“I can only show you what I have seen.”

Sena clenched her jaw in frustration as the voice left her in the hollow lane of her memories once more.

“Let me go!” she said. “Please!”

Nothing. Only silence.

She fell to her knees. No matter how much she screamed, cried or pleaded, no answer would come. She knew that by now. But this torture. She could not bear it anymore. She would rather die than confronting that memory one more time.

“Sena!” The voice arrived again, making her convulse from the inside.

“NO!” she shouted. “I won’t! I am not seeing it again! I don’t want to see what you have seen!”

A small hint of light sparked in her mind.

What she had seen!

She struggled to clutch onto the thought like a straw in a rapid.

What had she seen?

She stood up slowly, her eyes burned as they dug into the back of the golden-haired girl who so resembled her sister. The figure turned, looking at her with golden, inhuman eyes that did not belong on her sister. She wasn’t his sister.

“How?” Sena whispered. “How could you have seen it?”

The girl didn’t answer. But her humourless smile cut through Sena’s heart like a scalding hot scissor.

Living the life of a noble was entertaining. That was the conclusion Laureen reached after spending some time in the Brigsar castle, the home of house Moras. From the bits and pieces she had heard from Arakan, she had pegged a noble’s life to be incredibly drab, full of plotting and scheming, hidden agendas and false smiles, but she had never had any such experience with house Moras. People here never seem to care too much for customs and etiquette outside of official matters. And although as per Arakan’s instructions she didn’t speak much, the people of the house were always forthcoming with their help. Oddly enough, everyone, even the servants, were adept at the art of battle. They even taught her some archery and swordsmanship.

“Must be because they are warrior nobles,” Laureen muttered, carrying a bowl of soup. She had prepared it personally in the castle kitchen, where from time to time, other noble ladies of the house would also come to prepare food. Today had been an especially busy day. Everyone was busy preparing for the grand feast to celebrate the border army’s victory during a medium scale battle at the border, pushing the Ruthberk army back to their territory.

Laureen had even participated in the hunt the young nobles and knights had arranged for the celebration, and the soup contained the meat of the first deer she hunted. She was quite proud of it.

Standing before the door to Sena’s room, Laureen sighed. In the few weeks she had been here, spending time taking care of her, had made her feel incredibly close to the unconscious girl. “I wish she could taste it,” she whispered, pushing the door open and walking into the room. At this time of the day, it was still some time until Dame Nyra arrived, so the room was empty except for her and sena. Laureen walked towards the bed, carefully steering and blowing on the hot soup.

“Your meal—”

The words never left her mouth, but the platter of food slipped from her hand, clattering against the rug and scattering the soup all over it. But Laureen paid no attention to it as she stared at the girl who sat on the bed. The sunlight streaming in from the window on the other side wrapped her in an ethereal glow and set her golden hair aflame.

“She knows!” Sena whispered. She slowly turned her head, fixing Laureen with her grey eyes burning with fierce emotions.

“She knows who killed Sara!”

“I have heard Her Majesty the queen herself has gotten involved in this issue,” said Agreis Scarva. Contrary to his status as the head of a merchant noble family, his spindly, gaunt figure looked malnourished instead. But clad in turquoise damask silk and other various pieces of expensive accessory, he at least dressed the part.

The man sitting opposite to him nodded. “It’s true.” dressed in an elegant green robe that was far less gaudy than Agreis’s, Leon Ancrombe, the brother of the head of the Ancrombe house, carried a natural air of superiority. “A few of the guests that day have already been visited by the queen’s knights. I never considered the possibility of house Sergel actually consulting the queen for help.”

Argreis gritted his teeth, glaring venom at Leon. “You never considered it? You promised me no harm would come to my family, but not only did our scheme fail, now we are at even more of a risk because of that.”

“Don’t worry so much. As I promised, your family would come out of this unscathed. As for the queen, someone would—”

A muted rapping sound put a stop to their conversation.

“He must be here,” said Ancrombe. With a tilt of his head, he signalled a man standing at the far corner of the inn room they had booked.

Clad from head to toe in a shade of dirty grey and rough black, the masked figure had blended in with the darkest corners where the light from the single candle lighting up the room could not reach. And despite knowing his existence, his silent glide towards the door still unnerved Agreis. He signalled the two guards he had brought with him to come closer and returned his attention to the door.

Instead of opening the door, the masked man sent two distinct rap of his knuckle on it. Three slow knocks came back in answer and a moment later, another four rapid ones followed. Nodding towards Leon, the masked man fished out a short dagger from inside of his cloak and suddenly yanked the door open from one side.

Egregor Serge’s confident demeanour never wavered even as he found himself staring right at the point of a sharp dagger just inches from his eyes, but both of the guards behind him sprang forward with bared blades. He put up a hand, stopping them before closing his fingers on the sharp blade of the knife. The knife didn’t resist as he pushed it down and looked at the person wielding the weapon. The masked man.

“Facing this every time I arrive, I’m starting to find it a bit tiring,” He carelessly said to the man before turning his eyes towards Leon. “Just you two? What about the other three?”

“They are busy with their own things,” Leon said, waving his hand. “Take a seat. We need to discuss the current state of affairs.”

Egregor sighed, settling on a chair opposite to the two. “The current state of affairs, huh? It’s been giving me a headache lately.”

“You are having a headache?” Agreis fumed. “What about me, then? Why did your house have to involve her majesty in this?”

“Yes,” Leon echoed. “First your servants make a blunder and ruin our ploy, then this. How did this happen?”

Egregor spread his hands out helplessly. “I wasn’t expecting such an outcome either. The first incident was… unfortunate. But the second is the deed of my dear nephew, Arakan. His early return was not within my anticipation, and neither was his wit. Or else, I have almost had Vaargos turn most of our house turn against him.” he sighed. “And I was in such a good position too.”

“I heard he became the head of the house,” Agreis sneered. “How could the people of your house allow such a thing? Are they that foolish? ”

Egregor tilted his head, fixing the lanky man with a cold stare. “I would ask for you to watch your tongue lest you lose it like your dear squire, sir Agreis”

Agreis reeled back from the stare. The guards standing behind him put a hand on their weapons, and Egregor’s guards acted accordingly. The air of the room seemed taut, ready to snap at a moment’s notice, but Egregor didn’t let up his stare. Tiny droplets of perspiration seeped out of the Agreis’s forehead as he turned his face away.

“And as for the matter of allowing him,” Egregor began, turning to Leon, who had been enjoying their display quietly. “He didn’t need anyone’s permission. He walked in in the middle of the ongoing meeting and simply sat down on the seat of the head. I must say I admire his courage and presence of mind quite a bit.”

A peculiar look crossed Leon’s eyes. “He seems like an… interesting person.”

Egregor nodded. “Since he had rarely ever involved himself in the affairs of the house, I never paid him any more attention than customary. Now I really wish I had known him better.”

“So is he the one who brought the queen into this?”

“Yes, he is.”

Leon sighed. “So now we are back to an even worse position than before.” he looked at Agreis. “The knights are sure to come to your house to investigate. What about the people you used to poison the food?”

“They are dead,” Agreis said. “I had them killed as soon as I learned about the investigation.”

“You had them killed?” Egregor was surprised. He gave Agreis a disapproving look. “And you go about calling others foolish?”

“What do you mean?” Agreis asked in a sharp, unfriendly tone.

“Do you think the knights would only investigate you? They would also check the people you went with. And when they find out those people have all disappeared, who do you think they would suspect first?”

“Yes, it was really a misstep on your part, agreis,” Leon said. “You shouldn’t have been so hasty with this.”

“Am I to blame for this?” Agreis fumed. “If they failed to keep their mouths shut, then it would be my neck on the line, not yours!” he stood up, glaring at Egregor. “And this ‘dear nephew’ of yours! You just let him do whatever he wants. First with the Moras house, now this. I will not stand for this, I tell you.”

“Calm down, Agreis,” Leon said, raising his hand. “I am sure we can find a solution—”

“I will not calm down,” Agreis spat. “Our house may be small, but as a noble, we have our pride too. Damn! I should never have agreed to join your schemes.” he fixed the two of them with a withering scowl. “Remember this, if I am going to fall, I will not go down alone,”

Leon and Egregor watched Agreis storm away from the room with narrowed eyes. Egregor leaned back in his chair.

“This might be troublesome,” he said.

“Well, you kept antagonizing him.” Leon chuckled. “And along with all these things happening, the pressure is too much for a minor house like theirs. He was bound to snap.”

“What can I do? The head of just a small house yet showing me no respect, I just taught him a little lesson.”

Leon sighed. “Well, I guess his uses were becoming lesser and lesser, so it doesn’t really matter, but now he would become a liability instead.”

Egregor raised an eyebrow and stared at him. “Are you suggesting…”

“It’s time for him to… retire,” Leon said as he looked towards the masked man. The man gave a brief nod, heading towards the door.

“Wait!” Egregor said to him, before turning towards Leo. “I have no doubt he would undoubtedly make a phenomenal job of it, but it would still raise some suspicion.”

“You have a better proposal?” Leon asked.

“Well, that brother of mine did say he would like to burn house Scarva down, I think if I just nudge him in the right direction…”

“That…” Leon sat up straight. “That would be brilliant! If you could make it loud enough, it might also halt the investigation in its tracks,” he said, looking at the door thoughtfully. “But whatever you do with Agreis, leave the house Scarva alone for now.”

“Why?”

“Although I have no obligation to keep him alive, I did promise I would keep his house safe.” Leon smiled. “And I think Alanis would make for an excellent head of the house. And an even better puppet.