Chapter 326: Conversations in the Ways That Matter

In barely a minute, the honey-glazed duck had vanished, while both of Aika’s cheeks were bulging like those of a squirrel that had stuffed itself with winter nuts, as she stuffed in more bread rolls than she should have.

But while she was mid-swallow and was just about to start devouring dessert, she noticed that the chatter in the room had died down. Lifting her head, she could see the two girls and Julius staring.

She slowed her chewing and as she licked her fingers, she realized that they were not staring out of amusement but rather they were giving her questioning looks that demanded answers.

They were likely still wondering what had happened over three nights ago.

Aika looked away and sighed softly.

She stared at nothing in particular for a moment, her eyes clouded with thought, before finally saying in a calm voice, "Excuse me, I need a smoke and some air."

She stood up to leave, but paused at the threshold and looked back toward their host. "Can I borrow your entry courtyard?"

"Uh, oh yeah, sure," Evelyn said, perking up immediately at the request.

But Julius, who understood the weight behind the question, stood up with the steady grace of a gentleman.

"I’ll guide you there," he offered.

This was a viscount’s estate, and since no one in the household knew who Aika was, just seeing her wandering alone at night in the entry courtyard would likely lead to an unpleasant confrontation with the guards.

Julius suspected that was exactly why Aika had asked, so he offered to lend her the protection of his status by walking at her side. He quickly caught up to her and guided her to the very massive entry courtyard of the estate, which was a sprawling expanse of meticulously raked gravel and towering stone archways.

There was a large water fountain in the center, its stone tiers weathered by age and topped with the figure of a weeping saint. Aika made her way there, then sat on the curved marble edge of the basin, crossing one leg over the other. She took out a long, slender ebony smoke pipe, lit it, and began releasing thin, fragrant ribbons of blue smoke into the cool night air.

Julius, on the other hand, took out a cigarillo from his pocket and lit it up, then leaned his shoulder against a nearby pillar, watching the smoke from his own breath mingle with the mist of the fountain.

For a moment, there was a bit of silence between them, until Aika turned to him and said in a soft voice, "You don’t seem to talk much, do you."

Julius smiled, and the light from the crimson moon glinted off the silver earring in his ear. After taking a drag, he exhaled and said in a low voice, "And I’m surprised you’re even talking to me at all."

A few seconds passed, and Aika looked away from him, her gaze following a drifting leaf.

Julius let out a low chuckle. "I’m more of a listener. Or more specifically, an observer. Words are a bit overrated, don’t you think? They’re easy to rehearse and even easier to fake. I’ve always found that you can learn much more about a person by just being with them and watching the little things they love to do — by watching how they move, or how they choose to sit in a quiet room — than by anything they actually do say."

Aika leaned back on her free hand and sighed a gray plume of smoke.

Julius then added, "For instance, even though we’ve never had a real conversation, by virtue of the fact that you’ve been in the same party with me, we’ve actually spent hours speaking to one another in the ways that matter."

"Hm...?" Aika arched a brow. She leaned forward, resting her elbow on her leg and propping her chin on her palm as she turned her full attention toward Julius.

Then her lips curled into a small smile as she said, "What do you think you know about me?"

Julius smiled and pocketed his other hand, then he took a long drag of his cigarillo. As he exhaled, the words seemed to drift out with the smoke.

"Many things. More than you know about yourself, perhaps."

His eyes dropped to the bottle of dark whiskey beside Aika that she had brought with her. "I know you drink when you don’t want to think."

His gaze traveled to her smoke pipe, which she held in a loose, practiced grip. "And I know you smoke when you are being swallowed up by thoughts."

When he saw the little smile on Aika’s face widen just a bit, he added, "I know that it’s not that you prefer being by your lonesome, but it’s that you do not like people at all."

He paused and flicked a bit of the ash onto the gravel. "So, I know you didn’t come here to visit... or to eat. But those became a part of the agenda when you arrived."

Aika stared at him for a moment, genuinely impressed. She then turned away, leaned back on her hand, and took a long drag of her pipe.

As she exhaled, staring at the moon, she watched the gray smoke spiral upward like a silent prayer. "What do you think I came here for then, Lord of the Night?"

The Lord of the Night took a breath and seemed lost in thought for a moment. He looked around the courtyard and then back at Aika.

Finally, he muttered in a confident tone, "Knowing you, you didn’t have to come all the way out here just for smoke and air. Your exact words were that you wanted to borrow our entry courtyard. Which means you want to do something here. I’m assuming that you want to raise the fallen that you brought back with you from the first ring. And you want to do that here. Am I right, Raven of Decay?"

Aika smiled.