Chapter 188

Morning had only just broken, sunlight barely pushing above the horizon. At such an hour in the past, the wealthy residents of Vizima’s Trade Quarter would still be lying in their soft beds, admiring the lazy sunlight outside the window.

But for the past two months or more, something had changed.

The rich folk of the Trade Quarter seemed to have become even more diligent than the commoners.

Amat was one of them.

He dragged himself out of a warm bed and off a woman at the break of dawn.

His round, barrel-like waist kept thudding against his green-gold silk coat as he hurried along. He looked like some absurd roly-poly toy, every step making his swollen body wobble and sway. Before long he was panting heavily, his pale, plump face covered in sweat, and every so often he lowered his head and dabbed away the fine beads with a white handkerchief.

A broad, thickset bodyguard followed close behind him. He used to have two guards, but Amat had dismissed one of them.

Those grander, richer men of higher rank than him did not travel with such pomp, so naturally he did not dare flaunt himself with two guards.

And of course there was no carriage. He lowered his head, grit his teeth, and barreled forward like a fat pig in full charge.

“Careful, my lord, someone’s ahead!”

The warning came too late. Amat’s obese body carried too much momentum. He could not stop in time and slammed straight into the obstacle.

“Ow ... ah!”

In the next instant, Amat bounced backward like a ball striking a wall and crashed heavily to the ground.

“You cur! What barbarian dares assault my master?”

The one standing in his way was a bald man built like a hill, wrapped in a black cloak, with the worn hilts of two swords jutting up behind his shoulders. Slightly behind him stood a smaller man in a hooded cloak.

The beastlike pupils in bald Letho’s eyes flickered with a strange light, chilling the bodyguard enough that he restrained himself from drawing the sword at his waist.

“My apologies.” Bald Letho stepped forward and helped Amat up in the same motion. “Sir, forgive my asking, but where are you in such a rush to get to?”

“From your accent, you’re outlanders? Watch where you walk next time.” Amat patted the dust from his clothes and weakly wiped the sweat from his brow. “If you’d knocked something loose in me and made me miss Her Highness’s sermon, could you bear the responsibility?”

“Her Highness? You mean Adda?”

At once Amat’s tiny bean-like eyes flew wide. “You dare speak Your Highness’s name so directly?!”