The Devil’s Cage

What if everything was part of Gateli’s schemes?

When the new thought appeared in Kieran’s head, more thoughts popped up uncontrollably.

Kieran tried to recall the conversation he had with Gateli after the meeting.

Gateli was respectful, well-mannered and showed sincerity from time to time. His sincerity would make people fond of him at the first glance.

But was it his true face?

Kieran recalled the old Duke Wayne, the direct heir to that cunning duke was a sincere person?

Stop joking!

It must be a mask that Gateli put on. So when he removed the mask of sincerity, what would he be then? Or, what would his goals be then?

Kieran’s eyes unconsciously turned to Sister Moni who was playing around with Lisa.

Gateli was trying to drive Kieran and Sister Moni apart! Sowing dissension in their relationship!

As the heir to Wayne family, Gateli would not be strangers to Sister Moni and Guntherson and he should know the elderly sister’s character like the back of his palm.

He knew in order to end the dispute at hand as soon as possible, Sister Moni would use that dreaded ability of hers again.

With the abilities the elderly sister displayed, anyone would be alarmed let alone Kieran the dubious, and once he noticed Sister Moni’s abilities, he would have his own thoughts.

Gateli’s plans had started when Lisa was sent to Sister Moni.

No, that wasn’t right, it should be earlier, it started during Reed’s death!

When Kieran and Sister Moni were still at the station, Gateli had sent someone to infiltrate the school in hopes of locating the treasure but he didn’t find any.

Then, the infiltrator was discovered by Reed the dutiful, thus his demise.

Gateli used Reed’s life force to set up the secret technique that he mentioned of, eavesdropping and watching St. Paolo School’s movements, including Kieran’s practice of the [Seal of Dawn] and the little commotion at the small chapel.

After Gateli noticed all of that, he changed his original plan. When he saw Kieran was extremely vigilant at the unusual commotion in the small chapel, he thought he had an opportunity there, hence what happened just now.

Huuu!

Kieran heaved a long breath. He then realized his back was somehow soaked by his own sweat.

“What a terrifying opponent!” Kieran commented on Gateli.

It wasn’t his strength but Gateli’s mind and the ability to improvise, plus his boldness!

In order to set Keiran up, Gateli risked his safety appearing before Kieran and put on a show that he was so confident of.

Kieran carefully recalled what Gateli had said, “What if I told you it is you who told me?”. When Gateli uttered those words, Kieran’s doubtful emotions were completely shifted away, especially when Gateli repeatedly denied it in order to plant doubts deeper in Kieran’s mind.

Of course, everything was built upon Gateli’s first kneel. When Gateli kneeled down with one knee and requested help from Kieran, he already set up a perfect start.

“He even used his pride as his weapon?” Kieran muttered in his heart while his brain was thinking of another man, Broker!

That damn cunning merchant!

Kieran saw Broker’s image in Gateli, but Broker was much more experienced and his plans were much more flawless.

It was far from the seemingly flawless plans before Kieran but the variables were extremely unstable.

All of Gateli’s plans depended on Kieran’s choice, in simple words, Kieran still held the initiative somehow and it wasn’t like Broker’s plans in which he would remove Kieran’s options, stringing Kieran along according to his own will. The whole process was also silent and untraceable.

While comparing the differences between Gateli and Broker, Kieran casually added more firewood into the fireplace, increasing the warmth in the room under the gloomy rainy day.

The light from the fire shone over the basket with food, the aroma of the sausages, fried eggs, buns, and milk flowed out naturally.

The combination of food didn’t feel like dinner and it would only be normal to see them during breakfast.

The elderly sister who delivered the basket was there to send him breakfast and not some dinner cooked by cooking maidens in the kitchen. It should be Sister Moni’s personal cooking.

Kieran didn’t notice that at first though.

“Thank you,” Kieran said.

Sister Moni was stunned and when she saw Kieran point at the basket, she smiled.

“It’s what I should do. In fact, this is also one of the few things that I am capable of, I hope to help more people but my strength always falls short… I am sorry 2567, it’s rude of me to rant in front of you again. As I grew of age, I can’t help myself but recall the past memories more often.” Sister Moni shook her head helplessly.

“It’s nothing, if you don’t mind, please share your memories with me. I think that I’m quite a good listener,” Kieran said.

Though before she spoke, Kieran went out to patrol the school. He was trying to find the traces of the “eavesdrop” and “surveillance” spell marks.

Although according to the note that he just flipped through, the spells should be the kind that would last from the start to finish. Though the note with the spell was given by Gateli, Kieran didn’t believe he wouldn’t do something to the note.

Kieran used Dawn Force to sweep across the spots he deemed suspicious. Maybe similar secret spells could fool his Intuition but Pro [Mystical Knowledge] allowed him to know the way to simply defend against such spells.

After he was done with the scanning, Kieran returned to the wooden hut.

Then, the sister started on her story and it went on non-stop.

There were funny stories and secretive tales, all of the stories she told were about the Church of Dawn.

Like how to differentiate the fake Knights of Dawn training camps from the real one, how a guardian knight took a vow to never marry and how the Church of Dawn was originally a subsidiary of the Church of Light etc.

…

Just when Kieran was listening to Sister Moni’s stories, Gateli returned to his secret lodging spot. After he signaled to his men to be alertand continue to patrol, he went straight to a secret room.

Inside the secret room, a person was waiting for him quietly.

“How was it?” the coarse voice asked Gateli.

“It’s progressing smoothly! With the dubious character that he has shown, once the seed of doubt is planted, all we need to do is to wait for it to sprout!” Gateli smiled.

“How long?” The coarse voice sounded anxious.

“Soon!” Gateli replied softly.

…

A few hundred kilometers outside the city, a group of men were sprinting forward.

Golden armored riders were riding their war horses and even in the night, their armor was radiating a faint glow around like how the sun brought its light to the land, shining over the darkness around the group.

It was exactly like the name of their church, Light.