The autumn wind swept across the water surface, stirring up layers of ripples. The glistening light was reflected, and it seemed as if bits of broken gold were scattered on the lake.
After all, the climate in the south was relatively warm and humid, so the grass by the lake was still as green as an endless green velvet carpet.
This was truly a happy and peaceful life like in paradise.
Standing on the pier, Ivan gently sprinkled the breadcrumbs in his hand onto the lake surface. The fish scrambled for them merrily, spitting out strings of bubbles and creating waves. Not far behind him, his beloved purebred horse was running freely on the grassland. Ivan never restrained it.
It had been four days since he arrived here, and everything seemed so calm.
Except for going to the prefecture magistrate's residence accompanied by Count Kenneth yesterday, Ivan had never left this villa.
It seemed that Miss Madin had forgotten about him. Since that meeting, he hadn't seen her again.
Except for Miss Betty, who would chat with him for a while when having morning tea, he was always alone at other times.
When he was bored, feeding the fish by the lake or galloping on the grassland on horseback became his only entertainment.
Certainly, a peaceful and quiet life was also quite suitable for practicing magic.
Although the effect of meditating on the grassland by the lake was far less obvious than that in the depths of the forest.
However, two days ago, after he went alone on horseback to practice at the edge of the forest and was severely scolded by Miss Betty when he came back, Ivan didn't dare to run around anymore. The opposite side of the lake had become the farthest place he could reach.
Apart from that time, Ivan had never seen Miss Betty lose her temper before.
In his impression, Miss Betty was like an amiable elder sister and was the person who made him feel the warmest and most amiable besides Aunt Jenny.
In fact, if it hadn't been for Miss Betty, Ivan would have felt that he couldn't stay in this place any longer.
Most parts of this villa were off-limits to him.
His bedroom on the ground floor and the garden living room at the back of the villa were the only places he could set foot in.
His bedroom was the innermost room among the row of rooms where the maids lived on the ground floor.
Living with the maids didn't really make him feel dissatisfied. After all, compared with his original aspiration, being able to work as a decent manservant in a noble family had already been an unattainable dream.
Compared with those nobles, Ivan felt that he and these maids were actually the same kind of people.
Although he was now playing the role of the heir to the lord, this feeling had never changed for him.
He would never forget his days in Southport.
However, what made Ivan feel regretful was that those maids always ignored him, as if he were infected with the plague, and they would avoid him from a distance, which puzzled him a great deal.
After staying in this peaceful life for a long time, Ivan gradually felt a bit bored. Now what he cared about most was when Mr. Juan would bring his magic experiment materials and apparatuses.
Mr. Juan had promised him that he would definitely take care of this matter.
Although the parchment was right beside him, without the materials, he couldn't do anything. The only thing he could do was to study the pronunciation of the divine script. Although he had learned from the wind spirit about the description and expression of wind in the divine script, this world was not composed of wind alone. His perception and understanding of the other elemental spirits were far less profound than that of wind.
Besides anxiously waiting for the arrival of the magic experiment materials, Ivan was extremely curious about what Mr. Juan had told him that he would have a new teacher.
Although Ivan could completely guess that the teacher must also be someone like Audrey and Herbert, a swindler and killer who couldn't see the light of day.
However, Ivan didn't dislike all of this.
In his opinion, both Audrey and Herbert were undoubtedly extremely brilliant figures, and Mr. Juan was even more capable and omnipotent.
Their abilities were far superior to those of other famous and renowned big shots he had ever met.
Learning from such people was undoubtedly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Of course, learning from them didn't mean becoming the same kind of people as them. Ivan neither wanted to be a swindler nor make a living by killing people.
He wondered what the new teacher could teach him and what kind of person the new teacher would be.
Would he be a thief like Pam?
Or a spy like Firth?
Ivan was speculating.
Just as he was standing on the pier and lost in thought, a carriage came from afar. There was an angel relief engraved on the carriage door. Needless to say, it must be a carriage from the church. Probably it was sent by Mr. Juan to pick him up.
The carriage slowly drove up to Ivan. The coachman was dressed in the novice priest's clothing with a black body and a white collar. He asked, "Are you Mr. Ivan Est?"
"Yes," replied Ivan.
"Elder Montier sent me to take you to the cathedral," said the novice priest.
"Alright, but please wait for a moment. I need to tell my great-aunt first." With that, he threw all the breadcrumbs into the lake and turned around to walk towards the villa.
Entering the villa, Ivan raised his head and shouted at the top of his voice towards the upstairs, "Miss Betty, Mr. Juan has sent someone to pick me up. Can I go?"
"Come upstairs," came the voice of Miss Madin from the second floor.
Ivan walked up to the second floor and saw Miss Madin and Miss Betty standing by the window and looking out at the carriage in the distance.
"What's your order, great-aunt?" Ivan asked cautiously.
"Do you know that coachman?" the old lady asked.
"I've never seen him before," replied Ivan.
Miss Madin obviously knew exactly what was on Ivan's mind. She said coldly, "After so many people in the family have died, you should have become a bit smarter and more cautious."
Ivan pondered for a while and said, "I'll be fully prepared. Although I'm not sure what will happen, I think I should be able to handle the danger.
Besides, there's a bodyguard secretly protecting me at any time."
"You really like adventures and the thrilling feeling, don't you? How foolish," the old lady said coldly. "If you must take this risk, then go and get ready quickly."
Hearing this order, Ivan immediately took his leave and went downstairs and ran back to his own room.
Hidden in the room was a special set of formal clothes. The cuffs and collar of the snow-white shirt were trimmed with long silk lace, but the other parts were not so good-looking. From the elbows to the waist, it was made of cloth woven with steel wire mixed with coarse linen.
The outside of the waistcoat was wrapped with beautiful silk embroidered with dark patterns in bright yellow. Inside, there were actually two thin steel plates in the front and back. It was definitely uncomfortable to wear, but it looked rather smooth and stiff.
The formal dress was made of the finest woolen fabric through careful tailoring. It was both beautiful and imposing, and the lining of the dress was made of tough magic wolf skin.
To protect his head, the lining of the top hat was made of rhinoceros hide, and then he wrapped the scarf woven with thick wool and steel wire around his neck.
It could be said that with this outfit on, even on the battlefield, it wouldn't be too difficult to get out unscathed.
Compared with real armor, although this set of formal clothes was a bit lighter, it was really a torture to wear it usually.
Only on occasions like today could this set of formal clothes come in handy.
As for the hand crossbow and the magic wand, Ivan always carried them with him and never left them for a moment.
After getting everything ready, Ivan walked out of the door and headed towards the carriage.
Getting on the carriage, Ivan carefully searched around. The knowledge that Herbert had taught him about how to prevent assassination traps really came in handy now.
Ivan even used the ring given to him by Teacher Lavash, but didn't find anything suspicious. It seemed that there was nothing wrong with the carriage.
After entering the city, Ivan paid close attention to the movements on both sides.
That coachman was indeed a bit suspicious. Although the direction was correct and he was indeed heading towards the cathedral.
However, there was a straight and wide road, but he didn't take it and instead rushed towards a crowded side lane.
The knowledge about setting up assassinations that Herbert had taught him gradually emerged in Ivan's mind.
At a glance, many small places that wouldn't normally attract people's attention became places full of hidden dangers in Ivan's eyes.
Ivan was silently calculating the moment when the killers would make their move.
Every time he passed an intersection, his vigilance increased. Because he knew that the best place to make a move was undoubtedly near the cathedral.
As the destination was approaching, for most people, it was the moment when their vigilance was weakest.
The large circular dome of the cathedral gradually came into sight. There were still two streets to go before reaching the square in front of the church.
Just as Ivan had expected, the two carriages that had been following him, one on the left and one on the right behind him all the time, slowly moved closer.
The coachman gradually slowed down the speed of the carriage.
Ivan knew clearly that when the two carriages sandwiched him in the middle, it would be the moment for them to make their move.
Taking out the magic wand from his pocket, Ivan whispered the mysterious incantation. After the magic was ready, Ivan pointed casually with the wand, and a drop of liquid silently floated onto the face of the coachman of the carriage on the right.
The effect of the hallucinogenic powder was really immediate. The coachman swayed a couple of times and then fell off the carriage.
Ivan, who had been well prepared, was waiting for this opportunity. He gently opened the door and jumped to the ground. For Ivan, who had received Herbert's difficult escape training, this was nothing at all.
Standing firmly on the ground, Ivan walked towards the carriage behind him.
Since the coachman of that carriage had fallen to the ground, the people in the carriage couldn't escape either. Moreover, even if they escaped, there was still the fainted coachman. He probably couldn't even crawl up.
Just as Ivan had expected, the coachmen of the other two carriages saw that the operation had failed and immediately whipped the horses and galloped away madly. After turning a corner, they disappeared at the other end of the street.
As for those two carriages that had escaped, Ivan wasn't interested in them at all. Let them go. Anyway, there was still one left.
Ivan walked towards that carriage. There was already a circle of people around the carriage, and two of them were craning their necks and looking into the carriage compartment curiously.
When Ivan walked closer and took a look, he was shocked.
What a bloody and terrifying scene it was!
A little in front of the carriage wheels lay a corpse. The fatal wound didn't come from the bruise on the forehead when he fell from the carriage seat. What really took his life was the crossbow bolt deeply inserted into the back of his head.
It was completely different from the hand crossbow that he was good at using. It was a crossbow bolt as thick as a thumb and about a foot long, fired by a bulky military crossbow.
In front of such a terrifyingly powerful weapon, the steel armor worn by knights was as fragile as thin cardboard.
The crossbow bolt was nailed into the back of the corpse's head, and the arrowhead penetrated out between the eyes and the bridge of the nose. To increase the lethality, the arrowhead was covered with sharp barbs. The muscles on the face were completely torn apart, and the blood-red wound was rolled up, exposing the white bones.
The huge penetrating force even pulled out the eyeball, which was hanging outside the eye socket, held by a bloody tendon.
Besides the bright red blood, milky white brain matter was also gushing out from that Horrible wound. It was truly a horrifying scene.
There was another corpse in the carriage compartment.
A bearded man in his thirties, who looked like a merchant, was sitting there. An identical crossbow bolt was shot into his chin, and the arrowhead penetrated through the skull and was firmly nailed to the wooden board at the back of the carriage compartment.
Blood flowed down his full beard and covered his entire chest.
Lying across the floor at the feet of the corpse was a heavy military crossbow. It was this powerful and murderous weapon that had ended two lives in just a few minutes.
Seeing this heavy military crossbow, Ivan gasped. Whenever he thought that this was originally the weapon meant to deal with him, he felt a chill run down his spine.
Ivan had never expected that, in order to keep the secret, the assassin in the carriage had actually shot himself after shooting the coachman.
Who on earth had planned all this? And what kind of a cruel person was directing all this?
Who was the person who could make his subordinates so fearless of death? Ivan didn't dare to imagine any further.
He felt that he had been too reckless this time.
All along, he had been full of longing and yearning for adventures. In his mind, the lives of adventurers were extremely colorful and exciting.
Those adventure experiences were as romantic and touching as described in novels.
In fact, Ivan had always hoped that he could become an outstanding explorer like Mr. Juan.
Mr. Juan's experiences were undoubtedly an exciting and fascinating story for Ivan. Although Mr. Juan told him that in that adventure, most of his companions had lost their precious lives and only Mr. Juan himself and Mr. Lipper had survived.
But how could Ivan pay attention to how many people had died during the adventure?
Only the victors could attract people's attention, while the dead were completely ignored.
Because of this, all adventure stories were wonderful and fascinating.
Ivan now finally realized that real adventures were not that romantic. Adventures were often accompanied by death. Adventures were a game of challenging death.
It was only at this moment that Ivan found that although he was already in this game, he wasn't ready to embrace death yet.
A feeling of extreme exhaustion hit him. Ivan dragged his heavy steps and walked towards the cathedral in the distance.
Behind him, more and more people gathered around the carriage. From a distance, he could hear the rapid and sharp ringing of the police carriage coming towards here.
Ivan was completely unaware of all this. He walked alone towards the cathedral.
In the blink of an eye, he had walked through two blocks. When he stepped onto the steps in front of the church, a hand silently stretched out from behind him.
"You did a good job just now," It was Herbert's voice.
Ivan didn't answer. For some reason, he couldn't say a word.
Walking through the crowded hall of the cathedral, Ivan followed Herbert to the place where the monks lived at the back of the church.
On both sides of a long corridor that was nearly a hundred meters long, there was a door every five or six meters.
Judging from the distance between the doors, the rooms were rather small. But come to think of it, worldly pleasures were not what these monks cared about. For them, the bedroom was just a place to rest.
Going out from one side of the long corridor, there was a patio. In the middle of the patio was a statue of the God of Light. The sunlight projected down from the high glass roof of the church just shone on this statue, making everything look so solemn and solemn.
There was a small door on one side of the patio. Herbert walked up and pulled the rope connected to the doorbell hanging on the door.
After a series of pleasant ringing sounds, the peephole on the door panel was opened. When the people inside saw that it was Herbert, they quickly removed the door bolt.
Ivan followed Herbert through the small door. Behind it was a long flight of steps sloping downward.
There were about twenty or thirty steps, and at the end was another small door.
This was an extremely secluded place. No one outside would know what was going on inside.
Going down the stairs and walking through the small door, Ivan saw Mr. Juan and Audrey sitting there.
Seeing Herbert and Ivan come in, Mr. Juan waved his hand and pointed to the sofa beside him.
For Ivan, it would be great to be able to sit down. For some reason, his legs were always a bit weak.
"Mr. Juan, did you ask Ivan to come here?" Herbert asked.
Mr. Juan frowned. As if he had thought of something, he replied, "Yes, it was I who sent Hess to pick you up."
"Hess might be in trouble," Herbert said with a expressionless face.
Hearing this news, Mr. Juan didn't seem surprised. He took a look at Ivan, nodded and asked, "Ivan encountered assassins, didn't he?"
"The show was quite grand. They even used military crossbows," Herbert said.
"It seems that someone is getting more and more impatient," Mr. Juan muttered to himself.
After a long while, he then turned to Audrey and asked, "Does Hess have any family?"
"A wife and a four-year-old son," Audrey replied.
"Send five thousand gold coins to his wife and give Padraic a heads-up. He will take care of the mother and son," Mr. Juan ordered.
"Audrey, how's the investigation going?" Mr. Juan asked again.
"That butler really missed a lot of things, many important things. That Baron Est was really a depraved and decadent guy. That family is definitely an abnormal one," Audrey sighed and said, "I'll bring that butler in. You'll understand when you ask him yourself."
With that, Audrey stood up from the sofa, opened another small door on the right and walked out.
After a while, he brought back an old man of medium height with gray hair to the hall.
Ivan took a look at the old man.
No wonder so many people believed that the real Ivan Est had always been under the strict protection of this old man.
The old man really looked honest and reliable.
He had a square face with clear edges and corners, gentle and kind eyes, and thick lips that made him look dignified and reliable. He really looked like a nice old man.
The butler seemed rather submissive. He stood there with a slight bend in his waist and his legs tightly together.
"Tell Mr. Juan again about the things you missed," Audrey said as she sat back down in her previous seat.
"I'm damned, I'm such a fool, an idiot," the old man said while slapping himself several times. Then, he said respectfully and cautiously, "Mr. Juan, please forgive me, this muddle-headed old fool. I really forgot all about that matter. Oh, no, I was so used to it that I didn't think it was a big deal, so I forgot to mention it."
"Cut the crap," Mr. Juan was clearly impatient.
"Yes, yes, yes. I forgot to tell you that the real young master Ivan was a scoundrel. The Est family were all scoundrels, and our master was the most despicable one among all the scoundrels."
"You don't know. When our mistress was just tricked into marrying our master, she was still an innocent and pure little girl like an angel. When she married the master, the mistress was probably only eighteen years old. Yes, it must be eighteen.
At that time, the mistress was really like an angel."
"But since she married our master, the master tormented the mistress out of shape. You don't know. For a long time, the master didn't allow the mistress to wear clothes or get out of bed. Although we couldn't see what the master and the mistress were doing in bed, the mistress's pleadings for mercy drilled into our ears."
"When the master was in the mood, he often stayed in the mistress's bedroom all day and all night without coming out. Those were the days when the mistress suffered. From morning to night, there was no moment of peace. And according to the maids, the master had so many tricks to torment women. Many of those means were beyond our imagination..."