Chapter 67

Just like two colliding swords, their invisible words stabbed at each other. They couldn’t even afford to cover up their feelings and use gobbledygooks like they did in the salons. The two had just come out of the horror of death, and they were very perplexed for different reasons.

The duchess did not want to admit the fact that Eckart might have died. In fact, she was more concerned about the possible death of the emperor than the marquise’s arrogant attitude.

As their personalities were so unique, they had never been close, but they were concerned about their only nephew, the emperor. Wasn’t he the only legitimate son of the Frey and Romanov families? They never thought that he would disappear so vainly. It was too cruel to think of his tragic incident as the work of their main god Airius, it was too shameful to think he was killed by the rebel forces.

In fact, Mrs. Chester had nothing to do with the wagon accidents yesterday and today, though nobody believed that.

Obviously, she didn’t devise this trick. On the contrary, she was suspicious of yesterday’s accident and tried to share the same wagon with Marianne, just in case.

If she planned nothing, it would be a lie, but what happened yesterday and today was out of her control. Even she wanted to find out the true criminal and hold him accountable for her injuries.

“Please calm down! It looks like the grand duke has arrived.”

Beatrice, who had been pacing in front of the window all the time, shouted at them.

She gestured toward nearby maids with her slender fingertips. Only then did he, who stood blankly like a stone statue, support the two women to sit down again. They were still staring at each other as if they were trying to kill each other. Although their hearts didn’t melt yet, they were clearly conscious of others watching their ugly behavior.

Beatrice came to the table with her one leg slightly limping. She chose tea ceremony as a way to cool down the heated mood. Three tea cups were slowly filled with light tea. Although the fragrant tea leaves immediately raised the room temperature, she still felt chilly and dizzy. Her fingertips trembled when she gently pushed the teacup before the two women.

Using that brief peaceful moment, the maids again wiped their wounds and smoothed them.

A little later Grand Duke Christopher came in through the open door.

Beatrice folded her hands together and looked at the party that followed him.

Duchess Lamont quickly asked him, “What happened? Did you find them?”

“Not yet…”

Grand Duke Christopher fumbled words. The atmosphere quickly became terrible again. He grabbed the hilt on his waist.

The scene after the accident was a mess. Including the emperor’s wagon that had been blown off halfway, none of the other wagons were intact. Duchess Lamont’s forehead was wounded, Mrs. Chester’s neck, and Beatrice’s leg as well. Cordelli passed out after hitting her head hard and Kloud had many cracked ribs, not to mention other servants and maids.

The only comfort was that there were no serious injuries for now.

The grand duke suppressed his strong desire to search for the emperor himself.

“Pay particular attention to the safety of the ladies.”

That was the command that Eckart emphasized before they started.

He sent the two noblewomen, as well as Beatrice and Cordelli to the residence first.

Maids and servants followed them. Kloud, while struggling to stand up, insisted on doing his bit.

He then transported the injured knights and servants, and he divided the remaining staff into the search team and security team. As the processions were scattered all over the place, it took quite a while just to gather them back in one place.

The advance party who went to check out the narrow trails of the waterfall soon came back. Curtis joined them later. Splashed with water and dust all over his body, he came back to report that Eckart, Marianne, and Horseman Jason were all missing.

“We must search for them at the tributaries right away. They must be alive. Increase the number on the search team. We have no time. Please, Captain…”

Curtis begged with a look as if he was just pulled out of hell. He knelt down and put his forehead on Christoper’s feet.

Christopher raised and comforted him in person. He replied that he would immediately increase the search team.

Watching him nearby, other knights all knew that although Curtis said they were missing because he wasn’t sure of their life and death, all they had to do was recover their bodies completely.

“I divided the knights into several groups and ordered them to search in the tributaries, but we’re pretty much short-staffed. Please temporarily select those maids and servants who were not injured,” said Kloud who followed Christopher. As if he felt severe pain in the ribs, he bent his waist a bit.

“Just take as many as you need. It’s not time to keep several servants now. But do you think the people here would be enough? As the official residence in Roshan is quite remote, there are not many servants there these days,” Mrs. Chester said after washing her mouth with tea. Her voice was much calmer than before.

“So, I’m also considering mobilizing the workforce of my estate nearby…”

“In that case, too many will come to know that the emperor was missing,” said Beatrice, putting down the teacup that she was holding. The warmth of the teacup around her palm quickly cooled down.

“You bet. But it is the most important thing to find the emperor’s location, so I want to use every possible means. Right now we should mobilize all the people in the residence,” said Kloud, trying to hide his bitter feelings.

“By the way, why don’t we inform the ministers in the capital as soon as possible?”

In response to Mrs. Chester’s persistent suggestion, Duchess Lamont made a frown as if she found a nasty bug on her face. She didn’t even speak with her.

“What do you think?” Grand Duke Christopher said, looking toward Beatrice.

Other people wondered why he asked her.

Instead of Duchess Lamont, who was the highest rank as well as a daughter of the previous emperor or Deputy Chamberlain Kloud who served the emperor for a long time, Christopher asked Beatrice, the daughter of Marquis Euclid who just followed as an assistant of Marianne. How could Christopher, the chief commander of the Eluang Knights, ask Beatrice?

But Beatrice didn’t think his question was strange at all. As she was lost in thought for a moment, she focused her blurred eyes first. Her red eyes over the glasses sparkled.

“I think it is right to send a messenger to Milan urgently.”

“Biece!”

Hearing her unexpected reply, Duchess Lamont called Beatrice with an embarrassed expression. As if she were suspicious of Beatrice’s intention, Mrs. Chester’s also opened a fan and covered her eyes.

“When you think of the distance from Milan to Roshan, we have to hurry. First, let’s send a carrier pigeon first and then send the messenger tonight. We don’t have to make it public, but we don’t have to hide it on purpose.”

“What’s the reason?”

“Because this is not an obituary.”

She answered it clearly without any hesitation. Christopher Duke frowned a bit.

“I don’t want to dare to mention the emperor’s life or death conclusively. I think our call for help has nothing to do with his life or death.”

“Do you mean a request for contingencies?”

“Yes. We can’t use the support units from Milan as the search team. But if you wait until they arrive, it’ll be too late. So, please emphasize these two things in the message. The type of support units should be a medical unit. As the emperor and Marianne might have been injured, they have to make sure there’ll be no inconveniences in transporting them to the capital in case of an emergency.”

As if she memorized the answers in advance, she spoke fluently. The crowd was silent for a moment. Duchess of Lamont and Marquise Chester also found it hard to raise any objections to her suggestion. She was the marquis’s only daughter. As she was not a son, she could not take a government position or succeed his title, but she was a chop off the old block, taking after her father more than any other child in the family.

“How can you solve the lack of manpower of the search team?”

Kloud hesitated for a moment and asked for her advice.

“You have to mobilize all the people around you.”

“But the manpower of the residence is limited. There are no noble families near the Roshan Temple, let alone ordinary houses. And there is a village where priests and their families live together, but they live very far away…”

While explaining the difficult situation, Christopher suddenly stopped and burst into a hollow smile.

“Oh, let me try this…”

Beatrice smiled faintly as if she appreciated his quick grasp of her intention.

“Yeah. Send a messenger to the Roshan Temple right now. Summon all the priests in the temple and ask them to lend us some people to help with the search.”