BLOODY LOVE'S
Episode 93

While everyone was enjoying the fireworks, Marco went to the Krip store that night. Krip greeted him, looked around at a glance, made sure no one saw them, and then let Marco in. They went into the back of the shop. The crew guides Marco down the stairs to the bottom floor, where several others are already waiting for them.

There were three people there. Two people immediately stood respectfully as Marco came, one remained seated leisurely on the sofa. The scent of cigars and brandies floated in the air.

Krip arranged the oil lamps in the room to light up brighter. There are now five people there, including Marco and Krip.

Marco threw a loose rubber-bound paper bendel onto a wooden table in the middle of the room.

Lady Chantall, the only woman who was there, got up from the sofa and walked over. She was still wearing a sleek dark red party dress, likely having just attended the opera held at the Arts Building. Two other men were Mr. Stuart and Greyland. The two were in their forties, dressed formally as they had just been from the Discussion Building.

"What'sthis? The example of tomorrow morning's paper?" Lady Chantall asked. Her lips were daubed red lipstick curled in a sweet smile. "The body of a girl was found in South Bjork! The Argent family covered up the case?"

"Hubbert," furious Marco, mentioned the name of the person who wrote the article. "Robert took care of it. That yellow paper will not appear. But you guys should start thinking about how to silence that boy."

Lady Chantall shrugged her white shoulders in surrender. "He's just a kid. Young and idealistic. Let's just chatter. We just publish another newspaper that firmly refutes his stupid article, complete with interviews of experts. Let such a newspaper be a low-class pastime."

Marco's eyebrows twitch. He doesn't like that. All the nails that stick out should be hit flat. But he doesn't want to argue with Lady Chantall about this right now. Marco turned to Mr. Stuart, who was already sitting back at the side of Greyland, on the sofa. "Are you from David, Lord Dominic?"

The thin-moustached man shook his head. "Said, he called a friend before he disappeared."

"You mean Jose?"

Mr. Stuart smiled lazily. "No. A friend downtown," he said. "Friends at school. Mr. Phillips Raynor. They even had an appointment. But they did not get to meet. Mr. Raynor just disappeared."

Marco can guess. "When did he disappear?"

"Maybe on the same day as Lord Dominic" said Mr. Stuart, unsure. "Phillips Raynor already booked a train ticket, but he didn't leave.'

"What about Lord Dominic's family? Brother's home?"

"You're right to guess. Mr. Rutter has already been called home, their land and home will be taken care of by him. According to the news I heard, Dominic's family will hold a funeral without a corpse" Mr. Stuart said casually as if it were a matter of course. "People in Dominic themselves don't know yet. They thought their master was just walking around as usual. Mr. Rutter used to come help when Lord Dominic wasn't around."

Marco thought back to everything that happened. Did Dominic just go play? Or was he the victim of family intrigue? He knows how the Dominic brothers compete with each other. When David becomes Lord Dominic in his father's place, Rutter soon leaves Bjork, though later returns whenever seduced by his older brother. But he could not ignore the possibility that the man might be involved in a bloody case in Bjork. Everything is still unclear.

Lady Chantall chuckled softly. "For what? She went ghost hunting?"

Greyland shook his head not understanding. "So long ago he was curious about South Bjork."

"But she is against the development proposal that Argent put forward" said Lady Chantall, grimacing. "Actually I'm still wondering why you're fighting so much for the area."

"It's a protected forest area" Marco said. "The slums will ruin the view of Bjork."

Lady Chantall laughed again, clearly not believing that was Marco's only reason, but he did not insist. The Chantall family had long sworn to help Argent, so he would not insist that Marco would not tell him the real reason.

"I'm still figuring out what Lord Dominic wants to talk about with Mr. Philips Reynor" said Mr. Stuart in his usual soft voice. "And it would be helpful if you would help a little by arranging a meeting between me and Mr. Jose Argent."

Marco nodded. Jose is Lord Dominic's best friend, so it's easy to guess Mr. Stuart's intentions. Mr. Stuart is a very polite and understanding manners, also very good at attracting information. Marco did not have to worry that there would be any information leaked. After all, the four people in this room were his confidants. "By the way, you know about the blood ritual in Bjork?" tanyakanya. "I mean, about the old religion in Bjork."

Lady Chantall shakes. "Suddenly believe in God, Argent?"

Greyland grabbed his glass, sipped a mouthful of brandy. "You mean the Catholic heretic occult splinter? He said they were after eternal life."

"I heard, they used to fry fetuses and eat them to stay young" Lady Chantall added in a passionate tone. "They do Bathory-style practices."

Mr. Stuart looked at Marco for a long time. "If what you're talking about is a really old religion, I hear they're doing funerals on the mountain, planting dead bodies to become trees. The rivers that flowed bordering North and South were the gates of another world. People who are unable to perform lavish ceremonies to bury families in the mountain will carry the ashes of dead bodies in the river. Long ago, the river was sacred."

Marco agreed. "I heard the same thing from my mother. The practice was still done when he was a child."

"You didn't bring this up in memory of your mother's past and bedtime stories, did you?" ask Lady Chantall.

"No, it's just that I'm connecting those stories to Charless' obsession with South Bjork."

Greyland frowned. "Considerate. For both religions, South Bjork is a sacred place. So Charles wanted to buy a mountain for himself so that he could ... what? Establish a religion and become a new prophet?"

Marco shakes. "I'm putting off finding out because I don't think it's important, but after everything that's happened, I think knowing more of it should be much better than not knowing at all."