Free Web NovelChapter 27: Spirit Iron
"Vincent was poisoned."
These words swept across the room like a chilling breeze.
The servants glanced down, not daring to look the Madam in the eyes.
Vivienne’s face was devoid of any emotions. However, standing behind her, Linda could see her clenched fists.
Drops of red trickled down her fingers and fell on the floor.
Linda felt a slight shiver down her spine. She had never seen her Madam in such a state before!
"I won’t hold any of you responsible," Vivienne said calmly while glancing at the servants. "If it could slip past me, your failure to notice it was inevitable."
Vivienne held the transparent vial up and showed it to everyone.
"It is not a slow poison that’s given over the course of years. It’s a fast acting poison. If consumed, an average person can die in less than a day."
Vivienne clasped her hands behind and began pacing around the main hall.
"I want you to drop everything and search for clues. Where was Vincent the day before yesterday, the day prior to it— no, scratch it. I want complete, detailed information on his activities for the entire week. Do not skip even him vomiting in a random alley or his spit after brushing."
She turned to the servants.
"Everything. Every single detail with time stamps."
The servants bowed in unison.
"As Madam wills!"
Before Vivienne gave them an order to disperse, Linda appeared beside her and said in a low tone while bowing, "M’lady, you mustn’t forget the young master’s telegraph."
Vivienne stopped in her tracks.
"Right," she said as her focus returned to the telegram sent by her son this morning.
Her clenched fist eased up.
She turned to the servants again.
"He asked to buy grains from other noble houses. Is it done?"
The servants kept their heads down and didn’t respond.
"Hm?" Vivienne raised an eyebrow.
"What is with such downcast expressions?"
Nobody answered.
"M’lady, please let me..." Linda said and walked towards the servants, collecting the reports.
She tore the relevant pages from the notebooks and handed the stack to Vivienne.
The tall lady wearing a wide-brimmed hat went through the stack in less than a minute.
There was no change of expression on her face as she finished.
"Jane." Vivienne called out.
The young lady returning from House of Williams stepped forward and bowed.
"Madam."
"Perform the exact scene with Linda." Vivienne commanded.
Without hesitation, Jane first briefly looked at Linda’s exposed skin on her chest and then recited the dialogue Count Williams said.
The servants watched the scene with knitted brows. Except for four, all other servants were women. They could understand the hidden implications of Count Williams from the very get-go.
Once Jane was finished enacting the entire scene at Count Williams’ House, Vivienne merely gave her a slight nod.
"Return."
Jane bowed and stepped back.
Vivienne then asked, "Who was made to wait the longest?"
A steward stepped forward and bowed. "It would be me, Madam. I waited for five hours at Viscount Kane’s mansion but did not get an audience."
"What do you think of it? I did not see your personal note in the report." Vivienne asked casually.
"There wasn’t a personal note as apart from waiting, nothing else happened."
"A Viscount House made an envoy from a Count House wait for five hours and did not give an audience. What do you think of it?"
"I believe they’re either terrified or allied with someone in ranks above our house." The steward answered calmly.
"Hm." Vivienne hummed in response. "Investigate. I need a report in no more than three days."
"Understood." Continuing to bow, the steward stepped back and walked out of the mansion.
Vivienne looked at Linda and said, "Send a telegram stating only three days worth of grains could be procured, and they will reach him around evening tea time."
Linda accepted the instructions but before leaving, bowed and said, "Forgive me for overstepping, M’lady, but I have to say... the young master is young. He might get overwhelmed and break down due to such extreme pressure."
Vivienne and Linda both were aware of the crisis in the County. However, it was but a trivial matter to the Countess and she put it aside due to her son’s engagement.
Vivienne kept her gaze on the servants and said, "He wishes to change, and change does not occur in the comfort of home."
"The situation is much more dire than you think, M’lady. Another telegram arrived a few hours ago. It’s from Anastasia and she stated that the young master was almost killed by mobs."
Vivienne’s usual calm expression still did not change.
Instead of answering, she asked, "Do you think a bunch of mobs are enough to kill him?"
Linda thought about it and said, "He has three people by his side. It shouldn’t be possible."
Vivienne nodded. "Anastasia, Leona, and Vanessa are near him. He won’t die."
Vivienne’s gaze fell on the vial in her hand.
She clutched it hard and continued, "He absolutely will not die, no matter what happens."
"You’re right, M’lady. But if you do not step in to solve the crisis, the house might not remain." Linda said bluntly.
Vivienne gently adjusted her hat and said, "We’ll cross those bridges when the time comes. For now..."
She looked at her personal attendant.
"...you are to manage the house until my return."
"You’re leaving?" Linda couldn’t help but ask.
Vivienne nodded gently and walked away.
"Assist Vincent for anything he asks. If he explicitly states he can’t solve the crisis anymore... you know how to contact me."
A cold breeze blew past all and Vivienne’s last words rang like a soft echo in everyone’s head.
She disappeared from the mansion.
The servants stood silently with absentminded expressions.
Today was quite chaotic and they did not know what to make of it.
...
"...even the Royal House."
Anastasia’s response brought a baffled look on Vincent and Leona’s faces.
With his hands still placed on her shoulders, Vincent said, "Explain."
Anastasia found herself in a tricky situation. Divulging future information would result in serious questioning, and may possibly expose her identity.
She wasn’t worried about the young master finding out.
She glanced at the silver-haired figure silently seated near the young master.
After a second’s contemplation, she looked back at Vincent and said, "I may be overstepping when I say this, but the house’s decline would benefit many. D’Arc House controls vast deposits of natural resources—coal, gold, and copper to name a few. It controls two-thirds of the kingdom’s rail lines, half the shipping industry, one-third of metal industries, and so much more."
Anastasia paused for a second.
"All of this is public knowledge. Now, it is also public knowledge that the D’Arc House only has three members. I’m sure the young master can make out what I mean from all this."
Vincent thought about it and asked, "I get that they think we’re easy to bully. But I am failing to understand how the Royal House would be in it too."
"Young master..." Anastasia sighed and shook her head. How could she answer such a treasonous question openly? She would get executed if things went wrong.
Vincent could see her helpless expression and stopped pestering.
He took his hands off her and said, "Forget it. Let’s get out of the carriage first."
Anastasia nodded and escorted Vincent outside the carriage, then to the makeshift tent the Knight Order had recently set up.
"Would you like to have lunch, young master?" Anastasia asked.
"No." Vincent said and sat down at the lunch table.
"Please let me pour you a cup of tea then." Anastasia’s golden hair swayed gently as she walked to the side table and brewed tea.
Leona’s red eyes glanced at Vincent as she sat beside him while the latter placed his hands on the table and turned to her.
He saw an unbothered face, as if nothing had surprised her.
"There’s many plotting against my house. Is it possible to fight them or should my focus be on solving the county’s crisis?"
"The county’s crisis." Leona answered immediately as though she had already anticipated the question. "It’s a lost battle if the county isn’t intact, My Lord."
Vincent leaned back on the chair and closed his eyes.
"How do I win this battle then? I have nothing but money."
"Money is fine." Leona said and looked at the blonde maid bringing a tray with three cups of steaming hot tea.
Anastasia placed the teacups on the table and sat opposite Leona.
Leona grabbed the porcelain cup and continued, "There’s no fertile lands in the county and with how everything’s caught up so far, I am sure other nobles would not provide aid."
Vincent opened his eyes and leaned forward.
"How sure are you that there’s no aid coming?"
Leona took a sip of tea. freewebnoveℓ.com
"If I were to guess, the best outcome would yield a week’s worth of grains and the worst..."
Leona left the rest to Vincent’s imagination.
"I get it." Vincent took hold of the teacup and looked into it. "What’s more?"
Leona held the teacup in both her hands and replied, "Since food is the biggest issue, what we can do is disguise and send people to neighboring noble territories and kingdoms. Each person can discreetly make an exchange for grains and bring it back to the county."
Anastasia, who was quietly sipping tea so far, looked at Leona and asked, "What makes you think they won’t run away with the money?"
Leona stared at her and answered, "It would be difficult if it is women and children. Though, it will definitely not be a small number who would refuse to come back. It’s a gamble we need to take."
Vincent took a sip of tea. The slight warmth followed by bitterness cleared his mind.
"Wouldn’t it cause suspicion? Suddenly, all markets around the kingdom see a sharp rise in food purchases... I don’t think the nobles will stay quiet after learning about it."
Leona shook her head. "It won’t be so easy to stop trade when you’re paying a premium. Let’s look at it this way. What is My Lord most afraid of? Riots, isn’t it? Who is to say the commoners from neighboring territories won’t riot if the nobles suddenly threaten to halt their trades?"
Vincent took another sip of tea and stared at his fiancée. "I don’t understand. Do commoners have more power than nobles?"
A clink sound of the cup hitting its saucer resounded beside Vincent.
"The commoners do not hold much power but they’re in the vast majority and resent the nobles. If their rights or livelihoods are threatened, they would riot." Anastasia replied.
Vincent made a mental note of it and asked, "So... if a noble unjustly insulted a worker and thrashed him or if a merchant’s business was disrupted without basis... the people would riot?"
Anastasia nodded. "Hundreds of years of exploitation and discrimination is bound to result in such violence."
"Interesting..." Vincent said softly and took a sip of tea.
’This can be put to good use. How do I do it?’
Just as such a thought surfaced Vincent’s mind, he immediately scrapped it and turned to Leona, understanding something.
"So this is what you took into consideration before thinking of sending the commoners to other territories and kingdoms?"
Leona nodded lightly.
’Wow...’ Vincent saw his fiancée in a new light.
"This is the first part of the entire process. The second part is slowly restoring the flooded farm lands along with finding new ones for growing food. If My Lord wishes to go to war, food should never be a limiting factor."
Leona put out her thoughts and sipped tea.
Vincent turned to Anastasia. "Do you think there’s land available in the county for farming?"
Anastasia was silent for a few seconds as she stared into her cup.
Four iterations have passed but she never paid attention to such menial things.
She knew most major events but never looked at such small details.
After all, the world was ending, so why would she focus on mere farm lands?
What use was food if nobody was alive to eat it?
Still, Anastasia tried to remember whatever she could about D’Arc County.
’After the collapse, the three regions were taken by the three Dukes.’
’Duke Leurox struggled to restore the flooded farm lands and gave up on it. A few years later, it became fertile on its own and he saw an abundance of grains. Nothing else I know of regarding the Southern Region.’
’Duke Brunelle took the Northern region. Three years later he overthrew the monarchy. Everyone called it military genius.’
’But... another year down the line...’
’...huh?’
’...how was that possible?’
Anastasia tightly clutched her teacup, almost spilling her tea.
Vincent and Leona saw her odd reaction but did not interrupt.
Anastasia looked up with an unfocused gaze.
She saw Leona’s face.
’...Spirit Iron...’
Something finally clicked in her mind.
