The day before the party Fawks sent a messenger to Kotori that he had finished the preparation for the deal they met later that day.

Kotori once again met Fawks in the business room that they met in previously.

when they arrived at the room, Fawks was sitting with his feet on the table

Kotori gave a annoyed look but he paid it no heed.

“That wheat is pretty good! You weren’t lying about it's power I’ll be happy to buy it” Fawks said cheerfully.

Kotori was relieved to be working with such an honest person after the whole fiasco with Mr. Gerard and the slave dress.

“By the way…” Fawk started to say

“A little bird told me you were invited to a party by Mr. Gerard,” He said grinning.

Kotori was surprised to hear that Fawks knew this. It wasn’t like either of the merchants were related in her mind.

Fawks gave a smirk as if reading her thoughts

“Merchants have to have their own intelligence networks you know,” he said

[True] Kotori thought. 

“This is still troublesome though, to think that that man is getting involved. You are quite a handful.” Fawks said.

[Fawks know Gerard?] Kotori thought,

“Do you plan on going to the party?” Fawks asked her.

“No, he tried to put a slave collar on the dress he gave me” Kotori explained. She went to get the dress since Gerard was going to pay for it, but Kotori had no intention of going to such a party.

“A slave collar? How bold,” Fawks said, a difficult expression going on his face.

“Can you still go anyway?” He asked.

“What?” Kotori said incredulously.

Fawks looked at her sheepishly.

“I’ll be honest, I dislike Gerard for… personal reasons. You and I might be strangers, but the enemy of my enemy is my friend no?” Fawks said.

“Besides, I’ve been wanting to get rid of Gerard for a while,” Fawks said.

While Kotori disliked the thought of working with someone who was hiding things from her she felt like Fawks wasn’t telling the complete truth.

“Fawks, I like you but I’m not going to go to a party just because you told me too,” she said

“I see, I wanted to avoid this method, but would you trust me more if I did this?” Fawk started to say.

He pulled out a small bracelet with a gem from a bag near him.

Kotori was quickly able to recognize that the bracelet that Fawks pulled out had slave magic in it.

Kotori looked at Fawks suspiciously,

“Don’t tell me you plan on putting that on me” she said

“Heavens no!” Fawks said shocked, his expression then changed

“This bracelet… Is for me” he said putting it on his wrist. He pulled another ring out of his bag and handed it to Kotori.

“This is the control ring. Here, take it”

[What?] Kotori thought, shocked at the sudden turn of events. When Fawks pulled out the slave bracelet she thought he was going to force it on her, but now he was putting it on himself and giving her the control ring.

“Are you saying that I now control you?” Kotori said

Fawks smiled, and then gave a sarcastic bow

“Your wish is my command, Milady”

“So could I ask you to kill yourself?” Kotori asked.

Fawks grimaced,

“Please don’t, I still have things would like to do.” He said

Fawks looked a little nervous.

Kotori quite liked this feeling of power over a person. It was strangely satisfying.

“So it’s impossible for you to betray me?” Kotori said

“Pretty much,” Fawk said.

“will you go to the party now?” he asked

“Maybe, I’ll consider it.” Kotori said

Fawks looked exasperated

“Come on, you just put a slave bracelet on me and you still don’t trust me,” He said

“Well, I’ve learned to be a bit more cautious around suspicious people,” Kotori said.

“Ok Ok, I’ll go to the party with you alright,” He said relenting.

“You can? You don’t have an invitation” Kotori said. The invitation was very clear that only invited people may go to the party.

“Don’t worry about that, I’ll arrange one for myself” Fawks said.

“But if I’m going to the venue with you, You're going to be going in my carriage,” he said.

“Your carriage?” Kotori asked confused couldn’t she just walk to the venue

“Don’t tell me you were planning on walking to the party?” Fawks asked her

“I, uhh” Kotori started to say

Fawks rubbed his temples with his fingers

“You really are troublesome, the nuances of high-class society are lost on you aren't they.” He said

Kotori could only nervously chuckled, Madame Dupont only had a week to teach her after all.

“You have a dress at least?” Fawks asked

Kotori nodded

"I removed the magic in the one Gerard gave me I can just wear that." she explained.

“Good,” Fawks said relieved

"Stay at this inn, I will come to pick you up tomorrow night."