Marcus's angry breaths accompanied the stale pressure in the room.
His knights stood back, like statues, fearful that any sound from them would incur the young lord's ire.
Outside the room, several footsteps could be heard rushing over.
The commotion that Marcus caused drew the attention of others.
"Milord!" Bradley burst through the door, followed by Brown and then Logail.
Upon stepping in, the first thing they noticed was the cracks on the walls.
And then a furious Marcus, who was staring into space.
Joshua shook his head, signalling them not to speak.
"Don't say a word!" He mouthed silently.
They all quickly understood that the young lord was angry, and they all slowly retreated from the room. Without making noise or alerting Marcus.
A few seconds passed and Marcus began to calm down.
He pinched the bridge and shut his eyes.
"There's no point in throwing a tantrum now. If I act on my anger, I might make a blunder that I'll regret greatly."
Taking a deep breath, Marcus finally settled down. His aura retreated, giving the knights in the room some breathing space.
He opened his eyes and looked at the window. Behind it, he saw the muddy and empty plots of land.
For a moment, he felt as if all his achievements had been thrown down the drain. The concrete bungalows, the smooth and well-planned roads that stretched for some distance.
It all felt like an illusion at the moment.
But it was only a fleeting feeling.
Rebuilding is life, giving up is death.
But before I can successfully rebuild, I'll have to exterminate the pests first.
The glaring question that remained now was how.
Yes, he had gained a good clue, which is to seize Aethera's Casket. And he was certain that one of the students was a traitor, but how was he to know who?
Eddy can be ruled out. He should not be a problem this time around. This leaves Sam, Zach, and Veronica as prime suspects.
Veronica…
Marcus paused as her name crossed his mind again. This time around, he had sent her out of his mansion along with the rest because he was angry.
But if he remained true to himself, he didn't want to suspect her.
She had assisted him when he needed it. From becoming a part-time teacher, to giving him a huge loan to support his people.
And even assisting him after the incident that took place in Cassir's residence.
It all made him grateful to her.
However, there were things about the young lady that he couldn't figure out.
The first time, before his redo, he had seen her transform into this otherworldly being that possessed great power. This piqued his interest greatly.
The second time around, while she was following him, he was able to sense that there was a powerful entity moving around with her.
This made him question what his previous life would have been like if things had continued that way.
Would she have died in the end, or would that entity save her?
Moreover, she was a daughter of El Salvador, an old and powerful noble family.
Surely they wouldn't agree to sacrificing their offspring.
Despite all of this, Marcus didn't want to exclude her from the list of suspects until he was sure.
The cost of being wrong this time was high, and he didn't want to pay for it.
As for Zach…
The young man had died before him when they first infiltrated the auction house and was transported to that area with the altar.
Which leaves him with Sam…
The most unsuspecting and inconspicuous one of them.
Could it be him?
Marcus gripped the arm of his chair slightly before letting go.
"Still, I have an idea of what Maney wants to do. Just like the system said, 'It follows a form to build a connection.' The form might be referring to the lives affected by his plans, which should be those threads I saw in my Rippling World."
"That's the form… but what is the connection built?"
Marcus had a feeling that the answer to do that was what Maney wanted to achieve.
"But there's no way of knowing that now," After all, he hadn't lived long enough in his previous lives to find out.
"There are still other things that I don't know. Uncertainties."
Uncertainties that Marcus didn't have an answer to at the moment.
The first one being, has Aethera's Casket already been delivered to Maney?
This, for Marcus, was something he couldn't figure out. Rather, he assumed that it had already been given to Maney as the students from Ulha Academy had already been in Agard for a while.
Regardless, he still had to make sure.
The second, Curse of Dalmon. That scary plague that he couldn't escape from.
The thought of it made Marcus terrified.
In his previous life, Maney didn't use this curse against them. Which gave Marcus some relief.
But it begged the question, what had changed?
A lot.
Marcus couldn't figure out what exactly, but he was certain that there were conditions to be met before Maney could place the Curse of Dalmon on Agard.
"Do I change my plans once again? Should I not rescue those in captivity this time?"
There was a lot he did in his previous life that could have met a condition for the curse.
Getting up from his chair, Marcus walked out of the room silently.
He was lost in his thoughts and deaf to the noise of the world.
Some time later, he found himself standing before farmland with dozens of men working hard on it.
Suddenly, his brows rose as an idea crossed his mind.
"Could it be?" He clenched his fist and quickly turned around.
At first, he thought he would find his knights behind him, but there was no one.
Marcus leaned forward and began running.
His figure rushed through the lands until he reached his mansion.
"Bradley!" Marcus called out loudly, startling everyone around.
Everyone around exchanged looks, only to shrug their shoulders at each other.
"Bradley!" His voice caused the windows to shake.
"Milord, my hearing is still fine! I'm not deaf!" Bradley shouted as he opened a window on the second floor to respond.
But before he was done, the young lord had jumped through the window.
"How much of Maney's donation have we used?"
Bradley, caught off guard, stumbled a few steps back. A few seconds passed and he frowned as though he had been wronged.
"Quickly, answer me."
"Milord, is something wrong? Do you think I would embezzle–"
"Oh shut up, Bradley. Even if you embezzle money from me, do you think I'll punish you? Just give me an answer."
"Oh…" now he was confused. "Sir, I haven't had the chance to spend it yet. I was planning on doing so this afternoon. Payments for some services and items we have ordered will be deducted from the donation–"
"No, send it back." Marcus cut him off again.
"W-what!?"
"Didn't you say that you're not hard of hearing? Send the money back to Maney."
"But Milord–"
"Obey orders first, Bradley. After a while, I'll explain the reason why to you."
Marcus understood that this order of his looked detrimental to their plans, however, he didn't want to risk it.
Also, he didn't want to say anything about it, lest Maney would be able to infer from it.
After all, even Cassir was wary of speaking about Maney's plans.
The man's ability was an unusual and scary one.
"As you wish, Milord." Bradley bowed with a sigh and went to his table to write a few things down.
Seeing his expression, Marcus smiled.
"Don't worry about money, I'll be getting a lot more for us in a day or two.
Within an hour, every single coin that came as a donation from Maney was counted and placed in the box it came in.
Then Marcus sent it out with two knights to safely return it.
As he watched his knights leave the residence with the coins, something subtle in his heart was alleviated.