It had been a few days of staying by himself in that room with his servant occasionally coming in. In those few days, he had managed to get his hands on the list Vitter promised him. The language and the style of writing was nothing like his old world but he was still able to read it. Rahey assumed it was because of some transmigration logic. He didn't really care.
The list wasn't unhelpful but it told him less than he wanted. Apparently Vitter couldn't read and write well so he had taken the help of one of his relatives but even then, it was too clunky and incoherent.
For now, he could piece together that he had one older sister who had been married off, his mother was dead and his adopted mother- if one could call her that- was very worried about him.
That was all he conclusively knew about his life.
Most people seemed to like him as per the report but Rahey was sure that wasn't the case. Under 'friends', it was written that he was on good terms with everyone but that was just a polite way to say he had no friends. That or Vitter didn't know who his friends were.
A knock at the door interrupted his brooding as Vitter walked in with his lunch. The food was good. It wasn't completely unlike his old life but it was much blander which made him feel like a hospital patient.
"Young master."
"Yes?"
"You seem to like spending your time alone but..."
Rahey knew what he was about to say. "My family is worried?"
Vitter nodded, fidgeting with his hands after setting down his food on a nearby table.
Rahey recognized that it was in his best interests to stop staying in his room. Even if he could extend his isolation, that wouldn't be of any help to him as he had exhausted all his resources. Now he had to go do the fieldwork which was meeting the people in question while trying to figure out who it was that poisoned him.
Wait a second. Something didn't make sense. He had been poisoned but did no one suspect an assassination attempt? Wasn't everyone taking his case far too lightly?
"Vitter." He started, suppressing the urge to bang his head against a wall.
"Tell me how I nearly died."
***
Curil was unhappy. The unhappiness filled his entire being and enervated him. The other ministers were eager to place all the blame on him and his superior was off in some remote village to deal with a personal issue.
Moreover, the young master was so adamant that in the past week- nobody but his personal servant had been allowed in. Curil had tried to get some information from the servant but that servant was always getting away somehow. It was as if he was avoiding them all on purpose.
The worst menace was Azil's father. The man was playing dumb but he must know how they all felt about Azil. He had expressed his worry over his son but that had been the end of it. It felt like he had more or less given up on Azil and rumours were spreading that he planned on sending his son to another province to recuperate. If that happened then their elaborate schemes would have been pointless. How many more years would the current Lord live? When would his son take over? Nobody wanted to even risk handing over a drop of power to the fool.
Curil sighed again. His last resort was to go beg the young master to see him in person and to somehow convince him to stay there. If his master found out Azil had left while he was away then Curil didn't think he'd live another day.
***
The door slid shut and the room was empty again. The weather was humid and the sun was setting outside. It turns out the reason for the present tranquility was far more absurd than he could have ever imagined.
It was only peaceful on the surface but underneath were whirlpools and violent currents. As for why the surface could even appear so calm, it was because the last young master was a nature lover.
That's right. The last young master had been so fond of nature that he would go around doing all kinds of stupid things and when they found him poisoned, all the innocent people assumed that he had touched something he wasn't supposed to or accidentally ingested it.
Was the last young master a fool? Why did everyone just think like that?
Rahey shivered as the thought occurred to him that if he was in this world then the young master would be in his. He had known but it was finally hitting him full force. What was going to happen? The modern world is a million times more overwhelming than the rather ancient world he was in.
The internet, technology, different kinds of people, complicated streets- could the young master handle all that? And where exactly was Rahey to begin with? Was he in a completely different world or was he in the past because if he was in the past then he'd have to be a lot more careful with his actions. It was probably too late for that.
There was a soft knocking at his door again. It didn't stop at just a few but was insistent. Vitter would never knock like that.
"Who is it?" Rahey called out, feeling a mix of nervousness and excitement. He had planned on stepping outside for the first time the next day but if some of the people he wanted to know about came to him first then that would be more than welcome.
"It's me." It was a feminine voice. That left only one possibility-
"Come in."