Great, now there's a suspicious figure approaching me and spouting cryptic bullshit.
Just in case, I layered the whole damn manor with every protection spell I could think of.
[Barrier of the Sun]
[Moonlight Veil]
[Ward Against Demonic Intrusion]
[Spatial Lock]
[Silent Boundary]
[Mana Detection Net]
[Holy Flame Lattice]
Yeah, try breaking in now.
Oh well. I did come here to the south for a vacation after all. Might as well actually do that part.
"Oh lady? How was the beach?" Jane asked me when I walked back into the manor."It was fine. We should go over there tomorrow."
I took a look around the manor properly this time. Southern architecture was different—whitewashed walls, wooden beams carved with shell patterns, wide airy windows that let in the salty breeze. The floors were tiled with blue mosaics, and there were potted palms everywhere. It smelled faintly of the sea. Cozy, warm, nothing like the stiff cold stone of the main mansion.
The bed though. It looked stiff as hell, like some board with a sheet on it. But when I lay down? Boom. Devilish trap. I blinked once and—
"…?"
Oh fuck. It was already midnight.
I missed dinner. Me? Skipping dinner?! Unforgivable.
I went downstairs. Way too quiet. Checked Anna's room—she was there. Checked Jane's room—empty. Kitchen? There she was, asleep at the table.
"She must've waited for me…"
I walked up and patted her head, draped my jacket over her shoulders. Loyal as hell, this maid of mine.
The southern kitchen was smaller, more rustic. Big clay oven, long wooden counters, bunch of copper pots hanging over the wall. Herbs strung up above the window. On the counter was… cornbread.
"Pfft…"
There were other dishes too—roasted fish wrapped in leaves, spiced tubers, grilled maize, some kind of stew that smelled thick and earthy. Southern food huh? Way different from what I was used to.
I grabbed a plate of whatever, then headed to the balcony that overlooked the beach.
The warm southern air brushed against me.
"Wait, shouldn't it be land breeze right now?'
Whatever. Not gonna think too much about wind mechanics.
I sat down, chewing, and started mulling over shit.
Peter's out of the question—I gave him an impossible task anyway.
Jhake? I'll avoid him till the end of time. Grandma's the head now, so I can probably push the annulment through.
Adele's been silent ever since the banquet, probably pissed. Mark is just Mark. Percy's hiding in some mansion licking his wounds.
Jessica's probably doing whatever socialite things she does because Josephine never gave a shit about that side of things anyway.
The real problem is still the Demon God fragments.
I pulled out the black shard. Ominous energy oozed out of it like a bad smell. The sages said they found this one on Grigor's corpse.
"If Bephelgor's plan was to collect all of these… then what the hell are they trying to bring back?"
The last one I knew about was hidden in a chapel in Sucilla province, under a well, rightmost town near the Verra ranges. But the novel never said where the others came from. Just that the last was there. How the fuck did he even get the rest?
"Ugh." I slumped into the chair, bit into the cornbread.
"Fuck."
Originally the plan was simple. Break the bond, run away. Couldn't ask the emperor to do it, that would've been blasphemy. But now? Knowing the world might collapse if I sit still? Great. Fantastic.
[Oi, Trynda. Can't you break the bond somehow?]
[If I could, do you think I'd be here pecking at your cornbread like a useless familiar?]
They actually were pecking at the cornbread. Bastard.
"My lady? You're awake?" Jane's voice came from behind me.
She held the jacket I left for her.
"Yeah. Starving, so I figured I might as well eat."
Jane chuckled. "That is so my lady."
I patted the chair beside me. She sat down, resting her head on my shoulder.
"How's Anna adjusting? Good?"
"She's a fast learner. Already knows what to do around the mansion. She's mostly stuck in the kitchen though."
I chuckled. Jane had been used to working alone.
"Wouldn't be bad if she took some of your burden."
"If she did that, it wouldn't match the lady's standards, now would it?"
"Hahaha!" I actually laughed at that one.