Chapter 42
Chapter 42: Do You Know Who Your Son Has Offended
"The Royal Magic Academy has been sealed!"
A cry of alarm rang out from somewhere unknown, sending the students inside the Academy into a wave of panic.
Several students, unable to believe it, dragged themselves to the Academy's main gate.
The gate could still be opened, but a barrier had cut off the outside world entirely.
No matter how hard the students beat against it, the barrier didn't budge an inch.
The sudden appearance of a black barrier above the Academy spread through the entire Royal Capital at a startling speed, its impact far beyond ordinary.
Countless newspaper reporters and Mages alike gathered before the barrier.
The black barrier radiated wisps of Black Miasma, as though it had stained half the sky dark.
Across its surface, countless interlocking patterns wove together in exquisite complexity, blanketing every direction.
The interior of the barrier seemed saturated with filth and darkness, endlessly gnawing away at the people's energy.
The pitch-black devoured everything clean, leaving behind nothing but the sound of panic from within and without—along with a conspicuously powerful sense of weakness.
"What on earth is this thing?"
"Such an intricate Magic Formation……what kind of formation structure is this?"
Countless headlines had already been published. Without exception, every one of them was tied to the black barrier that had enveloped the Royal Magic Academy.
Some had gone so far as to spread rumors linking the incident to Viktor.
Although the Academy was completely sealed by the barrier with no communication possible between inside and out—
Before the lockdown, word had already gotten out: that Viktor had kidnapped Professor Dewen with intent to kill.
The news spread quickly to the du Chloe household.
Upon hearing it, Erika was utterly bewildered. Just yesterday she'd heard from Heni that Viktor wasn't at the Academy—how had something this enormous happened today?
More importantly, the information circulating claimed that Viktor had already laid hands on Dewen Rether inside the Academy the day before.
That was completely different from what Heni had told her.
"What exactly happened?"
"Did Heni deliberately hide it? Could she be someone who knew?"
The more Erika thought about it, the more confused she became. Right now, all she wanted was to go see for herself what had happened.
But she couldn't act so recklessly. The most pressing matter was to find out whether her father knew about this.
She hoped her father could help Viktor in this situation—suppress the fallout from this incident!
Because this time, Viktor had truly made a grave mistake!
Who was Dewen Rether? Even within noble circles, very few people knew the answer.
The Rether Family held enormous influence in the south, having monopolized the vast majority of the Empire's southern trade.
This family had an extraordinary capacity for accumulating wealth. And those in the know—families with the kind of authority the du Chloe household wielded—understood even more clearly what the Rether Family meant to the entire imperial household.
They were the primary source of the imperial household's finances.
Every year, a large portion of the national treasury was paid out to the Rether Family, which in turn fed back even more each year.
In other words, every business the Rether Family had developed in the south operated under the Emperor's tacit consent.
Because the Rether Family were Imperial Relatives—the Emperor's younger sister had married into the Rether Family.
The imperial household granted the Rether Family special privileges; the Rether Family returned the favor with money.
Both sides benefited.
Erika didn't know why Viktor would attack Dewen Rether, but she understood politics.
As the only daughter of a Duke, her father had always raised her as his successor.
Whatever Viktor's motivation was, the fact that he had harmed Dewen Rether was already set in stone.
To protect Viktor, the only way was……
Before the Academy's barrier was broken open—don't let this matter reach the Emperor.
"Someone with both the motive and the standing to bring the Emperor forward ahead of time……"
"Lady Cassana!"
Cassana Rether—she had taken the Rether surname upon marrying the head of the Rether Family. Before that, she had been the Emperor's younger sister.
Although the Rether Family conducted enormous volumes of business every year, this Lady had never involved herself in trade. She lived in a city not far from the Royal Capital.
If she had received word yesterday, accounting for travel time—
"She could reach the Royal Capital today and request an audience with His Majesty!"
The moment this occurred to her, Erika immediately moved to go find Duke Livi. A Maidservant who saw her—face grave, moving in frantic haste—stepped in to stop her.
"My Lady, please don't rush."
"When the Duke left this morning, he specifically asked me to notify you. He said: if you want to go out and find him, tell you that he has already gone to the city gate."
"The city gate?"
Erika froze, somewhat puzzled.
Why had her father gone outside the city ahead of time?
Could it be……he already knew as well?
Her heart was unsettled. In that moment, she felt as though she was the only one who had been kept in the dark.
Erika desperately wanted to know something—anything. And so, she suddenly thought of someone.
Someone connected to this matter, and someone who might have deliberately concealed things.
Only Heni!
"She must know something!"
Erika thought to herself, then quickly said to the Maidservant:
"Prepare the Carriage! Make it fast! I need to go to the Academy's Back Hill immediately!"
She still remembered the place where she and Heni had talked yesterday.
Erika had told Heni that she would come back the next day.
If Heni had kept her word, she should be waiting at the Academy's Back Hill.
If Viktor truly intended to do something by sealing the Academy, he wouldn't have kept Heni sealed inside along with everyone else.
"Damn it! What is his real motive?"
Erika clenched her fists tight, biting her lip.
She couldn't figure it out, and she couldn't go and investigate herself.
She hated this feeling of helplessness.
It was exactly like that time on the volcano.
***
Meanwhile, outside the city gate.
Duke Livi stood at the city gate. Several hundred Knights clad in silver armor stood at his back, and beside them were dozens of figures in hoods, holding magic orbs—unmistakably Mage-like in appearance.
A powerful sense of danger permeated the area outside the city gate, giving off the unmistakable feeling that war was imminent.
Before long, a carriage escorted by numerous guards arrived and came to a gradual stop.
A Knight opened the carriage door, placed the stepping stool on the ground, and a noblewoman dressed with elegance descended gracefully.
She was beautiful, exceptionally well-preserved, though the faint traces of time were still faintly visible.
But none of that diminished her striking air of distinguished nobility.
The moment she stepped down, she fixed Duke Livi with a furious glare and demanded:
"Livi! What is the meaning of this!"
"Bringing your Private Soldiers and your Mage corps all the way to the Royal Capital's city gate just to block my path? You have quite the nerve!"
Duke Livi smiled amiably and gave her a courteous nod.
"Lady Cassana, it's been a while."
"I've brought all these people here simply to ask you to stay a little longer."
"I will let you into the city—just not yet."
Though Duke Livi smiled with warmth, the tension between the 2 of them was unmistakably adversarial.
"Livi, don't forget who I am."
"I have never forgotten, Lady Cassana. In fact, ever since the day you used your status to pressure me into marrying you, I have remembered it right up until this very moment."
Behind Duke Livi's amiable expression, he recounted an extraordinarily explosive piece of history.
What could almost be called an imperial secret was laid out by Duke Livi with effortless nonchalance. The guards around Lady Cassana exchanged glances, utterly stunned, unsure whether they should keep listening to what came next.
But Lady Cassana—upon hearing Livi bring up that matter—suddenly flew into a rage of embarrassment and shouted loudly:
"After all this time, what do you mean by bringing that up? Are you simply trying to humiliate me!"
"Only to hold you here for a little chat about old times. And to remind you, incidentally, that your surname is no longer Sorel."
Duke Livi waved his hand. A Mage from behind him stepped forward and channeled Magic into the magic orb he held.
As the magical energy churned and swirled chaotically within the orb for a moment, it materialized outward from within it.
A table and 2 chairs took form from the ground out of thin air.
"Please, have a seat."
Duke Livi gestured with one hand, then took a seat himself first.
Cassana looked at that Mage, and the agitation in her emotions settled somewhat.
Duke Livi's Mage corps.
Strictly speaking, a Mage-soldier was a profession.
They were not Mages, but becoming a Mage-soldier was considerably harder than becoming a Mage.
Through the use of costly magical equipment to support their use of Magic, while also training extensively in powerful physical combat strength to assist in battle—that was a Mage-soldier.
Even the cost of raising a single Mage-soldier was a price ordinary nobles could not bear.
In the entire Royal Capital, only Duke Livi possessed the wealth and standing to cultivate an entire corps of them right under the Emperor's nose.
In short, if Cassana wanted to force her way through—
She couldn't.
"I know why you've come to the Royal Capital, Lady Cassana. You intend to seek an audience with His Majesty."
The Knight behind Duke Livi had already prepared tea, setting it before both Cassana and Duke Livi.
Receiving guests over tea at the city gate—only Duke Livi could pull something like that off.
Cassana lifted her teacup with composure and said calmly:
"Dewen is my son—and his own nephew."
"After something like this has happened, he will not simply stand by and do nothing."
"Don't be rash, My Lady."
Duke Livi hadn't spent all these years in the political arena for nothing.
He continued to counsel her. His naturally warm and approachable manner made it easy for Cassana's emotions to settle.
"First, you need to understand who your son provoked."
"Viktor Clavena. You must have heard that name."
Upon hearing that name, a look of troubled vexation flickered across Cassana's expression.
A mother knows her son best—she was well aware of just how insufferably arrogant her son could be.
"But Viktor is only a Viscount……"
"He is now a 4th-Tier Mage."
Lady Cassana's eyes went wide instantly, an expression of utter disbelief on her face:
"No, that's impossible—even you haven't……"
Duke Livi shook his head, smiling bitterly.
"And yet, that is the reality."
"If Viktor is in the wrong, the Emperor will naturally punish him severely. But if the one at fault is Dewen Rether—"
"Forgive my bluntness, My Lady—you should prepare yourself for the possibility of losing him."