Chapter 619: Mysterious Death II

Patriarch Luke Kletis stared at the document in his hand for several long seconds without saying a word.

Cain Dawncrest was dead.

Even after reading those words several times, they still didn’t quite feel real.

Across from him sat Marquis Aldric Vael, the kingdom’s Minister of Internal Affairs, a position that placed him in charge of overseeing noble territories, internal investigations, and much of the kingdom’s domestic intelligence network.

He was also one of the few people Kletis trusted enough to speak openly around; the two could be considered to be close friends after all.

Aldric leaned forward in his chair.

"So?"

Kletis slowly lowered the document, still looking visibly shaken.

"So what?"

"Don’t play with me, Luke." Aldric tapped one finger against the armrest. "Who do you think did it?"

Kletis remained quiet. That was the question everyone would be asking before the day was over.

Aldric leaned back.

"The boy."

Kletis raised his eyes.

"Elion Nova?"

"Who else?"

Aldric gave him a meaningful look.

"Cain spent months making his life miserable, tried to apprehend him at Grimholt, destroyed his home, nearly killed him in front of half the academy, and then dragged him before the Royal Court under accusations that could have easily ruined his life."

He paused.

"And after what happened in the royal court?"

Kletis said nothing.

Aldric answered himself.

"Elion humiliated him in front of everyone." His expression became thoughtful. "But humiliation does not necessarily mean satisfaction."

Kletis finally leaned back in his seat.

"You think he was displeased with the judgement."

"Wouldn’t you be?"

Aldric shrugged.

"A few thousand gold, a rebuilt manor, and an apology sound impressive until you remember that Cain nearly killed him."

"Several times, apparently."

"Exactly! If the boy is as proudful as I think he is, there is simply no way he would be satisfied with something such as material compensation."

Aldric’s eyes narrowed.

"Perhaps Elion smiled, accepted the judgement, and then decided that the court’s idea of justice wasn’t enough."

Kletis slowly rubbed his beard.

’It’s certainly possible. More than possible, actually.’

"He could also have planned this long before the trial in Haven," Aldric continued. "The hearing may simply have been something he intended to endure before removing the Duke afterwards."

Kletis glanced toward him.

"You don’t seriously believe the boy personally travelled to Ashford and killed a Duke inside his own estate."

"Of course not." Aldric almost scoffed. "That would be absurd."

Cain Dawncrest had been many things.

Arrogant, vindictive, and corrupt: But weak?

Certainly not.

Neither were the guards and subordinates surrounding his estate.

To enter the Dawncrest manor, kill its master without raising an alarm, leave no evidence behind, and then disappear without anyone noticing...

That wasn’t the work of some talented academy student. Even one as abnormal as Elion Nova.

Aldric’s voice lowered.

"The Vampires," he whispered dramatically.

Kletis’s expression barely changed.

That was the conclusion many would reach.

"Elion is their future Prince Consort," Aldric continued. "And if the trial proved anything, it’s that the Vampires have considerably more reason to value him than most of us initially assumed."

"A Greater Dragon bloodline, and whatever else he hasn’t revealed."

Aldric nodded.

"Precisely."

He folded his arms.

"If Elion had already informed the Vampire Clan about his grievances with Dawncrest before the hearing, they could have prepared someone in advance."

"A powerful Vampire mage enters Ashford," Kletis spoke slowly. "Waits for the hearing to conclude."

"And once Elion returns safely..."

Aldric drew one finger across his throat.

"The Duke disappears." A strange silence settled between them.

Kletis eventually shook his head.

"No."

Aldric raised a brow.

"No?"

"It’s too obvious." Kletis stood and walked toward the large window overlooking Haven. "Think about it."

He clasped his hands behind his back.

"Cain publicly loses his case against Elion."

Aldric listened.

"He is humiliated before the King, the Queen, the Royal Councillors, half the kingdom’s great families, and representatives from nearly every significant institution in Veloria."

Kletis turned slightly.

"Then, before the embarrassment has even had time to cool, he dies."

Aldric frowned.

"That doesn’t make Elion innocent."

"I didn’t say it did."

Kletis looked back through the window.

"I’m saying it’s far too convenient. Anyone who wanted Cain Dawncrest dead has just been handed the perfect scapegoat."

Aldric’s expression slowly changed.

Kletis’s smile was humourless.

"Cain had a lot of enemies, and now, if any one of them possessed the means to kill him quietly, what better time could there possibly be?"

Aldric remained silent.

"Everyone will look toward Elion," Kletis said. "Or the Vampires..."

"While the actual killer walks away."

"Exactly."

Aldric exhaled slowly.

"Still... Whoever did this has enormous confidence."

Kletis’s smile disappeared. That was the part that troubled him most.

Cain hadn’t died on some lonely road. Someone had entered the Dawncrest estate, killed him, and left without anyone noticing.

Kletis’s eyes became distant.

"The audacity is almost more disturbing than the murder itself."

Aldric nodded slowly.

"Cain’s people aren’t weak."

"No."

"And Cain himself was certainly not weak."

"Not even close."

Aldric tapped his fingers against the chair.

"Yet none of that mattered."

Kletis turned away from the window. For perhaps the first time since hearing the news, genuine unease appeared in his expression.

"If a Duke of Veloria can die inside his own home, surrounded by his own guards, without even leaving behind evidence that someone attacked him..."

He allowed the sentence to hang.

Aldric understood perfectly well. After several seconds, he finished it quietly.

"Then who exactly is safe?"

...

Boom!

Elion hurtled across the dark courtyard and slammed into a thick tree at the far end before dropping to the ground a moment later.

"Ack!"

He coughed up a mouthful of blood as he pushed himself back onto his knees.

More spilled from his lips, and he wiped it away with the back of his hand before swallowing what remained so it would not choke him on the way up.

"Again."

The deep, calm voice came from the opposite end of the courtyard, belonging to his opponent.

Judging by the state Elion was in, this had clearly been going on for some time.

He wore only a pair of loose trousers, his upper body left bare, fresh scars crisscrossing his frame, his feet planted naked against the cold stone.

And yet, despite the blood and bruises, there was still a grin on his face, and the bright, feverish gleam in his eyes was unmistakably genuine.

His thighs tensed, swelling with effort, and the dark ground beneath him cracked as he launched forward so violently that his body became little more than a blur.

Clang!

A heartbeat later, Kurogoroshi’s strike was caught by a much shorter blade, a dagger. Elion’s plain blue eyes met the abyssal black of his opponent’s gaze through the clash.

Then the blades broke apart.

What followed was another burst of exchanges so fast that the spectators could perceive them only as flickering streaks and metallic flashes.

Steel met steel again and again in a wild blur, the weapons separating and colliding repeatedly over the span of barely three seconds, much like they had the previous three hundred times.

It ended the way so many of the earlier exchanges had ended.

Elion came up short: A brutal counter sent him flying for what had to be the hundredth time that day.