Chapter 177: It's All Set!
Chapter 177: It’s All Set!
Just a few more days, and I’ll be able to reach there.
A magnificent carriage pulled by a beautiful white horse was rushing swiftly to Ascart City. Inside sat a girl with hair the color of gold, who gazed at the winter scenery passing her by as her mind drifted back to 10 days ago…
…
It was the New Year of the Third Epoch Year 1007. There was a significant difference between this year’s celebrations and those over the past decade.
Usually, Nora, as the successor of the royal family, would spend New Year’s Day in Holy Capital Loren to lead the prayers for the masses. In some years, she would join the chorale competition too to hype up the atmosphere.
But this year, she was nowhere to be seen in the capital at all, be it for the royal palace’s banquet or the church’s prayer. Her absence was a huge blow to all of Nora’s fans in the Holy Capital, causing the sales of this year’s church recording to decline steeply.
So, here was the question: If Nora didn’t spend her New Year in the capital, where could she possibly be?
The answer was the eastern borders.
As the representative of the royal family, as well as the future successor, Nora’s very presence at the frontlines was a huge boost to the soldiers’ morale. It represented how highly the Xeclydes thought of the war against the deviants.
It was no exaggeration to say that Nora was the most popular idol in the whole Saint Mesit Theocracy, so her presence was highly welcomed by the soldiers. The feelings the soldiers bore toward her wasn’t just adoration but admiration.
They welcomed Nora not because of her beauty but her strength.
There was no denying that her outer appearance did affect how others viewed her, but ultimately, her strength was still the key factor reinforcing her people’s loyalty toward her. It was her combination of great strength and tremendous potential that won her support from the military.
She had a noble birth, amazing looks, incredible talents, widespread support from the people, and acceptance by the officials. It was truly the full package—anyone who sought to usurp her position would really be utterly defeated.
During the New Year, Nora devoted a Soulcalming Hymn for the soldiers who had sacrificed themselves for war, and it further consolidated her base of support in the military.
The world had no lack of strong and charismatic commanders. In the first place, most commanders were powerful transcendents, and their role often involved ripping an opening in the enemy’s formations for their men to exploit. When it came to charisma, those in a position of power had a huge advantage. Often, all it took was just expressing a bit of care and concern.
However, there were very few commanders who continued caring for their soldiers even after death. In the whole Theocracy, the only ones who had implemented official death gratuity systems were the Xeclydes and the Ascarts.
It was not without reason that the Ascarts’ military was exceptionally strong. The soldiers weren’t fools; they could see with their own eyes who was worth laying down their lives for.
Anyway, aside from consoling the deceased soldiers, there was actually another reason why Nora had decided to head to the frontlines—it was to visit Carter.
Given that it was inconvenient for Roel to visit the eastern borders, it was only natural for her to pay a visit to her companion’s father on his behalf. Also, she needed to discuss the annulment of Roel’s engagement with Carter too.
As a patriarch who prioritized safety and stability over everything, Carter, despite being a believer in true love marriages, was biased in favor of Nora and Alicia’s cases. In fact, Carter played a huge role in the scheme to do away with the third rival.
However, fate loved to play pranks on people. While Nora, Alicia, and Carter were patting their chests in relief, thinking that they had managed to pull it off, Roel had already started holding hands with Charlotte on their ‘library dates’.
It was only during her visit to Carter that Nora finally learned of the matter.
As it turned out, Alicia was overpowered on her home turf, so she was forced to flee to the Holy Capital to contact Nora for backup.
To be honest, she nearly suffered a mental breakdown when she heard that Alicia failed to hold the fort. She burst out cursing there and then.
“You ran back just like that? Are you an idiot?! That’s your home!”
Nora was incredibly agitated at the moment, but even more so was Alicia.
“What am I supposed to do with our plan exposed?! That Charlotte saw through our trick and told Lord Brother about it. Lord Brother must really hate me now! Uwuuu…”
Halfway through her words, Alicia broke down in tears. The indignant look on her face left Nora feeling incredibly vexed, though she knew deep down that she wasn’t in any position to criticize Alicia.
It was not that Alicia didn’t try hard enough, but Charlotte had pulled off quite a few unexpected moves there, especially the three divinations to affirm their relationship. Nora was utterly flabbergasted when she heard about that too.
On top of that, Charlotte had legitimacy on her side too. She was Roel’s fiancée, whereas Alicia was Roel’s adopted sister. If Alicia were to act too demanding, not only would it be disrespectful, it would also ruin Roel’s impression of her. Perhaps, it might even stir Roel’s sympathy for Charlotte, pushing him over to her side.
Charlotte was well aware of this, so she didn’t hesitate to hold and hug Roel right in front of Alicia, often leaving her rival fuming and at wit’s end.
“Big brother Roel said that he was merely in a transactional relationship with that woman, and that they would annul the engagement when it’s all over, but still…”
“Can those words even be trusted?”
Nora snorted in disdain to those words. Perhaps, Roel might not have been lying, but she felt that Charlotte absolutely was. After all, she had affirmed their relationship with three divinations, so how could their relationship be only transactional?
Only a fool would believe such things!
Nora felt that her intelligence was being gravely insulted here.
Taking a step back, even if Charlotte truly didn’t harbor any feelings for Roel at the moment, that didn’t mean that she wouldn’t in the future. A man and a woman spending their time all by themselves, holding hands and hugging one another… That was way too dangerous!
Just thinking about that auburn-haired girl she had seen in Rosa not too long ago, she felt as if her heart had dropped into the abyss, falling endlessly. Charlotte’s High Elf Bloodline granted her a noble disposition that made her an extremely charming individual, making it easy for her to win someone over. On top of that, the Sorofya House had a hereditary Origin Attribute that would make it incredibly troublesome if Charlotte were to somehow fall in love with Roel.
Of course, while Roel had his charm too, Nora didn’t think that he had the ability to make Charlotte fall for him in a short period of time. Charlotte could be considered as Rosa’s princess, and she had met with plenty of outstanding young men in her time, which would have built up high standards for her. On top of that, the women of the Sorofya House tended to be very careful when it came to their marriage.
There was no way they could get together with one another in just 10 short days.
“I’m not in a good position to deal with her, but you can.”
After tearing up a little, Alicia’s ruby eyes narrowed slightly as she revealed her true motive for traveling all the way to the Holy Capital to contact Nora. Those words made Nora widen her eyes in realization, and she slowly nodded her head in response.
This battle was highly disadvantageous to Alicia—it could be said that Charlotte was her natural counter—but it was different for Nora.
Nora was the princess of the Saint Mesit Theocracy, the only successor of the royal family. In terms of standing, she was definitely equal to, if not above, Charlotte. More importantly, she was also Roel’s protector. With this official protector-protectee relationship between the two of them, there were actually many things that Nora could do.
When it came to pulling underhanded tactics, Alicia was in a more advantageous position due to her proximity to Roel. However, when it came to waging a confrontational war, Nora, as Roel’s protector, was definitely in a much better position.
It was true that Nora was hesitant to intervene in the affairs of the Ascart House previously due to her sensitive position in the Theocracy. It would spur unease if it was thought that the Xeclydes were meddling in the internal affairs of the Five Eminent Noble Houses. However, things were different now.
Screw all of the political implications! I’m already on the verge of losing Roel here!
Nora accepted Alicia’s SOS and rushed back from the border right away. It took her less than five days to reach the Holy Capital. She was quite delighted with the speed of travel, and her heart was finally put at ease too.
She knew that Roel was the type to be wary of strangers, and Charlotte, as a woman from the Sorofya House, was incredibly conservative when it came to marriage. There shouldn’t have been enough time for any fruit to be born out of their relationship yet.
“All I need to do now is to think of a way to chase her off…” muttered Nora to herself.
Confident, she began planning out her next move with the determination to succeed in a single shot. In her view, Charlotte was no more than a paper tiger who was going to be taken down very soon!
Just three more days, and she would be in Ascart City.
Everything was still under control!