chapter 85: Cracks of convergence. (2)

“Ah, you must be one of the new maids, proof of employment please. Just for safety’s sake.”

A slightly aged and tired looking man greeted Teresa when she reached the actual entrance of the mansion. He was slightly hunched over, and while his graying hair was well-maintained it was also starting to grow too long so it almost hung over his eyes.

“…*^?¤…*^)#”

The indistinct buzzing still rang in her ears, only barely audible but loud enough to be distracting. It had gotten worse as she got closer to the mansion, more constant. But still, it was broken up occasionally, like pauses in a sentence.

“Of course. Here you go, I look forward to working wit you.”

Teresa could only push the buzzing aside as she handed over the letter that proved her employment, an excited smile stapled onto her face. As she looked at the old man, the soft drumming just behind her eyes flared up momentarily, it was akin to the stuffy sensation one felt just before crying. Naturally, that too was pushed aside in favor of the mission as the butler inspected the letter.

“Everything seems to be in order here. Welcome aboard, Miss Sasha. I am Derrick, I’m the one responsible for bringing all the new blood up to speed.”

Teresa naturally wasn’t using her real name here. She wasn’t planning on staying for long but it would still be good to remove as many risks as possible. The old man, derrick, folded the letter and tucked it away inside his suit, stepping aside as he welcomed Teresa in.

“Please, follow me. There are some procedures we must adhere to for first time workers.”

Teresa stepped into the mansion as Derrick gestured, the old man taking another step aside so that he could remain in front of Teresa while guiding her. As a result, he did not see her recoil the moment she passed through the doorway.

She was struck by a stench the moment the air hit her. It was vile, disgusting, abhorrent, familiar. Stale air, dried blood, excrements and corpses just left to fester. It attacked her nostrils in tune with the indistinct buzzing, vanishing as quickly as it appeared.

“Miss Sasha? I can understand that it may be awe-inspiring, but please follow me. There will be plenty of time for you to do a bit of sight-seeing later.”

Derrick seemed to have noticed that she hadn’t immediately followed him, turning towards her as he beckoned with a small smile. Teresa blinked a few times as she looked at Derrick and his almost somewhat blank expression. That stench wasn’t the kind of thing you could get used to so his lack of reaction could only mean that he hadn’t noticed it.

Then again, the smell had disappeared almost instantly so thinking of it as normal would be wrong from the start. She sucked in a quick breath, smiling in an awkward and endearing manner.

“Please forgive me, this is the first time I’ve gotten to enter a mansion as grand as this so I lost myself there for a bit.”

She rubbed her arm and fiddled with her hair to accompany her display, taking the chance to give the back of her head a few subtle squeezes. It wasn’t much, but it eased the buzzing and drumming a little, at least for a few fleeting moments. Derrick maintained his smile in front of her display, gesturing with a small sweep of his hand as he spoke.

“It is a completely natural reaction, so don’t worry about it. I will make sure to tell the master that you quite enjoyed the decor.”

He started walking again, making sure that Teresa was following closely behind him as he explained some of the rules they had to abide within the mansion. Teresa listened and memorized, but she could tell that she wasn’t completely there, at least not mentally.

“_^*¤…*^#&/…¤=¤¤=&?`”

Part of her felt cold. It was in the pit of her stomach, like a lump of ice weighing her down. Each step she took only made the sensations assaulting her worse, like a slowly growing cacophony of discomfort. She felt sick, slightly regretting that she had come here. And yet… A small part of her said that no, she had to be here.

“Here we are. This will mark the end of our little tour. Shall we head inside and finish the last of the formalities by signing the official contract?”

Derrick stopped in front of a door just like any other, turning the handle to reveal a room that was as normal as the door. A desk, two chairs, a few small bookshelves running along the walls, a single bright lamp hanging from the ceiling right above the desk, and an open closet holding several ready-made maid and servant uniforms. Normal and harmless.

Derrick took the lead in entering the room, meandering along the bookshelves until he found what he was looking for. He pulled out a binder and plucked out a few sheets of paper, bringing them with him to the desk as he sat down and prepared the quill.

“Please, have a seat.”

He slid the papers and the quill over to the other side of the desk as Teresa sat down. She looked at the contract placed in front of her, it was all very neat and tidy, a very standard contract that you could find anywhere.

“)#¤¤%=…#)#)¤!”

The buzzing annoyed her, it tugged at her concentration. But even so, she could still feel them, their quiet breaths, the faint waves of their mana. Two in the ceiling and a third hidden behind one of the bookshelves. They weren’t doing a bad job of hiding, but Teresa regularly worked and trained with Gabriel, something of this level was nothing to her.

A lot of people entered this mansion for work, very few ever got to leave it of their own volition. Naturally, all of this was kept nice and far away from the public eye.

“Do I just sign here to finalize it?”

Teresa smile brightly when she got to the end of the contract, having ticked off a few boxes along the way. The things she ticked off didn’t matter, the proof of employment she brought told the people here everything they needed to know about her background and how they should treat her.

Derrick nodded his head with the same small smile, that almost blank expression, his finger tapping the desk twice as Teresa’s quill touched paper again. That seemed to be the signal, as two tiles on the ceiling slid to the side to allow the two hiding in the ceiling to drop down behind Teresa.

They acted without saying a single thing, one grabbing her while the other was already holding the prepared syringe.

“=%)%/(%!… ¤)&/)%&(!”

When the first one grabbed her, the buzzing in her ears flared up violently, to the point that it felt like someone hit her in the head. She reeled for a moment, brows furrowing as a wave of annoyance and anger washed over her, a quiet whisper slipping out.

“Javal,Jawul Et Ka.” (Poison, Dwell In Me)

She took hold of the first person’s arms and grasped them tightly, leaning back in her seat as she exerted her strength to flip the assailant over her as she rolled beneath them. They crashed onto the table with a subdued groan, Derrick remaining seated with that same expression.

Teresa then reached for the syringe that the second assailant was holding, but the attacker quickly pulled it back and threw it away, only allowing Teresa’s hand to barely graze it. It seemed to have been done in a hurry, but Teresa could still feel them through the loud buzzing.

The person behind the bookshelf was quietly making their way out, stealthily picking up the needle that had been thrown towards them. With their current positions, the second assailant could distract Teresa so that the third one could approach her from behind.

The second assailant grabbed hold of Teresa to keep her in place, but everything was already over. They took hold of her shoulders, and as a result they felt themselves go weak in the knees. They collapsed, fell on their rear with powerless legs and limp arms. A numb sensation ran throughout their entire body, seeping into their organs before the last of their lights quickly went out and they fell forward.

The one that had been thrown onto the table had already reached the same stage shortly after grabbing Teresa, their low groan was simply their last death rattle. As for the third person, they weren’t quite dead yet, but they had grabbed the syringe that Teresa had touched so they too had lost all strength in their legs.

They gasped for air as they sat there, but their throat was already closing, swelling to a state where it became impossible for them to breathe. They struggled and they gasped, but it was all just one last rattle before they too fell over. In the end, the only ones that remained were Derrick and Teresa.

“)=#¤=)%…”

Teresa brushed off her clothes as she stood up, the buzzing was starting to subside again. Well, it was at least quieter than it was a second ago, it was still louder than it had been when she entered the room. Her shoulders hurt a little from how hard they had been grasped, but other than that she was fine.

She could have handled the three attackers before they even left their hiding spots, but she needed to be careful about how much mana she spent. If she just used it as she pleased then her targets would be able to feel it and react accordingly. So she had to wait for them to either touch her, or touch something she had left her poison on. But once that happened, the fight was already settled.

The three assailants were dead, but Derrick still just sat there, his expression couldn’t even be said to have changed. If anything, it would only be that his eyes no longer looked as tired as they did at first. Looking at him as he sat there, Teresa was reminded of what Gabriel had told her in advance.

The workers aren’t reckless, they’re careless.

Looking at Derrick sitting there, she felt that she could understand that statement now. Was that perhaps why the drumming felt akin to the onset of tears?

“They’re up on the fourth floor right now, behind the great double doors at the very end of the hall. A meeting, I believe. It should be time for tea soon, Maid Carlana should be bringing it to them, she’s preparing it in the kitchen on the floor above us.”

Derrick spoke very casually as he remained seated, still as blank as when he first greeted her. Teresa stretched out her hand and placed a finger against his forehead. Her poison worked its magic and he slumped over before long, put to sleep by a powerful sedative.

A quick look at the base of his neck, usually hidden by his clothes, revealed a small and old scar, the mark of a needle forcefully inserted into his neck. She didn’t doubt that she would find a slave insignia on his body if she had the tools to search for one.

What was the easiest way to ensure obedience from your workers? Make them slaves that would die if they went against your word, tried to act against you, spoke of prohibited things, or if you died. It was efficient, but also highly risky. It could easily lead to situations like this, where the servants simply stopped caring about the outcome. They couldn’t be saved anyway, so why not try to drag down the one who made you miserable in the process?

Teresa pulled the bodies into the hidden space behind the bookshelf and then closed it up, changing into one of the maid uniforms that hung in the closet. She was already wearing a maid uniform, but the ones hanging here matched the ones that everyone else was wearing. It was a bit too big for her because it wasn’t made to her measurements, but it wasn’t too bad Afterward, she raised her hand and pointed it at her own neck.

“Uvaish, Terash.” (Nature, Pierce.)

A small rose extended from her finger, one of its thorns elongating as it dug into her neck. It wasn’t a deep wound, but noticeable enough that it could be seen at a glance. She wiped away any blood and gave the wound a bit of time to settle, finishing the last of her preparations. Once she was prepared, she left the room and started to make her way through the mansion.

“/”/sa…/#”/¤#(…/¤//re…”

The buzzing only got worse, the incessant drumming pounding against the back of her eyes. She almost felt as if she could hear something just beyond the buzzing, but she wasn’t quite able to pinpoint if she was just hearing things or if it came from the servants that passed by her.

“(%(#sa!”

As she turned a corner, she felt like she saw a flash of something dark crimson pass by her, like threads lingering in the air. But there was nothing there after she blinked, just an empty hallway decorated with sculpted flowers and paintings.

She shook her head and drew in a few quick breaths, she really needed to focus. The stench returned for a moment as she breathed, stale air and decay, it was a scent full of sorrow. But again, it was gone as quickly as it came, leaving only confusion. She wanted to leave, she wanted to go back to where she belonged.

And so, she had to quickly finish what she came for.

“Te(¤(¤&…O/#/#…H//#/#”

She made her way through the mansion with ease. Gabriel had helped her understand some of the layout in advance, but she found it easier than expected to navigate the winding hallways. It felt as if her feet simply knew where to go. As such, it didn’t take long before she reached the kitchen on the second floor.

The maids and cooks were indeed in the process of preparing tea and refreshments, she could see them through a small window in the door. Everything was placed on a tray table, a young girl in a maid uniform patiently waiting for both sections of the tray to be filled before she rolled it out of the kitchen. But it didn’t take long before she was stopped.

“Javal,Jawul Et Ka.” (Poison, Dwell In Me)

Teresa had moved away and waited for the maid as she turned the corner, quickly covering her mouth to silence her. The poison did its thing before long and the maid turned limp, Teresa hiding her away in a storage closet a bit away.

Teresa took over the tray and fixed it up, organizing the candles so that they looked neat, repositioning the pots of tea and baskets of snacks, making sure that everything looked proper. She then pushed the tray and made her way to the fourth floor, two guards stopping her as she reached the great double doors at the end of the hall.

“Halt. Where is Carlana?”

They looked Teresa up and down as she stood there, quivering quietly so that she looked afraid. Looked? Or perhaps she was? She was having a slightly hard time telling at this point, the buzzing was only getting worse with her every step.

“()¤esa…)¤%)#…(ere!”

It was pounding. Painful. She felt like she wanted to cry, but she didn’t even know why she wanted to cry. She wanted to go home, so she had to finish things quickly.

“Please forgive me, Carlana has taken a very nasty fall and sprained her ankle so I had to take over.”

Teresa tried to make herself as small as possible as she squirmed out a reason, the two guards eying her closely. One of them stepped away from the door and walked circles around her, his gaze eventually landing on the small hole in her neck.

“Very well, you can enter. Keep your head low, don’t speak up unless spoken to, and do whatever they tell you to.”

The man returned to his position, one of them handing Teresa a box of matchsticks so that she could light the candles. She naturally did just that and then handed back the matches, the guards opening the doors so that she could enter.

She lowered her head and entered the large room, several voices falling silent as she did so. She could feel their gazes. Some were curious, some where sharp, some were heavy, some just disregarded her.

It was a pressuring situation for a normal maid, enough to make some of the more timid ones crumble. But well, Teresa was used to Gabriel’s gaze so these were nothing, they were barely a breeze.

“You’re not Carlana.”

It was a male voice coming from one of the sharp gazes. It was probably the nephew of the Vritara duke’s niece, one of the two leaders that she was aiming for today. He didn’t outright state a question, but it was clear enough what he meant.

“No, Milord. Carlana had an accident and sprained her ankle so I had to take over for her, please forgive me for not being able to notify you in advance.”

Teresa lowered her head further. There was something about his voice that agitated the lump of ice in her stomach. The drumming was getting louder, heavier, it was as if someone was walking around in her head. There was a short silence after she gave her explanation, the same voice speaking up again.

“How is the food and the tea? You must be famished, why don’t you have a taste?”

They put everyone in the mansion under a slave contract, but it seemed as if they were still rather careful. They must treasure their lives.

“Thank you for your grace, Milord.”

Teresa naturally obeyed, tasting a bit of all the food and taking a small sip of each tea, making sure to do it very slowly so that everyone could see it. A little bit after she had tasted the last item, the voice spoke up again and they exchanged a few quick sentences.

“Is it good?”

“Exquisite, Milord.”

“Wonderful. Distribute it.”

Only after they had made sure that Teresa tested all the food and drinks for poison was she allowed to walk forward with the tray. She rolled it along, slowly moving along the seats that had been prepared around the oval table. She counted 12 seats, but only 8 of the ones present grabbed something to eat or drink, the remaining 4 were probably still a bit wary, or possibly just not hungry.

“/(re¤a… Ov&r… H%re!”

It kept nagging her, the buzzing. It got worse and worse, and she constantly kept feeling as if she heard something just beyond it.

The people in the meeting took a break as they ate and drank, chatting about whatever came to mind. And then, slowly but surely, it started to take effect.

The weakest went first, that was always the case. One man started to cough, spitting out pieces of a cookie before he apologized. But then it got worse, more and more coughing, until he was practically clawing at his throat.

“Poison! It’s a suicide attack!”

They naturally quickly caught on, but it was already too late. Teresa had learned from Gabriel, when you first strike, make sure that your opponent is left with no recourse.

One man quickly spat out the food in his mouth and stuck his finger down his throat, retching up what he had just eaten. He quickly did it three more times, but it still only got worse, his throat clogging as his breath was slowly stolen.

They drank antidotes, they spat out what they had eaten, they tried to wash out their mouths. But nothing helped. Worse yet, even the four that hadn’t eaten anything were falling, grasping at their throats as they suffocated.

Antidotes wouldn’t work because the poison was magical, they would need highly special antidotes for that. And it had never been the food that was poisoned to begin with, but rather the candles. And with how slowly she had moved through the room, and with how much time she had taken to taste everything, the smoke had gotten plenty of time to spread.

“You won’t survive this, I hope you know that.”

The male voice spoke again, slightly choked up. Teresa looked at him as he spoke, one hand clamping down on his throat while the other already held his sword. He looked to be in his early thirties the only similarity between him and the Duke of Vritara being their striking green eyes.

“Uvaish, Vash Hui Zamut.” (Nature, Whip And Cut.)

Teresa simply swept out her hand, a vine rising from the floor and lashing out. It cut through his hands and throat, splattering blood on both the table and her clothes.

She hoped that getting rid of him would quell the buzzing or the nauseating sensation, but alas, it did nothing. Even after the last person fell to the poison, and one more to her whip, the sensation didn’t die down.

The commotion had caused quite a stir, but the two guards at the entrance hadn’t even stepped into the room. They too were slaves. They too were careless.

Teresa drew in several heavy breaths as she made her way throughout the room, quickly searching for the documents she was looking for. She picked a couple of things from the two leaders while she was at it, one had ties to the Vritara family while the other had ties to the Sorin family so everything they had on them could serve as excellent evidence.

After a while, she had gotten everything she needed and hurriedly left the room. It just got worse and worse, rising towards a crescendo that threatened to tear her apart. The two guards were slumped on the floor outside the room. Their slave insignias had activated with the deaths of their masters, granting them a modicum of freedom.

Teresa quickly made her way through the halls, quickly stepping around the occasional corpses that she passed.

“Te/&sa!”

Her feet started to move faster and faster with each corner she turned.

“Ov%e”

She couldn’t even hear the sound of her own steps. The buzzing got louder and louder, drowning out the silence of the mansion. She heard it, beyond the buzzing, beyond the drumming. Something familiar, something that eased the ice in her stomach. And yet… Something that stoked a fire within her.

“He(e!”

And then she turned a corner on the first floor, the same one where she had seen a flash of dark red. And once again, she saw it. A flash of dark red, like threads dancing in the air.

But this time they remained. This time they broke through the buzzing.

“Teresa, over here! There’s going to be a secret passage over here, we can still save those below if we use it!”

Dark crimson hair that was slightly curled and amber eyes that seemed to reflect the entire world. The crown princess stood at the end of the hallway, but this one looked older than the crown princess that Teresa had seen so far. She looked to be in her late twenties, maybe even her early thirties.

She was waving at Teresa, or rather, at something to Teresa’s side. Her anxious and urgent expression also weren’t directed at Teresa, but she could swear that she was looking straight at her. Well, of course she was, she had brought her here after all.

The buzzing fell silent. The drumming behind her eyes stilled. Only the sickening sensation in her stomach remained, a mixture of fire and ice rising in her depths. The crown princess both was and wasn’t looking at her, and Teresa was looking right back at her.

“My… Lady?”