Novel Full Chapter 324: Masks And Lanternlight
Chapter 324: Masks And Lanternlight
The stares that followed him were no longer curious or judgemental.
They were cautious.
The third floor was quieter. Refined. Lantern light glowed softly along carved wooden walls, casting golden patterns across intricate designs. The music below was distant here, muffled by thick carpets and closed doors. Laughter drifted occasionally from behind polished frames.
He walked down the corridor with measured steps.
At the far end, the door to the moonlit suite stood slightly ajar.
Faint laughter echoed from within.
Old.
Cheerful.
Unrestrained.
Bruce paused for half a second.
Then he pushed the door open and stepped inside.
The door opened without a sound.
Warm light spilled across polished floors, gold and honeyed, softening the edges of the room. Silk curtains swayed lazily near a wide balcony where moonlight filtered in, pale and silver against the steady glow of interior lamps. The scent of steeped tea mingled with perfume, jasmine and something darker, layered and deliberate.
Duke sat at the center of it all.
Or rather,
The Traveller.
He reclined comfortably against a mountain of embroidered cushions as though the world itself had arranged them for his leisure. One arm rested lazily around a woman at his side; another perched close to his knee, laughter spilling from her lips at something he had just said. A delicate porcelain cup rested between his fingers, steam curling upward in soft spirals.
He was mid story.
“…and I told the dragon, ’If you insist on hoarding virgins, at least provide comfortable seating.’ Truly, the younger generation lacks hospitality.”
The women burst into laughter, the sound bright and unrestrained.
One lightly smacked his shoulder. “You’re lying.”
“Of course I’m lying,” Duke declared cheerfully, not missing a beat. “But that does not make it untrue.”
Bruce stepped fully into the room.
The door closed behind him with a quiet click that seemed far louder than it should have been.
Duke did not turn.
He took a slow sip of tea, savoring it.
“Took you long enough.”
Bruce walked forward without expression. There was no aura, no pressure, no visible hostility, only stillness. The kind that came after something irreversible had already been done.
“You knew.”
Duke finally glanced sideways. One brow lifted faintly as a small smile curved beneath his mustache.
“Of course I knew.”
One of the girls blinked between them, sensing the shift in atmosphere even if she did not understand it. The air had changed. It had sharpened.
Duke waved a lazy hand without looking away from Bruce. “Relax, relax. This young man has no interest in stealing your affection. He’s far too serious for that. Tragic condition, really.”
The women giggled, though a few subtly straightened, fingers still resting on Duke’s chest, along his sleeve, tracing idle patterns against the fabric as if nothing at all had shifted.
Bruce stopped a few steps away. “You left intentionally.”
Duke hummed, tilting his head back against the cushions. “I can’t stay without enjoying the good things of life for long. Life is short after all.”
Bruce did not deny it.
Duke’s eyes flickered with something knowing. “And hesitation is poison during infestation. From what I’ve seen so far from you, you don’t need my help when you purge invaders.”
He tapped the rim of his teacup lightly. The porcelain made a soft, precise sound.
“So I removed myself.”
One of the women leaned more fully into Duke’s shoulder, her fingers tracing the line of his collar. “You make it sound like you planned the whole thing.”
Duke’s grin widened, unrepentant and entirely too pleased with himself.
“My dear,” he said, voice warm and indulgent, “I plan everything.”
Bruce’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Duke chuckled and waved him off. “Don’t mind me, Bruce. Don’t mind me. I don’t know if you’ll believe this, but I’ve never been closer to anybody in my life like I am to you.”
Bruce’s gaze drifted to the hands splayed across Duke’s chest and shoulders, prompting a faint, restrained cough from somewhere in the room.
“Sir Duke will always be closer to us than he is to you,” one of the women declared playfully, tracing her fingers over Duke’s sternum with exaggerated possessiveness.
“I don’t care about all this,” Bruce sighed, his voice flat but not irritated, simply unmoved.
Duke’s smile softened, just slightly. “I know it doesn’t seem like it. But I really mean it.”
He set the teacup down.
“You have my full support as a true ally right now.”
The tone shifted.
Not dramatically.
Not visibly.
But the room felt it.
Duke finally turned his full gaze toward Bruce.
It was sharp beneath the playfulness. Old. Measured. The gaze of a man who had watched cities burn and rebuilt them for entertainment.
“You are incapable of half measures.”
The words did not accuse. They acknowledged.
The room grew quieter.
The girls did not move away from Duke, but their laughter had faded into attentive silence. Fingers still rested against his skin, but their eyes had sharpened. They were not foolish. Not entirely.
Duke gently patted the knee of the woman beside him and stood slowly, stretching his back with a faint sigh as though he were nothing more than a relaxed old man rising from a nap.
“You may leave us,” he said softly.
There was no command in his voice.
And yet no one disobeyed.
They rose gracefully, one by one, adjusting silk and smoothing hair. But they did not leave quietly. One brushed her fingers along Duke’s cheek. Another whispered something in his ear that made him snort under his breath. A third paused at the doorway to cast Bruce a curious look that lingered half a second too long.
Teasing remarks trailed in their wake as they slipped out.
That alone said something.
The door closed.
Silence settled like dust after a storm.
Duke walked toward the balcony, hands clasped behind his back, and looked out over the lantern lit district below. Crimson lanterns swayed gently in the night air. Laughter drifted from distant streets. Snow along the rooftops glowed faintly beneath moonlight.
“You see,” he said casually, “men speak more freely when they believe they are indulging themselves.”