Chapter 40 Letters from the Battlefield
Elisa smiled and pushed up her glasses, "After all, Kyle is the young lady's number one bodyguard."
Anne also smiled faintly. "Where's the person who came back to deliver the message earlier?"
"Should be here soon." Elisa's ears twitched slightly, and she smiled as she gestured for the young girl beside her to open the door.
The girl was Dulcina, a new maid with big, innocent eyes. She froze for a moment at Elisa's gesture, then quickly moved to hold the door open.
"Young lady." The person who had been riding at full gallop earlier bowed respectfully to Anne before taking out a letter from his chest.
"This is a letter brought back from the eastern battlefield. Following your instructions, young lady, I didn't mention the incident with the Virtulet family. Those soldiers didn't seem to know about it either, so when I went to ask around, no one suspected my purpose."
Anne quickly stood up to receive the letter and opened it to read carefully. The more she read, the more serious her expression became.
"Before Father died, something strange happened in Zotfort. Someone challenged him to a duel and Father accepted. It was a fight to the death, so yes, Father killed him."
"But both parties had agreed not to involve others because of this duel. Logically speaking, even if Zotfort's people retaliated later, they shouldn't have acted like complete idiots, running into Soth Empire territory to massacre the Virtulet family."
Elisa thought for a moment, "What if they refused to follow this rule?"
Anne had considered this possibility, but the person who went to gather information had learned about that Zotfort nobleman. He was said to be from one of Zotfort's oldest noble families, and given such a family's pride and dignity, they would never do something that violated the duel covenant and their promise.
Unless...
A flicker of realization crossed her eyes.
Dulcina, holding documents nearby, also fell into thought. She murmured softly, "It couldn't be that someone else from their family died in a duel and they flew into a rage, could it?"
After saying this, she noticed everyone in the room looking at her in surprise. Feeling shy and embarrassed, she couldn't speak and could only lower her head even more.
"You have a point, Dulcina. Don't be so afraid."
Anne couldn't help but smile seeing her lower her head like a startled deer, but when her gaze fell back on the letter, it was colder than ice. "After all, according to what the soldiers said, after the duel ended, both sides did honor the agreement and withdrew from each other. During this time, they didn't attack each other. Father even personally saluted that duke to show respect."
"So why would they suddenly attack the Virtulet family three years after Father's death?"
Anne knew that her father, Duke Skoda, as a hero of the Soth Empire, must have seemed like a demon to the surrounding countries. They probably had long wanted to kill him, but no one could defeat him, so they finally used poison to send this legendary figure to his death.
But regardless, once such a person passed away, most of the comments about him were praise and remembrance. At Skoda's funeral, envoys from enemy nations even came in person to mourn the passing of such a hero.
It was said that the envoy from Zotfort came from the family behind the duke who had dueled with Skoda.
"When the massacre happened a year ago, the most recent battle was the one Candy participated in. It was in that battle that she used a strategy to force some of Zotfort's soldiers to retreat, then joined forces with Holden to surround and kill nearly half of the enemy soldiers. That's how she got the position of knight commander."
Anne's gaze was heavy, "But strangely, no one on the battlefield knows what that strategy actually was."
The letter's contents were detailed, except for Candy's achievements, which were brief, as if someone had deliberately concealed them.
"We still have to wait for Teacher Anson's reply before we can know more details."
She wearily rubbed her temples. Learning about what happened with her father back then had opened up a breakthrough, but now the new direction of events pointed to Candy.
Anne recalled Candy's proud and disdainful look toward her, and thought about how shortly after she and Holden joined forces to repel Zotfort, the Virtulet family was attacked and massacred. She didn't believe there was no connection.
What role did Holden play in all this?
Did he know what was going on at the time?
That's right, Holden was on the battlefield himself. He should have been very clear about the changes in Zotfort's army. Why had he never told her about it? Even after returning to Titan Manor and learning that the Virtulet family had been massacred, he said nothing. Could it be...
At this thought, she suddenly stood up.
"I need to see Holden." Anne said in a deep voice.
Elisa was somewhat puzzled, "Young lady, why see him?"
After Anne mentioned her reasoning, Elisa also broke out in a cold sweat. The group immediately went downstairs and headed straight for the manor entrance.
At the entrance, Holden stood lost in thought, flexing his numb hand where the arrow had struck.
"Young lady!?"
"Why did you come down! Oh dear, go back inside quickly. There's a disgusting toad croaking at the entrance. If you see it, you'll have nightmares!"
Young lady—there was only one person the guard would address that way!
Holden instantly snapped back to attention and turned toward the voice, unable to help but freeze.
After just a short time apart, Anne was still beautiful. Her figure, wrapped in a black dress, was shapely and attractive. Her lovely face was surrounded by a circle of black gauze, and the nobility in her every gesture made him unable to look away.
But soon he frowned, "What are you dressed like? You're divorced, not widowed!"
I'm not dead yet!
Holden thought somewhat angrily. This Anne really didn't understand anything. It was one thing for her to deliberately ignore him, but she specifically dressed like this—was she trying to humiliate him?
Anne's voice was indifferent, "My clothing is none of your concern."
"Don't think I don't know—you're just dressing special to make me argue with you, so you can use that as an excuse to deal with me, keep me forcibly at Virlet Manor, even tie me to your bed. You..."
He spoke excitedly, but Kyle had long been unable to stand Holden using such filthy language to implicate their young lady. He rushed forward and punched him in the face. "What are you to dare fantasize about our young lady here!"
He disdainfully patted the hand that had struck Holden's right cheek, then wiped it disgustedly on his clothes.
Before Holden could finish, a punch sent him sprawling. He clutched his face, tasting blood. Kyle's words made him furious. He tried to get up and fight back, but Kyle planted a foot on his back, pinning him down.
"Bastard! You lowborn dare to step on me, get off! Damn it, I'll chop you into mincemeat and feed you to the dogs!"
Holden was practically screaming like a madman.
The dignified knight commander couldn't even beat a manor guard—if word of this got out, what face would he have left?
Hearing this, Kyle pressed down even harder with his foot, almost grinding Holden into the mud.
After a long while, Anne's voice finally drifted over.
"Holden, I have something to ask you."
Anne stared at Holden on the ground, enunciating each word, "A year ago, in that battle where you and Candy wiped out half of Zotfort's soldiers, tell me—what method did Candy use to forcibly drive back the enemy soldiers?"