Chapter 70 : Parting? The Longest Path Is the Shortcut
“Yiwen, had the luggage all been packed?”
Kyle instructed the servants to load the luggage and prepare the carriages.
The Grand Duke of Saito’s had already sat in the front of another carriage.
Yiwen, carrying a simple suitcase, and the neatly dressed Lina, boarded the one behind.
“Little Highness, Miss Loka, was she really going to such a distant place for a long ti?”
In the early morning, Loka had to leave hastily.
The two casually bid farewell, leaving Yiwen to relay the rest to the unaware Lina.
Though extrely reluctant, Lina could only nod in acceptance.
To ensure her safety, Yiwen had Lina accompany her as a maid.
“Don’t worry, she said there might be a way to send us letters through other ans.”
Seeing the soldiers suddenly surrounding the moving carriages, Yiwen comforted Lina, drew the dagger from her waist, lifted the curtain, and stepped out.
The Grand Duke of Saito’s stood with his greatsword on his back, glaring down at the calm Duke.
“Duke, had I given you too much face? Casually intercepting my carriages in broad daylight—did you intend to prevent from returning to the city and reporting to His Majesty?”
He hadn’t drawn his greatsword to avoid straining relations between the two nations, but the killing intent and fury emanating from the Grand Duke had already made the ordinary soldiers instinctively retreat a few steps.
The Duke hesitated but stepped forward to block the Grand Duke, signaling his subordinates nearby with his eyes.
Several black-clad figures slowly approached the rear carriage.
“I’m very sorry, Your Grace, but I was just following orders. I needed to check the identity of every traveler leaving recently, even if it was you—we had to inspect.”
The Duke had his n bring the Emperor’s decree.
The Grand Duke scanned it coldly, then tossed the parchnt back in dissatisfaction, stepping aside fiercely to glare at the Duke and his n.
“Search these carriages—don’t miss any spot.”
No choice; since it was the Emperor’s order, the Duke couldn’t forcefully stop them, as that would make them seem even more guilty.
As the black-clad man was about to pull open the carriage curtain, a dagger slashed his hand.
“Pulling open a carriage curtain without a lady’s permission—were the Duke’s n all such rude and arrogant thugs?”
Yiwen stepped down with Lina.
The Duke glanced at her irritably, still bowed in apology, then quickly ordered his n to enter and rummage, even sending people to secure the surrounding area.
“Get to it—don’t overlook under the carriage!”
After a thorough search, seeing the disheveled black-clad n and Yiwen’s mocking expression, the Duke’s face grew darker.
He couldn’t believe Loka would forgo this sole chance to escape.
“Where had you hidden Loka?”
“The Duke was truly slandering. Where could I hide a wanted criminal? Did your incompetence in capturing her an you had to take it out on ?”
Yiwen casually spread her hands, clearly unafraid.
The Duke really wanted to seize her again for interrogation or as a hostage, but the furious gaze behind him was on the verge of erupting.
“Then what about her? She was Loka’s personal maid. Since you were taking her, you must have known Loka’s whereabouts—she had to co with us!”
Unable to lash out, the Duke shifted his target to Lina nearby.
Yiwen gripped her dagger, blocking Lina, staring at the Duke warily.
“Lina was now my personal maid. She had been abandoned by Loka as a tool, and I took her in. Was there any question? Or did even a re maid fall under the Duke’s control?”
The Duke was about to forcibly take Lina, but suddenly a black-clad man stopped him.
“Duke, intelligence said over at the East Gate…”
“What! Tch, everyone, withdraw.”
Upon hearing his subordinate’s report, the Duke’s eyes filled with disbelief, but he could only lead his n away in fury, his disheveled appearance nearly letting his cloak get tousled by the wind.
“Little Highness, Miss Loka, she…”
“Don’t worry, Loka was mine—how could she be caught so easily?”
On the other side, the convoy ford by the Eryus delegation was stopped by soldiers at the city gate.
Kavita smiled, allowing the inspecting soldiers to approach.
A simple wooden cart held various crafts and a ragged cloth.
“What was under here? Please pull it aside for us to check.”
“Gentlen, help yourselves—we wouldn’t interfere.”
The soldiers exchanged nods, and the lead soldier pulled aside the cloth first, but beneath was empty—nothing amiss.
As they prepared to let them pass, a cloaked figure from the group suddenly jumped out.
“Nobody move—now the Eryus National Teacher’s life was in my hands. All of you, back off!”
Loka shed her disguise, silver sword held before the crowd, holding the innocent-looking Kavita hostage.
The soldiers tried to advance, but were blocked by the other Eryus mbers.
“What were you doing? If anything happened to the National Teacher, could you bear the responsibility? Do as she said—the priority was to save the National Teacher.”
No choice; the soldiers halted.
The Duke’s planted n, unable to act, quickly left to report to the Duke.
Seeing them slip away, Loka and Kavita exchanged a glance, then Loka kicked Kavita precisely toward the soldiers.
“Tell your Duke—I would return to exact revenge on him.”
While the soldiers helped the National Teacher up, Loka bypassed the remaining gate guards and vanished into the woods outside the city, out of sight.
By the ti the Duke arrived, only the weary-looking Kavita remained, complaining and griping endlessly to the gate soldiers.
“Was this your country’s defense system? I got assassinated just stepping out—if I died, how would you explain to His Majesty—ah, Duke, perfect timing.”
After learning the events, the Duke, utterly disappointed, announced the dismissal of the gate captain as compensation, then helplessly escorted Kavita’s group out of the city.
“Don’t worry, Duke—when I returned, I’d issue a warrant too. I wouldn’t easily let go of soone who dared threaten .”
Only when the carriages slowly left the Austin Empire’s borders did National Teacher Kavita wake the Duke’s spies he’d caught along the way, then gently released them.
At that mont, a shadow quietly observed from a nearby tree.
“You just let them go like that? What if they turned back to report?”
Kavita smiled faintly, revealing a few seals he’d casually taken, each engraved with a night crow pattern, flickering crimson.
“These were the tokens assassins used to verify identity and tasks. If they returned without even the tokens, how long did you think the Duke would keep empty-handed failures?”
Loka nodded; for such incompetent subordinates, the Duke usually showed no rcy.
Leaving them alive might an he’d prayed and gone vegetarian that day.
Kavita’s n opened the carriage door for Loka.
She removed the cloak she’d worn, slashing it with the silver sword to create tears, then let it drift away in the wind.
“So, now could you tell why you chose to help you?”
Kavita casually tossed the leaf from his mouth out the window, drew the curtains, his expression shifting from flippant to serious.
“What I was about to tell you ca from before the three empires’ birth—the continent’s nominally greatest ruling organization in history: the Trifa Holy Church.”
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