218 Collecting the Pawns (1/2)
But when she and Roarke arrived at House Hayward's mansion, they found the White Snake having tea in the balcony of her room. It was as if she was waiting for them.
”You're late,” Yumi said, then she put the teacup on the table before she faced them. ”My dear daughter-in-law asked you to take me to her, didn't she?”
”That, the Supreme did,” Luna said in a cold tone that was reserved only for enemies. ”I guess it's safe to say that you're coming with us without a fuss.”
”I will visit House Nystrom using House Hayward's carriage,” the White Snake said with a smirk. ”So in case that I never make it back alive, people will suspect House Nystrom of killing off the new madam of House Hayward.” She laughed softly. ”That's how the Supreme work these days. She loves setting-up people with fabricated evidence.”
”The Supreme doesn't have to fabricate evidence if a crime wasn't committed in the first place,” she reasoned. ”And even though we worship her, we are fully aware that she isn't a perfect person. She's not even trying to be.”
”I can see that,” the White Snake with a scowl. ”The current Supreme is very different from Soleil Rosenberg. I never liked my daughter-in-law back then but at least, she had moral ascendency unlike now.”
”The current Supreme still has moral ascendency,” Roarke said in a firm voice. ”But fortunately, she learned how not to apply it to people who don't deserve her mercy. And to be honest, even if the Supreme abandons her morals, we will still follow her– even if it means going to hell.”
”How dramatic,” Yumi said sarcastically, then she stood up. ”Now leave,” she said. ”I know my way to my son's house.”
Luna and Roarke exchanged glances.
Well, Yumi didn't seem like she was lying. In fact, it sounded like she was looking for an excuse to go to House Nystrom. It seemed like Tilly was right when she suspected that the White Snake would make another move to take Duke Nystrom away from the Supreme.
As always, we can just leave this to Tilly.
”We'll escort you, Lady Hayward,” Luna said formally. Since it was Yumi's plan to make her visit to House Nystrom officially, they should act like fetching her was an official order from their masters. And so, they had to be ”courteous” of the White Snake. ”You can't expect us to trust you completely, right?”
Roarke nodded in agreement. ”Unlike Lady Soleil Rosenberg, Lady Tilly Nystrom isn't interested in seeing the ”good” in her enemies. And oh, the Supreme specifically told us that we can literally roast her ”evil mother-in-law” if we need to. In short, don't do anything funny, Lady White Snake.”
”Insolent children,” Yumi snarled at them. ”It looks like my dear daughter-in-law raised a bunch of insolent children, huh?”
That, the Supreme did.
***
Then, Kiho (playfully) glared at their kids.
Winter glared back at his father, but Julian's facial expression remained calm. Protest was evident in Julian's eyes though.
Our Julian is too polite to ”compete” with Kiho.
On the other hand, their Winter…
Well, Winter is our little rascal through and through.
When Tilly cleared her throat, her boys all turned to her at the same time. She smiled at them, then she offered her hands to her sons whose face both lit up instantly. ”Will you escort me to the mansion, gentlemen?”
”Of course, Mommy!”
”Yes, Mother.”
Winter instantly grabbed her right hand while Julian shyly held her left hand.
Kiho, on the other hand, pouted.
Gosh, he looks like a puppy kicked by his owner!
Well, she hated seeing her husband down so she knew she had to make it up to him somehow.
”Shall we go inside, hon?” she asked with a sweet smile.
Kiho suddenly looked confused but intrigued. ”I'm sorry but I'm afraid I quite didn't get what you just called me, Tilly.”
”I was told that we used to call each other 'honey,'” she lied to hide the fact that she had already retrieved her memories. ”Apparently, I used to call you 'hon'– a variation of our endearment. Do you mind if I call you that way again?”
”I don't mind,” Kiho said right away. She could clearly see that he didn't feel dejected anymore. In fact, her husband was back in his high spirits. ”Can I call you 'honey' again, Tilly?”
”Sure,” Tilly said with a smile. ”Shall we go inside the mansion now?”
Kiho nodded eagerly. ”Sure, honey.”
***
ELIS let out a deep sigh when he noticed that someone else had gotten in the temple earlier than he did.
The temple he was referring to was the one hidden in the basement of the Eclis Church. Surprisingly, even though only a few people knew about it, the place was still well-maintained. Aku Moonchester probably made sure that the sacred place would remain clean.
Although he had to say that it was practically empty now.
The only important thing left in the temple was the statue of a full moon floating in the center of the cold room.
”Come out,” Elis said. ”I know you're here.”
Like he expected, his descendant came out from hiding behind a post.
”Greetings, my dear ancestor,” Noel Sherwood greeted him cheerfully. ”Are you going to kill me?”
His descendant was lucky that he wouldn't kill a person inside that temple.
But to be honest, he didn't have the motivation to kill the child. After all, he knew that the Sherwoods were the 'Bookkeepers' of the empire's history. They never took sides in a war. Their clan would just always go where an interesting story that no one had ever heard of before. In short, his descendant wasn't a threat.
Aku Moonchester knew that, so he let the boy live. After all, people who could document history as accurate as the Sherwoods were people whose lives were worth sparing. It would be a shame to kill such precious tools.
The only thing I don't like about the Sherwoods is their weird obsession with the Black Serpent.
”Don't be too arrogant, child,” he told the young man. ”Your life isn't worth sullying this sacred temple.”
”That's a relief,” his descendant said. But to be honest, it didn't look like that he was scared of his life for a moment. He knew for a fact that the Sherwoods wouldn't hesitate to risk their lives just to record an important piece of history. ”Do you mind if I stay, Lord Ripperton?”
”I won't kill you,” he said. ”But let me ask you this: why didn't you tell Kiho Nystrom what you discovered in this place?”
The fact that his descendant was there made it pretty obvious that he discovered the secret of that hidden temple. He just didn't know how long the young Sherwood had known about that sacred place. But he was certain of one thing: he didn't tell Kiho Nystrom about what he knew.
”I pledged my loyalty with Kiho Nystrom,” Noel Sherwood said proudly. ”I know that it's unprecedented for a Sherwood to pledge his loyalty because as a Bookkeeper, I was raised as a free man. My clan taught me to only side with the truth. But I guess it only applied to the previous generations before me who have never met the real Black Serpent.
He had to roll his eyes at that. The Sherwoods are indeed obsessed with the Black Serpent even now.
”After the unfortunate defeat of Duke and Duchess Nystrom to His Majesty five years ago, I began to notice a strange energy coming from here,” his descendant started to explain. ”It was a very faint energy that most Mana users would simply dismiss. But since Sherwoods are naturally curious beings, I went here to investigate. That was when I found out that a god descended on earth in secret.”
”And yet, you remained silent.”
”If I told Duke Nystrom who lost his memories about what I discovered, it would have only brought harm to him,” Noel Sherwood continued. ”I didn't want to trigger his memories– not when the duchess wasn't by his side back then. After all, I know for a fact that once the Black Serpent loses himself, you'll take advantage of it. I don't want him to end up like how he did when he was still Kalel Nystrom.”
”How touching,” he said sarcastically. ”Had I known my descendants would have turned out like you, I would have just ascended the heavens without leaving an heir.”
To be honest, he really didn't want an heir.
But he followed what his clan begged him to do just to spite Soleil in the past, thinking that she would get jealous if he got together with another woman. But alas, she didn't care. Soleil even congratulated him when the woman got pregnant with twins– a boy and a girl– before he ascended to the heavens.
”Well, you abandoned your descendants as soon as you became a Beast God,” Noel Sherwood said with a shrug. ”I heard that when the Rippertons were attacked by the Moonchesters, you didn't heed their prayers. You didn't help your descendants. Only the Sherwoods, the clan that your daughter built when she married the first Bookkeeper in the empire, survived that war.”
He didn't comment on that because it was true– he really abandoned his descendants.
When he became a god, he spent his time looking for ways to make Soleil his. He hasn't given up on her, and he never will.
”And guess what?” his insolent descendant asked with a smirk. ”It was the Black Serpent who protected the Sherwoods. He tried to help the Rippertons but it was too late for them. That's why you shouldn't be surprised if the Sherwoods are more attached to the Black Serpent than we are to you.”
”I really don't care about that,” he said, then he changed the topic. ”Now, answer this: if I let you witness a moment of history that I'm about to make, are you going to warn Kiho Nystrom about it?”
”No.”
His descendant only said one word but he instantly believed him.
It had nothing to do with their ”connection.” He just had faith in Bookkeepers. They wouldn't miss a chance to witness history in the making for their personal feelings.