The seal beneath the estate remained untouched for now. It would require a formal team from the Imperial Archives, and Joseline had already sent for them. But Jacob didn't wait.
There were still missing girls.
And he had questions for the people who lived inside the estate walls.
---
The Governor's Wife
Lady Kirella Carwell had not left her private wing since her husband's arrest. She claimed illness. A show of frailty.
But Jacob noticed something strange when reviewing the household inventory—an expensive gold brooch listed as "acquired three weeks ago."
One of the missing maids—Frella—was known for wearing a cheap, but lovingly gifted sun-shaped pin from her younger sister.
The brooch was... remarkably similar.
David and Jacob returned to the estate the next morning with two guards and a writ.
Lady Kirella greeted them with a veil over her face and a housemaid's false concern.
"I'm mourning my husband's disgrace," she said.
"Then you won't mind if we search the premises for evidence that may absolve or condemn him."
"I beg your—!"
David had already found the brooch. Not locked away. Worn on her wrist like a bracelet. A careless touch.
He held it up.
"Was this bought… or taken?"
---
The Governor's Brother
Marshal Thorne Carwell, a decorated cavalry veteran and minor noble, had returned to the estate when word of the arrest spread.
He offered no sympathy—only contempt for what he called "witch hunts and petty justice."
Joseline assigned two quiet agents to monitor him. Jacob only needed one hour in the estate's hunting lodge to find the lie.
Among the personal effects stashed in a sealed chest was a bundle of silk scarves, each marked with tiny laundry tags.
Matching the initials of three missing maids.
---
The Arrest
By dusk, the court square was full again.
The people watched with a new kind of anticipation. Not fear. Not hope. Belief.
Lady Kirella and Marshal Thorne stood before them, both in elegant garb, both stunned at the sight of their accusers.
Jacob stepped forward, court documents in hand.
"Under the authority of the magistrate and Administrator Ace, and by the power granted through Imperial Law," he began, "you are hereby charged with interference in an ongoing investigation, obstruction of justice, and possession of stolen property belonging to missing citizens."
Kirella spat at his feet. "How dare you disgrace my family!"
Jacob didn't flinch.
"You disgraced them yourself, Lady Carwell."
David leaned close. "Remind me to write that down."
---
Later — At the Estate's Lower Grounds
With both suspects in custody and the estate firmly under the Crown's seal, Joseline met Jacob and David at the sealed stone door.
The symbol still shimmered with something unnatural—a carved crescent inside an open eye.
"Specialists are en route," Joseline said quietly. "But if this is what I suspect… this county may be the site of something ancient. Something dangerous."
Jacob nodded. "And the girls?"
"I've sent word to investigators from two neighboring provinces," she said. "If these nobles were part of something larger, we'll find it."
Jacob exhaled slowly. "They deserved better than this."
Joseline placed a gloved hand on his shoulder.
"They will get it. You've made sure of that."
---
In the Dark Below
Unseen by all, in the stone tunnels that webbed beneath the Carwell estate, something stirred.
Far down, past carvings older than the Empire itself, a single lantern flickered on, as if drawn by the arrests above.
A shadow moved. It smiled.
And somewhere, the sound of a chain broke.
The Red Veil of Veritas
Two days after the arrest of Lady Kirella and Marshal Thorne Carwell, the estate remained quiet, cold, and sealed. But Jacob and David weren't resting.
In fact, they were digging deeper than ever.
Not into the bog.
Not into basements or bone-riddled tombs.
Into the past.
---
The Archives
With the estate under Crown supervision, Jacob requested full access to the Carwell family ledger, including its ancestral records.
They were ledgers of war deeds, land transfers, weddings, and births. All standard.
Until Jacob opened a leather-bound tome wrapped in red twine.
No title.
The paper was thick and brittle. The ink, dark brown—too dark to be ink.
The writing wasn't legal or economic. It was ceremonial.
> "The Eye must never shut. The Bog must never dry. The Offering must be made. Three sisters, one for each moon."
David leaned in. "These aren't records. They're... rites."
Jacob turned the page. He froze.
Beneath a circle drawn in the shape of an eye was the name: Frella, scrawled in different ink.
Another page: Mayra. And Tess.
The three missing maids.
---
An Old Priest's Words
The next day, Jacob and David visited a small, crumbling chapel at the far edge of the county. It had long been disused. But the caretaker, an aged priest named Brother Ansel, remembered the Carwells well.
When Jacob showed him the red-twined book, the priest trembled.
"That... that's of the Red Veil of Veritas. A heretic sect. Long dead, I thought."
"Tell us everything," Jacob said.
Brother Ansel nodded slowly. "Long ago, during the early Empire, there were nobles who feared the sun and worshipped the moon instead. They believed truth was too painful to live with, so they built their lives on secrecy. They founded the Red Veil… a cult devoted to hiding sins from the gods."
He pointed to the eye symbol.
"They performed veilings—rituals that used blood and pain to 'shroud' truths. The bogs were their shrines, the mist their sanctuary. They used the lower class as offerings."
"Sacrifice," David muttered. "For power?"
"For silence," Ansel said.
---
Connecting the Crimes
Jacob spent that night cross-referencing estate ledgers with birth and death records. He discovered a pattern:
Every thirty years, three young women would disappear.
Always lowborn.
Always during the season when the bog waters rose.
Always while the Carwell family held county power.
"Even in their downfall," Jacob whispered, "they were feeding something."
David looked at him. "That stone seal down there... what if it wasn't just a door?"
"What if it was a mouth?" Jacob replied.
---
Report to Administrator Ace
Joseline read the report in silence.
When she was done, she rose from her desk and walked to the balcony, staring at the cloud-draped bogs beyond the town.
"You're telling me," she said, "that not only did the Carwells engage in illegal worship... they continued a bloodline cult dedicated to silencing the truth?"
"Yes," Jacob said. "And if this reaches beyond the Carwells, there may be more noble families involved. Hidden ones. With more blood on their hands."
Joseline nodded grimly.
"This is no longer just a local crime. It's treason by oath and origin."
She turned.
"Begin preparing indictments. You have full authority. And Jacob—"
"Yes?"
"Be careful. Those who build kingdoms on lies are the first to kill when truth wakes up."