The Duke of Whishipper

Chapter 15: A curious bystander (1)

At the Duke's mansion, remained one guest who kept roaming around his chamber, anxious and unsettled.

The lawyer, Larck Dorben was feeling quite uneasy he could not bear sitting still. He was certain he will not have a blink of rest without sorting his thoughts thus, an idea and flashed his busy mind and, without await, he headed headed to the desk in the chamber and started writing down all what he knows. That was all he could do.

After the death of the previous Duke, the dukedom became under the leadership of the Lether family with the duchess, Lady Rina as a monarch for 14 years.
Her son, Rivan Whishipper, passed away after suffering an incurable diseases at the age of 4.

He absolutely and undoubtedly died with a certification and a testimony from the family's doctor, Joseph.

Larck paused and looked at the last name "Dr. Joseph"
He circled the name as if to take a note of it. Then returned to his train of thoughts.

A funeral was held and the young boy was buried with the Whishipper crest to symbolize the end of that Duke's bloodline along with the sole heir.

However, Larck stopped writing and stared at the word "Crest". He frowned and narrowed his eyes in confusion.

'The real heir and the crest, both came back. At least, one of them is genuine.'

Mr. Dorben recalled the funeral. He precisely remembered the Whishipper's crest he checked.

His father, the late lawyer of the Duke's family, taught him the way to tell a real symbol of the Whishippers. It was something that can be seen at first glance yet, cannot be notice it unless you knew about it beforehand.

The Whishipper crest is beautifully shaped. The metallic base pure golden crafted with silver waves. Nonetheless, different gems of a green hue topped the crest forming the letter W.

'And the Whishipper's crest secret is in those gems.'

Larck's eyes moved to the window as he gazed at the far away land of the dukedom but his mind was picturing something perfectly as if it was before his eyes. It was just as his father showed him each time Larck accompanied him to the mansion.

Every gem's core on the crest was cracked.

A crooked smile formed on his face. Was it from excitement? Thriller? Amazement? Fear? He had no idea. All that Larck knew was he was too shocked when he found out.

He did not get the meaning until his father explained.

The cracks were from the core without a single scratch on the surface.
If jeweleries were to check it, they would obviously notice the cracked cores. Yet, they can never explain it.

'As if they broke from the inside'

Larck did not care about gemstones in particular. That was not his job nor did they interest him. However, he would be lying if he said those little abnormal things did not capture his attention.
And similarly, only an abnormal explanation seemed to be the answer for him.

"Haaa."

He let out a deep sigh and brushed his face with his hand.

'The real abnormal thing is that new Duke'

Larck remembered the new Duke of Whishipper. He would not have believed him at all if it was not for the real crest of the family he had with him. Yet, it seemed that two people took his words realistically from the moment he came. The lawyer recalled it clearly as their reactions caught his attention.

They were the pale Head of Butlers Ms. June, and the calm young master Eliot.

Unlike the other attendance, they did not show suspect of that Duke's identity, or so that what seemed to Larck.