Ascart City was peaceful as usual, but this peace belonged to just the ordinary, ignorant civilians. Those who were privy to a certain piece of confidential news were currently in full-blown panic mode.
Roel Ascart, the proxy fief lord of the Ascart Fiefdom, the mastermind behind the reforms that had improved the people’s standard of living and brought them hopes for a greater future, the sole successor of the prestigious Ascart House, and the bearer of many more titles, had gone missing!
He had been kidnapped by the neighboring Rosalian princess!
Even the novelists in this era wouldn’t dare to write something as severe as this into their tales!
There were already rumors going around by the borders, but the Ascart House refused to acknowledge or respond to them. They were trying their best to conceal this matter as much as they could.
Just how embarrassing was it to lose one’s fief lord!
Once the news spread in the Theocracy, the other nobles who viewed the Ascart House as an eyesore would surely ridicule them. At the same time, the Xeclydes’ honor would be sullied as well. Most importantly of all, if this matter became an international diplomatic issue, there were bound to be some powers who would happily step right in to disgust them, like the Austine Empire.
Let’s settle it privately.
This was the consensus the Ascart House, Xeclyde Royal Family, and the Sorofya House kidnappers arrived at. However, deathly silence had engulfed the Ascarts’ manor at the moment.
Alicia and Nora were currently sitting in a meeting room, each of them taking an end of a long table. The golden-haired girl was clutching tightly onto the handles of her chair with an impassive look on her face, while a silver-haired girl was pointing a trembling finger toward her.
Five days ago, when the news Nora sent concerning Roel’s kidnapping reached the Holy Capital, Alicia was appalled. However, when she calmed down and thought it over some more, she noticed that there were many doubts surrounding this matter. For one, she simply couldn’t understand why Charlotte was doing this.
With the legitimacy brought about by the engagement contract, Charlotte was in the safest position of them all. That was why Alicia had to summon Nora over to deal with her, but the other party actually ran away before they could do anything at all!
Alicia couldn’t understand what was going on, but she dared not waste even a moment and hurried back home.
According to the content of the final letter she received, Nora had already mobilized her knights and the Ascarts’ guards to take off in hot pursuit. Judging by the time elapsed, Charlotte should still be in the boundaries of the Ascart Fiefdom at the moment, and there was a good chance that Nora would be able to catch them. All in all, this incident was just a scare.
Having come to this conclusion, Alicia was actually quite happy with how things turned out. Regardless of the reason behind Charlotte’s actions, there was no doubt that she had made a grave mistake this time around. Even her identity as Roel’s fiancée wouldn’t be enough to absolve her from blame.
In other words, this marked the end of their fate as an engaged couple. Charlotte would be thrown into the rubbish bin, never to meet Roel ever again.
I guess things turned out fine in the end. At least we managed to get rid of one competitor here.
With such thoughts in mind, Alicia returned to the Ascart Fiefdom. Contrary to her expectations, she was welcomed back not with Roel’s embrace but Nora’s incredibly livid face. Following that were several shocking revelations that shook her to the core. Her mind blanked out, but she couldn’t turn her eyes away from the reality of things.
We really lost Lord Brother here…
“D-didn’t you say that you’ll be able to catch up with them? Where are they?!”
“… We did catch up with them. Twice! But both were bait.”
“Bait? You must be kidding me! Even if it was bait, there’s no way the Sorofyas could travel faster than you in the winter season. What in the world happened?”
Under Alicia’s infuriated interrogation, Nora’s complexion turned more and more awful. There was a long moment of silence as she thought about the Ascarts’ guards whom she had mobilized for the operation before deciding to reveal the truth.
Nora did manage to catch up with Charlotte and Roel, so the one who won this tight chase was actually her. However, what none of them expected was that Charlotte wasn’t playing the chase game with them. She was playing the mafia game, disguising herself as a civilian.
When Nora charged into the depths of the mountain with her army and found herself faced not by the exquisite carriages of the Sorofyas but the local hunters, she immediately realized that she had fallen for Charlotte’s trap. At that very moment, her brain suddenly went numb as she belatedly realized that there was a huge problem with the old woman she met back in the village.
The old woman showed no pulsations of mana, so Nora instinctively thought of her as an ordinary person. However, she forgot that this wasn’t the capital with its good living conditions but a remote mountain village.
In this era, the inconvenience of traveling meant that important resources, such as medicine, were constantly in short supply. This was especially the case in remote villages where merchants hardly ever passed through. As a result, the average lifespan in rural areas tended to be far lower than those in the cities.
It was already pretty good if a village had even a single elderly person, and if there was anyone in their golden years, it was highly likely they would have already become a transcendent from passively assimilating the mana around them.
This was also the reason why most of those who attended village meetings tended to be old people. It wasn’t just because they had a wealth of life experience, but that these seemingly weak old people were actually the strongest ones in the village.
And to emphasize, it was not that they became transcendents because they were old, but that they were able to live till old because they had become transcendents.
All of this meant that it was decidely queer for the old woman Nora met to emanate no mana pulsations at all. Unless she was so lucky as to meet the star of fortune and managed to live to a ripe old age by sheer luck, it could only mean that the old woman had intentionally erased her mana out of necessity, perhaps to shake off her pursuers.
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The old woman must have been Charlotte in disguise.
Having thought this through, Nora felt her heart turning cold. She immediately turned around to return, but she found herself too fatigued to continue the chase. Besides, it had already been half a day since she embarked on the mountain road, so how could Charlotte possibly give her a chance to make a comeback? By the time she arrived, Charlotte and Roel were likely to have already crossed the border.
“I was too anxious this time around and failed to think things through properly. I let her get the better of me.”
Nora gnashed her teeth tightly. Her eyes were composed, but beneath the composure lay furious flickering flames that surprised even Alicia.
“However, if Charlotte thinks that it’s over just like that, she’d be too naive. She shouldn’t underestimate me. I am Roel’s protector, and her actions have challenged my authority as a Xeclyde. She has to bear the consequences for her actions.”
“… What do you plan to do?”
Realizing that Nora was incredibly angry this time around, Alicia quickly calmed herself down as she inquired about her strategy. There was no point in fuming right now. What was more important was for them to find a way to get Roel back.
As ludicrous as this entire incident might seem, this was definitely not just a squabble between children anymore. Rosa was a wealthy country that had friendly diplomatic relations with the Theocracy and the Ascart Fiefdom in particular. All of the countries and fief involved would have their own stance toward this matter, so how was Nora planning to get in the middle of all of this?
Toward this question, Nora’s answer was to form the Saint Mesit Theocracy’s Kidnapping of the Ascart Fiefdom’s Proxy Fief Lord’s Investigation Squad. Definitely a mouthful, but that was the best way for her to maximize her own advantages in this situation and garner more clout.
The greatest strength of the Theocracy lay in its massive influence over the populace, especially when it came to controversial actions. The Xeclydes could take on the position of a judge and make a ruling on matters in the name of humanity, even if it was beyond their territory’s borders.
And as Roel’s protector, Nora was even more qualified to intervene. She would use her identity as the chief of the investigation squad to request a meeting with Charlotte, so as to get to the bottom of this matter… well, and bring Roel back too.
“We misjudged. If I’m not mistaken, the relationship between Roel and Charlotte is no longer the same. This matter will likely be very troublesome.”
Nora was referring to the Sorofyas’ Loyal Origin Attribute, and knowing this, Alicia’s face turned grim too. After a long moment of contemplation, Alicia shook her head in response.
“We might have made a miscalculation here, but Charlotte has a problem that she’s not able to solve over there.”
“What is it?”
“Time.”
Alicia glanced at the clock hanging on the wall as she thought about the time she had spent with Roel over the years. With her credentials as the one who knew Roel the best, she stated her professional analysis.
“While he doesn’t make it apparent, Lord Brother is a person who reminisces a lot about the past. He does like to try new things, but there’s always a space in his heart that he reserves for fond memories of the past.
“Be it you or me, we have both known Lord Brother for several years now. No matter how capable Charlotte is, or how much resources and wealth she has at her disposal, she’s unable to shake our foundation.”
Nora calmed down a little after hearing Alicia’s words. She understood that they had just reached another critical juncture in their relationship.
It was a battle of whether Charlotte finished her conquest of Roel first, or the two of them, with the power of the Ascart Fiefdom and the Theocracy, successfully retrieved Roel first.
From the current looks of it, the ball seemed to be in Charlotte’s hands. It was hard to imagine the conservative Sorofyas as masters of flirting, but Charlotte’s beautiful appearance and her noble disposition were powerful strengths. At the very least, it was unlikely that Roel would loathe her. If she were to resort to some despicable means…
Had it been in the past, Nora would have shrugged off those worries. It was hard to imagine the proud successor of the Sorofya House lowering herself to aggressively court a man. But now… a kidnapper wouldn’t have become a kidnapper if she still had a sense of shame!
Nora raised her head to look toward the south worriedly. Alicia was silent for a moment before she spoke up slowly.
“Don’t worry, there’s no need to panic. We still have a trump card.”
“Trump card? You’re referring to…?”
“Even if Charlotte used some sort of means to charm Lord Brother during this period of time, their relationship won’t bear fruit. That’s because the ultimate decision doesn’t lie in Lord Brother’s hands.”
Alicia’s ruby eyes narrowed a little as she revealed calmly.
“Lord Father is coming back.”