Lady Vanessa had not closed her eyes all night, and as soon as it was dawn, she ordered her servants to start a fire and prepare food, marking the final preparations for the attack on Teacup Castle.
The elegant lady with drooping ears was in the tent, helping her just-awoken son to dress.
Ever since losing the election, Blanco's ntal state had beco worrying; he had lost a significant amount of weight, he appeared timid and shrank back, unable to et anyone's gaze. The slightest disturbances would scare him into loud crying, as he would burrow into his mother's arms, causing Lady Vanessa great distress.
First, the beautiful woman helped her son out of his pajamas, into riding pants and a loose, long shirt, followed by pulling stockings over Blanco's small legs, tucking the riding pants into the stockings, and fastening the stockings' straps to the waistline of the pants.
Then she put a long robe over him, securing it with a belt that had a tal rabbit decoration, and draped him in a cloak and cape.
While fastening a silver brooch on her son, Lady Vanessa soothed, "Don't worry, Blanco, today we will definitely return to the castle, and then you will be the master of Green Field, just like your father was."
"But, but, my sister Ireya, she..." The boy started to shiver at the ntion of her na, "She has already been appointed as the Family Head of the Arias family by Marquis Kuren. Are we really going to defy the Marquis's orders?"
"Of course, we must listen to what the Marquis says. The Arias family has been loyal to the Figrola family for generations, and your generation should not be an exception. However, even a wise man such as the Marquis can be deceived by villains. At such tis, it is the duty of the subjects to offer candid advice and even to take the initiative to correct the wrongs."
After hesitating for a long ti, Blanco mustered the courage to speak the words that had been pressing on his heart, "Mom, I don't want to be a Lord anymore."
"Why?" Lady Vanessa's hands stopped moving, and her gaze grew cold, "Who taught you to say that? Your great-grandmother, Knight Harvey, or..."
"No one," Blanco said through clenched teeth, "I wanted to say it myself. Mom, can't you stop this? As long as my sister is willing to let us live in the castle, isn't it good for us to go back to our old life? And you don't feel nothing for her, do you? You used to tell that my sister has no mother anymore and that I shouldn't always make her angry."
"Silly child, always saying foolish things," the lovely lady with drooping ears finished putting the boots on her son and then took two steps back, examining him. Nodding in satisfaction, she said.
She then raised her face and remarked indifferently, "Once such a thing starts, it can't be stopped. You will be a good Lord in the future, Blanco."
She wanted to say more, but at that mont a deep and thick male voice ca from outside the tent, "Lady, may I have a word?"
"I'll be right out, Knight Harvey."
After speaking, Vanessa turned to Blanco and said, "Stay here and behave yourself. Stop worrying. We'll be ho soon."
As soon as she stepped out of the tent, the elegant lady saw her military advisor pacing back and forth, nearly wearing a path in the patch of grass in front of the entrance.
As soon as Vanessa appeared, he ca up to her eagerly, "Lady, I heard that you..."
The lady with drooping ears signaled for him to stop, and they walked another twenty ters before coming to a halt.
"I heard you had the Funeral Knight's wife, son, granddaughter, and son-in-law bound, and even brought over their newborn child," said the sowhat portly Knight, wiping sweat from his forehead as he spoke.
"Yes, what about it?"
"I also heard that you plan to threaten Alfred with them; if he doesn't agree to open the gates, you'll order those people's heads to be chopped off."
"I have said that as well."
"Are you serious?" Knight Harvey asked sternly.
"Of course," Vanessa replied, "Don't question my determination just because I'm a woman."
"I'm not questioning your determination, I just feel that this action might be sowhat improper."
"What's improper about it? If that traitor Alfred can do it, why can't I? Don't forget that he started this by using relatives as hostages to threaten the people inside the castle into helping him defend it," the downcast beauty said coldly.
"Alfred's actions indeed fall short of a knight's honor," Harvey pondered his words, "but at least as far as the news from inside the city goes, he hasn't actually killed anyone, not even Knight Pablo, who has never yielded, is just imprisoned by him, and hasn't missed a single al."
"What are you trying to say?" Vanessa looked directly at her military advisor.
The latter's sweat beca even more intense, but he still said, "I'm trying to say that insisting on doing this given your status might be... sowhat unsightly, especially since there's an infant not even a month old involved, and many people are already discussing it below."
"Do you think I enjoy doing this? If you had done your duty well and helped take down that castle earlier, none of this would have happened," the downcast beauty interrupted the knight.
"Since your thods are not working, it's ti to try my way to solve the problem now, as for the rumors, once we take down Teacup Castle, I'll teach them a good lesson about respect."
Knight Harvey sighed, he knew that persuasion was useless, Vanessa was set on taking the castle today, regardless of the infamy it would bring her.
In fact, his relationship with Alfred was not very close; they had little interaction before, and just three days ago, Alfred had shot him with an arrow.
But one thing is one thing, and another thing is another. Now, seeing Alfred's family about to suffer, Knight Harvey, also from the Arias family, couldn't help but feel a sense of sorrow for the fate of his fellow kin.
When he returned to the army, a few other knights also ca over, all asking him about the result of his mission.
Harvey shook his head and told his comrades, "Lady Vanessa has made up her mind; everyone had better think about how to persuade Alfred to open the gates later."
"If Alfred would open the gate, he wouldn't be Alfred," a knight nicknad Purple Sparrow Flower said, "That old fellow is stubborn and only sees things one way. He's Ireya's Guardian Knight, he only listens to that young lady."
"Even if the lives of his family are threatened?"
"Even if you slaughter his family until he's the only one left, he won't open the gate," Purple Sparrow Flower replied.
"Heavens!" another knight nicknad Gold Snake exclaid, "Are we just going to watch this tragedy happen?"
"There's no way around it, Alfred went mad first, seizing Teacup Castle, which belongs to the Arias family. Lady Vanessa has denounced him as a traitor; even if all his kin are executed, there would be no problem," soone offered a differing view.
"From Lady Vanessa's standpoint, that's correct indeed, but if you're willing to look at it from a different angle... he was just following the true lord of Green Field's orders by taking control of the castle first."
"I thought we had reached a consensus on this issue, that Ireya is not suitable to govern this land, and that's what Ruse also thought, which is why he sent her away to the Temple," another knight spoke up.
"But it seems now, her stepmother isn't much better," Purple Sparrow Flower added. "I don't know what you all think, but forgive for being blunt, between stupidity and madness, I'd rather choose the forr."
"Madness and desperation," Gold Snake chid in, "She realizes she's losing this war, so she's chosen to make a final desperate move."
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