Journey to Become the Zenith

A Deal Written in White Gold

Brinda sat across from Felberta, her expression calm but her mind anything but.

The tea between them had begun to cool.

A thin curl of steam still rose from Felberta’s cup, disappearing into the warm air of the chamber. Outside the tall windows, the afternoon sun cast pale golden bars across the floor, illuminating drifting motes of dust. Everything about the room looked peaceful.

Yet neither woman felt at peace.

Brinda rested one hand lightly against the armrest of her chair. Her long purple hair fell over one shoulder, and her purple eyes remained fixed on the beautiful woman sitting opposite her.

Felberta smiled.

That smile was gentle enough to fool an ordinary person.

Brinda wasn’t ordinary.

She had spent too many years living in shadows to mistake a pleasant expression for harmlessness.

”If you want to start a business, you could have just done it through the normal procedures. Pay the Merchants Guild the appropriate fee and do the proper paperwork. It’s not really that hard. Even if you are a foreigner, the Merchants Guild here in New Fantom will gladly allow you to set up shop.”

Her tone was polite, almost conversational.

But there was a question hidden beneath every word.

Why me?

Why go through this trouble?

Why reveal so much?

Felberta’s lips curved slightly.

Brinda tilted her head, studying her.

’Why would someone like this ask for help over such a small matter? Not only did she show a bit of her hand, she even used my real name. Was all that done for a simple permission to set up shop?’

The question refused to leave her mind.

Brinda had learned long ago that dangerous people rarely asked for something because they needed it.

Sometimes, they asked because they wanted to see how you would respond.

Her past had taught her that lesson brutally.

Before becoming one of Victor’s trusted subordinates, Brinda had lived through a life where names were weapons and identities were shields. The name she carried now had been earned through years of blood, betrayal, and survival. She had once hidden herself behind another identity, carefully burying the woman she had been.

Victor had eventually seen through the walls she had built.

Rather than discarding her past, he had given her a place beside him.

That was why she could not afford to be careless now.

She wasn’t merely negotiating money.

She was protecting the city Victor had entrusted to them.

Felberta took another sip of tea.

”You see, Ms. Brinda, I want to avoid those little things such as that. If I were to do this the proper way, then I would need to register in New Fantom’s Merchants Guild. For personal reasons, I wish to avoid that. That’s why I need your help.”

She placed the cup down softly.

”What’s there to think about, Ms. Brinda? I am simply asking for such a little thing in exchange for giving you the funds you need to fulfill your ideals.”

Brinda’s fingers tightened slightly beneath the table.

’Why does she want to skip the registration process? What is this woman truly planning? If I make a mistake here, I might end up as a training dummy for that butler.’

Her eyes briefly shifted toward Oliver.

The butler stood behind Felberta without moving.

He looked perfectly ordinary.

That was precisely what frightened her.

There was no arrogance in his posture. No obvious killing intent. No pressure leaking from his body.

Nothing.

And yet Brinda knew better.

A warrior announced himself.

An assassin didn’t.

She slowly exhaled.

”You’re asking me to bend the rules of the city.”

”Only slightly.”

”And you’re offering enough money to make that slight inconvenience disappear.”

Felberta smiled.

”That is one way of describing it.”

Brinda narrowed her eyes.

”Or another way would be that you’re trying to buy an exception.”

Felberta’s smile widened by the smallest amount.

”Perhaps.”

For several heartbeats, neither woman spoke.

The silence stretched between them.

Then Brinda leaned back.

”Is that all you want, Felberta?”

”Of course that isn’t all, but it’s the most important part.”

Felberta’s voice remained smooth.

”If you don’t agree to that one request of mine, then the deal is off. If I were you, I would take it, no questions asked.”

Brinda’s gaze sharpened.

Felberta continued.

”I know you aren’t this indecisive. Not back when you were still Thelia Renia—the hidden witch, number one assassin who assassinated major targets.”

The room changed.

It happened so quickly that an ordinary person might not have noticed.

Brinda’s breathing stopped for half a second.

Her fingers froze.

The warmth disappeared from her eyes.

Then killing intent erupted from her body.

It wasn’t loud.

It didn’t explode outward like some barbaric warrior’s aura.

It simply filled the room.

Cold.

Dense.

Sharp enough to make the candles tremble.

Oliver immediately shifted his weight.

His hand moved toward his weapon.

Felberta raised one finger.

Oliver stopped.

Brinda’s purple eyes burned.

”Don’t.”

Her voice was quiet.

Far more dangerous than shouting.

Felberta remained seated.

Brinda slowly clenched her fist.

That name belonged to someone who no longer existed.

Thelia Renia.

A ghost from a life she had buried.

A woman who had killed people without hesitation.

A woman who had trusted no one.

A woman who had eventually lost everything that mattered.

She had believed that identity was dead.

She had made certain of it.

Even Eon did not know the whole truth.

Not Victor.

No one.

And now this stranger had casually dragged that corpse back into the light.

”I wish you would stop calling me that.”

Brinda’s voice trembled—not from fear, but from restraint.

”I no longer possess the power to be called a witch, and on that day when my heart broke, that was the day Thelia died.”

Her eyes became colder.

”There’s no longer a Thelia Renia. Only Brinda remains.”

She leaned slightly forward.

”If you keep on provoking me like this, Felberta, then I will take it as a declaration of war.”