Academic gathering with a lich-Chapter 101 - 97 The Curse of Naslan

Deceived? By whom, and deceived of what?

"The situation isn’t as simple as Becky described. Let’s summarize the clues."

"Verlet?"

"This room is still cleaned daily by a maid, at least right now, it’s definitely not in the state it was when Karent disappeared. The immaculate tabletop, the neatly arranged objects, what are they trying to hide? Even the possibility that the missing eldest son could still be using this room." Verlet began searching the surrounding area for any clues of hidden doors.

"But hasn’t Baron Tyron already reported the disappearance to the public security office? Why would he stage this farce using his beloved son?"

"Their father-son relationship might not be as good as it seems." Ralph pointed to a blank picture frame on the wall. "See that? Both father and son had the habit of placing their own portraits in their rooms. In the baron’s room, there’s only one portrait of the eldest son, while here, there’s exactly a space for one missing."

"His strange posture, he sat facing that painting, as if staging a performance of concern for his offspring."

"And his greetings, his indifference to his own eldest son, instead showing concern for the appearance of a female inspector from the public security office."

"Truly an interesting noble."

"Putting on a show of deep fatherly love, yet when it comes to the question of his so-called beloved son’s disappearance, he relies on the butler to answer. I’m very curious about the motivation behind such behavior."

Ralph flexed his wrist, and his gaze shifted to Verlet.

"Verlet, perhaps we could have pried more out of the baron’s mouth."

"Really?" Verlet stopped her inspection, returned to Ralph’s side, and with a smile, looked down at him from above.

"Do you think I should use my own advantage and stay beside that hypocritical baron, whose body is in his fifties but his mind is stuck in his twenties? Just like you said, ’Verlet, as a woman, you need to learn to use your advantages.’"

The smile on Verlet’s face grew even brighter, calling it a radiant bloom would not be an exaggeration.

Ralph probably hesitated for a second. His eyes turned to the blank picture frame. "No, that idle noble probably doesn’t have any valuable information."

"The issue now is, we’re not sure about the truth of the vampire maid’s testimony, and that is crucial to the direction of our investigation."

"Is this a premeditated struggle for power among the nobility?"

"Or is it the intervention of dark forces leading to twisted human hearts?"

"Why don’t we ask Little Karen? As a Holy Light Cultivator, she surely must have some unique insights." Verlet recommended Little Karen, who was at that moment lost in thought nearby. A day of interaction had significantly warmed their relationship.

Ralph threw cold water on the idea, "It’s best not to get your hopes up about her. She has only been a security officer for less than two weeks, and her only task so far has been patrolling. Don’t overestimate her insight and attention to detail. In fact, Karen is just acting as, well, a muscle."

Ralph’s candid assessment, clearly unconcerned with offending, appeared to anger Karen. Her nostrils flared at Ralph, while her mind frantically worked, determined to demonstrate her worth and gain a certain someone’s recognition.

Afterward, she indeed discovered something.

"Sister Verlet, I found out that the corridor from the tower to the baron’s residence is very long; even walking briskly takes thirty minutes. Moreover, the dining room and the canteen are also over there. Isn’t that impractical? The baron’s son spends the most time traveling to the dining table three times a day - this is a blind spot! It must be key!"

Indeed, Ralph now seemed to see Karen in a new light, and then, his shoulders began to tremble.

Lyle looked helpless, "What kind of a key point is this, what does it prove, that the baronial mansion is so large one should ride a horse from the bedroom to the dining room?"

Karen is such a fool.

Verlet forced a smile too, watching Karen with a headache-inducing excitement.

"There’s some truth to what Karen said, it is indeed too far away. This also indicates that the relationship between the baron and his son must be strained. In a noble’s estate, dining together at a long table isn’t necessary unless it’s a very distinguished guest, where all family members must eat at the dining table. In most cases, servants bring food to individual rooms. But this reduces communication between family members, and deepens the divide amongst them."

"As for this phenomenon regarding the length of the passage, Karen, it’s actually quite common in wealthy households."

Perhaps unable to accept the visage of affluent families, or unable to accept her own comical character role, or perhaps unable to tolerate Ralph’s silent ridicule, Karen puffed up her cheeks, clenching the long staff tightly.

Thinking she should not favor one over another, Verlet turned her gaze to Lyle, "Little Butler, do you have any insights?"

Everything worth saying had been spoken by you, and everything not worth mentioning had been blurted out by Karen, Lyle had intended to make something up, to give Karen a way out.

Just as he was devising the most plausible lie, Shuishui in his sleeve stirred, tugging at the corner of Lyle’s clothing, giving him a direction.

In the eyes of everyone else, Lyle confidently walked towards the bookshelf in the corner, and from a dazzling array of books on the bottom shelf, he pulled out a small red notebook, as if he were the master of the room.

He extracted a piece of sheepskin with brown patterns from it.

It was inscribed with blood-colored, unknown script, along with some notes from its former owner Karent.

"I think, the one who played the vampire in that story, must have really existed."

"The scent of Black Magic!" Karen pointed excitedly at the sheet in Lyle’s hand, as happy as if she’d discovered it herself.

Ralph frowned, "Lyle, how did you find it, and why did you find it before Karen?"

Karen snapped back before Lyle could think of an answer.

"That is because Lord Lyle is a Purifier, and the Power of Holy Light within him must be close to awakening! Therefore, his perception of Black Magic is exceptionally sharp, surpassing me naturally!"

Ralph reluctantly accepted the explanation authority of Holy Light.

Some cryptic red scribbles, a symbol that looked like a family sigil, three slender arms clasped around a glittering apple.

Karent’s handwriting was first delicate, but as the writer seems to have experienced something, the mentality started to change, the writing became messy, until unrecognizable, and at the very end, Lyle was shocked to find, Karent’s final words were identical to the full page of blood-colored script.

"I found it, the reason Father moved our lands to what is now Naranya, why he forbade me from leaving the fortress, even this tower, and why he stubbornly refused to revert to that ancient family surname, to welcome back the glory of our ancestors."

"I found the reason, it’s her, she has come as recorded in those taboo solitary tomes of the families, the reason for the Naranya family’s dwindling numbers, the reason we fear the woods, the reason for the despair of Naranya’s elders, and the ultimate path to bewilderment they all take."

"The daughters of Naslan."

"The curse of Naslan."