"That's right. With that in mind, thank you for bringing me the tea, Kiana. I think I'll be retiring for the night now." Lucius said as he finished the contents of the cup.
Kiana glanced at Asher and noticed that he did look exhausted. She then glanced at the letters remaining on the table and saw the ones that came from the Humble Blaze's income, the reports on the merchants and other details pertaining to Dionysia Brewery as well as the one that came from Leif.
'Asher… Asher has been doing and managing all of these for quite some time now and he has taken it all to himself to help our family. When Viscount Drew separated from the Inanis territory and we experienced a financial crisis, he managed to make something out of Carom fruits and turn them profitable. He built the rehabilitation center and did all of its modules by himself as well.' Kiana thought.
"Is something amiss, Kiana?" Lucius asked, although aware that she was once again lost in her thoughts. There was a distant look of reverie on her face that Lucius didn't actually mind because he knew that once again, she was trying to make a reason for herself.
'When a person has a conflicting belief that does not align with their original perception of the world, it's far too often that they'll do anything to remove themselves from the cognitive dissonance that they're in. Of course, that is what Kiana is once again doing. Finding reasons, excuses and such. Naturally, the Mark of Loyalty is doing its own work, but so does the mind itself, which is a wonderful tool.' Lucius thought as he placed the teacup back on its saucer.
'And now even from the moment that he arrived back here in the manor, instead of going back to rest right away, he instead chooses to focus on the letters he received. He planned and penned out a new tax system himself and even took into account all the possible deterrences that might prevent it from coming to bear fruit.' Kiana's fists clenched together. 'He's handled the banquet as well, interacting with nobility and even the ones who were against the Inanis family and disparaged our names. He's doing everything for us, and I… I need to do the same as well. I swore fealty before and this hesitance I feel? It's not worth mulling over.'
"Are you alright, Kiana? You've been lost in thoughts for a while now." Lucius called out again, and this time, Kiana returned back to her senses.
"Ah, Asher. Forgive me. I was a little distracted, but I'll get this and remove myself so you can sleep now," Kiana smiled as she picked up the tray for the tea and also checked the contents of her pockets for the letter intended for both Leif and Alessa. "Have a goodnight Asher and I'll see you in the morning."
Without another hint of delay, Kiana excused herself and left Asher alone.
"Hah. That took some time." Lucius was waiting for some time and gauging her reaction in case anything unsavory happened, but none occurred.
With that in mind, Lucius finally relaxed a little and retired to his bed now that everything was over.
Once his head hit the pillow, everything quickly faded back into darkness.
***
The world before him was a thick pool of blood. It was dark red and even the sky above him was tinted in the same hue that made it clear that what was above was also below.
It was hard to make his own body move, almost as if he was trapped in the sticky liquid and he realized that he was slowly descending into the pool of blood.
Lucius looked down and realized that someone had grabbed onto his ankle. A familiar woman's hand and face appeared before him, and though her eyes ran pools of blood as if she was weeping, he recognized her at once.
"Mira," Lucius said.
"My blood and your child's blood are in your hands! You'll pay it with your life!" Mira howled at him as she continued to drag him down, but it was a pathetic attempt.
Until another hand appeared out of the blood and reached for Lucius' other ankle.
"We trusted you! Treated you like one of our own!" a scholarly man said. It was Michal Barrom—one of the members who participated in the false expedition.
Someone whom Lucius sacrificed back then for power as well. He hadn't thought about it before, but there was the off chance that perhaps Michal had treated him a little better than some of the others and saw him as an intellectual rival.
But as if that wasn't even enough, even before Lucius could react, more hands and faces appear out from the blood.
Some were people that he recognized and knew well, even after the years that he had last seen them.
His siblings, who he had to kill to stay as a member of the Great Barrom Clan, all howled and shrieked their pain at him as they clung to his legs, and arms and tried to pull him down.
"How could you do this to me?!"
"We're brothers… how could you stab me in the back?"
Even the ones who had killed during his missions as a servant of the clan, whether they were from the Thassarian Theocracy to others, also less well known, all appeared that what started as a small company of people grew into a vast multitude.
"You monster!"
"You fiend!"
"You are the worst!"
Even the ones whom he had killed in this new world also appeared. June the Spy appeared alongside the others and shrieked at him in pain.
Lucius took it all in with a neutral expression on his face.
The numerous souls tried to drag him down with their wailing voices in an attempt to haunt him and spoke of his sins against them, but the truth of the matter was that he hadn't actually sunk down the pool of blood at all.
"It's perhaps a little too on the nose that all this blood and this world created was because of me, but that's a small price to pay to get what I want," Lucius said dismissively. "I have no time for such dreams."
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