Jake walked with Carn towards the large gate with two guards out front. The two guards had clearly already seen them and noticed the black mask on Carn and Jake wearing his own rather unique mask. Both were identifiers that they were guests of Paradise and likely wealthy individuals, which also ant the guards took a polite deanor by default.
“Good afternoon, sir and madam. May I know your purpose for visiting the Salvento residence?” one of the guards asked courteously.
Carn looked at the man for a mont before just saying: “Tell them that Carn is here.”
The guard looked confused and exchanged a look with his partner. They didn’t argue back but just decided to do as asked. He felt the other guard keep an extra eye on Jake, making him guess the guy probably had so way to gauge people and how strong they were beyond rely using Identify - an ability like beasts had, making them know who not to ss with.
A few minutes passed before a few more guards made it out of the house before finally, Jake spotted soone that was clearly a mber of the family. It was a man wearing a tailored tan suit who walked beside a woman in a relatively modest dress. Both looked to be in their forties to early fifties, and looking at Carn’s conflicted reaction to seeing them, he had a good guess who they were.
Her parents.
Jake didn’t know what he expected, and neither did Carn. He just stood back as they observed. Carn looked at the two of them as they ca closer, with the man clearly not in a good mood.
“Who are you?” he asked the mont they were within earshot. “What the hell do you want? Money? How dare you use the na of my dead daughter to-“
Carn didn’t hesitate as she ripped off her mask and stared daggers at the man. “Who the fuck is dead?”
The man stopped with his mouth still half-open. His expression was odd, but the woman – Carn’s mother – had the kind of reaction Jake would have expected from soone finding out their daughter was still alive.
She brought her hands to her mouth as she ran over and past the security guards, tears in her eyes. “Carn? Is it really you?”
Carn had no idea what to think. She saw her mother run over without any hesitation while crying like she was actually happy to see her. anwhile, her father still just stood there dumbstruck. She hadn’t seen or heard from her mother since her last court date. Sure, her mother had also been crying then, but she hadn’t visited her a single ti in prison. She hadn’t even once made a call or sent a letter or done anything. How did she dare to suddenly act like she was happy to see Carn after willfully not going to see her for nearly two years?
“What, surprised I am not dead?” she sneered at the both of them.
Her mother stopped a few steps away as the tears just kept streaming down. “I… I’m so sorry… about everything. I…”
“You what?” Carn shot back.
“Carn, do not speak to your mother like that,” her father said as he had now composed himself. “Stop making a scene and co inside if you want to talk.”
Glaring, she shot him a look as she felt her anger build. “What the fuck are you going to-“
She then felt a slight tap on her shoulder. She whipped her head around and saw Jake who was just shaking his head. Carn looked into his eyes for a mont before taking a deep breath. Don’t get too emotional… you are in control here.
“Fine. Lead us inside,” Carn finally said. Her mother seed relieved while her father nodded, still looking deep in thought.
The two security guards just stared as she saw her father raise a hand. “Hold it. Who is this man, and why are you bringing him along?”
“I am a companion, and I am coming along, no discussion,” Jake just answered. “I have been hired to and have no intentions of shirking on my promises.”
His answer was short, but it seed good enough as her father only looked at him briefly before ignoring him. The mont he had said the words that he was hired, Carn already knew that her father had passed judgnt and now didn’t see him as anyone worth anything… he had always been an ass to service workers, but it had clearly only gotten worse.
Yet her mother seed so happy. She wouldn’t stop crying and looked like she wanted to just give Carn a hug. What the hell is up with… everything?
Man, if this wasn’t peak-level family drama. Jake could see Carn about to lose it right away, but he noticed quite the discrepancy. Her father did indeed look like an utter asshole, but her mother’s relief and emotions felt incredibly genuine. Moreover, the glances the man tossed his wife were proof he wasn’t happy with how she acted.
Carn had asked Jake to help ground her and give her reality checks, so he would do that. Jake had the lucky advantage that he quite frankly didn’t give a fuck about what happened to any of these people. All he cared about was Carn not making a kneejerk reaction that she would co to regret. She was effectively holding a loaded gun at all tis, and a single mont where she lost control could kill either one of them, sothing they clearly weren’t aware of.
Wordlessly they were escorted inside as Carn walked beside Jake, her mother a bit off to the side, and her father at the front. The woman looked like she wanted to say sothing or at least get closer, while Jake saw the man with a deep frown on his face that he probably believed none of them could see as he had his back turned.
Jake exchanged a look with Carn, who just had a stony face. He tried to give her an assuring look, and she nodded a bit stiffly. For now, they would let her family take the lead and see what they planned on doing and what they would do. Jake took his ti to scan the mansion with his senses and quickly noticed a vast underground complex. He also felt soone powerful in the house… but it was odd. Like, the aura was powerful, but it also felt almost fake? Now Jake was also curious.
Once inside the mansion, her father exchanged so words with a servant of sorts before leaving, practically dragging his wife along. Jake and Carn were then led into a lounge room of sorts, where they sat down.
Jake took the initiative as he summoned a barrier of stable arcane mana, isolating them from the outside world entirely.
“What the fuck is wrong with them?” Carn instantly shouted as she looked at Jake the mont he was done with the barrier. “And why did you stop ? Do you understand any of this shit?”
“No, not really… but your mother seed genuine. There is definitely more going on than you know,” Jake shook his head. “I think hearing out their side can be beneficial. Not for them, but for you. If you don’t figure things out, you may discover sothing in the future that will make you look back at today with regret. If they prove to still be absolute assholes, you will always be able to turn the situation around to your advantage. Rember, you are in the right here. You decide what happens today, not them.”
Carn finally sat down and stared at the expensive-looking coffee table. “What will you do if things turn bad?”
“Depends on what you want to do,” Jake shrugged. “Ah, but I did place a Hunter’s Mark on each of your parents to keep an eye on them. To be safe, ya know.”
She just shook her head and smiled a bit. Jake knew she still had no idea what she wanted to happen and that it all depended on what her family chose to do. It was all a complicated reason, and Jake was just happy nothing was really up to him. He would just do his simple task of making sure Carn made choices with an at least partly clear mind.
Minutes passed as they sat there, just chatting a bit. Carn decided now was a good idea to discuss how many people undervalued good form while in the gym and how important it truly was when building muscle, especially when focusing on building specific muscles. Jake had rarely seen soone so obviously just talking about a random topic to take their thoughts off things, but he nevertheless listened and engaged.
It took more than twenty minutes before anyone even addressed them aside from the first servant. Jake had noticed many attempts to probe them and observe or listen in, but Jake’s barrier was too good for their bad scouting attempts to work. This wasn’t only because Jake was good, but because the attempts were half-arsed at best.
The door to the room opened, and in ca another servant. “The family will receive you now,” the woman said courteously.
This choice of words was not lost on Jake, but Carn didn’t seem to care much as she just got up. Jake had dispelled the barrier when he saw the servant approach and followed her out. Their welco so far had been less than welcoming… they weren’t even offered tea and cookies.
They were led through the grand mansion and into what Jake guessed was a banquet hall. Jake already saw the gathering of people in the hall before the double door was opened. “Prepare yourself. It looks like they are pretty much all there,” Jake said, infusing his voice with a bit of Willpower to only let Carn hear.
More than fifty people were gathered. Around thirty of them were suits or dresses and other such fancy clothes, while twenty were guards or servants. It was quite sothing. Jake saw Carn steel herself as the doors were opened, revealing the entire hall and the many people gathered. It reminded Jake of the most intimidating job interview imaginable, with all of them just staring at the maskless Carn.
Now, Jake had expected many opening questions… but not even he could predict this one.
“Child, what on god’s earth are you wearing?” a woman who looked to be well in her seventies with frilly hair and a baggy dress asked.
Carn was wearing her combat outfit. Cured leather, tal bracers, heavy combat boots, and generally, she looked ready for a fight at any mont. The only skin she revealed was her face and bare hands. anwhile, every other woman in the room wore dresses or other “elegant” clothes.
“Mother, cut her so slack. She must have had a hard ti traveling all this way,” another woman cut in.
“Doesn’t excuse her lack of proper etiquette,” a third woman cut in.
“Also, who is this man? And look at those… things on his feet. Do the servants not vet any random holess person who wanders in?” a man chid in.
“Now, now, let’s all calm down,” a fourth woman finally said as she raised her hand. Jake recognized her instantly as the woman Carn had ntioned was her hated aunt, the mother of her most-hated cousin, Beatrice. To note, then Beatrice was not present in the room currently, but Jake saw her in another room off to the side, clearly observing them through so monitoring device. With her was a relatively thin and nerdy-looking man with glasses. He was currently giving her a shoulder massage as she looked at the confrontation between Carn and the rest of the Salvento family.
“Carn, it truly is you,” the aunt said as she was all smiles. “I cannot tell you how much of a surprise this is. We had feared the worst when we failed to get in contact with you after so long, and I cannot tell you how happy we are to see you return to us. I am sure that if you work hard, then our family can find it in our hearts to forgive you and move on. With the world in such turmoil, isn’t it a great opportunity to give new chances?”
To her credit, Carn didn’t lose her shit but just stood with a steely face.
“That’s it?” she finally asked after a good five seconds of silence.
“Carn! Be respectful, and do not make this more difficult than it has to be!” her father yelled from across the room. He was red-faced, and Jake noticed how Carn’s mother was just standing all the way in the back, looking down with tears in her eyes.
“Nothing is difficult here,” Carn shot back.
“She is right,” the aunt agreed. “Now, Carn. I must know, why did you co now? Why co at all?”
The mixed ssaging could not be more clear. On the one hand, the aunt welcod her back with open arms while simultaneously questioning why she would co back as if it was obvious she wasn’t welco.
“I felt like I had to,” Carn answered truthfully.
“Daft as ever,” the old woman – Carn’s grandmother - said. “After all the trouble you caused, you dare show your face like this again? You dare show up covered in dirt, ignoring all etiquette and social norms by just barging in the door? Without a single apology? You should be on your knees begging for forgiveness from your aunt and your cous-“
“Enough!”
Jake had expected Carn to be the one yelling, but while the voice was similar, it wasn’t her. Her mother broke out of the crowd and ran towards Carn as she stood in front of her. “This is… enough!”
Carn stared confused at the woman’s back. While it made a bit more sense to Jake, he chose to stay silent as he curiously observed.
“Maura, what in god’s na are you doing!” Carn’s father yelled. He looked both worried and infuriated at what was happening.
“This isn’t right or at all what we agreed! You promised-“
“Maura,” the aunt cut her off as she stared down at Carn’s mother. “Think very carefully about what you want to do or say next.”
The woman hesitated as Jake decided to get a little involved. He infused his voice with a bit of Willpower and whispered into the woman’s ear.
“Just speak. Do not underestimate your daughter, and share the truth. Have no doubt that the side you now stand on is the superior one.”
No one but her heard his voice, and she looked bewildered for a mont, but it seed to have given her the confidence. She gritted her teeth as she yelled:
“Why should I trust anything any of you say! I already lost my daughter once, and I will not do so again! You promised she would be out of prison within a year and be back with us! You swore you were doing everything and that as long as we kept our distance, we would be fine! You never did anything!” the woman practically scread.
“Maura, shut your mouth right now and apologize! Get back here and-“
“No! I am not leaving my daughter again!”
The situation had turned tense a lot quicker than expected. The woman called Maura had only managed to share a few details, but Jake could see Carn was shaken. She looked unsure of what to do, and Jake placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.
Carn looked up as she collected her thoughts. She seed to make a decision as she stepped forward. “I think there are so things I need to know. Mother, please follow so we can-“
“Dear, I will need you to stay so we can talk this out,” the aunt interrupted her, and Jake saw the guards move to cover the door. “Having you and your mother simply leave like this will just cause issues no one wants, wouldn’t it?”
Jake just sighed internally. What a fucking moron.
And, of course, they just had to make it even worse as the side door swung open.
“Now, what is all this ruckus? Is my retarded little cousin causing a ruckus again and in need of another lesson?”
The cousin entered, and with her was the nerdy-looking man that gave off quite an odd aura. Finally, all the related parties were gathered in one room for the highest stake ga of family feud imaginable.
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