(IN) Chapter 074 - Vivian's Dark Secret

Two months after the Salt Refineries were seen and expanded by Vivian, a Messenger came with the following message:

"Oh Count and Countess of Maine! The Emperor himself, Varhys Sicilius Alastor Brune, The Immoral-TAL! Himself! Has heard tales of your many reforms and praises your selfless deeds and actions that have made Maine as prosperous as it is now! The people are well fed and in awe of your skills in management~! Bla Bla Bla..."

The Messenger from the Imperial Palace came to Duke's estate where he began spouting praises and compliments in front of Duke, Vivian, and everyone working in the Mansion,. Even the old Knights were there listening to the Messenger's flowery prose.

[Uwa~ did he just call the Emperor, immoral? Lol] Anna the Head Maid giggled to herself.

"Hey Vivian, your brother sent quite a messenger, huh? He's been continuously complimenting us for an hour now..." Duke tiredly whispered to Vivian.

"Hmm... The Emperor, huh..." Vivian mumbled back.

[Did he catch-word of the Merchant Guild's smuggling?] Vivian worried to herself because of the attention the Emperor had suddenly given them.

After the Messenger's long introductory compliments, he continued the message, saying:

"The Emperor has presently sent letters to every region of Brune to ask for aid from Maine for an Army he's raising to reinforce the North!

From all the other Noble Families, the Emperor has only sent a personal messenger to House Pendragon, a show of his Majesty's sincerity and favor towards Maine!

And of course, since the Emperor knows just how busy sir Duke must be, and so he has even granted sir Duke a Conscription Pardon, another show of my Liege's honest sincere intentions!"

[The Emperor, my brother... gave Duke a Conscription Pardon?!] Vivian gasped as she heard the very pleasing piece of news.

After the messenger continued to explain the situation up north and asked Maine to donate a reasonable amount of financial assistance, the messenger finished his speech, handing Vivian a letter:

"And finally, I present this personal letter from his Highness to his beloved sister Princess Vivian Alastor of Brune the 15th~!" Vivian took the letter while Duke cheered:

"I'm exempted from conscription?! Hell yeah~! War's too hard for my frail tender heart~ Ohh, I'm fainting!" After experiencing the bandit subjugation, Duke felt that war would probably be a hundred times worse than what he had experienced, and since Maine wasn't in any immediate danger, Duke was unmotivated to go away from his beloved home.

"Oh my~! Sir Duke does seem a bit pale, worry not, and leave this war to the soldiers, milord! Brune will succeed!" The messenger replied.

And so, Duke pretended to be 'frail' in front of the messenger, just in case the Pardon was taken, as if he didn't have a routine of getting beat up by 20-30 Knights on a daily basis...

[FRAIL MY ASS!] Byran cried to himself, looking down on the foot injury he got whilst kicking Duke.

Vivian began opening the letter as she thought to herself: [A letter? And when were we ever close? The last time I saw that asshole was in that short moment during the auction, where he sold me off! The hell we're close?!] Vivian grumbled as she began reading the letter along with Duke.

The contents of the letter made both of them gasp.

[A financial alliance with the Imperial Family?! And promoting the Merchant's Guild to an official organization like the Consulate?! Hmm...] Vivian began thinking.

[The Emperor's also asking for quite a small amount, considering he's already heard of Maine's growth... Only 200 Soldiers plus Duke's exclusion from the war... Yes yes, Duke would indeed be safer if he stays home... Maybe that 'brother' of mine really is sincere about this alliance...] Vivian pondered to herself after reading the contents of the letter.

Duke too thought the letter's contents were quite good, especially since he wanted to conserve Maine's military power. 200 Soldiers and a little tax to fund the war would barely harm Maine when compared to what other families and regions had to offer.

Duke and Vivian looked at each other and instantly knew what the other was thinking:

[Ofcourse we'll accept!]

[An official alliance with the Crown...] Vivian knew her brother was at odds with the Medici and the Consulate, that's the reason why she felt confident in attacking them in the first place. But she never guessed it would be to this extent.

[Maybe our fate is finally changing for the better...] Vivian became emotional as she smiled at Duke, while Duke held her hands in response.

The next night they planned to celebrate Maine's official victory against the Consulate. And so, in preparation for the party, Duke, Vivian, Benjamin, Anna, Bran, and even the old Knight Byran went to the Markets to buy ingredients for the party.

Unlike official snobbish and overly lavish Banquets Nobility usually held, Duke wanted the party to just be a light and simple gathering of real friends as they ate and drank.

It was even Vivian the Countess herself was even the one who's going cook for everyone!

[It's gonna be great!] Duke thought as he walked closer to Vivian towards the Market, trying to hold her hand in the process.

[Hehehe, of course, the party's not the only thing I'm planning!] That's right!

Sneaky ol' Duke over here was also trying to get closer to Vivian while shopping for the ingredients!

*Wiggle Wiggle* Duke slowly put his hand closer and closer to Vivian's until *Pop!*

[Success! Ohh yeahh~!] Duke began dancing in celebration in his head.

Saying to Vivian: "Oh my~! I didn't mean to latch onto your hands like this... Tsk tsk tsk. But since the Markets are overcrowded right now, we have no choice but to keep holding hands like this... Vivian? My what rough hands you've developed..." Duke tried to act cool, blushing as he enthusiastically clasped 'Vivian's' hands, only to notice too late that something was terribly wrong!

"M-Milord~! This is quite improper..."

"B-Byran! What the hell are ya blushing for!" Duke cried out, horribly scarred by the image of a rough muscular old man blushing for some reason.

But then...

Duke saw Vivian and Bran already far away in another direction.

The two were looking at some accessory at a stall twenty meters away, laughing and smiling at each other...

Too far to reach with his short chubby hands.

[Huh... They look... happy] Duke sighed to himself.

"Madam Vivian! This bracelet is really cute" Bran held the accessory up as he inspected it further.

*Fwoosh* An inconspicuous cloaked man suddenly appeared behind Vivian and whispered to her:

"Milady, the target has been caught"

"Good…" Vivian whispered back as she took Bran away from the stall and followed the cloaked man into an alleyway with four more cloaked men forcefully detaining a man down on the floor.

Bran had been informed early on and so he wasn't too surprised about the situation in front of him.

"So you're the arson Darius sent, huh…" Vivian asked the groveling man in a low and cold voice. Her hate and anger visibly showing, making the detained man squeal:

"Y-You got the wrong perso-" But before he could make any more excuses, Vivian ordered Bran to hold the man down.

Vivian was very angry right now, especially since the warehouse the man was targeting contained the hard-earned Grain she and Duke had toiled so much for.

And so, Vivian wanted to personally teach a lesson to Darius and this lackey of his.

"Bran, make sure to hold him down. You five, you may go" Vivian ordered the five spies from the Gilded Rose to leave as they immediately complied and disappeared.

"Bran, what I'm about to do next might surprise you, but as my trusted servant, make sure to tell no one about what I'm about to do next... You and Anna are only ones who know" The next move Vivian was about to make was too controversial if made known to the public, and so, she dismissed the five and only Bran stayed.

"Especially Duke… Never tell Duke" Vivian gravely reminded Bran.

Bran knelt on one foot whilst still detaining the prisoner with one hand, swearing: "Milady, I swear total and full silence!"

"Good…"

Vivian heaved a sigh of relief as she then put one hand on the detained man as she began chanting a spell: "Shadaar Lasthuris Lastraas Listres Sha, in the dark all men are blind, all are equally helpless..."

The chant Vivian invoked was malicious and almost snake-like to one's ears as if a group of shadowy snakes blinded you and took away all of your five senses.

Sadly for the man, who was the target of Vivian's spell, this was his reality as everything around him turned to darkness.

And only help fear remained.

The man was even powerless to protest as Vivian began to invoke another spell:

"Arachi Dorithy Dorthii Pupai Ar, Obey for 'you', you are but a puppet, a doll to play with" Vivian chanted a strange and out of place chant that seemed to rob you of your free will.

She then took a piece of hair from the man and attached it onto a straw doll.

After Vivian chanted those two spells her knees quickly gave out and she almost fell to the ground. Luckily Bran was there to catch her before she fell.

"Bran? Are you there? I can't see or feel anything right now, but on my hand is the doll I told you about, I'll leave the rest to you..." Vivian weakly ordered as she was gently sat down on the ground by Bran.

Vivian had just performed two extremely taboo magic in front of Bran, it wouldn't be too surprising if Bran was shaken.

But it looked like Bran recovered quickly as he took out the piece of paper containing a set of instructions Vivian gave him before they had this outing, quickly taking hold of the straw doll and making the man move according to his bidding.

[Eh? What's happening?! Where am I? Everything's so dark!] The man cried out in his mind, unable to feel or move his own body.

Little did he know that his body was already being ordered to move to the warehouse right next to the one he was supposed to burn down.

The warehouse he was heading to was right next to the main street filled with crowded people. Darius had warned him to stay away from this warehouse since it would attract a lot of attention.

Sadly, as the man was currently blind and numbed, he didn't know where he was heading, or what he was currently doing.

[By the order of sir Darius! I shall burn down this puny Warehouse! For House Bodiur!] Bran thought out. (Bodiur is Darius' family name)

"ARGHHH! By the order of sir Darius! I shall burn down this puny Warehouse! For House Bodiur!"

The moment Bran thought out the contents of the piece of paper, the man followed suit shouting in front of the crowd holding the lit torch he had prepared beforehand to burn down the first warehouse.

[Filthy Commoners! You have no right to this cheap grain!...]

"Filthy Commoners! You have no right to this cheap grain! In the name of House Bodiur, I shall burn it down!" The man's crazed shouting quickly drew everyone's attention as the crowd saw the man throw the torch he held, as Bran/Vivian ordered, towards the second warehouse, and a small explosion quickly erupted.

Luckily for everyone there, the small explosion wasn't enough to burn down the warehouse. In fact, not a single Grain inside was even touched by the flames as this small explosion was set up by Vivian beforehand to make a commotion on Maine's busy City Square in the middle of the day to maximize the incident's exposure.

[Good, just like what milady ordered, throw the torch near the warehouse's lower left window] Bran sighed a breath of relief. In truth, he wasn't too confident about his Mistress' plan, fearing he might actually burn a warehouse down. Luckily all went according to plan.

The Crowd, a group of Artisans, Merchants, and even Peasants who had benefited much or were even saved by the Grain Maine or more specifically the Pendragons produced became outraged from the sight of the mad lackey of the Bodiurs who tried to burn down the symbol of their new life, this served as a reminder of the years and generations of abuse they had to experience under corrupt Nobles, and immediately sparked a mob to form and surround the man who had just regained consciousness after Vivian's spell wore off.

"Eh? W-What are you?! Hey! Don't touch me! I'm the official servant of Darius Bodiur!" The man tried to fight back as he was mauled to death even quicker when they heard him say Darius' name.

Thanks to Vivian's first spell, he was unaware of everything that happened to him while he was being controlled by the second spell under Bran, and so the man still thought that using Darius' name might save him from their anger.

Unbeknownst to the foolish man that it was his last line of defense (Being a direct servant of the Bodiurs) that had quickened his gruesome death under the retaliating mob.

Bran carried Vivian out of the conspicuous alley, unable to watch the horror he had just done.

That day two silver badges that symbolized the Bodiur house were found on the man's corpse by the soldiers who came and calmed the mob down.

Although the two badges were probably planted by the members of the Gilded Rose, it nevertheless further reinforced blame on the Bodiurs in front of the people.

But that wasn't the only disaster that happened that day.

A sad and deflated Duke watched on the side as he saw Vivian and Bran merrily head inside an oddly conspicuous alley, holding hands like a pair of secret lovers.

Even worse was how intimately Bran carried Vivian out, just like a princess, once they left the alley.

Duke looked on in spite, jealously thinking to himself: [What did they do in there?!...]