Chapter 25 – In which Saffra is angry
“Please come in.”
After Saffra knocked and was invited in, she opened the door and arrived at a small but neat room.
Craya was standing in the center of the room, her short hair was set perfectly, but she was visibly paler than usual and her lips were dry.
It was clear that she didn’t take that situation well.
“My Lady.”
Craya seemed very surprised when Saffra quickly walked to her side and looked her up and down.
Before Craya could say anything else, Saffra asked:
“Did you eat?”
“Oh… no, there was no time.”
“Splendid, I also didn’t eat. Let’s have breakfast here together.”
Without waiting for the room’s owner's permission, Saffra asked for food to be delivered to the room.
Soon, breakfast was served in Craya’s room.
As expected, Apric and Tangeri joined Craya and Saffra at the table.
What was unexpected was that Mimosa and Citrie also sneaked in.
When Saffra sent them a questioning glance, Mimosa simply said:
“I planned to have breakfast with you today.”
Then she started to put the most delicious looking dishes in front of Saffra without any further word.
As for Citrie, he smiled and said:
“I also haven't gotten to eat breakfast yet… And the guy outside was glaring at me when I tried to take my post outside.”
He added the second part when Saffra’s three ladies-in-waiting glared at him.
Saffra accepted that explanation. Right now Craya’s room was a bit cramped as they put a big table to accommodate all of them and the dishes, so if Citrie was to stay inside, he had to sit down with them.
But it also meant that Citrie was in charge of protecting Saffra today? Again?
She shook her head, dismissed useless worries and put all her attention on the main problem today.
Her first step in resolving the murder mystery was…
Feed Craya as much chocolate as possible.
Saffra developed an eye for sweets during her days as Saffaron, because her older brother Ver and a few of close subordinates liked sweets a lot.
Therefore, Saffra quickly discerned which of the chocolate products on the table were the best and fed them to Craya.
It wasn’t a very healthy breakfast, but who cares about that! You need to treat yourself to something good when something bad happens to keep balance!
And there is no Am here to correct her and nag her about a healthy diet, so she could do whatever she wanted.
Throughout the meal, Saffra didn’t mention anything.
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Only when most of the dishes disappeared and everyone seemed to be satisfied, did she ask:
“Did you know the victim?”
“Golderodi? Not really, we only had a few conversations.”
Golderodi?
“That’s the victim's name. I forgot to mention it.”
“Ah…”
Mimosa quickly explained to the confused Saffra.
Actually, it should have been be obvious it was the victim’s name, but Saffra didn’t expect that she would hear her name here and now.
‘300 years ago it was a custom that you shouldn’t call the name of the dead for a day after their death.’
Therefore, Saffra, who forgot about the change in that tradition, didn’t ask for the name of the victim before.
She quickly composed herself and asked:
“I thought you had a few arguments?”
Craya’s face turned a bit weird.
She thought about it for a moment.
“I always thought that she had a very bad day, when that happened. Usually, Golderodi was very nice and friendly, if a bit shy. But there were a few times when she suddenly approached me and tried to pick up a fight with me.”
“She suddenly tried to pick up the fight with you without a reason?”
“Yes. She behaved like a completely different person at those times, so I thought that something bad happened and it was her way of letting her emotions out.”
Saffra tilted her head.
“So she didn’t appear to hold any grudges against you?”
“Not when she had her good days.”
Saffra turned to look at Apric and Tangeri, seeking a conformation, but two girls shook their heads.
“We don’t know. The only person Golderodi seemed to talk with was Craya. We talked to her only a few times, but it was always work related. At those times she looked calm and friendly, but it may have been her work persona.”
It didn’t seem Saffra would get any clues with that line of investigation, so she decided to get the cat out of the bag first.
“What were you arguing about?”
“She slandered my ancestor a few times and I responded with some harsh words, but it wasn’t really an argument…”
“Who is your ancestor, and why do you think Golderodi might have a problem with them?”
In Luminere, surnames weren’t used.
It was because when the siblings established their rule, they didn’t have a surname of their own and they also refused to create one.
Having a surname meant that you were tied by your family ties and bloodline.
It could become your face, something others judged you by first, rather than judging you as a person.
Because siblings wished for every person to be judged by their own merits, they abandoned the surname system.
The only exception of it was a Book of Merits, which collected the names of great people, and anyone written down in the book as a descendant of one of these great people could request appropriate privileges that were assured by their ancestor.
After the siblings’ death, that book landed in Flavun and became the base for their nobility system.
It was also a reason why Purplus and Rubrun didn’t have such systems.
They couldn’t write down the descendants of their famous lineages or check the book, so they relied on other things to determine their power structure.
“My great ancestor's name was Waxion.”
Saffra’s thoughts halted when she heard the name that left Craya’s mouth.
“Saffra, are you okay?”
She heard Mimosa’s voice and felt her lightly grab her arm.
Her cold touch somewhat brought her back to reality.
“I-I’m fine… Fine. No need to worry.”
She smiled, but her smile felt shaky even for her.
“Are you really? You look sick right now.”
“Yes. I was just surprised to hear that name… or that Craya is his descendant.”
“Ri-Right! I didn’t expect that either! Craya’s ancestor was actually someone who served directly at Her Majesty Saffaron’s side!”
“... But then the rumors say that he betrayed her…”
“Tangeri, that’s obviously a lie. Look at Craya, it is impossible she was born from the blood of a traitor!”
“Yes! I know that! I was just about to say it.”
“You should say it quicker, you make people misunderstand.”
Apric and Tangari started to chirp. Their voices shook a bit, as if they were frightened by Saffra’s sudden change in complexion, but they tried to calm Saffra down somehow with their talk.
Craya was looking at Saffra with a really worried and ashamed look.
Saffra quickly corrected any wrong thoughts that might been circulating in Craya’s mind at that moment:
“I know that Sir Waxion wasn’t a traitor. He was a great warrior and great man, Miss Craya should be proud to have such an ancestor.”
Her voice was very sincere.
That was because every word Saffra said was the complete truth.
‘Waxion died at our side that day… But I didn’t expect for his descendant to remain alive and continue his lineage…’
Descendants in the Book of Merits could be only written down by their ancestors.
So in other words, if all descendants Waxion wrote in the Book of Merits before he died were also dead, then there was no one who could continue his lineage and call him ancestor.
For Craya to be his descendant meant that the daughter Waxion had and wrote down as his descendant survived and had her own offsprings.
‘But I thought that all of them died…’
For a moment, Saffra was taken back to that day when she and her two brothers willingly stepped inside the trap, even though they knew they might not come out alive.
The traitors held the family members and friends of their subordinates as hostages.
Their subordinates’ family and friends were no different from their own family and friends.
They had to go.
Then, at the end, there were so many corpses around, Saffra couldn’t believe that anyone from the people they tried to protect survived.
‘I see… so that little kid survived…’
“Saffra…”
She heard Mimosa call out to her again.
Saffra was sure she was controlling her expression this time, but it seemed that Mimosa still sensed her mood.
“As I said. I’m fine.”
She sent her a reassuring smile.
This time, her smile didn’t falter.
After confirming to Mimosa she was indeed fine, she turned to Craya.
“So you’re saying that that girl was slandering Sir Waxion?”
If Saffra’s gaze was just a bit sharp before, now it was ready to murder.