Chapter Sixty-Five: When it Rains
1298 Words
Arusei Evergreen
The glass-eyed girl before me did not react in the least to my words.
Then again, she barely flinched at the sight of the headless body before us.
Barely.
‘Still, Slave or not, she didn’t even call for help.’
‘Is she mute? Or just numb.’
I crouched next to her then placed my hand on her jaw.
My mana has been shaky lately, but healing shouldn’t be a problem.
Greenlight emanated from the tips of my fingers to her jaw. Other than a few cuts and bruises on her lips and cheeks, nothing else healed.
“Tongue's fine, meaning this could be trauma-induced mutism if she indeed cannot talk.”
I stood.
“Too bad, kid. Even I cannot heal that. Eat with the rest, then make sure to shower. The plumbing should be up and running in, at most, three days. You, all of you really, stink. The castle is amid very lively woods. You wouldn’t want to be devoured by a predator, would you? But I suppose there exist lesser reasons to shower.”
The woman on the ground did not move. She merely stared at me in blatant curiosity.
“Alright then, I feel like at an impasse so….”
The scent of blood hung in the air, only rather than the usual repulsiveness it held, I could hardly resist licking my lips.
‘Seriously, what's wrong with me?’
I turned to leave when an almost missable gentleness caressed my ankle.
A whiteness flashed before my eyes before the pureness of the image was replaced by a baby.
Chubby to the core.
The baby had golden slit eyes and pitch-black hair.
Its chubby little arms were flailing up and about, and then…its gaze met mine.
The pureness of the laughter that oozed from the baby’s eyes and mouth melted my core to such a dizzying extent that an all too familiar sting rose.
I stretched my hands to touch it, and rather than accept my embrace, their chubby little hands enclosed themselves around my fingers.
“Earth to the countess?! Are you okay?”
I snapped awake, and to my surprise, Breca was waving her hands repetitively over my face.
“You okay? You just zoned out for a second there then started crying?”
The strength in my knees waned, my hand flew easily to my mouth, but they didn’t stay there long because, before I knew it, I sat atop the enslaved girl with my hands to her throat.
“What the hell was that!!?”
She did not fight me; even as the air escaped her lungs, she lifted her weak hands, pressed them on my stomach, then nodded.
‘f**k!’
‘f**k! f**k f**k!’
“Hey! She’s dying!!”
Breca’s words jolted me to reality, but it was too late for the girl; she was unconscious.
“What the hell is going on with you?!”
“Take…take this girl to the main house, have her clothed and fed, then tell Benjie I need a trusted physician here at the c***k of dawn.”
“I will have them sign the confidentiality papers.”
I nodded, then stood weakly, from the girl.
Breca tried to steady me, but I pointed to the girl first.
“Take care of her first. I need….I need to lie down.”
*
*
*
*Three days later*
Central Norvig
Mr Brian McKinnon
“I don’t see the need to warn her! That damn heartless bi-,”
“Viscount, as much as you are in this state, you must understand, the information on suing is more for your protection than the Countesses.”
“This is a murder case! Downright so! Publish that on the presses!! How dare she!! How dare that p********e send me my son’s body!! How dare she!!!”
He roared thunderously over the coffee table to where their law adviser sat.
Brian leaned back, if only slightly, to protect his eardrums from rupturing.
It was common for such a case to pop up once in a while. In fact, he quite enjoyed such cases. Nobles were always the best clients.
If only he could break through to the market in the upper nobility.
But one day, case after case, victory after victory.
“Viscount Foyle!!”
He called out in a clipped tone, making the viscount snap his open mouth shut.
‘Truly, I adore such roles.’
The nobles who always saw themselves above him turned into little children in his domain.
“While it appears as you say, please understand that if the countess can prove the existence of the r**e crime she accused him of, the ‘Foyle’ family name will grow tarnished.”
The Viscount, rightly so, turned blue.
His title was not hard-earned, but it was prestigious; he enjoyed the fruits of his forefathers' labours to the brim.
“So, what is it that you advise?”
Perhaps his sudden compliance was too perplexing for his second(?) wife because she broke the wonderful atmosphere he had created.
“Charles Foyle!! Do you think our son is a criminal? Do you think he would ever do such a thing?? He would never!!”
““This is a murder case! Downright so! Publish that on the presses!! How dare she!! How dare that p********e send me my son’s body!! How dare she!!!”, please.”
“NO!! Don’t ‘Diana please’ me! That’s my son!! That's our boy whose body we cannot even bury because of its state!!”
“Let us listen to the lawyer first; then we can unpack-,”
“You think he did it, don’t you? You think I failed as a parent!!”
“Diana, that is not-“
“If that is not what you mean, why are you listening to this lanky man rather than the woman you married! Don’t you trust me!?”
“Of course i-,”
The viscount made the mistake of scratching his head in the middle of his answer.
“Gods, you don’t even know which number of wife I am.”
“Diana!!”
“What's his name? What is our son's name, our son whose body lies headless in our gardens as we speak!”
“L- Jame…Pete-,”
Slap!
“You are only here because of the name Foyle! How dare you pretend before me, pretend you cared about-.”
The Viscount's wife paused to release a shaky sigh.
“I wish I had never married you!! How selfish yo- !”
The Viscount’s wife grabbed her red scarf from the chair, and turned to the door, slamming it so hard the entire room shook.
After a few seconds of silence, the Viscount spoke first.
“S-sorry about my wife. This has been hard for her.”
“I-indeed.”
‘Nobles, really are of a different breed.’
“Proceed with the plan; why should we warn the countess? It will be in our favour to publish the article and drag her to court. She has quite a reputation. This might be beneficial for our house as well, politically. Plus, what if we tell her and she uses the extra time to create fake evidence?”
“There is not much data that can be forged in a week; we are merely testing to see if she is confident in her stance. If she doesn’t react, it might imply she has sufficient evidence to drag your name in the mud. Meaning we may have to find and coerce the witnesses to our side before taking the matter public. All balls need to be in our court, and it is for that reason that I want you to understand that the added time is for our benefit, not hers.”
- Writer
