Inside a well lit office the musky scent of mahogany wood and incent wafted, a large robust old man was setting on the elegant mahogany desk wearing golden rimmed reading glasses as he reviewed documents, The mans head of full gray hair resembling a lions main with a full beard that reached his chest, His gray eyes reflected the characters inscribed in the parchments, his face was a testaments of the passage of both rough and peaceful times,
The serenity of the mans atmosphere was broken by a knock on the exquisitely engraved door, the old man took off his golden glasses and massaged his nose bridge, the old man spoke in a warm and deep voice that could make any child silent in attention,
"Who comes at this time knocking on this mans door? It's not tea time yet is it ?"
The voice of an adult male could be heard from the other side of the door,
"My lord, Someone came to the gates of the governors office and made a fuss, saying he has news about the caravan that the lord has requested from the merchant Milo, they also brought a proof with them however we cannot confirm authenticity, may you excuse me to show you what they have brought with them my lord"
'It's not Milo himself?'
"You can come in Darius"
Darius excused himself into his lords office as he approached the desk politely, he took out two black metal tags that were attached to thin broken chains, seeing this the old lord sighed in exasperation and told his aid to let the people who brought the tags in,
As Vincent and Collective made their way into the office, the old man face was shocked soon after the shocked face transitioned to anger, his eyes focusing on Vincent,
Vincent as if expecting the reaction lowered his gaze as he waited for the old lord to speak, the old lord face that was flushed red with anger slowly unwrinkled and he spoke with a low mocking tone,
"Who would have thought, after all of these years, what do you go by nowadays hmm.. right Vincent,
I see you are still keeping that ring with you at all times huh"
Vincent face crumpled as he rubbed his naked left index finger, however he did not speak, in fact he could not dare to,
After a few moments of silence the old man spoke again,
"The longer I look at this face of yours the more sick to my stomach I feel, that hair and those eyes, but this is not the subject we should be speaking about right now is it"
Collective was intrigued about the relationship between Vincent and the Old margrave however they kept silent until both parties said their piece,
"the fact that you brought both "Crow" and "Pig" tags could only mean they are dead, and they had entrusted you with them before they met their end"
Vincent took a deep breath then spoke to margrave Clifford,
"That, is correct, It all started about 5 days ago"
As Vincent recounted their encounter in the fog the margrave face grew colder and more solemn,
"And they entrusted this being with the scroll ?"
Collective nodded in affirmation as it approached the margrave, Collective hand split in half and out came a golden cylinder, they placed it carefully in the margrave hands, the margrave then proceeded to push mana into his palm until the scrolled unraveled by itself, He started reading the contents, after he was done he sighed again,
Vincent seeing as the margrave was done with reading the contents politely spoke his mind,
"Now margrave, as we have delivered the scroll safely we will excuse ourselves"
The margrave interrupted Vincent,
"I can't excuse you yet Vincent, in fact, the contents of this letter concerns you as well, whether you like it or not"
The old margrave sharp voice caused Vincent to flinch, the margrave was not hostile anymore but a bad premonition assaulted his mind, the margrave looked at collective and spoke in an amiable manner,
"Though your friend here was quite helpful young lad, they cannot hear what I am about to say, I still do not fully trust them"
Vincent looked at Collective and apologetically asked them to leave the lord's office for a while,
As soon as Collective left the office they could see the aid Darius speaking to someone,
"My lady, the lord now has an important guest can you please wait a while"
A familiar voice spoke in dissatisfaction,
"Darius I am now a madam, do not call me Lady anymore, even if my husband is dead"
Collective could not stop their head peaking from behind the margrave aid in time, and were caught by the eyes of madam with chrome blond hair, as soon as the woman in black saw the child her eyes sparkled for a moment before her face froze, as if hit by a realization she looked at the aid with a face of betrayal,
"I thought that mans features were weird, where on earth do you find blond hair and gray eyes like that aside form our household, I can't believe father could have.. then, I guess that man came here to dump their child, if so then good riddance"
"Lady Venessa what on earth are you--"
Venessa sidestepped Darius and took Collective into her arms, as soon as the child was in her embrace she turned around and bolted away towards the staircase, Collective was frozen in place as soon as the beautiful woman held them, as if their brain could not process something,
As Venessa safely went down the stairs she spotted her handmaiden and shouted,
"Audrey, to the carriage!"
Audrey had a bad feeling as she saw her mistress run down the stairs and she said in a very hushed voice,
"but .. you said no running in the building"
Audrey discarded all rhyme and reason as she started running after her madam, as both of them exited the doors of the governors office two tall figures were denied entry, one of them had a white hood on and the other had a blood red long hair,
Riea was shocked by seeing a noble lady rushing outside the governors office, she always thought that imperial noble ladies will walk gracefully and slowly no matter what happens, even if the heavens fall they will not discard their etiquette for a moment, That was until she saw what the noble lady was carrying in her embrace,
The raven child she could not feel anything from in the morning now was alive with all kinds of tangled emotions, shock, fear, hate, love, envy, reminiscence, rejection, acceptance, affection, it was as if a thousand people were screaming inside the child's head,
Riea could not believe that a mortal nevertheless a child could withstand those overwhelming emotions, Cold sweat precipitated all over her forehead,
Kaen spoke loudly to the guard, he felt as if his entire experience within the empire was to be gate kept,
"We Came here all the way from Fallhalen to deliver a message from our chieftain, and you will block our path?"
The guard answered him apathetically
"The margrave is currently busy with some important guests we will announce to him your visit once he is done with his meeting"
"YOU--"
Kaen was stopped in his tracks as the worried looking Riea whispered in his ear,
"Kaen, stay here and wait for the audience with the lord of the eastern shore, I have to go save someone"
Without having the time to retort back Riea was already gone from her spot, Kaen stood there in shock,
'But you have the letter on you Riea'
Curse the imperial lands thought Kaen deeply in his mind,