The Return Of A Spoiled Villainess

The house was gloomy and somehow depressingly pompous, like an old man in a worn out frilly coat tiredly leaning against the inner wall. The silhouette still retained the remnants of the former power, but the garden at the entrance decayed, and the paint on the facade made you wonder what was the color of the walls originally.

At the main entrance, they were met by a butler, who looked more like a robber from the highway. A big fellow in a shabby livery of dark purple looked a bit comical. Scarred face and sharp, tenacious eyes entirely did not fit into the general surroundings.

"My Lord, Lord Rutland. I received your note. Dinner has already been served in the small living room. All servants today released from their duties." - he briefly reported in a low, rough baritone and stepped aside.

"Okay, Lotter. You can also be free for today". - Said Devon, handing over his cloak to the servant and without stopping, went to the living room. Blaize hurried after him. The butler, as a ghost, retreated into the shadows and imperceptibly vanished in the side corridor.

"I always wondered where you found this ... butler. Lotter does not look like the representatives of his profession. Instead of livery, he would have looked much better in one of the black coats. I would even say that a black form with burgundy leather inserts would suit him perfectly," - Blaize drawled hinting at investigators" clothes. Devon grinned.

"I"ll pa.s.s on your compliment to Lotter." - smirked his friend in response.

"Oh no, no need to tune your servant against me. I didn"t mean anything like that." - Immediately backed down Blaize, glancing around.

"Well, I fact, I am serious. Because for a person who had once removed Katow"s bracers, that sounds quite like a compliment," - said Devon mockingly, catching the pale face of a friend out of the corner of his eye.

In the Rioli Empire, there was only one penal inst.i.tution for particularly sinful criminals, the Katow querry deep in the mountains.

Being exiled there was considered a punishment worse than the death penalty. And especially Katow reformatory was famous by its supervisors. They said that only the most bloodthirsty and crazy blacks are appointed there just to get them away from the capital.

Blaize turned sharply as if hoping or fearing to see the former jailer behind his back. Nothing indicated the presence of Lotter nearby, but Lord Rutland still listened before whispering.

"You"re completely crazy. Hire such a person as a butler."

"Your claims are absolutely groundless," - Devon shrugged as he entered a small living room. - "The fact that the Imperial Executioner has in the service a former jailor is natural enough for me. Besides, Lotter bakes amazing blueberry m.u.f.fins." - He added, sitting down at the already served table. Hearing the words of a friend, Blaize stopped in his tracks before reaching the table a couple of steps.

"I hope he does not cook dinner for you," - asked Red Chief looking skeptical at the dishes on the table.

"If I were you, I would have hoped that it was he who made today"s feast, and not Clarissa, his wife, and my cook. I suspect something is wrong with her lately. Especially alarming is the huge amount of pickles in my last lunch. Honey in the omelet I can still survive, but the chocolate on the steak is a real perversion. I hope she will quickly pa.s.s these strange experiments with food."

"Then why did you hire them at all?" - Blaize suspiciously poked a fork into the contents of one of the dishes.

"You should understand. Not many can live with me in the same house. Oh, and we with Lotter went through a few funny stories together. "

"Oh, yea... funny ... I probably will refrain from such wonderful and probably very cheerful stories at least for a while. First, tell me what the h.e.l.l happened at the Marsters."

Devon took a quick glance at his friend and began to carve a piece of ham on a platter in the middle of the table, deliberately delaying the beginning of the conversation. He was not able to thoroughly a.n.a.lyze everything that happened along the way. Thoughts of a young countess, her hands, her eyes and ... hovered in his head ... In general, these thoughts didn"t set any steady tone to his mood at all.

"I honestly don"t know." - He finally began, deciding to sort things out together. Perhaps a friend will be able to help him throw these silly notions out of his head.

"At the beginning of the conversation, a young guy, Paris, definitely lied talking about how he met his sister again. The strange thing is that the lie was not so strong or something. Such a feeling appears when a person describes the events that have actually occurred, but at the same time, he manipulates the facts to appear better or to hide some trifle. Captain spoke in great detail about how the group appeared under the guise of being a Stone Warrior in the office of Count Wolcroft. Their conversation, the way Calisto felt unwell and the scuffle - there was almost no lies. But then ... When Paris said that he had asked the earl to allow his sister to remain in the fortress until the end of the siege, he also did not lie, but it appears that he kept something to himself. He as if closed at this moment. And the attack itself is described in fragments. He kept back a lot. When you asked about how they blew up the warehouse of red-faced men, he went into deep defense. "I do not know," and the "plan of the earl" is an absolute lie. He knows exactly how it happened, but why he did not tell us is downright puzzling. Why hide it?"

"You know, just recently a very unusual report came to me. Well, not to me, at first. Wellsy shared it, but this is a terrible secret and cannot be used as evidence. In short, the report was apparently from someone from the attacker"s side." - Blaize halted, picking at his meat with suspicious. - " Indeed, many were aware that the Stone Warriors was just mummers, although no one officially announced this. However, it became immediately apparent that this was just a masquerade. Only here, the report says that just before the attack, a dozen warriors lined up in front of the walls of the fortress in the same gray cloaks as the mummers. And they apparently defended the fort during the attack, right there, at the bottom of the walls. It sounds like nonsense, but the spy writes that someone saw that exactly three of this dozen broke through the attackers and set fire to the warehouse, firing a burning arrow. Thought, they all got killed afterward."

"You want to say that a detachment of the same mummers but from our side, descended from the walls before the attack and met a wave of attackers head-on, then broke into the warehouse of the red-faced and set it on fire? This sounds like complete bulls.h.i.t!"

"I think so too. Firstly, there were only about a dozen of those madmen. If it were true, they would have been chopped up in the first few seconds. And why bother? This is not heroism, this is just madness. Wolcroft wouldn"t do that with his guys."

"Okay, let"s forget about the attack for now. I think you shouldn"t pay special attention to this report at all. There is a lot more stuff that we do not yet understand in this whole mess."

"That"s for sure." - Blaize suddenly squinted with a malicious smile, - "Now, tell me about the Countess."

Devon began to feel bad in his own skin under the intense gaze of a friend. Where to start? Some kind of rubbish crept into his head, from which he would undoubtedly blush if he could.

"This pair is totally bizarre," - he finally began with a reasonably safe statement.

"A pair? It"s impressive that you noticed the second one." - Hiding a grin behind a raised gla.s.s of wine, offered Blaise. Devon threw him his most intimidating stare, but The Red Chief only smiled more broadly.

"I"m serious. When Countess and this guy, Konrad, came in, I didn"t detect any emotion at all around them. I did not even notice their arrival immediately."

"As I saw it, you noticed the countess rather quickly," - Blaize continued to tease.

"Stop it already! - finally snapped Devon. - "I don"t get what it was myself. She just ... I don"t know ... I met her eyes and then...Ah, h.e.l.l! Like lightning bolt struck me. And she, she was not at all frightened! All her emotions were very strange. She is not like everyone else."

"Well, of course. So everyone says. She is not like everyone else, she is special!" - said Blaze, arching his back and gesturing dramatically.

"Listen to me," - Devon hissed, already outright angry.

"Okay, okay." - Blaize surrendered, lifting his hands up in a sign of reconciliation. - "I understand. She is really unusual." - finally turned serious Red One. - "I vaguely remember what she was like before. All my impression of her was that there was a lot of fake in this girl. These perfect curls, ruffles, bright dresses and the smell of perfume. Young Countess was like a beautiful doll. Under the heap of all this, it was challenging to find a real person. Now, it is like everything still the same, she still looks like a doll. Only this doll seems unreal in some other way."

"That"s it. When Countess Marsters entered, I saw nothing at all around her, as if she were a dummy, and then she suddenly flared up. I"ve never seen this before. You see, people do not shine like that. Emotions for me are more like a thin fog of a different color. And she glowed like ... I do not know ... like a lamp or something."

"And what does it mean?" - Blaize frowned.

" Well, I have no idea. If I had, I would have told you. But its impossible for the person not to feel anything at all, then suddenly flair with the emotional outbreak. And that guy Konrad is the same." - contemplated Devon, scratching his head.

"Well, let"s reason logically. What and when feelings they experienced?" - Blaize decided to put everything in order.

Devon hesitated, it was worth starting from the beginning, but he didn"t want to express his hunch to a friend.

"Konrad reacted very sharply when Anastasia began to cry and ran away from the room. He smelled of pain, helplessness, grief. It did not look as usual, but I literally felt that these were precisely such emotions."

Blaize grimaced.

"There was no need even to guess. It was written all over this guy"s face. Only now, he has changed so much. Six years as a slave and even without a hand ... I certainly do not envy him, but this guy no longer would come close to Anastasia. I just hope, Stacy already understood this."

Devon raised his eyebrow skeptically. He had long perceived Stacy as a younger sister and was ready to protect her if necessary. But he also saw her emotions perfectly when she fleed from the room. It was not at all fear or disgust of ugliness of her old friend. There were a lot of feelings, but most of all there was pain and shame.

"Here"s another thing that is strange" - Devon decided to alter the topic a bit. - "At that moment the countess put her hand at the guy"s shoulder, and his emotions subsided and partly literally absorbed into the girl. As if she had taken them away or divided them because she felt that he could not cope with them."

"Is this even possible ?" - Blaize wondered.

"I"m not sure. For example, I can see emotions and even take away power from other people with my presence alone. But I can"t control it, only focus during the fight. This is entirely different. I will not be able to take away someone"s sadness even if I really wanted to. Do you understand? And then, when the conversation turned to the point when they disappeared. Here, from both of them, there was such a storm of emotions, pain, anger, sadness, and the girl again tried to do this trick with Konrad. But apparently failed. And I saw that it all began to cause her real pain, very strong."

"Is that why you stopped her?" - asked Blaize with interest.

"Well. Yes, but ..." - Devon halted, he knew that he had to tell a friend the truth. You can not hide such things. Besides, Blaize could help him understand what happened.

"AND?" - repeated Blaze, pushing a friend.

"There was another moment. When she first entered. I already said that she glowed. But the light was different, soft, scarlet."

Blaize squinted, carefully examining his friend"s face. Emotions were seldom displayed on Devon"s face. Anger, irritation, even joy expressed only in a slight change in facial expressions. Somewhat squeezed lips or wrinkles in the corners of the eyes. Blaize learned to grasp these changes.

But he saw embarra.s.sment for the first time. Although there could be no mistake, how the Imperial executioner looked away and barely noticeably squirmed in his chair, making it creak, then he carefully chose words and paused. All this indicated that his friend was agitated and hiding something. And Blaze knew best of all that the only way to get the truth out of him was to p.i.s.s him off. Blaise stretched his lips in a smile. Fire up Devon"s temper was his favorite thing to do.

" Oh, well. No wonder this kitten would flare up," - Blaize drawled sweetly, looking away. - "When I took her hand, she even shivered. And her eyes .. I immediately felt how she stared at me. Did you notice?" - Devon"s nostrils began to flare on the second phrase, fists clenched to whitened knuckles on the third, but as soon as Blaize dropped, - "She didn"t take her awed eyes off me."

With a shrill creak, part of the wooden handle flew off, causing Trevelyan to sway back in surprise. Blaize slowly turned his sly, glittering with triumph eyes on his friend and slightly tilted his head, showing Devon a wide, knowing smile. The Black Judge instantly realized that he had driven himself into a trap. In irritation, rolling his eyes, he exhaled and began to speak without choosing a word.

"You"ve already seen everything. She was ... like a vision. I don"t know. And how she looked at me. Do you understand me? And this pink glow. You know, I saw a lot of emotions. And although the feelings of these two are not quite as usual, I can guess ... She ... I do not know ... as if she became interested in me?!"

"Interested? Oh yea, she literally licked you with her eyes!" - Blaize snorted, forcing Devon to wince at a not quite decent comparison, although something started to tremble inside of him.

"Devon, friend," - Blaize suddenly became severe, - "The only thing that bothers me, are you sure that she did not pretend? In Sense, all these pa.s.sionate looks, blush, quivering of eyelashes. Knowing her story, it is entirely possible ..."

"No!" - Devon"s harsh voice surprised even him; the mere thought that the girl could only play to the public, try to attract his attention with unclean intentions, infuriated him. Although this idea came to him during a conversation with the Masters a few times.

"I am not sure, Blaize." - He said more calmly, bringing his feelings to order - "Emotions can be played outward, pretended. But I can see more than ordinary people."

"But you have been deceived once before." - said Blaize carefully.

" Right, but Marietta was crazy. What is the chance that Countess Marsters is the same way? Although this may explain her strange manifestation of emotions." - pondered Davon deep in his thoughts.

The idea that Calisto was as unbalanced as his long-time acquaintance left an unpleasant taste in the mouth of the Black Lord. But then he was still very young and still not so well able to understand the manifestations of his gift. Yet such an option could not be ruled out. Life has taught him many not very pleasant lessons, which he tried to learn.

"You know Devon. I think it"s too early for us to draw conclusions. In any case, there is an excellent chance that the Countess herself can give some answers. Whether it is interest or not, we can take advantage of it." - offered Blaize, trying to disperse some of his friend"s gloom.

In addition to being an outstanding fighter, Blaize was also a great strategist. And through the amusing sparkles in the eyes of a friend, Devon immediately realized that his plan had matured.

"What do you suggest?"

"I think you should try to woo her."

Devon was a little taken aback, although he was already antic.i.p.ating such a turn deep inside.

"What?"

"Well, think about it. On the one hand, if the Countess really plans something under the pretext of falling in love, you can quietly watch her closely. If she really is the one who claims to be. That is even better! She is definitely interested in you, as you put it. Why not try?"

"Maybe because in the latter case, after a week she can try to jump out from the window or eat rat poison?" - hissed Davon through his teeth.

"Listen, we can at least try. Besides, the girl is definitely stronger than it seems. Not many spoiled aristocrats can survive and not break down after six years in Ligarkhat as a servant. For my part, I will also follow the development of events, and if I suddenly notice that your presence affects her badly, we will merely stop this venture. And I promise not to disturb you anymore with new undertakings in the field of love. What do you think?"

The offer was definitely tempting. Two opposing inner voices seemed to collide in Devon"s mind.

One insisted that he should not go into this story. He already had enough problems with communication with the opposite s.e.x. A simple investigation may give more results than trying to play love games.

Another inner voice silently threw fascinating images into the man"s head. Her eyes, hands, lips ... The sudden image of her face, big blue eyes, puffy slightly parted lips, burst into consciousness. Only in it, she was not in the living room, but in his bedroom, spread out on the bed, under him.

The vision made Devon"s blood boil; he sucked in a breath sharply through his nose, causing the image to disappear. Or rather, putting it carefully away, for later use ...

All this time, Blaize kept a close eye on the changes on his friend"s face, and a hardly concealed sly smile trembled at the corners of his lips.

"Well," - The Black Lord finally muttered, trying not to look straight at his friend, - "But you do understand that I have no idea how this is done, right?"

"Oh! Dear! Do not worry your pretty head, your best friend Blaize is ready to provide you with all his extensive knowledge on how, where and at which moment!" - Blaize proclaimed, not paying attention to the ornate curses from the Black Judge.