Enlightened Empire

Chapter 448: Twists and Turns

"Lord Ichilia, what happened to Mellana di Pluritac?"

What happened to who? I want to know what happened more than anyone!

Loreius was stunned. So far, the talks had been going perfectly. Almost all of his predictions had been met. Although he had been a bit surprised by the bonds issue, and he hadn't managed to gain an advantage during negotiations, he was still broadly satisfied with the outcome.

By committing such large sums of money to the southern kingdom through a long-term trade agreement, he would gain access to the vital fertilizer. On top of that, he would also enjoy the protection of the southern kingdom. After all, the merchant king in the south wouldn't just watch his best customer disappear, would he?

Thus protected, Huaylas would be able to slowly recover in the shadows, while the three kings fought over land and lords. The plan had been solid, and both sides had been satisfied with the outcome. All that remained was a simple handshake, and then their respective servants would have handled the details of their agreement, while they would simply enjoy a few more banquets.

Yet why were things getting complicated again? Silence didn't help here, so Loreius had to force himself out of his catatonic state, and squeezed out a smile.

"Minister Brymstock, this is not a name this lord is familiar with." He really wasn't lying this time. He had no idea who this 'Mellana' was supposed to be. Though asking surely couldn't hurt, he thought. "Could Minister Brymstock enlighten this lord? Judged by her name, this woman is a servant of House Pluritac. Maybe with a description, this lord's servant could help find her if she has gone missing."

"How dare you act ignorant, you bastard!"

Focused on Brymstock, Loreius didn't even notice at what point the woman to his side had suddenly jumped up from her recliner. Now she was hunched over the table and screaming into his face.

Girl, why are you only talking now!? I thought you were a mute!

"This lady... Inti, was it?" Loreius tried to recall, as he worked hard to keep an impolite frown from his face. "Please refrain from insults. This lord is truly ignorant on this matter."

"So you are telling me that you do not remember that you rounded up and killed all your female servants a year ago?"

"That..." Stunned, Loreius thought back.

Indeed, after he had explained his plan for taking over the Verdant Isles to his father, he had taken care of all the servants who could have listened in on them, just in case. Of course, the story had spread eventually. Too many people had disappeared to keep it a complete secret. Although outsiders wouldn't know what exactly had happened to those maids, they knew their end wouldn't have been good.

Back then, he hadn't cared about the rumors, and had even embraced them. Getting a reputation as a shrewd and ruthless ruler wasn't too bad. But now this same reputation seemed to have become a problem. Worse yet, as he thought back to that banquet with his father, he remembered that one of his maids back then had all but confirmed that she had been a spy all along. Surely, this wasn't the 'Mellana' they were looking for, right?

"That girl..." he mumbled as he delved into his memories, in an attempt to remember her name, or at least her face. Yet he didn't notice that the mere notion of a memory angered the former mute girl.

"'That girl' was my sister!" she screamed, and grabbed Loreius' robes with the rough hands of a warrior.

"And you are?" he asked the unreasonable shrew with all the condescension of a lord. At the same time, he held her hands to make sure she wouldn't do anything even more stupid, like trying to kill the current Lord Ichilia in the Gold Manor out of anger. An assassination attempt in the middle of trade talks wouldn't have been good for any of them, least of all himself.

For now, what he had to do was find out who exactly it was he had killed. Since all the maids back then had been executed, he couldn't change this upset girl's mood. Her sister had died on his order after all.

Still, if the victim's status wasn't too big, Loreius didn't believe that the southern kingdom would side with some servant against him. Rather, they would likely just overlook his past transgressions in the face of the large, mutually beneficial deal he had just struck with the southern kingdom's finance minister. However, Minister Brymstock's next words completely shattered his hopes.

"Lady Inti is the younger sister of Fadelio di Pluritac, King Corcopaca's attendant and current Prime Minister of the southern kingdom," The words were simple, but they shook Loreius to the core. Since the shock was written on his face as well, the girl's — the prime minister's other sister's — expression became more and more sinister.

"What did you do with my sister?" the girl growled.

Wait, how am I the villain here!? I was just dealing with spies! Why would you send someone so important to spy on House Ichilia in the first place!? Just send some disposable pawns like the rest of us! This isn't my fault!

Yet he knew logic wouldn't work on these people. The moment Minister Brymstock decided to bring up the matter of Mellana unprovoked, it had become inextricably tied to the negotiations. The murder of such a high-ranking figure would ruin their entire talks, if it couldn't be resolved. Yet if talks fell through, House Huaylas would stand alone once more, without allies and without protection.

Frantically, Loreius scoured his mind for solutions. Should he just lie, pretend he hadn't killed her? No, he had already admitted that he knew her. Even if he claimed that he had only imprisoned the girl, he would still have to produce her from within the Gold Manor's dungeons somehow. But that maid was long dead, how could he possibly do that? Hire a body double? That was impossible due to time concerns, and he didn't even remember what the damned maid looked like!

All he could do was admit his fault and ask for forgiveness, yet one look at the angry warrior girl's face and he knew that chances of reconciliation were slim. Thus, his words would only drive his house into another crisis. How come ever since his father's death, all his past failings had suddenly come together to ruin his life? How much more punishment did he have to endure before the divines were satisfied?

As the atmosphere in the room solidified, Loreius hardened his heart. He would simply deny everything, claim the rumors of him killing the maids was exaggerated. Sure, he wouldn't gain the support of the southern kingdom with the move, but at least he wouldn't have to grovel.

Not to mention, a deal could still be arranged in other ways. For example, House Ichilia could purchase the fertilizer through third parties, at a slight markup. Surely, this greedy minister would allow him to arrange at least such a deal, so long as they weren't cooperating on the surface. Thus, the young lord steeled his heart and got ready for his denial, when a sudden voice in the almost empty room broke through the atmosphere.

"Mellana is still alive."

Confused after his previous determination was deflated, Loreius turned towards the source of the sound, as did his two guests, with similar expressions of bafflement on their faces.

For a second, Lord Ichilia just stared at the man who stood at the edge of the room, between two of his almost identical looking fellow guards.

"And who are you?" was all he could ask. Today, the surprises seemed to know no end.

Numb to her core, Inti was following behind the strange guard who had claimed that her sister was still alive. Together with her — and most likely just as confused — were Brym and the man who had presumably killed her sister. Though for now, such judgment was on hold until she had ascertained the truth of the guard's words.

After his irresponsible and disrespectful claim, Inti had gotten a bit angry at first, as evidenced by the slowly developing swelling around the guard's left eye. If Brym hadn't held her back at the right moment, who knows what she would have done.

However, when confronted with aggression, the man had not fought back. Instead, he had hastily offered to show proof, and thus the man's punishment was delayed. However, should this just prove to be yet another attempt of Loreius Ichilia at obfuscation, she would never be held back again.

Until then, the strange guard had asked them to follow along, to see his so-called 'proof'. For what it was worth, he began to explain his part of the story as they were walking first through Gold Manor, and then through the inner city of Huaylas.

"My name is Avitus d'Ichilia. A head guard of House Ichilia, responsible for the protection of Gold Manor," he said. "As a humble warrior within House Ichilia, this simple servant was been smitten by Mey — that would be Mellana — the moment she appeared, all those years ago. When, on the order of Lord Loreius Ichilia, all maids were to be executed that day, this simple fool's heart broke. Yet there was still a chance to save my love's life, if only at high risk. The masters did not care to watch the maids die. They were too busy with their own duties for such enjoyment. Thus, when the maids were all locked away awaiting their end, this fool took his chance. In the end, I managed to replace Mey with a female prisoner who had been locked up before, and it was this woman who died in Mey's stead."

"What!? How dare a mere servant-" Loreius shouted.

As soon as this warrior didn't follow his every order, the vile lord Ichilia was ready to enact his tyranny upon the brave man. The already moody Inti was ready to step in and teach the beast a lesson, but Brym was faster. He held back Lord Ichilia just how he had held back Inti before, and interrupted the lord's screams.

"Lord Ichilia, you best stay quiet for now," Brym advised. "It would be in both of our interests if Lady Mellana was still alive, so let's just be happy with this one disobedient warrior of yours."

Ichilia only snorted in response, a move Inti was eager to copy, though for different reasons. While everyone else was busy snorting, Brym turned towards Avitus.

"Rather than talk about disobedience, I am curious why that female prisoner would willingly replace Lady Mellana and go to her death."

"She had been stuck in prison for long, with no way out. I offered to pay a compensation to her family in return for her cooperation. She eagerly accepted the only benefit she could gain before her death," the guard explained coldly, though his movements became stiff and his face looked a bit cramped. For a few seconds, they walked in silence, before the guard continued his story.

"After my operation, Mey spent the next few months in the dungeons of the Gold Manor. I made sure to change shifts with fellow guards, so I could spend as much time there as possible to make sure no one could harm her. Then, at the start of the southern war, both masters left to lead the military operations, and with them left most of the warriors in the city. Even more, most warriors never returned. Using the opening, I managed to finally sneak Mey out of Gold Manor. Since then, she has been living safely in an abandoned courtyard in the inner city. Since so many of our men never returned from the war, there are many of these abandoned courtyards around these days. We're here."

Halfway up the side of one of the hills of Huaylas stood a small courtyard, surrounded by a fence of bamboo mats. Unlike most medalan houses, which were open to the outside to the point that many courtyards didn't even have a proper fence, this one offered a lot more privacy.

Not only did the bamboo mats shield the courtyard from the outside view, its position itself was also quite remote, hidden in the shadow, halfway up the mountain's southern side. Whatever warrior was living here before the war couldn't have been too wealthy, to chose such a remote location for his home.

"Please, master, dear guests, wait here for a moment. I will enter first and explain matters. Mey can be a bit jumpy with strangers, as one could imagine."

Thus, the guard called Avitus bowed his head to the three of them and turned to open the yard's outer gate. While Brym returned a friendly smile and polite nod, Ichilia the villain looked like he had swallowed a fly. As the absolute authority in Huaylas, he wouldn't be used to such informal words from one of his servants, even less so from a disobedient one.

Though maybe by now, the guard understood that he wouldn't have to show such respect any longer. Now that he had admitted to betraying his lord, he wouldn't be able to stay in Huaylas anyways. Most likely, if Lord Ichilia didn't do anything rash, the guard would leave the city together with Brym.

However, the third visitor to this yard had no mind to think about such complex details. She neither held Brym's friendly confidence, nor Ichilia's seething anger.

All this time, Inti's body had simply followed along, her limbs as numbed as her mind while she tried to make sense of the mess in her head. Again and again, the same questions ran through her mind like a carousel.

How many times had she tried to contact her sister over the past year? How many times had she tried to save her? When had she lost hope? And most importantly: What was this? A cruel joke this guard or his evil owner was playing on her? Or was it a miracle? Finally, the voices she heard from inside the yard gave her the definitive answer to at least the last of her questions.

"Avi, you're back already." The voice was still the same, just how Inti remembered it. Still with the same tone, calm and melodic. Mellana had always been the most musically gifted among them.

"What are you doing out here, Mey? You should be staying inside," the guard asked, his tone flustered.

"If you want me back inside, you should help me take these down," the first voice complained. Almost unconsciously, Inti marched straight up to the courtyard's gate, which the guard had left slightly ajar. In a trance, her hands stretched forward and pushed as she stepped straight through into the open yard.

"Of course..." the guard replied without hesitation at first, before he trailed off and then changed his tone, now flustered once again. "No wait, that's not important right now! There's something I have to tell you."

Yet before the guard could tell her anything, Inti had already entered, to see a picture she wouldn't forget for a long time to come. The courtyard was simple, just some grass along a hill, with a babbling brook in the corner, which formed a small stream down the hill and out of the yard. Halfway up the hill stood a small house, at least by the standards of Huaylas' wealthy warriors. In front, someone had put up a clothesline, which was currently hung half-full with freshly washed and dried clothing.

And there she was. Next to the guard in front of the small house's entrance, her arms laden with freshly plucked laundry, stood the woman Inti had seen in her nightmares for the past year. Even after her imprisonment, Mellana still looked almost exactly how Inti remembered her.

"Sister!" she shouted up the hill, which disrupted the conversation between the couple. Only now that Mellana turned towards her did Inti realize that some things about her sister had changed after all. Thus, even more shocked than before, she finally added: "You're pregnant."