"Is it really all right to read your father's notes like this?" Zhao Si asked Godrick as he sat on the steps.
Godrick held the notebook excitedly. "We're looking for clues. I finally dug this out of the storeroom. What if there's a lead in it? Of course we have to read it."
"Look!" Godrick pointed to a page in the notebook. "He wrote about that Demigod meeting here, and about Ranni. I never imagined Ranni almost became part of my family."
"Actually, she's already your 'family' in name," Zhao Si said, spreading his hands.
"No, no, no, I mean she almost became my stepmother." Godrick shuddered. "Thank goodness the plan fell through, or my life wouldn't be nearly as comfortable as it is now."
"With Ranni's personality, she wouldn't care what you did." Zhao Si saw nothing to worry about.
"You don't know what she's like. Ranni always had that stiff expression, as if everyone owed her money." Remembering Ranni left Godrick with no fond feelings.
"She was very pretty, though." Godrick still gave credit where it was due.
Zhao Si leafed through Godwyn's notebook. "Surely Godwyn didn't lose heart after being rejected and drink himself into oblivion?"
"Probably not. Look, there's more after that." Godrick took the notebook and turned a few pages. "Look, he seems to have discovered some secret."
Before reading on, Zhao Si asked, "By the way, have you made arrangements for those sisters, Nepheli and Irina?"
"Oh, right. It's all arranged." Godrick nodded. "Malenia will take them with her when she returns to the Haligtree."
"Good." Zhao Si breathed a sigh of relief. The Haligtree had been relatively untouched by the war.
"Come on, let's see what happened next." Godrick couldn't wait to investigate why Godwyn had drunk himself to death.
After Zhao Si