The Kingmaker System-Chapter 58 - 57. Remains Of Someone’s Hope (4)

The atmosphere in the castle was filled with perplexity and everyone seemed to be whispering about something when I returned from the Third Wall.

"Hey, what’s wrong?" I asked Ethan when I spotted him.

He took my hand and pulled me in a corner and then looked around before covering his mouth as if he was going to let me in on some secret.

"Marquis Thompson came to visit in afternoon." He said and I frowned.

"But what’s shocking is that he didn’t stay for long at all!"

"What?"

My warning seemed to have worked.

"He was really polite and respectful when he came and didn’t create any disturbance and asked for His Grace’s time and talked to him in his study. He didn’t even demand for anything and simply stayed for a few minutes and then left."

"Just like that?" I asked and Ethan nodded.

"I know, right?!" He was so shocked that it was almost comical to see him like that.

"Everyone in the castle is equally shocked, Marquis had never come to the castle alone before and left so soon without creating any trouble. But this time he was so quiet that those who didn’t see him believe that others are making a story."

"So, he did come but didn’t do anything and left quickly?" Ethan nodded.

"It’s good then, isn’t it?" Ethan’s eyebrows furrowed as he shook his head.

"Yes, but... I can’t help it, I feel suspicious."

"Suspicious?"

"At first he was pressurizing His Grace to be engaged to Lady Charlotte and behaving as if he was the owner of this place but now, he acted like a defeated person."

"Defeated, huh?" I concealed my smirk.

"Yes! Something must be going on, I need to find out what happened before it creates trouble for His Grace."

I chuckled, "Sure go ahead."

I didn’t care of Davian found out that the nobles who were making his life hell were suddenly acting good because of an impetus from someone on his side.

"What did he talk about?" I asked and Ethan gulped.

"That’s even more shocking."

"What?"

"He asked for dissolving the engagement talks of His Grace and Lady Charlotte."

I mimicked his expression, "Wow, that’s... seriously shocking."

"I know, right?! Something must have happened to the Marquis or he must be possessed by something."

Ethan’s face grew pale and he ran his hand through his hair.

"I don’t know about some other ghost but my girl was with me." I said.

"Can you talk to other ghosts?"

"I haven’t tried it yet, but maybe in future."

"... You are quite a courageous person, Sir Ocean."

I shrugged my shoulders with a smile and asked, "But why did he cancel the engagement?"

"I don’t know, but there’s another shocking thing."

"One more?"

Ethan nodded, "He also said that he will support His Grace in any way possible and swore his loyalty to him."

I blinked looking shocked.

"I guess he was possessed."

"You see what I said!"

"But there might also be the factor of change of heart."

"Change of heart? Of Marquis? You don’t know that man, Sir Ocean."

"I don’t, but I still trust in a person’s conscience. He might have realised that he was wrong in behaving harshly towards His Grace that’s why he came to come clean."

Ethan stared at me before he placed his hands on my shoulders and asked in a serious voice, "Did you do something, Sir Ocean?"

I raised my eyebrows, "You think I got him possessed by some ghost this time?"

Ethan seemed to serious to take that joke and I gently pushed his hands from my shoulders.

"Did you... do something for Marquis to come here and say all those things?"

Why did they think I was capable of such preposterous things? Even though, I had actually done it.

"I’m hurt, Lord Ethan just because I scared them once doesn’t mean I’m capable of scaring him enough to come and break the engagement and getting him to be loyal to His Grace."

"So, you didn’t do it?"

"How could I possibly do that?" I asked and Ethan’s serious face slightly relaxed before he frowned deeply.

"If you didn’t do anything then, what might have happened for Marquis to do that?"

"Why don’t you go and ask him?"

Ethan seemed deep in thought and I patted his shoulder making him look at me.

"Don’t think of it too much, let’s celebrate this His Grace has been liberated and gained a new supporter." I grinned making Ethan smile a little before chuckling.

"Right... I was too occupied with my suspicions that I failed to realise that it’s a good news and that we should be celebrating it."

I smiled and Ethan returned to his usual bright demeanor.

"I know, I will go and tell the chef to prepare His Grace’s favourite cuisine and you and I let’s have some good wine and party tonight!"

"Sounds good."

[Defender of Divine Glory asserts strongly for you to reject that offer.]

[Goddess of Wisdom asks you to think before speaking.]

"Eh? Why?"

Ah, right. Underage drinking was prohibited. I was in a disguise of a young man but I was an 11 year old after all. I forgot because I was having the time of my life and went with the flow.

"Ah, sorry. I can’t drink, Lord Ethan."

"Eh? Why?"

"I need to be in top condition tomorrow, we are going to climb Mt. Siern and if I am having a hangover or something then I will get in trouble."

"Ah, are you going to investigate the mountain tomorrow..." His radiant smile dropped.

I squeezed his shoulder, "Don’t worry, I haven’t given His Grace the hope in vain. I won’t stop until I’ve dug something up."

Ethan looked at me with a hopeful smile before we parted for our specific works.

Lyall who was standing a few feet away to give me and Ethan some privacy walked up to me and I looked at him.

"I was surprised when you told him about what you did when those two were staying here."

"I need a good relationship with those who are close to Davian. Ethan is like Davian’s right hand here so it’s only natural that I don’t want to have a friction between us."

"What about the Archduke?" Lyall asked.

"He’s still incapable of dealing with certain things so, I’m making the stuff a little easier for him. Once he grows a little older he will be prone to handle things harshly, till that time it’s up to us adults to take care of the dirty business."

Lyall stared at me for a moment before he added.

"You think his parents would be alive?"

"I don’t know. But I’ll find out what exactly happened. Breaking the Third Wall just to kill Archduke is an overkill, there must be something else to this. I need to find out the reason before anything else happens."

"Do you think the shifters might be behind it?"

I shook my head, "If it were them then they would have already waged a war against us, but since it’s only the rogues that are attacking then it’s not them. Someone else is involved in this."

I would have to get to the end of this soon, I had a bad feeling that something was up and the more I delayed, the worse something would happen.

"I have a bad feeling... We must hurry and settle everything."

The next day we were all set to scour the mountain for the clues or evidences of the past event.

Fortunately, the weather was clear so we didn’t have to battle snow along with the already chilly winds.

"Be in groups, if there’s any trouble call for help and if the weather starts getting bad run back without thinking. Do you all get it?" I announced looking at the small investigation team of 21 people excluding me and Adler.

"Yes, Sir!"

"Good."

The teams were divided in the groups of three as there was an odd number. Stephan had volunteered to be with us when he heard that Adler was going with us. So, while I was going to be solo, Adler and Stephan were a duo team and rest all were in threes.

"Sir Adler, you will stay on the Wall and if you see any problem signal us. Sir Stephan will stay with Sir Adler. Do you have any objections?"

Adler opened his mouth and I added looking at him, "Even if there are this is the only way you could be allowed on this excursion." freeweɓnovel.cøm

"I’m grateful for this opportunity, I don’t have any objections."

"Good, then Sir Stephan, I’ll leave his wellbeing to you."

Adler looked a little salty about it but he didn’t say anything about it and obliged while I and the other knights headed up towards the mountain.

Lyall wasn’t with me as I had sent him off with the other team at the Fourth Wall.

The snow was knee-deep which was a bit of a headache but because of yesterday’s warning, I had used my Mana Eyes to spot out the pits that were really there but quite high up and they didn’t have anything inside that would remotely seem like frozen bodies or anything so, I had to look even more higher.

I marked the pits with the flags so that the knights wouldn’t fall into it.

I didn’t know what I was hoping to find but the whole day just passed by without us finding anything that could act as a clue.

It seemed absurd to me to find something like a clue but I was still hoping to find anything that could give me some insight on the missing pieces of puzzle that was in front of me.

The broken wall, the missing people and the motive.