Claude drove his carriage frantically through the streets. Fortunately, the keepers in the area didn't stop him. The carriages were only checked when they were entering or exiting town, but nobody would bother to cause trouble to the carriages that were already in town. Those people driving so quickly probably had an emergency like someone in their family falling sick or something.
Nobody gathered outside the red-bricked mansion. Instead, there was a crowd at the shops opposite the mansion, seemingly gossiping about something while pointing at Claude's house from time to time. Claude's arrival also caught their attention. They stopped speaking immediately and only stared.
Claude ignored them; he was only concerned with finding out what happened at home, or rather, why his father was being detained.
His mother sat at the dining table as she sobbed silently. There was also an obvious palm print on Bloweyk's face. He was hugging the snowhound and huddled in a corner of the room as his nose ran nonstop. Angelina was mopping the large puddle of water within the kitchen. It looked like a teapot containing red tea had been flipped over, causing it to spill its contents.
The moment Claude entered, the snowhound hurriedly wagged its tail. Bloweyk began to cry loudly once more as he stretched his hand out for a hug. Angelina on the other hand stared at him, teary-eyed, before they streamed down her face.
"Mother, what happened? Why was Father arrested?" Claude ignored his siblings and only wanted to find out what happened.
Madam Ferd shook her head. "I don't know either... When I was making breakfast in the kitchen this morning, a few soldiers and two military officers came over with an order. They said that your father had done something to threaten national security and would have to be investigated... Your father was brought away before he even took a bite of food..."
What the hell? How could that happen? Morssen's only a chief secretary of town that's in charge of economic development and the improvement of civilian life! How could he threaten national security? This is a joke, right? It's not like he's a gun technician or a military commander, nor is he the head prefect of the three southwestern prefectures! He's only a small-time bureaucrat of Whitestag! What kind of threat could he pose to the kingdom itself? This insinuation sounds as bad as treason. If he's really charged of it, then he'd be shot dead without question.
"There must've been a mistake!" Claude really doubted the veracity of the accusations. It would make more sense if Morssen were apprehended for bribery. Yet, which official of the kingdom didn't take their fair share of under-table money? Morssen himself on the other hand had always been clean and refused to accept any gifts. That was something the townsfolk knew well. He only ever wanted to buy partial ownership of other business for some small profit and never went too far with greed. That was why partnership in business with him was always welcome.
"There's no mistake. That was what the military officers announced when they came over this morning. We heard it really clearly." Madam Ferd was also aware of how serious that allegation was. Panic and despair were visible on her face as her tears continued to trickle onto the table.
Angelina nodded and added, "Mother even started when she heard that in the kitchen and dropped the teapot."
"What about Father? Did he explain anything?" Claude hugged Bloweyk, who had been tugging at his pants, to prevent him from wiping his snot and tears on his pants.
"No, your father only took a deep puff of smoke, put his pipe on the table, before nodding to the officers and leaving with them. He didn't say anything else."
Claude found that his mother was still holding his father's black mulberry-wood ivory pipe tightly.
Weird, why didn't Father say anything? Aren't the innocently accused the loudest when it comes to proving their innocence? Wouldn't the normal reaction be to explain themselves right away? Instead, Father's acting like captured spies who were compromised in their mission... But could he really be a spy or secret agent from another kingdom? It can't be, that would be laughable... He only held a position as a lowly town official. There's no way for him to come into contact with national secrets at all...
"Oh, and where's Arbeit?" Claude looked around and didn't see his elder brother. Isn't that bastard freeloading off the house for food and a bed? Where is he during such a serious time?
Madam Ferd wiped her tears and said, "Your elder brother went out to find out what happened."
At least he isn't goofing around. Just as Claude wanted to nod, Angelina said, "He took the house's money and ran."
The house's money?
"What money?"
"He didn't run. He said he was going to ask about Father and would need to spend some money on that, so I gave him some," explained his mother. Her tears had stopped flowing.
"He took all the money from home. We no longer have any for groceries," said Angelina unhappily.
"You darned brat, is finding out what happened to your father or buying groceries more important? It's not like we have nothing left at home. Just eat a piece of bread or two if you're hungry," she looked at Angelina angrily and said.
"How much money did he take?" Claude asked his sister. If Arbeit really needed the money to ask around, then it was still fine. What he feared was that the bastard was just using it as an excuse to cheat the family of their money.
"Around ten thales I think," Angelina said after some thought, "I don't know how much there is in total. He basically took all the money from the chest mom stored them in."
Madam Ferd had a small chest in which she stored her personal money and the rest that her husband gave her monthly. Basically, the three thales Morssen earned monthly were given to her to run the family. He had other sources of income after all and would give her more money when his mood was good. Mother counted on that income to maintain the household and only managed to save up to ten plus thales over the years, which should amount to three crowns.
But now, all that money had been taken by Arbeit in the name of finding out more about their father. Claude didn't want to bother with it anymore since it wasn't like he would be able to find his so-called elder brother at this point in time. He put his hand into his pocket and took out the eight thales he got from selling the cloud leopard and handed them to his sister.
"Use this for shopping later like usual. If anyone asks about Father, just tell them you're not sure what happened. We must stay calm at a time like this. No matter what happens, we must face it bravely as a family, understood?"
Nowadays, Angelina was the one in charge of buying groceries. Though she was only fourteen, she was capable of helping their mother with many household chores. Claude didn't hand the money to his mother because she was far too distraught from their father's arrest and would easily be a target of scams. His sister, on the other hand, listened to him and seemed far more reliable. She was very opinionated and wasn't really gullible.
Claude put his bawling brother down. "Stop crying, Blowk. I'll bring you to wash your face."
It was only then that he noticed the palm print on his face. Claude's expression darkened. "Who hit you?"
If the military officers that came that day did it, he wouldn't mind going to cause a ruckus at their camp. His younger siblings were his keystones. In his past life, he was an only child with no siblings, so he only knew friendship. It was only after he came to this world that he found out about siblinghood from his younger siblings. Given how badly he spoiled them usually, he would definitely not spare anyone that dared to bully them!
"It's Big Brother. After Father was brought away by the officers, Mother went upstairs to bring her money to him. Blowk here was crying really loudly, so Big Brother just slapped him. I was afraid he'd do the same to me, so I stayed in the kitchen without coming out. The snowhound tried to bite him, but Big Brother said that he'll call for someone to kill it tonight, so Blowk hugged it tightly and didn't let it attack him," summarized Angelina.
Claude took a deep breath and forced the anger he felt down. If Arbeit was before him right now, he would definitely give him a beating so heavy that he would be bedridden for at least two weeks. Arbeit started acting up before his siblings the moment their father was brought away by the officers. It didn't take much for Claude to realize that the money their mother had given Arbeit was long gone.
If he really went to check on Father, then perhaps I'll forgive him. Otherwise, I'll definitely show him the consequences of his actions.
"Have you all had breakfast yet?" asked Claude as he wiped his brother's face down.
Madam Ferd shook her head bitterly. "I don't have an appetite and wasn't able to eat anything. I feel horrible now."
It seemed like none of them had eaten. Claude entered the kitchen and found that breakfast was half-made; the eggs weren't fried and the bacon wasn't cut. Only a basket of white bread was finished.
"Mom, if you're feeling unwell, go upstairs to take a rest first. I'll take care of Blowk and Anna. I'll call you down if Arbeit returns with news about Father."
She nodded and wiped her eyes again. "Alright. Claude, I'll go lie down for a bit. Look after them and call me if anything happens."
She almost tripped on her way upstairs. It was obvious that what happened during the morning had unnerved her greatly. As a housewife, she hadn't experienced any shock on this magnitude before. Her husband's capture was far too distressing to her. Had Claude not returned, she might've remained sitting at the dining table for the rest of the day.
"Anna, go take care of the teapot and the spill. I'll make some breakfast for you all."
"I don't want bread. I want to eat your noodles!" Blowk said. After Claude applied some perfect quality potion on his face, the palm mark almost vanished completely.
"I can't make any noodles now, let's' leave it for later. Have some bread for breakfast. I'll make some sweet egg soup and spread honey over your bread, okay?"
Blowk pondered for a good while and said, "Okay. Then you must make noodles for lunch. You must keep your promise!"
After finishing breakfast Claude and his sister cleaned the kitchen up. He then brought his siblings and the snowhound to the open market for some grocery shopping and also got a large back of grass feed as well as a wooden basin for Jemmy. Given that he would be spending quite a lot of time at home in the following days, Claude had to take care of the black horse and couldn't let it starve.
There were many within the open market who had heard of how Morssen was captured by some soldiers. Quite a number of them gossiped behind his back. Fortunately, none of those fools were audacious enough to publicly humiliate Claude in the face. Otherwise, he would definitely make an example of them for the others to see. He wanted to let the blind fools know that his family was no target to mess with even without his father around.
As Claude was trying to wrestle some prunes away from Bloweyk, Angelina brought a sack of potatoes over and said, "Claude, the one who sold me the potatoes, Miss Linnie, said that the soldiers didn't only arrest our father during the morning. Quite a few others were taken as well. I heard Uncle Tomas was taken as well."
Tomas was Morssen's colleague. He was the chief constable of town.
"Are you sure?" asked Claude with surprise.
Angelina loaded the potatoes onto the carriage. "That's what Miss Linnie said. She said her husband saw Uncle Tomas being held tightly by the soldiers. He even resisted them for a bit and was forced to the ground by the soldiers with their guns and brought away on a carriage."
Claude felt that he was on the brink of understanding something. "Anna, let's go home first. Take care of Little Blowk. I'll head out later to find out more about this."
"Okay," nodded Angelina sensibly.