Chapter 1583: Sensitive Topics
It was very sensitive indeed. They were only expecting him and Sleuth after all. Considering their positions, any additional person was an additional risk.
"I have known him since I was a kid—he’d probably fall in a ditch first before he could snick. We can trust him."
"..." Kahonn gave him a look, but did not speak. The others though, were still not convinced.
"People change, Kalfene," Otto said, looking guardedly at the other toolmaker. "Especially under such a ruler."
"We all know what kind of horrible person that trash is," he said this with such sharpness that Kahonn thought he was talking about him.
Kahonn raised both hands. "I-I’m not trash! I can make oaths later!" he practically squealed. "I... I’m tired of making Token Guards! I want a vacation!!"
Otto’s eyebrows rose. "...you’re not making token guards?"
"!!!" "I...can! I can if I’m asked!!"
There was a tense silence and Kalfene looked at them in alteration as he thought of how to calm the situation down.
In retrospect, the reason for Kahonn coming with them was really shallow—really by chance—and Kalfene felt guilty. If he hadn’t pulled him into the wedding and just asked him to leave before it started, he wouldn’t have been dragged into this.
It was just that he thought Kahonn also wanted out, and he wanted to give him the opportunity. "I’ll vouch for him, I’ll take responsibility," he said. "Let him come with us."
There was a pause in the carriage until finally the hostility was pulled back. "Fine..."
Anyway, all the commotion made a lot of movements inside the carriage, and a few people’s feet ended up on the person lying on the ground. Obi’s was even on the man’s face.
Press, Knead, Step
There was another bump on the road that shook the man awake. He groaned in pain, slowly opening his eyes to see the strangers (and some familiar faces) literally above him.
He blinked, and his eyes widened when he remembered the events that led to this.
He had been kidnapped!!
He squealed to the top of his lungs. "WHO ARE YOU!? WHERE AM I?! WHERE ARE YOU TALKING MEEEE?!?!?!?!"
Otto and the others looked at each other awkwardly.
"So...what are we going to do with him?"
...
On the other side of the carriage, ignoring the commotion on this side, was the women’s reunion.
Margaery was sobbing in Olga’s arms. It was awkward at first, but all Olga had to do was hold the other woman’s hand, welcoming her to the family.
Unexpectedly, she burst into tears instead. "Mother... she... I don’t understand..."
Olga’s heart fell, thinking something really happened to auntie. When they saw that she wasn’t there, she did worry, but because no one mentioned anything, he just assumed she wasn’t able to leave Hassen or something, which was a totally valid possibility.
However, it looked like she was in Bleulle after all, which begged the question of why she wasn’t here in the carriage with them.
"Did something happen to Auntie?" she asked.
It was the teenage boy who shook his head. He was also down. "She opted to stay despite having the choice to go."
"Why?"
Marcus shook his head, not really knowing either.
At this, Margaery lifted her head, unconsciously giving Orion a look. He was as stone-faced as ever, but any one of his siblings could tell he was also concerned with the answer.
"Octavia," she said. "She felt pity for that woman; she didn’t want to leave her."
This surprised the Golds. Octavia? Why would she do that for her?
"We know Octavia can’t come with us, so she decided to stay instead," as she said these words, Margaery couldn’t help but sob again. "Mother... will she be alright?"
Margaery pursed her lips, eyes reddish. She admitted she was a bit bitter that their mother chose another over them, but her worry for her triumphed.
There was a moment of silence in the carriage, not knowing what to say in a situation like this. Should they feel... betrayed?
After all, Octavia was one of the people directly responsible for the fall of their family. Many servants died then, and their mother almost died as well!
Even if the family survived, that could not be forgiven.
Margaery realized her mistake, and she wanted to slap herself for her insensitivity. She might be bitter about her mother’s decision, but so were her cousins.
"I... I’m sure Octavia did something!"
Olga smiled, patted her back. "Don’t worry, we aren’t petty."
"I believe that Lady Zinnia knows what she’s doing," she added. "It’s better to focus on building a better life for yourselves, and we’ll figure out how to safely get her—if she wants—to our place without compromising our safety.
"You said that Hassen is making abnormal movements, right? And she was planning on monitoring them. This might not be a bad thing in the long term as long as we establish safer communications."
Fortunately, Silva was still with them, so they could still send letters somehow, though they’d have to be more careful, just in case.
The whole espionage discussion reminded Obi—who shoved Menzon’s mouth with a handkerchief (not sure if it was clean or not) —to stare at the newcomers.
"That said, we trust that none of you would be sending letters without approval to Bleulle or any of its subsidiaries," he said, raising a finger, getting a concentrated ember to playfully float around it.
It felt as if he decided to point his finger at a person, that ember would whoosh and explode in their faces.
Otto rolled his eyes. "We’re not stopping you from contacting your loved ones, if there are, but we have to put various safety measures in place."
Kalfene and the others nodded. "We understand."
Of course they did. The Golds, although the Lord had pulled back on spending resources to find them, it might be a totally different thing if the information just landed on his lap.
Otto smiled. "Don’t worry. It might be a bit worrying and imbalancing to be thrown into this situation without warning," he said. "But I can guarantee you that you will not regret making that questionable split decision.
"Give our home a chance," he said. "I’m sure you’d love it as much as we do."