"Is she dead?" Sylace asked Kota Iedo, his half-brother and the eldest son of Kioshin Iedo.
"No, but we can't be sure how long she'll stay that way. Grandfather says it's poison, a kind he hasn't seen in years."
The Iedo family was known for their exception apothecaries, yet they found themselves incapable of curing the family head.
"She's going to be okay, right?" Lily, who had regained consciousness, barely held back her tears. She held her brother's sleeve so tightly that her fingers bled.
Sylace looked at Kota for a second before looking down at his sister.
"She'll be fine, I promise. Gairon's outside, go talk to him while Kota and I take care of this."
Lily nodded and left, sniffling and whimpering as she walked.
"Mother..." Both men said at the same time.
They had both grown up under Lady Kioshin's longing wing, felt the love she had for all those around her.
The reason Sylace had enjoyed Ella's company so much was partly due to how much she resembled Lady Kioshin.
He took a deep breath and locked eyes with his brother.
"You mentioned poison, what kind?"
"I only said poison because there's no better word to describe it. As someone who's been in a fortress, you should know the most about it. She's been injected with the blood of a Mystery."
[Monster, the person who did this is a monster. To inflict a fate such as this on a lady so pure, I will never forgive them.]
Being injected with the blood of a Mystery was a fate often worse than death.
"You seem to know who did this."
Sylace shook his head.
"Only theories, but that doesn't matter at the moment. How do we cute her?"
"There's only one place where we can find something to help her, and even then help is the best we can hope for. Whoever did this sentenced mother to death."
"They sentenced themselves to the same fate, worse even. Where do we need to go?" Sylace's eyes burned with the determination to avenge his mother.
To butcher the person responsible for her suffering.
"Seris, only in the republic's shared fortress can we find something to alleviate her passing. We could ride till the border and take a special transport into Kantorov Akay. From there we'll take a landship to the fortress."
"And what of the authorities? We need a pass just to enter the fortress, let alone explore it."
Kota stood up and prepared to leave.
"Anyone foolish enough to try and stop me will have to face the wrath of house Iedo. I will burn cities to the ground if that's what is needed."
"Sounds reasonable, prepare a guide for when we're in Seris."
Kota nodded and both men left the Plebiary.
Whoever had made the error of poisoning Kioshin Iedo was to be pitied, for they had angered the only two men to put the fear of God in the hearts of entire nations.
Sylace the Half-Man and Kota the Living Plague. These names, originally made as insults, had become titles synonymous with death, blood, and war.
The two men who carved a path for their father's rise to the throne, the two men who had the blood of thousands etched into their very hands.
Those men's anger was now aimed at one person, a person who would soon wish to see the pits of hell.