Charlotte felt surprised.
Before eting with the vassals, she had imagined various scenarios, but she had not expected the current situation.
One noble after another ca to present themselves, all uniformly expressing loyalty while also reporting on their peers. If they were to exclude based on their reports, the entire Castel Domain seed to be completely exposed, with almost every noble reported on, and the three Viscount Families ntioned countless tis.
In one word, it was chaos.
Yet, interestingly, these reporting nobles did not shoot arrows in the dark—they actually brought data and evidence with them.
Although Charlotte temporarily could not determine the veracity, each piece of evidence was well-structured and logical, and at least on paper, they seed easily verifiable.
After more than ten etings with major and middle nobility, Charlotte’s headache only grew. The pile of report materials by her side had almost ford a small mountain. Almost every noble family had a stack of incriminating evidence, with the leading three Viscount Families becoming in every noble’s description, natural rebels and long-preditated conspirators, akin to villains in novels who wouldn’t be wronged even if executed...
The docunts from Castel Manor were almost entirely overturned, all families appeared problematic, even the well-known loyal Baron Angus, who was the only one to personally greet Charlotte as she returned to her domain, was reported by the nobles for colluding with nobles of the Romany Duchy and exchanging secretive glances with suspected Bloodline individuals.
Sebastian and Nisi also looked intrigued. The normally slick and talkative Fla Elf struggled for a long ti before squeezing out a sentence:
"Master, at least... they all expressed loyalty; in a sense, they still hold reverence for Castel."
Charlotte: ...
Yes, they all expressed loyalty, but they were also reported, making it seem like a ga of Werewolf, where you still don’t know how many wolves are hidden!
Moreover, except for the current Clan Leader Lola of the Legris Family who blew her own cover, none of the other nobles were from the Bloodline.
Furthermore, Charlotte had even secretly used the power of the Holy Scripture to check—none of the nobles showed signs of having been controlled spiritually. Everyone was spontaneous, coming forward voluntarily to express loyalty and make reports.
After this series of audiences, far from uncovering any nobles related to the Nais Clan, the situation in the Castel Domain had instead beco even more intricate.
With a soft sigh, Charlotte’s profound gaze pierced through the curtains, looking towards the nobles at the banquet.
The audience had ended, but the banquet was still ongoing.
As the lody of the dance changed, the atmosphere of the banquet grew livelier, with more and more nobles joining the dance floor amid cheer and laughter.
If not for the mountain of report materials beside her, it would be hard to believe that these elegantly dancing nobles had just been filled with righteous indignation behind the curtains.
Charlotte even saw nobles who had privately reported on each other, yet on the dance floor, they were dance partners, smiling and gracefully dancing.
However, although it appeared cheerful and peaceful, the keen Charlotte could still feel the undercurrents hidden beneath the masks.
Even though the nobles were enjoying the banquet, she could feel discreet glances cast toward the direction of the curtains, as if waiting for her next move.
Under the crystal chandelier, the dance floor seed to be the center of the banquet, but the real focus was actually the beautiful figure behind the curtains.
"Regarding the nobles’ audience just now, what do you think?"
Charlotte slowly withdrew her gaze and asked.
Hearing her serious tone, Sebastian quickly beca solemn.
He pondered for a mont and said:
"Master, I have traveled across the continent and witnessed the rise and fall of many human families. Unlike us Elves, human ti is indeed too brief, and human desires... far stronger than ours."
"Your family has had no effective rule over the Castel Domain for ten years, a length of ti...sufficient for ambitions to grow..."
Charlotte felt a stir in her heart:
"What do you an...?"
Sebastian weighed his words carefully and said:
"I am thinking... since they submitted so much evidence, and spoke so convincingly, I believe the content of their accusations might indeed have so truth, or perhaps so exaggeration and embellishnt, but at least so of it might be true."
"You have also said that the nobility in Castel has been heavily infiltrated. These nobles, for various reasons, may indeed have made contact with the Bloodline of the Nais Clan..."
"Of course, this does not an that they truly betrayed you; it could be like weathercocks or perhaps safeguarding their own fallbacks, especially... From my point of view, the future of Castel before your successful succession was indeed filled with uncertainty, and the nobles... despise uncertainty the most."
"However, although the nobles’ reports exceeded expectations, we can still piece together so of the truth from their information."
"For instance, there are indeed Bloodline individuals from the Falling Star Kingdom infiltrating behind Castel, and many nobles are secretly recruiting and preparing for war."
"This is definitely not groundless. I rather believe this is also a sche of the Nais Clan; if they truly have infiltrated all the noble families, I think they might be using the power of Castel’s nobles to prepare an army—preparing for a war!"
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