Is he the family secret?

Chapter seven

Old Lue stormed into the intelligence bureau; her usual composed demeanor now replaced with something more urgent. The room fell into an uneasy silence as she approached the nearest clerk, a young man who quickly stood at attention.

"Adrian," she said, voice cold and direct. "I need everything you have on him."

The clerk hesitated for only a moment before nodding, his fingers flying over his console. Old Lue's eyes narrowed as the screens flickered to life with data, but none of it was what she expected.

"He has no records," the clerk reported, scrolling through page after page of empty data. "No birth certificate, no family history, no known associates, nothing." Lue clenched her teeth, frustration building. This boy was nothing like the typical nobles, nothing like any other person she'd ever encountered. He didn't even exist in any official records. Her instincts screamed at her, but she forced herself to stay calm. There had to be an explanation.

The clerk continued; his voice tinged with confusion. "There are rumors, though. They say he's the creepy son of one of the Wilbert House's matriarch's brothers . He's apparently set to inherit the house because the matriarch has no intention of having kids, but..."

"But what?" Lue pressed, her patience wearing thin.

"Well... it's odd. He doesn't seem to interact with anyone, not even other noble children or staff. No one has seen him with any friends, no social ties, nothing." The clerk glanced at the screen again. "His existence is practically a ghost story. People whisper that he's some sort of oddball noble who's been kept hidden away for years, like some strange family secret."

Lue's brows furrowed, eyes glinting with concern. This wasn't just an oddity; this was something far more dangerous. A boy without any past—without any connections to anyone. Not even a girlfriend.

"What else?" she asked, voice barely above a whisper, more to herself than the clerk.

"Some say... he's not even entirely gyn," the clerk added, his voice lowering as if the very words themselves were a taboo. " Old Lue stiffened, her eyes darkening with suspicion.

"Is that all?" she asked, already knowing it wasn't.

The clerk glanced at his screen one final time, the color draining from his face. "That's it. There's no official mention of his origin or any other details apart from an endless trail of purchased web novels and admission into a magical academy. Just rumors. But... according to what people on cyber say, he might not be human at all. And those who get close to him... tend to disappear."

Lue's grip on her cane tightened. No one had ever been able to hide like this—not without leaving a trail, a whisper of something. But Adrian? He was an enigma. A hole in history.

She turned on her heel and marched out of the room, her mind racing. Whatever Adrian was, whatever he represented, it was something beyond her understanding.

And that scared her more than she was willing to admit.

Old Lue's mind was a storm of conflicting thoughts as she left the intelligence bureau. The air felt colder, the weight of Adrian's mystery pressing on her chest like a stone. She had seen strange things in her long life—beings beyond comprehension, powers that defied reason—but Adrian... he was a riddle with no answer, and that was something that never sat well with her.

The reports had told her one thing: He was an anomaly. No record, no history, no real connections. And worse—rumors whispered that he wasn't even entirely gyn. There was no power in this world that could make someone vanish like that. And those who got close to him? They disappeared.

No, this wasn't just a coincidence. Whoever—or whatever—Adrian was, it wasn't by chance that he was hidden so thoroughly. Someone wanted him kept in the shadows.

Her steps were deliberate as she walked down the hall toward her personal quarters. She needed time to think, to plan, but there was one thing that had been gnawing at her since she left the bureau.


---

Sue and Eloise stood in the intelligence bureau. "You are sure that our Thorne name was totally erased right." Sue asked an agent. "Yes ma'am, why?"
"Then Adrian?" Sue held her chin in thought. "Adrian Wilbert?" The agent asked. "Yes, you know him?" Sue asked back. "The matriarch came in a while ago demanding info on him."