Will he trust Daniella, or will he trust Cyril Olburn’s report?
Reason told him to trust Cyril, but his heart kept leaning toward Daniella. After what felt like an eternity, Aethelred finally made a decision. He adjusted his grip on the reins and spoke to Welard, who was waiting by his side for Lowell.
“Sir Welard.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“I grant you the authority to command all troops dispatched to Chambers Lesser Castle. Suppress the situation within three days at the latest and return to the capital.”
“…Pardon? You mean…!”
“I will go to the Ashland estate immediately.”
“Your Highness!”
“As soon as Sir Lowell returns, tell him to follow me with the First Knight Order and five men. I’m counting on you.”
With that, Aethelred struck the reins. His horse snorted roughly and bolted forward. He spurred the horse on, increasing his speed.
āHe still had a moment of hesitation, a feeling that he might regret this decision for a long time.
But even so, he couldn’t not go after Daniella. The instinct to follow her completely overwhelmed any hesitation or regret he felt.
About two hours before Aethelred left the mansion to follow her. Daniella, who had finished getting ready to go out with a comfortable dress and a robe that covered her entire body, headed to the back gate of the mansion with Mella and Grey. She gave the guard a vague excuse when he asked where she was going without a carriage. While Mella was keeping him occupied, she and Grey slipped outside.
Daniella and Mella soon followed Grey through the alleys and out to the main street. After walking for a while, Grey stopped in front of a mansion. The house, with its unremarkable reddish-brown gabled roof and only one building, was pitifully shabby compared to the Grand Duke’s mansion. Grey left Daniella and Mella at the front gate for a moment before heading inside.
She then came out driving a carriage pulled by two horses wearing bronze helmets. Mella looked at the carriage, which had only two horses and a thick luggage compartment behind the seating area, with disapproval.
“Isn’t the carriage too shabby and ugly? And with only two horses, how are we supposed to travel between the capital and the Ashland estate in just half a day?”
“I believe I already told you, Lady Schweitz. These horses are under an enhancement spell.”
Grey responded curtly before helping Daniella into the carriage. After Mella also got in, she nimbly climbed into the coachman’s seat and spoke to the two women in the carriage.
“This carriage will be much faster than any you’ve ridden before. I’ve placed a separate spell to minimize shaking, but… If you feel dizzy or sick, open the window!”
“What?”
“…Pardon? You didn’t say anything about that?”
Daniella and Mella cried out in alarm. At that moment, Grey whipped the reins and gave the horses the signal to go. Just as Grey had said, the two horses began to run at an incredible speed. Daniella watched the scenery rushing by outside the window with admiration.
‘Wow, that’s amazing. It feels like I’m in a car.’
The magic in this world is as incredible as modern technology. Thinking that, Daniella leaned back comfortably in her seat.
The carriage passed the tall city walls, crossed a dense forest, and a long, nameless river. A while later, a low city wall with a familiar flag waving outside the window came into view. Daniella had no trouble recognizing one of them as the flag of the Alberich Grand Ducal family. At that moment, Grey shouted, “We’ll be passing through the gates of the Ashland estate soon!”
Just as she said, the carriage passed over the drawbridge and entered through the city gates. The city walls were so shabby they looked like they could fall at any moment, as if to show the state of the fallen Enchanto Ducal family, and there were no soldiers guarding the gates. The few mansions inside the city walls were either in ruins or empty, and the fields were overgrown with weeds, as if they hadn’t been farmed in a long time.
After passing through the village, which looked like a wasteland, they finally arrived at the Enchanto Duke’s country house, located in the center of the Ashland estate. With Grey’s help, Daniella got out of the carriage and first looked at the exterior of the mansion. The mansion, with its dark blue gabled roof and only a two-story main building and a single-story servant’s annex, was not much different from the Enchanto Ducal family’s townhouse. That is, it was quite large but old and broken in places.
“…Ugh.”
While Daniella was looking around, Mella stumbled out of the carriage. She looked pale and shot Grey a resentful glare.
“You should have told us how fast it was, Lady Grey. I would have taken some motion sickness medicine.”
“I apologize. Her Grace the Grand Duchess was in such a hurry that I didn’t have the presence of mind to do so.”
“It’s a good thing Her Grace is fine, otherwise I wouldn’t have let it go.”
Mella said that and stood close to Daniella. Daniella patted Mella’s shoulder in a comforting manner.
Just then, an old man who looked like a butler and a young maid in a maid’s uniform ran out from the annex. They were surprised to see Daniella and her companions, and they bowed in a hurry.
“Your, Your Grace! What brings you to such a far-off place…!”
“It would have been nice if you had sent word before you came!”
Daniella smiled as if to soothe their panic and said, “I apologize, but I have something urgent I need to find. There’s no need to entertain me and my companions, so please rest comfortably in your quarters until we leave.”
“Pardon? But…”
“It’s fine, just go.”
She spoke to the hesitating pair in an urging tone. Her words implied, ‘Don’t follow me around and get in the way.’
The butler and maid exchanged glances, then bowed deeply, and returned to the annex as if they were fleeing.
Daniella took out the Enchanto Duke’s card that she had carefully brought with her from the capital and entered the main building’s entrance with the two women. She looked up at the old stairs leading to the upper floor and said, “We should start by looking at the second floor, right? There are more important rooms on the second floor than on the first.”
“That’s right.”
Grey responded curtly. As they precariously climbed the creaking stairs, the view of the second floor of the main building came into view. The layout had an open living room and parlor in the center, with three rooms on each side. Daniella went to the left first.
The first and second rooms were a bathroom and a dressing room, respectively. Daniella, with the help of the two women, meticulously searched every corner, but they couldn’t find anything that seemed related to the Enchanto Duke’s clues.
Daniella headed to the third room on the left without hesitation. It was the Duke’s study.
“…Ugh!”
“Oh my! Cough, cough!”
As soon as the door opened, the gray dust that had accumulated everywhere stirred, and a musty smell wafted out. Daniella hurriedly covered her mouth and went inside, accompanied by Mella, who was coughing continuously, and Grey, who was frowning.
Below a large window with clear signs of rainwater, a desk with a broken corner and a chair could be seen. On the walls on either side of the desk, there were bookcases with a few books lying on their sides as if they had been abandoned. On the floor, just like in the townhouse in the capital, an enormous amount of documents and crumpled letters were discarded. Lastly, to the left of the door, there was a dusty chess table and a chair with a broken leg, and to the right, a chest of drawers with a broken hinge and a cabinet.
‘…I haven’t even finished looking through the things from the Enchanto Duke’s townhouse in the capital, and now I have to go through this much again.’
Daniella looked down at the documents on the floor as if she was fed up. Then she turned to Mella and said, “Mella, could you carry as many of these documents as you can to the carriage?”
“…Me, do this?”
“Yes… I’m sorry, but I’m asking you for a favor.”
“…Ugh, fine.”
Mella, who had lived as a noble, was instantly disgusted, but she reluctantly began picking up the documents at Daniella’s request. She then used the white apron she had put on over her dress to hold them and went outside, hesitantly.
In the meantime, Daniella once again meticulously searched every corner of the study. Lost in thought, she asked Grey, who was opening the dirty window wide, a question.
