At the Duke's mansion, remained one guest who kept roaming around his chamber, anxious and unsettled.
The lawyer, Larck Dorben was feeling quite uneasy he could not bear sitting still. He was certain he will not have a blink of rest without sorting his thoughts thus, an idea and flashed his busy mind and, without await, he headed headed to the desk in the chamber and started writing down all what he knows. That was all he could do.
After the death of the previous Duke, the dukedom became under the leadership of the Lether family with the duchess, Lady Rina as a monarch for 14 years.
Her son, Rivan Whishipper, passed away after suffering an incurable diseases at the age of 4.
He absolutely and undoubtedly died with a certification and a testimony from the family's doctor, Joseph.
Larck paused and looked at the last name "Dr. Joseph"
He circled the name as if to take a note of it. Then returned to his train of thoughts.
A funeral was held and the young boy was buried with the Whishipper crest to symbolize the end of that Duke's bloodline along with the sole heir.
However, Larck stopped writing and stared at the word "Crest". He frowned and narrowed his eyes in confusion.
'The real heir and the crest, both came back. At least, one of them is genuine.'
Mr. Dorben recalled the funeral. He precisely remembered the Whishipper's crest he checked.
His father, the late lawyer of the Duke's family, taught him the way to tell a real symbol of the Whishippers. It was something that can be seen at first glance yet, cannot be notice it unless you knew about it beforehand.
The Whishipper crest is beautifully shaped. The metallic base pure golden crafted with silver waves. Nonetheless, different gems of a green hue topped the crest forming the letter W.
'And the Whishipper's crest secret is in those gems.'
Larck's eyes moved to the window as he gazed at the far away land of the dukedom but his mind was picturing something perfectly as if it was before his eyes. It was just as his father showed him each time Larck accompanied him to the mansion.
Every gem's core on the crest was cracked.
A crooked smile formed on his face. Was it from excitement? Thriller? Amazement? Fear? He had no idea. All that Larck knew was he was too shocked when he found out.
He did not get the meaning until his father explained.
The cracks were from the core without a single scratch on the surface.
If jeweleries were to check it, they would obviously notice the cracked cores. Yet, they can never explain it.
'As if they broke from the inside'
Larck did not care about gemstones in particular. That was not his job nor did they interest him. However, he would be lying if he said those little abnormal things did not capture his attention.
And similarly, only an abnormal explanation seemed to be the answer for him.
"Haaa."
He let out a deep sigh and brushed his face with his hand.
'The real abnormal thing is that new Duke'
Larck remembered the new Duke of Whishipper. He would not have believed him at all if it was not for the real crest of the family he had with him. Yet, it seemed that two people took his words realistically from the moment he came. The lawyer recalled it clearly as their reactions caught his attention.
They were the pale Head of Butlers Ms. June, and the calm young master Eliot.
Unlike the other attendance, they did not show suspect of that Duke's identity, or so that what seemed to Larck.
Ms. June seemed overlay cautious. It might be due to her exhaustion but Larck believed her complexion paled more seeing the Duke.
As for Eliot, the first thing he pointed out was the Duke's looks.
'Could it be Eliot saw him in pictures and remembered him from just that? No. That doesn't seem to be it. Did the Lady talk about her son to the young Eliot before and he assumed they're the same person? Maybe...'
Larck tried to convince himself of something, but the fact that the young master used the term 'mole guy' and not 'mole boy' kept brothering him.
Larck smiled sarcastically.
'There's no point in thinking about that. The old good Ms. June, and the innocent young master Eliot has nothing to do with the appearance of that so called Duke'
Larck thought to himself as he proceeded writing.
The previous Duke passed away 5 months before his son was born. The child followed at the age of 4. After 14 years the Lady herself passed away and her son...revived?
Larck had a sudden realization reading the last part. He had a bitter expression thinking.
'This family never had the chance to be fully together...'
But then another word has been bothering him for a while. Larck hesitated for a bit before ending up writing it.
A Curse.
Whether it exit or not, something of such was roaming around the Duke's family.
Even though Larck sincerely believed that, he couldn't help but laugh and mumble.
"Haha...a curse?...I must have gone crazy..."
Yet oddly, he could not shake off that thought, choosing to ignore it.
Larck passed to another point.
He recalled the will. A thing he thought of exertive. Why would the Lady divide all her properties between young master Eliot and her son?
Well, if it could be called dividing. Larck simply viewed it as if she indirectly gave all properties to her son by making him the official guardian of Eliot.
'What...?'
Larck stopped with a paled face. His eyes widened in realization. His palm smacked his face as he leaned on his seat.
'How come I didn't think of this before?! No...I, and with probably much others, ignored this fact...'
Aside from the odd content of the will, it said one obvious thing.
'The Lady knew her son wasn't dead!'
Larck's mind was chaotic from that one single thought.
'Was her mental breakdown an act? No, Since when did she know? Did Ms. June and young master Eliot know about it from her too?'
Larck's hand kept rushing to write it all down as if one delay will make his thoughts vanish.
An idea after another kept raining on him.
The only reasonable way that young Duke has came back is that he never died.
'That must mean, for whatever reason, his death was either faked...or didn't succeed...'
Larck gulped down his saliva.
It seemed like a crazy thought. He thought it was totally crazy.
It might be his own theory, but accusing someone of a Duke's death was not a thing to be overlooked.
'Could it be she's the one who...'
But the lawyer shook himself away from those thoughts.
Be it a fake death or an unsuccessful murder, or hell, even a supernatural revival. Larck had nothing to base his theories on, let alone accusing anyone.
Whoosh whoosh.
The wind blew from the window. It was slightly cold as it was early spring and night crept closer.
Larck stood up to close the window, but he stopped in front of it to think.
Rivan Whishipper.
As a Dorben, Larck has always been destined to work for the dukedom.
At the passing of the previous Duke, he expected to serve the Lether family.
It did not matter to him whose lawyer he was. On the other hand, if he had to be honest with himself, he was disappointed the Whishipper secret would be buried.
However, as this twist in the events happened, it seemed he would be serving another Whishipper like his ancestors.
He had no idea of how it will be, but his hunch told him he will not be bored observing things closely.
Tick tock tick tock.
The lawyer looked at his pocket watch.
It was nearing 7 of the evening.
A small smile formed on his face as he whispered.
"It's time."
Knock knock.
Just as he spoke, he heard a knock on the door.
It was time for his meeting with the new head of the dukedom.
End of chapter 15.