Chapter 21: "Esteemed Lady, would you..." Offering the confit in his hands, Kurian apologized, "... please forgive my rudeness from earlier?"
'What a pretentious bastard.' Rover's eye twitched.
She already knew this was some kind of ploy, a little performance meant to gauge her character, and she had no intention of letting him use her as his test subject.
Crossing her legs and folding her arms, she asked, "Do you expect me to forgive?"
"I am certain you must be magnanimous, given how civil you were to my rudeness in the elevator," Kurian replied with a smile that resembled a swindler caught guilty in court.
Rover glanced at the jar and said simply, "I don't need it."
"Please don't say that..." Kurian pleaded, offering the jar toward her once more, "... it's fine if you give it to charity later. Just accept it so this guilty conscience of mine can finally be at ease."
"—!!!" Feeling her temper spike at his blatant pretense, she snapped, "How long are you going to pretend you didn't know I was the special guest?"
"Huh?" Kurian blinked as Rover pointed a finger at him and shouted, "You knew, right, that I was the special guest, so..."
She rose to her feet and handed back his white coat as she continued, "You made those rude comments on purpose. Besides..."
She confronted him about what he had done outside the City Hall. "Someone who knows how to break apart a riled-up crowd isn't an idiot."
"Also..." She glanced at the cherry confit.
To be honest, it did look pretty good, but she numbed down her sweet tooth before pressing on, "You're just trying to act like a fool right now. Tell me, you were aware of everything, weren't you?"
She expected Kurian to finally drop the farce, but his next words nearly made her rip out his hair. "If I say I genuinely believed you were a hooker, would you be upset?"
"You are impossible!" Rover yelled just as the door swung open again and Sanhua stepped inside once more.
Taking in the tense atmosphere, Sanhua asked, "Am I interrupting something?"
"Ah, perfect timing, Sanhua," Kurian's eyes brightened as he immediately looked to her for aid. "I believe your intervention is needed to clear up a few doubts between me and Jinzhou's esteemed guest here."
"Haah..." With a sigh, Sanhua moved forward to mediate, turning to Rover first. "Umm..."
"Call me Rover for now," Rover said, and Sanhua nodded. "Right, Miss Rover, would you mind telling me what Sir Kurian has done to upset you this much?"
"Just Rover is fine," Rover replied with a brief smile before briefly laying out her perspective and observations as she confronted Kurian. "You know something, don't you?"
"—!!?"
But when she looked at him, noticing the faint blush on his face, her eye twitched as Kurian asked, "From that tiny happenstance, you managed to paint such a glorified image of me? Your heart truly must be magnanimous."
"Will you drop the act," Rover huffed, exasperated, but Sanhua cut in gently and said, "He's being genuine here."
"What?" Rover blinked as Sanhua confirmed, "There was no shift in his frequencies from start to finish. In fact, they're paradoxically stable."
"Can you elaborate?" Rover asked, her curiosity stirring as Sanhua lifted a hand toward her right eye. "My eyes can see the frequencies of all living beings. Or rather..."
"Those frequencies are the only thing I can see." Sanhua explained her peculiar ability before adding to Rover, "You... you share the same frequency as Madam Magistrate."
"Same frequencies, you say?" Rover asked, now genuinely interested. "What does mine look like?"
Watching her expression, Kurian couldn't help the slight curl of his lips as he thought, 'Yep, she must be is a good person.'
Rover's innocent, almost childlike curiosity held nothing but true intrigue, free of deception, something he quietly appreciated.
"You appear un-distorted and authentic, in your original form, much like Madam Magistrate," Sanhua said with a nod.
Kurian then chimed in, "What about me?"
Sanhua glanced at him and stated flatly, "You're probably the most distorted person in Solaris III."
"What?!" Kurian recoiled at the bluntness as Rover let out a faint snicker.
Yet seeing how Kurian didn't so much as flinch at her reaction, she began to ponder, 'He really must have remarkable control over himself.'
"Do not mistake me for being rude, Sir Kurian. You also appear in your original form, only..." Sanhua hesitated, struggling to describe it, "... you seem to be in a constant oscillation, yet somehow contained enough to make you look genuine."
"It's like something moving so fast it appears still." Sanhua described the paradoxical enigma of Kurian's genuineness before asking, "Is there some inner turmoil you are suffering from? And how are you able to contain them?"
"Bah!" Kurian exhaled in a dismissive sigh as he said, "I've got plenty of problems in life, but I just deal with them at my own pace."
"Also," Kurian glanced at Rover, then back at Sanhua before adding, "Calling me the most distorted person might give someone the wrong impression. Weren't you here to help settle our misunderstanding?"
"Right," Sanhua nodded, then asked, "Then would you mind telling me whether you were genuinely unaware that Rover was Jinzhou's special guest?"
"I did receive intel that a special guest might arrive in Jinzhou today, but..." He looked toward Rover before saying, "I honestly assumed she was just some desperate hooker based on how she dressed."
"I am not a hooker, alright!" Rover snapped, and Sanhua confirmed, "Rover, he does seem to be telling the truth."
"Keh." Rover genuinely felt herself unraveling as Kurian displayed an extreme level of intelligence yet no actions were of manipulation she had assumed. 'Am I really overthinking this then?'
However, there was one last thing she needed to ask before she could finally let her doubts go.
"What about your actions from earlier when you broke up the crowd in front of City Hall?" Rover pressed, and Kurian replied, "Oh, that. Listen, okay? I'm a very observant man, politically and socially aware."
"I'm extremely confident in reading the psychology of individuals and groups," Kurian asserted before continuing, "Also, this time I came to Jinzhou specifically for a commission."
"Besides, I've got nothing to gain from manipulating its special guest." He added, "In fact, I would be ruining the reputation of my mercenary group if I did something like that, which I won't."
"You simply give me an unnerving chill," Rover admitted bluntly, voicing exactly what she felt as Sanhua added, "Then you must have sharp instincts as well."
"Honestly," Sanhua said as she looked toward Kurian, "Sir Kurian is considered the most illogical man by our Chancellor. Even she said something similar to what you're saying, Rover."
"You two are awfully good at slandering good people," Kurian muttered, mildly offended, before adding, "Ask any of the Ghost Hounds and they'd tell you I'm the simplest, easiest person to deal with most of the time."
"Most of the time?" Rover rightfully pointed out as Kurian clarified, "I avoid taking the initiative to manipulate anyone. It's only that I'm very observant, which makes it seem like I'm manipulative because I notice the faintest cues most people miss."
"Like?" Rover asked, now fully invested in Kurian's peculiar trait.
Kurian bluntly answered, "Like how I know you tossed away that one credit I gave you, and that it's currently in the possession of that red-haired friend of yours, and..."
He glanced at Sanhua, then past her, pointing toward a distant door before adding, "... that Chancellor Changli is inside that room playing Weiqi."
"..."
Both women were taken aback by his words, a chill running down their spines. 'Just how observant is he?'
"I know what you two are thinking, but..." Kurian added calmly, "... a lack of vigilance has cost the Ghost Hounds dearly, so everyone's extra cautious."
"Do not be surprised if other mercenaries treat you with indifference," Kurian gave a small warning about the bluntness other Ghost Hounds carried. "I'm simply something of an exception."
"Then..." Sanhua began, "... I suppose you also know that Madame Magistrate is not currently here, don't you?"
Kurian blinked. "She isn't?"
"You can tell exactly who is behind which door, yet you failed to notice Madame Magistrate's absence?" Sanhua asked, genuinely baffled.
"Hey now," Kurian replied with a shrug, "I did say being observant is in my nature, not being suspicious. Besides..." he added calmly, "... a person who doubts even the smallest of things will never find peace."
"So basically," Rover said, arching a brow, "you involve yourself in everything, but you don't get attached to anything?"
Kurian nodded slightly. "Mhm. That's more or less how I live my life."
"Alright, I believe we should be getting our focus on the main task now," Sanhua interjected, then turned to Rover with an apologetic expression and handed over several tokens left by the Magistrate.
"These are?" Rover asked, examining the peculiar items — a sundial, a pearl-like candy, a leaf emitting an unusual frequency, and a mangosteen.
"Madam Magistrate asked me to inform you that she will meet you in three days' time," Sanhua added.
"Three days, huh?" Rover mused. "So I'm supposed to figure out the meaning behind these strange tokens before then?"
"My deepest apologies," Sanhua explained gently. "The task she is currently undertaking will take her three days to complete. As for the tokens... it was never her intention to perplex you with riddles."
"Rather, they are meant to guide you — to lead you closer to the truth," she continued before adding softly, "Madam Magistrate truly regrets not being able to convey her words to you in person."
"We value your presence far more than you might realize," Sanhua said sincerely. "The same holds true for any knowledge or insight concerning you."
Then, turning toward Kurian, she concluded, "As for you, Sir Kurian, please depart for the Norfall Barrens as soon as possible. The front lines are in need of capable reinforcements."
To be continued...