Rosie's Games

Chapter 207: Retreat

"How did this happen?" Duke Moller had a dark look on his face as he stared at the Baron's lifeless corpse. The noticeable arrow in the Baron's cheeks was jarring. Who would dare hit the Baron's cheeks of all places? He had never seen an assassin like this before!

"The Duke of Wugari is close with the Assassins from the Bohan Family," Crown Prince Baltazar said. He was leaning against the wall not far away from them. "This must be their work of art."

"Work of art?" Duke Moller scoffed. "That man would never do something so stupid. The Bohan family is very good at killing people. Something like this is just… Whoever killed him must have wanted to mock us!"

"Do you not think this was the work of the Duke?" Crown Prince Baltazar asked.

"The Duke is too direct, he would never take a long route if he wanted to punish us. He would directly show himself and boldly do whatever it was that he wanted to do. That is the Duke of Wugari that I know," Duke Moller explained. "It is someone else."

"Denys…" the Crown Princess said. "It must be that man."

"That man never used a bow and arrows, I heard he only uses daggers and swords," the Crown Prince reasoned, his face was already ugly as he thought of all the possibilities. "Why would someone kill the Baron?" he asked. "If they wanted to kill someone, wouldn't it be better to target me or Duke Moller?"

"We cannot achieve anything by staring at his corpse… you take his body away," The Crown Princess ordered. "Let us—"

"Where is the Countess?" the Duke asked. josei

"I asked her maids not to let her out of her room. She had been hysterical and—"

"She must have some sort of knowledge about this, she must know something."

The Crown Princess said nothing. The Countess was powerless and stupid. All she wanted was to get rid of her husband and become the owner of this territory. She had no qualifications to join them.

She let the prince summon the Countess, thinking that the Countess would be asleep in her quarters after she instructed the Countess's maid to give her something that would make her sleep. To her surprise, however, the servant came back with another surprising news.

The Countess had been stabbed.

Almost immediately, the Crown Prince assembled his knights and told them to arrest all servants. Price Baltazar realized something after the discovery of the Countess's wounds.

They were the ones trapped inside the house— they were trapped with someone who must have known about the passages that connected all the rooms. In the Crown Prince's mind, the one behind the Baron's death and the one who stabbed the Countess used some sort of secret room or passage to attack them.

Then he asked his people to start torturing the servants for information.

"Your Highness, I think we need to leave," The head knight said. "Your Highness, your safety is still our main priority. Whoever did this—"

"You shall not command me, knight!" the Crown Prince yelled. "Whoever is doing this wants to challenge my authority!" How could he let them win? No. He was the Crown Prince of Lonyth and soon, he would rule these lands.

How could he let someone unknown trample him?

"Whoever killed the Baron and harmed the Countess shall pay!" he fumed. "And you must ensure that will happen!"

"Yes, Your Highness." The head knight left despite his initial dislike of the current situation.

"Your Highness, with all due respect, I think we no longer have the time. We should leave this place." This time, it was Duke Moller who suggested the Prince leave.

"Duke Lucas has some means to teleport to a nearby place and then use his ability to come here. If we stay, I'm afraid that the Duke will arrive and—" Duke Moller sighed. "The mission has failed this time, but being alive is still more important. We can change the plans and come back once we are ready… or once the Duke is no longer here."

"Do you really think that that man will just leave after this?" the Crown Prince asked.

"We— we will find a way to make him leave this place."

"You—"

"That is the only way. We need to take a single step back for us to take a few steps forward in the next few days."

"What about the plan? The King is—"

"The King has been cursed, there is no way that he will recover. The Kingdom's unrest will make the noble decide to crown you as the new ruler. Once that happens, it would be easier for you to destroy this place."

The Crown Prince's gaze darkened. As much as he hated to admit it, Duke Lucas's people were far superior to his own. Even if the Duke was not with them, they were able to hide and survive on their own.

That Duke was lucky.

This was the only reason why the Duke of Wugari was still alive, despite the number of enemies that he had.

"We shall leave," he said. "Immediately."

"Alright. Tell everyone that the King is ill and the Crown Prince and Princess need to leave. Meanwhile, I needed to go back to my own territory to arrange the Baron's funeral before I visit the capital." Duke Moller announced. After what happened with the Countess, the Duke was no longer confident that they could still defeat an enemy… that they did not even know.

At times like this, the only thing that they could possibly do was to temporarily leave.

This was their defeat.

The battle had ended, but the war was still occurring.

He glanced at the large mansion before him. It seemed that he had underestimated Count Caldarera and Duke Rothley's friendship. He did not expect the Duke to actually assign a trustworthy man next to the Count.

This would not happen again.

"Retreat!" the Crown Prince yelled from behind him. In response, the Duke nodded. For now, they were going to retreat. But… they would be back very soon.

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