Inside the carriage, Eve was staring at the silent Raven, who was nervously avoiding her eyes.
"Mind explaining yourself?"
Raven stole a glance and started acting, "There's nothing to explain. It's exactly what happened."
"I will cut down your allowance if you don't come cl-"
"I threatened him and made him shut his mouth."
…
A few hours earlier,
"Urgh!" A young man with blond hair groaned as he struggled to open his eyes.
"Ah, it stinks!" He complained immediately after waking up.
"Good Morning, Jayden."
Hearing that voice, tonnes of memories poured into his mind, as he snapped.
He immediately jolted awake and looked at two golden eyes staring at him in the dark.
"You!" Without a second thought, Jayden charged at him, remembering last night's humiliation.
But Raven quickly dodged his attack.
"Calm down, Jayden." He advised, but rage had blinded his reasonings at this moment.
He started conjuring a magic spell, which made Raven nervous.
The original body of Raven was in no way weak.
Heck, he might even be considered a talented individual in magic, better than Jayden.
But there was a difference between memories and actually knowing how to fight.
He needed to practice enough to get on this body's level in magic control,
So this might very well even be fatal to him.
"You might want to reconsider your choices," He said, pointing towards the other side of the bars with all the bravado he could muster.
Two guards were ready to strike him down the second he used it.
"We are in the prison of Earl Brescia, in his main manor. You'd better behave."
"Prison? Us?" Jayden was surprised.
Emprisoning a noble heir, merely for some brawl?
"The bar belonged to the Earl," Raven predicted his question.
It reminded him of the displeasing face of Arthur.
"Then why would you choose that bar?" He sounded pissed, rightfully so.
"Do you also check the owner of a store you visit?" Raven shot back.
Jayden went silent.
"Exactly!"
Raven lied through his teeth.
He wanted as many backup plans as he could.
And only the Earl had enough power and fairness to keep someone like the Viscount at bay.
Jayden was at his wits' end, as he wanted this disgusting commoner to feel the despair and humiliation he was feeling.
"Let's see how you survive a case on you for beating up a noble." He spouted whatever threat he could muster.
"You mean, a legal, consensual duel between us, where I rightfully defeated you?"
"Huh!?" Jayden's face scrunched, perplexed, "What are you talking about?"
"A duel."
"I don't remember anything about a duel at all. I can bet money on that." Jayden sounded confident.
"You were drunk, so you probably don't remember that." Raven waved his sentence off.
"You don't just magically lose your memories when you're drunk."
As Jayden was finishing this sentence, Raven immediately tapered the distance between them until he was inches away from him.
His golden eyes seemingly stared into Jayden's soul itself.
"Then you must also remember the things you said about the Church of Solis, and its honorable Cardinal who was martyred in a battle against heretics, too, right?"
His tone was creepy, and his eyes just added to the chills Jayden felt as he uttered the sentence.
He did remember those.
"Does that even matt-"
"What do you think would happen if I were to utter those exact same words in front of my sister?" Raven maintained the appearance, intimidating Jayden even more.
A chill ran down his spine.
Eve Marlowe?
"Your sister is not unreasonable." Jayden faltered, defending himself with anything possible, "Not over a few sentences."
"What about the Cardinal's funeral in a few days? What do you think people would say if, let's say… this were to be revealed?" Raven pushed further.
Jayden could now tell this whole setup was part of some plan from Raven.
The invitation last night, the provocations, the fact that he didn't get drunk till the end, and now this.
But this was checkmate.
For nobles, especially the families bearing titles passed down through generations like theirs, social standing and reputation were everything.
And this was a matter worse than just reputation, since it involved the faith of humanity itself.
The Church of Solis.
"So," Raven backed down, clasping his hand, "What happened last night?"
"..." Jayden's eyes dimmed.
He doubted he could buy the witnesses or tamper with them, given the sheer wealth of the Marlowe family compared to theirs.
Given the fact that the bar didn't serve any alcoholic drinks to him last night, he was sure he had already bought them.
There was no escape from this.
"Can you at least tell me why you're doing this?" He asked, hesitantly.
"My life depends on this."
Sigh!
'If you don't wanna tell me, at least don't deliver such lame dialogues.' He didn't voice his opinion out loud.
After that, Jayden repeated Raven's words in a defeated manner, word by word.
"It was a legal, consensual duel between us, where you rightfully defeated me."
"Good."
"You will regret this, someday," Jayden mumbled.
Raven lay back with a smug look and said, "I am sure it would be better than my death."
…
"And that's how I made him lie for me."
Back in the carriage, Raven finished narrating the entire story.
Of course, he excluded the life on the line part, since he didn't want her to interrogate him again.
"And this entire drama for what?" She asked.
"Revenge." He lied again, "I remember this guy making fun of me for not being a noble, and I wanted to beat him at least once."
Tack!
She took out her scabbard and hit him on his head.
"Never pull this type of stunt, ever again. Not against a noble." She leaned back on her carriage seat, "Not unless we become one ourselves."
'So, it's not just father, huh?' Raven mused.
"Also, Father ordered you to be present at the dining table for lunch," Eve revealed.
'Another headache,' He gave her an affirming nod, 'It can't get any worse than this.'
"And lastly," Eve's eyes lit up, seemingly excited for some sort of event, "Mother is expected to arrive by lunchtime too."
"Ah, fuck me sideways."