Coming to his senses, Ernes slowly opened his eyes. He was met by a white canopy ceiling with blue patterns, lowering his gaze, he looked around lost. An ornate room appeared before his eyes. Its walls were decorated with various drawings and paintings, around which there were projections of gold. Opposite Ernes' bed, there was a fireplace made of white stone, flanked by two black armors with halberds in their hands. Before Ernes had time to fully examine the room, he heard a woman's voice to his right.

 

- Ernes, how do you honor yourself?

 

Turning around, Ernes saw a beautiful middle-aged woman with a friendly face, but in the blue eyes that looked at him, there was concern and guilt. Her beautiful face was a bit like Ernes, with more feminine features and black hair with white patches, braided in a long braid.

 

Ernes from the memory of the previous body, immediately recognized who was in front of him. And having depicted recognition on his face, he asked in a confused voice.

 

- Aunt Annie, where am I?

 

- Don't worry baby, everything is fine now. This room was meant for you when you would have turned 10 years old. After a pause, she smiled. But Ernes, looking into her eyes, saw serious intent in them.

 

- Honey, do you remember anything from what happened yesterday?

 

Hearing the question, Ernes pretended confusion on his face, but after a moment his face distorted, and tears flowed from his eyes. The boy's body began to tremble, and he put his hand on his chest. A mournful voice rang out through the crying.

 

- Why?

 

Seeing the change, anger appeared in Annie's eyes and sitting down on the bed, she hugged the child, stroking his white hair with her hand. In a low voice she whispered.

 

- Calm down baby, Franz once would not have hurt you, he was always kind to you. He was specially controlled by evil people.

 

Raising his head, Ernes looked at Annie and asked in confusion.

 

- Was he controlled!? Auntie, what do you mean?

 

- Someone wanted to kill you, but these cowards were afraid that the eternal guard would kill them. Therefore, they used strange methods to control Franz. Don't worry, your aunt and the eternal guard will find them and punish them. But for this we need your help, don't you want to take revenge on them for Franz's death?

 

Throughout the entire answer, Ernes' face grew angrier and angrier. Hearing the question asked, he answered in an angry and loud voice.

 

- Yes, Aunt, please tell me, how can I help to avenge Franz?

 

Deep in Annie's eyes, sadness flashed, but she said in a voice of full dignity.

 

- This is the attitude that should be expected from the heir of the Werner family. - looking into Ernes' resolute blue eyes, she said a little hesitantly. – In order to punish bad people, we need you to remember if Franz said anything yesterday.

 

Realizing what was required of him, Ernes, who was looking at Annie, compressed his lips and closed his eyes. Looking at him, Annie continued to gently stroke his head, thinking about something. After a few minutes, breathing heavily and trembling all over, Ernes said wearily.

 

- W-when h-he hit me, several times, I, falling, heard him say: "so they didn't lie and there really is no guardian." H-he didn't say anything else.

 

Hearing Ernes' words, Annie's face became serious for a second, but after she managed to react, she quickly returned a smile. Getting up from the bed, she helped Ernes to lie down and said.

 

- You did well, your aunt is proud of you. This is very important information, with its help we will quickly find these villains. You'd better rest as best you can, I'll let the maids know so that when you wake up, they'll bring you something to eat.

 

- All right, Aunt. Ernes said wearily, closing his eyes from fatigue.

 

Nodding, Annie quietly left the room with a kind smile on her face. After closing the door, her smile faded from her face and was replaced by a serious expression. Suddenly, a large-looking silhouette in black armor appeared next to her.

 

- You're too direct, Annie. I understand that you want to remove the threat as soon as possible, but he is still a child who has survived the betrayal of a person close to him. And you should have at least come in from afar, and not ask as soon as he woke up.

 

Stopping and looking at the speaker, she frowned.

 

- Everything I do is for him. You, as someone better, should know this Gottfried.

 

- I understand, but although you protect him from external threats, you also need to take into account his well-being. At least when he's rested, you'd better be with him.

 

After thinking about Gottfried's words for a few seconds, Eli sighed and asked a very important question.

 

- OK. What do you think about what Ernes said?

 

Gottfried's face became serious, and he replied in a gloomy voice.

 

- We need to keep what he said a secret. The conspirator could know about the absence of the guardian only if there is a traitor among us. It is necessary to check all the higher members of the eternal guard one by one, you can't trust anyone.

 

- I agree, there is no one to trust, first you need to check the other two heads of teams, you will take Zig, and I will take Grim.

 

- Okay, be careful.

 

Having said that, he turned away and disappeared. Annie, looking at the back of the disappeared Gottfried and thinking about something, walked slowly along the wide decorated corridor.

 

"That's right, I forgot to call the maid. Ernes will probably be hungry when he wakes up."

 

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In the room, after the door closed a few minutes passed, Ernes lay quietly on the bed pretending to be asleep. At the same time, being in the spiritual space, he exuded coldness and aloofness.

 

"It's pretty frustrating. I have never had such an experience in my long life. It's good that a small consciousness, according to the memory embedded in it, depicts the child's personality well. Now, I need to slowly change my ostentatious personality to one that is closer to me.

 

The information I gave them should lead them to the presence of a traitor in the ranks of the eternal guard, and they should start checking. I doubt that the traitor is someone from the highest echelon. Well, let's see what happens, the next time this Annie visits, it will be necessary to ask Rush to start training.

 

Such a creature as a human should be quite easy to be manipulated and by pressing on some weak points, I can get her to start training me to rush."