Clues

"Sebastian?" the man by side of the girl in a dress—Sebastian's uncle, Thomas Warde spoke, "ah! You're the little boy who came with Clarice. Linet, greet your cousin."

The girl in the dress, Linet snapped out of her daze and stretched her hand out, "Linet Warde, nice to meet you," she spoke. But as soon as she spoke, she retracted her hand in fear but before she could completely do so, Sebastian shook her hand.

"Sebastian Sol, likewise," seeing that Sebastian wasn't offended by the handshake, Linet breathed a sigh of relief and excused herself. Sebastian saw that and raised his brow. What was she so afraid of?

"Hahaha," Thomas laughed awkwardly. "Sorry about that Sebastian, Linet is quite scared of 『Inheritors』 because of something that happened in the past," he explained.

Sebastian shook his head, "I don't mind. I don't like 『Inheritors』 that much either."

"Really? You'll probably get along well with Linet then," Thomas commented, "I don't suppose you have time to chat first?"

"I'm sorry uncle but I've urgent business to attend to so after visiting my grandparents' graves I'm going to leave," Sebastian apologized.

"No, that's fine. I wanted you to chat with Linet for a bit to at least ease some of her fear for 『Inheritors』 but if you're busy then you don't have to."

Sebastian touched his chin in thought before speaking, "I may have some time tomorrow. Is that alright?"

"Perfect!" Thomas exclaimed before pointing his hands towards a small pathway, "shall we go?". Sebastian nodded and the two of them proceeded along the path. Once Sebastian left, the atmosphere in the party went back to normal and people began chattering amongst themselves.

"I heard they were connected to the House of Sol but it's really true!"

"Someone even came to visit them..."

"It didn't seem like Miss Linet knew though."

At the back of the estate, Sebastian looked up at the old tree. It had some sort of mysterious feeling to it and he couldn't help but stare at it in a daze.

Thomas saw that Sebastian's mind was preoccupied and didn't disturb him. When Sebastian finally regained himself, it had been at least half a minute. He blinked twice then looked around to see Thomas behind him with a warm smile.

"This old tree, most people who see it for the first time end up staring at it but you're the only one to lose yourself—twice at that," Thomas stepped in front of Sebastian and began walking towards the tree. Sebastian really didn't remember when he visited this place but he had to have been really young because the sight of this old tree was something he wouldn't be able to forget.

He felt a connection it, though strange as it may sound.

Sebastian shook his head to clear his thoughts, he had other things to deal with right now. He quickly followed Thomas behind the old tree and there, two gravestones were planted next to each other.

"Ah, I left the flowers in the carriage," Sebastian suddenly remembered. Thomas waved his hands, "it's fine, you can stay. I'll go and get them."

"Thank you," as Sebastian thanked him, Thomas left him alone. There, he could clearly see the engravings on the gravestone, as if it was newly carved. "They must've renewed the writings recently, it's been quite a while after all," the date on the tombstone was over twenty years ago.

"Grandmother, grandfather, I'm sorry for being rude but my very fate decides on this," Sebastian apologized before squatting down and inspecting the graves. He had to do it quickly before Thomas comes back.

He looked at the grass, the gravestone, behind it, he even tried to see if there were any spots he could dig but to no avail. In the end, he settled on the writing. It was a typical gravestone, a 'here lies Nichol Warde' with two dates on the bottom could be seen on his grandfather's tombstone and the same writing could be seen on his grandmother's with the exception of the name, 'Christine Warde' and the date of birth.

Below the dates, there was a sentence but unlike the rest of the writings, these didn't seem to be carved again as Sebastian couldn't read them at all. He tried wiping it with his fingers and then his napkin but the grime was far too thick to be removed without water.

At that point, Thomas returned and saw Sebastian trying to clean his grandparents' gravestone and decided to fetch water.

For a few more minutes, Sebastian kept on trying to clear the words until Thomas came with a servant holding a container of water.

"Sebastian," Thomas called out, "we have some water here, move aside."

Sebastian looked at him in surprise for a second before nodding and making way. The servant quickly wet a rag and then wiped off the dirt on the entire gravestone.

"You're very filial, even thinking to dirty your clothes and cleaning the graves yourself," Thomas had a smile on his face as he said that.

Sebastian coughed awkwardly and turned his head. He was this close to defiling his grandparents' graves and yet he was being called filial.

Thomas took that as a cough of embarrassment and laughed, much to Sebastian's dismay. It took a few minutes for the servant to finish but when he did, the tomb looked as good as new, even the words on the bottom could clearly be seen.

"We all have roots, our origins, and these roots give way to the younger generations by making a tree and branching out," was written on his grandfather's tombstone. He then looked at his grandmother's tombstone, "the tree grows and grows, never to be halted, but, we mustn't forget our roots, no matter how long."

They just seemed to be normal words speaking of family. They were speaking of a 'root' but it was doubtful if it was the same as what the old librarian was talking about.

"Origins, huh?" Sebastian muttered and took the flowers from Thomas before setting them down. "I'll come to visit again tomorrow, then sometime in the near future after that," Sebastian gave one last look at the grave and stood up. Thomas was silent and led Sebastian back to his carriage where they parted.

"Thank you for today, uncle," Sebastian stretched his hand. "It's fine, I'm actually glad that you're quite the filial boy, you need to remember your uncle when you become big one day, alright?" Thomas joked but Sebastian bowed slightly, "I will."

Thomas laughed and saw Sebastian off. Once he left, Thomas looked at the gate, "Linet, you can come out now."

At first, there was no response but gradually, a black haired girl with wavy hair walked out, she was still wearing the dress from the party but the guests were already gone.

"Why did you end the gathering early?" Thomas asked.

"...I didn't feel well so I moved the venue inside," Linet responded.

"How do you feel about your cousin?" Thomas looked into the direction the carriage had left.

"He's... nice," Linet responded a bit shyly.

Thomas saw that and placed his hand on Linet's head, "if you think he's nice, we can propose marriage to him. It's the first time you've ever praised someone like that after all."

He had noticed Linet watching Sebastian the entire time. At first, it was out of cautiousness but seeing Sebastian's earnest attitude somehow changed her opinion of him. Though, when he was inspecting the graves, she just thought that he was making sure they were in pristine condition.

Linet turned beet red and vehemently shook her head, "no! I'm not even an adult yet, he'll think I'm childish..."

Thomas stared at her dumbfounded for a second, "so if you're an adult, then you'll accept?"

Linet just stood there in silence while staring into space then ran away.

"...what did Sebastian do to my daughter? What happened to her hate of 『Inheritors』?" Thomas was confused. He was just joking about the marriage but it seemed like his daughter wasn't at all opposed to it.

There weren't necessarily any problems for first cousins to marry but most people only use it as a last resort, especially since there was a risk of children being born with problems. But, those problems disappear when the other party is a 『Inheritor』 and the interference of third parties would be removed because a 『Inheritor's』 status is special.

"Eh? Now that I think about it, why is Sebastian's hair black?" Thomas muttered to himself but thought it was just Clarice's genes taking the dominant side.

But, little did he know the common knowledge among 『Inheritors』, a 『Inheritor's』 genes take priority when it comes to children.

...

The next day,

Sebastian sat on the old tree reading a book. For the first time in a few days, he finally felt peace. He closed his eyes to bask in the wind.

He was on the other side of the tree that his grandparents were buried. Although his view was blocked by the estate, he still felt that it was a good place to stay.

Yesterday Sebastian immediately went to the library after leaving the estate. There, he paid a deposit fee and rented a book out to be returned in three days.

Now, he was waiting by the tree for Linet to come by.

Sebastian didn't find what he was looking for in this town, but that didn't mean he was giving up. Tonight, he was going to leave the town and head back home and there, he'd look for more clues by asking his mother and if he can't find any, then he'd go to the House of Sol.

Even if they refuse to associate with Sebastian, he still has their blood running through his veins.

"It's nearly time," Sebastian muttered. They were going to meet at the tree by noon and that was only a few minutes away. Sebastian set down his book and was about to stretch but before he could stand up—the voice of a girl called out to him, "Sebastian."

"Huh?" Sebastian only managed to utter one word before his back sunk into the tree and his vision faded into darkness. Soon after, Linet arrived wearing a floral dress and a hat with a red face. She had her sight covered by the hat but when she looked at the tree, she only saw the book left on the floor.

She looked around and picked up the book but there was no sign of Sebastian, much to her confusion.

"Sebastian?" she called out. She attempted to call out several times for his name, each time louder than the last but there was no sign of him at all.

She picked up the book and ran towards her father—afraid that something must've happened.

...

"Urgh..." Sebastian groaned while trying to prop himself up. He couldn't see anything but the ground felt harder than dirt. He kept on feeling his surroundings but other than the occasional leaf, all he could identify was wood.

At that point, Sebastian remembered what happened before he lost consciousness, the voice of a girl called his name and the tree suddenly swallowed him up.

"Who are you?" Sebastian shouted. He was in the darkness and he didn't know where to direct his voice. Unexpectedly, an answer came from the same voice earlier.

"Balanos," as the voice fell upon Sebastian's ear, his surroundings were lit up and there, he saw a surreal scene. The floors and walls were made of wood, there were leaves scattered around the floor and sticking out of the walls. There were several long branches that stretched out to cover most of the space and, there was a throne made of those branches.

Sitting on the throne is a blonde girl with atavisms on her face and several parts of her body. Other than the exposed space between her breasts, arms, stomach, and thighs, everything below the collar bone was covered in wood and roots as if she was melded into the tree but at the same time, felt as if they were only clothes.

"I've been waiting for you, Sebastian. We haven't met in a while," Balanos spoke to him without emotion.

"...what are you?" Sebastian had heard of beings like her before but, he had to confirm it with the person herself.

"That's right... You've lost your memories of your last visit," Balanos sighed but that voice felt cold. Sebastian didn't know how he could feel emotions in a sigh, but that was the feeling that he got.

"Let me introduce myself once again. My name is Balanos, the hamadryad[1] of this tree and your guardian. I welcome you, future bearer of the stigma."