Tessen (9)

“What a bull-like woman… Ugh, that hurts.”

As Judith groaned, a thumping sound echoed from beneath her feet.

Swallowing the pain, Judith tapped the tea table with her hand.

A rhythmic pattern filled with a coded promise was met with a similar response from below.

After the creaking of old wooden steps, came the sound of hinges folding.

The bottom section of a cabinet filled with colorful threads and cloth swung open, revealing chubby white faces.

“Judith. Has the guest left?”

“Can we come out now?”

The two faces peeking out were identical, like they’d been stamped from a mold.

Seeing the twins, Judith’s expression returned to normal.

“Flora, go down and call Bran.”

“Okay, got it.”

The two children exited the passage and returned the cabinet to its original state.

Flora went down the stairs while Agnes approached Judith.

They were young children, not even reaching an adult’s waist.

“Agnes, go to your room and pack for the trip. You know what to do, right?”

“Wow. We’re going on a trip?”

At Agnes’s exclamation, Flora—who seemed to have gone down the stairs—shouted too.

“A trip!”

“A trip!”

Hearing Flora’s voice, Agnes echoed the same words.

Then she darted off to her room to start packing for the trip.

“A trip?”

Bran, dragged by Flora, came up the stairs and asked.

Bran had always opposed teaching the young twins how to hide in emergencies or use encoded signals for ordinary knocks.

He disliked hiding like this, or the idea of embedding meaning into a simple knock.

“Uncle Bran.”

“Judith. Is this about the guest who just left?”

“It’s not that.”

Judith started to say something, then stopped.

She couldn’t repeat what Alicia Rain had told her.

There was no proof.

But she couldn’t brush it off as nonsense either.

Judith knew how to verify Alicia’s words—but she didn’t want to.

She’d rather it had just been a ghost.

“Uncle Bran.”

“What is it, Judith?”

Bran, who hadn’t yet removed his leather apron due to being dragged by Flora, gave her a gentle smile.

He was always smiling like that.

He had been waiting—eight years now.

“I want you to take the Master’s position, Uncle. I…”

“Judith, the successor is you. The fact that I already know what you’re trying to tell me is proof that you’re the successor.”

Bran spoke kindly but drew a firm line.

“I… I’m still young.”

At Judith’s urgent words, Bran slowly shook his head.

“It’s alright. We have time. Don’t rush. If you don’t want it, you don’t have to do it. Take your time.”

For the past eight years, Bran had always told her to take her time.

He patted his timid niece’s shoulder with a smile.

Judith couldn’t hold back any longer and said,

“They’re coming.”

Bran’s previously gentle face stiffened.

But he quickly regained his composure.

“Everything depends on your decision, Judith. I’m a coward. I don’t want to take my niece’s place, nor do I want to be burdened with it. Let’s go on the trip for now. Are there any orders that must be delivered today?”

Bran was a kind and loving uncle, but more stubborn than anyone.

“Only the new guest’s order from today. What about you?”

“The goods are already finished, so I’ll open the terrace workshop and label them. Where should we go for the trip?”

With a friendly face, Bran spoke as if they were just going for a break.

Judith, who had been chewing her lip, hardened her expression.

“The imperial capital, Baden.”

That was where the Croa Clan’s mailbox was.

Where the Clan Master’s room was.

And where Judith’s parents’ graves were.

In the outskirts of the imperial capital Baden stands a wall called Croa.

Its blackened surface looked as though it had been scorched by fire—rough, long, and thick.

Parts of the wall bore deep dents.

At some point, those dents grew wider, and in the hollowed-out spots, locked boxes were embedded.

A boy who came to play near Croa once slipped a note into a box as a joke and locked it.

The next day, with no real expectations, the boy opened the box.

Inside, to his surprise, was a pouch with beautiful embroidery and a note.

The boy hesitated for a while.

The embroidered pouch looked quite valuable.

Though 1 silver wasn’t a huge sum, he didn’t feel it was worth paying just for an answer.

He feared he’d pay but receive nothing in return.

After much thought, he placed 1 silver in the pouch and locked the box again.

When he returned the next day, the pouch was gone—and a short letter remained.

The black wall of Croa, which had stood since the Empire’s founding, had slumbered for the past eight years.

Countless boxes had yielded neither answers nor compensation for their questions.

It all began in Benedict Year 346, with an extra edition reporting that Karl Riesman, the youngest son of the great scholar Riesman, had read a strange document at the academy’s grand auditorium.

At a commemorative event honoring his father, Sir Riesman, Karl read a document that began with the phrase, “Do you know the secrets of the Croa Clan?”

That day, the same bizarre document was read not only by Karl Riesman but also at various academies and recitation halls.

The document spoke of the Croa Clan, a vanished intelligence network said to know all things in the world.

The official name of the group was the Croa Hexagon Clan.

As its name implied, Croa was led by a council of six, including the Clan Master.

Up to this point, anyone interested in the Croa Clan would have known this much.

But the strange document that appeared three years after Croa’s black wall collapsed claimed that the clan was ruled by a council of twelve.

In Benedict Year 334, six farms and shops near the capital were simultaneously attacked.

It was said this marked the day the Croa’s Council of Six was purged.

Eight years later, between 342 and 343, three villages were massacred by bandits.

Two were decoys—the true target was the Entai massacre in Tessen.

The attack aimed to eliminate the last heir of the Croa Clan Master, who was hiding in Entai.

The traitors of the Croa Clan relentlessly sought the key to the Clan Master’s room.

They never found the master key.

Toward the end, the document declared that the traitors would no longer need the key to reach the master’s room.

The collapse of the Croa wall was due to the attack on the master’s room itself.

The author confessed: they were the one who had attacked the master’s room, causing the Croa wall to fall.

After the strange document about the Croa Clan spread, chaos followed.

Explorers caused a stir, searching for Croa’s black wall and the Clan Master’s room.

Several high-ranking nobles became obsessed with finding the master’s room.

Many sought out the twelve families listed in the document as members of the Croa Council, while others pretended to be part of them.

“It was a mess.”

Lost in thought, Alicia muttered to herself.

It felt strange to recall events that hadn’t yet occurred.

Things might unfold exactly as she remembered—or maybe not.

Change the present, and the future must change as well.

She had no idea how much she had already altered.

Even a small change in detail could bring about massive differences.

The thought of changing not only her future but others’ too was sometimes frightening.

After all, not every good thing that appeared in front of her led to a good outcome.

“Fire!”

“There’s a fire at Emerald Tower!”

Alicia had proposed marriage to Reichardt Tessen to escape a fiancé doomed for misfortune.

She had pushed away impending disaster and seized wealth and power.

She’d even gotten what she wanted.

But now, she was facing unexpected attacks day after day.

“Not a single quiet day.”

Alicia set down the book she was holding and rose from her chair.

She had more than one new enemy.

The problem was, while she knew they were many, she couldn’t grasp their scope.

That was why she had gone all the way to Entai.

She needed help from an information group loyal to no one.

It would be even better if it were bound not by money but by faith and trust.

“What if they can’t find the master room key?”

Just as Alicia was grumbling to herself, the door burst open.

“My lady!”

“You must leave right now!”

Daisy, Annie, and Liz came rushing into the room.

They were carrying wet cloths and large bundles.

Annie handed Alicia a damp cloth and guided it to her lips.

Daisy quickly gathered the valuables.

Liz stored irreplaceable treasures that couldn’t be carried and locked them up with a large padlock.

“Fire! Everyone evacuate!”

People outside were running around, alerting others to the emergency.

“The east wing’s barrier is down. Get out now!”

Juan and the knights were waiting beyond the door.

“Lady Alicia, this way!”

Surrounded by her maids, Alicia headed outside.

She had expected an ambush at some point.

But the attack came sooner than anticipated.

And in a completely unexpected form.

She hadn’t imagined arson.

Inside the carriage, Alicia asked Juan, who was guarding the window,

“Isn’t the fire near the tower?”

“We don’t know how far it’ll spread, so it’s best if you take shelter for now. Let’s go to Tessen’s main castle. The close maids and workers are ready. The rest have all evacuated the building.”

“Let’s go.”

Alicia made the decision without hesitation.

Juan had already evacuated everyone.

Except for the team extinguishing the fire in the tower, all staff had left the villa.

Alicia’s carriage headed to the Tessen main castle, while the villa workers were distributed to backup lodgings.

The fire in the tower was not large.

But the sudden exodus of staff and rising smoke drew attention.

Locals had come out to watch the commotion along the streets.

Those who saw smoke rising from Lilizet Villa wore troubled expressions.

So did Alicia and her staff.

The carriage sped toward the main castle.

When they entered a quiet forest road, unrest stirred outside.

“Stop! Move and you’ll be attacked! Identify yourselves!”

Juan, who was riding alongside the carriage, stepped forward and shouted.

In front of him stood a masked man and woman.

They dismounted and respectfully knelt before Juan.

When Juan saw the handkerchief in the man’s hand, he dismounted and approached them.