Chapter 18 — Viscount Andrew

"...Well, customs really have changed since then. Of course, Viscount Andrew's manner of speaking is also... a bit more particular than most."

"We understand. You indeed have every reason to be busy now," Heidi said. Seeing that Rebecca, the rightful heir of Cecil, was at this moment busily chattering with her Mystic Meridian Sect elder and had not the faintest notion that she ought to rise and respond, Heidi shot her a glare of embarrassment and exasperation, then rose to her feet. "But I must remind you, you ought to address Rebecca as Viscountess, not Miss. She inherited the family title as early as last year. On an occasion such as this, you should call her Viscountess Rebecca, or Viscountess Cecil."

The rules governing how nobles of this world addressed one another's titles on ordinary occasions did not seem especially strict; one might prefix the title with either the given name or the family name.

Stung by Heidi's glare, Rebecca belatedly rose and gave Viscount Andrew the bow a noble ought to give when meeting one of equal rank—her form was, all things considered, still passable. "Viscount Andrew, thank you for your hospitality."

"It is only my duty, Viscountess Cecil," said Andrew. Having been gently but firmly reminded by Heidi, he recalled this lady's standing in noble circles, and so he reined himself in. In addressing Rebecca he deliberately chose to prefix the title with her family name rather than her given name—the somewhat more formal mode of address. "I am deeply grieved by what has happened in the Cecil domain; it was truly a disaster. But it rejoices me that you are safe and sound. It seems the line of the Cecil family will not be cut off after all."

What followed was an almost wholly unnutritious exchange of pleasantries and congratulations, one party expressing its concern in strict accordance with propriety, the other striving to show itself warmed and grateful. Miss Rebecca, whose head had evidently been caught in a door somewhere along the way, was plainly not much good at this sort of socializing, and so she wrenched the conversation back on course with notable bluntness: "Before the castle fell, Knight Philip led a party to cover the civilians' breakout. They ought to have withdrawn here. By the law laid down by the founding sovereign, they should be under your protection at this moment. May I ask how they are faring?"

"Of course. The law laid down by the founding sovereign is sacred. My domain may be small, but I have more than enough to relieve a neighbor in distress," Andrew said with a nod. "That brave knight was covered in wounds at the time and has not yet recovered. I have lodged him in the church of the Yaochen faith—the finest treatment can be given him there. As for those loyal soldiers and the poor civilians, I have settled them in the eastern and southern districts, and to this day not one of them has died of cold or hunger."

Not a single one of the Cecil folk who had fled here had died of cold or hunger—that was already a show of the most conscientious care. Of course, Viscount Andrew had his reasons for being willing to take in those refugees: every Cecil subject he sheltered would be converted into a debt pressing upon Rebecca. If Rebecca meant to restore her family, she would have to pay Viscount Andrew a "fee" for each head.

Just as "a noble ought to aid a neighbor in distress according to his means, and ought to shelter and protect the subjects of a neighboring noble who has met with calamity" was written into the laws of Ansell, so too was "the recipient of aid ought to render the necessary recompense to the giver" plainly set down in the codex. Gao Yang knew this perfectly well.

After all, both of those laws had been drawn up back in the day by Gao Yang Cecil and Charles I, the two of them together...

Rebecca, though not yet mature as a noble, did understand this rule. Hearing Viscount Andrew's words, her expression could not help but turn a little grim, for she very much doubted whether she still had the means to repay this debt that had so suddenly fallen upon her.

She could not resist stealing a glance at Gao Cen, and some bold and thoroughly cheeky ideas began to take shape in her mind.

The Mystic Meridian Sect... and him dressed head to toe in antiques... What if she talked the old gentleman into selling that outfit of his?