Sluggishly, Rowena stepped out of the carriage, jumping down with the help of Sir Sean. A pale looking old man stood in front of the chateau they had arrived at, hurrying in the direction of his granddaughter with an uneasy expression on his face.

'What's with all the energy, old man?' But she didn't hate seeing him so fast on his feet, even if it didn't fit his image of an ailing grandfather.

The Marquis of Nerena didn't even think about that, since he had heard about the commotion in the Lodden Empire. In fact, it was information that had been carried around the continent and beyond for more than two days, it was impossible for him not to have heard it.

And at the center of all the stories were his grandchildren. Lodden wouldn't have made it clear that there was little they could do to stop the attackers, but they did credit the Arlen envoy with being instrumental in protecting Kadena.

Still, as happy and proud as he wanted to feel, even without knowing the exact details of the incident, worry was the first thing he felt. Alan, who had been riding back with his sister, had gotten out of the carriage after her.

He nearly knocked his grandfather down as he approached them too fast for his own good. "Your Grace," the older brother said, "you shouldn't run like that."

The Marquis wasn't exactly a small man, in fact he was quite tall for his age, at almost one-eighty. He still looked a bit feeble, and having his grandson place his hands on his shoulders while he looked down at him with a noticeably questioning look made him feel self-conscious.

When had these children grown up so drastically? "I'm just an old man. What happens to me doesn't matter anymore, I'm just glad that you two are safe."

Rowena held out her arm for the Marquis to hold on to as she watched her maids take the most important luggage for the night. They would stay one night to recharge their batteries before they had to cross the bridge and wouldn't have as many opportunities to rest for a while.

"What did you hear?" Rowena asked out of the blue after they had entered the main hall and made their way to the dining room.

It would be natural for the members of the delegation to enjoy a meal first, to relax a bit, now that they were back on their home turf. But for the young lady, it was important to know what others thought of her abilities now.

After all, people had been praising her brother as a great fighter for years, it wasn't anything new or surprising to know that he had gone to the Vatican to train as a Holy Knight. He could have gone to the great temple in Avarinth, but at the time, going to the Vatican had been a better opportunity.

When they sat down at the table, tea cups were placed in front of them, so that they could smell a soft aroma and immediately regain a calm mind. Emperor Alejandro had mentioned that he had already sent a message to the other Kingdoms and Empires so that they could prepare for a possible conflict.

"The message we received said that the Lodden Empire had fallen victim to a terrorist attack orchestrated by unknown assailants with variant abilities of the Paladins," he explained, taking in the scent of his tea, "one had the ability to control water, another could manipulate the Visitors. It sounded nightmarish. It said that they were especially trying to harm the young Grand Duke and the young lady of Varnhagen, so I was particularly frustrated not to know what had happened in detail."

"Hm," Alan let out, "there's not much more we could add, even though we were there from beginning to end." Of course, that did not include the contract Rowena had made, as he would not tell anyone about that either.

However, it was a good thing the message did not seem to have explicitly stated something about his sister fighting by herself in any shape or form.

"Right," Rowena chimed in, "they weren't really serious. I would rather worry about the next time they show up."

With a quick glance, Alan tried to read what was on his sister's mind, but he had to give up as she was not a person he could easily read. Even though he already knew what she was referring to, he still had the feeling that there were so many things he didn't know about her that he wondered how she had come to that conclusion.

But in the end, she could only have been referring to one thing. "It seemed as if they had only tried out the abilities they had shown to have."

With Alan's words, Maxwell put down his cup and looked at the two children endlessly. "You're saying they haven't revealed their agenda because they're not ready. Do you think there is more to come?"

"I find it quite thinkable. They didn't seem to consist of only two members, yet those two already had monstrous abilities. Who knows what else there might have been hiding?"

Rowena thought the same. Especially since she had found out about the Numbered being able to somehow read the future. This particular ability was something else entirely, since they seemed to have known about her contract before she had even renewed it.

And then there was that one guy who was able to move the bodies in Ironguard. 'While we're at it,' she thought, 'what is actually the name of Number 1? You told me his title, so I got distracted last time.'

'...Thanatos.'

'Ominous.' She had heard that name in some mythological waste when she was still Celia Smith. 'Well, at least I didn't miss out on anything by not knowing his name.'

'You're welcome.'

'Yeah, yeah... thanks for the information.'

'Hmm...'

'What is it?' she asked, a bit annoyed that he could never just talk to her normally, especially now that it was an important matter. 'I didn't know you were so hell-bent on manners.'

'I didn't mean that,' he said, 'I was just wondering why Thanatos would join a group of human terrorists. In the end, his contractor would have had to be a fit to his fundamental character.'

'Are you still thinking about that crack dance?'

'What dance?'

'Nothing. I meant the dancing skeletons.'

'Yes, that was out of line for the contractor of the King.'

'Yeah, you mentioned that before. Is there any chance that he did it to test his skills? To see if he could do it, not because he would normally do it.'

It seemed like a stretch of the imagination, as someone who would do such a thing "just because he could" to try it out would have had the idea to do it either way. But the answer to that question would give them further insight into what had happened lately.

They had attacked Eisenwacht when Rowena was there, which hadn't happened in the original version of the future, according to the novel Sarah Dent had written. The only thing that could have changed an event so early on would have been the survival of Rowena van Varnhagen, which also meant that they were really targeting her back then.

In Eisenwacht, the guy who was contracted to Leviathan had definitely tried to blast her into oblivion, at the same time he probably didn't take a Gamble for it, since she survived the ordeal and he kept his position as well.

'But it must have been a Gamble, right?' Otherwise he wouldn't have been able to move such a large amount of water when there was none so close.

She drank her tea quietly, thinking over her many thoughts on the matter, which she couldn't quite bring to a conclusion. There were already so many things she couldn't help and didn't understand, so she didn't want to add more, but she couldn't help it.

'I know, I once said I didn't care about it anymore, as it wouldn't change anything either way, but…' she started, setting her cup down and looking at her chest, 'It's beating strongly. I understand that it was my soul that broke the contract when it left, so there was nothing that could be done, otherwise my heart couldn't have stopped beating.'

'That is true.'

'I still wish I could find out why it happened,' she stated in her mind, sighing heavily out loud, "Why does life have to be so complicated sometimes?"

When she opened her eyes and looked up, she was met with the concerned looks of the two men sitting with her.

"Are you okay?" Alan asked with a furrowed brow and tightly pressed lips.

"Uh, yes, I'm fine. I was just thinking about something." For a second she had to find out what to say, but then it was as if someone had thrown her a lifeline. "After the tea, I will take Sir Sean and Norina with me, since we still have to get Mr. Randall."

"Are you sure you won't need more people to go with you?"

"More escorts?" Rowena asked, laughing slightly, "I won't even go far, and besides, the person I'm bringing back is an escort himself. Don't worry, brother."

He didn't seem too convinced, but nodded anyway. "Be back before it gets too dark, you should get some sleep."

"I won't stay long, we're just getting our man back."

The Marquis, who hadn't been involved in any of the family matters that had happened in recent years, could only look at his grandchildren before him and felt a little lighter than before.

"I'm glad you two have managed to get along again. When you were here two weeks ago, I wasn't sure, but now I feel like I have less to worry about." If they at least had each other's backs, that would get them far.

Not quite understanding his sentiment, the lavender-haired woman just sat there, tucking one of her wavy locks behind her ear and smiling gently at the older man. "Of course we get along, we are siblings after all."

Shortly thereafter, having stopped listening to their conversation for a while now, Rowena excused herself and gathered Norina and Sir Sean to make her way to the nearby town.

"Aurora, send help," Sir Sean swore under his breath as he saw something he had never seen before lying on a bed in a simple but clean bedroom.

Barely in the room, Norina sank to her knees and shed silent tears as she looked ahead. The curtain had been pushed aside so that the High Priest could sit next to the ancient looking child wrapped in the sheets.

There was no movement, her broken fingernails had begun to fall out, as had her hair. There was no fat under the skin, which seemed to be melting and wilting at the same time.

"She can't hear or see. It's all gone now," Logan informed Randall, not looking at her as he held one of the girl's small hands.

After that a soft sniffling could be heard. It was Norina, of course.

"Step aside," Rowena said in a commanding tone that made the High Priest turn around in shock.

His face was scrunched up. "I can't leave her side now, she could die any second if I don't take care of her. In fact, she wouldn't be alive if I hadn't been here." His words made the young maid flinch and sniffle even more than before as she tried to suppress it.

"I know," her mistress said simply, "that's why I left you behind in the first place, Mr. Randall. Now, step aside."

Since Sir Sean had no idea what was going on, he couldn't really assess the situation. Still, there was something strange about their lady, and it was not just the fact that he knew she had been a Paladin now, far above their station. In fact, she had been above them before as well.

But now, not just a Paladin, but one with a Number that was considered a higher ranked Primordial. He had seen it. 13? That was the highest Number that he had ever heard of.

Of course, he had no idea if there had been any outside of his knowledge, because frankly, he wouldn't have known about this one either if he hadn't been there when the contract ceremony took place.

He shook his head to rid himself of useless thoughts, holding on to the one thing that mattered: they knew nothing about the woman they called Rowena Dynari van Varnhagen. He had seen her act rashly, but at the same time with calculation. If this had been planned since the first half of their journey, she must have some idea of what was going on here.

"Step aside, Logan." He would let her handle it, give her that little bit of trust beforehand. He could only hope that he wouldn't regret this decision later.

"What? Vice Commander, I-"

"Just step aside for now." Sir Sean stood by his words and Logan Randall finally relented after two people above his position told him to book it.

As he stepped a few feet away from the bed, Rowena approached it instead, stopping suddenly and standing firmly, her right arm raised in front of her.

She felt a heavy tug from behind her, a weight pushing her down a bit, as if a giant bird had landed on her back. Logan Randall could feel the Mana shifting in the room as he stared, mouth agape, a magical circle expanding beneath his mistress's feet.

Like a scene from a nightmare, a tall, slender man rose from the dimly lit floor, standing tall in the otherwise plain and small room.

Good, I don't have to wait for Chaos to descend somewhere, that makes things a lot easier. It was true, now that she had the contract back, this should be a piece of cake, as long as Charlotte really gave it her all.

There was always a certain chance of failure, but she had no other choice if she started like this. In her condition, failure would be fatal.

"Charlotte, I told you last time to remember the feeling of Mana," Rowena said, knowing that she couldn't be heard, but her voice would echo in the Mana she was spreading in the room, so some of her intention had reached her.

She stepped closer, as close as the circle would allow without destroying it by overstepping its boundaries. Now that Pan had materialized, he at least had the ability to infuse the air with a certain amount of his own Mana.

Mana directly from a Numbered was completely different from that processed by a human body. When Charlotte felt this energy, her heart began to pound wildly, wearing out its limited runtime even faster. She wanted to open her eyes wide and stare at the ceiling in shock.

Suddenly, she had to breathe hard as she stood in an empty room, looking at a small child with golden hair and two shimmering, strangely shaped wings that looked as thin as a veil.

"Finally, I thought you would be stuck in your body forever, but the Mana shock must have freed you," he observed, "Do you remember what I told you when I proposed this contract to you?"

She opened her lips, not quite sure that her fading voice would be heard at all. "...Yes?" she said carefully, not yet understanding what was going on. Why did she not feel any pain?

"Good, then remember it," the boy said, looking at her with his shining golden eyes, "would you like to Gamble?"

"What?"

"That will seal our contract. I have to come to you for that."

She remembered that part as well. "Ye-…Yes, I wish to Gamble."

A wry smile formed on his lips. "You're a good girl, aren't you? But you must remember what I told you when you are back in your body."

Blinking, she nodded, feeling a distracting pull on her body, making her dizzy as his words ran through her mind over and over again. 'Remember, Charlotte. Remember to forget what I have shown you.'

TheKillingAlice

Next Chapter:
Chapter 57: Uncertain Departure (1)