But to do so, one would have to have an extreme level of will and vigilance.
Whether or not the head maid Emma, who had only passed by, was such a person was unknown.
‘Or maybe she had an accomplice…….’
But there was one thing he could know.
“Oleciren.”
“Yes.”
“This incident involved Lamaring and the Count Ethelred’s house, and it’s been going on for a long time.”
“So, you’re asking if the royal family is involved?”
Because in the Airian Kingdom, the royal family was the first to come to mind among the groups that could exert that level of influence.
Cain looked straight at her.
“Yes.”
Oleciren pondered.
Could the royal family really be plotting something like this? If they did, what was their purpose?
She thought about a few questions, then shook her head.
“We’re not. We don’t have the leisure to do something like this without a reason or purpose.”
The definite answer of the First Princess, who controls the Royal Intelligence Service.
At least, it’s unlikely that she’s involved in the death of the head maid Emma.
“If we exclude the royal family, the Holy See?”
The next place that came to mind was the Holy See.
Especially in the Airian Kingdom, where the church is revered, the Holy See’s influence is strong. If they were moving, it would be possible.
But both Cain and Oleciren shook their heads, dismissing the possibility of the Holy See.
“It’s too secretive for the Holy See to have made a move.”
No matter how rotten it was, the Holy See was the Holy See.
There was a minimum level of decency.
If it were the Holy See, they would have moved openly and suppressed it with force.
They wouldn’t have treated human life so lightly either.
Of course, they were the kind of place that would push ahead with the idea that they would get away with it if they didn’t get caught.
“Then a third unknown flame?”
Oleciren chuckled at Cain’s jest.
She had also seen the contents of the note that fluttered when they opened Emma’s room earlier.
“Maybe.”
“Who put that note there?”
Suddenly, Oleciren’s jaw dropped as if she had been hit with a hammer. She turned her head from side to side, looking around the room.
Her eyes were faintly tinged with the power of a witch.
Soon, she shook her head again.
“I don’t know. I can’t see anything.”
“You can see her dying, but you can’t see the note. The clue is gone.”
The warrior who came from the past.
The fledgling witch who is awakening her power.
Even they were helpless in the face of a method that cut off the bridge to the next step with their lives.
“No, that’s not it.”
At that moment, Vanderbilt’s thick voice echoed.
“There will be traces at the Count Lamaring’s house.”
Cain stroked his chin.
It all started with Primundi’s words, and then they tried to find Ethelred’s origin in the library.
But it was as if someone had intentionally made it disappear, and when they looked, Arian and the head maid Emma, who were connected, were dead.
For that truth.
And for Oleciren’s sincerity, Cain tapped the scabbard of Agweska, which he carried at his waist.
“The reason I haven’t moved until now is because once I move, I’ll go all the way.”
The path of blood and death.
And the direction of power and strife.
It was a path all too familiar to him. He wondered if others would be able to walk the same path.
“But I don’t like it at all.”
Cain muttered, examining Emma’s body.
Oleciren felt the same way.
“They’re making it look like there’s no way out, but they’re subtly pushing us.”
“Is it a trap?”
“I don’t know. Maybe we dug up a root that was hidden.”
Cain Ethelred laughed bitterly and stopped talking.
‘The fact that my mother might be involved is also interesting.’
Recalling the only remaining clue, he looked back at the northeast where the Count of Lamaring’s territory lay.
“Let’s start with Tedley, Lamaring’s second son, who is said to have had an affair with Arian.”
“You look like you’re going to burn everything to the ground.”
Cain shrugged.
Then he casually drew the sword of despair, Agweska, given to him by Primundi.
“Both at the same time. You know, my way.”
“I know. But I don’t like it. Hurt people indiscriminately without thinking about the consequences.”
Oleciren sighed and nodded.
🔹🔹🔹
In the northeastern part of Ethelred’s territory, the Count of Lamaring.
Two middle-aged men sat side by side, silently slicing their steaks with forks and knives.
The maids and servants silently refilled empty glasses and replaced used dishes, attending to the two men’s meals.
“Brother.”
The younger son with short hair called out, and Brediol, the eldest son of Lamaring with long hair, turned his head.
“What brings you to call me during a meal?”
“I don’t think our relationship is that bad.”
Tedley, the younger son with a strong impression and short hair like a soldier, unlike the somewhat light-hearted Brediol, raised the corner of his mouth.
Swish━.
Brediol turned the blunt tip of his knife and pointed it at his brother’s philtrum.
“I don’t trust you. I don’t know what you’re thinking.”
“I suppose we are brothers after all. I think the same.”
“The reason you called.”
His voice was dripping with coldness.
They were inevitably in a difficult position, as they were fiercely competing for the Count of Lamaring’s territory.
Today’s meal was also made possible by the current Count of Lamaring.
“Do you think the Count of Ethelred’s territory will easily fall, as Father said?”
“Of course not. It’s one of the only five count territories, so it won’t be that easy. The messenger Father sent hasn’t returned yet, for one.”
Brediol decisively summarized the situation.
The Count of Lamaring tried to mend the relationship between the two brothers with sweet words, but it fell on deaf ears to the two who knew the reality too well.
“I think so too. And I hear that our nephew representing Ethelred now is no pushover either.”
Despite Tedley’s ordinary tone, the content was heavy.
Brediol turned the knife to cut the meat again, tilting his head.
“Is that what your brilliant informant told you?”
The younger son Tedley just smiled without answering.
The eldest son Brediol clicked his tongue, seeing his brother always laugh like this when he asked about the informant.
“You’re a sly one.”
“Thank you.”
“But you’ve never been wrong. If that nephew is no pushover, then it’s different from the rumors.”
“The child of a lion is still a cub, wouldn’t you say?”
“Tsk, that Edmund and Chloe’s only son.”
Brediol still remembered vividly.
The confident Chloe and the young Count Edmund Ethelred at the banquet that day.
Recalling the banquet that day, Brediol said casually.
“Let’s not kill him. Maybe we can send him away with some money……”
“Wouldn’t it be more painful to live without the territory?”
Tedley’s cold words suggested that they should kill him now that they had started.
Brediol looked at him silently before turning his head back to the steak in front of him.
“I can’t trust you.”