Free Web NovelChapter 171: The Fool
Between Ren and Leomaris, a protracted silence stretched for a minute or two. Ren proposed they sit for a conversation, but Leomaris had no intention of lingering any longer than he already had.
Before dismissing his driver, he’d already factored in the possibility of finding himself isolated somehow, allotting a reasonable window for the man’s return. By the clock’s reckoning, the horse carriage was mere minutes from arrival.
Ren’s brown eyes flicked toward Leomaris for a moment. She was evidently having a difficult time navigating the conversation, and besides, she’d never had a private exchange with the young master before.
"Uh... Lady Raine intends to expose and bring down the chapel in Sunday Town. They’ve allegedly been using divination to make people sick. The victims then come seeking help, offering money or possessions to the chapel, and the church conveniently heals them."
She gave her words a beat.
"Ordinarily, I would argue for caution. But when the poor are left to die simply because they cannot afford healing, and when even children are among the victims... I cannot justify waiting. If we do not act soon, every one of those abandoned people could be dead before we make our move."
Leomaris blinked.
"Why are you telling me this?"
Ren shrugged.
"I am your servant, am I not?"
This made Leomaris feel worse, somehow. He’d been attempting to gain an audience with Raine for what felt like an eternity, and she’d ignored him at every turn. This went beyond mere oversight or obliviousness; it felt intentional, through and through.
To think it would be her servant who’d fill him in on what she was up to, and clearly, Ren was telling him this purely out of sympathy.
It didn’t matter all the same. He’d only come around to warn them about Dunvol, and it was inconsequential whether he told Raine directly or she heard it secondhand through Ren.
"Let me guess... this isn’t just about stopping the church. You want to take it over and bring it under Souls of Cinder’s jurisdiction, don’t you?"
Ren motioned positively. "That’s the plan."
He took a deep breath.
"Do you truly understand the consequences of what you are proposing? By doing this, you would be directly challenging Dunvol’s authority to govern and protect his domain. That path leads to conflict, and it will not be a pleasant one. Dunvol is not a man to be underestimated. If you value your future, build your influence first and make your move when you are strong enough to withstand the backlash."
Ren’s expression remained unreadable as Leomaris spoke. Once he’d finished, something shifted beneath it.
"We do not know whether Dunvol is overseeing this yet, but if he is, then he will be our target. It matters not who or what stands before us. Lady Raine will not change her mind, and neither do I wish her to. We are coming for every church, and that will never be possible if we choose to hide in the shadows. You see... we have a goal, and we intend to achieve it."
’Preposterous...’
There was no denying it, Raine’s allies were formidable, and Raine herself was formidable, if not more so. But there was a limit to how naive one could be. There was no way they could confront Dunvol now. Sooner was preferable, certainly, but hastiness could come back to haunt someone.
He turned to look behind him, watching as Raine spoke with her allies, her white hair flickering across her shoulder and her crimson eyes darkening with a sharp shade of black.
If there was no stopping them, he wasn’t going to compel them otherwise. He knew his shadow couldn’t loom over her indefinitely, but that didn’t mean her freedom had to result in his own downfall.
Before long, Leomaris’s carriage pulled up, and before he climbed in, he left Raine a few words by way of Ren.
"Only a fool cannot distinguish between caution and haste. You may do as you please, but remember this: if your decisions bring misfortune upon the Mercy of Death faction in the future, I will hold you accountable, and I will not overlook it."
Ren watched silently as the ornate carriage, its polished mahogany wood gleaming in the sunlight, gradually disappeared down the cobblestone street.
Leomaris wasn’t new to isolation. Hell, there’d been a time in his previous life when he had no one but himself, but this felt strangely different.
As leader of the Mercy of Death faction, he held authority over every clan within it, Raine’s Souls of Cinder included, yet he’d been specifically instructed to refrain from interfering in how these clans operated. In other words, his jurisdiction extended only to each clan’s respective leader.
He couldn’t dictate Raine’s actions, and that made it worse somehow. Not only had she rendered him invisible these past few days, a feeling he’d all but forgotten, but it couldn’t have arrived at a more inopportune time.
With a handful of cheerful thoughts, he shifted his attention to things he could actually control... his own predicaments.
Two days remained before the Night Call at the Seniors’ Jade Hall. He, the Jester of the End, had been summoned to the event by Caelus Sentinel.
That was, for all intents and purposes, his uncle, but since Caelus remained oblivious to the fact that the Jester of the End was his nephew, Leomaris Runerth, it scarcely lessened the potential peril he might encounter.
According to one of his allies, Erloice, violence was strictly forbidden within the hall, meaning Caelus had no intentions of resorting to it. That didn’t change a thing, regardless.
Why would a family whose entire philosophy was founded on dispensing justice have any interest in a notorious criminal? That question gnawed at Leomaris relentlessly.
’She actually ignored me for that bastard... Who the hell does she think she is?’
Despite his wish to leave Raine’s poor treatment of him in the past, it kept slipping back into his clouded thoughts, as though it had no intention of setting him loose.
Quickly, he composed himself again and redirected his attention to Erloice’s words.
The noble lady had given him every clue he needed concerning the Night Call, and though the atmosphere would certainly shift according to the theme, she was confident there was one more thing that could prove beneficial to them.
