Gacha Harem System-Chapter 52: Veiled Skye

They looked at each other, a silent agreement passing between them.

Slowly, without making it obvious, they both reached back and drew their swords, keeping the blades close to their sides as Lukas reached for the door handle.

The door swung open before he could even touch it.

The realtor stood in the frame, his eyes bright and a wide smile on his face as he placed one hand on the door.

"Ah, Mr. and Mrs. Valentine, you’re here right on time! I was just—" His eyes dropped, and the smile flickered on his face. "Why do you have your swords out?"

Lukas’ eyes narrowed as he studied the man’s face. His expression was genuinely confused, and he had no tension in his shoulders.

There was none of the calculation he’d been expecting behind the eyes.

Basically, nothing that suggested anything other than a man who had opened his door to find two armed Awakeners on his step.

He glanced at Melody.

She gave a small, almost imperceptible shrug.

They sheathed their weapons in unison.

"Apologies," Lukas said smoothly. "Force of habit. We came straight from training."

The realtor blinked, then recovered his smile. "Of course. Perfectly understandable. Please, come in."

He stepped aside.

Lukas and Melody exchanged a brief look as they crossed the threshold.

The quest hadn’t mentioned any active danger. Just that they needed to survive. And the title had already told them what they actually needed.

Their poker faces.

So they followed the man inside.

The realtor led them down a short corridor and into an inner room.

It was a modest space, with a low table at the center, two couches facing each other across it, and a window on the far wall that let in a narrow strip of morning light.

Three people were already waiting for them.

The first was a woman, who sat on the far couch with the languid ease of someone who had never needed to hurry for anything in her life.

She wore a black lacy dress and a wide brimmed black hat with a veil that fell across her face, obscuring everything below her eyes.

Those green eyes, visible above the veil, moved to Lukas and Melody the moment they entered the room and stayed there.

Standing on either side of her were two men. Both stood there, watching them just as intently as the woman.

Neither of them was visibly armed, both Lukas’ eyes flicked to their spatial rings immediately.

Being unarmed meant nothing when a spatial ring could produce a weapon in under a second.

These were guards, and professional ones. And the most important detail was their rank.

All three of them, including the woman, were A-rank.

The realtor gestured to the empty couch, with both Lukas and Melody taking their seat.

The realtor took his position at the head of the table between the two couches, clearing his throat with an oblivious smile on his face.

"Allow me to introduce our buyer," he said. "Mr. Valentine, Miss Finch, this is Miss Skye Rivers."

Lukas kept his face exactly the way it was, and beside him, Melody did the same. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Neither of them moved, or showed the surprise they were feeling on their face.

Their poker faces were out in full force, looking at the woman across the table with the polite, neutral attention of two people meeting a stranger.

Inside, Lukas’s mind was moving at full speed.

Rivers. The name sat in his chest like a stone.

He’d killed Kylo Rivers in the Scorched Forest, and this woman shared his last name.

A carefully dressed, veil-wearing, A-rank woman with two guards at her shoulders.

She had to be a member of his family. It was too much of her coincidence for her to be anything else.

The question was what did she know.

He ran through it quickly. If she knew they’d killed Kylo, she would not be sitting across a table from them in a realtor’s office.

She would’ve come after them differently, and they would not have been given the option to sit down.

The fact that they were here, that this meeting existed at all in this form, meant she was working with incomplete information.

She was here to study them.

To test what she could read from their faces, their posture, and the way they held themselves.

Even the introduction had been important. If the quest notification hadn’t warned them, they’d have displayed some tiny reaction at the name, and would’ve tipped off the lady.

They’d have shown her that her name meant something to them. But they’d passed the first phase of the test.

Lukas held her gaze through the veil and gave her a polite smile.

No matter what happened, he would definitely survive this.

His attention was pulled to the realtor as the man set a few documents on the low table and clasped his hands together.

"As you can see, both parties have agreed in principle to the figure of one hundred thousand gold coins. However, Miss Rivers has expressed a desire to discuss a few points before we finalize everything."

Melody spoke before Lukas could. "We already fixed the price." Her voice was pleasant, but with a hint of hardness. "There’s nothing to discuss on our end."

She turned to look directly at Skye. "If you intend to negotiate directly with us, I’ll save us both the time. One hundred thousand gold coins was the agreed figure. We won’t be moving from it in either direction."

Skye said nothing for a moment. Her eyes flicked from Melody to Lukas and back again, assessing.

Then she spoke for the first time, turning to stare at the realtor. "Would you excuse us, please?"

The realtor blinked, looking between the two parties. "I... are you certain? It’s somewhat irregular for me to—"

"Please leave us sir," Lukas said, his voice filled with curiosity.

"Lukas," Melody whispered, low, yet loud enough for the other occupants of the room to barely hear, "what are you doing? We agreed on a hundred gold coins."

"It’s okay." He said in a normal tone voice, giving her a smile and reinforcing the image of a couple who were focused on their property deal. "Maybe they want to offer us more."

The realtor looked at him. Whatever he found in Lukas’ expression settled the matter.

He nodded once, and left the room, pulling the door shut behind him.

The sound of his footsteps faded down the corridor.

Skye finally leaned forward slowly, her gloved hands coming together on the table in front of her.

"You killed him, didn’t you?"