[Lifespan Remaining: 21 days, 22 hours, 52 minutes.]
The carriage jolted as its wheels passed over an uneven section of the road.
Coincidentally, they had passed over the place where it all went down. In the ashes of the burnt-down orphanage, a new luxury shopping mall had been built in its place, burying the past.
"The orphanage burned down," Noelle continued explaining. "Albert managed to escape, but the children..."
Noct stopped her before she could say it out loud. It was pretty obvious what she was going to say about their fate.
"Was it all of them?"
"According to what I heard."
"Was anyone else involved?"
"I’m not sure, Young Master. I only remember hearing about the incident itself. Any matters regarding it or the aftermath..."
Such a big incident surely shouldn’t have gone by quietly. Yet, why did he remember nothing about it?
Yes, the fact that he had been a bedridden child his entire life did contribute to that.
But given the fact that many of Arcadia’s servants travel between their own territory and the Capital, surely rumors should’ve been going around.
’I’ll have to ask Stella. If anyone would know more details about the incident, it’d probably be her.’
Noelle brought her attention back to Noct. "At some point, he entered House Sylvaine’s service. By the time I heard his name again, he had already become Young Master Tristan’s personal butler."
Though from running an orphanage to serving the heir of one of the Four Great Houses. There should be a considerable gap between those two things.
"How long ago was the fire?"
"I’d have to check."
"Please do."
After a moment of silence, Noelle finally asked Noct the question she had been holding in this entire time. "Young Master...do you believe he caused the siege?"
Noct shook his head. "There’s simply not enough factual evidence, even if all the circumstantial evidence pointed his way."
Well if anyone looked at it, they could tell that it was him. From the flowers, to the sedatives, and finally his presence near the transportation mirror...Noct found it difficult to accept that Albert was just an unfortunate cook who had a bad day.
Though before either of them could continue the conversation, they both felt the carriage slow. Noct glanced outside, expecting another line of traffic, only to find a pair of enormous iron gates standing ahead of them.
The Arcadia crest dominated the center, engraved straight onto the metal fence like a reminder for anyone passing by who the place belonged to.
Somewhere in the distance stood a mansion, a very large mansion that could barely be seen due to the sheer size of the land it stood on.
The guards stopped their carriage long enough for Noelle to identify them. After a brief glance inside, both men straightened and signaled for the gates to open. Noct had expected them to give him a hard time, but nothing of the sort happened.
In fact, everything was so smooth that all he had to do was sit back, admiring the view from the outside. Though several minutes later, they were still in the carriage...
"Are we going to the house or another district?"
"The house, Young Master."
"Then why is it so far away?"
Noct had never been to the Arcadia’s capital estate before. Though from the neatly trimmed hedges, decorated stone paths, and lines of servants who had their heads bowed as their carriage passed...
That reinforced the house’s prestige.
He could imagine that land in the capital was expensive, and especially more so since it was located in the High-Residence District. Yet the Arcadias apparently owned enough of it to make arriving at the front door a whole separate journey.
Its main building rose several stories above a wide flight of stone steps. Two long wings extended from either side, enclosing a courtyard where multiple carriages could have turned around without ever coming close to one another.
Decorated by tall windows and the unmistakable red and black motif, even a sage from the mountains would know who this place belonged to.
But what Noct found strange was the fact that a stone statue had been erected at the very center of the roundabout for carriages.
It was dressed in formal robes, with a cloak falling behind its back. One hand rested at its side while the other extended forward, holding onto a menacing-looking magic staff.
"...Is that my father?"
"Yes, Young Master."
"There’s a gigantic statue of my father outside his own house?"
"I’m afraid I don’t know who commissioned it..."
The image was difficult to take seriously. Then again, Noct couldn’t confidently say his father wouldn’t do it.
Either the Duke had a considerably higher opinion of himself than he let on, or there were things about his position in the kingdom that Noct still didn’t fully appreciate.
"I wonder if he looks at it every time he comes home."
"You could ask him."
"I’d rather not."
The carriage finally stopped at the foot of the steps. But just before Noelle could reach for the door, someone opened it from the outside.
"Welcome to the capital estate, Young Master Noct."
A servant with long white hair tied neatly in a ponytail opened the doors and grabbed their luggage. He wore a monocle that hung over his nose, magnifying the color of his exotic lime-green eyes.
The man didn’t look particularly old, maybe in his late-forties or even early-fifties, but throughout the game, Noct knew only one person that looked like this.
’Trevor. The head butler...’
’Though someone like him coming out to greet us personally?’
From the story, Trevor was described word-for-word as ’a servant who never left his master’s side, no matter what.’
Still, Noct decided not to complain.
Trevor quickly handed their belongings to another servant, while even more arrived to help out. None of them seemed particularly surprised or bothered by the public carriage or the state of Noct’s clothes.
And just when the two of them took the steps up, a young woman was already waiting there with her arms crossed, a big grin on her face.
"What took you so long?"