Looking at both the side consort and her servant’s ferocious looks, Damma secretly thought it would not be an easy task. If he had done a great job, he would get tons of money naturally, but if he did not and his deed was known by Lord Regent, not only that he could not protect Munashii Temple, his life would be at risk too.
Damma was Gautama Carana’s youngest disciple, since Carana had grown in age and isolated himself for practice; Munashii Temple was handed over to Damma. During these few decades, Munashii Temple had transformed from a small, unknown temple to a prominent sacred place of the Cynthian Empire, and it was largely thanks to Damma’s excellent management.
Hence, Damma was recognized as a truly smart person, yet sometimes, his intelligence was used at the wrong place.
Coming out from the side consort’s room, Damma’s most trusted priest, Nean held a lantern while holding his arm. He walked towards the outside slowly while looked to the left and right. His furtive behavior seemed to expose that he had done something illegal and unspeakable to the public.
Feeling exasperated, Damma gave Nean a whip on the arm with his horsewhip whisk and Nean gasped in pain.
“Master, ouch!”
“Oh yeah? I didn’t know you can feel pain too!” Damma was apprehensive towards the nasty task he took and he could not help but vent his anger to Nean, “Look at you! Being all sneaky like a weasel!”
Feeling recalcitrant, Nean mumbled, “It is a weasel after all…”
Damma’s beard shivered, he widened his eyes and chastised, “What did you say? I dare you to say it one more time!”
His voice accidentally became rude when he was anxious.
Nean knew Damma well, he knew he would do anything when he became short-tempered; therefore he shrunk his neck and fell into silence.
Nean was not actually the priest of Munashii Temple but solely a lay disciple. To trace back to his past, he was actually an abandoned infant that was adopted and raised by Damma as his own son. People who did not know the truth would talk behind their back that Nean was actually Damma’s illegitimate child that he got from the outside.
The rumor was heard a few times by Damma and no one dared to discuss it in front of him anymore when Damma scolded the priests that gossiped about it. Yet the rumor was secretly spread even further and Damma could not possibly chase all the priests out of Munashii Temple.
As the period of the rumor spreading lengthened, Damma had an illusion that Nean was actually his son and he simply raised him just like that. He longed to find a right time to recommend Nean to those high-positioned officials when he grew up so that he could do something decent for a living.
Damma was not afraid if Nean did not become successful in the future as he had made up his mind to hand Munashii Temple over to him. Thinking about this, Damma would let Nean accompany him wherever he went.
Nean did not let down his expectation, he had been intelligent since he was young and was fond by Damma’s master, Carana. Carana had insisted Nean to serve him his daily meals even though he had isolated himself for the practice.
Damma felt sorry for beating Nean, coming back from his thought, he slanted his eyes and asked crossly, “Is it still painful?”
Nean was clever, from Damma’s behavior, he knew that he did not actually want to blame him, therefore he hopped towards Damma while behaving like a monkey, “Master was hard on the hit just now, I think my arm has become swollen.”
Damma let out an angry snort, “I didn’t know you can feel pain! You have become this arrogant and reckless because Master Carana has used to pamper you; if I don’t discipline you at present, you’re going to suffer in the future!”
Nean was observant, he peeked at Damma, asked boldly judging he was not really angry at him, “Master, is the fifth mistress of the Debeur family really possessed when you saw her during the day?”
Having mentioned this, Damma was once again flooded with anxiety, yet he still had to keep a clear mind, “Nonsense! How could there be ghosts or monsters in this world? Have you forgotten what I’ve taught you in the past? For those who keep on mentioning ghosts and monsters, it is largely due to their own demon. To me, the fifth mistress is not the one possessed, the one possessed is…”
Remembering the side consort’s evil smile under the dim candlelight, Damma had goose bumps all over his body.
Nean was absorbed into Damma’s words, seeing him stopping abruptly; he poked his arm and asked with a fawning smile, “Master, so who is the one being possessed?”
Damma glared at Nean, “You’re just a child, stop giving me questions!”
Feeling upset, Nean caressed his head and mumbled, “I’m not a child anymore.” Although he was upset, he still continue giving a flattering smile, “Master, that fifth mistress is beautiful, she looks intelligent, amicable and does not look like a bad person. What the side consort does was obviously to harm her!”
“Why won’t I know?” Damma let out a deep sigh and said, “Although I love money, I never do things that would harm people’s life for the money, just hoax at most. At first, I thought the side consort wants me to play some tricks on the fifth mistress because she does not like her, yet from our meeting tonight I realize she actually wants to take her life.”
Damma felt a headache upon thinking this, he had no way to defend for himself if someone died in his temple, let alone the victim was not any ordinary people but the only daughter of the formal wife of Lord regent. No matter how much the side consort said about Ralph disliking the fifth mistress, he would not believe a single word.
It would still be convincing if the fifth mistress was still idiotic in the past, yet the fifth mistress now seemed sharp-witted and was the most charming among the mistresses. She was the formal daughter and her mother was the only princess of the Rustica kingdom, so how could Ralph as a father dislike such a good daughter?
Not to mention the side consort had some problems with her attitude too. If the fifth mistress was insignificant in the regent household as what she had said, she would not fear her and wasted so much effort to harm her.
The only legitimate explanation would be the fifth mistress had a vital position in the regent household which was a lever against the side consort’s own position; therefore she was willing to take risk to kill her.
If so, the matter would be extremely troublesome.
Damma was a crafty old man; he did not want to offend Ralph for the side consort who did not have any backing or background. Of course, he was also not stupid enough to tell Ralph that his concubine wanted to kill his formal wife’s daughter.
Moreover, he did not have any evidence, if the side consort decided to betray him, it would mean he had offended Ralph and he could no longer live peacefully from then on.
The only way was to continue fulfilling the side consort’s request, as for the result of tomorrow’s event; it all depended on the luck of the fifth mistress.
Nean looked at Damma’s mixed expression silently, though he was scared, he still took on the courage to speak out, “Master, we can’t earn this illegal money. That fifth mistress looks nice, if you kill her for that money, your conscience would condemn you.”
Damma gave a fretful reply and both of them walked towards their place quietly. It was at this moment, the light of Nean’s lantern was put off.
Nean was exactly like Damma; both of them were extremely timid. There was not much wind tonight and the candle in the lantern still had a great amount of length, so how could the light be extinguished like that?
Nean’s teeth were shivering in fear, he trembled while approaching Damma and whispered, “Master, could it be that god wanted to punish us for our deed towards the fifth mistress?”
Damma dared not to lose his face in front of Nean, he lifted his spirit though he was scared too, “Nonsense! How could there be god or ghost in this world? It’s clearly because of your laziness that you took a useless candle and shoved into the lantern!”
Seeing Damma who used to be timid had become assertive, Nean felt that he was instilled with courage. The moon tonight was bright and it was actually unnecessary to use the lantern. Nean threw the lantern on the ground, clapped his hands and walked forward.
Damma shot him a glare and criticized, “What are you doing?”
Nean grinned, “There’s no use to hold the lantern after all, and it’s tiring too. So why not dump it here and I’ll collect it tomorrow morning.” To be frank, what Nean had in mind was actually simple, it would be inconvenient to escape while holding a lantern in case they did encounter ghost, and he could run faster without holding anything.
Unfortunately, old ginger is hotter than new. A crafty old man was standing right in front of him.
Damma puffed and glared at him, he chastised, “Stop messing around! Pick it up! If someone sees it tomorrow they’ll know you’ve been here during midnight and you can’t deny it!” Damma felt exasperated and disappointed towards Nean at the same time, this fellow might be smart but was still naïve in regards to sophistication.
Nean as if not knowing what was going on, he dared ignore his words and stared straightly across his shoulder, forgetting to pick up the lantern.
Nean’s stare had given Damma creeps and he did not dare to turn around, he braved himself and criticized, “Pick it up when I ask you to do it, what are you doing standing there? Are you being lazy again?” While criticizing Nean, he secretly changed his feet position and one of his hands was extended into his sleeve.
There was a small bottle of powder inside which was used for defense, it would cause extreme sore on the skin as long as it came in contact with the body.
Who knew as his foot had just moved a little, a shriek came into his ears and he saw Nean fainted away while he was covered with a big sack.
Damma wanted to shout for help, yet he felt that a hard object was jabbed on his vital body part. He could feel that the object was cold inside the sack.
A harsh voice was heard, “Don’t move, and don’t shout, or I’ll let you go to hell now!”