BLOODY LOVE'S
Episode 132

Mr. Stuart comes after breakfast. George escorted him to Marco's study, where Jose was waiting. In the room were also Rolan, Krip, Gerald, and Hans.

Mr. Stuart is a thirty-five-year-old man with black hair neatly combed back and a thin, transverse mustache. A smile never escaped his lips, and the man's manner of walking was as lithe and graceful as a cat.

"Mr Jose Argent" he said, greeting politely.

Jose had already moved from the table to meet the man. He greeted her politely. "Just call me Jose, sir. We've been waiting for you. Sit down, and please forgive my impoliteness, but we'll get straight to the subject."

Mr. Stuart greeted Rolan, who was already waiting for him with an excited face on the sofa set in the room. Both Krip, Gerald, and Hans did not sit on the sofa but rather stood politely near the wall like a decorative sculpture of armor. Jose had previously asked the three of them to come sit on the sofa but the three refused loudly. They feel very presumptuous to sit in the same chair as their master.

"I hope you don't mind, but whatever we're talking about, we're going to talk about it with four other people here" Jose sat on the sofa set, as quoted by Reuters, in a single chair at the end of the coffee table. "You know who they are."

"Whatever you want, Mr. Jose," said Mr. Stuart calmly, sitting on the chair beside Rolan. "This is Argent's house, you make the rules. I'm just a guest here."

Jose smiled faintly at the answer. That means Mr. Stuart will really work with him. George came to bring him a drink, then after making sure there was nothing lacking to be needed, he left immediately with the door closed.

Mr. Stuart waited until he really heard the sound of the door clutch shut tight, then dared to speak. "I've actually come to talk about Mr. Phillips Raynor and Lord Dominic, but I'm sure you've been informed by Mr. Phillips. The crip?"

Jose nodded. "Only the outline. You open the baronetage and discover that no one is named Sir William Bannet?"

"Of course there is. But if he were alive, he would be one hundred and eighty-five." Mr. Stuart quit. The tip of his lips was attracted in a knotty smile seeing the people in the room no one reacted. Even the two workers standing quietly behind Jose did not seem surprised. "You know about this, huh? Well then, whatever I want to say after this is just stale news to your ears."

"Not necessarily" said Jose. "Doctor Rolan wants to tell us something interesting. I'd like you to also hear it and give an opinion, Sir."

All eyes were staring at Rolan now. Despite not sleeping well for two days and being stressed from taking care of things without Marco, Rolan seems excited right now.

"Mr Stuart, you know what scholomance is?"

Mr. Stuart's expression changed. The man straightened his back, now looking more serious. The smile even faded from her thin lips. "The devil's school" he said carefully. "There's a myth in Romania about the devil's school. Children will be taken and trained by the devil himself there. They were not allowed to see the sun for ten years in school. The chosen one will have the secret of heaven: whether it be alchemy, controlling the weather, or something like that. They are called Solomonaries. The rest of the children will die. I heard that one man made it out of there alive by deceiving the devil."

"How is it?" Jose's interested.

Mr. Stuart smiled wryly. "It's just a fairy tale, Mr. Jose, but I heard that the devil made a vile play by asking that the children who survived the school curriculum should point out who will remain in the darkness of the school. The devil makes the rules of the game that whoever is left last in school, he is the one who will become the Solomaneri. Others can be free and alive. The devil wants the children to kill each other. But one child told his friends to choose him who was left behind, to avoid a fight. When all his friends are free, the devil takes his promise. But the boy opened the school door wide until the sunlight hit his body, making his shadow fall lengthwise behind his body, then told the demon that according to the rules, the, what the devil will take is whoever is left behind at the very end: his shadow. The boy survived, but he lived without a shadow."

Rolan nodded. "Sir William Bannet is the solomonari."

Jose threw his back against the back of the chair, his eyes staring at the ceiling of the room. "You know I came to his party last night, sir?"

"I heard it." Mr. Stuart also knew that Jose smashed Sir William in the face, but he did not say that.

"I used to go to the castle to play. I was ten." Jose took a breath. "Then this week, I went there again twice. There was something strange that bothered me, but I couldn't find out why. And now, after hearing Master's story about the myth, I found the answer. Mirror."

"Mirror?" Rolan hasn't heard anything about this.

"There was not a mirror in the house." Jose nodded. "The servants watched the guest glasses carefully at the party. I thought they were only trained to be careful, but after I thought again, it was possible that Sir William was training them for another purpose. He was only careful with the glass, keeping no one from seeing that he had no shadow reflected there."

"That could be," Mr. Stuart said cautiously. "However, that's an assumption, right? Do you see for yourself that Sir William has no shadow?"

Jose shakes. He took off the necklace he was wearing, a necklace with Arabella carvings. He opened the medallion, then showed a picture of Sir William and Arabella there.

Mr. Stuart looked at the necklace in surprise. He leaned forward to see more clearly. "This is Sir William Bannet" he said. He raised his face, looking at Krip. "Didn't he deal with Lord Argent first? Thirty years ago?"

Krip nodded slowly. "That's right, sir."

"And beside him is ... Marchioness Garnet as a young man?" Mr. Stuart asked confusedly.

"No" said Jose. "His name is Arabella, I don't know if she's royalty or not. But one thing is clear, he's dead. It may have been a long time ago, judging by the style of the dress."

Mr. Stuart glanced at the photo. She could not tell the difference between women's dresses because she did not follow fashion too much. But Jose himself knew because he had seen the ghost of the woman in a whole figure.

Rolan cleared his throat to draw the attention of the others to him. "We can confirm Sir William's shadow in some way. I want to continue with the scholomance."

"Please, Uncle," said Jose. He only heard the outline last night because his mind was so full and Rolan was very sleepy. They didn't say anything after Edgar left.

Now it's time for Rolan to reveal what he knows.