Knowledge and Power: Reborn into a society that only values strength.

I chased after Mo's father and ran into the curtain of darkness just in time to hear a dagger plunge through his side as nervous footsteps backed away. The curtain faded and everything lit up all at once.

"And so… I get to die, holding the woman I love in my arms… It's not so bad really… When I say it like that…"

He turned and grabbed her, softly holding her with a dagger sticking out of his back. 'She would have missed his vital organs with a stab like that, could she not see either?' She started crying, hugging him back and slyly reaching for the knife. Before she could grab it though I yanked it out, causing him to jerk in pain. "Stop being so dramatic…" I grumbled. 'As cold as she is towards them… I can't really just let Mo's dad die like this…' Focusing on what little manna I had I sealed the wound in his back, collapsing to the ground as my legs fell numb. 'Maybe I overdid it again…'

Mo's mother grabbed me in a panic. "Are you alright? Hey… Hey, wake up!"

"I never passed out…" I groaned, pushing her away. I didn't know much about her… But considering she just tried to murder her husband, I wasn't exactly in the mood to learn more. I staggered back to my feet and looked at the family head. Sure enough, his blood was white. Honestly, out of everything, that is what I was really curious about. "So I've saved you what… Three times now today? Even if you've been trying to die it still counts. I think you work for me now." I grinned through my mask, chuckling as my headache made my own personality start to bleed through.

He burst out laughing. "I really did make the perfect weapon to defend me. Even when I want death you won't let me have it! Fine then. From now on I will follow you."

'Wait… seriously? I mean like… What? I'm tempted to reveal myself now… But… Maybe not…' "Ok. In that case, I think it's time you tell me everything, but first, we need to lock her in the dungeon."

Her eyes widened with shock but her body didn't move. On the other hand, his brow furrowed. "That's something you'll have to do yourself if you want it done…"

'Are you serious? She just stabbed you in the back! Literally!' I sighed. "Fine… Let's just go, I have a lot of things I need you to explain to me."

'With this, I can actually get all the information I need and then some.' He followed me out and I walked down the outdoor halls until I came upon the study "Ok, here. First off, who gives us kill orders and how do they contact us."

"We receive reports of suspicion from anyone, and after investigation, we then determine whether they live or die. I've just taken care of most of that on my own. You can run things differently if you want though."

"How many assassins are there outside this family? All the nobles I met at school are obsessed with honor, how many groups are there that do this kind of work?"

"None that we know of. That's our main job, and most of our targets are people like you're describing."

'So this family is less like the underworld… And more like the Secret police…' I started going through documents, searching for anything that might be helpful. "Everyone is saying the king is on bad terms with us, why is that?"

"He wants to revoke our nobility because we aren't knights."

'So it's not so much a problem with him being rebellious then…' "The king, is he strong? Stronger than you?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I'd say so, and his senses are sharp, he's a demon on the battlefield and has never lost a fight."

'Great… So I need to be even stronger than him… He's not quite as strong as my mom… But he's close. There's nothing in this room except maps… Not that they are useless… Apparently, there are secret tunnels under Kasesh?' "Ok, last question… Why is your blood white?"

"You mean you don't remember?"

'Dangit… I got carried away… I should have quit while I was ahead.' "It's… I mean, mine isn't…"

He sighed. "I suppose I only told you the story once… No one knows our exact lineage, but one of our ancestors was known as the angel of death. It's from him that we have white blood, although it doesn't manifest in everyone. Neither your brother, nor you're sister will likely ever have it, but when you were born your umbilical cord bled white, so it's likely that you will."

'That's kind of gross… But cool.' "That's everything for now… I think I'll go back to my room and rest… You should take proper care of the wound on your back as well."

He sighed, turning and leaving and I followed not long after. 'This isn't going according to plan at all… I need to like to cancel half of the plans… Let's see, in theory, I should be able to just return to school… Then I can stop pretending, and the real Mo will be in charge of her family… So then she could just stay at school and do whatever she wants… Hm… It's been about a day though, so the news of my "Kidnapping" will have spread by now… Is it too late to just say it was all a misunderstanding?'

I walked into the room and lay down on the bed, probably staining the sheets with my blood, but I didn't really care anymore. 'I don't have the capacity to run back right now either… I could come clean to the family head. If he is in fact serving under me then of course it would be completely different than me being kidnapped. I could blame the empire and say I escaped my captors… But then we almost certainly start a war now rather than later… And stalling is probably better on that for sure…' I sighed again, laying a hand over the hole in my armor. 'Hold on a second. I can just say I was kidnapped by a demon that lives nearby but was valiantly slain by Mo, the new family head. How do I get this message to Mo though… She will need to play along…'

'Things are about to get even more complicated, aren't they… Maybe Lu was right… Lying is a pain…'