Chapter 175 — The Investigation
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 4
The rain stopped the next day, but the sky remained overcast.
The Kant Domain lay beneath a long, unbroken stretch of cloud. The last rain before winter was always reluctant to depart, and over the coming days the land would likely see several more moderate showers—abundant rain of this kind being greatly beneficial to the domain's specialty: magical herbs.
Most magical herbs continued to grow even in winter. Though their roots and stalks appeared withered and dead, spellcasters knew well that their "spiritual plants" were still nourished by the magical environment and would revive in the Month of Renewal the following year; how much they could grow during winter depended in no small part on that final rain before the frost and snow arrived.
Breakfast was taken in the dining hall of Gao You Castle with Viscount Victor Kant. Since the viscountess was too ill to receive guests and the viscount's only son was not in the domain, only the two of them sat at the vast table. For all that the tableware was magnificent and the dishes exquisite, the atmosphere of the meal left Gao Yang rather ill at ease.
He preferred the lively warmth of a crowd gathered around a table to this—sitting at one end of a long board with an old nobleman at the other, so distant that even a single exchange of words seemed to demand a time delay.
"I hope you rested well in this old house," Victor Kant said as he cut the bread before him. "The castle is far too old. I intend to have it renovated once more in my lifetime."
"It is comfortable—more comfortable than I expected," Gao Yang praised, with a trace of insincerity. "An ancient castle gives one a sense of security."
Victor smiled and glanced beside Gao Yang. "Your two retainers seem to have left early this morning?"
"They don't take well to constraint. I sent them into town to clear their heads—they're more at ease in a rowdy tavern."
"Understandable. In fact, when I was young I preferred taverns to this quiet castle as well." The old viscount raised his cup. "Of course, in your presence I am still but a junior."
Gao Yang raised his cup in reply and said casually, "The viscountess's health is a matter of concern. What exactly is her illness?"
Victor's movement paused, almost imperceptibly, and then a smile settled on his face. "You have met her already?"
By Lilith Kant's own account, it was this old viscount who ought to have arranged for her to pay her respects to Gao Yang—yet now Victor acted as though he were hearing of it for the first time!
Gao Yang concealed the shift within him and kept his faint smile. "She came to greet me after dinner last night. But she looked very unwell."
"My poor Lilith," Viscount Victor sighed. "Her health has never been good. She cannot bear sunlight, nor tolerate noise, and so she must live in the North Tower for long stretches, able to come out only at night. But she is a very kind soul. Whatever tolerance I show my people, I owe largely to her—she is always urging me to consider the feelings of those who cannot afford good houses or meat. Yet her own body only grows worse."
The Viscount Kant's mercy and tolerance toward the common folk of his domain—Gao You had heard murmurs of it in the servants' idle talk the day before, and it was one of the things that had surprised him most. He had already formed the preconception that Victor Kant was very likely a cultist of the Church of Eternal Slumber, or at least under the cult's control and bewitchment, and that this was why he would abduct refugees for evil rituals. He had never imagined that every word he heard after entering the Kant Domain would be praise for this old lord!
Unable to judge how much of the servants' gossip was true, he could only follow the current: "Treating one's people well is every lord's duty. We carved out this kingdom in the first place to protect our subjects, not to ride over their heads and lord it over them."