “What will I learn, Aunt Margie?”

  “Everything. You’ll learn how to kill someoh a shirt, a knife, a needle, a book, a quill, a fingernail, a finger. You’ll learn how to kill in every possible way.”

  Aunt Margie kept walking.

  “You’ll have your initiation into torture with Martha, you’ll learn deadly teiques with Sifu, you’ll study poisons and pnts with Yusuf, you’ll practice throwing knives with Samantha, you’ll learn effit cutting teiques with Bonnie, you’ll learation with Lionel, and you’ll learn the rest from me.”

  She picked up the pace.

  “acies will also teach you if one of them is occupied. Hugo will handle your training regimen and diet.”

  When we arrived at our destination, I saw Natty and Catty, dressed in maid uniforms, covered in blood.

  “Lady Margaery,” they greeted my aunt.

  “Lord Nathan,” they greeted me.

  Aunt Margie pulled something from her ste bracelet and ha to me. It was a knife.

  “My nephew will start his training. Take him with you,” she told the twin sisters, then looked at me. “Today, Nathan Evenhart will bee an Assassin.”