Chapter 47: Chapter 47: Bribery II
"Sir Herbert! Thank you very much!"
Although he was surprised, he soon figured out what was happening after talking to her.
"You're welcome, princess. But may I know why you are thanking me?"
"Please, sir Herbert. You are being too humble. I have already heard everything from Lady Elena."
"Oh? What did she tell you?"
"She told me that you have been preparing to send me off during the past few days by preparing such a wonderful gift. I must say, I am very grateful for your gift. I will make sure to send a letter to you once I have succeeded in awakening through the Awakening Crystal."
Herbert found the entire situation funny. In the end, Lady Elena was still a dog that continued to wag her tail at her owner. Herbert did not find Lady Elena's decision as troubling since, in the original story, Princess Amelia never got to develop a sense for combat, instead, she had developed more to handle the internal affairs of the kingdom since she became the queen after getting married to the protagonist.
Of course, from the perspective of Lady Elena, since Herbert had been the one to give away the Awakening Crystal, she felt that Herbert might find her actions to be inappropriate. Because of this, she rushed Princess Amelia to thank Herbert as soon as possible as a way to let him know and as a form of protection since she believes that Herbert should still have his inhibitions for not personally making a move against the Ninth Princess.
Aside from that, the reason why she did this was that the thing that she wanted to do the most right now was to return home. But she couldn't do that because the reason why Princess Amelia came here in the first place was to gain Herbert's favor so that he would once again give them the Awakening Crystal.
So, she came up with the brilliant plan of giving away the Awakening Crystal that she got from Herbert. With this, she could finally get rid of all her problems and be far away from Herbert. His existence was haunting her this whole time and it can give her a huge relief if he were to disappear.
After Princess Amelia came to thank Herbert, they soon prepared to return to the capital under the insistence of Lady Elena. After figuring things out on her own, Princess Amelia guessed that the long meetings that Lady Elena had with Sir Herbert at night must have been her negotiating with him in preparation just to give her the Awakening Crystal.
She felt touched and ashamed. The guilt that she had felt for suspecting her had caused Princess Amelia to entertain Lady Elena's request to return home as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, during Herbert's leave while had been stationed far away from the Ravenmoon manor, Herman had been busy settling the mess that Herbert had done by dropping their original plan midway.
Besides this, he was also busy sending men to investigate the new information that Herbert had given him. His almost prophetic-like words showed confidence in whatever it was that he was saying, but just to make sure, he wanted to verify this information through the use of the Ravenmoon information network that had been set up around the entire kingdom.
Due to their weaker influence on the southern region of the kingdom, Herman decided to increase the budget on improving their infiltration and communication with the spies in the area. And it didn't take long for one of their spies to recognize the changes that had been slowly happening for the Oakshields, the moment that this report was handed over to Herman, he immediately ordered an assassination attempt on the so-called successor to the Sword Saint.
All this was hidden from Herbert as he was still at the Featherwing Fortress at this time. However, the results of this assassination attempt should now be returning to Herman around the same time that Herbert was scheduled to return home to the Ravenmoon manor.
Once everything has settled in the Ravenmoon manor, Herbert was called to his father's study. After politely knocking on the door, Herbert soon heard Herman's voice.
"Come in."
As he entered the room, Herbert glanced around and once again saw his father who was busy reading reports from all over the territory.
"Father, you called for me?"
"Yes."
After saying so, Herman temporarily set aside the reports that he had been reading and looked at Herbert who had now reached the same Transcendent rank.
This time, their talk was straight to the point as Herbert was once again asked by his father about how he had dealt with the Princess. After he had explained what had happened during the past few days, he made an answer that seemed to satisfy Herman, he also received a nod of acknowledgment from his usually stern-faced father. In his explanation, he did not tell his father about the extra loot that he had received when he discovered the strange altar. As long as nobody knew, those things were now his to enjoy.
Herbert understood that his father had mostly acknowledged him because he had reached the Transcendent rank rather than his achievement of successfully turning Lady Elena into one of them.
But then again, in their current state, having another spy in the palace was always better. And with the influence that Lady Elena has on the Ninth Princess, it would appear that the Princess had become a lot closer to becoming a puppet of the Ravenmoons.
Once they had finished their conversation, there came another knock on the door. This time, it was from the Conspiracy troop. This person was in charge of collecting and analyzing the information that comes from the outside. As a person that was trusted by Herman, he was present back when Herbert had been proposing his new plan.
Without entering, the person merely spoke in a deep voice to let those in Herman's study know of his presence.
"My lord, there is urgent news from one of the missions."
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