Within the luxurious interior of the carriage Venessa sat on a seat made of soft royal blue fabrics, her face looked ashen with worry, as she held the child close to her embrace, her thoughts were in turmoil as she tried to recover her breath after jogging out of the governors office,
'Damn it Venessa, now you have done it, to think I am desperate enough to stoop so low as to kidnap a kid, but .. no no but there is no chance this child is not related to Clifford household by blood, those eyes, how many of the entire empire population have gray eyes, for one I have never seen it outside of my family and I have lived in two imperial domains, for it also to be coupled with those golden locks of their father that are only native to imperial and noble households of the western continent, the number is close to nil, the fact that they were in my father's office is the strongest evidence, the man looked so strikingly like my older brother aside from those sharp eyes, he has to be my fathers illegitimate son'
Venessa mind whirled at her assumptions that she did not notice the noise outside let alone that the carriage has stopped,
The voice of the coachman as well as the escort knight of the madam outside were apparent as they were arguing with someone, suddenly the door of the carriage was swung open and Venessa got out of her stupor, the intruder was a tall woman with a white hood draped over her head covering her upper face, the woman held the twisted hand of the escort knight as she subdued him, Audrey was lost for words as her madam lashed out at the uninvited guest,
"Who goes there, this is blatant act of barbarism against the house of Clifford, the margrave will not forgive this"
Riea raised both her hands and the escort dropped writhing in agony to the ground, she pulled down her hood and her heterochrome eyes and bright red hair unveiled, Venessa has never seen someone with such odd features, the woman before her had a golden left eye and a violet right one, Riea pointed with her chin at the child in Venessa's embrace and spoke in a neutral tone,
"Oh dear lady of the Clifford noble house, it would be wise to check the condition of the child you are carrying"
Venessa soon after felt the heat radiating from the child she looked at her bosom and saw the raven haired child face flushed and drenched with sweat, their eyes were swimming and limbs trembling,
=====
the exquisitely carved door of the margrave office slowly opened and Vincent came out, he looked as if he had swallowed a bug, He was greeted with the troubled looking Darius, the margrave aid stood there lost for words, he did not know how he should act in this kind of situation, soon after the domain lord stepped out of the incent and wood smelling room and saw the confused Darius,
Vincent eyes scanned the hallway as he could not find his companion, he asked Darius with an apprehensive tone,
"Where is the child ?!"
The old margrave also had an inquisitive look as he too was also looking for Collective, Darius could not hold it any further and honestly spoke of the preceding's,
"Lady Venessa for some reason .. took the child after saying something about the child being abandoned"
The margrave face turned sharp and placed his hand on Vincent's shoulder, he said in a demonic cold voice,
"Vincent .. that being even if it has the form of a child, it could be harmful, why did it just go along with my daughter"
Vincent face hardened for a moment then replied to the margrave,
"Though I cannot tell what it's thinking most of the time, it seems to purely act on self preservation, unless .. it made a transaction that would force it to harm someone, I do not believe it means any harm to the Lady of your house"
The old margrave slowly spoke,
"It would be for your best interest that not a hair on my daughter be harmed"
The lion looking old man then shifted his gaze at Darius, the aid flinched, he knew that he might've missed up this time by allowing the lady to take the child without permission from the father or the margrave,
"Darius, prepare a carriage, and postpone anything scheduled today"
Darius answered in affirmation as he busied himself with the margrave orders,
In the meantime Kaen was still not permitted entry to the building, he strolled around in front of the gates hoping to elect any response from the statue like guards, his patience was running thin, soon after, he saw the blond traveler they met at the city gates walking behind a lion like sturdy old man, Kaen remembered the description his chieftain gave regarding the margrave, from the reverent look of the guards and escorts he realized this is the man they needed to meet, he approached to try to talk to him however he was held at spear point by the gate guards, he then shouted towards the precession of the margrave,
"Lord Kaiser of Clifford, my Cheeftian has -
"I will meet up with your Kin later Fallhalen lad, now I do not have the time for you"
Kaen could not finish his words before the margrave interrupted him, and all he could do was gaze at the departing visage of the lords carriage,
'Curse the imperials, the only reason I agreed to come here is because it was requested by lord Atu and I had to go with Riea otherwise who would want to converse with those self important fools of the empire'
Kaen face flushed with anger as he fumed, He could not stand the humiliation and abuse he faced in the imperial land, standing there lost of purpose Kaen wondered how he would find his companion in this large city,
=====
Far to the eastern shore of the city a fisherman was docking his boat, the sun seemed to be soon setting towards the land as he wiped the sweat off his forehead, he dismounted his fishing boat and started mooring the boat to the dock with a thick role of robes, as he was done with tying it up he looked into the water surrounding the dock and he could see a black maroon liquid spreading over the surface of water, soon after he heard a blob as if something came out of the water close to him, he could hear the sound again and again,