Within the margrave carriage, the air was suffocating, Darius who sat next to his lord was profusely sweating, not sure of the implications of his lady's actions, he sneaked a peek at his lord and saw a stern old stubborn face, the lord did not utter a single word since they sat inside, on the other side of the carriage sat a blond man with much resemblance to his young master aside from the hawk-like eyes, if someone saw them next to each other they would think they were brothers,
'Is this what the lady meant when she mentioned his hair and eye color, but when did the lady meet this man? she came much after the man went into the lord's office'
Darius buried his thoughts deeply in his heart, he believed that making assumptions out of this situation is slanderous to the man he respects the most and owes his life to,
Vincent and Kaiser sat in silence as the carriage made its way to the Clifford estate,
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In a dimly lit room that is painted in dark cyan shades, a child was laid in a king-sized bed with an exquisite frame, the frame of the bed was carved with lifelike flowers and vines, the bed canopy was bale blue color, next to the raven-haired child sat a blond woman holding the child's hand her face full of worry, she glanced at the other side of the bed at the taciturn redheaded woman,
Riea spoke in a monotonous voice,
"Even if you look at me like that the child would not magically be cured"
she held her chin in contemplation.
"I saw this child earlier at the city gates this morning, even though the child displayed some emotions such as shame outwardly I could not feel a spec of emotion inside, however looking at them now, It seems they are being eaten internally by emotions, it is so intense that it is a miracle the kid is not screaming in agony"
Venessa had a doubtfully look on her face as if she did not believe the woman who hitched a ride with her,
"Do you expect me to believe that the child is sick due to emotions or whatever you are talking about, I might be a sheltered noble however I am no fool you can con on the streets"
Riea raised her eyebrow at the words of the woman in front of her, she clicked her tongue,
'I can't even bother to argue with this thick-headed imperial'
"Listen here noble madam or lady or whatever honorifics you go by, I don't know your relation to this child but I can be sure you are not the parent, I have met this kid's father and he did not have black hair so it has to be passed down from the mother, furthermore my hair color and the blue snake tribal insignia should be a tantamount proof that I am not a con artist, a Fallhalen never lies"
Riea pointed at the blue snake carved into her coat of arms, her flat tone never rose or fell simply monotonous,
Venessa swallowed her words, she knew that she was not the actual guardian of the child and if the woman before her really does know the parent of the raven-haired kid things could get messy, so she reluctantly asked the odd northerner,
"How can we help the child?"
Riea had a troubled look on her face,
"This is the first time I saw anyone this anguished with emotions, there had to be a trigger a catalyst that broke this child like this, if we can identify it we can devise a way for the cure"
Venessa raised her head and her eyes glittered as if everything clicked together,
'Could it be !!, if so then I was not wrong, something that could emotionally impact a child severely'
Riea thought it was funny how this seemingly elegant woman could have such face variations within such a short amount of time, Venessa looked as if she was proud of her discovery carefully asked Riea,
"What if the child was abandoned? that has to be a shock strong enough to leave them in this state right !!?"
"Abandonment ? this child, who abandoned who?"
Riea was perplexed if it was the father of the child then she could see how carefully they treated them, however, she thought back to the parent-child interaction, and the only emotion she could remember seeing from the father was annoyance at their request for help and alertness, she could not sense any actual worry or love, at the time she thought even if there is no familial love the father seemed duty-bound and honorable so the child could not have suffered,
"Yes, If you know the father of this child then there should be something familiar about him and me right"
Riea looked at Venessa, she did not notice due to the situation at hand however Venessa resembled the father of this child, she was not familiar with the demographic of the empire so she could not tell if blond hair and gray eyes were common or not but whoever sees the two of them would say they are related,
At Riea's silence, Venessa added another piece of information,
"I believe that I am this child's aunt, though I admit I was rash in grabbing them in front of my father's office without informing anyone, even if you scour the entire western continent, a mixture of blond hair and gray eyes is unique to Cliffords"
'Hey, that is borderline kidnapping'
"Ugh, I am not going to give you a moral lecture now, saving the child is more important"
Riea looked mentally exhausted from the explanation provided by Venessa,
'Abandonment could explain the negative emotions such as fear hate and loneliness but what about all the other emotions'
"If the catalyst is really abandonment then the only cure is to convince the child of belonging"
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Kaen headed back to town to the lodging they booked before they headed to the margrave office, though his borrows are always furrowed this time they were exceptionally squinted, he was convinced that there is no chance he will meet the margrave today as the man seemed in rush somewhere and the sun has set a little while ago, he looked around the city for his companion however he still did not find them,
'In a foreign land and I lost Riea, everything went out of control as soon as we set foot in this city, the perfect recipe for disaster, the chieftain will not be pleased if he knew I was unable to deliver the message let alone the fact that I lost his daughter as well'
The lodging they opted to choose was by the docks as prices were cheap and the quality of the space was good, Kaen made his way in the dark alleyway the shadows of the palm trees as the moonlight was cast on them and the sound of the waves beyond the alleyway gave strange tranquility to the air, the cold salty breeze assaulted Kaen's nose, he was much calmer than he expected probably due to the ambient atmosphere of the shore area,
As he was making his way back to his lodging he heard a racket, the voice of wood breaking, and muffled choked sounds,
He stopped in his tracks, his eyes sharpened, he turned around as he spoke in a cold voice,
"If its coin you are after then you will be disappointed"
Kaen could see the figure of a man in the alleyway the figure was not clear due to the darkness, Kaen could smell the rot and dead fish, The man unsteadily walked towards Kaen as his face was revealed by the moonlight,