Chương 50: Book 2 Chapter 2 - Skirting The Truth

Once the Dunsun family had left, Dustin leveled a measuring gaze at Shian. He had saved that family for last, due to his suspicions that they were, in fact, Shian's family. She had neither confirmed nor denied his suspicions, but that interaction had been telling. Gabe, at least, seemed to recognize her as being his sister, which was intriguing. The others… not so much. Theirs had been interactions of fear, respect, appreciation, embarrassment, and not too surprisingly, anger on Ava's part. Dustin didn't blame her.

Her only prior interaction with nobility had been Lord Grivalt, which was bound to leave anyone feeling bitter about the upper crust of society in general. She was still young enough that she likely lumped all nobility and wealthy people into a single bucket, one which she wished to have nothing to do with. It hadn't helped that her younger brother took an instant liking to Shian, sister or not. He had promised not to pry too deeply into Shian's personal life, and he wished to protect that trust. And yet…

he was curious if she would open up to him more now. Or if she even could. If she was indeed bound by a soul oath, the rules around it seemed very odd. Very specific, in unexpected ways. She had told him she had a family when they first met, and was able to bring him here, to where they were. It was clear that they were some of the servants they had just rescued from Lord Grivalt's estate, and yet she seemed unable to say anything more.

How could her family not recognize her, with the possible exception of a small child?

"So?" he started off, leaving it open ended. She raised an eyebrow in response.

"What?"

"How was it seeing your family?" She met his gaze and opened her mouth to reply, but ultimately seemed unable or unwilling to.

"Ah," he amended.

"Perhaps I asked the wrong question. Am I correct in assuming that this topic is one you will find difficult to discuss, for one reason or another?" She nodded.

"Is it something you wish to keep private, or simply something that you're unable to talk about?"

"The latter," she said with a defeated sigh.

"Hmm," he said, thinking.

"In that case, let's approach it from a different angle. I'll ask questions, and I'll interpret your silence as indication that my question was a topic that you're unable to speak of freely. If at any point I am being too bold, or asking questions that you don't want to answer, just let me know and I'll put a cork in it." She smiled and nodded. Wonderful! This was a puzzle he would enjoy trying to decipher.

"At one point," he pressed forward enthusiastically, "you mentioned that a letter from Lord Grivalt didn't include all of the names of the people you wished to help. Are all of those people safe now?"

"They are," she said with a smile that spoke of immense relief.

"Good," he nodded.

"And safe… because they're here now, correct? Not just because Lord Grivalt is dead." She nodded, tentatively at first, as if expecting some kind of backlash, then more strongly when nothing happened. He stood and began pacing slowly around the room as he thought of which questions to ask next. Which questions might be allowed by whatever soul oath was limiting her ability to respond. It apparently also covered her actions, not just her words, so he supposed he would have to tread carefully.

He stopped and studied her face as he asked the next question, "If I were to figure out who your family was, would you want me to reveal that fact to them?" She thought about it for a moment, then grimaced and shook her head.

"That would probably be more problematic than not. For… reasons." Okay, so that one was a touchy topic. Anything directly related to her family, apparently, was difficult to navigate. He began pacing again.

"How did you feel about the order in which we met with the new servants?" he asked as nonchalantly as he could. She smiled gently, her eyes moistening just ever so slightly.

"It was perfect. Very… insightful?" She cocked her head to the right slightly, locking eyes with him. He supposed that was as much of a confirmation as he would get that the Dunsun family was indeed the family she spoke of as being her own. Dustin had grown up around powerful mages, as his own family was very wealthy, and had many talented house retainers, but he wasn't by any means an expert on different types of magic. Why her own family wouldn't recognize her was something he couldn't fathom.

Perhaps she had undergone some kind of transformation or mutation, changing her appearance? Mmmm, that didn't quite track. Her name was different, although a strange clause in a soul oath could account for that. But if someone had gone to the trouble of putting her under a soul oath to not reveal herself to her family, why wouldn't they be opposed to her coming back here and interacting with them in the first place?

Who would hand her the amount of wealth she now possessed, give her a new appearance plus a new name, then say "oh and by the way, don't you dare tell your family about this?" Who even could do something like that? For all of her naivety, Shian seemed plenty powerful in her own right, it wouldn't make sense for her to be under the thumb of some other mage. He shook his head, bringing his focus back to the present.

"What do you think of the youngest Dunsun child, Gabe?" he asked, once again studying her face, watching her reaction. Her eyes lit up.

"He's adorable. A bit mischievous at times." If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. He nodded.

"And their daughter, Ava?" Shian's face fell a bit.

"I don't think she likes me. Or you, for that matter." Dustin chuckled.

"I think you're right. She's a fireball, that one." Shian nodded vigorously, perking back up.

"Right?! She kept glaring at us when she thought we weren't looking. And her comment!" Shian laughed.

"For a minute there, I thought my mo… umm Mrs Dunsun was going to rip her a new one."

"Ha! So did I. I barely kept it together for a minute there." Her near slip up didn't escape his notice. He was pretty sure she'd been about to refer to Gentry Dunsun as her mother.

"I knew it!" Shain declared, pointing at him.

"I knew you were hiding a smirk behind that perfect face of yours." He raised an eyebrow.

"Perfect face?"

"You know what I mean," she said, waving dismissively, blushing slightly.

"You always wear a perfect mask of propriety when you interact with others."

"Mmm hmm," he said with a playful smirk. Then, with a more serious tone, he asked, "with your family safe now, what's next? What are your plans moving forward?" Shian's face grew more serious.

"I hope my family chooses to stay here with me, but… I'll understand if they don't want to. They won't see it the same way that I do. I don't think I could go back to just living on the farm now, not after how much of the world I've seen. I want to keep practicing at the sword academy, I'm close to a big breakthrough there, I can feel it. I suppose we'll continue scaling and expanding the House Yountal businesses?" Dustin nodded in response. He knew she didn't want the details, just the high level overview.

"Indeed. We have a few shops set up in all of the cities within probably forty miles or so. We've been keeping it fairly small, to avoid drawing any unwanted attention from the larger, more established houses.

"Our relationships with the influential houses in the area are quite good. In fact, we've been invited to another party next weekend at the Marsant Mansion on the other side of Easton, if you're interested?" She scrunched up her face in mock disgust.

"Not unless it's absolutely necessary." Dustin snorted out a laugh.

"Not much is absolutely necessary, for someone of your standing. Believe it or not, House Yountal is held in pretty high esteem here in Easton, given how new our presence is."

"Oh?" she raised an eyebrow. He nodded.

"At the Ventus' ball two weeks ago, I got quite a few comments about how your presence was sorely missed, as well as well wishes for your continued success here in Easton. Just prior to that, I received more than a few letters asking what style of dress you would be wearing to the ball. I would venture to guess that if you paraded around town wearing a hat the size of a small carriage, you would start a new trend." She looked at him, confused.

"Why? I haven't done much of anything here in Easton, other than attend the sword academy." He chuckled self-satisfiedly, then brushed some imaginary dust from his suit coat.

"Well, our plan to maintain a certain image is working quite well, if I say so myself. Our house crest adorns all of the products we sell now, and is widely recognized already as a symbol of quality, something people can trust." She was giving him a deadpan stare now. He continued, unabashedly, "We've established good relations with quite a few of the influential houses here in Easton, due in no small part to my mixing and mingling at the parties and balls, as well as some well timed business arrangements.

I've made sure to present House Yountal in only the best light so far, and we haven't been here long enough to develop any enemies… until yesterday, that is." He left unsaid that with Lord Grivalt's death, their house would certainly have some enemies now. Someone was sure to take offense at the events, probably Baron Norshod at the very least. She shook her head in disbelief, a crooked smile on her face.

"You have no shame, do you? Praising yourself like that. Tsk tsk." He smiled confidently in return.

"You wouldn't know, since you leave all of the estate management to me, but I have a very high salary, Lady Yountal." He made sure to emphasize her proper title to try and rile her up a bit.

"I have to occasionally boast about my accomplishments to illustrate why I'm worth the exorbitant sum I'm charging you." She snorted out a laugh.

"Alright, whatever, I'm sure you're worth it."

"Hey," he said, holding up a finger, "you don't ever really listen when I talk business, so I don't have anyone to appreciate my accomplishments. I will have you know, House Yountal is already profitable. Our businesses already bring in enough profit to cover the costs of running the entire estate, including my own generous salary.

"That last personal investment that you made to the house funds – which was very generous by the way, thank you – was enough to spin up all of the businesses that are feasible at this juncture. With how profitable things are already, we can last indefinitely at the scale we currently operate on." She nodded along politely, but he could tell she was quickly losing interest. He cleared his throat to bring her attention back to the surface.

"Speaking of which, what scale do you wish to operate on, moving forward? Are you interested in growing past this initial small-city gap-filling niche market type model? Would you be interested in expanding into larger markets, ones that would really put House Yountal on the map?" Shian straightened at his serious tone.

"Um… sure, I guess? Why not?" He steepled his fingers together as he spoke.

"Well, it could be dangerous. It will be dangerous. Once you start messing with the profits of established houses, things get dicey. So far, we've avoided painting a target on our backs, but we're reaching the limits of what we can do with that limitation." She studied him for a moment, and for once he had a hard time guessing what she was thinking. It was like she was staring into his soul, but not in an uncomfortable way.

"How do you feel about it?" she finally asked him. He cocked his head to the side.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you want to jump into monster infested waters like that?" It was an interesting way to look at it. Did he want to expand the Yountal business empire if it meant entering dangerous waters? Yes. Yes, he very much did. He lived for the thrill of it, honestly. So far, the steps they had taken were easy. Too simple, honestly, it didn't present him with any sort of challenge. It was like a baby taking its first steps.

It felt good the first time you did it, when your parents were there to praise and encourage you, and making it from the couch to the table felt like some kind of grand accomplishment. Truly worthwhile for a baby to engage in that sort of thing. But for an average adult? Walking from the couch to the table was so routine, it didn't deserve any sort of praise or accolades. Dustin was long past the point of taking 'baby steps' in the business world.

Opening up small shops and building friendly relations with the local merchants and nobility was so routine, so mundane for him at this point, that it offered no sort of challenge. Scaling their businesses and opening new income streams was so second nature to him, that he had to remind himself daily not to move too fast. There had been too much at stake, with Shian's family in a precarious situation. But now? Now he wanted to grow and expand.

Even the next steps of growth would feel too ordinary, too natural, to offer any sense of accomplishment at this stage. It wouldn't be until they got to the truly mammoth stage of existence that he would start to see any sort of challenge. Once he was up against the other mammoths, others like himself that had spent their entire lives living in this headspace, then he would get a real challenge. His thoughts immediately turned to his own family though.

When faced with that level of opposition, many would do what his own father had done: they would turn to violence. House Yountal had a small guard unit, but nothing substantial enough to protect them from any true danger. He would have to carefully balance their business growth with the growth of their house's military might. A wealthy house without adequate protection was just an open gold mine that anyone could plunder.