Chapter 313: 078 – Note
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A tense air had come over House Kurt in the days that that followed, or so Stanley could see, he knew what his father and uncle had said after reading that note.
They said not to act on the contents of the note, yet whenever he saw them looking at the less important family members, he could see that look of suspicion creeping through their eyes.
Stanley knew that whether they intended to or not, the note had gotten to them, hell it had even gotten to him, and the minor nobles and family members whom they were regularly meeting, were not oblivious to their scrutinising gaze.
It served only to create more tension between House Kurt and its members, while they understood that their leaders were concerned, due to an assassination occurring within the keep walls, it did little to stop them from feeling offended for being suspected of such a crime.
Which in turn led them to be more difficult with their leaders, which in turn made the leaders only more suspicious and push harder.
What made matters even harder, was that Cornick had done plenty of things in the past to piss off many of the important people in the family, but most importantly was the minor nobles.
Cornick's lustful behaviour was no secret, and he used his higher position to push around the weaker forces in his father's absence, while he never laid a finger on the daughters and wives of the minor nobles, he had never shown the decency to avert his gaze, and on several occasions, he was very vocal about his intentions, should any of them step out of line.
In short the number of people that could have desired Cornick's death was far too long, and with every person they interrogated they risked offending more of their allies, and worst of all was the fact that all their enemies were key suspects.
House Brock and House Hauton could very well have been to blame, but in order for them to get all the way in they would have had to have someone helping them from House Kurt or one of its allies that could easily enter and exit the keep.
It didn't take long for them to give up on the thought of interrogating all their allies, under the current conditions infighting would only worsen the state of House Kurt, and they needed all their allies if they hoped to win the oncoming battle with the other two noble House's.
Stanley's uncle was one step ahead and came up with a different approach.
The key to the different approach lay in the note, he realised that only very influential people would hone their penmanship to such a degree, it clearly couldn't belong to anyone in the city, which meant that if it wasn't any of their allies who left the note, it had to be someone with connections to some of the bigger powers.
A much smaller list was soon formed, of their members that had connections with influential nobles, as well as anyone with enough wealth to pay a high noble family to write the note for them.
But there was one big issue when Stanley looked at the list with his father and uncle, every name on the list belonged to the most important members and allies of House Kurt.
"If we act on this, we risk damaging our alliances with all of our most important allies," Stanley started to say.
"But if we don't act, we risk keeping traitors with us, we could have afforded to have some spies looking at us before, but since the poisoning, we lost too many assets,"
"If we don't act, then we will only end up getting stabbed in the back when it matters the most," his uncle added with a heavy look in his eyes.
Stanley and his uncle both turned to look at Lord Rupid to hear his final decision, but he was still looking at the list with uncertainty, and they couldn't blame him.
They were currently stuck between a rock and a hard place, no matter what they chose to do, it meant trouble for them.
Eventually, Lord Rupid closed his eyes, as he struggled to keep his usual calm, "This matter requires careful thought," he said shaking his head letting a trace of uncertainty show on his face, "For now go and prepare to place Cornick within the tombs of our ancestors, we'll continue discussing this when his burial is done," he said while clenching his fist tightly.
Stanley and his uncle shared a glance, Stanley had never seen his father looking so defeated, his father was usually extremely good with these things and extremely decisive in his actions, it was how he brought House Kurt so far, yet he currently seemed to be second guessing his choices and avoiding the main issue.
Stanley nodded at his father's words, he had no desire to point out his father's lack of decisiveness, he could already see that his father was angry due to their current predicament, and he already saw what happened to anyone who earned his fury.
Both his brother and sister had been subjected to his fathers' anger since his return, and while Stanley was confident in his strength, he wasn't confident enough to face his father's anger.
'There has to be something more to this,' Stanley thought, 'First they killed dozens of assets, then they went on to kill Cornick,' Stanley pondered deeply on the matter.
'The first attack felt impersonal it was like they just wanted to cause random damage, but Cornick's death seemed personal, they even left a note,' he thought with confusion, it seemed like the attacks had been done by two separate people.
Stanley pulled on his hair in frustration as his thoughts made less and less sense, 'Maybe I should change approach, the note mentioned Reyna, maybe the killer is someone who she offended in the past and they plan on using this opportunity to take her out,' he thought.
But Stanley soon ran his hands through his hair once more, feeling like his conclusion made no sense, 'If they wanted to kill Reyna, why announce it, unless they want to steer us off, logically if they went after Cornick first then the following targets should be me or Izlandi, Reyna is important to the family but not as important as the rest of us,' he thought, but once more his thoughts only increased his confusion.
"Urgh," Stanley grunted in frustration, 'I think its best If I speak to Reyna first, just in case there is something she knows,' he decided after a long time spent in thought.
---
A short while later Stanley entered the infirmary, the entrance was packed with dozens of guards, after reading the contents of the note his father tightened up the security around Reyna and every important member of the family.
But after passing the guards and entering the infirmary he found that the place was almost completely empty, only two beds were still occupied, in the first, he saw Selner fast asleep, and in the second bed he saw Reyna.
All the other adepts had already recovered, they were all body cultivators so they recovered a lot faster than Reyna who was a spell caster.
He was slightly surprised to see that Izlandi wasn't in one of the beds, but it didn't bother him too much, she only received a single slap so other than some swelling in her face she should have been fine.
"You just missed her, your sister left less than an hour ago," Reyna said from her bed as she glanced at him.
"I didn't come to see her," Stanley replied and walked towards her, she looked much better than before, if not for her slightly pale skin he would have thought her perfectly fine.
"Actually, I wanted to speak to you about something," he said taking a seat next to her bed.
Reyna's brows rose in surprise but then a thought occurred to her, "Is this about that note my father picked up after Cornick's death?" she asked seriously.
Stanley nodded, he wasn't surprised that she knew about the note, her father told her immediately after they had their meeting and placed the guards at the infirmaries entrance for her safety.
"Is there anyone that you offended, harmed, or whose bad side you've gotten yourself on during the past few decades?" he asked seriously.
"You sound just like my father," Reyna commented plainly, "He already asked me everything that you're going to ask," she said while shaking her head.
Stanley frowned with a heavy look in his eyes, "Is there really not a single person that you can think of at all who would be willing to do anything to kill you?" he asked once more, he had a strange intuitive feeling that Reyna's name was on that note for more than just a scare tactic, it somehow felt personal.
Reyna sighed but she decided to think about it seriously, this was something that concerned her entire family, if she had a way to figure out who the killer was then she had to give it her all.
She took a deep breath and started to recall all the people she might have offended in the past 200 years of her life.
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A tense air had come over House Kurt in the days that that followed, or so Stanley could see, he knew what his father and uncle had said after reading that note.
They said not to act on the contents of the note, yet whenever he saw them looking at the less important family members, he could see that look of suspicion creeping through their eyes.
Stanley knew that whether they intended to or not, the note had gotten to them, hell it had even gotten to him, and the minor nobles and family members whom they were regularly meeting, were not oblivious to their scrutinising gaze.
It served only to create more tension between House Kurt and its members, while they understood that their leaders were concerned, due to an assassination occurring within the keep walls, it did little to stop them from feeling offended for being suspected of such a crime.
Which in turn led them to be more difficult with their leaders, which in turn made the leaders only more suspicious and push harder.
What made matters even harder, was that Cornick had done plenty of things in the past to piss off many of the important people in the family, but most importantly was the minor nobles.
Cornick's lustful behaviour was no secret, and he used his higher position to push around the weaker forces in his father's absence, while he never laid a finger on the daughters and wives of the minor nobles, he had never shown the decency to avert his gaze, and on several occasions, he was very vocal about his intentions, should any of them step out of line.
In short the number of people that could have desired Cornick's death was far too long, and with every person they interrogated they risked offending more of their allies, and worst of all was the fact that all their enemies were key suspects.
House Brock and House Hauton could very well have been to blame, but in order for them to get all the way in they would have had to have someone helping them from House Kurt or one of its allies that could easily enter and exit the keep.
It didn't take long for them to give up on the thought of interrogating all their allies, under the current conditions infighting would only worsen the state of House Kurt, and they needed all their allies if they hoped to win the oncoming battle with the other two noble House's.
Stanley's uncle was one step ahead and came up with a different approach.
The key to the different approach lay in the note, he realised that only very influential people would hone their penmanship to such a degree, it clearly couldn't belong to anyone in the city, which meant that if it wasn't any of their allies who left the note, it had to be someone with connections to some of the bigger powers.
A much smaller list was soon formed, of their members that had connections with influential nobles, as well as anyone with enough wealth to pay a high noble family to write the note for them.
But there was one big issue when Stanley looked at the list with his father and uncle, every name on the list belonged to the most important members and allies of House Kurt.
"If we act on this, we risk damaging our alliances with all of our most important allies," Stanley started to say.
"But if we don't act, we risk keeping traitors with us, we could have afforded to have some spies looking at us before, but since the poisoning, we lost too many assets,"
"If we don't act, then we will only end up getting stabbed in the back when it matters the most," his uncle added with a heavy look in his eyes.
Stanley and his uncle both turned to look at Lord Rupid to hear his final decision, but he was still looking at the list with uncertainty, and they couldn't blame him.
They were currently stuck between a rock and a hard place, no matter what they chose to do, it meant trouble for them.
Eventually, Lord Rupid closed his eyes, as he struggled to keep his usual calm, "This matter requires careful thought," he said shaking his head letting a trace of uncertainty show on his face, "For now go and prepare to place Cornick within the tombs of our ancestors, we'll continue discussing this when his burial is done," he said while clenching his fist tightly.
Stanley and his uncle shared a glance, Stanley had never seen his father looking so defeated, his father was usually extremely good with these things and extremely decisive in his actions, it was how he brought House Kurt so far, yet he currently seemed to be second guessing his choices and avoiding the main issue.
Stanley nodded at his father's words, he had no desire to point out his father's lack of decisiveness, he could already see that his father was angry due to their current predicament, and he already saw what happened to anyone who earned his fury.
Both his brother and sister had been subjected to his fathers' anger since his return, and while Stanley was confident in his strength, he wasn't confident enough to face his father's anger.
'There has to be something more to this,' Stanley thought, 'First they killed dozens of assets, then they went on to kill Cornick,' Stanley pondered deeply on the matter.
'The first attack felt impersonal it was like they just wanted to cause random damage, but Cornick's death seemed personal, they even left a note,' he thought with confusion, it seemed like the attacks had been done by two separate people.
Stanley pulled on his hair in frustration as his thoughts made less and less sense, 'Maybe I should change approach, the note mentioned Reyna, maybe the killer is someone who she offended in the past and they plan on using this opportunity to take her out,' he thought.
But Stanley soon ran his hands through his hair once more, feeling like his conclusion made no sense, 'If they wanted to kill Reyna, why announce it, unless they want to steer us off, logically if they went after Cornick first then the following targets should be me or Izlandi, Reyna is important to the family but not as important as the rest of us,' he thought, but once more his thoughts only increased his confusion.
"Urgh," Stanley grunted in frustration, 'I think its best If I speak to Reyna first, just in case there is something she knows,' he decided after a long time spent in thought.
---
A short while later Stanley entered the infirmary, the entrance was packed with dozens of guards, after reading the contents of the note his father tightened up the security around Reyna and every important member of the family.
But after passing the guards and entering the infirmary he found that the place was almost completely empty, only two beds were still occupied, in the first, he saw Selner fast asleep, and in the second bed he saw Reyna.
All the other adepts had already recovered, they were all body cultivators so they recovered a lot faster than Reyna who was a spell caster.
He was slightly surprised to see that Izlandi wasn't in one of the beds, but it didn't bother him too much, she only received a single slap so other than some swelling in her face she should have been fine.
"You just missed her, your sister left less than an hour ago," Reyna said from her bed as she glanced at him.
"I didn't come to see her," Stanley replied and walked towards her, she looked much better than before, if not for her slightly pale skin he would have thought her perfectly fine.
"Actually, I wanted to speak to you about something," he said taking a seat next to her bed.
Reyna's brows rose in surprise but then a thought occurred to her, "Is this about that note my father picked up after Cornick's death?" she asked seriously.
Stanley nodded, he wasn't surprised that she knew about the note, her father told her immediately after they had their meeting and placed the guards at the infirmaries entrance for her safety.
"Is there anyone that you offended, harmed, or whose bad side you've gotten yourself on during the past few decades?" he asked seriously.
"You sound just like my father," Reyna commented plainly, "He already asked me everything that you're going to ask," she said while shaking her head.
Stanley frowned with a heavy look in his eyes, "Is there really not a single person that you can think of at all who would be willing to do anything to kill you?" he asked once more, he had a strange intuitive feeling that Reyna's name was on that note for more than just a scare tactic, it somehow felt personal.
Reyna sighed but she decided to think about it seriously, this was something that concerned her entire family, if she had a way to figure out who the killer was then she had to give it her all.
She took a deep breath and started to recall all the people she might have offended in the past 200 years of her life.
A tense air had come over House Kurt in the days that that followed, or so Stanley could see, he knew what his father and uncle had said after reading that note.They said not to act on the contents of the note, yet whenever he saw them looking at the less important family members, he could see that look of suspicion creeping through their eyes.Stanley knew that whether they intended to or not, the note had gotten to them, hell it had even gotten to him, and the minor nobles and family members whom they were regularly meeting, were not oblivious to their scrutinising gaze.It served only to create more tension between House Kurt and its members, while they understood that their leaders were concerned, due to an assassination occurring within the keep walls, it did little to stop them from feeling offended for being suspected of such a crime.Which in turn led them to be more difficult with their leaders, which in turn made the leaders only more suspicious and push harder.What made matters even harder, was that Cornick had done plenty of things in the past to piss off many of the important people in the family, but most importantly was the minor nobles.Cornick's lustful behaviour was no secret, and he used his higher position to push around the weaker forces in his father's absence, while he never laid a finger on the daughters and wives of the minor nobles, he had never shown the decency to avert his gaze, and on several occasions, he was very vocal about his intentions, should any of them step out of line.In short the number of people that could have desired Cornick's death was far too long, and with every person they interrogated they risked offending more of their allies, and worst of all was the fact that all their enemies were key suspects.House Brock and House Hauton could very well have been to blame, but in order for them to get all the way in they would have had to have someone helping them from House Kurt or one of its allies that could easily enter and exit the keep.It didn't take long for them to give up on the thought of interrogating all their allies, under the current conditions infighting would only worsen the state of House Kurt, and they needed all their allies if they hoped to win the oncoming battle with the other two noble House's.Stanley's uncle was one step ahead and came up with a different approach.The key to the different approach lay in the note, he realised that only very influential people would hone their penmanship to such a degree, it clearly couldn't belong to anyone in the city, which meant that if it wasn't any of their allies who left the note, it had to be someone with connections to some of the bigger powers.A much smaller list was soon formed, of their members that had connections with influential nobles, as well as anyone with enough wealth to pay a high noble family to write the note for them.But there was one big issue when Stanley looked at the list with his father and uncle, every name on the list belonged to the most important members and allies of House Kurt."If we act on this, we risk damaging our alliances with all of our most important allies," Stanley started to say."But if we don't act, we risk keeping traitors with us, we could have afforded to have some spies looking at us before, but since the poisoning, we lost too many assets,""If we don't act, then we will only end up getting stabbed in the back when it matters the most," his uncle added with a heavy look in his eyes.Stanley and his uncle both turned to look at Lord Rupid to hear his final decision, but he was still looking at the list with uncertainty, and they couldn't blame him.They were currently stuck between a rock and a hard place, no matter what they chose to do, it meant trouble for them.Eventually, Lord Rupid closed his eyes, as he struggled to keep his usual calm, "This matter requires careful thought," he said shaking his head letting a trace of uncertainty show on his face, "For now go and prepare to place Cornick within the tombs of our ancestors, we'll continue discussing this when his burial is done," he said while clenching his fist tightly.Stanley and his uncle shared a glance, Stanley had never seen his father looking so defeated, his father was usually extremely good with these things and extremely decisive in his actions, it was how he brought House Kurt so far, yet he currently seemed to be second guessing his choices and avoiding the main issue.Stanley nodded at his father's words, he had no desire to point out his father's lack of decisiveness, he could already see that his father was angry due to their current predicament, and he already saw what happened to anyone who earned his fury.Both his brother and sister had been subjected to his fathers' anger since his return, and while Stanley was confident in his strength, he wasn't confident enough to face his father's anger.'There has to be something more to this,' Stanley thought, 'First they killed dozens of assets, then they went on to kill Cornick,' Stanley pondered deeply on the matter.'The first attack felt impersonal it was like they just wanted to cause random damage, but Cornick's death seemed personal, they even left a note,' he thought with confusion, it seemed like the attacks had been done by two separate people.Stanley pulled on his hair in frustration as his thoughts made less and less sense, 'Maybe I should change approach, the note mentioned Reyna, maybe the killer is someone who she offended in the past and they plan on using this opportunity to take her out,' he thought.But Stanley soon ran his hands through his hair once more, feeling like his conclusion made no sense, 'If they wanted to kill Reyna, why announce it, unless they want to steer us off, logically if they went after Cornick first then the following targets should be me or Izlandi, Reyna is important to the family but not as important as the rest of us,' he thought, but once more his thoughts only increased his confusion."Urgh," Stanley grunted in frustration, 'I think its best If I speak to Reyna first, just in case there is something she knows,' he decided after a long time spent in thought.---A short while later Stanley entered the infirmary, the entrance was packed with dozens of guards, after reading the contents of the note his father tightened up the security around Reyna and every important member of the family.But after passing the guards and entering the infirmary he found that the place was almost completely empty, only two beds were still occupied, in the first, he saw Selner fast asleep, and in the second bed he saw Reyna.All the other adepts had already recovered, they were all body cultivators so they recovered a lot faster than Reyna who was a spell caster.He was slightly surprised to see that Izlandi wasn't in one of the beds, but it didn't bother him too much, she only received a single slap so other than some swelling in her face she should have been fine."You just missed her, your sister left less than an hour ago," Reyna said from her bed as she glanced at him."I didn't come to see her," Stanley replied and walked towards her, she looked much better than before, if not for her slightly pale skin he would have thought her perfectly fine."Actually, I wanted to speak to you about something," he said taking a seat next to her bed.Reyna's brows rose in surprise but then a thought occurred to her, "Is this about that note my father picked up after Cornick's death?" she asked seriously.Stanley nodded, he wasn't surprised that she knew about the note, her father told her immediately after they had their meeting and placed the guards at the infirmaries entrance for her safety."Is there anyone that you offended, harmed, or whose bad side you've gotten yourself on during the past few decades?" he asked seriously."You sound just like my father," Reyna commented plainly, "He already asked me everything that you're going to ask," she said while shaking her head.Stanley frowned with a heavy look in his eyes, "Is there really not a single person that you can think of at all who would be willing to do anything to kill you?" he asked once more, he had a strange intuitive feeling that Reyna's name was on that note for more than just a scare tactic, it somehow felt personal.Reyna sighed but she decided to think about it seriously, this was something that concerned her entire family, if she had a way to figure out who the killer was then she had to give it her all.She took a deep breath and started to recall all the people she might have offended in the past 200 years of her life.
