Chapter 13: Diary

In his previous life, apart from movies and TV shows, Kaios had never witnessed a bloody scene in reality; he hadn't even killed a chicken.

But today, seeing the gore flying everywhere, watching the Mad Knight get cleaved in half by Sharvella's Horizontal Blade and turn into a mist of blood, he didn't seem to feel any physical discomfort.

He found this a bit strange himself, guessing that the scene was so exaggerated that to a Transmigrator from Earth like him, it seemed almost too fake to inflict any psychological trauma.

However, that night, jolting awake halfway through his sleep from a nightmare involving a sea of blood, he suddenly understood why the person hiding in the shadows would use such a method to try to frighten him.

Outside the bedroom, Sharvella's gentle voice inquired, "My Lord, are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Just had a dream." Kaios said, getting out of bed to put on his coat and walk out of the bedroom.

For the night shift, Sharvella had changed into a set of exquisite silver armor, her face obscured by a visor like the other Silver Armor Guards. For some reason, however, simply by getting close to her—without needing to see the badge on her chest or the halo behind her head—Kaios instantly knew it was her.

Outside the bedroom, besides Sharvella guarding the door, Harvey and three Silver Armor Guards stood a little further away.

As Kaios headed to the painting room, Sharvella and Harvey naturally followed.

"Are you sure your injuries are fine?" Kaios asked, glancing at Harvey.

"Thank you for your concern, my Lord! I only suffered minor injuries. Physician Grossman treated them simply, and now I'm perfectly fine," Harvey replied gratefully.

Kaios then asked, "How are the others' injuries? Did they manage to save Yang Jing's left leg?" Yang Jing was the great warrior—or rather, the unlucky bastard—who had used his own body to trade blows with the Mad Knight's mount, knocking the knight off his horse, only to be trampled later by the Punishment Knights charging into the manor.

"Yes, it's saved. Thanks to your orders, my Lord, Physician Grossman spared no expense in using Magic and potions. Although he will need to rest for at least a month before he can walk normally, Yang Jing definitely won't end up crippled," Harvey said, his tone laced with excitement.

"Good, that's good to hear."

"It's all thanks to your generosity, my Lord. Otherwise, at least two of the injured wouldn't have survived, and four others would have been left disabled. Given how brutal today's battle was, it feels completely unbelievable that not a single person died," Harvey marveled.

"The Kendall family will compensate us for the medical expenses," Kaios stated.

Harvey shook his head. "If it were any other Lord, even if they received compensation, they wouldn't spend a single coin to treat injured Contracted Servants. Not to mention, when you ordered us to spare no expense, the compensation hadn't even been confirmed yet."

Kaios knew that Harvey wasn't just spouting flattery; he genuinely meant what he said.

No wonder Lu Hao had been so surprised when he gave the order. It seemed the Lords of this world didn't care about the lives or deaths of their servants—even Contracted Servants—and only cared about the value they could provide.

Kaios didn't say much else. He walked straight to the original owner's painting room and stayed inside alone.

The feeling from his recent nightmare stemmed from these paintings—from the lingering emotions he had perceived on a few of the canvases earlier: fear, sorrow, and despair.

The scenes from the daytime had etched themselves into his memory, subsequently awakening these specific emotions at night, which culminated in the nightmare that jolted him awake.

Then, he suddenly realized something. Because he had only perceived weakened, second-hand emotions that had lingered on the paintings for an unknown amount of time, they had only been potent enough to manifest as a nightmare at night.

But if it had been the original owner, those intense negative emotions would have detonated right there on the spot, likely plunging him straight back into a comatose state.

It seemed the people behind the scenes hadn't given up on their original plan. Moreover, their understanding of the original owner was extremely profound, and their methods were quite formidable.

If the original owner were still in control, their scheme would have likely succeeded once again.

Kaios once again began to study the paintings scattered around the room. He couldn't shake the feeling that they weren't simple artistic expressions—they seemed to harbor some deeper meaning.

He paid particular attention to the painting that was visibly drawn with blood, picking it up and holding it close for a more thorough examination.

He then discovered that there seemed to be something hidden behind the canvas. When he picked it up and gave it a shake, something rattled inside.

He fumbled with it for a moment and managed to pry open the backboard. Sure enough, hidden inside was a leather-bound notebook. Although it looked aged and showed considerable wear and tear, it was clearly fine in craftsmanship and extremely expensive.

After flipping through a couple of pages, Kaios perked up—he realized this was actually a diary!

Finding the original owner's diary meant that many of his questions could be directly answered, saving him a ton of investigation and guesswork.

But as he continued reading, Kaios soon noticed something amiss. The diary mentioned the writer's wife giving birth. However, the original owner was only eighteen and completely unmarried.

When he saw a passage where the writer mentioned naming the child Kaios Li, he immediately understood. This wasn't the original owner's diary; this belonged to the original owner's father, the Old Baron.

Why would he hide his father's diary in here?

Although somewhat confused and disappointed, the diary of the previous Lord—the original owner's father—still provided him with some useful information.

He didn't read it page by page from the beginning. Instead, he quickly flipped through to find topics of interest, soon extracting several crucial pieces of information:

First, the so-called Secret Skill used to nurse the original owner's health during his childhood was actually the Cultivation of Spiritual Qi.

Second, the original owner had studied under two masters who taught him how to cultivate Spiritual Qi: Philo and Beinam, both of whom Pete had mentioned before.

Third, the Old Baron believed the original owner was not only physically weak from a young age but also possessed a highly lustful nature. Therefore, he dared not let the boy come into contact with any women. The manor he lived in didn't have a single maid—not even women in their forties or fifties. It wasn't until he turned sixteen that maids and female guards were introduced, but they were all required to wear masks or visors, strictly forbidden from revealing their true faces to the young master. The pages documenting this detail were heavily crumpled, though they hadn't been torn out.

Fourth, based on the diary entries, the Old Baron hadn't wanted the original owner to become his heir if he'd had a choice. Unfortunately, he had no other sons. Even his only other child—a daughter—had met a violent end.

Fifth, although the diary didn't explicitly detail how the daughter died, it was obvious the tragedy had profoundly affected both father and son.

Sixth, in an appendix at the back of the diary, there was a detailed record of the function of every single bead on the Lord's Protective Bracelet. Many of these functions weren't merely keys, but were directly connected to the Guardian Array of the North Mountain Manor.

The sixth point in particular allowed Kaios to instantly master several methods to utilize the Guardian Array—methods that even Pete knew nothing about.

While these methods didn't grant him the omnipotent control over the Grand Array he had envisioned—the ability to strike anywhere at will—there was one function that thoroughly piqued his curiosity.

A few minutes later, upon hearing Kaios call for her, Sharvella pushed the door open and entered the painting room.

But to her surprise, she didn't see Kaios anywhere. She instantly tensed up. Spiritual Qi rapidly surged through her body, and her right hand tightly gripped the hilt of her Horizontal Blade.