67 – Unreasonable Behavior

I sat at my desk in the study, impatiently tapping my fingers. Lars stood beside me, appearing more composed than me. At least outwardly, who knew how the rather stoic man felt about the situation.

After breakfast, I had come here for my meeting with Maximilian. A messenger was sent to town to invite priest Tristan as well. Everything was prepared, except for one small issue.

Maximilian didn’t show any signs of leaving the guestroom.

Once several minutes passed with no movement, I had sent Mia back upstairs to fetch the man. Currently, I was following her progress through my heart sense.

As every time before, Mia was greeted at the door by Linda. Though ‘greeted’ might be too friendly a word. ‘Stopped’ seemed more appropriate, in my opinion. ‘Intercepted’, maybe.

Based on their relative proximity, I was certain that Maximilian would be able to hear the two women talking. Yet still, he didn’t show any signs of following my invitation. A clearly unfruitful discussion later, Mia was turned away. It almost felt like they chased her out.

My tapping intensified. I’d long given up on restraining the frown tugging at my face.

Even sending Mia to directly tell the knight to speak to me didn’t get any results. This was a clear disregard of my position and authority, not to mention simply rude to their host.

Not long after, Mia stepped into the room. She looked a bit flustered.

“I take it our dear guests ‘declined my invitation’ once again?”

Mia nodded wordlessly, before composing herself a bit. “Even when I said directly that you insisted, that Sir Maximilian nearly threatened me in return.” The way she said his name was filled with plenty of venom. “They didn’t really let me explain what it was about either. I barely got a word in edgewise.”

By now, my frown was nearly a full-blown grimace. It took some effort to smooth my expression out a bit. I stopped my tapping, instead propping my elbows up on the table and resting my chin on my interlaced hands.

“I just don’t understand why. Is this how these people normally operate? A sign of my sister’s stance? Or are they intentionally trying to annoy me?”

Lars and Mia both frowned in response. After a thoughtful look, Lars opened his mouth. “I didn’t have contact with many direct family members back at the main estate, but they were all proud to a fault. Likewise for their direct followers. So it’s possible that this isn’t out of the ordinary for this group.”

“Or they’re deliberately trying to make me lash out first. Damage my reputation, what little of it exists. I wouldn’t put it past my siblings to use an opportunity like this to attack me.”

A moment of heavy silence filled the room. All of us looked similarly concerned about this issue.

“We all agree this is unreasonable behavior, right?” I finally asked. “Denying important medical care for an issue that could leave someone potentially crippled for life. Especially since it is provided for free.”

Both of them nodded.

“One thing that was made quite clear to me was that Sir Maximilian refused to be parted from his lady’s side. It was one of the excuses I was given, alongside claims that your demands were unreasonable,” Mia chimed in.

“My demands… to meet with him? One of my guests, in my own manor?” I couldn’t quite believe what I was hearing.

I glanced over at Lars, who shook his head in reply. “To the best of my knowledge, the host in situations like this is due some level of respect. Wanting to speak with someone is hardly out of the ordinary. Doubly so since it’s not even Lady Lenora herself, but merely a member of her entourage. Even more with a good reason, like this medical care.”

“Hmm.” I rubbed my chin. Even after all this time in his body, Kalin’s lack of a beard compared to my previous body still surprised me sometimes. Unfortunately, he didn’t really grow any appreciable facial hair, so I couldn’t just wait to get one.

That’s a distraction, stay on topic! I lightly shook my head to clear it.

“They were recently attacked, so a bit of heightened caution isn’t too strange,” I conceded. “Add to that natural arrogance, with a hint of personal disdain for me, and it might explain most of this behavior.”

“Now that you’ve reminded me, they still haven’t shared any details of this attack,” Lars interjected. I agreed with his questioning tone.

“That is indeed suspicious. We don’t even know how many people their group originally had. The message to my father grows more important, the longer I think about it.”

That also reminded me that it was a good idea for me to have a look at the carriage. Maybe the bloodstain left on the coachman’s seat could offer some clues? At the very least, I might be able to use my growing blood control to recover the blood that had seeped into the wood and cloth.

Should’ve thought of that much sooner, I chided myself. Obviously right now was a terrible time for it, since it was nearing noon. Last night would have been perfect…

Well, no use crying over spilled milk– err, blood. There’s always tonight.

My heart sense detected Tristan walking through the outer gate. Only a few minutes, at most, until he arrived here.

“If our guests won’t acknowledge my acting steward relaying my message, then I guess I’ll have to pay them a visit personally. Let’s see if they dare to snub me to my face.”

“Are you sure this is wise?” Lars sounded hesitant. “If the goal is to make you act and reveal some kind of weakness, then isn’t this playing right into their hands?”

“That might be true, but what else am I supposed to do? If I leave the situation be and Maximilian walks away crippled, then I will be blamed, anyway. Probably worse than being a bit overbearing. I won’t allow that. Not when the solution is so easy.”

“You could just send the priest up to their room by himself? That way you avoid a confrontation, but Maximilian can get healed anyway,” Mia suggested.

“Hmm.” I wasn’t convinced. If everything worked out, this was a good idea, but the nagging worry about trickery didn’t want to leave me.

“That’s a risk. If there really is some form of conspiracy going on here, who knows what might happen. I really would rather not get Tristan killed. Nor any number of other nasty outcomes.”

Said priest had just entered the building, though he apparently got entranced by the entrance hall – ha – once again. Only a minute or two now until he should join us though.

“I could accompany the priest and protect him,” Lars offered.

“Also an option, but are you confident you can take on both Maximilian and my sister at once? It would be better to separate him before revealing the priest, just in case it really is something demonic.”

Lars gave a displeased grunt in reply, but I could tell he agreed with my assessment of relative strength. Maximilian himself wasn’t an issue, especially with his current wounds. But Lenora’s power and the state of her health were unknown.

Damn it, I almost didn’t consider that possibility! What if Lenora herself is wounded?

I only knew about Maximilian’s state because I saw it for myself. If his wound had been better hidden, there was a chance I wouldn’t have even discovered it. Though my senses were much harder to fool when it came to blood, so this wasn’t all too likely.

But in contrast to the knight, Lenora herself had – presumably – an artifact that isolated her sound and smell, at the very least. And since I hadn’t seen her at all yet, if she was hurt, there was no way to know.

It makes some amount of sense too… The other two noticed the shift in my facial expression.

“What’s wrong?” Mia’s face reflected worry of her own, though she didn’t yet know the issue.

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“Is it possible that all of this behavior so far is caused by Lenora herself being wounded?”

In response, Lars grimaced, while Mia’s worried frown deepened.

“Just to confirm, neither one of you – nor any other manor staff – has seen my sister so far, correct?”

“Yes,” Mia answered while Lars nodded along. Based on their expressions, we all could clearly see how the puzzle pieces might align.