Chapter 428 — "Taking Over"

With banners flying bright and armor gleaming, Cecil's soldiers entered the Gehran region without encountering any resistance, and soon planted Cecil's flag upon the walls of Rifts tone Castle. Within that fortress perched atop a steep cliff, the anxious stewards and retainers finally learned the "final outcome" of this "war of nobles"—they had a new master over this land.

At least, that was how the facts appeared to the ordinary people who did not know the whole truth.

Ever since the war that had utterly transformed the situation in the Southern Region broke out and the lady of the domain went missing, a third of the people in Riftstone Castle had fled. The remaining two-thirds, held firmly in hand by the steward, had managed to maintain order in the town (of course, not without the help of Military Intelligence operatives and Steel Rangers planted secretly within the castle). But beneath that relatively stable order lurked a tension that pervaded the entire domain.

To those who did not know the truth, the news of the noble coalition's crushing defeat was dire tidings—it meant they would soon become Cecil's prisoners and slaves, their lands plundered, their wealth looted. And as for when that looting would come and how far it would go, that depended entirely on when that "wrathful Xuanyuan Sect" would find the time.

Now, it seemed that Xuanyuan Sect had found the time.

But the "looting" they dreaded was destined never to come.

Clad in armor, Gaoyang entered Riftstone Castle in imposing style. Recalling the anxious Gehran retainers and servants he had seen along the way, he couldn't help shaking his head inwardly: Ropenny Gehran obviously could not make public her secret alliance with Cecil. The people in Xuanyuan Castle still had no idea that their lady had in fact been standing with Cecil all along, and naturally could not imagine that the Cecilites would never touch a hair of their wealth. Unfortunately, even now Gaoyang could not explain this to most of the castle's people, and he had to take complete control of the entire castle—indeed, of the entire Gehran domain—to prevent the details of the true situation from leaking out after Cecil's army entered the domain.

Though those traditional nobles in Boulder Fortress could be said to have virtually no intelligence network, he could not permit the slightest mishap.

It was just that this delicate tension... was rather hard to know whether to laugh or cry about.

Fortunately, he didn't much mind. After leading his soldiers into the town and putting on a bit of a show, he made his way deep into the castle, to the door of that room with the large windows.

The maid guarding the door had met Gaoyang once before, but last time he had been a guest of the castle; this time he stood here in the posture of a "conqueror." The maid could not help tensing up. She faced Gaoyang as though confronting a mortal enemy, straining to muster her meager courage, as if she meant to protect her young mistress—but that courage nearly fled entirely the moment Gaoyang opened his mouth.

"Open the door," Gaoyang said. "I'm here to see Patti."

"...The young lady is resting..."

"Don't be nervous," Gaoyang said with a smile. "I'm a friend of Patti's."

The maid at the door seemed about to say something more, but at that moment the door swung open from within, and another maid—one of Patty's personal attendants—stepped out, giving Gaoyang a look of faint awe: "The young lady wishes to see you."

Gaoyang nodded. Before stepping into the room, he glanced at the door maid with approval: "You were brave."

Inside, Patty sat in her specially made chair, basking in the brightest sunlight of the day.

Her complexion was much better than at their first meeting; plainly the treatments Piyun had come to give her, time and again, had been effective.

"It's Uncle Gaoyang!" The instant she saw him, the little girl grew excited. She broke into a huge smile, struggling to hold her head up and waving the one arm she could still move. "You came to see me!"

Gaoyang came before Patty and bent down with a smile: "As promised, I've come to see you."

The little girl looked delighted. This sun-filled room seemed a different world from the castle outside, steeped in tension; here the shadow of war seemed never once to have fallen. Patty chattered excitedly to Gaoyang for a long while, and only at the very end asked: "Uncle Gaoyang, when can Mother come home?"

"Soon," Gaoyang said, crouching before the little girl with a smile. "I'll bring her back this time."

The little girl's head trembled—she was nodding, though she could not govern the motion well: "Oh. I miss her a little."

"You don't seem frightened at all." Gaoyang brushed Patty's hair lightly, not daring to use any force for fear of hurting the child. "Did you know? Your mother is actually fighting a war against me."

"I know," Patty said. Then she paused for a few seconds, and across that scarred face there suddenly surfaced a small, sly smile. "But... you're really Mother's friend, aren't you, Uncle? Don't worry, Uncle—I won't tell anyone!"

Gaoyang was taken aback, then laughed helplessly.

Then he rose, said goodbye to Patty, left the room, and came out into the corridor.

The middle-aged steward who had served Ropenny Glan so faithfully—who had held the castle together after the viscountess's "disappearance"—stood in the corridor waiting for him.

"Ropenny told me you were someone to be trusted."