Player 0.4 [You have died.] [Reset in progress.]

Blake held the carriage door open, and I walked into the courtyard. It was abuzz with movement.

"Young master Luca, you have returned." Remlend greeted me as if he had been waiting in the courtyard the entire time I was gone. "I presume you will not be attending any remaining lessons today?”

“Correct, I will not be attending them,” I stated. “However, I will practice on my own in the training grounds.”

I had decided that it was best to practice throwing needles before finding myself in situations where their use was warranted. I knew I was out of practice.

Besides, I should improve my Dexterity. The System had suggested back in Round 3 that it was lower than it could be partially because I wasn’t yet accustomed to my younger body.

“I’ve finished setting up here.” One of the guards called out.

“Same here!” Another guard yelled out.

I frowned at all the guards running around.

“Peep!”

It sure is busy around here.

Leona stretched her wings out atop my head.

“Remlend, what is all this? What are the guards so occupied with?” I asked.

“Ah, while we were away, it appears that young master Jarvis’s greenhouse was broken into. Something of importance was stolen,” Remlend explained. “Your father has ordered security checked and tightened around the Frey Manor.”

“Is that so.” I frowned at the busy scene.

I didn't recall anything such as this occurring in my original life. I remembered Jarvis at one point closing off his greenhouse to everyone in the Frey Manor. Still, that change didn’t come about after a break-in.

If I remember correctly, someone had died or gotten hurt while in his greenhouse, and thus, he closed it off. But then again, I didn’t remember everything from my original life. My memory wasn’t perfect.

“It’s good to have security tightened, regardless,” I said.

Grandmother had the correct thinking; there was no such thing as being overly precautious. Heck, in Round 6, I died because of some damned warlock that could shape-shift into a cat. Although to be fair, at that time, I had let the cat into the Frey Manor myself, so the security measures around my home were moot against him. Still, having better security never hurts.

"You can go," I told Remlend. "I'm going to see my brother and then head to the training grounds."

“Very well, young master Luca.” Remlend bowed and walked away.

"You too," I told Blake. "I don't plan on going into town anytime soon, and with the current level of security, there shouldn't be any issues."

Blake nodded his head and left without saying anything, no doubt, to see Father.

I walked to the greenhouse, which had more guards investigating the surrounding area.

The smell of green leafy plants and moisture filled my nose when I wandered inside. The sun was slightly lowered in the sky and shone its bright yellow rays through the glass, making the water droplets on the plants sparkle. Jarvis had spread his plants across the Frey Manor, but the greenhouse was his abode. Large palms, ever-blooming flower bushes, and questionably colored shrubs were everywhere.

I found my younger brother busy organizing potions and books at his workstation. Jarvis's eyebrows furrowed together, and he appeared to be cataloging all his tinctures, seeds, and notebooks.

“I heard someone broke in. What did they steal?” I sat down on a wooden stool beside him.

My twelve-year-old brother was a genius. Had he lived beyond age fourteen in my original life, he could have made some extraordinary impact on the continent. Perhaps he could have gone down in history books. I couldn't guess just what sort of creation of his someone might have taken, but it was no doubt incredibly valuable.

Jarvis set down his pen and a can full of purple liquid. He bit his lip as if debating something but then gazed up at me with his green eyes.

"I've been studying farming methods on polluted soil," he replied. "They stole all of my research. I don't even understand how they knew to look for it; I haven't presented it to anyone yet. Not even Mother and Father know how far along I've gotten in it."

I frowned.

This was new. Just what changed in this round for this to have happened?

Jarvis was certainly secretive about his research into polluted soil; in my original life, I didn’t learn about what he was working on until sometime after Mother and Father passed away. He had moved to the Town of Ascot upon our parents’ deaths and took his research with him. And as far as I was aware, Jarvis developed his research into raising plants in polluted regions well until his death, without disturbances such as this taking place.

“Have we found any clues as to who might have stolen it?” I asked.

Jarvis shook his head.

“No, not yet,” he said. “The guards are still investigating. But it’s unlikely they will find anything.”

“Why?” I asked.

Jarvis sighed and sat down on a wooden stool beside me.

“Whoever broke in was highly skilled. They got through all the security and left no noticeable footprints. It was a professional—or a group of professionals even—it’s impossible to tell.”

I leaned in and lowered my voice. “Is there a possibility it’s someone on the inside? A double-crosser? Someone that knows what to watch out for?”

We already had Kaiden exposed for what he was, and in my original life, after I had taken over the manor, there were cases of untrustworthy servants as well. So it was plausible to think that there was someone currently serving the Freys who had nefarious interests.

Jarvis’s green eyes gazed around us.

“Perhaps, but nothing signaling that has been found,” he replied.

“What are the implications of your research having been stolen?” I asked.

Jarvis shrugged. “Depends on who stole it. And for what reason.”

My eyes landed on a stone leaf on Jarvis’ workstation.

Didn’t Kathy make that for him when she visited a few days ago?

[ Perception: +1 ]

[ Perception: 47 ]

Damn it.

I knew enough about the System by now to understand that it didn't pop up these notifications for no reason. There was always some significance to them.

“What did you and Kathy talk about when she was here?” I asked.

“Oh! She was showing me how to make a petrifying solution along with a cure for it.” Jarvis leaned over and picked up the stone leaf to showcase it close up to me. “And I showed her how I managed to breed the manchineel tree with other trees.”

“Anything about your research? The one that was stolen?”

“No,” Jarvis frowned. “But she might have caught sight of my notes. I put them away when she came by, and I had them written out in such a way that the average person wouldn’t have been able to understand them at a glance…”

He trailed off in thought. He appeared to have come to a similar conclusion as myself.

Kathy wasn’t your average person.

There were likely loads of micro-changes that had come about in this round compared to my original life. Still, one notable change was that someone who had never met Jarvis had: Kathy. And while poison was her specialty, to achieve that level of understanding, she also had a thorough botanical background. So what was to say she didn't have a good comprehension of deciphering Jarvis’s notes with a glance?

But why?

I didn’t know Kathy personally in my original life. Still, from all the tales that Kleave told me of her, she wasn't necessarily a bad person—well, aside the bit about her selling poisons to the most dangerous syndicates within Adovoria. And how she had an insatiable gambling addiction that caused her to constantly and desperately need money to pay off her debts.

I rubbed my temples.

Damn it. Was how I envisioned Kathy a bit too rosy and naive? Kleave had talked his mouth off in my original life on how wonderful she was, but he was her boyfriend, and by that point, she was dead, so even his perception of her might have been a bit rosy too. And besides, to her, I was a complete stranger. There was no reason for her to be overly kind to me.

“I’m going to go train,” I told Jarvis and stood up from my stool. “I need to clear my head a bit.”

I had some serious evaluating I needed to do on how much trust I placed in those around me. Just because I had positive associations and intentions toward those around me, it didn't mean that they did so as well with me.

"Ah!" Jarvis exclaimed. "I started the fermentation process on the medicine for Jasper. I have it set to ferment at an expedited rate, but it will still take about three days."

“Thank you,” I nodded. “Three days should be fine.”

Based on my original life's timeline, it would take another two months before he'd pass away from his illness. So waiting three more days was nothing.

Then again, if there are any more of these changes, who is to say the future will go as expected?

***

“Water?” Remlend presented a cup to me.

“Thank you,” I replied and chugged the water down.

The sun had lowered such that it was beyond the manor's walls, but the sky was still bright blue aside from a few small clouds and a streak of black smoke. I had practiced with the plain needles against a dummy for the past hour. To my delight, I had improved Dexterity by one stat point.

If I keep practicing like this each day, I should be able to enhance my Dexterity considerably.

“I had your bath prepared; it is ready for you,” Remlend said.

I glanced around the training grounds. Because all of the guards were busy with security measures, I had the space all to myself. Even Leona wasn’t around; she grew restless after the first few minutes of me practicing and had flown off on her own.

I’m going to explore the city. There’s still so much that has changed compared to the memories of my ancestors.

I would have worried for her safety, but she had proven herself to be perfectly capable on her own back in the Town of Ascot. And she was a phoenix, after all.

When will she return, though?

I peered at the sky without the sun in sight.

I smiled, realizing the answer was obvious. Leona was not one to miss a meal and was sure to return before dinner was served.

"Ah, Remlend, by the way, I expect a messenger bird to come in from Natalia Ashford." I wiped my face with a towel and walked inside the mansion. "Please bring it to me right away when it comes in."

“That would likely not be possible, young master Luca,” Remlend said.

"What?" I turned to him and felt a wave of deja vu wash over me. I knew his following words before they came out of his mouth.

"There was a fire earlier today at the Ashford Bakery," he said.

"And Natalia Ashford, is she fine?" I asked, but I already knew his answer.

Remlend shook his head.

“No, she did not survive the fire.”

Damn it.

I paused in the hallway and ran my hands through my sweat-drenched hair.

I did it again. I changed or influenced something the same way as I had in Round 6, where Natalia also died four years earlier than in my original life. And in a fire too.

I met my reflection's golden eyes in one of the windows and gazed beyond toward the outside. The black smoke that had dissipated into the clouds was now unmistakable.

It was highly coincidental, but in both Round 6 and this round, the day when the Ashford Bakery burned down, a hooded person visited Natalia right after me. Now I knew that person was Harley Whitmore, the same one that had brought my home down in a blaze of fire.

But why? Why did she kill Natalia now? What did I change that was so different from my original life that would warrant her killing the Gossip Queen of Genise in the first place?

 

AlekAundra

Round 6 and Round 7... What did Luca change that brought about such a similar end to Natalia's life, albeit a few days apart?
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