The Return of Lilietta - Chapter 165

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 165

“Anyway, when the butler asked what to do with Grand Duchess Hannerina when evacuating from the founding festival ‘event,’ the Duke told him to just leave her at the manor. And then he added this.”

He gritted his teeth and continued.

“He said that if the Grand Duchess died in the event, he could condemn the Imperial Palace even more fiercely as a grieving father.”

“Event, indeed. We’ve obtained quite useful information.”

Gid briefly responded. Ethan added more.

“Hanna did her job as soon as she entered the castle. According to her, the Duke was laughing, saying that ‘Raven’ guaranteed it would be a much bigger event than the boat outing.”

“…It seems Pascal plans to release a named magical beast during the founding festival. Something more troublesome than the Kraken.”

“What? A magical beast that could cause more damage than the Kraken? Then the candidates are…”

While Gid and Oli discussed magical beasts, Rita opened her mouth with a start.

“Raven?”

“Given the circumstances, it’s probably Pascal’s alias. Why, Rita? Do you have some idea?”

“I do.”

She recalled what seemed like the most informative piece among Joseph’s excited chatter.

“It’s a fountain flowing with Adicl wine! A mage who joined the family a few years ago is quite skilled and created such a dreamlike artifact.”

“No, even though it’s the same black color, the feeling is different from mine! No wonder his name is Raven. With those dark eyes, regardless of his skills, he’s quite an off-putting person.”

It seemed unlikely that Pascal would be making wine fountains at the Duke’s mansion, but…

Rita opened her mouth reluctantly.

“I heard from Prince Joseph. He said Duke Adicl discovered and recruited a talented mage a few years ago, and that mage created the wine fountain at the Podonamu Estate. His name is Raven, and that name… means crow, doesn’t it? Could it be a coincidence?”

“It probably isn’t a coincidence.”

Gid responded, resting his hand on his chin.

“A mage recruited a few years ago?”

“Yes. He also said he wasn’t affiliated with the Magic Tower.”

“Huh? Not affiliated with the Magic Tower, and he made a fountain at the Podonamu Estate? Then he’s Baroness Naporoa’s lover?”

Olivia interjected with wide eyes. This time Rita was surprised.

“Baroness Naporoa’s lover?”

“The Duke’s mother. The old woman keeps several young men as lovers. One of them is a mage.”

Olivia explained with a disgusted expression, crossing her arms.

“That damn wine fountain commission came to the Magic Tower, but none of the Tower mages were interested, so nobody took it. There was some gossip within the Tower about the Duke thinking mages were clowns and making all sorts of demands… but later it was actually completed.”

She snorted.

“Ha, the Tower was secretly trying to find out which money-crazed bastard took such a commission, but there was no mage who had accepted it. One idle mage investigated separately and found that among Baroness Naporoa’s lovers, there was a mage not affiliated with the Magic Tower. It was gossip among mages for a while about what kind of person would live like that, so it reached my ears too.”

“When was this?”

“About 3 years ago? Still, since he was a mage, I investigated whether he might be related to Pascal… He was just an ordinary person from some mountain village and was really no different from Baroness Naporoa’s toy clown, so I lost interest. What he did was things like casting flower-scented magic on the Baroness and floating rainbow balloons in the manor garden.”

“Rainbow balloons…”

While Rita was speechless with disbelief, Gid interjected.

“That mage’s name is Raven? What about his appearance and age?”

“Hearing Rita’s words, I think that was the name. He was a man in his thirties, and he wasn’t particularly handsome for the Baroness’s lover, so there was talk that he secured his position thanks to his magical clown acts.”

“Damn, that clown is Pascal? Even while eliminating the Duke’s bastard children, he’s playing clown to some old hag Baroness who keeps lovers?”

Ethan muttered with an incredulous expression. Rita, who had been stunned, said “Wait” and spoke up.

“Ethan, about the Pascal you witnessed at the hunting grounds, he intervened when the Naporoa family servant was taking Hanna’s hair. The reason he could notice that Baroness Naporoa was making her servant do such things and intervene, could it be…”

“Why does this shit fit together so well, damn… no, dammit.”

Ethan clutched his head. Gid suddenly muttered lowly.

“It’s possible. Whether it’s clown acts or playing lover to an old woman, if necessary, couldn’t he do such things…”

“Hey, so you think that’s really Pascal?”

“Pascal might have chosen that position to hide himself, or the Duke might have deliberately hidden him in that role.”

Gid calmly answered Ethan’s question and added.

“It’s a clue about Pascal that we barely caught. We can’t dismiss it due to prejudice. We should thoroughly investigate this Raven fellow.”

“Is this my job again?”

“Then who else would do it?”

“Damn it.”

Ethan slumped on the sofa, muttering curses that were more refined than before. Gid then looked around at Beacon and brought up the next topic.

“What do you think the named magical beast attacking the founding festival will be?”

“Looking at the pattern so far, it’ll be a beast we know, and well, we’ve killed all the troublesome named ones we know, so it would be stranger if it were one we don’t know. Anyway, among those more troublesome than the Kraken… Commander, Red Queen, Malefic, I suppose.”

Olivia said, counting on her fingers. Sera sighed.

“Whichever of the three it is, if we fight during a festival in a major city like Lamcard, there will really be massive damage.”

“And all that damage will be blamed on Junior Gid. Since you’re overseeing this founding festival too.”

Isaiah quietly responded. Olivia rubbed her brow and grumbled.

“The Duke’s purpose is crystal clear, but I still don’t understand Pascal. Why did he try to kill Rita? That incident seems like Pascal’s independent action that the Duke doesn’t know about.”

“But about Duke Adicl.”

Rita spoke up.

“He doesn’t seem to know at all that Hanna is an Oathbinder, right? If he knew, he wouldn’t have failed to prepare against Oath eavesdropping techniques.”

“Huh? That’s right?”

Luca, who had been blankly listening to the conversation, widened his eyes and added.

“Did Pascal not tell the Duke about that? Why?”

“As we suspected, Pascal and the Duke’s positions don’t completely align… What the hell is that bastard’s real purpose? This is so frustrating!”

Oli grumbled irritably. Gid, who had been silent for a moment, spoke quietly.

“Looking at Pascal’s actions from the Kraken until now, there’s one possibility we can speculate.”

“What the hell is it?”

To Oli’s impatient question, he answered.

“Borrowed knife killing.”

“…What?”

“There’s exactly one case where he moved in a direction that didn’t align with the Duke’s interests, even revealing himself directly.”

Deep golden eyes settled on Lillieta.

“When he attacked Rita.”

“…”

“Setting aside what he babbled about then, imagine what would have happened if he had succeeded in that attack.”

Heavy, eerie silence filled the lounge. Soon after, Ethan spoke as if spitting out words.

“We would have all gone insane. We would have gone crazy trying to find and kill Pascal.”

“But the only clue we know about Pascal is that he’s on Duke Adicl’s side. So we, having lost our minds, would have savagely attacked the Duke regardless of consequences…”

Following Ethan, Oli trailed off. Gid spoke matter-of-factly.

“I would have torn Duke Adicl’s limbs apart and tortured him to find out Pascal’s identity.”

“…”

“In the end, in that case, we would attack Duke Adicl by any means necessary. If Pascal touched Rita aiming for this result, then his purpose is.”

“Don’t tell me that bastard… wants us to kill Duke Adicl for him? Why the fuck doesn’t he kill him directly himself?”

Ethan raised his voice with a furious face. Oli answered that question with a pale complexion.

“It would mean Pascal has some reason or constraint that prevents him from doing so.”

Gid added in a flat tone.

“Or, the Duke has a hostage.”

“…”

“Would Pascal be… affected by hostages? Would that crazy archmage have someone precious to him?”

Oli asked reluctantly. Gid answered without hesitation.

“He does. Someone he wants to save alive, no matter what ugly deeds he has to commit.”

“…”

An even deeper silence than before lingered in the room.

The question of how he could be so certain wandered in the quiet without emerging.

Lillieta carefully observed Gid’s complexion. With an extremely calm-looking face, he slowly parted his lips.

“So let’s investigate in that direction. About the mage called Raven.”

After that, the topic of discussion moved to methods of stopping the named magical beasts that would appear on National Foundation Day with minimal damage.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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