Earl Ster quickly confirmed that the unlucky maid had indeed died a week ago... After that, the hounds had suddenly split into two factions and fought each other without end.
When Parris went to inspect them, she found that the enormous kennel had been deliberately divided into two sections with wooden boards, preventing the hounds from seeing one another.
Only after receiving dozens of lashes did the male servants responsible for feeding and guarding them tell the truth.
Previously, only Linde had come to see the dogs every few days. During this period, everyone had been extremely busy, and Linde had been ordered to stay by Anos's side every day to study magic. Since they had checked several times and found no hidden danger, they had concealed the matter.
They thought it was merely the newly grown hounds fighting the old dogs for dominance... After all, the Ster Family's king of hounds was the same age as Linde and had already begun to enter old age.
These hounds had always been quite intelligent, so it was not especially surprising that they had suddenly gathered into packs and split into two factions.
If they had not feared that Linde would find his companions bitten to death when he came to visit, they would not have interfered in the hounds' fighting at all.
These were not pet dogs. They had eaten raw meat since childhood. Though they were not as difficult to tame as wolves, their wild nature had always remained.
Their excuses were far-fetched... Hounds did drive away aged members of their kind, but they would never want to kill them like this.
This could only prove that, after eating human flesh, this new generation's perception of humans had changed... The old dogs stopping them from hunting their human keepers were,