Chapter 18
***
Helmut remained at Lutgard Castle for a little over three weeks.
The vassals were not pleased to see him with such a difficult problem, and Theodore, with a heavy face, told him to go home, saying that he could not give answers during the mourning period anyway, but Helmut, who was proud and brash, did not care.
His job was to find out about Lady Peril and her daughter, not to return with answers about the succession ceremony.
Helmut himself hadn't made much progress. The vassals were all overly tight-lipped and didn't seem to know much of anything. All he was able to find out was that Olivia Ferrill had left the castle as soon as the funeral was over, and that she had said goodbye to almost no one.
It was Rowan, his manservant, who brought the information to him, a jovial young man with thick brown hair and green eyes who had caught the eye of all the maids in less than three days of being here.
Rowan had a knack for making tricks look like treats, and the maids quickly warmed to him as he wandered off the beaten path, finding work and helping out.
Helmut debriefed him.
"So, the maid named Mary left with her?"
"She was the only one, according to the servant. I don't think it's strange that she only took Mary with her. What is strange is that Mary left later."
"Left later...."
"If the lady was ill and going to recuperate somewhere, she would have had a maid to take care of her, but Mary stopped at her house and then followed her. No one knew where she was going. The family might have heard."
"Well, I suppose we can't send someone out to find that out right away, though the butler would know."
"Yes."
"What do you think?"
"I think it's most likely that she was confined.”
Rowan replied calmly.
"Olivia Ferrill did not consent to the marriage, and with so much wealth at stake, it would have been unacceptable to the Count of Lutgard. It would have been easiest to hide her somewhere and then have a formal marriage."
"I would have done that if it were me or you, but Theodore Lutgard?"
Rowan hesitated, unable to answer Helmut's improbable question.
"And Count Theodore’s current state is too much for him to have been abandoned. He seems somewhat unstable. Could she have run away?"
"To avoid marriage to an Earl? Sounds like something out of a romance novel."
"She can be a wealthy woman without marrying. Maybe there was another man."
"I see what you mean, I'll have to dig into the Marquis of Ascensio's side for that."
"The Marquis was tight-lipped. I've asked him a few times already, but he's just been dragging his feet, saying he's just overseeing the work of the lawyers as executor."
Helmut said thoughtfully. It didn't matter, though, because it was Olivia Ferrill’s identity he was trying to find out, not Count Lutgard’s inheritance.
'If Ezekiel's right, there's another possibility. Theodore might have kept her away to protect her.’
He thought that would be more in keeping with Theodore's behavior. But even then, Theodore's reaction to the topic of Olivia was a bit too obvious.
If Olivia Ferrill was indeed a princess and Theodore was hiding her to protect her, his demeanor should have been much more rational and calm.
****
Ezekiel received these views in a long letter and grimly wrote his orders. It was to be addressed to the secret service in Schwaben.
Find out Olivia Ferrill’s whereabouts.
Helmut reported that it was unlikely that she was the Princess, but that did not reduce suspicion to zero.
Better to find her, then. Even if she couldn’t do anything.
'Take this opportunity to round up and slaughter all the royalists.’
The Emperor's mere existence was a justification in itself , and the power of the late Empress's family, the Duke of Klaus, was not yet completely dead. Even though they were holding their breath, Ezekiel did not like the presence of forces that opposed him.
His father had told him that touching Peril would only make him scratch and claw, but Ezekiel could not allow this to happen; he had never been one to tolerate those who opposed him.
They were a bunch of dirtbags, stumbling on their way to power. They deserved to be cleaned up. Olivia Ferrill would prove to be a useful cleaning tool.
It was ten days later when he received his first report.
Final destination, the Duchy of Raniere. Current whereabouts unknown.
The tail was missing.
***
5. Lady Laila
It was four months later that a new fad began in the capital.
"Opera in the salons?"
"Not a full-fledged one, I think it was a prop, with two or three entertainers singing three or four songs, and Baron Bruno’s daughter playing the leading lady."
"Oh, my. A lady playing an actress."
"She's not in costume, she's not on stage, she's not a spectacle, and singing a song or two in a salon is no big deal."
"Because Baron Bruno’s daughter is a good singer."
"Yes, but it was Sir Bülow and Sir Werner who played her opponents."
This was a fascinating story. Sir Bülow and Sir Werner were both men who had proposed to Baron Bruno’s daughter. Moreover, the plot of the farce was a lighthearted love triangle.
While many people found it amusing, many others did not.
"Who brought such a tawdry play?"
"A distant relative staying with the Count of Andex? Lady Laila, from the Duchy of Raniere."
"What’s with her? A Lady who devises frivolous amusements."
"They say she has a penchant for extremes, which is hardly the work of a Lady."
But whether they liked her or hated her, they could agree on one thing.
"She's a great beauty."
"There's a reason she's the talk of the social scene."
They said her back-length black hair was like that of a night goddess, and her turquoise eyes were like stars. Her skin was as white as snow, and her wrists were slender beneath her long cuffs.
She was stunningly beautiful, cultured, and well-groomed. It didn't take long for her to become the hottest topic of conversation in society, as she had a knack for inventing and making fashionable things that others didn't think of.
Business cards were left in Count Andex's lobby by those who wanted to meet her, men filled his living room with greeting cards and gifts, and women dyed their hair black.
Everyone who wanted to spice up their social gatherings wanted to invite her, and even those who didn't like her didn't refuse her visits.
And then there were those who couldn't stand it.
"What's all this fuss about how beautiful that Lady Laila is?"
Princess Loella muttered, the corners of her mouth twitching. One of her maids was gently fanning her.
"It's the work of men with bad taste, I suppose."
"Then you mean there are a majority of men in the world who have shallow tastes."
Loella retorted sarcastically. The maids smiled as if it were no big deal and continued in a lighthearted tone.
"Most people haven’t seen Lady Laila yet. It must have become some sort of fad or competition to see who can get her."
"Never mind such a lowly woman. She calls herself a lady, and I don't even know what she's been doing in the Duchy of Raniere."
"People say she's a distant relative of the Countess Andex, but she's barely kept in touch with her, so there's no guarantee that's true, and who knows, she's rumored to be an actress, so she could be playing a desperate part for her life right now."
But the words did nothing to quell Princess Loella's irritation. Whatever the case, it was true that Lady Laila was getting more attention than Princess Loella in social circles right now.
So the fanning maid said something that always worked well.
"And what does it matter what the woman's reputation is? The Duke of Schwaben wouldn't even give such a woman a second glance."
***
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Write a comment
Gardenia (Wednesday, 13 November 2024 06:25)
Actually, Olivia wants to hide but becomes the actress. I wonder why she decided to be an artists. Hopefully, it will be answered after this chapter.