After hearing Doctor Snee's words, Viktoria closed her eyes, imagining how sad it would be for Annaliese to wake up. Losing a baby was not easy for a woman.
But at least Annaliese was in no danger, and Viktoria sighed in relief despite her worry.
"Thank you for your assistance, Doctor Snee." She said after a brief moment of silence.
"Don't thank me. I hardly did anything." This doctor said, feeling bad for his inability to help this family.
With that said, he would soon depart from there, leaving Viktoria and a few of the few remaining elders inside that tent.
She looked at the only two people there, the most influential within her family after her. "Elders, I have a proposal for the family. That is the only way for us to overcome this misfortune and flourish."
"What is this about, matriarch?" A gray-haired woman asked as her companion stood by watching Viktoria in curiosity.
"Merging the Frost family with the Ritter family."
"What?" The two said at the same time, not believing what they had heard.
Viktoria explained the situation to them. "Elders, I know you are proud of the Frost name. I am too. However, we must recognize the situation we are in. Today we don't have a home to call our own, we have lost many members, and we don't have enough to maintain our operations.
We have to hand over part of our operations to allies, or we have to give up certain things to continue with all we have. In any case, we cannot continue without giving anything up.
I am Lothur's wife and part of the Ritter family. My sister is too, so the best thing for everyone would be for us to merge these two families."
"Lothur? Matriarch, rumor..." The man was about to say, but Viktoria interrupted him.
"Lothur is not a half-breed! Do you think I wouldn't know if he was one? Lothur's problem is that he is Daemon's son, and the princes hate him for it.
That's what's behind his arrest and escape!"
Those two heard this and were surprised, as they did not know this information. Even Mabel and Aiken were unaware of it, as Viktoria was the only one within the Frost family aware of it.
But even without anyone else to back up their words, those two believed it.
'It makes sense!'
'That's why so many people from the capital tried to act against him!
Indeed, he has such an origin!' The woman thought to herself while judging that Lothur could not be a hybrid, or disaster would have already happened in that family.
Not only had this not happened by his hands, but he had even helped them on several occasions.
If it had been that legendary creature, he definitely wouldn't have been able to take it, and at least the most powerful people in this family would have perished at his hands!
Viktoria realized that those two took her words seriously and continued what she was saying before. "If the Frost family becomes part of House Ritter, we will have the support of someone who has 50% of the profits of the Ritter Motor Company, and our relations with the partner powers in that company will be even better.
I am developing the House Ritter army, so we will have these men to support the Frost family.
But not only that, if we subordinate ourselves to the Ritter family, we wouldn't be the first to do that!"
"Who did it first?" The woman questioned, looking in disbelief at Viktoria, for she knew of no such move.
Viktoria replied. "The Koch family subordinated themselves to my husband weeks ago. I don't know what he used to encourage them to do this, nor the function he passed on to them, but he told me that this family was part of House Ritter, and I could command them in his absence.
I have checked it out on a few occasions since the end of the Secret Realm, and I can say that they really are my husband's subordinates."
The two elders were open-mouthed upon hearing this, considering that the Koch family had a better position than they had until a few weeks ago.
This was a house favored by the imperial family, one that few dared to initiate confrontations without profound motives.
"If that's true, it might be worth it..." That level 15 woman commented to the man.
That man looked at Viktoria and asked. "Matriarch, can we think about this for a while? I feel it is too important a matter to be decided without considering all the implications."
"But of course. Just don't take too long, as we urgently need to get organized.
In my husband's absence and weakened as we are, who knows when our former enemies will strike again..." She said before those two promised to return to her in no more than two days with their answer.
With that settled, she left and headed towards the place she, Annaliese, and Elke had bought the day before the disaster over the Frost family.
They had already managed to recruit 150 mercenaries between levels 12 and 15 for the Ritter family. As such, they had bought a new property for that family, one where they intended to develop their headquarters.
Such a place was outside the urban perimeter of Peters City, in a part of the forests surrounding that city.
As she was already a Transcendent, Viktoria quickly arrived at this place, where many men were working to build the underground headquarters of this family in the middle of the forest.
She, her sister, and Elke knew that Lothur was a fugitive from the Church, so they had made the decision that their headquarters would need to be secret.
That is why the men of the Koch family were building this underground place, where they intended to be able to receive their husband without too much trouble in the future.
Upon arriving at this place, she met with Elke and saw the area's development, noting that the men were making rapid progress.
The Koch family was interested in moving their intelligence and observation center to a more secret location, away from their headquarters. So they were very focused while working in this area.
With more and more vehicles circulating the streets of Peters City and some even being shipped out of that city, they knew they would need to expand their operations and take on greater concerns than they already had.
And so the location where the Ritter family would be headquartered was growing by 2% or 3% per day, moving quickly towards delivering this place.