The Young Master in the Shadows

The helicopter slowly made its way down from the clouds above, descending toward Victor’s mansion.

“This is all mine?” Axel asked in shock as he watched the great complex get revealed below. From the hospital he was in Vein City, they first took a private jet to the airport, and after that a helicopter to deliver them here.

“Yeah…” Alice said. “It is somewhat small compared to the family's standard, but considering how near it is to the city, I guess it is ok!” she added, giving her honest opinion.

“Don’t worry, once you get all your memories back, you will have all the time to build a grand mansion on the island Mother gave you as your wedding gift!” Theodore said. “That place is more suitable to raise your harem! It will make your cousins die of envy!”

“Ah… Yeah…” Axel nodded nervously. Olaf, who was sent away by Theodore for some reason, did tell him that his family was rich, but this went beyond that. He needed to readjust his standards!

Holding those thoughts, Axel watched as the helicopter slowly landed in the helipad that was right behind the main building.

“WELCOME YOUNG MASTER!” As soon as the helicopter’s door opened, he was welcomed by little girls in maid uniforms who stood in line, all bowing and greeting their young master at the same time!

“Ahhh…. ” he said absentmindedly, wondering what the FUCK, as he watched a hot crimson-haired girl make her way through the maids and then throw herself at him. “VICTOR! Do you know how worried we were!” she complained as she hugged him tightly.

“Ah…. You are?” he had to ask, Olaf made sure not to give him any specific information other than what was necessary to get into character, fearing that he might slip up.

“Ah right... '' the girl quickly let go. “My name is Margret… I am one of your wives…” she said as she looked at him with worried eyes. “Father-in-law… How is hubby's situation?” she asked nervously.

“The doctor said that he might need some time to regain his memory, you will need to try and take him to familiar places, and let him meet familiar people…” Theodore sighed. “Where are the rest of the girls?” he asked.

“Everyone went to the hospital with Mother-in-law!” she sighed.

“The hospital? What happened?” Theodore exclaimed.

“Ah… You were not informed?” Margret asked with a frown, “Aunt Luna is giving birth!” she said.

“WHAT? No one told me…” Theodore quickly flipped open his phone, there were more than 147 missed calls. “Ah…. I need to go!” he quickly said, looking worriedly at Alex.

“I will be fine..” Alex said, finally knowing why his father’s phone kept beeping in the airplane while he was away with some flight attendants ‘checking’ the staff cabinet.

“Take care of him!” Theodore spat as he hurried back to the helicopter and then paused. “Aren’t you coming with me?” he paused and asked Alice.

“Ah… No, I think I will stay here…” she said. She clearly didn’t want to meet her mother.

“...” he sighed. “Then I will need you to bring Victor and come to meet your mother tomorrow…” he said, cornering her.

“Ah… But…” freēwēbnovel.com

“No excuses…” he spat as he climbed to the helicopter and shut the door.

Alice could only watch him leave. Damn it… She should have stayed with Zoe and participated in mapping the new island! Her mother was definitely going to ask about Yulian as soon as they met… And for some stupid reason that involved some stupid girls fighting in the middle of the street, the men she sent to keep an eye on that guy seemed to have lost him!

“Are you ok?” Axel asked, noticing that Margret seemed to be frowning looking at Alice.

“Ah… I was just worried about Aunt Luna. It is a post-term pregnancy, so it will be a tough birth…” Margret quickly dismissed him. “Come on in then… Let me induce you to your own mansion!” she said as she shyly took Axel’s hand and began walking.

For some strange reason, Axel felt that she didn’t want Alice here, but he couldn’t tell why.

Anyway, he could only get dragged along, remembering that all of this should have originally been his, if not for that filthy imposter! It was time for him to enjoy his life!

Slowly he began to look around, at his luxurious surroundings, wondering about many things, as he watched the little maids return to their jobs around him.

“Do those little girls work here?” he asked as he nearly reached the grand mansion.

“Ah… What little girls?” Margret asked, glancing at Alice.

“The ones in maid clothes…”

“Ah… Those ones… eh… Yes…” she said awkwardly. “They are trainee maids, we only make them do the easy tasks…” she said, clearly hiding something, but noticing that she was wary with Alice around, he decided not to dig further.

He could only sigh as they reached the front door where a middle-aged woman was waiting.

“Welcome back young master!” she said sternly.

“Hilda… It is true… He has amnesia!” Margret quickly told her.

“Oh… Then let me introduce myself… I am Hilda, the house manager here!” Hilda said as she bowed in a professional manner.

“Nice to meet you… I guess…” Axel said.

“Hilda… Why don’t you take Alice to the living room… I will give hubby a tour around the mansion before it gets dark!” Margret said. “He might remember something!”

“Sure!” Hilda nodded. “I am happy that you are safe, young master!” she said to Axel before turning to Alice. “This way, Miss Alice!”

Alice frowned then nodded, giving Margret one inquiring look before walking in.

“Ok then…” Margret said as she watched them go. “Do you wanna go upstairs to have a look at the bedrooms or downstairs to check the Garage and your private study first!?” she asked Axel.

“Ah…” for some strange reason, he felt that his answer might seal his destiny… How absurd this feeling was. “I will leave it up to you…” he said.

“Then let’s go upstairs and have a look at the sunset as we always do… There are many things that I wanna tell you,” she smiled as she bit her lip in a sexy manner.

“No… I think it is better to go to check the study…I might have left a diary or something down there!” he quickly said. Why did he feel that strange sense of dread when Margret mentioned going up.

“Oh… Right! It’s about that… Let’s go there!” Margret replied cheerfully with a little blush on her cheeks.

…

As soon as Alice walked into the living room she noticed the little girl in a wheelchair sitting there near the window. She couldn’t help but notice how familiar she looked… Right…She remembered this girl, Elise. The one, Harvey Von Gledstadt, pushed onto Victor at the wedding.

This was the first time Alice had a chance to take a close look at her, and she couldn’t help but notice how similar she was to Valerie when she was young. Well. They were cousins after all.

“Hi, Sister-in-law!” Elise said politely as she looked at Alice, put the tablet in her hand away, and then stood up and bowed.

“Ah…Hi…” Alice frowned. Wasn’t Elise blind? And as far as Alice remembered, she couldn’t walk either Victor wouldn't have carried her when they danced otherwise. "Waren't you blind?" she decided to ask.

"Victor cured me!" Elise said with a smile. “Please come sit, I need to explain a few things to you before the imposter returns…” Elise added, inviting Alice to sit beside her.

“Imposter?” Alice frowned as she looked at Hilda.

“That guy you came with you claiming to be Victor is not my real husband, but an imposter!” Elise replied.

“WHAT…?” Alice exclaimed. She had been suspecting something, but after her father had done all those tests, she presumed that this was all just her thinking too much.

“We have long known of a plan to replace Victor… It was Victor himself who warned us about it right before leaving for the island, saying that he believed that someone from the family was planning to replace him with a fake and telling us to not trust anyone unless they knew a secret passcode!” Elise explained. “I don’t know where he got the information from though…”

“From the family?” Alice frowned. She would have dismissed such a thing in the past, but after what happened last week, she knew how infiltrated her family was.

“When you called and told us about finding Victor with amnesia, we suspected foul play as in the last call we got from him, he told us that he suspects that someone was planning to kidnap him in the mines and replace him!” Elise explained.

“Wait…how do you know this one is fake and not the real one who survived?” Alice asked. “He has amnesia!” his situation was clearly extra suspicious after hearing what Elise said, but he could as well be the real thing!

“We don’t know for sure… Not yet anyway, Margret should have taken him to integrate him secretly... …” Elise said with a blush.

“How?” Alice asked.

“... I… A girl my age shouldn't be talking about such things …” Elise said as her face became as red as a ripe tomato.

“Oh….” Alice sighed. “I am sorry to disappoint you, but he is real…. We did DNA tests…”

“If the family is involved… Then the sample in that database can be tampered with!” Elise said.

“... Then what about the paternity test?” Alice asked.

“What paternity test?” Elise asked with a frown.

“Father was feeling a little suspicious, so he ran a test to see if Victor was truly his son!” Alice said. “It came out positive…”

“That’s impossible…” Elise frowned. “The doctor…”

“It was someone father trusts!” Alice said sighing. “You will see once Margret returns with him!”

“Ah….” Elise gasped as if realizing something. “The scam is way larger than we thought!” she said as her smart little mind turned fast.

“I am telling you… He is real… No one would go to such lengths to impersonate someone like Victor… There is no gain!” Alice said.

“Ah… I am sure he is a fake…” Elise said stubbornly as she took the phone and sent a quick message to Margret. Alice could see what was in it. ‘GET A HAIR AND A BLOOD SAMPLE FOR DNA TESTING!’.

"How can you be sure…" Alice asked.

"Well… Sister….. Can you keep a secret?" Elise hesitated.

Alice nodded.

"I have an appraisal skill, just now when he walked in, I appraised him… His class was a Dirty Dealer!" she said.

"Oh… father already checked that," Alice sighed. "A class can be altered sometimes under extraordinary situations, getting a variation is not that big of a deal! A dealer is a kind of a merchant!"

"Still, Victor's Class is 'Supreme Merchant'. Classes don't degrade!… I am sure he is a fake.." Elise frowned.

"Girl…. In this world, no one knows everything for sure!" Alice sighed. She has seen some very wired shit in her sect, things no one would believe.

“How about we make a bet?” Elsie asked stubbornly.

“Oh…” Alice smirked. “What do you wanna bet….”

“Your cooperation!” Elise interrupted with a twinkle in her eyes. "Look Margret is ready," she added looking at the incoming call at the tablet. "Let's hear him confess it by himself!"

"Oh… Ok," Alice said as she watched Elise press ok and activate the speaker.

…

“So… All of this belongs to me?” Axel asked with a smile. He just finished checking the garage and all the amazing cars and was at the moment in his exclusive study sitting at his grand desk where stacks of documents describing his fortune lay in front of him.

“Um… That should be most of it,” Margret said as she poured him a glass of some expensive wine that she had taken from behind a secret cabinet in the wall. “Right now, I and Sister Aria are responsible for running your business, so if there is anything you wanna know about, feel free to ask us!” she said as she placed the glass in front of him.

“Cool…” he said with a smile as he began to flip through the files. He was fucking rich! Not only an island, he has a private plane, a yacht, and various businesses and restaurants around the city.

Let alone Horizon Media where all those pretty actresses and idols work… It would take him ages to finish banging them all!

He smiled as he grabbed the documents and straightened them up by knocking them against the table, enjoying their weight before setting them back down, that’s when one of them slipped and fell under the table.

"Ah! Where do you think you are going!" he scolded it as he bent down and grabbed it.

BAM!

His head hit the table as he sat up, flipping the wine glass over.

“Ah!!” Margret quickly hurried to get a towel and wipe it. “Husband! Are you ok?” she asked worriedly.

“I am fine…” he said, thankfully, the wine didn’t get to any of the documents.

“Be careful next time…” she complained.

“Yeah yeah…” he sighed as he scratched his head. What a waste of good wine. “Wait… Are those my crypto wallets?” he asked with sparkling eyes, noticing the familiar-looking long Alphanumeric sequences in the document in his hand.

Yes! He almost forgot about those… The Crypto storm that will soon change everything!

“Yeah,… Although I advised you against it, you kept wanting to invest there, wasting good 'hard-earned' money,” she sighed. “Husband… This crypto is a scam, one day those things will be worth nothing!” Margret said.

“True…” Axel nodded. “Unless you know what you are doing…. Are you the one who is managing those?” he asked with a confident smile as he watched her refill his glass.

“Yes…Not willingly,” she pouted. She was super cute.

“I have a good feeling about an old coin, it is called GreenSun… I want you to buy a lot of it!” he said casually, "And sell all of those black leopard coins, they will become worthless very soon… " he added, making Margret pause. “Ah... Be careful…” he warned as the wine she was pouring overflowed the glass and spilled to the floor.

“Ah... Sorry…” she said as she hurried to grab the towel, but for some reason she slipped, ending up grabbing the table and flipping it with the glass by mistake.

BAM

“AH!” She yelled as the glass was smashed to the floor.

“Are you ok?” Axel hurried to her side.

“I am fine… Just a little dizzy…” Margret said quickly as she held onto him.

“Let’s go grab a seat…” Axel said. "Your face is a little pale."

“Ah… Yes… Just tired….” Margret nodded as he helped her to a nearby couch where she grabbed a little bell and rang it. “Let’s get the maids to clean the mess…” she said with a deep frown.

“Is there anything wrong?” he asked, watching her expression.

“...Ah…. Just a little nausea” Margret hesitated. “Husband… Do you promise not to get angry…” she asked.

“What? Why would I get angry?” he asked.

"Just promise.." she asked him with earnest eyes.

"Ok… I promise.." he said casually.

“Ah…. I am sorry…” Margret whispered in a fearful tone. “I… I might be pregnant…” she said as she shook a little.

“WHAT?” Axel asked as all blood drained from his face, remembering that that bastard imposter who took his place was the one who impregnated this fine lady!

“I am very sorry…. But I really wanted a child, and since you lost your ability as a man and couldn’t do it, I had to find someone else!” she said as she fell to her knees and banged her head on the wooden floor.

“HOW COULD YOU… WAIT…. I LOST MY ABILITY AS A MAN?” he asked in shock.

Wait….This was not to him. RIGHT, it was not him, but that imposter!

“Ah… I know it is hard to deal with the amnesia and all…” Margret said. “I am very sorry…” she bowed again as she shook.

“Look… I am not angry.." he quickly said as he held her, "Sit up and speak clearly! Since when did I lose my ability as a man?” he asked nervously. If this were real, it would mean he would never be able to touch his wives or enjoy his fortunes without risking getting discovered.

“Ah… Well, it was right before the wedding, that's why you kept it a secret and only a select few people knew about it, " Margret said.

"Impossible….. " he asked. He had no idea why, he felt that something was wrong here. "How could that happen…"

"In the skeleton dungeon, you encountered a demon who calls himself the Nutcracker. It caught you with your butler Alex doing an indecent thing….” Margret swallowed. “This made him so furious that he…. he... Cut them off for both of you…”

“WAIT? CUT WHAT? DOING WHAT WITH WHO?” Axel asked in shock again. Something was very wrong here!

“Ah… Husband… Did you even forget that you are Gay!” Margret asked with a sorrowful voice.

“NO… WAIT…. “ he gasped. “I AM WHAT? SINCE WHEN? IF I AM GAY WHY THE HELL WOULD I MARRY 10 WIVES AND ATTEND ALL THOSE BROTHELS!” for some reason Axel was about to lose his mind. He did read some reports about the fake Victor to help him get into character. All of them agreed that he was a depraved pervert.

“It is because your family is very transphobic and patriarchal… You wanted to fool them… that's also why not only did you find an underground doctor to get you a fake… ehm… You also began spreading rumors by going to brothels and then drugging prostitutes before raping them with toys... ” Margret said nervously as she kept her head down, shaking a little. He could tell it was very hard for her to tell him all that.

"Then those loli maids… They are a part of this show?" asked as all the pieces began to fit together.

“Ah… not exactly…." Margret hesitated. "The maids are not girls… They… they are all little boys…. Boys who you were raising to…” she swallowed as if she couldn’t say the last word

“To what?” Axel asked, he needed to hear that word.

“To… To…. To F….”

The door knocked at that right moment and a little maid walked in.

“Ah… Excuse me… Did you ring the bell young master?” ‘she’ asked innocently.

Axel stood up and walked straight toward the maid, making 'her' look nervously at him.

“Are you a boy or a girl?” he asked directly.

The maid bit her little lip then looked down at her little feet as she bawled her little hands. “I… I am whatever the young master wants me to be…” she said with a soft voice as she shook in fear.

“AH!” Axel yelled in shock as he took two steps backward getting away from the little maid. This was too much for him.

“Husband!” Margret called for him

He ignored her as he turned and headed to the door.

“I NEED TO GO OUT CLEAR MY HEAD…” he said. “DON’T WAIT FOR ME!” he yelled as he darted out, then passed at the door, returned, and grabbed one of the credit cards from the desk before darting out again.

Moments later Margret who slowly stood up could hear the sound of her newly acquired Firerat X10 ULTRA spreading away.

"Shit…" she cursed. "Out of all the idiots out there, it had to be a scion… And one that is probably a time traveler too!"