Chapter 12, Help

 For this plan, Seake reluctantly unraveled a sweater, transforming it from long sleeves to short. Although there were fibers available from old rags, they might have been contaminated. The spying spell required delicate materials, which had to be carefully selected.

 The next day, Seake concealed the processed fibers in his sleeve and scattered them around the house as he moved about. He didn't attempt to throw any fibers into the maids' lounge because he felt that before doing so, he should seek Valru and the maids' consent, but he found communication troublesome. Generally, people who could perform teleportation spells would set up more than one teleportation point, and many would habitually use teleportation wherever they went, so surveillance elsewhere should also suffice.

 Anyway, Seake already appeared suspicious enough to others, so he didn't need to come up with an excuse to wander aimlessly. He walked openly on the first and second floors, and people just looked at him with their usual eyes.

 The third floor was the living area for the master's family, and even if he was unsociable, he couldn't violate the rules by breaking in. His attic was connected directly from the first floor via a ladder, and there was no way he could get close there, with no excuses to find.

 As Seake pondered the possibilities of infiltration by the stairs leading to the third floor, Valru rushed down the stairs from the third floor at a fast pace. His face was pale, his breathing was rapid, and as far as Seake knew, Valru could only panic like this for one reason.

 "What happened to Miss?" Seake asked.

 "Quick, get someone!" Valru grabbed Seake's shoulder as if he needed Seake's support to remain standing.

 "Who should I get?" Seake had just arrived and had no idea who could be reliable. There was absolutely no way he could go to Miss Hana. Seake needed to understand the situation. He told Valru, "You go get someone, and I'll go upstairs to see!"

 Valru nodded vigorously and ran off.

 Seake rushed up the stairs. Compared to the exaggerated style downstairs, the decor upstairs was much simpler, with no shiny gold trimmings, just more subdued dark colors.

 Seake didn't have time to admire the furniture and decorations. As soon as he arrived, he saw that the door at the end of the corridor was open, the window inside the room was wide open, and cold air kept pouring into the room.

 And at the door of the room, the master was holding onto Mrs. Yolan's blouse, continuously slapping her. Mrs. Yolan's hair was disheveled, with bloodstains sticking to her face.

 Seake stepped back. He should have fled decisively after asking Valru to find someone. Why did he interfere on his own? But then Seake thought about the last time there was domestic violence, Valru did not intervene. What made Valru so panicked wasn't that Mrs. Yolan was frequently beaten, but Mrs. Yolan, who had never been in mortal danger before.

 Seake strode forward and approached the doorway. His gaze passed through the crack between the couple, and he saw a woman lying on the carpet inside the room, her head facing the window, her legs spread open towards the door.

 Seake wasn't witnessing this scene for the first time, but he could never get used to it. Every time he saw something like this, he felt a mixture of anger and disgust burning inside him. He really wanted to catch the person who did this and make them pay.

 The woman lying on the floor was one of the twins, but Seake didn't know which one. Her clothes had been pulled up to her ribs, the neckline torn, revealing several scratches on her left breast. Her inner pants were missing, and there were several shallow red abrasions on her thighs.

 Seake set aside his anger and calmly assessed the situation of Miss. Her eyes were not focused, her face blank, emitting a giggling sound from her throat. Her body convulsed and twisted.

 She's been poisoned. Seake recalled that aphrodisiac. Many aphrodisiacs were named as such but were actually date-rape drugs. Another possibility was Hana's dreadful potions, which had finally caused severe mutations due to contamination. Generally, more than 90% of the unintended effects caused by contamination were not good.

 If not dealt with quickly, Miss would be in danger.

 "What are you doing? That's my daughter, you can't do this!" The master shouted at Mrs. Yolan.

 "She's my flesh and blood, I won't give her to you!" Mrs. Yolan cried out.

 "Step aside!" Seake stepped forward, growling low at the couple. His volume was not loud, but extremely deep, like an earthquake, instantly making the couple feel that this was a primitive threat that neither law nor power could suppress, and they had no choice but to comply.

 The two shrank back against the doorframe. Seake strode through between them. Then they started arguing again. Seake blocked out their voices from his mind and focused on Miss. He saw numerous light purple bruises on her skin, her complexion unnaturally flushed. Seake touched the inside of her wrist; her pulse was beating fast and irregularly.

 Gritting his teeth, Seake opened his herb pouch. He recalled which herbs were in Hana's studio and which were listed on the receipts. He had an inexplicable intuition, and with the symptoms of poisoning, he believed that the poison's formula should consist of materials listed on those receipts but not found in the studio.

 Seake began to concoct the antidote. Considering the issue of unknown contamination sources, if he used a complicated formula, it might trigger more unpredictable consequences. So, he used the simplest, most potent formula. Drawing on his experience, he selected three herbs that were most suitable and rolled them into pills, stuffing them into Miss's mouth, only to be immediately pushed out by her tongue.

 "This is expensive, swallow it quickly!" Seake urged.

 There were banging sounds coming from the stairwell; Valru had brought people. A group of servants separated the arguing couple and led them away. Valru knelt beside Seake.

 "How is she?" Valru asked.

 "I made an antidote, but she can't swallow it," Seake replied.

 "Are you sure this will work?" Valru frowned.

 "Absolutely!" Seake said confidently. Though not a shining history, in the Dark Academy, he was a first-class poisoner, and his detoxification skills were equally remarkable.

 "Give it to me." After saying this, Valru took the medicine from Seake's hand and tossed it into his mouth. Seake prepared to scold him, but why did Valru eat it? Then Valru made a move that Seake couldn't imagine and couldn't possibly emulate.

 Valru bent down, his lips meeting Miss's, and transferred the medicine to her mouth.

 Seake watched in disbelief. He had heard of such exchanges of air and water, but feeding medicine? How skilled must one be with their tongue to do that?

 A few seconds passed, and Valru raised his head, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Seake found it hard not to notice Valru's tongue, which had retreated only at the last moment.

 "Did she... take it?" Seake asked awkwardly.

 "She did." Valru answered manfully.

 "Are you two—" Seake didn't know how to ask. "Are you a couple?"

 "Yeah." Valru's shoulders drooped, as if he didn't want to hide it anymore.

 Seake squatted down and took Miss's hand to check her pulse. So, this person was Gino's sister? As Seake measured Miss's pulse, he felt it gradually slow down, becoming steady and regular.

 Valru took the blanket from the bed and covered Miss with it. The flush on her face began to recede, and her body stopped trembling, indicating a clear improvement in her condition.

 "Great, it's working!" Seake exclaimed excitedly, celebrating his achievement.

 Valru slowly combed Miss's hair, his actions filled with deep affection, making Seake feel like he shouldn't be witnessing this.

 Footsteps came from the stairs again. This time, the owner of the footsteps was lighter in weight but heavier in tread, with a speed equal to that of a man. Within seconds, another twin appeared at the door, gasping for breath and asking, "Is Sister okay?"

 So, the one in the room was Lino, Gino's sister.

 Valru went forward and spoke to Gino for a few moments, then lifted Lino onto the bed. Two maids followed Gino into the room, and they immediately took over.

 Seake and Valru left the room, closing the door behind them. Because they had just been too tense, they instinctively leaned against the door, relaxing and sitting down.

 Seake had something very important to tell Valru: "Your wife's medical expenses, seventy-six silver coins."

 Without hesitation, Valru took out a gold coin and handed it to Seake, who accepted it without giving any change.

 "Thank you," Valru said.

 Seake suddenly felt the urge to give change to Valru, but he resisted for the sake of his own wallet.

 "But she won't marry me. Our status difference is too great," Valru said.

 "But everyone hopes you two will be together," Seake said. Now he understood everything. The maids were willing to let Valru into the maid's lounge because he was seen as someone who already had a partner, much safer than Seake, the single man. He could sense from the way they looked at Valru and spoke to him that these people all highly approved of Valru.

 Valru didn't answer. Seake wanted to ask what had just happened? He sat on the floor for a long time, hands clutching his feet, head tilted back to look at the ceiling. Finally, he thought of the most tactful way to ask: "Does this sort of thing happen often?"

 Luckily Valru understood what Seake was asking, so Seake didn't have to explain further. Valru regarded Seake as one of his own, so he replied, "This time it's especially bad."

 "How long has this been going on?" Seake asked. This determined how difficult it would be to clear the poison from Miss's body. The longer it lasted, the harder it would be to remove.

 "I don't know. It was like this when I arrived."

 "No one knows? Surely some people arrived before you."

 "Hana is the most senior here. The others don't know. They all came within the last three years," Valru said. "Their previous servants were all dismissed, and the current ones were newly hired."

 Seake recalled what Selen had said: rape. The reality was worse than that; it wasn't even consensual, but something even more depraved like incest.

 "This is sick. Were the previous servants dismissed because they wanted to stop these things? Or were they about to uncover some core secret that couldn't be known to others, so they were expelled early?" Seake believed the master wasn't worried about the servants revealing what he had done, otherwise Valru wouldn't still be fine now. So why were the previous servants dismissed?

 Regardless of what that secret was, Hana was clearly an accomplice, as she was unscathed amid the dismissal storm. That's why Valru kept a close eye on Hana. What about XiaoBa's death? Did he find out about that secret?

 "What do you think Hana is up to?" Seake asked.

 "I'm not sure, but I think she wants to recreate the magic that blew up this place years ago." Valru also knew about the big explosion: "I'm not a mage, but I can tell by the way she buys so much stuff and by her sneaky expressions. That's the look of someone completely incapable trying to do something big and spectacular."

 "Hana wants to control a dangerous spell that she's incapable of controlling."

 "That's absolutely no good," Seake said. "Professional mages should know their limits to avoid harming themselves."

 "People like her think the greater the power, the better. The bigger the explosion, the more casualties, she only thinks it's worth doing, without considering the risk she can't bear," Valru said.

 Seake nodded. This was the main reason why incidents involving casualties in spell research had never disappeared from ancient times to the present day. No matter how many safety measures were introduced by the Wand of Light or how many props were invented by experienced mages to stabilize spell energy, there were still plenty of people blowing themselves up.

 There were always people eager to challenge the impossible, especially those who were incapable of judging what was impossible. For people like Hana, who couldn't even blow up an egg, her stupid head couldn't even imagine what it would be like for a house to turn into a big pit.

 The silver box on Seake's neck started to tremble, reminding him that it was lunchtime.

 "I'm going to get lunch," Seake said, shrinking his neck. "If there's any change in the situation, come and get me."

 "Tell the chef I want to give you double the portion," Valru squeezed out a smile.

 "Okay, I'll make sure to tell him." Seake got up, dropping some lint from his sleeve as he left the third floor.