Isaac finally came back home a couple days later and Renard was the first (and only one) to greet him at the gates. Renard was eager to share with Isaac what all had happened here to see if Isaac had caught hints of it in the Dominion. A part of him was also hoping that Isaac would be an effective echo chamber for the anger he'd felt as well; then he could tell himself that it wasn't just him overreacting. Sure, utterly destroying some of the plants in the garden had helped to release some of his pent up anger, but it still lingered. Talking to Isaac about whatever outrageous thing had happened was just the next step in these cases even if sometimes what Isaac had to say wasn't wildly comforting. To that end Renard called out to him.
"Isaac! You've finally deigned to grace us with your presence! How was the Dominion?"
The response that he got back was a bit of a dirty look, and Renard couldn't help chuckling a little. He knew that Isaac didn't really enjoy long trips places, and Renard suspected that he hated them even more now that he had Kyrie. Sure enough, Isaac let out a bit of a grunt as he moved to unhitch the horses.
"The same as always. Lady Deveris's slaves bustle about leaving me with nothing to do but twiddle my thumbs for the entire time I'm there."
As he led the horses back to their stalls, he couldn't help looking up at the house. He had half been hoping that Kyrie would be the first face to greet him on his return, but even just knowing that she was somewhere nearby made him feel a lot better. He'd love to barge in and see her now rather than wait until dinner, but somehow that didn't feel like the most appropriate thing to do. They were still pretty early in their relationship, wouldn't that come off as too clingy?
Isaac's mind was still distracted even when Renard started speaking again.
"Really? The same as always?"
"Yes the same as always."
There was a bit of irritation in Isaac's expression as he glanced at Renard, partly because he was trying to think about Kyrie but also because he was thinking that the other man was trying to probe for gossip of some kind. Isaac certainly wasn't Vivian: he didn't go chatting with people all day to hear what they had to say about both each other and the nobles. He would sometimes listen in for information on the nobles, but he had very little interest in the daily lives of the slaves he'd visited.
Seeing just how reluctant Isaac was to engage him made Renard want to tease the other man a bit. Renard knew for a fact that Isaac would definitely want to hear the information he had to share, but if he was going to be so uncooperative then there was no reason to give it so freely.
"Well, that's rather interesting to hear that things were normal over there... I would've expected differently with what happened here. I suppose if you don't want to talk though then that's that."
Isaac began to give Renard a bit more attention now, narrowing his eyes at his friend as the words sunk in.
"... What happened here?"
"No, no. You don't want to talk and that's fine, I'll just turn around and go on back to the garden and--"
As Renard said this, he turned on his heel to head out but he was interrupted by Isaac grabbing his collar, choking him slightly as he pulled him back.
"Alright, you've made your point. I really don't have anything to say about my time in the Deveris manor though. The slaves were busy at all times like usual and people were coming and going. I don't know that I'd be able to keep track of them all even if I tried. What happened here though? Why would you expect my experience to be different?"
Renard wriggled out of Isaac's grip then, turning around once more after checking to make sure there weren't any prying ears listening in. His expression was much more serious now, and Isaac couldn't help the chill that ran through him to see this.
"Nothing good has been happening here, that's for sure. A shipment of food that got delivered from the Deveris house was poisoned, but Lady Dandridge somehow caught it before it was able to do any damage. Not only that, but there are rumors floating about the marketplace that Lady Dandridge was off in the Dominion having a baby. Belief in that rumor is pretty low, but it doesn't change the fact that it's out there."
At first, Isaac's eyes had widened to hear both of these things, and when he looked up at the house now, his eyebrows furrowed something fierce as he thought about the things that had happened in his absence. How had news of the lady's pregnancy even gotten out? And there had been an attempted poisoning?! Isaac wracked his brain for anything of note that had happened in the stables that might've indicated this, but when he thought back to the times the supply carts got shipped out... He just came up with nothing. Every time it had been the same person going out to the market to buy the goods and then head immediately to the Kingdom. He wasn't even anyone important, to Isaac's knowledge. Just some generic slave. There could be tons of hidden things that he hadn't observed or picked up on though, and he told himself that if he was to ever go out again he would try to pay more attention.
"Shit."
It was all Isaac could think to say as he ran a hand through his hair, and when he looked back at Renard the other man had a look of solidarity to him.
"Does Lady Dandridge have any idea who's behind either?"
"If she does she hasn't shared it with us. She hasn't really given any instruction about either occurrence aside from get rid of all the food so I assume we're supposed to just act as normal."
It was an unfortunate answer, but a predictable one. Lady Dandridge had always been a bit of an enigma because of how terse she was with her words and how little emotion she showed. As nice as she was to her slaves, she still wasn't about to share with them all the things that were going on in her life. She would only share if absolutely necessary.
"Tch. If only I'd paid more attention while I was at the Deveris manor..."
"Do you really think you would've caught that much though?"
Isaac shrugged a bit as he turned back to the horses to finish up with them.
"Maybe not, but at least then I'd feel more like I was helping."
Renard was galvanized back into moving by Isaac's movement, but he certainly wasn't done talking to his friend about all of this. Especially because Isaac was usually a bit more read on the matter and might have some more insight than he did.
"Who do you think did it? For both the rumor and the poisoning?"
Isaac had told Renard many times to take whatever guesses he might have with a grain of salt, but Renard still kept asking. As a result, when Isaac went to answer his friend's question he didn't feel the need to put the 'I'm definitely just guessing' caveat on it.
"... My gut's telling me that both stem from the Deveris household. It's possible that there's been a spy in the manor that originated from the Kingdom, but even if there was, for our lady's pregnancy she always had the windows drawn and not even the female slaves were in the same room as her when she was putting on clothes. I don't see how a spy could've possibly reached the information they'd gotten since I know none of us leaked it. We barely even talked to each other about it! Yet, Lady Deveris at least knows the real reason for our lady's 'visit' and while I don't know how much of the Deveris household knew that Lady Dandridge was pregnant, I know that the general slaves had no idea. I'm sure I would've gotten more questions about it if they had. This means that it was either someone particularly close to Lady Deveris or Lady Deveris herself that spread the rumor and sent an assassin while Lady Dandridge was weak. But... But why would she do such a thing?"
Here Isaac was definitely stuck, because not only were Jiera and Mae close friends, but they were close enough friends that they basically hid nothing from each other. It just didn't make any sense. Or at least, it really didn't make sense for Jiera to be the one calling the shots. Who would she have shared it with though? Her husband? Maybe an aide if she had one?
Isaac's mind had certainly been thoroughly distracted from Kyrie: now it was churning on all of this nonsense that had happened in his absence.
A part of Renard had honestly hoped that Isaac would come up with some reason that it would be someone from the Terra Kingdom doing all of this, mostly because that felt more familiar and more expected. But the more that Isaac had talked the more it made sense for it to be someone from the Deveris household. Was there truly no one in the world that the lady could trust? Someone that they had thought was so firmly in Mae's corner was turning out not to be, and that seriously worried Renard.
He couldn't help but itch for the comfort of the soil again.
"... Is there even anything we can do?"
Distracted from his thoughts, Isaac let out a soft sigh as he leaned against one of the horse stalls. The horses and carriage had both been put away at this point, so there wasn't anything urgent they needed to be doing.
"Pay more attention? Be more alert? That's all I can really think of doing without the lady expressly telling us what to look for."
"I was worried you'd say that."
Renard let out a soft groan of his own, throwing his hands up a little in exasperation.
"I suppose it's just back to work for us nobodies, eh?"
A slow smile spread its way across Renard's features, he was trying to throw a bit more levity into the situation, but there was a bitterness to his statement that made it clear that he was more affected than he was trying to let on. Talking to Isaac had helped him sort out his own thoughts on the matter, but now he had to work on putting it out of his mind. Well, putting it out aside from striving to be more alert.
Isaac soon found himself getting infected by that smile, and he was almost relieved to know that the next step was getting back to work. He was already at his wits end after just getting back from a long time at the Deveris household, so doing something tedious like gardening should be rather welcome and relaxing.
"Back to work it is."
Giving Renard a friendly smack to the back, Isaac wandered out of the stables with Renard rather sullenly following after him.