Chapter 89: cracks of convergence. (6)

Chapter 89: cracks of convergence. (6)

“I understand that you must be quite shocked, and anxious to return to your homes. But please rest assured, with the Amber Inquisitors taking on the task, I am sure that we will receive some information sooner rather than later. Please, have some wine while you wait, we’ve opened an exquisite vintage sent straight from the vineyards on Bolsor Holm.”

Abigail moved between the mumbling nobles with a graceful smile, a handful of servants following her every move as they handed out glasses filled with sparkling wine. She was naturally met with calm smiles and words of assurance wherever she went, her own smile never faltering.

They were whispering amongst themselves, how could they not? The son of a duke was accused of partaking in both treason and illegal slavery, it was a topic anyone would want to talk about, they were probably extremely busy making up various stories and theories. No proof had been produced as of yet, but those in lower positions would relish any chance to tear down those above them.

“Ah, thank you, Crown Princess. I’ve heard many great things of the wine from Bolsor Holm, but I’ve yet to acquire a taste due to my meager position. I will surely savor this great taste.”

Abigail maintained her graceful smile as the Baron in front of her accepted the glass, a wide smile on his face. Her insides churned slightly, she was sure her fingers or eyebrows would twitch if she wasn’t careful enough in maintaining her expression.

Was it just the ducal family they were looking forward to knocking down a peg? Of course not, the Imperial Family who stood a step above even the dukes was most certainly also primed for a good punch.

Sure, the one who may have committed the crime came from a ducal family, but was this not the empire overseen by the Earhart family? Was the Imperial Family really so lazy that they didn’t pay attention when their own citizens started to disappear? Were they really so careless that they allowed someone from one of the four strongest families to conspire with an enemy? Or what if... They actually worked together!

Flimsy reasons and entirely baseless accusations. She knew it, the ones who would spread them knew it. But so what? When people wanted a show, when people wanted to be angry, logic was not something they bothered thinking about. A little spark would be all it took to rouse a bit of anger, the nobles looking to take advantage of the situation would then be more than willing to fuel that anger.

The end-result wouldn’t be something great, it wouldn’t be anywhere close enough to truly harm the Sorin family or the Imperial Family. But it would knock them down a peg, and that alone would be humorous enough.

Abigail slowly but surely made her way through the entire hall and interacted with all the nobles that had to stay behind. Normally it would be the Emperor that did this, but he was currently preoccupied talking with Alice and those who had come from the ducal families so it fell onto her as the Crown Princess to handle it swiftly.This chapter made its debut appearance via N0v3lB1n.

Looking at Alice earnestly chatting with the Emperor and those of the ducal households, the still somewhat out of it Teresa sticking close to her, Abigail felt cold all the way to the pit of her stomach. The world kept twisting more and more, it was as if each day it took another step away from her calculations.

Teresa shouldn’t have started regaining her memories yet, Azuras had been acting strangely for a long time, Alice was different from the previous attempts. Events that shouldn’t have happened yet occurred much earlier than expected, long before she got the time to prepare for them. Everything she did to set up the best possible future was slowly crumbling.

And the worst part was that she had no idea why any of it was happening. Why Azuras was different. Why he changed Alice. Why memories were returning so fast. Azuras, or Gabriel as he had changed his name, had clearly regained his memories, or at least parts of them, from the earlier turns. But why so soon? And why was he acting differently? She didn’t know, and so she felt cold. She did not want more people to die needlessly, she didn’t want to start another attempt just to see more people die again.

She made a promise with Caine when they met up again. This would be it. This attempt would be the last one, they would reach the best possible ending in this turn, no more dead friends and allies. Here, everyone would get to be happy for once, everyone would get to live. But the puzzle she wanted to put together was falling apart, pieces were getting plucked away. So she felt cold. She did not want to start another attempt, she did not want to see Caine sad at them having to break their promise to each other.

She dismissed the servants and strode away from the grand hall, quietly sneaking back to her room. Her thumb naturally made its way to her mouth as she started to nibble on her thumb’s fingernail, a soft silver light floating up from her shoulder.

“Kaisel, I need to ask you for another favor.”

The light on her shoulder solidified and turned into a small woman with flowing silver hair, green eyes, and fluttering wings that looked like stained glass. Kaisel, the spirit Abigail had contracted with.

Abigail was infinitely grateful towards Kaisel. Part of the reason was that Kaisel was one of the main reasons that the loop was formed to begin with, without her everything would have ended with that very first tragedy. But above that... Abigail could only be with Caine thanks to Kaisel. Had it not been for this fairy, this Abigail would never have gotten to be here. It would be the same face, the same body, the same voice, but a different Abigail.

And thus, she was infinitely grateful towards Kaisel and the original Abigail. As such, she had naturally done her best all along, she’d done everything she could to achieve the best result, even before she fell for Caine. But now, now things were starting to fall apart and she was feeling the pressure all over again.

Cordyceps. Teresa had given them something rather nasty.

“Tarung, Arvold, Shijen, take care of the corpses. Langrun, Duvain, Preton, Farang, free the prisoners. Gabriel, follow me to search the walls.”

Nerissa’s lips were tightly pressed as she gave the orders. She saw the cells at the other end of the room, the people huddled closely together in fear. The inquisitors sprang into action while Nerissa started to move along the walls with Gabriel, looking for traces that may hide additional secret entrances.

Gabriel was naturally also looking, but there was something else that tugged at his attention. The four bodies that Teresa had produced, more specifically one of the prostrating ones that had been taken over by the fungus. It required his attention for a very simple reason.

“Grand Inquisitor, this one is still alive.”

One of the inquisitors in charge of the corpses spoke up. Indeed, one of the two infected people still lived, babbling in such a low voice that you had to lean in to hear it. Was it because Teresa ran away, or did their own survival instinct kick in before they could kill themselves properly? Whatever the case was, they still lived, if their state could even be called that.

“Take them in. We’ll pry what we can from them if they haven’t gone insane.”

There was a slight furrow to Nerissa’s brow, she probably couldn’t understand how a person could still be alive in that state. Gabriel was also looking over there, momentarily thinking.

Alice said that they only needed a single mouth, the rest had to lose their heads. That infected person, would they be adequate as the sole mouth? ... No, they weren’t good enough. And in their state, it was unknown what they might say about Teresa. They were also the reason that Teresa had come back looking so miserable so they simply weren’t good enough.

Naturally, Gabriel couldn’t just go and kill them right now, that would be foolish. Luckily, he didn’t have to use his own hand to kill them.

His finger slid against the stone wall like he was looking for hidden grooves, his thoughts moving. He wished for ice, and the world listened. The moisture in the air above the bodies gathered and froze, forming a ball of sharp glacial thorns aimed directly at the inquisitors in charge of the corpses.

No spell was cast, no words were uttered. Gabriel wished for ice, and ice was made. This was his first time ‘publicly’ using it ever since he used Akasha (Demon) on the sealed demon they encountered in the north. He’d naturally practiced it several times so he knew it worked, he even knew his limits and just how much he could control. And thus, he also knew that those present wouldn’t be able to sense him do it.

The orb exploded and launched the ice at the inquisitor reaching for the body, tearing through the air with a quiet sound. He was caught off-guard, off course he was. How could anyone present expect that the blabbering the infected person was doing was in fact a spell? Or well, at least that was what it looked like to them.

How did people act when they were caught-off guard? How did soldiers and trained fighters react in dangerous situations where they had no time to think? Simple, they acted on instinct.

The inquisitor drew his weapon, and in a swift motion cut down the spikes and the attacker. It was simply instinct, defend and destroy the attacker, it was what they knew to do. But as a result, the witness they wanted to bring in was dead, so he could only lower his head.

“Forgive me, Grand Inquisitor, I forgot to think!”

Nerissa naturally didn’t look too pleased that the witness had ended up dead, but how could she possibly blame her own men in a situation like that?

“Don’t worry about it, it was not something you could control. We can only say that we are unlucky that their loyalty is deeper than one would expect. Keep gathering them up, we will surely find something.”

She could only drop the matter, her slightly narrowed eyes observing the fresh corpse for a few moments before she returned to the task at hand. And naturally, Gabriel followed along just as she had ordered.