On Saturday morning, Xialuote came to the dining room at home with a touch of secret anticipation and set about enjoying the lavish breakfast prepared for her.
Unfortunately, that bit of good mood was soon ruined by her father, Lawuer Suolun, who sat in silence and now and then looked her way.
Several days had passed since the Tuesday when she visited the Gusitafu residence and then went with Luosaier and Gelin to look over the printing plant. The attack inside the plant had been seen by Laila, her personal maid, who had been waiting at the door, and Luosaier would certainly report it to his father as well. Hiding it was hardly possible.
Once Lawuer knew, his daughter's repeated concealment of the danger had clearly left him deeply displeased. Through every meal, and at the morning and evening greetings, he had already kept up a "cold war" for quite some time, leaving Xialuote with a helpless feeling of facing a stubborn elder.
As she ate, she could not help looking toward Lawuer.
The matter of the printing plant had already dragged on for days. Gelin was waiting for word, and Luosaier was probably studying those machines as well, yet on her side the most crucial step—speaking up—still had not been taken.
"You've already sneaked three looks at me. Is there something you want to say?"
The baron's voice came all at once. He set down his coffee cup, looked straight across the table, and waited for his daughter's answer.
You've sneaked plenty of looks at me too. You're just waiting for me to speak first... Xialuote grumbled inwardly. Realizing this was no time to trade barbs, she put on a slight, coaxing smile and said softly:
"It's an idea of Luosaier Gusitafu and Gelin Lande'er's. Um, Gelin is the young man who helped me the last time I was attacked..."
The more she said, the smaller her voice grew. She lowered her head and stole a glance at Lawuer from the corner of her eye. Only when she found that mentioning Tuesday had not brought the angry look back to his face did she go on:
"...They plan to start a gazette for Suxite itself, issued regularly. The contents would mainly be news the Municipal Hall allows to be made public, shop notices, job postings, lost-and-found, and some light stories and interesting rumors. I wanted to know whether something like that needs a publication permit."
Lawuer frowned, as if he had not expected his daughter to ask about this sort of thing, and asked in puzzlement:
"A gazette? Has someone commissioned Baron Gusitafu to do this?"
Just as she had thought. This world had no notion at all of buying a newspaper. Literary periodicals were purchased only when needed, and a gazette was only posted in the square and at the door of the Municipal Hall. No one would pay for printed sheets full of official language that did them little good... Xialuote thought for a moment, then explained:
"It's a small newspaper they would issue and sell on their own. The Municipal Hall news is only a cover. Most of the space would be printed with job notices ordinary people care about, changes in prices, and fresh happenings in this city and even the whole country. They think it will sell well."
As for paid advertising once the circulation rose, Xialuote did not reveal it now.
"Sell it to ordinary people..."
Lawuer repeated under his breath. He clearly did not think a cheap newspaper like this could make much money, and even took it for a fanciful attempt by a few young people.
But perhaps because this was the first time Xialuote had taken the initiative to break the cold war of these past few days, the displeasure in his eyes finally faded.
"If it is issued only within Suxite and does not touch the governmental affairs of other regions, one generally needs only the Municipal Hall's permission, and a guarantor of standing." He thought a moment, then said, "But if it prints political news from Telier, discusses war, taxes, or secrets of the royal family, or freely interprets the Church's holy canon in a way that makes the Church feel the paper has taken a side, then that is not something a baron of the Suolun household can casually guarantee."
A baron of the Suolun household? So Father was willing to stand guarantor, and it did not sound like a difficult matter... Starting with local daily-life information was the safest. Don't court disaster by touching politics right at the start, and still less stir up religious conflict. Of course, if they gained the Church's tacit consent, they might go a little deeper... Xialuote stored these points in her heart.
Watching his daughter sink into thought, Lawuer suddenly smiled and said with feeling:
"I thought you had no interest in these things."
Xialuote was taken aback.
She quickly remembered that the lessons the original Xialuote had chosen with the family tutor included only language, music, and etiquette, subjects better suited to a noble young lady's social life. She had never been keen on accounts, law, and estate management, the nobility's "traditional craft."
Even after her elder brother, Leinuo Suolun, died, and she had in fact become the only lawful heir of Baron Suolun's house, she had shown no interest in the knowledge she would have to master.
In the Kingdom of Yindisi, women had no right to inherit the throne, yet they could inherit hereditary titles and family property; their place in the succession simply came after the male heirs, and in most families with several children they rarely actually took up the inheritance. As for Luen, Fusake, Feineibote, and the other countries, each had traditions of its own. The original Xialuote had heard only a few scraps of this in the family tutor's lessons.
Because that original cowardly me is already dead, and the me now is the one interested in gold louis, in titles and status... She made a nasty little joke to herself, then smiled and said:
"I only feel I ought to learn a little more, and share your burdens."
Lawuer's expression softened. He seemed to want to reach out and pat her head, but held back, both because the table stood between them and because she was no longer a little girl.
"Once Luosaier is certain he means to do this, I'll go to the Municipal Hall and ask for you."
He said it in an encouraging tone.
"Thank you, Father." Xialuote suppressed the leap of joy in her heart and thanked him, then took advantage of the eased atmosphere to go on. "There's one more thing. I'm going to Saint Luoke Cathedral again today."
Lawuer's gentle smile froze on his face.
"To see that nun who used you as bait?"
His tone turned cold, and his expression grew stern.
So Father even knew about Weiyefu. Laila probably doesn't know her, but Luosaier heard my explanation, and once Uncle Lai'ang knew, he would tell Father... No. Once the newspaper is up and running, I'll demand a larger share as their punishment... Xialuote muttered to herself. Seeing that her father kept staring at her, she could only nod.
"Yes. She told me to come to the cathedral over the weekend, and said she wanted to talk about the people who attacked me on Tuesday."
Xialuote's gaze drifted to the cup of chocolate before her, already gone cold, and her voice dropped:
"I just felt the matter was already settled, and you've already been very worried lately..."
"Settled?" Lawuer's tone was not harsh, yet it made Xialuote feel even more guilty. "If the Church is willing to help you of its own accord, that means Aidian really does have some connection to those murder cases in the Old City. Do you think two or three people could pull off something that large? Isn't there a greater danger behind it?"
Xialuote opened her mouth, but in the end she could not refute him.
From her point of view, the two great Churches of Suxite had dealt with most of those in the evil cult that very night. All that remained was to lure out the last of the disgruntled remnants. But to explain any of this, she would have to reveal the existence of Extraordinary power, and the fact that she herself was very likely the last surviving sacrificial offering.
Tell one lie, and more lies are needed to hold it together. And she had already told countless lies.
Lawuer looked at her in her silence. Only after a good while did his expression ease, and he said slowly:
"I know that even if I stop you, you'll slip out anyway... Since the Church has already caught Aidian's accomplices and really is protecting you in secret, Miss Weiyefu must have her reasons for asking you to come."
Xialuote quietly let out a breath.
"But," Lawuer went on, "this time Laila will stay with you the whole way. And after you come back, you will tell me yourself what happened. You are not to let me hear it from a maid again."
Xialuote nodded at once.
"I understand."
————
Leaving her personal maid in the carriage, Xialuote walked alone into Saint Luoke Cathedral, adorned with gold leaf, stained-glass windows, and huge murals.
This time she never got the chance to line up at the confessional. She had only just reached the side aisle when a man in a gold-trimmed brown coat came out from behind a column.
Xialuote recognized him. Outside the printing plant on Tuesday, it was he who had stopped the workers trying to approach the storeroom, and who had carried off over his shoulder the black-robed woman Weiyefu had knocked down with a single punch.
"Good morning, Miss Suolun," the man said, touching the brim of his tricorn and bowing with a smile. "Sister Weiyefu is already waiting for you. Please come with me."
Xialuote nodded and followed him through the prayer hall into the area at the rear of the cathedral, which was not open to ordinary believers.
As they walked a stretch of corridor paved with pale stone bricks, the man suddenly said:
"That day, facing the heretics, you were very brave, and calm enough. If you had not planned to go into that narrow space to draw them out, and used holy water to buy time, we might not have caught those two dangerous people so smoothly."
No. That day really was an accident. I never realized the beggar was one of those lying in wait, and dodging the black-robed woman's attack was only luck... She badly wanted to say she had merely been driven to desperation, and that it had little to do with bravery or calm, but his tone was so sincere that for a moment she did not know how to contradict him.
In the end, she could only say, stiffly:
"Praise the Sun."
The man's expression turned solemn at once. In the corridor, already none too wide, he spread his arms, drew himself up straight, and answered with gravity:
"Praise the Sun!"
Come on, you're far too devout. There's no third person here... Xialuote silently closed her mouth and decided to say less to this zealot from here on.
Past the corridor, they went up a spiral stair.
The stone steps were narrow and clean, and the walls were painted gold as well. At intervals, ventilation windows stood open. Xialuote recognized this as one of the cathedral's four small towers and realized she was heading for the area above the prayer hall. Full of delight, she prepared to see the official Extraordinary base hidden within the Church.
Instead, the higher they climbed, the more spacious the surroundings became: records rooms, resting rooms, rows of archive cabinets, and corridors awash in sunlight, so quiet she could hear the echo of footsteps. It was as if she had entered some area where the clergy worked and rested.
So I'm still a long way from touching the true core... She was a little disappointed, and yet felt this was only reasonable.
While she was thinking, the man stopped before a dark wooden door and knocked lightly twice.
"Come in."
Weiyefu's gentle voice came from inside.
The man pushed the door open and stepped aside to let Xialuote enter.
It was a room far brighter than she had imagined. Directly opposite the door was a huge painted stained-glass window. Morning sunlight passed through the glass and fell across a long table of rather old design, the chair backs, and the Sun Holy Emblem on the wall, so that the whole room seemed wrapped in a warm golden mist.
By the window, Weiyefu had changed back into that ordinary nun's habit. Her blond hair was neatly gathered beneath her veil, and her expression was as gentle as it had been in the confessional.
She first nodded to the man in the brown coat and said:
"Thank you, Brother Yelun. Please leave first, and lock the door while you're at it."
Only after he had shut the door did she turn back to Xialuote and smile.
"Good morning, Miss Xialuote. About the attack a few days ago, there are some things you ought to know." She offered no pleasantries at all, and went straight to the subject Xialuote cared about most. "The good news is that before they died, we still managed to get quite a lot of useful information out of them. The bad news is...
"...this matter is far from over."
Chapter 19