After stepping into the central region, Barnard hardly took a break and exchanged all the little money he had for horses, galloping madly towards the royal capital.
On the road, Barnard was stopped, but it was because he encountered a special guest here.
“This is our first meeting, Sir Barnard.”
“Your Highness, you don’t need to call me that. I am just an ordinary rural nobleman, I…”
To be honest, Barnard never imagined he would meet Princess Claire on his way to the royal capital.
At that moment, Claire was dressed in a plain long robe and wore a hood, without any extravagant decorations on her, looking cool and like an ordinary noble girl. The aura around her and the shadow guards beside her couldn’t be faked.
Watching her good friend from the countryside being so humble, Claire couldn’t help but smirk. It had been a long time since she felt this way, this feeling of being held in high esteem by someone.
Their encounter wasn’t coincidental; Claire had been wondering why Lilith’s trip to the Northern Border had changed its attitude, keeping a close eye on Lilith’s rural hometown.
After all, information from the Northern Border was practically impenetrable. Thus, she could only find a breakthrough from Lilith.
After an awkward silence, Barnard said, “Your Highness, ever since you went missing, His Majesty has been very worried about you. Coincidentally, I have urgent news to report to the royal capital.”
“Although I don’t know why you went missing, it’s great to encounter you here. Let’s go to the royal capital together.”
However, Claire revealed a worried expression and said, “Don’t you think I want to return to the royal capital? It’s just that, Sir Barnard, I didn’t go missing for fun; things in the royal capital are very dangerous right now, and even I have to pretend to be missing to avoid calamity.”
Upon hearing this, Barnard was immediately shocked. “What kind of danger could make you pretend to be missing? What about my sister? What will His Majesty do?”
At that moment, Claire seemed to become a dramatic actress and said, “It was exactly His Majesty who instructed me to pretend to be missing. Didn’t you notice? I have actually been missing for a long time; His Majesty only recently discovered it and has been trying not to create any waves, helping me cover it up, just so I can assist His Majesty’s actions outside.”
Claire’s words were logical, and Lilith, in her communications with the family, also didn’t want to reveal too much about the situation in the royal capital. This was originally a kind of protection for her family, but unexpectedly, it left Barnard with no loophole to exploit.
“What exactly happened in the royal capital? Why won’t Lilith say anything to us?”
“Merely knowing could be life-threatening; His Majesty is also doing it for your sake.”
Then, Claire continued to act and said, “So if there’s anything important, just discuss it directly with me. I will pass the information to His Majesty through the shadow guards.”
Barnard had already believed about eighty percent of what Claire said, but he still insisted, “This matter is too important; I must meet His Majesty in the royal capital in person.”
“No, Lilith values you very much. She wouldn’t forgive me if I just let you enter the royal capital.”
To be honest, at this moment, Claire had already developed a murderous intent. She didn’t expect that Lilith’s elder brother was such a stubborn mule. However, in order to extract information, she still put on a caring facade, even moving closer to Barnard and grabbing his hands, getting so close that she almost slipped into his embrace.
Barnard, who was not yet married and came from a strict upbringing, couldn’t handle this and hurriedly shook off, saying, “Your Highness, don’t do this.”
“So what exactly happened in the Eastern Border? Even you are unwilling to tell me?”
Claire’s eyes were filled with tears as she gazed at Barnard. If her eyes could speak, they would be exclaiming their grievances.
Barnard was completely unaware that Claire was the mastermind behind the plot to kill Augustus III. After all, this matter hadn’t been publicized even by Lilith. To outsiders, Claire still appeared to be Lilith’s left hand and good friend, a valuable princess of this kingdom.
Considering that the woman in front of him was his sister’s friend, a princess of the kingdom, and that the situation in the Eastern Border didn’t really need to be kept secret, Barnard chose to explain everything that had happened in the Eastern Border to Claire in detail.
He even described the tragic state of Holy Covenant Fortress while trying to suppress his emotions.
Claire actually didn’t know much about the specifics of the Eastern Border. She didn’t expect that the Demon Clan’s actions were even more thorough than she had imagined. Compared to the hell on earth in the Eastern Border, Claire was more concerned about another detail: “Why do we still need to send our main force to break through and convey messages to the Northern Border?”
“This…”
Barnard almost blurted out that the Daolin Family was actually a branch of the Ror Family, so Old Koen wouldn’t find it strange that the attitude of the Northern Border changed after Lilith returned from there. They even specifically made a breakthrough towards the Northern Border to relay messages.
“Of course, this is because we are closer to the Northern Border, and everyone should have noticed this disaster.”
Barnard quickly realized that the princess, who cared about the people’s livelihood, and his sister’s right-hand woman seemed indifferent to the tragic state of Holy Covenant Fortress and had no concern for the human hell in the Lorle Region, yet was asking him why the Daolin Family still needed to relay messages to the Northern Border.
Normally, in such situations, even if the Northern Border was effectively independent, shouldn’t they relay messages to prepare them early?
“It’s getting late, Your Highness; I must get to the royal capital as soon as possible. Some things I need to personally report to His Majesty!”
Barnard stood up and stepped back, about to leave. At this moment, however, the royal family’s shadow guards blocked the door.
“Your Highness?”
Barnard pressed his hand to his dagger, but clearly, he was no match for the shadow guards.
Although he didn’t know what was happening in the royal capital, it seemed that the princess in front of him had no good intentions.
“Don’t be nervous, Barnard Daolin. There are just some matters you need to clarify. Once clarified, you will naturally be allowed to leave.”
Seeing that the prey was more alert than she had expected, Claire reflected on her earlier eagerness to extract valuable information and ordered the shadow guards to restrain Barnard.
It seemed that she needed to be more cautious in her next performance.
In fact, from the moment Barnard hesitated, Claire had already guessed some things, such as the Daolin Family having intricate ties with the Northern Border.
However, to be honest, whether that was the case or not didn’t matter. As long as Claire had met Barnard, that fact stood, and since Barnard was still in Claire’s hands, the truth no longer mattered, just like the Demon Clan said: a lie told a thousand times could become the truth.
Watching the Demon Clan already starting to move, Claire knew she had to follow suit.
