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Chapter 22: Taking him away

Chapter 22: Taking him away

The air across the courtyard grew heavier by the minute.

The fire on the second floor still hadn’t been fully extinguished. Servants carrying water and the family’s mages ran back and forth in the distance, but none dared come close to the area where two Dukes stood facing each other.

Lathel had been placed on a makeshift stretcher. A healer from House Avarenne knelt beside him, using magic to stop the bleeding from the wounds across his body while stabilizing the broken left leg and the two snapped fingers. Each time the healing light passed over the right hand, the healer’s expression darkened a little more.

Leviana still lay in Mirelle’s arms. She couldn’t wake, but the traces of two tear lines still lingered on her face.

Cassian looked at the man blocking his path, his gaze slowly turning cold.

"Reinhardt."

Duke Reinhardt Kirlinghalm narrowed his eyes slightly.

Cassian took half a step forward. The mana around him didn’t erupt violently, but the invisible pressure alone was enough to make the nearby guards tense unconsciously.

"Do you truly want to stand against me?"

Reinhardt looked at him for a few seconds, then laughed. "It’s precisely because I don’t want to stand against you that I’m here. Cassian, our two families have cooperated for years. The merchant guild, the transport routes, the armies on the northern border... a great many interests bind both sides together. Do you truly want to destroy all of that over a mute?"

Mirelle frowned at once.

Cassian showed no clear reaction.

Seeing that, Reinhardt continued, his tone like someone trying to talk an old friend out of letting anger cloud his judgment. "Today’s incident hasn’t even been investigated yet. Aldric says Lathel started the fire; you believe he saved Leviana. Both sides have their own perspective. If we turn on each other over something that hasn’t been settled, the other families will be the ones who profit."

He paused briefly, then turned to glance at Aldric. The displeasure on his face was quickly replaced by pride.

"Besides, Aldric’s future doesn’t stop at House Kirlinghalm. Empress Catherine has already begun taking notice of his talent."

Cassian stiffened slightly.

Aldric, standing behind his father, also straightened unconsciously.

Reinhardt was very pleased with the reaction. "The royal side has already made contact with us. Once Aldric finishes his studies at the Magic Academy, with his talent, entering the Empire’s inner circle is only a matter of time. When that day comes, the person standing beside Empress Catherine may very well be my son."

Hearing this, the frustration Aldric had been suppressing finally eased somewhat.

That was right.

This was his true value.

So what if Cassian was stronger than his father right now?

So what if House Avarenne held slightly more power at the moment?

One day, when he stood at the summit the storyline had prepared, everyone before him would have to look up.

Aldric was waiting for Cassian’s attitude to shift when the man before him suddenly laughed.

The laughter was very quiet at first, then grew louder.

Reinhardt frowned.

Aldric also looked at him with displeasure.

Cassian finished laughing and slowly shook his head. "Standing beside Empress Catherine?"

The smile vanished from his face.

His gaze shifted to Aldric.

"With a character like this?"

Aldric’s face went rigid at once.

Cassian didn’t care in the least and continued coldly: "A man who can snap two fingers of the person who just risked his life to save his own betrothed, then use the fact that the man can’t speak to frame him as the culprit. When Leviana cried, you were delighted because you thought you’d found evidence. Someone like that deserves to stand beside Catherine?"

Reinhardt’s expression darkened at once.

"Cassian, watch your words."

"I’m choosing them very carefully."

Cassian looked Aldric over from top to bottom, his contempt undisguised.

"The Empress needs capable people. I’ve never heard she was so desperate for talent that she’d keep someone with a rotten character by her side."

"You...!"

Aldric clenched his fist hard.

The wound on his chest immediately flared with pain from the force, but he no longer cared.

Rotten character?

Him?

A native character who didn’t even know where the world’s future was heading dared stand before him and pass judgment?

’You damned old man.’

Aldric gritted his teeth until the muscles along his jaw stood out.

’You don’t even know who you’re talking to.’

Reinhardt wasn’t much happier than his son. Aldric was his greatest source of pride. From the moment the boy had shown his talent, virtually every best resource the family possessed had been poured into him.

And now Cassian was standing on Kirlinghalm territory, in front of dozens of guards, telling him his son wasn’t worthy of standing beside the Empress.

Reinhardt took a deep breath and in the end managed to force his anger down.

"I don’t wish to continue debating this. If you want to take Leviana back to House Avarenne, I can make that concession. After what happened tonight, keeping the girl here would understandably worry you both."

Cassian looked at him without answering.

Reinhardt raised a hand and pointed toward Lathel.

"But he stays."

Mirelle immediately turned.

Cassian’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Reinhardt explained calmly: "Lathel is an adopted child of House Kirlinghalm. He is also currently suspected of involvement in the fire. The matter hasn’t been investigated. I cannot allow you to simply take him from our territory."

Hearing that, a light immediately sparked in Aldric’s eyes.

As long as Lathel stayed behind...

A great many things would become easy to handle.

He wouldn’t even need to kill Lathel directly. With injuries like those, all it would take was the healer being a little slow, or a small "accident" during the investigation, and the Extra could simply vanish.

Reinhardt continued: "Take Leviana home first. Once tonight’s events have been properly investigated, I will personally bring Aldric to House Avarenne to explain. If there truly was a misunderstanding, he will formally apologize."

Cassian listened, then asked only: "Are you finished?"

Reinhardt frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"I’m taking both of them."

Cassian’s voice was perfectly calm, but it left no room whatsoever for negotiation.

Reinhardt’s face darkened at once. "Cassian."

"Lathel is currently the betrothed whose name is written on Leviana’s marriage contract. He also just risked his life to save my daughter." Cassian looked toward the unconscious young man on the stretcher. "A broken leg, severe blood loss, two fingers deliberately crushed by your son. After all of that, you want me to leave him here for your people to investigate?"

Cassian turned back to Reinhardt.

"Do you think I’m that stupid?"

"Lathel belongs to House Kirlinghalm."

"Then as of today, he doesn’t anymore."

The words made everyone nearby pause.

Cassian’s expression remained unchanged. "You once said the family raised him for many years, correct? Fine. When I return, I’ll have someone calculate every expense House Kirlinghalm ever spent on Lathel. Food, clothing, shelter, down to every last coin of medicine if there was any. House Avarenne will repay it tenfold."

Reinhardt said angrily: "You’re treating the adoption of a child as a transaction?"

Cassian smiled faintly.

"The one who just used the cost of raising him to argue that Lathel owes the family was you."

Reinhardt went silent at once.

Aldric, standing behind, could barely hold himself together anymore.

From childhood until now, he had never experienced this kind of feeling.

When studying magic, the instructors praised him as a genius. When competing with other youths, the adults always reminded his opponents to know their place. The things Aldric wanted, he only needed to ask, and most of them would be placed before him.

After learning he was the protagonist, he became even more convinced that everything was meant to be this way.

But ever since Leviana woke, one thing after another had begun going against what he wanted.

The plan at Grail Pass had failed.

Catrina had appeared ahead of the storyline.

The Void Step Talisman had been forced out of his hands.

This fire hadn’t managed to kill Lathel either.

And now Cassian wanted to take the Extra back to House Avarenne, openly declaring that he was Leviana’s true betrothed.

’Why?’

Aldric looked at the unconscious Lathel, and hatred spread rapidly through his chest.

’You again.’

If Lathel had died the way the storyline dictated, Leviana would already be in his hands.

Cassian wouldn’t be standing here protecting a dead man either.

A supporting character only needed to play his role and then disappear.

Why did he insist on staying alive?

’I’ll kill you.’

The thought appeared with absolute clarity.

’What right does an Extra like you have to steal my spotlight?’

Aldric took a deep breath.

He knew this wasn’t the moment to erupt.

After a long struggle, he finally forced the corner of his mouth into a false smile.

"Duke Cassian, if you insist on taking Lathel, I naturally have no right to stop you. But there’s something you should consider carefully."

Cassian looked at him coldly.

Aldric continued: "Lathel is merely an orphan taken in by House Kirlinghalm. He has no noble blood, no achievements, and no status worth mentioning. If House Avarenne truly allows Leviana to continue a betrothal with someone like that, I’m afraid the family’s reputation will be very difficult to maintain."

He smirked.

"You are a Duke, so you surely understand what a marriage of the heir represents."

Mirelle, who had been adjusting the blanket around Leviana, lifted her head at those words.

She looked at Aldric for a moment, then scoffed.

"Reputation comes naturally to those who live with integrity. A person of decent character will earn others’ respect regardless of where they came from."

Her gaze shifted to Aldric, then swept past Reinhardt.

"But if the inside is already rotten, no matter how many layers of noble titles you drape over it, the smell can only be masked for so long."

Aldric’s face flushed red at once.

His fingers clenched until they shook.

In his mind, he was already imagining seizing Mirelle by the hair and slamming that face into the ground.

Once.

Then many more times.

Until the woman before him no longer dared look at him with contempt.

But outwardly, Aldric could only stand still.

’Just wait.’

Cassian had no interest in wasting more time either.

He waved toward the Avarenne guards.

"Take Lathel."

Two guards immediately lifted the stretcher.

Reinhardt reflexively stepped forward, but Cassian turned his head to look at him at the same moment.

The pressure of mana instantly fell across the courtyard.

Reinhardt stopped.

Cassian looked at him and spoke in a low voice: "I will investigate tonight’s events to the very end. If Lathel truly started the fire, I will personally bring him back to face responsibility. But if the arsonist turns out to be someone else..."

His gaze passed over Aldric.

"I hope that when that time comes, House Kirlinghalm can still speak to me as calmly as you did tonight."

Aldric felt a chill run down his spine.

Cassian said nothing more.

He turned and left the courtyard with his escort.

Mirelle walked beside him, carrying Leviana. Before passing Aldric, she paused for only an instant, then continued on without bothering to spare him another word.

That silence stung Aldric more than any insult could have.

Lathel’s stretcher gradually disappeared beyond the gate.

This time, he had truly left House Kirlinghalm.