Anger, shivering, and cold sweat! She was on the verge of becoming a queen, but a single test put her in dire straits.
… Living under someone else’s roof.
And she was underestimated.
When would she be able to truly have her own power, truly stand up and be able to confront other powers head-on, and not be afraid of them?
With this regret, Stephanie looked at Roland with some annoyance, but she could not say anything.
Because what Roland said was the truth. She was just so upset; why did Roland target her so much and treat Andonara so well?
Would it kill him to say some kind words to her?
He wasn’t gentlemanly at all.
Roland ignored her, finished his breakfast, and then said, “I’m leaving first. Andonara, stay here to protect the First Princess.”
“Okay.” Andonara nodded, and then said grudgingly, “Come back early, not once every month or two like you used to.”
Roland promised, and even went over to Andonara and gave her a gentle hug, saying, “Don’t worry, as soon as I’m free, I’ll use teleportation to come back and see you, okay?” Andonara was so happy with Roland’s reply that she looked like a delighted little girl who got a birthday present. Stephanie felt that she had received an inexplicable mental blow.
Her mouth was bitter as if it had been stuffed with something.
Then Roland left, and Andonara smiled at Stephanie and said, “I’ll take you to meet some new friends and have afternoon tea. Don’t say you’re the First Princess, it won’t be good if my friends get scared.”
Afternoon tea!
Although quite worried about the situation in Fareins, Stephanie unconsciously had something to look forward to when she heard that she could have afternoon tea with new friends.
But then she immediately noticed that something was wrong.
She was obviously worried about the situation in Fareins and taking advantage of this time in safety to plan what she should do when she returned to Fareins, how she should develop her power, how she should deal with the problems from her father’s side, what her first new government should be after becoming queen, and so on… These were the problems she should be considering.
Now all she could think about was having afternoon tea with other people.
When did I become like this?
In just these past few days?
Something didn’t seem right about this.
Stephanie sunk into deep thought.
Why had she changed so?
Another problem surfaced.
At that moment, a bewildered Beatrice came down from upstairs, led by a maidservant.
She looked at Stephanie and Andonara, and her confused expression finally changed to one of delight.
“Wonderful, you are both here, First Princess and Lady Andonara.” Beatrice almost cried. “I thought I had been brought home as a slave girl by some nobleman.”
Beatrice’s constitution was relatively poor and she had been in a coma until now. Andonara invited her to sit down, asked the maidservant to serve her breakfast, and then said, “This is Roland’s manor, so you will live here until you find another man. Of course, you can find a man outside, but you are not allowed to bring a man back to the manor, understand?”
Beatrice was about to eat her breakfast when she said, “Lady Andonara, I am Master Roland’s woman now, and I will not betray him.”
Andonara frowned. She didn’t know what to make of this woman anymore.
When Roland left just now, he didn’t say what this woman’s identity was.
But based on Andonara’s understanding of Roland, this woman was definitely not a lover Roland had found.
Then she would treat her as a more distinguished guest for now.
“We’ll talk about that later.” Andonara smiled. “We’re going to meet some friends to have afternoon tea with us later, you should come along too.”
Beatrice knew that Andonara was Roland’s woman, and as his lover, it was necessary to have a good relationship with his lady. She agreed immediately. “All right, Lady Andonara.”
Meanwhile, Roland had teleported to the capital of Fareins and then arrived at the entrance of the Moonlight Stone Tavern.
Before he even entered, he heard a voice from behind him. “Mr. Roland, you seem to have stood us up.”
Roland turned back and saw the dwarf with a big red beard standing less than two meters away from him.
In this position, with the other party being a Rogue, if they didn’t make a sound and attacked directly, Roland would be killed.
In the game, players didn’t fear death.
But what if he wasn’t a player and couldn’t come back from the dead?
It seemed that when he was outside, he had to keep his Magic Shield half-activated at all times.
These thoughts spun in Roland’s mind, then he said, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to stand you up, but the First Princess was attacked last night, and we spent a lot of time trying to move her to a safe place. See… I rushed over here after it was over.”
In reality, last night, Roland had been playing a game of in and out hide-and-seek with Vivian. He had so much fun that he forgot about it and only remembered it when he was having breakfast in the morning.
Then the first thing he did when he came to the capital was to find him and apologize.
“If you say so.” The dwarf Wilmot waved his short, fat hand and he yelled at the top of his lungs, “Most importantly, how should you compensate me for my feelings? You know, last night I was looking forward to a night of drinking wine, but I waited all night, and only the evening breeze kept me company. Sir, you have cheated me of my pure and innocent feelings.” Are all dwarves so pompous? Roland thought for a moment and said, “Why don’t we start drinking now? Call your brothers, and we’ll drink all day.”
“Really?” Wilmot tap-danced on the spot again. “But it’s going to be a lot of money.”
Roland laughed. “We Mages, we’re all quite rich.”
“Good, then you get a private room in the tavern first, and I’ll go get my brothers.”
Roland nodded.
He turned around and immediately booked the whole Moonlight Stone Tavern for ten gold coins, drinks included.
Soon, the dwarf Wilmot came with a group of men.
Roland counted thirty-one people.
The group was a very mixed composition of men, women, and children, and all of them looked very distinctive.
For example, an old woman who had severe buck teeth and ate as if she were a reincarnated starving ghost.
A fierce, bald man with only one eye.
A hunchbacked old man who walked with a cane but moved fast, as if he were flying.
A pretty young woman with a golden nose ring.
Wait!
Roland really couldn’t see Wilmot the red-bearded dwarf’s level.
However, the levels of all the others, Roland could see.
They were generally between levels five and twelve.
In other words, there were no particularly weak people in this group.
This group of people was quite polite. Every person who entered the tavern, under Wilmot’s introduction, took the initiative to reveal their identity and abilities to Roland.
Not a single one concealed anything.
Then the revelry began, and the group of people mingled with each other, sparring over drinks and pigging out.
But after they drank for a while, one of them would leave.
Roland did not stop them.
By noon, Roland and the dwarf were the only ones left in the tavern.
“You are a good man, much better than the First Princess. You are generous, willing to spend money on us subordinates, and your eyes don’t yet have the First Princess’s expression of looking at people as if they were inferior insects.” Red Beard took a large wooden cup and drank slowly. “All of us hidden pawns have approved of you.”
“If they acknowledged me, why did they leave one by one?” Roland was confused.
Wilmot smiled. “All of them went to find information. Whether we approve of someone or not, we don’t need to talk about it, we just need to act.”
“Actually, I’m a little curious. I can see that all of you are quite capable, but if you don’t like the First Princess very much, why are you willing to be taken in by her?” The question seemed a little harsh to the dwarf, and then, after a moment, he said, “Because the First Princess, among the nobles, is relatively better.”
Roland understood.
When all the options sucked, you could only choose the one that didn’t look so bad.
“Every one of us is a wanted criminal, and it was the First Princess who valued our abilities and took the bounty off our backs.” The dwarf smiled. “Since you know the First Princess, you will find out about these things sooner or later. The First Princess knows that we are not that loyal to her, so we are just hidden pawns that haven’t been used since we were established.”
Roland realized something. “She doesn’t trust you.”
The dwarf laughed. “Isn’t that normal? Among those big shots in high places, who would trust us?”
Roland didn’t pick up on this, because he didn’t fully trust these people either.
This was obvious, and who would be foolish enough to trust a group of people they’ve only known for less than half a day?
At this time, the dwarf was no longer as happy as he was when he was drinking and bickering, but he sat beside Roland and said indifferently, “You are a Golden Son and the focus of the Red Magic Tower. According to our judgment, your future status may be much higher than the First Princess’s, and you may even become the future Great Elder of the Red Magic Tower.”
Roland waved his hand. “Your intelligence is quite impressive, and you investigated me so quickly. The Red Magic Tower did invest some resources in me, but it’s not as exaggerated as you say.” “We hyenas at the lower rung are most sensitive to the atmosphere of the city,” said the dwarf. “When we looked into your matter, we found that all the forces in the capital had hidden their fangs, and at first we thought it was because the enemies you wanted us to look into were too strong, but then we discovered that it wasn’t that at all—it was the forces that didn’t want to move at all. This simply refreshed our outlook.”
This group of people was quite impressive, truly impressive. Both in their abilities and their view of the larger picture.
It was a pity that the First Princess took these people under her wing, but didn’t use them.
“Don’t worry, since all the forces don’t want to move, then in this situation, the people who move around are highly suspicious. I reckon that in less than a day, we’ll be able to find some clues for you.”
Just as the dwarf said this, an old hunchback came in from outside the tavern.
Roland had even toasted him before.
As soon as the old hunchback came in, he walked straight up to Roland and said, “Sir, I have found a very interesting clue. The Pine Needle family of the northern suburbs, the third manor, has been buying double the amount of meat and flour for more than twenty days in a row. And that manor seems to have a new batch of maidservants. The previous batch of maidservants is missing.”
