A dozen questions ran through my head. I didn’t have an answer for any of them.

  It didn’t matter how long I stared at the portrait. It certainly didn’t have any answers for me. The more I stared, the more questions I had. Was I, or rather Esra, a bastard of some kind? That was the most obvious question. It was so ridiculous, and yet I had to ask it anyway.

  Something pricked the edges of my thoughts.. A tinge of sadness that was neither mine nor the Godblade’s. I was getting ahead of myself. It wasn’t like children had to look like both of their parents, right? It was infinitely more likely that my mother’s genes had been unlucky, rather than that I was some kind of secret lovechild.

  Either way, I did not have time to think about this right now. I moved over to the bed and sat down on its side. I held onto the necklace before channeling mana. The purpose of this device was to send a distress signal to its matching pair, but that wasn’t all it could be used for. It was rather simple to use that same mechanism to send proper messages instead.

  I signalled, pouring mana in smaller and larger amounts into the gemstone. It was a kind of morse code, adapted to this world’s language. I didn’t remember the specifics of it very well, but I knew the concept. With that, I had hastily devised a code and handed it to Anias, right before I was supposed to leave with the Duke. Memorizing it myself was easy. I had always been good at that kind of thing. I had given her other instructions too, all in a jumble I hoped Anias could parse through.

  I hadn't expected Indri to be as eager as he had either.

  It took a solid minute before a response came. It took so long that I almost sent the message out again.

  The message came out slow and halting, as if the sender was struggling. I apologize, Anias. I would have come up with something else if there had been time.

  Another pause stretched for a minute before the matching reply came.

  I sent back, fully knowing I was lying

  It was a little difficult to properly regulate the amount of mana I was using for this. The signal for an emergency was simple. I would overload the thing with so much mana that it would glow like the sun for five or so seconds, leading to its opposing pair to do the same. Anias had estimated that she and Estovan could be here in fifteen minutes, if they needed to. It was hard to imagine me not holding out for that long at least with a Godblade.

  Anias was a rather resourceful woman; I had to give her that.

  “Okay, let’s scout then.” I rose and slowly made my way over to the door.

  I enhanced my hearing a little. Distant sounds zoomed into focus. The loudest sound was my own heartbeat and breathing. The second loudest was the light rustling of the wind outside, or the occasional chirping of a passing bird. I didn’t hear anything from the immediate hallway outside. I waited for a few minutes, but that didn't change. Good.

  I opened the door and stepped outside as casually as I could. It was important to look like I wasn’t actually sneaking around. Instead, I was simply restless. It was too early in the day to pretend like I couldn’t sleep, but it would still do.

  I enhanced my sight, pairing it with channeling mana into my eyes. I saw the flow of natural mana. It was like the world took on a light blue filter. Everything had the tinge of blue to it, save for things with actual concentrations of mana. Those were a different color, usually a varying shade of dark blue. Even outside, I didn’t see anything that immediately drew my gaze. Duke Indri had underestimated me by design, but surely it hadn’t worked out this well.

  Something flickered at the edges of my vision. Near the roof. I froze for a heartbeat before slowly relaxing. I tried to stare at it from only my peripheral vision as I made a show of inspecting myself.

  “I do wish I’d brought better clothes. Something like a pretty dress. How can a Lady possibly be expected to live like this? I should go talk to him.”

  There really was something. A blurring in the air. It wasn’t that different from how it had been back at the Information Guild. A Magical Implement? A Gift? It didn’t matter. It seems I did have a watcher after all. My idle scanning didn’t reveal any other hidden assailants.

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  I turned and began to walk down one of the hallways. If I’d not had any guards at all, I would have felt infinitely more nervous. This was actually somewhat of a relief. Whatever my guard was doing prevented me from hearing his heartbeat. I couldn’t help but wonder if there was a way to hear him anyway. After all, I could somewhat see him, couldn’t I? Best to leave that experiment for later.

  I paid special attention to the many portraits I found along the walls, making sure to pause and stop by each one. None of them depicted things I recognized. Most of them were about wars I’d never had time to learn about, or cities I couldn’t identify. I did recognize the floating capital at least, but it was hard not to recognize that one.

  “I wonder who painted this.”

  “The colors in this one really make the whole piece shine.”

  “I wonder how they even made this one.”

  I’d never had any particular interest in the arts. Being able to admire the finer things in life was the sign of a noble, one that Anias had tried and so far failed to drill into me. Still, I could play the part if I had to. I had seen it on the way in, but now it became even clearer. There really weren’t that many people working in the manor right now.

  I occasionally saw a maid or manservant passing through. Many of them would give me the most necessary bow or curtsy, before hurriedly moving away, often in the same direction they had just come in from. Others would bombard me with questions, wondering if I needed anything, anything at all. Why else would I be wandering outside?

  I was making a mental map of the different hallways in my head. My own manor was somewhat of a maze I could only barely navigate. Indri Manor was much the same, though the different decorations did make it far easier to remember.

  Those black sculptures were a jarring sight. The more I saw them, the more I realized they really were almost the same color as that Nightsoil had been. I hadn’t been paying attention to them on my last visit, but now I noticed that most of them looked somewhat similar. They were all the visages of a similar-looking woman. The hairstyle and the expressions were different in every sculpture I saw, yet that impression of remained.

  It was as if you took the template of a person and only changed a few different details every time. The overall shape might be different, but the base beneath was the same. I stopped in front of one said sculpture, its hair done in braids, its lips curled up into a slight smile.

  

  The blade murmured. It had been quiet for some time, and it chose now to speak up.

  “I feel it too,” I murmured, reaching out and touching the stone with my palm. It felt odd. Somehow dry and grainy, while also being dense. A mixture of stone and clay, maybe? What else were sculptures made of? “How strange.”

  

  The blade was louder this time. It wasn’t quite screaming. Was it trying to get my attention? It didn’t need to.

  I’d never before had a reason to increase the sensitivity of my own touch. I did so now. My hand could feel every single imperfection in the statue. Every single tiny bump and coarse grain I hadn’t noticed before. The sensation was almost overwhelming. I could feel the heat leaking out of my body and into the surrounding air, into the sculpture.

  There was a dull . It was so unexpected that I’d almost missed it.

  It happened every ten seconds or so, a faint thrum that went from the sculpture up to my hand. I shivered.

  “This is such a fine piece,” I said loudly. “When I get back, I’ll be sure to find the artist who commissioned this.” That was entirely for my hidden watcher’s benefit. They would likely make a report, not just watch me all day.

  This wasn’t a heartbeat. Was it? That couldn’t be possible. Perhaps this was some effect of my Gift that I’d simply never discovered before. I pulled my hand away, moved it over to the nearest wall. Sensation filled my palm again. I ignored it. There was no beating.

  “Well, let’s see what other marvels this mansion has. The Indri Household is so lucky.” I walked away, both because I’d spent so long at one spot already and because I wanted to be away from that damn thing.

  Naturally, there were more sculptures. I only gave a few the briefest of touches, just enough to confirm that same beat from all of them. This wasn’t why I had come out of my room, but this was still valuable information. I just didn’t know what the hell it meant.

  What I’d actually come out for was rather simple. It wasn’t like I’d be confined to my room. I might be encouraged to stay inside, but I could wander almost freely. Almost. I wanted to find the place where I would finally be turned away, because the people there had direct orders to keep me away. My unseen shadow kept tailing me, not that I had expected any different.

  It took fifteen minutes before it happened. I saw the first pair of guards I had seen inside the manor. They stood at one intersection, guarding the path to the right. This place felt familiar. Hadn’t Duke Indri led me to the left when he was taking me to his solar?

  “My Lady.” One of the two guards dipped his head. “The Duke wished you to recover your strength after the long journey.” A very light reproach, that.

  “I find walking helps me think.” I smiled genially before proceeding to try to move past them. I made it one step before the other men moved in front of me.

  “I’m afraid this section of the manor is blocked.” This guard’s voice was much gruffer, his eyes far less polite.

  “Oh?” I tilted my head, curious. “I simply wished to see more of the finery. Every corner I turn has some marvel of artistry I can’t see back home.”

  The two men looked at each other. Doubtless, they’d expected their one protest to be more than enough. Come on, give me something, damn it.

  “This way leads to Lady Scarlet’s quarters.” The gruff man said again. “The Duke would be most displeased to find anyone wandering there without express permission.”

  It was hard to hide my surprise. I’d hoped to get something, but I hadn’t actually expected to. “Thank you for warning me.” I smiled. I’d gotten what I came here for. Seeing if I could find my way back quickly would be a decent test of the murky mental map I’d made.

  “What the hell are you doing here?!” A voice, loud and angry, cut through my thoughts.

  I turned and came face to face with a very angry girl, carrying a hammer.