Chapter 173: Suspicions 2

TL: Etude

Inside the embassy of the Grand Duchy of Eton, a servant walked along the corridor with an anxious expression.

He arrived at the door to the Duke and Duchesss room and reached out to knock.

However, he hesitated as he extended his hand. The Duchess was resting inside, and under normal circumstances, she would never mind being disturbed during her rest.

But the situation might be different now. That morning, a maid who had been slightly forceful while combing her hair received a reprimand.

Such an event would have been unimaginable before. The Duchess was renowned for her good temperament and always treated her servants kindly.

However, the servants all understood. The change in the Duchesss character was due to her sisterBaroness Fenniebeing missing, or more accurately, abducted.

After all, Baroness Fennie was the only person as close to the Duchess as her husband.

And to make matters worse, there had been no clues for several days.

The servant, after hesitating for a while, still knocked on the rooms door.

A weary and anxious voice came from inside. What is it?

The servants heart ached. Oh heavens, please stop tormenting this poor Duchess.

He carefully replied. Your Highness, a lady claiming to be Ladi Sertia Gerard has come to request an audience. She says she has a longstanding acquaintance with you, and we did not dare to turn her away.

Does she bring any news of Fennie?

Anxiety laced the Duchesss voice.

I am sorry, Your Highness.

Dont let her in!

Yes.

The servant turned to leave when the Duchesss voice suddenly called out from inside:

Ladi, it is Ladi! Bring her in. Quickly, bring her in!

Ladi asked, Could it have been a drug-induced effect? Like memory-loss herb?

The Duchess shook her head with certainty. No, to my knowledge there is no such drug currently that can precisely control the forgetting of memory for a few hours. The memory-loss herb can indeed cause memory loss, but it acts randomly, and is more likely to erase all memories since childhood.

But neither Fennies attendants and guards nor the shop owner and staff lost any of their previous memories, they only lost the most critical hours of memory on the day of the incident. Its magic, only magic can achieve such an effect.

And theres direct evidence!

She pulled out an object and placed it on the tableit was a stone, a slightly darkened stone.

Ladi immediately recognized the stone, A Witch Detection Stone?

Yes, after suspecting that Fennies abductors were mages, I personally went to the store to investigate and confirmed my suspicion with this stone.

Helen, the Duchess of the Grand Duchy of Eton, concealed another identity behind her noble oneshe was a mage.

Thanks to her elevated status, she had kept her mage identity very well hidden, even as the witch hunts in the south intensified; still, no one knew, not even her husband, the Grand Duke of Eton.

To this day, only two people knew her secret: the mentor who guided her on the path of the mage, and her junior who studied magic with herLadi Sertia Gerard.

The Duchess wept, What should I do? I cant reveal all this to my husband! He certainly wont be able to accept it!

Ladi was deeply puzzled, If it was one of our kind, why would they abduct a high-status noble girl like her? Especially in the current severe climate of growing witch hunts, isnt such high-profile and dangerous behavior asking for trouble?

Our kind? The Duchesss voice rose sharply, and her beautiful eyes filled with resentment.

Ladi, you actually still consider such a person as our kind? I absolutely refuse to acknowledge those who commit such atrocities as belonging to us. They, whether mages or not, are nothing but scum, degenerates, trash! I will have them torn to pieces.

Ladi was concerned internally; she knew her seniors character wellkind and gentle. But now there was a tendency towards something darker. It seemed the abduction of her sister had hit her too hard.

Once the Duchess had calmed down somewhat, Ladi quietly asked, Senior, think carefully, is there something special about Fennie? Something that would interest a mage, enough to take such a big risk to abduct her.

Indeed, there is something about Fennie that would interest a mage.

The Duchess became composed, speaking slowly.

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