Walking into the venue, I immediately felt a great many gazes lock onto me like that of a flock of birds of prey, before I felt them suddenly vanish, or more accurately, shift from my own body to that of my companion, who visibly reacted to such a vast number of probing eyes.

An undoubtably strange sensation to someone who's senses are not only more adept than ordinary, but has also lived their entire lives melding into the background shadows, while actively avoiding the spotlight and all it's troubles.

"Worry not." My hand reassuringly squeezed hers as I whispered. "None will dare approach you while you are by my side, but the burden of their eyes is unavoidable I'm afraid. For the time being at least."

"...A few inquisitive eyes are of little concern to me." She replied a few seconds later with a cool tone, having regained her momentarily lost composure, as her stubborn pride refused to allow a single weakness be shown or revealed.

I stifled a chuckle at her attempt to put up a brave front in front of me, which in all honesty might have fooled another person, but before me; he who could even recite the number of hairs upon her gorgeous head, and trace every contour and quirk of her ravishing body blind, it was nothing more than a mask of crystal clear glass.

"I'm glad." I happily replied, as we took our positions on the dance floor, before continuing with an even more difficult to disguise elation in my tone, as my left hand rested upon her soft waist in preparation for the signalling of the music, despite the meaning of my coming words, "Though I might have troubled you with having to create a new character to cover you from now on.

"It's fine. I had already gained all I could with my current identity, and was thinking of changing it soon enough." She nonchalantly answered.

"Is that so?" I smirkingly replied, before beginning to move under the music's care.

"Yes." She affirmed, before she impatiently then insisted. "Now, make do on your part of the agreement."

"Ask away." I did not mince anymore words, as I knew she despises such frivolous acts when she spoke in such a serious tone.

"How much exactly do you know?" She immediately queried with a hushed voice, as our bodies continued to rhythmically sway in the light of the harmonic melodies and the glares of lusting opportunists, who saw a gap to either enter my good graces, or for more malevolent reasons.

"I know a great deal of things, for example I am aware that you entering that balcony tonight wasn't a mere coincidence, but a planned move, designed to discover why I was searching for you, after you most likely noticed the presence of my men searching for you. Which is also why you have tainted your beautiful pale golden hair in such drab dyes, am I right?"

"...You are." She admitted after a brief hesitation, her warm breath tickling the back of my neck, before then stressing "But that is something you deduced or guessed. Which is not what I asked."

"True." I admitted with a chuckle, deciding to halt the fun for now and seriously answer her, saying "I know that your true name is Eve, but you have a habit of employing the moniker of Esra, which is what your mother originally wanted to call you, before your father opposed it, so you only make use of it when you want to hide your identity. I am aware of your divine heritage, and all of it's horrifying abilities, along with all it's cruel trials. I am aware of your older siblings' names, powers, locations, and their positions within your father's vast empire. And yes, I am clearly also in the know of your father; his weaknesses, his current gate and the price that it has already extracted from him; I am also aware of his current whereabouts as well, but most importantly I know of the challenge he's issued you, and the fact that you are currently in a bind about how to solve it." I stopped there, allowing her to process all I had said, especially the final part which was a part of the final conversation she and her father shared, a conversation she has never repeated to a supposedly second soul in her life; not in this lifetime anyway.

Her movements turned somewhat stiff after she heard my words, as she undoubtedly became engulfed in various conspiracy theories of how I could know such intimate details of her and her family, but there would be no answer to her mounting worries and questions, but I knew if I said that right now, she would only grow more guarded against me, so I simply emersed myself in the gentle happiness and immense satisfaction of having her in my arms and so close to me after such an agonizingly long wait, while allowing her to reach that conclusion on her own.

And only when the music was reaching it's end, did she finally return from the confines of her rattled mind, as she demanded with a dangerous edge "Tell me how you know all this."

I smiled behind my mask, as her cold tone and sharp tongue reminded me of some sweet old memories, while I lowered my head ever so slightly to hover just beside her ear, an intimate action I did as both a warning to all those who would dare approach her after this for their own nefarious ends, while keeping my voice as inaudible as possible from any overly curious ears, and admittedly enough, was also done partly for flirtatious playfulness, before I answered "At the moment of my death in my past life, the progenitor of my lineage, the God of the Underworld, made a deal with the God of Time to return me back with my memories and experienced intact, so that we all, the God blooded descendants of the Gods, could retake their final exam to determine who amongst them would be the rightful owner of this planet of ours."

I then pulled back and continued the final stretch of the finalizing dance, yet the entire time while doing so, she did not deviate her faceless mask from my own, as if she wanted to peer through both our veils and discover the answers to the mounting pile of enigmas I was painting myself as.

"I thought you a man of your word, southern emperor." She eventually said, her tone both aggrieved and disappointed.

"I am such a man. Have I not answered all you have asked me truthfully?" I instantly retorted.

"If you deem to call that drivel of a children's fantasy truth, then you must either be more mad than the tales have you, or you think me mad enough to believe them." She chided in restrained anger.

Knowing that she had misunderstood my intentions, I quickly said "Every syllable I have spoken to you tonight has been nothing but the abject truth. I'm certain you are able to discern so with your gifts." It was clear to me now, that unlike Valdour, who had already received the gift of his ancestor, she had not yet, so believing my admittedly fantastical tale would prove slightly challenging.

"That gift is not omnipotent... As I'm sure you are well aware." She added, trying to subtly gage how much more I am familiar with her and her family's abilities.

"I am." I readily admitted, saying "Your ability to judge whether a person is being candour or not is frightening, with the only caveat to it being the fact that it functions on the effected person's perception of what is true and what is not, so if a man tells you incorrect information but he is under the impression that what he is saying is the truth, then you will only sense that he is being honest."

"...Exactly." She nodded grimly after a light pause, before then regaining control of her tone, and continuing in the same coldly proud voice as earlier "And considering your infamy as the Mad Monarch, pardon me if I say Eclipse emperor, that I don't hold much weight to what my ability currently says."

"Fine." I relented, before reminding her "But that does not deny the fact that all I have reported of my knowledge is correct, shouldn't that slightly prove my sincerity to you at least?"

She paused for a moment, once again taken a back, before asking "What do you want?"

A small smile traces my lips, replacing the previous jubilantly unabashed one, as I answered the question I had been wanting since I saw her, just as the hall's musicians played their final note, bringing pause for the crowd, allowing those who wished to join safe entry and those who finished a break for passage "I want but one thing, my lady. But the Banquet hall is not the ideal place for such discussions, so if you would grace me with an audience tonight, not only will I tell you what that is, and my sole goal for trying to find you, but I will also put forth an agreement, one that I believe will benefit both of us greatly. What say you?"

She remained silent as we performed the customary bow to our partners, which I did while still holding her hand and bringing it where my lips would've been behind my mask, and awaited her answer, which arrived in the form of a firm nod a second after we both raised our heads.