Chapter 46 — In which, some people exchange words
Just before sunrise.
When the moon was about to fade away.
Crimo opened one of the cabinets in his study and started to carefully take out things.
The things were random and had nothing in common.
Books, sculptures, tea cups, pens, jars of powders and cans of coffee grains.
They were things that you would expect to find in a cabinet, but taking them out all together didn’t seem to make much sense.
After taking out about 1/3 of the cabinet’s inventory, Crimo looked down at the items, checked them and then…
He put them in the cabinet again.
But this time the placement of the items was a bit different.
After placing everything inside, Crimo checked them and then…
He took them out again.
The process repeated a few times.
Finally, when Crimo changed the object placement about eight times.
Click.
There was a faint sound of mechanism and a wall of the cabinet opened, reveling a small compartment.
The compartment was no more than ten centimeters high and not more than eight centimeters wide.
Inside of it was a crude, wooden sculpture.
Because of the rough cuts, it was hard to tell what the sculpture was depicting, besides that it seemed to be a somehow humanoid figure, holding a disc, half disc and something like a round-curved sickle in one hand of each of its six arms.
Dark droplets of red decorated the sculpture’s head.
Dry blood.
Crimo observed the wooden figurine for a moment and then quietly spoke, almost just mouthing his words:
“I don’t know if you really have any power, or even exist. I’m even less convinced that it was you who kept my brother safe today… Frankly speaking, even if you existed and had power, Vern is more than capable of taking care of himself without your help…”
Crimo smiled slightly when he thought about his little brother standing confidently on stage of the Magic Exchange.
“… But still… if you were even a little bit of help for him… Thank you.”
Crimo picked up a small paper knife and made a shallow cut on his palm.
He held the hurt hand above the sculpture and let the droplets of blood fall on it.
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“Please continue to protect my siblings.”
After making sure that the fresh blood moistened the wood, Crimo closed the secret compartment again.
*-*-*
“What a surprise. My ‘sister’ came to see me first. What do I owe this honor for?”
Orche didn’t move from his seat, when Mimosa entered his study early in the morning.
He didn’t make any gestures for her to sit down, nor did he call for tea and refreshments to entertain his guest.
But Mimosa didn’t expect any of that.
She just grabbed the chair and got to the point:
“I’ll be leaving the manor in two days.”
“What a blessing. Is that all?”
“No.”
Mimosa, just like Orche, wished to leave this room immediately, but she needed to say a few more things.
“And I’m taking Saffra with me.”
Orche, who wasn’t looking at her and was shuffling documents, paused and then looked up.
“What?”
“I’m taking Saffra with me.”
“I heard that, but what?”
Mimosa just stared.
Orche stared back.
Then he slowly leaned against the chair and said:
“I thought you believed that associating with your little, precious sister is dangerous for her.”
Mimosa indeed thought like this before.
As a competitor for the throne, she faced a lot of spite and hate.
And because of her unwillingness to yield, she also made a lot of enemies.
Sometimes Mimosa faced assassinations attempts a few times a week.
As such, she thought that rather than taking Saffra under her wings and exposing their close relationship, she would do better avoiding appearing in public together.
Even though she knew about everything that Orche did to humiliate Saffra whenever he had an occasion.
It was painful and disgusting, but Mimosa soothed herself with a thought that she at least was keeping her little sister alive.
But the new Saffra that Mimosa met after weeks of absence was different.
This Saffra, who had memories of some different life, was keenly aware of all the dangers littering the roads of politics.
And she knew how to protect herself from them.
When the two of them went shopping yesterday and talked about numerous things in Mimosa’s secret base, Saffra declared her willingness to help Mimosa ascend to the throne.
According to Saffra, even if she wanted the throne to herself, she had no chance in this battle, so she would do better as a trustworthy ally.
This made Mimosa both happy and sad.
Happy, because her little sister believed in her and wanted to help her, even though she knew how risky it was.
Sad, because Mimosa wished that Saffra also had a chance to take the throne.
In fact, Mimosa thought that Saffra may be an excellent ruler if given a chance. Much better than her.
In the conclusion of their conversation, it was decided that Saffra would now join Mimosa in her campaign as Mimosa’s right hand.
And their first venture together was...
“I did. But not anymore. I can’t accept the abuse Saffra is suffering in this place anymore. So I’m taking her with me. The threats to her life seem no different if she stays here or not.”
“…. Reaaally? And where are the two of you going?”
“Our first goal is to take a vacation far away from all dirty things.”
Vacation.
But not a simple vacation.
“I won’t be doing any paperwork during that time, so prepare for that. Excluding the murder case of Miss Golderodi. Don’t touch those papers anymore.”
For some reason, Orche seemed to be digging into the murder case that happened at the manor.
Mimosa didn’t know why he would be interested in it, but if it was to hide any connections of it to himself, she had to put a stop to it immediately.
Therefore…
“Our vacation place is close to Miss Golderodi’s hometown. Therefore, I’m taking the full charge of this case and will investigate it when I’m there.”
Orche was silent for a moment and then said:
“I heard that you found that second corpse, that apparent murderer, with Saffra. Now you’re going on a vacation together to further investigate it. Did the two of you suddenly awaken as detectives? I’ll fully support you if you plan to follow that path.”
It meant, if you plan on investigating murder cases, you may as well get out of politics and let me do it alone.
At that, Mimosa replied:
“Sorry, it seems that I’m indeed talented in both politics and investigations. I may as well give both of my gifts to the world. No support needed.”
That meant, fuck yourself.
*-*-*
Twenty four hours after Vern made his first exchange.
An elderly woman was kneeling down on the floor, while a beautiful lady was sitting in front of her in a luxurious chair.
The beautiful lady unfolded the scroll with a magic formula and calmly read it.
Then she chuckled.
It was a seductive but deeply dark chuckle.
“You gave half of your guild's fortune and two subordinates for this?”
“My Lord…”
The elderly women trembled slightly, as she pressed her forehead to the ground.
“I…”
“No need. I don’t want to hear any excuses. Besides, it’s an interesting spell, even if it doesn't have any combat usage.”
The beautiful lady smiled slightly.
“I really want to meet the inventor of this…”
It was a smile of a devil.
*~*~*