Valerian, The Legendary

146 Poor Fellow.

Camile heard the old man and took the silver teal note in her hand before looking around sneakily and said in a hushed tone, “Old Sir, you might not know, but Elder Sister Diligentia was a goddess to us all. She was gentle and compassionate. But her deputy, Gloria, was not even worthy to carry shoes for Sister Diligentia.

Gloria was always up to something, and because of her poisoning, the orphanage children became increasingly rampant. They have no respect and they have no discipline. She pretended to be a virtuous one, but I tell you she was simply a puddle of mud.”

Although the lady was ranting her heart out, she was still uttering nonsense. Tryst was fed up with her behavior and stepped forward to stand beside his father. His towering physique and cold gaze immediately pacified Camile.

He placed his hand on the table and exerted a little strength which left the object below with cobwebs. Camile watched this and her face turned pale from fright. Tryst asked, “I will ask you a few things, and I would appreciate it if you answered me honestly. Understood?”

Camile nodded like a wooden puppet and Tryst asked, “Was Diligentia close to that cursed child?”

His question was a bit too direct but since he was already intimidating her, he might as well give up the pretense. Camile nodded and said, “Yes, umm, that child was the first child she was responsible for, and found him outside the gates of this very building on a rainy night. She cared a lot about him and even when everyone bullied him or maintained a distance from him, she secretly took care of him.”

Tryst nodded, this was in line with Diligentia’s character, then he asked, “Did that child reciprocate her emotions?”

Camile was surprised and then she nodded, “You bet on it, Sir. A child who could only receive some warmth from Sister Diligentia, how can he not reciprocate it? I can attest to this fact that he never made things difficult for her, even if he was in pain he did not come to her in broad daylight. One time, I saw Gloria abusing him while she cursed Sister Diligentia, and I swear on Vita, his eyes were cold enough to kill that vamp then and there.”

This statement confirmed the relationship between the three people. Then Tryst asked, “What do you know about the disappearance of the two people?”

.....

Camile shook her head and said, “I do not know what happened, but it all happened on the day that child left the orphanage. It was after sunset when I was going back to my room after a light snack. Gloria came in rushing and then a few minutes later, Sister Diligentia ran outside the orphanage, she did not even put on her shoes. I thought someone might have gotten injured so she was in a rush to handle the emergency, but ever since then, she did not return. Even Gloria took off that very night.”

Tryst nodded, he could tell that she was not lying but then again, the dead body was found by the people, what about it? He wanted to confront Valerian. But he suddenly found a key point, and asked, “Did you say that she did not even put on her shoes?”

Camile nodded while gazing at the man in front of her. Tryst looked at his father and said in a low voice, “The corpse found by the townsmen had shoes on. It was dressed properly, unlike what this girl just said.”

Calor nodded and said, “Correct, it is possible that the corpse found did not belong to Diligentia.”

Tryst nodded and walked out of the building, he wanted to know where the corpse of Diligentia was. Only Valerian knew it, so he must ask him. Calor looked at the back of his son and shook his head as he followed him out.

The news of this inquiry spread through the orphanage quickly. The people all began to come out to look at what was happening. They found a couple sitting on tall horses that looked very intimidating and a leopard glaring at the people, keeping them at bay. This scene was too shocking for them.

The children of the orphanage were rather interested in the figures sitting atop the two horses, while the boys were charmed by the girl, the girls and women were looking at the boy with silver hair sitting on the dark Wraith.

A girl squinted her eyes and said, “Why does that guy looks like that Jinx?”

She was yet to be ten years old but her attitude was really scornful toward Valerian when he used to live in the orphanage, her words were akin to an electric shock and the whole crowd began to murmur. Priscilla was repulsed by this display and wanted to say something when she looked at Valerian who was rather indifferent to all this.

She could sense that his indifference was real. Camile saw the pair of men walking up to Valerian and the younger man asked, “Where is Diligentia laid to rest?”

Valerian cast him a gaze and asked, “Why should I tell you? Who are you to her?”

Tryst choked and reined his anger and asked, “Your Highness, please tell me where is she? Is she really dead?”

Valerian did not reply, he did not say a word, and even his eyes did not fluctuate. Tryst clenched his fists and roared, “Tell me where she is, you cursed one.”

His roar was loud enough to echo throughout the town. Priscilla held her dagger in a reverse hold and said, “Mind yourself, warrior, I won’t mind cutting you up to pieces if you dared to stand against the dignity of the royal family.”

Calor was worried and said, “Tryst, shut up. Behave yourself.”

Tryst was angry and enraged at the child, so much, so that he could not wait to tear Valerian to pieces if he could. However, aware that he was no match for the prowess of the boy, he retorted, “What right do you have to keep me from meeting her? What relation do you an orphan have with her? For all I care, you are just a sinful seed who took her life.”

Even though he knew that the corpse belonged to Gloria, he stuck to any method he could use to get Valerian to speak. Well, he was bound to be humiliated and disappointed.

Valerian nodded and said calmly, “What relation do I have with her? She picked me up from the threshold of this orphanage, she gave me my life and cared for me as my mother would. When you petty people were busy blaming me for something that I was not in control of, she sheltered me. So, my relationship with her should be clear.

As her son, I have the right to prevent people like you from disturbing her rest. She suffered enough from the ignorance you all gave her when she was alive. So please stay ignorant and let her rest in peace.”

Valerian was not going to give him a single shred of information. Only he and Rectus were allowed to see Diligentia’s resting place. He made sure that the place was secured and cast a barrier of trees this time to hide it from the others. Thus he was not worried that the people could go inside the woods and search for the place.

This method of his was effective against even the beasts, who knew the forest like the back of their hands, let alone humans. The place was now a maze, it was very clever and he found the mention of this method in a book back in the academy. It did not take him to locate the positions and simply cast the spell to create a maze of towering trees.

If that was not enough, the paralyzing vines and thorns as big as a human finger were enough to keep the people at bay. His preparations were not only to protect the grave but also to kill the people if they sought her out. Gloria had spent too much for humanity, and in the end, even her life was lost in a miserable way.

Thinking about that night, Valerian was filled with rage and when Tryst was provoking him, he wished to shred him to strips of meat but that way, he will become the demon the people thought he was and the efforts of his mother will go to vain.

Tryst was rendered speechless, he could not come up with a counter to his words. It was true that the people of the town had been approached by her to talk about this matter, she spared no effort to try and convince the people that Valerian was not a cursed child. However, they never cared then, so what should they care about now? What right did they have to look for her?

Tryst wanted to say something when Calor interrupted him and said, “...”