The Divine Hunter

Chapter 196: Family Tree

Roy wondered what was more important to the baron. His family’s continuation, or the dignity of nobility?

A long, long silence later, Ignatius chose the former. He slowly knelt before Kolgrim’s skeletal remains, his beard trembling as he banged his head three times against the ground. His anxiety, fear, and humiliation formed beads of sweat on his forehead, and it drenched the patch of ground before the skeleton.

Roy nodded approvingly. He came from another world, and he never thought that aristocrats were better than anyone. If they did anything wrong, then he would make sure they apologized. He did not care about their honor.

Letho spaced out for a while. His plan was to teach Ignatius a painful lesson, or he might even kill the baron if possible. Letho had killed some aristocrats before, after all. He never did think of getting the baron to apologize.

Witchers were synonymous with barbarians and filth in these lands. Even peasants could spit on them just because they were mutants. They were no better than dirt to the people. Even so, Roy managed to make a Temerian noble bow his head down and apologize to the very same witcher they scorned, and in such an insulting manner too.

Does he have any concept of social hierarchy? Letho took a deep breath and calmed himself, though his sight was starting to get blurry.

“What do you think, Letho?” Roy looked at the baron. He whispered, “Are we still doing this?” This isn’t enough to pay for his crimes against Kolgrim.

“We’re going to search for the banshee first.” Letho shook his head. “Then we will judge Ignatius.”

***

“Enough, baron. I think Kolgrim has seen your sincere repentance.”

Ignatius heaved a sigh of relief, and he stood up with the help of his servant. He looked ashen, and his back was hunched even further than before, as if he aged ten years in an instant. “Witchers, I-I have apologized. N-Now it’s time for you to fulfill your promise.”

“Of course, but these are two different things. We consider this a request, and that means a reward,” Letho interrupted.

“Of course, witchers. You shall be rewarded handsomely.”

“First things first. We have to know where that mark came from. I have a few questions, baron. Who does that nameless coffin belong to? And whose child is that?”

Ignatius stared at the witchers in silence.

“Baron, if you want to end your family’s misfortune once and for all, you will need to be fully honest. We promise we will never tell anyone about your family’s secret.”

Ignatius heaved a sigh and leaned back into his sofa. “He was an illegitimate child.”

“Illegitimate?” So that’s why. Roy asked, “Where’s his mother? We haven’t seen your wife since we came to the fortress.”

“He had no mother, and I have no wife.” Ignatius’ hands were on the armrest, and his fingers were trembling.

“Baron—”

“Fine! I’ll talk!” Ignatius suddenly roared uncontrollably.

Someone knocked on the door and asked, “Are you alright, sir?”

Ignatius said impatiently, “Liv, leave us and don’t let anyone come near.”

The servant obliged, leaving the witchers and the baron in the room. “Now there’s no one to distract us.” Baron beckoned at Roy. “Remember your promise, witchers. Never tell anyone about this secret.”

“Don’t worry, baron. We’ll leave the orchard right after we fulfill your request.”

Ignatius clenched his fists. A gamut of expressions appeared on his face, and he hesitated for a long time. Roy was running out of patience, but eventually, Ignatius whispered, “The child who died from that difficult labor was not mine. It was my mother’s.”

Roy paused for a moment. “True. The grave did say that she died of difficult labor. I see that the baby is that same child.”

“Mother was pregnant after Father died.” Ignatius suddenly looked up at the witchers, and a hint of insanity appeared on his face. “Do you think this is laughable as well, witchers?”

“No. You misunderstand us.” Roy and Letho looked calm. “This is your family’s private matter. It’s not for outsiders like us to judge. What you and your family do is your freedom.”

Mary was a widow, and she found herself a lover because the loneliness got to her. Roy thought that was normal, since aristocrats had always been decadent. Foltest himself went even further than that, and he was the king of Temeria. But his son loved a man, and his mother cheated on her dead husband. Does he not have a single normal family member?

Roy had a feeling that all of these weird occurrences had something to do with their birthmark, and he intended to look more into this. “There were a lot of wraiths in your family tomb. How did the soldiers manage to bury your mother there?”

“There were only a couple of wraiths before this, and the soldiers were enough to deal with them. Most wraiths only appeared after my mother was buried,” he explained. “And then Kolgrim came. He requested a trial by ordeal.”

The witchers kept quiet.

“What about Mary and her dead child’s father?” Letho asked.

“Witchers, I beg of you!” Ignatius said rasiply, “Spare me the torture of your words.”

“Baron Ignatius.” Roy sighed. “You need to rest.” He suggested, “If it’s possible, I’d like to see your family tree. We’ll try to find some clues by ourselves.”

***

They came to the bedroom on the top floor. “These are for your eyes only.” Ignatius took out a scroll from his safety box and handed it to the witchers. He seemed exhausted. “I’m sorry, but I need to rest. Grant, you stay here in my place and try to give them what they need.”

Grant wondered why the baron was looking down and drab, as if he were down with an illness, but he knew his place, and he asked no more questions. Then he closed the bedroom door.

“Come with me please.” Grant swung the keys around. “You may search the basement now.”

They went to the wooden ladder hidden under the kitchen’s trapdoor, and they climbed down into the dark, spacious basement. The butler lit some sconces up and illuminated the room.

The witchers sniffed the air. “What are these? They’re moldy.” Old clothes, broken armor, old furniture, and towels were piled up together. Cobwebs covered them, and hills of sundry items lined the basement as far as the eye could see.

The butler waved the moldy air in front of him away. “All of Amavet Fortress’ sundry items are here, and it has been decades since anyone cleared this palace out.”

He led Letho on a search for the blueprint, while Roy started scanning through the baron’s family tree. The scroll was yellow, and it had a weird smell coming off it. It was also slightly heavy. “Alright, let’s see… The ancestor of the family came to the White Orchard that stands in the east of Vizima, Temeria. This place was probably deserted then. It’s only been two hundred years since the first witcher was born. This is ancient.”

He continued, “The fortress was built in the east of the orchard in 1150. Leon and Jennifer Verrieres were blessed with a pair of twins the very next year. They were a boy and a girl.” Roy scanned through the family history and the family tree that had many branches. “The ancestors of the Verrieres family, Leon and Jennifer, established this family. They were blessed with another child in 1154. So that means the second generation of the family was made up of three kids.”

Leon and Jennifer were on the apex of the tree, and it was split into three branches for the next part. Eventually, the branches spread even more, expanding the family into a big clan. “The second gen kids eventually grew up, and one of the twins, Sara, married a man named Richardson. He married into the Verrieres, and they had a daughter named Laney, as well as a son called Firenze.”

Laney and her family were placed in the center of the tree, and they were the core members of the family. Naturally, they were also the leader of the family as well. “The other kids married women of another race, but they stayed in the fortress.” The family of the boys were located at the further side of the tree. Apparently, they were not as important as Sara and her family. “Weird.” Roy had a few questions. I thought aristocrats were patriarchal. Why did they put Sara in the center instead of the boys?

He kept reading. “Sara’s son fell off a horse and died when he was six. A man married into the Verrieres, and his wife was Laney. She was thirty-two years old then. They had a daughter called Mary. The branch families’ kids married people who were outside the fortress and expanded the bloodline. They had more kids than Sara’s family.”

The left and right sides of the tree kept expanding into a big branch, but the branch in the center remained scarce, and it was starting to wither. Up until the third generation, all family members were buried in the family tomb after their deaths, but everything changed during the fourth generation, which was when John and Mary ruled.

The other branches left the orchard and moved to Vizima in the west, while some moved further east, where Aedirn was. The only ones left in the fortress were Mary, her husband, and the fifth generation Verrieres—Ignatius. “I wonder if the ones who moved have the same mark on them.”

Roy scanned through the whole family tree again and realized something shocking. According to the records, every single family member of Ignatius’ line died of diseases or accidents. None lived to old age. Compared to them, the other branches lived normal lives. “Is this a coincidence, or is it because of that mark?”

John became sterile after he sired Ignatius with Mary, and he died because of consumption. John and Mary only had one son, who was Ignatius. “The baron is the only member of his family. His parents are dead, his son hanged himself, and he’s alone. He’s already sterile because of how much he drinks. His family’s bloodline will probably end with him.”

Roy was reminded of Ignatius’ ridiculous past and how he became a shadow of his former self. Could it be because of the mark?

Roy immersed himself in his thoughts, and Letho eventually came back with a blueprint in his hands. It was the one that recorded the ways to make the school’s silver sword.

Roy took it and gave it a look before tossing it into his inventory, then he told Letho about his suspicions.

“If what you say is true, then this is suspicious. Why did the family choose Sara to inherit the position of family head instead of the boys? We need to ask Ignatius about this. And as for the mark…” Letho rubbed his chin. “My instincts tell me that only Ignatius and his closest family members are affected. They’re the only ones born with this birthmark, and the branch families are not affected at all. That’s why his family members died horrible deaths and had few children. At most, they had two children, but most of the time, they only had one. The branch families have a lot more than they do.”

“They die horrible deaths and have few children? Is the mark some sort of curse?” Roy guessed.

“I have never seen a curse like this before.” Letho wore a solemn look on his face. “Not even the Lionheaded Spider’s high priest can curse someone’s whole bloodline.”

“Not even the Lionheaded Spider can do that?” Roy fell into momentary silence. “What about powerful sorcerers or mages? Ignatius’ ancestors might have offended them and got cursed.”

“Then we’ll need more clues. We need to know more about his ancestors.”

***

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