The Baroness Misbehaves
Chapter 42: (Bonus - ) Visiting The Marquees (2)

"Forgive me for my words but, I don’t think it’d be right to speak about my mother-in-law in her absence. I am sure that when she’s ready to tell me about her past, she most certainly will." Madeline was careful in fixing her statement appropriately to avoid offending anyone. They must have assumed she knew about Lady Elaine’s past, which she clearly does not, and Madeline wouldn’t want to hear about her mother-in-law from the mouths of others.

"That is a good choice my dear." The Marchioness quickly accepted with an understanding smile. "It is obvious you were brought up with manners. I heard about the heartbreaking news of your uncle, Roland. I got to know about his death since my son is handling the case, and I heard it was also written down in the newspaper headline yesterday, but someone had ordered for the news headline to be changed."

"A lot of things do happen in this part of Carmarthen, mother. No one is to be trusted these days." Catherine added while taking a sip from her glass of juice. Madeline said nothing in response before picking up her own glass. Her delicate fingers wrapped around the handle of the cup, and she was about to take a sip but automatically stopped mid-way.

Taking Catherine’s words into consideration, she couldn’t tell if the young lady was trying to insinuate something, but nevertheless, Madeline shooked it aside and took a sip from her glass of fresh orange juice.

~~~

"These are the sketches I could get based on Auriela’s description on the blade." Uttered Orson as he spread the papers on his wide study table. Cassian inched closer to observe the different drawings of sword blades on the papers.

The white lamp on his desk table was lit, aiding them to see the sketches properly.

"Which one is the blade?" Cassian asked, and Orson picked one of the clean, rarest drawings from the table, showing it to Cas.

"Auriela claimed this particular sketch had a resemblance to the one she saw on the hunter. She said something about a twin blade because he carried two similar blades and hung it on his back. Except the hunter sent to kill them never used it."

Cassian took the sketch paper from his grip, studying every angle and how well it was drawn on the paper, despite it being a rough sketch. "They look skillfully crafted. He must have got them from a naturally talented bladesmith."

"Like a popular bladesmith?" Orson inquired.

"He’s not so stupid, stupid. Use your brains." Cassian scoffed, using the paper to smack Orson on the head.

"Hey! What the hell was that for?" Orson complained after Cassian had smacked him pretty hard like he wanted to reset his brains.

"If a popular bladesmith is able to craft these babies, then I’m sure all my men would have one." Asserted Cassian. "The hunter must have a personal bladesmith who wielded it for him. Now, what we need to do is interrogate most of the bladesmith shops, asking them questions about a twin blade and if they are aware of any blacksmith who can wield them. Try to make copies of these particular sketches, that way, we can trace ...."

*Knock! Knock! Knock!*

The sound of someone knocking on the door disrupted their conversation, and Orson could bet it was the butler who might want to ask if they needed anything. To be honest he was hungry for some snacks, but at the same time he was afraid of Cassian who might give him a free lecture on why it’s necessary to work before eating, or after eating.

"I’ll get it." Orson moved away from the table to answer the door. Cassian took his seat on the chair and tried to study the blade more intently. From the sketches, he could guess the hunter belonged to an assassin crew, or a homicide.

"Pray I don’t get my hands on you first." Uttered Cassian before dropping the sketch on the table.

Opening the door, Orson was about to inform the butler that he didn’t need a thing from him, at least not now, but he instantly fell short of words when it wasn’t the butler who stood at the entrance of his door. His eyes widened slightly since he wasn’t expecting such a presence, most especially in his study room.

"Cassian?"

"Hmn?" Turning his head to look at Orson who had called his name, the young man suddenly moved aside, and Inna stepped into the room with her cellar in hand. "Well hello, brother." She greeted with a smile that reminded one of the beauty of the summer, a smile that instantly erased the one’s on Cassian’s handsome face.

"Dang it! You are a private nuisance, do you know that?" Cassian abruptly got to his feet after seeing his sister walk in with her cellar in hand. He should have suspected the nosy brat would follow him here to feed her curiosity, and now he’s been caught red-handed by the least person he wanted to find out about any of this.

"I’ll tell my mother." She said, "I’ll tell her exactly what you’ve been up to lately. I bet she doesn’t know you can see ghosts, she also doesn’t know the reason you can see ghosts was because you trespassed into the abandoned part of the house father had warned us to stay away from. I bet she doesn’t know you secretly sneaked out of your monthly education training to join the military and you’re now a secret detective. I bet she doesn’t know you’re handling ...."

"What do you want from me? Say it and let’s get this over with." Cassian was dumbfounded when his sister openly listed all his secrets for his ears to hear. He was super sure he erased all the evidence that would lead anyone to discovering his hatches, so how did this female version of the devil even know about all of this??

"What I want is simple." Inna dropped her cellar to the side of the wall before turning her attention to her brother. "I want to help you. I want to be a part of something you do, and I want to contribute since I’ve noticed how badly you’ve been stressing yourself for the whole of Carmarthen to be precise."

"This isn’t one of your dance classes Inna," Cassian outrightly turned her down. "This could end up as life threatening and I want you out of it. Keep your lips sealed and go back home, right now."

"Won’t you test my capabilities first? You’ll need my help in catching the criminal. I’m more intelligent than you think, else how did I get to know about all your movements despite erasing the evidence?" Inna countered back.

"Okay, but why would we need your help?" Orson tried not to laugh. "You’re a girl...."

"I’m a what?" Inna hit him with a glare that dared him to complete what he planned on saying, and that instantly frightened him. "You’re a very good uhmm.. Cas deal with your sister she’s trying to freak me out." Orson reported.

"Go home Inna." Cassian said sternly. "Putting your life at risk is the last thing I want, so forget about helping me and go back home. Isn’t your dance test happening tomorrow? Go and practice, and leave me to face mine."

"You underestimate me brother, for your information I’ll be turning seventeen in a couple of months, issues like this are not new to me since our father is a Duke. And if you try to bring age into this, I’ll spill a lot of your evil deeds to mother."

Walking past Cassian after rendering him mute, she looked at the drawings on the table. "Did you two get bored that you started drawing ugly-looking pictures of blades?"

"No dummy, and give Orson some credit will you?" Cassian asserted while Orson was deeply hurt that Inna referred to his sketches as ugly. "These are weapons that the criminal owns. Finding a bladesmith who is capable of forging such blades was what we were discussing before you interrupted us."

"What if I promise to help you find the bladesmith in a week?" She proposed, but Cassian scoffed. "Find the bladesmith in two days and I still won’t let you join. You can’t bet your way into this."

"Five days." She proposed further.

"Inna."

"Four."

"No."

"Three."

"Deal." And they shook hands. Inna smiled triumphantly. "If I find the bladesmith in three days, then will you let me help you?"

"If you don’t find the bladesmith in these three days, you’ll stay away from my business and stop spying on me. Are we good?"

"Deal."

"What sort of siblings are you???" Watching them strike a deal like they were fighting for some business proposal really threw Orson off guard. His sister doesn’t vibe with him much like Cassian did with his own sister, so it is difficult for him to understand how they could read one another so well.

When that had been settled, another knock was heard on the door, and this time around, Cassian was willing to go see who it was.

Opening the door, Madeline was the one who stood at the entrance, and she looked really concerned about something.

"Maddie?"

"Cassian, I think I’ve seen someone with that description you made earlier." She informed him.