Chapter 224 — Scarlet

Chapter 224: Chapter 224 — Scarlet

Chapter 224 — Scarlet

Victor walked through the main doors of the Graveborn estate.

Zack was already waiting outside.

"You ready?" Zack asked.

"Yeah. Let’s do it. It’s been a long day."

"Yeah," Zack said. "I know what you’re saying."

They headed toward the carriage without another word.

It seemed they both had plenty on their minds.

Especially Victor.

Today hadn’t answered nearly as many questions as he’d hoped, but he’d still learned quite a bit.

Gravius apparently hadn’t known just how many slaves Daniel and the other mercenary teams had been losing. His reaction when Victor revealed the numbers had seemed genuine.

That confused Victor.

Everything else about the Graveborn family made him suspicious. Gravius knew about the Evil God Organization, yet deliberately avoided interfering with them.

But when Victor mentioned the missing slaves, Gravius had appeared genuinely surprised.

Either he truly hadn’t known...

Or the man was an extremely good actor.

Victor still couldn’t tell.

Then there was everything else he’d learned.

The three prominent families held far more influence than he’d realized, and there was clearly a political struggle happening behind the scenes. The Graveborns already wanted to recruit him, and Victor doubted they’d be the only family to try.

At this point, he suspected most of the important people watching him had reached the same conclusion.

They thought he’d been inside the Sanctuary.

Victor shook his head.

Everything was getting more complicated by the day.

He and Zack climbed into the carriage and sat across from each other. A moment later, the Dragoons began pulling them away from the estate.

Neither spoke.

Victor didn’t mind the silence. His gaze drifted toward the window as the enormous Graveborn estate slowly disappeared behind them.

Across from him, Zack hadn’t moved much since they’d left. His usual relaxed demeanor was gone. His shoulders were slightly slumped, and every now and then, his fingers tapped against his knee before going still again.

It looked like he wanted to say something.

Victor didn’t push.

Eventually, Zack looked up.

"I feel like I owe you an explanation."

Victor raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"I know I’ve been acting pretty weird today."

Zack paused.

"My history with the Graveborns... there’s a lot behind it that you don’t know."

"That’s understandable," Victor said. "I’m not holding it against you."

Zack nodded, but the tension in his face didn’t disappear.

"Well, either way, let me tell you something."

Victor didn’t interrupt.

Zack looked down at his hands. For several seconds, he simply stared at them.

"Roughly seven or eight years ago..."

He hesitated.

"I don’t even know where to start."

Victor waited patiently.

Zack took a slow breath.

"Let’s start near the beginning."

Another pause.

"I had a sister."

Had.

That single word told Victor enough.

He didn’t ask.

He simply listened.

"Her name was Scarlet Brightshield. Back then, she was probably the person I was closest to."

Victor nodded.

"About eight years ago, she married Daniel Graveborn."

Victor’s expression changed.

That wasn’t what he’d expected.

"Yeah, I know." A faint smile tugged at his lips. "It’s crazy to imagine Daniel being married, right? The battle maniac with that eccentric personality?"

Victor couldn’t exactly disagree.

"But he wasn’t always like this," Zack continued. "Eight years ago, Daniel was very different."

"What happened?"

Zack leaned back against the carriage.

"When they got married, Scarlet was always bringing me to the Graveborn estate. She took me everywhere with her. I was basically her little backpack."

For the first time since they’d left, Zack’s smile looked genuine.

"If she went somewhere, I went with her. We were really close."

"That’s good to have," Victor said.

"Yeah."

The smile lingered for another second before slowly fading.

"That’s why I’m so close with the Graveborn family. It’s why Daniel still calls me Zacky. I spent around three years constantly going back and forth between the estates."

Zack gave a quiet laugh.

"Honestly, I probably spent more time at the Graveborn estate than the Brightshield estate."

Victor thought back to dinner.

Berithea’s comments suddenly made far more sense.

"And Alex and I..." Zack continued. "Back then, we were practically inseparable."

Victor frowned slightly.

It was difficult to imagine Zack and Alex as best friends.

"Then what happened?"

Zack went quiet again.

His eyes dropped.

"About three years into Daniel and Scarlet’s marriage, Scarlet became pregnant."

Victor already had a bad feeling about where this was going.

Zack swallowed.

"She died during childbirth."

The carriage continued moving.

Victor said nothing.

Zack’s jaw tightened.

"The child died too."

For a few moments, only the muffled sound of the carriage wheels filled the silence.

Victor watched Zack carefully.

He wasn’t crying, but there was a tightness around his eyes. The kind that came from an old wound that had never completely closed.

For the first time, Victor began looking at Daniel differently.

He hadn’t imagined the man carrying that kind of history.

Daniel had been married. He’d been preparing to become a father.

Then he’d lost his wife and child at the same time.

"You can probably guess what happened after that," Zack said.

Victor looked at him.

"Something snapped in Daniel."

Zack turned toward the carriage window.

"He was never really the same afterward. That’s when he became obsessed with fighting. Constantly throwing himself into battles, constantly pushing himself."

He shook his head.

"Daniel was never what you’d call some genius cultivator before that. But after Scarlet died, his cultivation started increasing incredibly fast."

Zack paused.

"He kept putting himself into life-or-death situations. Always pushing himself right to the edge."

Victor thought back to the spar earlier.

Daniel’s excitement.

The grin that appeared whenever Victor managed to surprise him.

The way the man seemed most alive when fists were flying.

Suddenly, it looked a little different.

Maybe fighting wasn’t simply something Daniel enjoyed.

Maybe it was how he’d learned to live with everything else.

"That’s part of why I was so quiet today," Zack continued. "Daniel has a bit of a soft spot when it comes to me."

He hesitated.

"And I guess I have one for him too."

Zack looked down again.

"We both lost something that day."

Victor nodded.

"That makes sense, man."

"After Scarlet died, I stopped visiting the Graveborn estate. It was too hard being there."

Zack looked out the window.

"Everything reminded me of her."

Victor understood.

"Actually..."

Zack paused, his lips pressing together before he continued.

"Today was the first time I’ve been back since Scarlet died."

Victor’s eyes widened slightly.

That explained a lot.

The way Berithea had spoken to Zack.

Why she’d said she missed him.

Why Zack had been so uncomfortable during dinner.

Why he’d lied about still periodically visiting Alex.

Even some of the tension Victor had noticed throughout the day made more sense now.

Victor had spent most of the visit studying Zack’s behavior and wondering what he was hiding.

Scarlet.

Daniel’s marriage.

Zack’s relationship with the Graveborns.

How deeply the two families had once been connected through them.

Victor had never experienced that kind of family relationship himself, but he understood what losing someone important could do to a person.

"I understand, man," Victor said. "You don’t have to say any more."

Zack nodded.

Some of the tension finally left his shoulders.

"Thanks, man. Thanks for listening."

"No worries."

After that, they fell silent.

For the next twenty minutes, Victor didn’t try to force another conversation.

There wasn’t anything he needed to say.

Sometimes a person didn’t need advice.

They just needed someone willing to sit there and listen.

Victor was more than happy to be that person for the moment.

Eventually, the carriage reached the Third Floor entrance, and the two stepped out near the elevator.

Victor looked at Zack.

For the first time since they’d left the estate, Zack seemed a little more like himself.

Victor patted him on the back.

"Thanks for coming with me today, man. I understand it wasn’t easy for you."

Zack smiled.

"Come on, man. I couldn’t leave you hanging. Especially when you had to walk into that dangerous place."

Victor laughed.

"I appreciate you."

They exchanged a quick handshake.

Victor turned toward the elevator.

He felt a little better about the situation now.

A lot of Zack’s strange behavior finally made sense.

Unfortunately, Victor had an entirely different problem waiting for him.

Lyra.

He’d found her parents.

After all these years of searching, Valkor and Sierra were inside the Graveborn estate.

Victor needed to tell her.

More importantly, he needed to figure out how to tell her without Lyra immediately trying to storm the Graveborn estate herself.

Victor sighed.

This is going to be one hell of a conversation.