Chapter 303: Carefully Crafted Lies
Alexis sat down next to Dominic and they both dug deep into the records left behind by the Earl of Wistover about his own family.
But Dominic was right about it all being a carefully crafted lie.
On paper, it was all nice and neat. But when you went into the other record books, which had birthdates and records of home addresses, everything became one giant mess. It was clear that they were deliberately hiding the truth from anyone who might come looking.
However, it was not clear why.
The only glaring omission was Dominic’s father. Every other entry had parentage, even when they were written as being expelled from the family lineage for various reasons.
When she went searching through the records, Alexis even found a copy of birth records for the nearby commoners, left by the Earl’s Midwife and the local priest. It would have been essential to the locals that such things were recorded and verifiable should someone question an inheritance claim in the future.
You could claim that a child was a bastard, or a foundling adopted into the family, and ineligible to claim any family assets. But if it was in the Earl’s book another way, then the Noble recording would be the official document.
One of the most common duties of an established Noble was to serve as Arbiter and Judge to settle disputes that couldn’t be peacefully resolved between the involved parties.
"There are so many records here for families that no longer exist." Alexis sighed.
Dominic shrugged. "But we shouldn’t get rid of the records, in case someone survived. If they come back looking for records of their families, they would appreciate it if we could provide them that knowledge.
There aren’t all that many Noble Manors standing, most were burnt, or they changed allegiance and destroyed anything inconvenient in their records."
Alexis nodded. "I will leave them right where we found them. There is plenty of space for new records in the library. Now, are you going to hyperfixate on trying to find out what parts of your family tree are false? Or did you want to move on to a new project?"
Dominic chuckled. "Well, I suppose one day is long enough to spend confused about the family dynamics of a family that no longer exists.
Right now, the surviving portion of the family tree is only two entries long, and that’s much easier to track."
"Don’t you go giving me that look. No adding to the family tree before dinner, I’m hungry." Alexis reprimanded him.
"Fine. We can work on that later. I should also get some more weapons made this week. Pistols, rifles, spears. Enough to arm the people in case we’re attacked again.
I intended to make that a priority, then I got distracted by the library." Dominic agreed, though he could see that Alexis didn’t completely trust him not to try anything before dinner.
Smart woman.
The next morning, Dominic stretched in bed, then squinted, and sent a pulse of mana to the curtains to slide them shut with a gust of wind from the heavy cloth. The new device was one hundred percent worth making.
But the original use of the device was also something that he intended to work on. It wouldn’t take much to link a magitech lock to the device so that you could have the door swing open automatically when an authorized user unlocked it.
That was an excellent function for vault doors and other secure rooms.
It would also let you more effectively hide safe rooms, as you wouldn’t need a hidden lever or handle on the outside.
Just hold the magical key against the proper spot, and the door would open.
That was one of the many ways that people had escaped from the Dagos invaders, though the hiding spot was usually under floorboards, and furniture was placed on top to keep them from being noticed and opened.
It wasn’t optimal, but it was difficult to detect, and that was the part that mattered.
The maid came in a moment later, then paused when she realized that the room was nearly pitch black. That had never happened before, and she had forgotten where the light was.
Unlike most rooms, it wasn’t in the middle of the ceiling. The bedroom had two lamps, one on either nightstand.
Dominic chuckled as he sensed her confusion and opened the curtains a few centimetres, letting in enough light to move around.
"Good morning, My Lord. The Princess requested a special breakfast this morning, so I have come to wake you both up." She whispered.
"What special event did I forget about?" Dominic replied quietly, not wanting to wake Alexis.
"It’s the equinox today. A standard festival day." The maid replied.
"Nice. I thought that I forgot an important one."
The maid smirked behind her veil. "Don’t make too many afternoon plans. There will be festivities in town."
"I appreciate that. I will shower first, give the Princess a few more minutes to sleep."
Once he left the room, Alexis opened one eye and smirked at her maid. Dominic was too easy to fool. As long as she didn’t move, he just assumed that she was still sleeping, and she could hear all his responses from her maid’s morning briefing.
He was still as adorably idiotic as usual.
The autumn festival was not a major event, but it tended to be one of the more romantic holidays. The weather wasn’t so hot that you couldn’t be outside comfortably, the rainy season hadn’t fully started yet, and even in regions that didn’t have year round growing seasons, it was harvest season.
So, everyone was as well-fed as they were going to get, and the day was perfect for activities.
Dominic reminisced as he got clean for the day.
The autumn festival was always a good time, and he knew a perfect spot to take Alexis this afternoon. He would go get some snacks for the trip, and then take the Princess to the old Elven Treehouse outside of town to watch the sunset after dinner.
He just had to pack in advance so that she didn’t guess the surprise too easily.