Chapter 31
"Why would that filthy blood be here?" Elliot spoke before anyone else could. I turned to look at him with an eyebrow raised.
Then I made an empathetic expression to the crown prince and said, "I didn't know. Well, I suggest herbal cleansing."
"What?" Harvey, the crown prince asked sternly.
"Well, he just said there is a problem with her blood and with her being your daughter and all, I thought it was hereditary," I replied.
Many at the table didn't understand but the first elder did and he laughed loud enough for others to understand that I just made fun of the crown prince.
"You!!" The first crown candidate spoke but before he could go any further, the grand elder addressed a silver knight, "Go and bring the sixth imperial princess here."
I smirked at the first imperial prince and the crown prince while some were still trying to understand what I said earlier.
A little while later, the silver knight returned along with a girl of thirteen years old.
She was petite in one word definition and what a thirteen year old child looked like. But don't go on her appearance.
In the novel, her intellect was greater than anyone else. And that intellect was her greatest weapon that destroyed many plans of Eric.
Her unique point was that she wasn't in the first life of Eric. She came as a new villain to Eric after his regression which meant he had no idea about her and that made her the second toughest opponent of Eric.
"Change your seat." I turned to Eliot next to me and said.
"What!" He asked loudly.
"Get lost!" I loudly and clearly clarified.
Stunned, he was. Maybe because he didn't expect me to behave like that, whatever it was, he couldn't speak back.
"Change your seat, Elliot." The Grand elder said.
Elliot didn't speak after that. He begrudgingly stood and shifted one seat ahead. The grand elder gestured to the knight leading the princess, who understood and brought her to the seat next to mine.
"So nice to finally meet you, sister. It wounds me that you didn't come to visit me after my unfortunate accident." I said with a cute pout.
She was flustered already and when I said that, she started stammering as if to say something but I interrupted her, "Oh wait! No one did. Hahahaha."
Everyone on the table made awkward expressions at my remark but no one said anything.
"Moving on," the emperor began once again, "The problem Yesral County is more serious than we thought. Our investigations have uncovered that not only they are embezzling funds, but they are also changing the reports of dungeon harvest."
There was no issue with the Yesral county in the novel so either it was settled or something else happened.
I raised my hand and the emperor nodded. "What is stopping us from marching in there with an army?"
No matter how strong they were, it was a count in the end. Let's say he is S rank. I doubt that but let's say he is. Just the third prince is S rank. The crown prince himself is S rank.
So considering the count's rank and status, the most the imperial family needs is to send a squad of silver knights accompanied by any of the princes.
"There is a problem with that. They are using normal people to defend the walls. If we try to attack, they would be the first ones to die." The grand elder spoke.
I nodded. It was a simple problem. There was no need to overthink this matter.
"What do you think should be done, sister?" I turned and asked the girl sitting next to me. Sephrina.
Sephrina froze she hadn't expected to be here in the first place but here I was, asking her opinion on an important matter.
"This is ridiculous!" The first imperial prince said.
"Shut up and sit down." I turned to him and said. He was stunned. There is a lot of stunning in this family, isn't there?
"What do you think, Sephrina?" I gently asked, with a smile on my face.
"If… If we can't do it from the outside… we can do it from the in… inside." She stammered a lot in her explanation but gave her opinion anyway.
"That should be a good strategy but they wouldn't allow us to enter just like that." The grand elder spoke.
"Who… Who said we need to enter." Sephrina nervously replied.
"Then what do you suggest?" The grand elder was full on asking right now. He was completely focused on what she was saying.
"We… we can take control… of their teleportation array and change its coordinates, their guard won't be raised high for a small number of people," Seraphina replied.
"And how would we do that?" the grand elder asked.
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Awkward was the only word that could be used to describe my situation right now.
Although I was the one who suggested that Seraphina give her opinion on this matter, I had designed a slightly different scenario. A better one but Seraphina's wasn't bad either.
Her plan did make things difficult for me as she had suggested taking control of the teleportation array. To do that, we would need a space expert and there was only one expert in the whole empire or possibly the whole world, the first elder.
It wouldn't have been a problem if I wasn't sent with the first elder. The atmosphere became even more awkward when Alicia was thrown in the mix, or more accurately, she threw herself in the mix.
"Nice weather," I said while we were sitting inside the carriage. The first elder stared at me with narrow eyes while Alicia chose to remain quiet.
I nodded and continued, "Didn't expect you to come, my lady. Have you ever been to Yesral County?"
Again no reply came. Raphael kept staring at me with narrow eyes the whole way while Alicia avoided my eyes.
"Have you ever been there, Rose?" I turned to look at the pink-haired girl, sitting next to me. She nodded without any nervousness that one would have in this situation.
"No, Your Highness. But I have heard a lot about this place." Rose replied. "Then why don't you tell me about it?" I asked for specificities.
"Yesral County is known for its dungeons. The father of the current count gave his life for His Majesty, the current emperor, and the Yesral family was granted that area. Yesral County has three dungeons from B rank to A rank." Rose gave me a detailed explanation.
"Then how come is it difficult for us to enter?" I asked. We could simply enter under the guise of dungeon hunting.
"Because they are on alert. They know what they are doing and they are being cautious about it." For the first time, the first elder spoke.
"I see," I replied. If that is the case, then bringing the first elder wasn't a good idea.
[Are you really going with their plan?]
'Not really. Seraphina may be smart and her idea is good as well. But she doesn't have much experience and we wouldn't be able to get past them.'
[Then what are you going to do?]
'Improvise.' I replied as I bought a mask from the shop and asked Raphael, "Your Lordship, how do you feel about having black hair again?"
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"Do we let them in?" A knight in black and silver armor asked. His silver wasn't shining like the silver knights.
The man sitting behind a table was contemplating hard. He had long black hair and his eyes were staring at the air.
He was in quite a dilemma right now. He was the current count of the Yesral County and he knew what he was doing.
He was doing nothing short of a rebellion. One could say it was insubordination but it wasn't, he was rebelling against the current emperor.
He wouldn't have even thought of doing that in the past but when his deceased father was given three dungeons for his sacrifice and the resources that came along with them, he had enough to make a small army.
Things escalated when someone approached him and supported him in his little rebellion. The problem was, that the imperial family was still a behemoth. No matter how big his army became, one silver brigade was enough to destroy all of his life's efforts.
Winston couldn't allow that to happen. He needed to protect what was his. So he did what he could have done. He holed himself inside his little territory.
Used whatever there was to fend off the imperial family. There had been no direct attack from the imperial family yet but he knew the day wasn't far away.
And now, there was an envoy coming from the imperial family. The one leading it was the fifth imperial prince and the third crown candidate.
Accompanying him was the holy saint, Alicia mon Grante. Both of them weren't a threat but it was still bothering him.
Adrian was a known troublemaker. Someone who would create problems if he didn't get his way. As for Alicia, he couldn't do anything to her even if he wanted to. She wasn't just from the Cortum empire. She was also the saint of light, the holy saint.
It won't be just the empire that would come after him if something happened to Alicia.
"Wasn't there a scandal between Adrian and the holy saint?" Winston asked instead of answering his knight.
"Yes. The fifth imperial prince tried to violate her." The knight replied.
"Hmm." He hummed and thought, 'We can use that against them.' He finished analyzing the whole problem and instructed his knight, "Let them in. Grant them the same building to stay in though. Make it so that they end up in opposite rooms."
The knight didn't know why his master was asking that but he didn't argue. He nodded and left. Winston also stood up and prepared to welcome the envoy.
As Winston, along with his family, his wife, two daughters, and three sons arrived at the gates of his mansion, the imperial envoy was just entering.
As per custom, they all knelt when the door to the main carriage opened and a black-haired man stepped out wearing a dark robe. He was about six feet in height and his figure wasn't that buff which suggested he wasn't a physical combatant.
Following him, a girl with black hair came out. She was wearing a majestic silver robe that covered her entire body and a veil was covering her face.
The holy saint, Alicia. Then a girl with pink hair came out who then moved to the side and bowed as a boy with white hair and white glowing eyes followed.
The moment he stepped out of the carriage, everyone in the square was charmed by his looks. Despite being a man, even Winston had to admit that he was the most handsome young man he had ever seen so he could only wonder what effect would the females be in right now.
"I welcome His Highness, the third crown candidate, and the fifth imperial prince, Adrian von Deus Lux, and the saint of light, the holy saint Alicia mon Grante," Winston spoke while he was still kneeling.
His family followed and said, "We welcome you."
"And we are happy to be here," Adrian spoke in a vibrant voice that captured everyone. Alicia only nodded but said nothing.
"Please, you must join us for the dinner." Winston stood up and said with a smile.
"Of course, we intend to. I mean I want to but I don't know what lady Alicia would like." I replied and glanced at Alicia.
"It would be my honor," Alicia responded in a soft tone.
"Then would you please follow Oslo; he will take you to your accommodations. Dinner would be ready in an hour." Winston politely said while he extended his hand.
The envoy started following and the Yesral family followed them, they separated in the hall where Adrian and the complete envoy were led to a different section of the mansion.
"This is your room, Your Highness and the room across it is yours, my lady." Oslo the knight showed each other their rooms and soon they were left alone once all the servants and knights were settled in a different building from the mansion.