---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That evening, the day Maria didn't come to my room, I found out that Maria had really been missing since last night.
Immediately, General Baltzar sent a large number of guards to protect me, but instead of that, I had the messenger tell him to bring Master Cyrillos to me right away.
Even though only a few hours had passed, Master Cyrillos rushed to my room that night.
"Your Highness Raymond! I heard that Lady Maria has disappeared... I'm glad you're safe."
"I'm fine. The problem is Maria though..."
"Tonight, I will stay by Your Highness Raymond's side. I must speak with Bossa about Lady Maria's matter tomorrow."
Master Cyrillos' eyes gleamed in the darkness as he picked me up to protect me even from the surrounding guards.
"Now then. I alone am enough to guard Your Highness Raymond. You all, return to Lord Baltzar."
Master Cyrillos, who had taken me into his arms, relaxed his expression and spoke gently to the guards.
However, the guards, who had received direct orders from General Baltzar, seemed dissatisfied.
"B-but. We were entrusted with guarding Lord Raymond by Baltzar-sama!"
"If you wish to take Lord Raymond from me, bring someone with the skill of an S-ranked adventurer. If you are here, it will be more difficult to protect Lord Raymond."
Master Cyrillos said that gently, as if trying to persuade them, but the guards insisted desperately.
"We will not be a burden!"
However, Master Cyrillos, who is usually a gentleman, couldn't remain a gentleman on this night.
He narrowed his eyes and placed his hand on the neck of the guard in the front.
The guards were soldiers, so they wouldn't easily allow their vital points to be taken.
But, until Master Cyrillos placed his hand on that neck, no one even noticed that Master Cyrillos had approached that guard.
"...In the hunting grounds, a moment of distraction can be fatal. Is there anyone among you who can keep up with my movements?"
A tense atmosphere enveloped the area.
No one could move even a fingertip.
As if to ease such an atmosphere, Master Cyrillos smiled and moved away from the guard.
"So, with that said. Please join the search for Lady Maria. I will be bothering you with Lord Raymond from tomorrow, so please gather information. Now then."
While the guards were stunned and stopped moving, Master Cyrillos slipped into my room and quickly closed the door.
He skipped the private room with the sofa and opened the door to the bedroom and put me down on the bed.
"This time, is it the Maya faction after all?"
"Probably. That's what I want to say, but honestly, I don't know."
"What do you mean?"
"My mother's attendants didn't know about Maria's matter. They are Maya faction nobles. If something happened around me and the Carina faction wasn't involved, they would be the first to be suspected. So their parents should tell them when they're planning something."
"And that didn't happen."
Master Cyrillos also put his hand on his chin and began to think if he had any ideas.
"Master Cyrillos. How many nobles can oppose the Grimaldi family?"
"Let me see... The Bernini Duke family, which is Lady Carina's birth family, and the Baltzar family, which bears the martial part of the Chentro Kingdom. These two are the Carina faction. Then there is the Rovere family, which comes from the Western countries, and the Cassinelli family, which is the head of the Maya faction. These five families, including Lady Maria's Grimaldi family, are the five dukes of Chentro. Bernini is from the Middle Lands, Baltzar is from the Northern countries, Grimaldi is from the Southern countries, Rovere is from the Western countries, and Cassinelli is from the Eastern countries."
He knows that Rud said he would rather go to the common people than have me inherit the throne, so he wouldn't do anything like kidnapping Maria.
General Baltzar has mobilized so many guards because of this, and Bossa was really on guard around me this morning.
He's still keeping a lot of guards on me to watch out for whoever kidnapped Maria, so that means he's unrelated to this.
There's no reason for the Grimaldi Duke family to kidnap their daughter Maria, so the culprit is one of the Maya faction's duke families.
If it were a marquis family or lower, there would be no reason for Maria to follow them, and the risk of punishment from the duke family would be too great.
If so, is it Cassinelli or Rovere?
"In this case, shall we directly question General Baltzar, who is familiar with the duke families, tomorrow?"
"Oh, you're not going to investigate yourself this time?"
"Wine to the liquor store, tea to the tea shop. It's best to ask the same duke family about the duke families."
----------------------------
Previous Chapter | Index | Next Chapter
Comments
Post a Comment