Chapter 18

On one side of the Earl’s office, two crossed swords were displayed on the wall as if to boast the spirit of the old Border Earl’s family.  

Between the sharp blades that seemed to have been polished regularly, Erhen’s emotionless eyes were reflected.  

No one could discern the shadow cast over his gaze.  

He stood with his hands behind his back, saying nothing, yet those who saw him felt an inexplicable sense of oppression.  

“Your Grace.”  

At Philip’s call, he turned around.  

In the office, Dostern and two other men were kneeling, bound tightly. They strained their arms in an attempt to free themselves, but nothing changed.  

The men exchanged uneasy glances.  

“Charlotte’s advertisement certainly had a remarkable effect.” 

Erhen remarked.  

“To think they came right to us like this.”  

The chilling tone of Erhen’s voice made the bound men break into a cold sweat without realizing it.  

To them, the Duke of Rosenheim was not just a mage but someone known for annihilating thirty operatives. That reputation loomed larger than his title.  

And they feared they might soon become part of that number.  

The hands tied behind their backs trembled uncontrollably from the mounting anxiety.  

“What are you plotting?”  

Erhen directed what appeared to be a polite smile at them.  

“Speak.”  

At that moment, the unknown force that had sealed their mouths vanished instantly.  

As if their gags had been removed, the men exhaled harshly.  

“Phew.”  

“Huff.”  

Erhen waited silently for them to regain their breath.  

After all, it was impossible to extract meaningful information on the day they were captured.  

This was a lesson he had learned while preparing for the rebellion with Michael, so he could afford to wait patiently.  

Releasing their restraints now was merely a temporary indulgence.  

Charlotte’s prediction had been perfectly accurate.  

But that also meant that their target included Charlotte.  

If Charlotte hadn’t first noticed the tattoo… if something serious had truly happened…  

Erhen’s darkened gaze turned toward the group before him.  

The first to catch his breath, a shabby-looking man, hurriedly shouted.  

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about! Sir, I swear I’m innocent!”  

Dostern and another man echoed similar protests.  

“I truly don’t know anything!”  

“I was just lost, Sir!”  

Those caught under suspicious circumstances all said the same thing.  

Erhen let out a small sigh.  

“Right, you don’t know now.”  

“But you’ll soon find out.”  

A mysterious force constricted their hearts, sending a sharp pain through their brains that was indescribable.  

Blood welled up in their mouths, but they couldn’t spit it out.  

The magic that had sealed their mouths earlier silenced them once again.  

The kneeling men’s eyes bulged with blood vessels as they bowed their heads forward.  

Their faces contorted grotesquely from the unimaginable pain, unable to let out a single scream.  

Erhen looked down at them expressionlessly.  

Philip, who had been standing by, stepped forward.  

“Are these all of them? This is far fewer than the number from that day.”  

“There will be more, Your Grace. Please wait a bit longer.”  

The Earl of Friesland interjected in the conversation.  

He had been standing by one side of the wall, having just received a report from his son, William.  

Philip nodded.  

“Thank you for your cooperation, Earl.”  

After briefly acknowledging the Earl, Philip turned his attention back to Erhen.  

“Earl Werner is currently waiting at the Duke’s estate.”  

“When I return, please arrange an audience with His Majesty immediately.”  

“Yes.”  

The Earl of Friesland swallowed nervously as he listened to their exchange.  

The Earl had received a document from the Rosenheim Ducal Family requesting cooperation.  

It was an extraordinary response to a simple party invitation.  

The document stated that a malicious faction intended to infiltrate the Countess’s birthday banquet and cause trouble.  

Initially, he dismissed it as absurd, but the fact that the sender was the Duke of Rosenheim complicated matters.  

The answer came from the party’s host and his wife, the Countess of Friesland.  

“How long will we remain provincial nobles?”  

Strictly speaking, Degenhof was the representative city of the eastern Rohadin region, so calling Friesland a provincial noble was a degrading term.  

However, his ambitious wife didn’t hesitate to seize this opportunity.  

Born the daughter of a lowly Baron, she had risen to become the Countess leading the East. But her aspirations didn’t stop there.  

She always dreamed of advancing to the capital.  

“The world has changed. My dear, without ruling the Earl’s territory or maintaining private soldiers, our only path is to gain the King’s favor.”  

She wholeheartedly supported the idea of using her birthday banquet for this purpose.  

With no reason left to oppose the Duke’s request, all that remained was to enhance security for the banquet day.  

The Duke’s guards and Sonne’s elite security team combined efforts.  

Each attendee was assigned personal protection, ensuring immediate responses to any incidents.  

Moreover, the Duke preemptively captured the suspicious group.  

With the barrier he had set, the remnants were being apprehended by his son and brought here.  

And if the Kaiserliche arrived tomorrow…  

As the Earl was lost in thought, the sound of heavy footsteps approached from outside.  

Moments later, the office door opened, and the Earl’s son and heir, William, entered.  

His sturdy frame was followed by three men being dragged in by guards.  

The clanging of chains echoed through the room as the prisoners, bound so tightly that blood seeped from their restraints, were thrown to the ground.  

These men, unlike those already kneeling, had resisted fiercely.  

Their faces were battered and unrecognizable.  

The newly captured men, upon seeing the previous prisoners, were filled with shock.  

But the earlier group, still overwhelmed by pain, didn’t even notice who had entered the office.  

“Your Grace!”  

William saluted Erhen and the Earl.  

When Erhen returned the gesture, William clasped his hands behind his back and composed himself.  

He glanced briefly at the collapsed prisoners before reporting.  

“The search within the barrier is complete. Additional searches have been ordered just in case. Investigations of the staff assigned to the banquet are nearly finished, and a comprehensive review is underway.”  

William, who resembled his mother more than his father, was ambitious and determined to succeed.  

Erhen nodded at William’s smooth report.  

There seemed to be one ringleader and five accomplices.  

Erhen’s gaze shifted to Dostern, the first captured.  

“The individual directly involved with the banquet will be investigated at the Duke’s estate. The rest will remain confined here.”  

“Yes, Your Grace.”  

The Earl of Friesland and William bowed respectfully.  

Philip approached Dostern and lifted him.  

Still reeling from relentless pain, Dostern staggered weakly.  

Philip left the office with the Duke’s guards, dragging the other prisoners out one by one.  

They would be confined in the dungeon until tomorrow when the Kaiserliche arrived from the capital to interrogate them.  

Once the group had left, leaving only three people in the office, Erhen spoke.  

“Thank you again for your cooperation.”  

“It’s an honor to be of assistance.”  

“If you plan to return, shall I have a carriage prepared?”  

When the Earl and William asked, Erhen shook his head.  

“Aren’t you tired? Won’t you rest instead of returning immediately? Are you going back to the banquet hall?”  

“Yes.”  

At the Earl’s concerned question, Erhen replied.  

“There’s someone I need to bring.”  

He was too worried about Charlotte, who was likely alone at the banquet hall.  

Unable to express his thoughts honestly, Erhen simply offered a faint smile.  

***

However, contrary to Erhen’s expectations, Charlotte was with a man at that moment.  

After Erhen had left to capture Dostern, Charlotte had been surrounded by people intrigued by her dual identities as “Rothschild’s daughter” and “Viscountess Lintz, who succeeded with Blumen.”  

“Haah…”  

She finally escaped the crowd and opened the terrace door, letting out a deep sigh.  

Worried about Erhen’s situation, she couldn’t help but be distracted.  

Talking to others about unrelated topics in the meantime had been exhausting.  

She intended to wait for Erhen while resting on the terrace.  

“Aren’t you the Viscountess Lintz?”  

A deep male voice called out to her.  

It was a man who had already been on the terrace.