I searched the western wing of the ruined estate first.
The halls were dark and smelled of mold.
Broken furniture and fallen roof tiles covered the floor.
I moved slowly, dagger in hand, listening for anything that did not belong.
Once I heard claws scraping somewhere deeper in the dark, but whatever made the sound stayed away.
I did not go looking for it.
In the old kitchens the roof had partly collapsed.
Gray morning light came through the hole.
Rusted pots and broken plates lay everywhere.
In the far corner I found an iron hand-pump connected to an underground cistern.
After a dozen hard pumps, brown sludge came out, then clear cold water.
I filled a wooden bucket, drank until my throat stopped burning, and carried the heavy load back through the quiet halls.
When I unlatched the office door, Isolde’s head snapped toward the sound. Seraphina’s golden eyes locked on me at once. Both of them were still exactly where I had left them.
"You were gone too long," Isolde said. Her voice was tight with the effort of not showing fear.
"I found water."
I set the bucket down and filled a tin cup. I held it to Seraphina’s lips. She turned her head away as far as her paralyzed neck allowed.
"I will not take water from a Voss."
"You nearly drowned in mud yesterday and almost died from the curse last night," I said. "Drink."
I held her chin with my scarred hand and tipped the cup. She glared at me the whole time, golden eyes full of hate, but her body was too thirsty to keep refusing. She swallowed. When I pulled the cup back she was breathing harder.
I gave the same cup to Isolde. She took it with both hands, her fingers brushing mine for a second, and drank quickly. Some of the water ran down her chin. She did not wipe it away.
A small System window appeared.
[Action Logged: Nutritional Care - Providing clean water]
[Grade: D - Minimal Investment]
[Reward Granted: 2x Stamina Rations]
Two dense squares of dried meat appeared in my pocket. I tossed one onto Isolde’s lap and held the other near Seraphina’s mouth until she took a bite, still watching me like I might poison her.
For a short time the only sounds were the low fire and the rain that had slowed to a steady drizzle outside. The locked gates and the burned carriages waited in the courtyard. The two bodies in the main hall had not moved.
Then slow clapping echoed from the hall.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
I stood at once and put myself between the women and the door. My hand went to the dagger.
"Very domestic," a smooth voice called. "But your quiet morning is over, Cassian."
I kicked the door open and stepped into the main hall.
A man in clean red and black robes stood near the broken front entrance. A silver pendant of an unburning flame hung at his chest. He did not look at the bodies on the floor or the bloodstains. His boots were still clean.
"Brother Silas," I said.
He smiled thinly. "I expected to find your corpse. Lady Cordelia paid the guards well to make sure you did not survive the trip. You are harder to kill than expected."
"What do you want?"
"An offer from His Eminence, Cardinal Malchior Vane." He drew a small corked vial from his robes.
The liquid inside was thick and purple, swirling slowly.
"The Cardinal believes your father was too harsh.
He is willing to restore you.
A place in the capital.
Protection.
Even a path back into House Voss, if you prove useful."
I knew this moment. In the novel this was the first leash the Church put around the original Cassian’s neck.
"And the price?" I asked.
Silas turned the vial so the purple sludge caught the gray light.
"Simple.
Feed this to the Draven girl.
One dose every week.
It will not kill her.
It will only soften her mind.
Make her easier to guide.
The Cardinal has plans for the Shadow bloodline.
In return, you live comfortably and send weekly reports on her condition."
Behind me, inside the office, Isolde’s breathing stopped for a second. She had heard every word.
Silas continued in the same calm tone. "Leave the paralyzed princess alive. Prince Alaric still needs her as a living banner. Do this, and the Church will open every door that your family closed."
He held the vial out toward me.
"Take it, Cassian. Your father threw you away. Your half-brother spat on you in front of the entire court. This is the only path that does not end with you freezing to death in a ruin with two broken women."
I looked at the purple liquid.
In the original story the old Cassian took the deal without hesitation. He fed Isolde the drug, sold both women piece by piece, and died later when he stopped being useful.
I closed my hand around the vial.
Then I squeezed.
Glass cracked, then shattered in my palm. The thick purple sludge burst over my knuckles and hissed as it hit the cold stone. The magic smoked once and died.
Silas’s polite smile vanished completely.
"You arrogant bastard," he said, voice low. "Did you think I came alone?"
He raised one hand and snapped his fingers.
Heavy boots sounded in the courtyard outside. Six templars in silver Church armor stepped into the gray light, drawing their broadswords in the same motion. They blocked the only way out of the keep.
"Burn the keep if you must," Silas ordered, pointing the tip of a short curved blade at my chest. "Kill the bastard. We will take the women ourselves and administer the elixir properly."
I stepped back toward the office door, dagger already in my hand.
The choice was made. The leash was broken in front of them.
`[System Alert]`
`[World’s Will Plot Deviation: +5%]`
`[Cause: Minor Antagonist Refused Scripted Betrayal]`
`[Total Plot Deviation: 5%]`
Now the Church would try to take what it wanted by force.