24 - Valentina's Paradise
“Do I have to check every single arrangement for servants, maids, and guards for the guests? What exactly is it that you people do!”
Valentina was furious. She had clearly ordered, ‘Deploy guards for Gongzi Edeled,’ before going to the banquet hall. This also meant to keep him under surveillance. Even if they were preoccupied with the banquet hall, there was no excuse for not deploying the guards she had ordered.
However, her shouting, loud enough to shake the room, wasn't solely due to her anger at losing him.
She was fed up with the pro-Imperial nobles who had wormed their way into positions close to her.
Ricardo, the chief aide, was a central figure among the pro-Imperial nobles and currently second in line to the Grand Ducal throne. Befitting his status, he had also seized the position of captain of the knights and was wielding considerable power. He was short-sighted, acted unilaterally, and had a habit of finding fault with everything Valentina did.
However, she couldn't easily dismiss him because of his strong connections to the Imperial family. His mother, Countess Fiona, was the Emperor's half-sister and had significant influence. So, when Grand Duchess Giulietta had twice refused the Emperor's orders to dispatch troops, Ricardo had almost become the lord of Florida. His elder brother, who had inherited their father's earldom, was sickly and deeply disliked Princess Anna, which had put him out of favor with the Emperor.
The representative official of the anti-Imperial faction was Lord Camilo, the herald, a meticulous administrator and knight with a good memory. However, as a commoner from a small lordly family, he was overly cautious and only offered timid, safe opinions, which was always frustrating.
None of the other vassals were satisfactory either. Even the jester, Pepe, was far superior in gathering information, being perceptive, and handling tasks. The only downside was that she was a wandering Romani from Aura Shahara, so her words were treated as nothing more than the words of a lowly jester.
How much easier and more reliable would it be if those people were even half as capable as Edeled?
Valentina, thinking this, hurriedly shook her head. She must be out of her mind.
Edeled's excessive intelligence and sharpness were not virtues in a vassal, but poison. He was not someone who could be used as easily as one's own limbs. Most rulers would not be able to handle such a vassal.
And Valentina had a fairly objective assessment of her own capabilities.
Bang, bang, bang! Bang!
“What is the meaning of this! Open the door! Open it now!”
While people were searching for Edeled, a loud commotion began in the grand banquet hall on the third floor. The sound of the door being pounded as if it would break and violent shouts echoed loudly.
“What, what is this rude behavior! Is this how you treat your guests?”
“Give us a reason! We are Duke Edgar's knights!”
Lord Camilo, the herald, rushed to Valentina and bowed deeply.
“Your Grace, the Black Rock Knights are strongly protesting and causing a disturbance. What should we do?”
“…Are you asking me now how to quietly subdue prisoners?”
Valentina felt a deep weariness. The vassals, who should be thinking and discussing solutions together, were only staring at her, waiting for an answer. It was beyond frustrating or infuriating; it felt like being adrift alone in a vast ocean. Even Lord Camilo, whom she considered somewhat useful, was acting like this.
“But Your Grace, if they really are the advance party sent by Duke Edgar, wouldn't it be a big problem?”
“We can set a trap to confirm. Go and tell them, ‘Duke Edgar's envoy has arrived and says he didn't send an advance party. Aren't you impersonating them?’ If they are innocent, they will demand to confront the envoy to prove their innocence.”
A short while later, the people who had gone up to the grand banquet hall came running down at once.
“Your Grace was right. They suddenly became quiet when we mentioned the envoy.”
They couldn't demand to confront the envoy, as Valentina had predicted. However, Wallace still insisted stubbornly.
“It is true that we currently serve Duke Edgar as regent. But we are knights of Petronia, and our only lord is Duke Edeled. We only came to check on our lord's well-being, and if we are allowed to see his face once, we will obediently follow orders.”
Lord? That's absurd. Edeled hadn't inherited Petronia, so how could he be their lord?
Come to think of it, Edeled had shamelessly insisted on being the Count of Petronia at first. Valentina coldly retorted.
“Your request is denied. You deceived me and impersonated Duke Edgar as regent. Therefore, you will wait here for his arrival to decide your fate.”
“We have never made an unreasonable request! We only want to see if our lord is safe and protect him. We are knights of Petronia, and we have a duty to protect our lord!”
Valentina raised her voice towards the door.
“Tell them that Gongzi Edeled has said he does not wish to meet with them!”
“Do you expect us to believe that? If so, have Dominus come before us and say it himself! Then we will quietly stay put!”
“Are you people made of rock for brains! You want him to say he doesn't want to meet you by meeting you?”
The banquet hall became quiet, as if they had no choice but to accept that Edeled didn't want to meet them. Valentina firmly stated in a stern voice.
“The more noise you make, the worse your treatment will be, so restrain yourselves. And currently, the lord of the Petronia Knights is Duke Edgar, the regent of Petronia, and he is also Gongzi Edeled's guardian, so wait for him to arrive and get his permission before meeting. That is the correct procedure.”
Only after the commotion in the banquet hall had barely subsided did the search for Edeled begin. People began to search the castle thoroughly. Until dusk, all the servants, maids, aides, coachmen, and knights were mobilized to find Edeled, but he was nowhere to be found. The sentries guarding the gates said they hadn't seen him leave.
Could he have escaped?
Valentina tried not to show her anxiety. She had welcomed Edeled as a formal guest. That meant she had a responsibility to protect, or rather, monitor him.
Edgar would hold her responsible for his disappearance.
***
Bang, bang, bang, thump, thump!
McDowell, who had been kicking the banquet hall door, muttered curses and stepped back. No matter how loudly he kicked, the thick oak door didn't budge.
The banquet hall door, which seemed to have been made in preparation for such a situation, was reinforced with iron bands and thick supports and wouldn't move at all. Judging from the sounds outside, it seemed that the door was not only locked from the outside but also had an iron bar placed across it.
Even the axe had been left outside. When welcoming a lord, the only ‘weapons allowed in consideration of a knight's honor’ were swords or daggers. Maces or axes were not allowed. The knights kicked the door and shouted.
“You damn bastards, look at how you treat your guests. You'll regret it to death later, so open it!”
But the excitement didn't last long. Wallace, the leader, returned to the table with a blank face and began to munch on the chunk of meat in front of him.
“Just eat. The Grand Duchess intends to keep us locked up until Duke Edgar arrives. No need to waste energy already.”
“Do you think an envoy really came?”
“Probably not? They don't know the shortcuts through the Black Forest at all, so they can't arrive faster than us.”
“How did they know? That we weren't part of Duke Edgar's party?”
McDowell sauntered back, crossed his arms, and muttered. Wallace stared at the locked door for a long time before spitting out gruffly.
“I've heard that Grand Duchess Valentina is thoughtful and cautious. We must have been caught on something somewhere. I don't know what it is, though.”
He looked around and frowned at the flags embroidered with two crests.
Could it be…?
Wallace, after thinking carefully, came to a conclusion and spat out gruffly.
“No envoy came. The Grand Duchess just probed with a guess, and we fell for it perfectly.”
A sigh escaped all at once, and McDowell grumbled.
“Do you think we wanted to steal someone else's name? This mess happened because Duke Edgar left us out! We Black Rock Knights have been persistently requesting to serve Duke Edeled, but he didn't even listen, and he secretly left in the early morning, leaving us behind? He has no shame!”
“I'm telling you! What's the reason for preventing the Petronia Knights from meeting the Count of Petronia? Where else can you find knights as virtuous and loyal as us?”
A knight named McGraw also dragged out his words and sneered. There wasn't a trace of tension or anxiety in their conversation.
“What kind of guts does he have to refuse the help of the Black Rock Knights while passing through the Black Forest?”
“I know, right? If we had escorted Gongzi, five of us would have been enough, and dozens wouldn't have been massacred.”
“That massacre is suspicious, though. According to the information I received from informants in the Black Forest, it doesn't seem like the work of thieves….”
Wallace stood up and stretched greatly.
“Anyway, we have no reason to be treated unfairly like this. We only rushed here to check on and protect our missing lord, who we heard was here alone. There's no way to imprison such loyal knights in such an insulting manner.”
They exchanged indifferent remarks and then started eating again. Fortunately, the table was set with plenty of food, there was wine, there were drinks, and there were light weapons. And there was also time to think and discuss.
Such a gentle confinement. It was unimaginable in their rough and harsh homeland. In Terra Petronia, they would have started by hitting someone over the head with a mace and hanging them by their arms in a dungeon.
Wallace ordered in a heavy voice.
“Eat well. Let's get the job done before the Duke arrives.”
