Chapter 174 Beg the King to Betroth Cressida as Royal Consort

Chapter 174 Beg the King to Betroth Cressida as Royal Consort

Cressida had already ridden her horse along the main road out of the city.

She kept in mind that her main purpose for going out today was to let Starlight run freely.

When people are stuck inside a mansion for too long, living the same day after day, they inevitably get restless and frustrated.

War horses are no different.

Reaching an open field beside a lake with green hills around, Cressida loosened the reins and let Starlight run free.

When both rider and horse were exhausted, Cressida led Starlight to the lakeside, letting it graze and drink at the shore while she sat by the water, washing the thin layer of sweat from her face.

She stared at her reflection in the lake.

The face in the water kept shifting with the ripples, making her feel a bit dazed.

She quietly questioned herself—had she been too reckless today?

Ten years stationed at the border had taught her to hide all her emotions after experiencing betrayal, pain, and life-or-death trials.

Whether joy or anger, she only kept it buried inside.

She had always relied only on herself.

She knew clearly that standing up for the Royal Huntsman today and confronting Joseph publicly was indeed risky.

But she never regretted it.

Whenever anything touched on her battlefield past, the passion buried deep in her heart would be completely ignited.

The brutal Battle of Ravencrag Pass remained vivid in her memory.

She had just enlisted then, just an ordinary soldier, and had followed a group of comrades to the area around Ravencrag Pass to collect arrows left behind by Eldoria's army.

The Kingdom of Novaria lacked military supplies, had backward ironworking techniques, and extremely low arrow production efficiency.

Soldiers could only barely supplement their equipment by recovering arrows shot by enemy forces and abandoned weapons.

This was an extremely dangerous task.

Once discovered by enemy forces, those carrying it out had almost no chance of survival.

Cressida had no connections back then and looked thin and weak, so she was assigned to complete this dangerous work.

That was her first time getting close to Ravencrag Pass.

Across the yellow earth and rolling sand dunes, she saw from afar that the entire fortress wall was densely covered with white bones, stretching from the south end to the north end—a terrifying sight.

A comrade told her that these bones were the remains of the two hundred thousand soldiers led by the Grand General.

The enemy forces hung the soldiers' remains on the city walls to show off their military achievements and humiliate Novaria.

The headless skeleton in the center of the wall was the Grand General himself, who had led the campaign at nearly seventy years old.

Novaria's tradition was to let the deceased rest in peace in the earth, but these soldiers who fought for their country couldn't return home while alive and couldn't rest in peace after death.

This scene had a huge impact on the young Cressida.

So after she led her forces to capture Ravencrag Pass, the first thing she ordered was for the entire army to collect all the soldiers' remains and give them proper burials.

Cressida pulled back her scattered thoughts and stopped dwelling on the past.

Her battlefield used to be at the border fortress, but now her battlefield was in this capital city, in this royal court.

She first had to completely eliminate Rose and her enemies, then climb up step by step and establish a firm foothold.

In the royal study, Doyle was reviewing stacks of official documents with his head down.

The chief guard walked slowly into the hall and reported, "Your Majesty, Prince Joseph requests an audience."

"Let him in," Doyle said, still not looking up.

Joseph entered the hall.

Doyle finished writing his comments on a document and casually set it aside.

"Speak directly if you have something to say."

"Father, I humbly request to marry Lady Cressida Hamilton," Joseph said, his tone firm, his attitude serious.

Doyle raised his eyebrows slightly and remained silent for a moment.

The study was completely quiet, with only the faint smoke from the court incense slowly rising.

"Why do you fancy her?"

"At the last ancestral ceremony, I was attracted to her appearance and talents. My heart is already set, and I humbly ask Father to approve this marriage."

Doyle laughed quietly twice.

The smile remained on his face, but his eyes suddenly became sharp and cold.

"Are you truly attracted to her, or is this deliberate revenge?"

Joseph froze instantly.

"Father?"

Doyle stood up, his expression cold.

"Don't think I know nothing. A few days ago at the training grounds, you allowed several spoiled brats from the Pena family to harass the Royal Huntsman, and Cressida caught you in the act. She embarrassed you publicly. That happened, didn't it?"

A flash of embarrassment crossed Joseph's face.

"That's true, but I absolutely don't harbor revenge. I truly admire Cressida."

"What do you admire about her?"

"I admire her excellent skills, her straightforward and free-spirited personality, and her decisive way of handling things," Joseph said, trying hard to think and coming up with several good points.

Doyle suddenly burst out laughing.

Joseph couldn't figure out his father's thoughts and felt anxious inside.

"I understand. You may leave now. I'll make my own arrangements for your marriage. No need to ask further."

Joseph was secretly alarmed. The King already has plans? If he couldn't marry Cressida, Emily would definitely be disappointed. But he didn't dare ask more questions. He could only bow respectfully.

"Father, I'll take my leave."

After Joseph left, the chief guard entered again.

"I really didn't expect Joseph would want to marry Cressida," Doyle said, looking thoughtful. "Tell me, was this someone else's idea, or is Odette pulling strings behind the scenes?"

The chief guard stepped forward and responded respectfully, "Perhaps it's Prince Joseph's own idea."

Doyle sat down again, his tone somewhat impatient.

"He doesn't have that kind of thinking or vision. I originally planned to arrange for Cressida to marry him, but he's too dull. If I let him marry another queen with outstanding abilities and powerful connections, it will only make him more reckless and repeatedly embarrass the royal family."

Cressida absolutely cannot marry Joseph.

Initially in Doyle's eyes, Cressida was merely a representative figure of the Hamilton family. But she defeated Rodolfo and Jason in succession, becoming famous and gaining great prestige in the King's Guard.

Doyle then felt that casually arranging for such an outstanding person to marry the mediocre Joseph would be too wasteful.

He picked up the memorial he had set aside earlier. This was a letter from Yosef from his territory, mentioning that he had fallen ill and hoped to return to Emerald City early. Doyle had already started writing a rejection.

But on second thought, if even Joseph wanted to seek the Hamilton family's support, why couldn't Yosef? Recently, Marshall's power had been growing, while Yosef's influence kept weakening.

Doyle never liked seeing the balance of power in the court tip too far. When various forces check and balance each other, that's the most stable situation.

Thinking this through, he put down the memorial.

"Someone come. Issue a decree allowing Yosef to return to Emerald City early. Say that Odette is sick from missing him and hopes for his return."

"Yes," the chief guard said, accepting the order and withdrawing.

As for Miguel, Doyle directly excluded him from consideration for now. Miguel controlled military power and absolutely could not marry a queen with strong influence and top-tier abilities.

The autumn banquet Cressida was preparing was approaching. These days, when she didn't leave the estate, she focused on handling various preparations for the event.

Noah had just finished checking the guest list and seating arrangements with her when Verity hurried into the room.

Cressida could tell she had important news to report and raised her hand to signal Noah to leave first.

After Noah left, Verity lowered her voice.

"Miss, Rose has gone out."

Cressida raised her eyebrows slightly.

"The servants reported before that she stayed indoors all day, depressed and listless. Was that information false?"

Appearance was what Rose valued most. Having her face damaged and disfigured should have left her devastated, yet now she could quickly adjust and go out.

"Follow her and find out where she's going and what she's up to," Cressida ordered.

Verity immediately left, moving efficiently and swiftly.

In the afternoon, Verity returned to report.

"Miss, Rose first went to a fabric workshop and ordered a silk veil, then went to a mansion located deep in the district called Lumina Retreat. I did a quick investigation—this is a private dining venue exclusively for high-ranking nobles and people of distinguished status."

"Did you follow her inside?" Cressida asked.

Verity shook her head gently.

"This place operates on an admission pass system. Without a special pass, outsiders cannot enter."

The so-called admission pass was Lumina Retreat's exclusive access credential. Anyone who could get a pass to enter was definitely not of ordinary status.

Rose had already spent all her money and had no way to get access to such a high-end venue.

Cressida immediately locked onto the only candidate—Octavia.

All those secret drugs Rose had before came from Octavia. It seemed highly likely that Octavia was hiding inside Lumina Retreat.

Octavia held private secrets of many noble ladies. With these chips, establishing herself in high-society private venues wouldn't be difficult.

Cressida thought for a moment and quickly decided on a plan.

To avoid alerting them, she said, "Rose will definitely go there again. I won't restrict her movements, and she'll probably notice she's being watched. Next time, you'll follow her and deliberately attract her attention while I take another route to sneak in. As long as the timing is right, we'll capture Octavia first. She has countless secrets in her hands—we won't worry about her not confessing truthfully."

Verity nodded in agreement.

"Understood! But how do we get the admission pass?"

Cressida's tone was calm.

"Ask the prince. With his status, getting an admission pass will be easy."

After Verity conveyed Cressida's request, Miguel had someone deliver a Lumina Retreat admission pass that very night.

"The prince asked me to relay a message, asking if you need him to personally assist."

"No need," Cressida firmly declined.

Verity hesitated. She had wanted to mention that Miguel also suggested directly sending troops to shut down Lumina Retreat and eliminate all related personnel in one sweep. But she could tell that Cressida already had a complete plan and didn't want to rely on others.

Two days later, just as dusk fell, Rose went out alone again.

Cressida first had Emma send a message inviting a friend to accompany her.

Then she instructed Verity to follow Rose first, and according to the established plan, deliberately let Rose notice she was being followed.

Before leaving, Cressida reviewed all of Rose's recent activities and became alert. She suspected Rose's frequent outings might be a deliberately set trap.

Therefore, she brought along the small dagger Miguel had given her. This dagger was light and portable—the most handy defensive weapon.