Feysac Empire, the capital Saint Millon.
"Thump, thump, thump—"
The carriage drove on the relatively clean street, not too fast, allowing those inside to leisurely enjoy the scenery along the way.
Klein lifted a corner of the carriage window curtain, his gaze sweeping over the buildings on both sides of the road, and the corner of his eye inadvertently caught sight of the passersby coming and going.
He watched the tall figures, each starting at 1.8 meters and some even over 2 meters, then silently lowered the curtain.
"Don't look anymore. No matter how much you look, they won't get shorter. Just accept it. After all, it's the kingdom of the [Giants]. This is a Bloodline advantage. We normal people shouldn't compare ourselves to them."
A strange yet familiar voice sounded beside him. Klein looked at the speaker, and even though he had grown accustomed to his appearance over the past few days, he couldn't help but ask, "I understand the reasoning, but why did you disguise yourself as a child?"
"What child? This is a youth, a twelve-year-old youth, understand?" Lin Ruo leaned back on the sofa built into the carriage, his smile as gentle and bright as ever.
However, his appearance was vastly different from before; not only had his height significantly shrunk to just over 1.6 meters, but there were even traces of baby fat on both sides of his cheeks, plus his fluffy, soft brown hair, innocent black eyes, and a completely different youthful face. No one would ever connect this person to a Angel of Judgment.
Of course, that's assuming Lin Ruo put away his signature warm smile.
"Stop smiling. Your smile makes my stomach hurt." Klein spoke again. Although the shrunken version of Lin Ruo looked very harmless, like a naive, sweet young master from a noble Loren Family, as someone who was used to being tricked by Lin Ruo, Klein's stomach would churn whenever he saw that warm smile. In his ears, he seemed to hear the audio version of a series of works that made him black out, such as "The Fool is an ancient returnee…".
It was too terrifying.
"That only proves you still lack training. For example, Medici, he wouldn't get a stomach ache when he sees me smile like this; he would only speak to me in a sarcastic way."
Lin Ruo said with conviction, but his smile did recede, replaced by a very youthful, lively, yet sly smile. In an instant, he transformed from the naive and sweet person he was just now into a white-on-the-outside, black-on-the-inside character.
"As for why I disguised myself as a youth, isn't it because I'm afraid of my identity being exposed? Look, you're already so surprised, how could others possibly guess that I would disguise myself as a child?"
Lin Ruo continued, picking up the mirror beside him. He looked at the exquisite noble youth in the mirror, raised a hand to smooth down a slightly messy cowlick, then nodded with satisfaction and said, "Don't even mention it, it's actually quite fun to disguise myself as a child. I think I'm starting to understand Will's enjoyment."
"You just said you weren't a child…" Klein was almost too lazy to retort.
"What right do you have to mock me? The image you're using now is far more deserving of mockery than mine." Lin Ruo glanced at him. Although Klein's current image had his instigation involved, he still said it so righteously.
If Lin Ruo's current image was that of an un-grown youth, then the character Klein was playing was undoubtedly a gentleman around forty years old.
The person before him was wearing a silk tailcoat, holding a gold-inlaid cane, and a golden chain extended from the third button of his clothing into an inner pocket.
Although he was no longer young, the person in front of him had very attractive features, with deep, story-filled blue eyes that made even the slight graying at his temples seem charming; he was the kind of uncle who exuded mature charisma.
If he had to make an analogy, Lin Ruo said Klein's current image reminded him of Ben Bat.
An uncle, but very handsome.
"You…" Klein's mouth twitched. He really didn't want to retort anymore. He just sighed helplessly. He lifted the carriage curtain again to look outside, and after realizing they were very close to their destination, he put down the curtain and looked at Lin Ruo, saying, "Is it really okay for us to make such a high-profile entrance?"
"Of course, it's okay. Even if you don't trust me, you should trust the reliability of the Earth Mother. My dear nephew, Dwayne Dantes." Lin Ruo straightened his body, smiling refinedly and slyly. "And sometimes, the more high-profile you are, the less others will guess you're here to do bad things. You wouldn't not understand this principle, would you?"
"Of course, I understand that principle." Klein didn't actually not understand this principle; it was just that the thought of the script he was about to perform made his stomach hurt.
However, Klein was, after all, a qualified Faceless. He then looked at Lin Ruo, and as he suppressed the stomach pain, he entered his character, smiling gently and saying, "Uncle Neil Loren."
That's right, the identities Lin Ruo and Klein were using this time were a pair of uncle and nephew, but the older Dwayne Dantes was not the uncle. On the contrary, the one who was truly the uncle in terms of seniority was actually the younger Neil Loren.
The reason for this, in addition to Lin Ruo's 'father principle,' was also due to the setting of the new identities they were currently using.
Thanks to the Church of the Earth Mother, Lin Ruo's current identity had a high starting point. In a word, he was a Viscount about to inherit a title.
In the setting, Neil Loren was a child that Viscount Loren had always raised in the countryside. Because Viscount Loren's most anticipated heir and his family suddenly died in an accident, the already ailing Viscount Loren, heartbroken, could only bring his youngest son, who had been raised in the countryside, to the capital to inherit his title.
Neil Loren was that youngest son.
As for Dwayne Dantes being Neil's nephew, he was not actually Viscount Loren's biological grandson, but a distant nephew with a very distant blood relationship.
Due to various reasons, the originally down-and-out Dwayne Dantes became wealthy, so he began to consider entering high society, wanting to completely change his social class.
It was under these circumstances that Dwayne Dantes remembered his Uncle Neil, with whom he had only a very tenuous connection, and approached Neil Loren, who was about to inherit the title, hoping to enter high society better and faster through his uncle's connections.
Because Dwayne Dantes was indeed wealthy now, and the old Viscount Loren was clearly nearing his end and unable to pave the way for his youngest son, he tacitly approved of Dwayne Dantes' actions.
After all, having such a wealthy nephew by young Neil's side was a great help to him.
And Dwayne Dantes' distant Bloodline connection to the Loren Family ensured that he could not inherit the Loren Family's Viscount position, so he needed a Viscount uncle like Neil Loren as an aid.
It could be said that Neil Loren and Dwayne Dantes were bound together. Perhaps one party would develop the other into a Puppet, but for a long time, neither could do without the other.
—Of course, all of the above was just a script.