BXBX NOVEL Chapter 281 Under The Vesala Estate
Leon's trembling hands held Antoine's.
They were already grown-ups but Leon could not help but feel bewildered as he held his brother's hands. Probably because of the fact that their initial relationship had long drifted into something that could not be fixed by just a mere apology.
But the concern and affection he had as his brother was something Leon could not deny to himself.
Did he resent his brothers?
Yes! He would be a hypocrite if he denied the fact that he was deeply scarred by their treatment in the past.
Did he want to take revenge on the things they said and did to him?
Before, he wanted to… But today, he no longer desired those things but only peace for himself and his family.
He just wanted to do his duties as a father to Little Han and as a lover to Eli. The war that he would participate in played a big role in that.
As for the fight for the throne with his brothers, he would not bother unless they would insist on dragging him and his family into the chaos.
"I hope you wake up soon. I hope you will witness the retribution of those who hurt you, your family, and the Empire, our people.
We will go and get them soon. I have no intention of letting them go unscathed. I'll start with those dark knights!!!"
Leon left those words of determination as he carefully ensured that Antoine was lying comfortably.
While he quietly took the medicinal bath away from Antoine's room, he was not able to notice that Antoine's hand he just held shuddered slightly.
–
Back in the Empress's place.
Empress Carolina clenched her fists tightly as she did not get what she was aiming for while pleading before the Emperor.
"No, I can't let this matter end just like this!" She thought to herself while frantically pacing back and forth in her chambers.
These days, she had been truly perturbed by the things that were happening around her and the lack of information was already driving her crazy.
Roman, the dark knight whom she installed to stay close to Valentin has been giving her updates, but none of those has been beneficial to their situation.
"Valentin has changed!" Although she had no strong evidence, her heart firmly believed that Valentin was purposely doing this to give her and Duke Maxim a hard time.
Ever since the time he had given the sanction to her brother's family, Valentin somehow demonstrated the rare cunningness and lack of mercy towards the aristocrats.
It wouldn't surprise her to know that Valentin knows something about the curses, because she knew that he had figured it out during the tricks she did on that wedding night.
But what made her fear deeply was for Valentin to find strong evidence linking her and the Vesala family to the sinister Spectre, who was now declared the public enemy of the Empire.
Unfortunately for Empress Carolina, what she actually had to be afraid of was not only the fact that all the evidence was now gathered by the Emperor, but that the Emperor had also found a way to combat the curse magic she was relying on most!
Nevertheless, she also knew that Valentin had long been waiting for an opportunity to get back at her and the Vesala family for what she did that night. She couldn't help but see this incident as the perfect opportunity for Emperor Valentin to touch the strong Vesala and destroy it for good.
"Callan!" Empress Carolina was now extremely agitated as she continued to overthink and panic. With nothing but anxiety, she called her dark knight in haste.
"Empress!" Callan knelt submissively and eagerly asked the Empress of her commands.
"I do not want to wait for the Emperor to move. I can feel that he was using the North's invasion to get rid of our territory in the east. He believes I cannot see right through him!! Hah!!" Empress Carolina's amethyst eyes glowed, emitting a sinister aura.
"He thinks that after the north fights with our territory, he would eventually intervene and wipe out both parties. It was two birds in one stone no matter how you look at it!" She continued, her expression frenzied and whoever would see her wearing such an expression would immediately shudder and run away.
"This… The Duke did not foresee this possibility!" Callan realized that Empress Carolina's theory might be the most possible.
"Of course, my brother was not as astute as me when it came to understanding Valentin's actions," Carolina replied in a matter-of-fact tone.
Callan did not verbalize his agreement for it would be tantamount to insulting his master.
"Now, we cannot afford to sit here and wait for something to blow up again. I now order you and Roman to go all out and cause a disturbance to the Empire!
Make sure that the Emperor is busy and create for my brother an opportunity to sneak out undetected. Assign someone to disguise as the 'Duke of Vesala' in the process. That would create us a way out when all else fails."
Carolina ordered with full authority.
Hearing that the Empress had ordered them to do everything they could to disturb the Emperor's momentum ignited excitement in Callan's heart. Finally, he would be using his curse power freely and unreservedly.
Without hesitation, he immediately acknowledged the order and went to find Roman. "Yes, Empress!"
But this time, he did not need to physically flash like a dark shadow outside the window.
Instead, using his curse powers, Callan stood in a dark shadow and seemed to have sunk in it until he was nowhere to be seen.
Looking at Callan's display of curse magic manipulation, Empress Carolina felt at ease.
Callan and Roman who stayed close by her side were the knights who had the strongest talents in using the curse magic.
When these two moved, they could make the Capital shake!
–
Back to the Vesala territory, the cursed creatures were now utterly pulverized… *eherm…* defeated by the Grandmaster and Disciple duo.
After observing for a good few minutes, the two turned towards a seemingly ordinary armor-bearer, whose presence could not be distinguished at all.
"What do you think, esteemed cleric?" Governor Fidel walked beside the armor-bearer and asked him in a low tone that only the four of them could hear.
"I could not detect a spirit fragment… We are all safe." The mysterious temple cleric, who was disguised as an armor-bearer, used his spiritual powers to sense the presence of any spirit fragment.
The recent encounter Eli had with Hasta's death was something that disturbed the temple a lot.
That is why, even though the Emperor's side firmly insisted that they should not participate in the retaliation, they still negotiated to join the troops in order to assure that a similar circumstance won't happen again.
Grandpa Andi, Randel, and Governor Fidel felt at ease upon hearing the cleric's assessment. They discreetly thanked him and proceeded to continue to apprehend the criminals.
Grandpa Andi and Randel continued to stay on the battlefield, joining the Northern Army to complete the remaining tasks.
Governor Fidel and the temple cleric proceeded to investigate the Vesala estate in order to see if there were valuable discoveries hidden inside that would help them understand the curse and the Vesala's connection with the sinister Spectre.
Their exploration led them to the underground base camp of the cursed army who were stationed in the East.
Realizing that the place they stumbled into was not just an ordinary underground facility, they heightened their alertness and continued to carefully thread the stone path.
Soon, a strong stench of blood assaulted their nose. With vigilance, they followed the direction of the scent and finally arrived at the stone wall which was supposedly a dead end but was somehow destroyed by a large creature.
Carefully inspecting the entrance, Governor Fidel guessed, "Could it be that the fearsome creatures we encountered earlier came from this?"
"That is possible..." The cleric replied.
The two unsheathed their sword and decided to go inside the destroyed entrance to investigate. They did not take away the possibility that there would still be similar creatures hiding inside.
Governor Fidel used a paper spell to light up the room and to their surprise, what they saw was a pile of mangled corpses!
The blood that was randomly smeared all over the room was still wet, indicating that they had only died not long ago.
Among these corpses were several boxes of things that were left in a way that would indicate that prior to the murder of these people, they were scurrying to tidy up the place and transport it somewhere, through the teleportation array on one corner of the room.
Another thing that caught their eyes would be the opened brocade box with three empty crystal vessels lying on the ground.
The cleric squatted to carefully inspect the empty vessels, "This… someone consumed it not too long ago…"
"Could it be that the three creatures that we encountered consumed its contents?" Governor Fidel asked.
"We cannot be so sure… we need to carefully study its contents…" He replied as he used a spell to carefully take the remaining drop of liquid to further analyze. "We have to send it back to the capital to know exactly what the contents of these vials can do.."
"En.." Governor Fidel did not stop the cleric from getting the specimen. Instead, he continued searching and stumbled upon something that made him interested.
It was an ancient-looking leather-covered book that was carefully placed inside one of the boxes. As he read its title, his eyes flickered.
It was the Vesala Family's Genealogy book.